October 2005 - October 15, 2005 (Saturday)

October 15, 2005 (Saturday)

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Jean Ziegler, a Human rights investigator and senior United Nations official, has accuses the United States and occupying forces of "using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population" in Iraq. (BBC)
  • The Iraqi people go to the polls to vote on whether to approve the proposed constitution, amidst heavy security. (AP)
• Crown Princess Mary of Denmark gives birth to her first child, a 3.5 kg boy, at 0157 local time (2357 UTC Friday). The prince, likely to be named Christian, is second in line of succession to Europe's oldest crown. (Reuters)
• The Brazilian government extends a state of emergency to cover the whole of Amazonas, the country's largest state, following a severe drought which has seen many rivers and lakes dry up. (BBC)
• Election officials in Somaliland's first multiparty parliamentary elections in the breakaway republic announce that the ruling party, the For Unity, Democracy, and Independence won the most seats. (seattlepi)
• 2005 Malawi food crisis: President Bingu wa Mutharika declared a national disaster due to the worsening food shortages in the country. (Reuters)
• Seven train cars and a tank car containing flammable gas derailed at a railroad switch yard in Texarkana, Arkansas. The derailment caused a liquefied gas leak and explosion that killed one person and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes.