October 2005 - October 30, 2005 (Sunday)

October 30, 2005 (Sunday)

• Italian Minister of the Environment Altero Matteoli announces interest in switching to nuclear power as the main source of energy within 10-15 years. Nuclear power has been banned in Italy since the Chernobyl accident in 1986. (Reuters)
• Hurricane Beta, the first hurricane named with the Greek letter Beta, approaches Nicaragua and Honduras as a Category 3 storm, (BBC), and makes landfall on the Mosquito Coast at Category 2 intensity. Thousands of residents of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua have been evacuated to shelters. (VOA), (Scotsman)
• Further rioting occurs overnight in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois following the electrocutions of two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, and a third teenager suffering severe burns when they entered a substation whilst fleeing police. Rioters attacked police and journalists. Critics allege that the teenagers were targeted because they were Muslim, though this claim has been denied by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. (BBC) (ABC News)
• After an official 3-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China returns to Beijing, having reached new directions in Sino-DPRK relations. This comes after North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il called Hu the "most respected guest". (Xiaoxiang Morning News) (QQ News)
• The Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), a Protestant Church in Dresden, Germany is re-consecrated. The church was destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in World War II. The remains of the church had been left untouched by the government of East Germany as an anti-war monument. Some 60,000 people celebrated the reopening. Both Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and German President Horst Köhler said that the rebuilding was a 'symbol of reconciliation'. (Reuters) (AustBC) (Scotsman) (BBC) (CNN)