February 9, 2005

February 9 2005

• War on Terror: Democrat Jane Harman, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, announces she is planning to introduce a bill to ban torture by U.S. interrogators and bar transfers of detainees to countries that engage in torture. (LA Times)
• Conflict in Iraq: A suicide bomber kills at least 21 people outside a police recruiting center in Baghdad. In a separate incident also in Baghdad, three policemen die from a firefight in the notoriously dangerous neighborhood of Ghazaliyah. (Newsday/AP)
• Carly Fiorina, widely considered one of the most powerful women in American business, resigns her post as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, having being asked to do so by the company's board of directors after she failed to cut costs and increase revenue as quickly as the board had hoped. She had served as CEO of the company since 1999 and Chairman of the Board since 2000. (ABC News)
• British survey ship HMS Scott produces the first sonar survey of the seabed site of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Some images appear to show a landslide 100 metres high and 2 kilometres long. (BBC)
• Switzerland's Federal Court rules that the money that former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha took from Nigeria may be returned to the country. Abacha took hundreds of millions of dollars from Nigeria during his rule as dictator. (Swissinfo)
• The Economic Community of West African States intends to hold an emergency summit in Niger to discuss the political developments about the appointment of Faure Gnassingbé as the president of Togo. (GhanaWeb) (AllAfrica) (BBC)
• A car bomb, apparently set up by Basque paramilitary group ETA, explodes in Madrid, injuring 31 people outside a conference center where the King and Queen of Spain and President of Mexico were to open an exhibition later today. (Reuters) (BBC)
• In Canada, former prime minister Jean Chrétien defends his government's actions in an inquiry into the misuse of government advertising and sponsorship funds. (Winnipeg Sun) (Canada.Com)
• The French parliament votes in favor of relaxing the 35-hour work week rules. (BBC)