:: wikimiki.org ::
| J Records |
J Records
J Records is a record label, part of the BMG music conglomerate. It was founded in 2000 by music veteran Clive Davis. In August 2005 the label's operations were merged with Arista Records, through the imprints of both labels will continue to be use for upcoming releases.
Its artists include Aretha Franklin, Smitty, Clyph, Rhymefest, Say Anything, Whitney Houston, Cassidy, Alicia Keys, Mario, Monica, Maroon 5, Gavin DeGraw, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia, among others. The label will also release the next studio albums from Whitney Houston & Pearl Jam in 2006.
See also
- List of record labels
External links
- [http://www.jrecords.com Official site]
- [http://www.altsounds.com/jrecords J Records on Altsounds.com]
Category:Record labels
Record labelA record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. The name derives from the paper label at the center of a gramophone record (what is also known as a "phonograph record" in American English).
Most major record labels are owned by a few large multinational companies (Big Four record labels) that make up the almost all of the global recording industry, although there is a recent resurgence in independent record labels.
Labels as brands
Recording companies often invest a lot of time and money in discovering new talent or developing the talent of artists already under contract. The association of the brand with the artists helps define the image of both the brand and the artist.
Although both parties need each other to survive, the relationship between record labels and artists can be a difficult one. Many artists have had albums altered or censored in some way by the labels before they are released -- songs being edited, artwork or titles being changed, etc. Record labels generally do this because they believe that the album will sell better if the changes are made. Often the record label's decisions are correct ones from a commercial perspective, but this typically frustrates the artist who feels that their artwork is being destroyed.
In the early days of the recording industry, record labels were absolutely necessary for the success of any artist. The first goal of any new artist or band was to get signed to a contract as soon as possible. In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, many artists were so desperate to sign a contract with a record company that they usually ended up signing a bad contract, sometimes giving away the rights to their music in the process. Entertainment lawyers are used by some to look over any contract before it is signed.
Industry consolidation
In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a phase of consolidation in the record industry that led to almost all major labels being owned by a very few multinational companies, who in turn were members of the RIAA.
See also: List of record labels
The resurgence of independent labels
In the 1990s, due to the widespread use of home studios, consumer CD recorders, and the Internet, independent labels began to become more commonplace. Independent labels are typically artist-owned (although not always), with a focus usually on making good music and not necessarily on the business aspects of the industry or making lots of money. Because of this, independent artists usually receive less radio play and sell fewer CDs than artists signed to major labels. However, they usually have more control over the music and packaging of the released product.
On occasion established artists, once their record contract has finished, move to an independent label. This often gives the combined advantage of name recognition and more control over one's music. Singers Dolly Parton, Aimee Mann and Prince, among others, have achieved this.
While there are many independent labels, folk singer Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records is often cited as an ideal example. The singer turned down lucrative contracts from several top-name labels in order to establish her own New-York-based company. Constant touring resulted in noteworthy success for an act without significant major funding. Ani and others from the company have spoken on several occasions about their business model in hopes of encouraging others.
Some independent labels become successful enough that major record companies negotiate contracts to either distribute music for the label or in some cases, purchase the label completely.
On the punk rock scene, the DIY punk ethic encourages bands to self-publish and self-distribute. This approach has been around since the early 1980s, in an attempt to stay true to the punk ideals of doing it yourself and not selling out to corporate profits and control. Such labels have a reputation for being fiercely uncompromising and especially unwilling to cooperate with the Big Four record labels at all.
See also
- List of independent record labels
The emergence of net & digital labels
Main Article: net label
With the Internet now being a viable source for obtaining music, we see the emergence of net labels. Depending on the ideals of the net label, music files from the artists may be downloaded free of charge or for a fee that is paid via paypal or an online payment system. Some of these labels also offer hard copy CDs in addition to direct download (for example, Baltimore's [http://www.schismatik.com Schismatik] record label ships CDs for a nominal charge). Most net labels acknowledge the Creative Commons licensing system thus reserving certain rights for the artist. Digital Labels are the latest version of a 'net' label. As where 'net' labels were started as a free site or just a hobby point, digital labels seek to give the major record industry a real run for their money. One of the pioneers of the major digital label is [http://www.fiberlineaudio.com Fiberlineaudio].
The emergence of open-source labels
Main Article: Open source record label
The new century brings the phenomenon of open-source or open-content record label. These are inspired by the free software and open-source movement and the success of GNU/Linux.
Examples are
- LOCA Records
- Magnatune
- Opsound
ja:レコードレーベル
2000
This article is about the year 2000. For other uses of 2000, see 2000 (number) or 2000 (breakdancing move).
2000 (MM) is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Popular culture also holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. By strict interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, however, this distinction falls to the year 2001. This is due to the fact that the first century began with the year 1, and there does not exist a year zero. The first century (or first 100 years AD) was from January 1, in the year one (1 AD) through December 31, in the year one-hundred (100 AD). The second century began on January 1, in the year one-hundred and one (101 AD).
The year 2000 is also marked as:
- The International Year for a Culture of Peace.
- The World Mathematical Year.
See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.
Events
- January 1 - Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world. Y2K passes without the serious, widespread computer failures and malfunctions that had been predicted.
- January 5-January 8 - The 2000 al-Qaida Summit
- January 6 - The last remaining Pyrenean Ibex is found dead.
- January 10 - America On-line announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion. This is the largest-ever corporate merger.
- January 11 - the armed wing of Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria.
- January 11 - The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.
- January 14 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village.
- January 16 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
- January 24 - God's Army, Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, take 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border.
- January 30 - St. Louis Rams 23 defeat the Tennessee Titans 16 to win the Super_Bowl_XXXIV
- January 30 - Off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169. Within a day, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.
- January 31 - Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims.
- February 4 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
- February 6 - Tarja Halonen is elected the first Finnish female president.
- February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published.
- February 14 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
- March 1 - The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
- March 2 - Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
- March 8 - Tokyo train disaster.
- March 9 - FBI arrests suspected purveyor of art forgeries, Ely Sakhai, in New York City.
- March 10 - The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5048. ([http://dynamic.nasdaq.com/dynamic/IndexChart.asp?symbol=IXIC&desc=NASDAQ+Composite&sec=nasdaq&site=nasdaq&months=84])
- March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- March 20 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
- March 21 - Pope John Paul II began the first office visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel.
- March 21 - US Supreme Court ruled the goverment lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.
- March 26 - Presidential elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin elected President.
- March 30 - America's Cup 2000 retained by Team New Zealand near Auckland. Prada Challenge 2000 lost 0-5 in a "best-of-9".
April.]]
- April 1 - Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
- April 3 - United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
- April 5 - Yoshiro Mori replaces Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.
- April 7 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled.
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein.
- April 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.
- April 22 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC ending one of the most publicized custody battles in US history.
- April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.
- May 3 - A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus. The May 2000 conjunction consisted of: the Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
- May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London.
- May 13 - In Enschede a heavy fireworks explosion kills 20 and leaves an entire neighborhood in ruins.
- May 18 - Boo.com collapses due to lack of funds after six months.
- May 25 - Israel withdraws IDF troops from southern Lebanon after 22 years.
- May 28 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.
- June 1 - Mark Mendlan, professional wrestler known by his ring name "Kid Gorgeous," is killed while wrestling at a show in New Hampshire.
- June 7 - U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the 4th circuit ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corp.
- June 10 - The New Jersey Devils defeat the Dallas Stars 4 games to 2 to win the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - The 2000 European Football Championship begins, hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands.
- June 21 - Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.
- June 23 - Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in Childers, Queensland, Australia, kills 15 people.
- June 30 - During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, 9 die and 26 are injured in the crowd.
July
- July 2 - France beat Italy 2-1 to win the 2000 European Football Championship with a golden goal.
- July 2 - Presidential election of Mexico. Vicente Fox wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- July 10 - In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline
- July 10 - Death of Denis O Conor Donn, died 10th July 2000, aged 88; succeded by his son, Desmond as The O Connor Donn
- July 18 - Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party
- July 25 - A Concorde carrying Air France Flight 4590 crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 5 on the ground.
- August 1 - The Santa Cruz Operation announced that it will sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, to Caldera Systems,Inc.
- August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
- August 12 - The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
- August 14 - The first comic of Megatokyo goes online. This webcomic will later become one of the most popular comics on the web (in terms of page views) and spawn numerous imitators.
- August 25 - the Emulex hoax - wire services publish fraudulent bad news about Emulex
- August 27 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
- September 5 - Tuvalu joins the United Nations.
- September 6 - In New York City, the United Nations Millennium Summit begins with more than 180 world leaders present.
- September 6 - The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense
- September 7–14 - The UK fuel protests take place, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
- September 8 - Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.
- September 15 - The 2000 Summer Olympics are opened in Sydney, Australia.
- September 16 - Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.
- September 24 - The American Family Association begins lobbying the U.S. Congress to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts for funding the controversial book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young
- September 26 - Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
- September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a visit to the Temple Mount. Palestinian civil disorder increases into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
- September 29 - The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.
- October 2 NBC Today Show expanded it to three hours (7:00–10:00 A.M. Eastern Time/Pacific Time; 6:00–9:00 A.M. Central Time/Mountain Time)
- October 5 - President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support.
- October 11 - 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky. Considered a greater environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
- October 12 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
- October 21 15 Arab leaders convened in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in four years; the Libyan delegation walked out, angry over signs the summit would stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.
- October 22 – Mainichi Shinbun exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises of his findings.
- October 26 - Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a persian princess in the province of Baluchistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a forgery in April 17 2001
- October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport - 83 dead.
- October 31 - The last Jeremy clone has shut down.
November
- November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals
- November 1 - Yugoslavia's new democratic government joined the United Nations after eight years of U.N. ostracism under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
- November 3 - Widespread flooding throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain
- November 4 - President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the leaking of government secrets.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 2000: Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat Vice President Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
- November 7 - Criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond but police surveillance catches them in the act
- November 7 - Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office
- November 11 - Kaprun disaster, Austria, where 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
- November 13 - Richard C. Duncan presents his paper, "The Peak Of World Oil Production And The Road To The Olduvai Gorge", on the Olduvai theory (about the collapse of the industrial civilization), at the Summit 2000 Pardee Keynote Symposia of the Geological Society of America)
- November 14 - Netscape version 6.0 is launched following two years of open source development creating a stable Mozilla web browser upon which it is based
- November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam
- November 17 - Catastrophical landslide in Log pod Mangartom,Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophies in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
- November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru
- November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in House of Commons
- November 28 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
- December 1 - Mexico - Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition President to take office since Francisco I. Madero in 1911. He wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- December 28 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
- December 30 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines, within a span of a few hours killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.
Unknown Date
- Limited reintroduction of routinely armed police in the UK for the first time since 1936.
- Scientists at University of Szeged's laboratory were first in the world to produce artificial heredity material.
- Millie I. Webb elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Births
- February 23 - Max & Sam Christy, American actors
- March 15- Amy and Emily Walton, English actresses
- April 25 - Jacob & Joshua Rips, American actors
- October 6 - Amanda Pace, American actress
- October 20 - Cooper and Oliver Guynes, American actors
- November 8 - Madison and Marissa Poer, actresses
Deaths
January
- January 2 - Patrick O'Brian, English writer (b. 1914)
- January 15 - Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
- January 19 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
- January 19 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1913)
February
- February 9 - Beau Jack, American boxer (b. 1921)
- February 11 - Roger Vadim, French film director (b. 1928)
- February 12 - Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
- February 12 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
- February 12 - Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist (b. 1921)
- February 23 - Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)
April
- April 6 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (b. 1920)
- April 25 - David Merrick, American stage producer (b. 1911)
- April 29 - Phạm Văn Ðồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)
May
- May 11 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
- May 12 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
- May 14 - Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
- May 17 - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909)
- May 19 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut
August 20052005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- →
__NOTOC__
- Update on Hurricane Katrina:
- The Federal government declares a public health emergency for the Gulf Coast of the United States and launches one of the largest search and rescue missions in history. [http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?channel=eveningnews&clip=/media/2005/08/30/video806624&sec=500371&vidId=500371&title=Evening$@$News$@$Online&hitboxMLC=evening_news_online (CBS Video)] [http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050831/D8CAV2SO0.html (AP via MyWay)]
- New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin states that "hundreds...most likely, thousands" may be dead in his city. The death toll in Biloxi stands at 110. [http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050831/D8CAVI303.html (AP via MyWay)]
- At least 25,000 refugees, particularly those currently in shelters in Greater New Orleans including the Louisiana Superdome, will be moved to the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050831/ap_on_re_us/katrina_astrodome (Yahoo! News)]
- The United States will release oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help refineries whose oil supplies have been badly hit by Hurricane Katrina. [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050831/pl_afp/usweatheroil_050831130701 (Yahoo! News)] Some refineries along the gulf coast are offline and so fuel production is likely to be limited nonetheless
- Baghdad bridge stampede:
- More than 965 people were crushed to death or died in a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge over the river Tigris in Baghdad on Wednesday when thousands of Shia Muslims began marching to a shrine to the Imam Musa al-Kadhim. The stampede appears to have been caused by rumours of a series of Suicide Bombings.
- Earlier seven people in attendance died when insurgents fired mortars into the crowd. [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E2ED7EA5-15F6-4A89-A532-C927FD299679.htm (Al Jazeera)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4199618.stm (BBC)] (Wikinews)
- The relatives of the four Israeli Arabs killed on a bus in Galilee have been denied the usual terrorism compensation payments because their killer was a Jew, and thus not an "enemy of Israel" as defined by Israeli law. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4198754.stm (BBC)]
- All Palestinian Authority Assets held in the United States have been frozen. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4199548.stm (BBC)]
- Philippine electoral crisis: A Philippine congressional committee has stopped all impeachment efforts against President Gloria Arroyo. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-08-31-philippines-arroyo_x.htm| USA Today]
- Conflict in Iraq: According to US and Iraqi government officials, US Air strikes near the border with Syria have left 56 civilians and over seven insurgents dead. [http://www.ksbitv.com/home/1705826.html (CNN)]
- In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
- The death toll in Biloxi, Mississippi, may be as high as 80. Mayor A.J. Holloway declares that Katrina "is our tsunami", comparing the catastrophe to the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050830/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_3;_ylt=AiQ5CXJxwXVtmvijI8TgLK8bLisB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl (Yahoo! News)] Residents report storm surge higher than Hurricane Camille.
- US Highway 90 along Gulfport, Mississippi, has been destroyed.
- New Orleans, Louisiana, almost completely floods when levees along Lake Pontchartrain break. At least one attempt to repair broken levees was ended unsuccessfully. Gas leaks pollute the floodwaters. The primary evacuation site at the Louisiana Superdome is safe, with water only 3 ft. (1 m) deep outside. Death tolls there remain untold. Governor Kathleen Blanco orders the evacuation of everyone remaining in New Orleans.
- The storm surge has totally destroyed the Interstate 10 causeway connecting the east side of New Orleans to mainland Louisiana over the east tip of Lake Pontchartrain.
- The American Red Cross declares that the relief effort will exceed in scope that after the September 11, 2001 attacks. [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167633,00.html (Fox News)]
- Michael Brown, director of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, declares that Katrina was "catastrophic" and pledges full federal assistance. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050830/ap_on_re_us/katrina_washington (Yahoo! News)]
- Oil reaches US$70/bbl for the second time, closes at $69.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline expected to rise as well. [http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--gasprices0830aug30,0,7358679.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork AP]
- Former Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, has declared his intention to challenge Ariel Sharon for leadership of the Likud party. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4197656.stm (BBC)]
- In Paris, France, seven die and fourteen are injured when a fire burns down an apartment housing African immigrants owned by the Société Immobilière d'Économie Mixte de la Ville de Paris 22:00 (GMT+1) [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=akYhSjMwb1kk&refer=europe (Bloomberg)]
- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced India would give US$50 million in additional aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan during his meetings with Hamid Karzai. Earlier, it had pledged US$500 million to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.[http://autofeed.msn.co.in/pandorav3/output/News/6e9421c2-a537-4b1a-be74-b5eb3a0756bc.aspx (MSN)]
- The 2005 Forbes Global CEO Conference has kicked off in Sydney, Australia. Police arrest four at a barricade surrounding the Opera House (Wikinews) [http://smh.com.au/news/national/protesters-converge-on-opera-house/2005/08/30/1125302558756.html (Sydney Morning Herald via SMH.com.au)]
- Former New South Wales Opposition Leader, John Brogden, is hospitalized after apparent suicide attempt after resigning as party leader. [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/disgraced-brogdens-suicide-bid/2005/08/31/1125302574623.html (Sydney Morning Herald via SMH.com.au)]
- Hurricane Katrina as a Category 4 storm makes landfall at 6:10 a.m. CDT (11:10 a.m. UTC). The eye is just east of New Orleans, Louisiana. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050829/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_6;_ylt=Am1WzRXNxE0cszPQ.Fi81kcbLisB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl (AP)]
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez offered to send food and fuel to the United States devastated by Hurricane Katrina. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050829/pl_afp/usweathervenezuelaoil_050829234840 (AFP via Yahoo! News)]
- Death toll by Hurricane Katrina reaches 55. [http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=f00acd41-5b2b-46fd-a722-a6d76ba1b3ad (Canadian Press, via Canada.com)], [http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5242377,00.html (Guardian)]
- New South Wales Opposition Leader, John Brogden, resigns from the leadership of the NSW Liberal Party after describing Helena Carr, wife of former Premier Bob Carr, as a "mail-order bride" and sexually harassing two female journalists. Brogden will remain Member for Pittwater until at least the next state election. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1448203.htm (ABC News)]
- The Nigerian Vice President's home in Maryland, USA was raided by the FBI. Atiku Abubakar's relations with President Olusegun Obasanjo have cooled and it is possible he might use the pretext of the FBI corruption investigation to dismiss him.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4192186.stm (BBC)]
- Countries of the European Union attempt to work out a deal to end the "bra wars", the Chinese textile import row. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4192518.stm (BBC)]
- Iraq's National Assembly signs the text of the proposed Iraqi constitution. A referendum will be held on 15 October, with leaders of the Sunni community already calling for a "no" vote. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4192122.stm (BBC)]
- Hawaii, represented by Ewa Beach, Hawaii, defeats Williemstad, Curaçao 7-6 in the Little League World Series [http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-littleleague&prov=ap&type=lgns (Yahoo)]
- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the country will help Afghanistan deal with terrorism and rebuilding the country. ([http://www.ndtv.com/topstories/showtopstory.asp?slug=PM+calls+for+stability+in+Afghanistan%0D&id=17629 NDTV])
- Omri Sharon, son of the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, has been formally indicted on charges of corruption following allegations concerning Ariel Sharon's bid to become leader of the Likud party in 1999. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4192458.stm (BBC)]
- People begin to return to their homes as road and rail routes reopen after the 2005 European floods. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4191038.stm (BBC)]
- Hurricane Katrina:
- Hurricane Katrina continues to rapidly strengthen reaching Category Five status. It has the second lowest pressure for an American hurricane in recorded history, with only the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 having a lower measurement. Katrina is at 908 mb. and dropping; the Labor Day event of 1935 had 892 mb. [http://www.weather.com/index.html (Weather Channel)] [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov (National Hurricane Center)] [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastint.shtml (The Most Intense Hurricanes in the United States 1851-2004)]
- Millions of people living in and around the below sea-level Louisiana city of New Orleans are leaving as Hurricane Katrina approaches. Storm surge is forecasted at 25 ft. The Mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order, citing fears that the storm will break the levees protecting the city. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4192218.stm (BBC)], [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/27/tropical.weather/index.html (CNN)]
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bomber kills himself and injures close to 50 people in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba near the main bus terminal. According to sources, the bomber was trying to make his way to Beersheba's Soroka Hospital. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3134082,00.html (YNETnews)] [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtDisengagement.jhtml?itemNo=618088&contrassID=23&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1 (Ha'aretz)] [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125195660908 (The Jerusalem Post)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4192208.stm (BBC)] [http://olympics.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-28T184413Z_01_KNE826563_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-MIDEAST-DC.XML (Reuters)]
- Two Serb youths have been killed and two wounded in a drive-by shooting in Kosovo [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4193208.stm (BBC)]
- The exiled ex-Ugandan president Milton Obote has announced he is to retire as president of the Uganda People's Congress, the party he has led since 1959. [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/28/content_3412655.htm (Xinhua)]
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez threatens to take legal action against Pat Robertson and potentially seek his extradition after the U.S. evangelist called for the assassination the South American leader. [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-29T025543Z_01_KWA910559_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-VENEZUELA-ROBERTSON-DC.XML (Reuters)]
- Over 30 are injured in a bomb blast on a ferry at Lamitan, Basilan, Philippines, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4192102.stm (BBC)]
- Muhammad Deif, the Hamas leader who heads Israel's most wanted list, releases a video taunting Israel. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4190084.stm (BBC)]
- Nearly 1,000 detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison are released this week at the request of the Iraqi Government, the largest number of prisoners freed since the start of the war. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/27/iraq.prisoners/index.html (CNN)]
- 120,000 people are expected at the Jean-Michel Jarre's concert Space of Freedom in Gdańsk Shipyard in Poland commemorating 25th anniversary of the creation of "Solidarity" trade union; live at 20:00 CET at [http://www.itvp.pl/rozrywka/jarre/en/i.tvp/ iTVP] [http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=26655&j=2 (Radio Polonia)]
- The High Court of Fiji overturns that country's sodomy laws after hearing the case of one Australian and one native Fijian who were previously sentenced to two years in jail under the legislation [http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/08/082605fiji.htm (365gay.com)] [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1447219.htm (ABC)]
- 14 children and three adults die as a fire breaks out in a building in Paris which housed African immigrants. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4186266.stm (BBC)]
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- An Israeli Border Policeman is wounded when a Palestinian man stabs him in the back of the neck near The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/617414.html (Ha'aretz)], [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125022804201 (The Jerusalem Post],[http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-26T072222Z_01_YUE626490_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST-STABBING.xml (Reuters)]
- The Interior Ministry of Israel has announced that the number of Israeli citizens living in Israeli settlements on the West Bank has increased by more than 9,000 thus far this year. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4188216.stm (BBC)]
- Typhoon Mawar (11W) makes landfall at Chiba city, just east of Tokyo, having weakened from super-typhoon strength. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4186146.stm (BBC)]
- French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière warns that Al-Qaeda is planning a terrorism attack in Asia, singling out Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore as potential targets. [http://news.ft.com/cms/s/33cb0c4c-15a8-11da-8085-00000e2511c8.html (Financial Times)]
- Arab-Israeli Conflict
- Two Qassam rockets fired out of the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3133122,00.html (YNETnews)],[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124938373544 (The Jerusalem Post)]
- Two mortar rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel, one of which struck a chicken coop in the Northern Galilee Moshav of Margaliot, while the other landed in Lebanese territory. Nobody was reported injured. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3133122,00.html (YNETnews)],[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124938373544 (The Jerusalem Post)]
- Later reports suggest that for the first time, Hizb Allah test-fires an Iranian medium-range rocket near the Lebanese border with Israel. One of the three 240 mm Fajr-3 rockets, launched about six kilometers north of the border, landed in Israel and the other two fell inside Lebanon. ([http://menewsline.com/stories/2005/august/08_29_1.html MENL])
- Two Egyptian policemen die following two explosions in northern Sinai. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4183942.stm (BBC)]
- At least 42 people die following a series of floods throughout Europe. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4182758.stm (BBC)]
- Conflict in Iraq:
- 36 male corpses have been found in a shallow river near the town of Kut, Iraq. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4184300.stm (BBC)]
- Violence occurs in Najaf, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah, and Sadr City (Baghdad). Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr calls for an end to violence between his followers engaging a rival Shiite group, the Badr Brigades (backed by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Both groups blame the other, while some Shia National Assembly members and ministers suspend their membership in the council because of the violence. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/25/shiite.violence/ (CNN)] [http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/World/GH26Wd02.html (Standard)] [http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=17067 (New Kerala)]
- The German Constitutional Court rules that early elections on September 18 may go ahead. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4181468.stm (BBC)]
- The foreign minister of India, Natwar Singh calls on Pakistan high commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan to plead the case of Sarabjit Singh. [http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=INDOPAKFACEOFF&slug=India+requests+Pak+to+review+Sarabjit+case&id=17611&callid=0&category=National (NDTV.com)]
- Conflict in Iraq: At least 17 people are killed in a series of gun battles and a suicide car bombing that targeted the Iraqi Police in Baghdad. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4180672.stm (BBC)]
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- A British haredi Jew, Shmuel Matt, is stabbed to death, and his American friend, Sammy Weissbard, is wounded when a Palestinian man attacked the pair in Jerusalem. [http://www.itn.co.uk/news/832461.html (ITN)] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/25/ujerusalem.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/08/25/ixportaltop.html (Telegraph)]
- The Israeli government issues orders to seize Palestinian land close to the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim on the West Bank for continued construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4180050.stm (BBC)]
- Five Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad leader Ribhi Amara, are killed in a gun-battle following an Israeli raid on the Palestinian refugee camp of Tulkarm in the West Bank. Israel maintains that all five were militants, while eye witnesses say that three were unarmed teenagers. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4182410.stm (BBC)] [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-24T215656Z_01_HO477961_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-MIDEAST-KILLINGS-DC.XML (Reuters)] [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3132894,00.html (YNETnews)] [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/12482114.htm (New York Times)] [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508260235aug26,1,7557286.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed (Chicago Tribune)]
- Heavy floods hit Switzerland, Austria and Germany forcing thousands of people to abandon their homes. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4179592.stm (BBC)]
- Chinese railroad workers in Tibet laid rail tracks on the Tanggula Mountain Pass in Tibet at 5,072 m (16,640 ft) above sea level, surpassing the altitude of the highest Peruvian railway by 255 m (837 ft). This section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is now the highest railway in the world. The railway also includes the highest railway station in the world at Lhasa, 5,068 m (16,627 ft) above sea level. The railway is expected to open later in 2005. [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/24/content_3397297.htm (Xinhua)]
- American televangelist and former Presidential candidate, Pat Robertson apologizes for calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. [http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c884db6a-14ef-11da-9df1-00000e2511c8.html (Financial Times)]
- At least 41 die when TANS Peru Flight 204, a Boeing 737-200, crashes near Pucallpa, Peru, with 100 on board. It was the fifth major airline accident this month. [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-24T000712Z_01_MCC383700_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-PERU-DC.XML (Reuters)], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4178868.stm (BBC)], [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/08/24/peru.crash/index.html (CNN)].
- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visits Zinder, Niger, which is affected by a regional food crisis in West Africa. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5228314,00.html (Guardian)], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4176700.stm (BBC)], [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/23/niger.annan.ap/ (CNN)], [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23703768.htm (Reuters)]
- Israel completes the unilateral disengagement from all settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank. [http://olympics.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-23T153244Z_01_MOL349068_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MIDEAST-DC.XML (Reuters)], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4177364.stm (BBC)], [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/616333.html (Haaretz)]
- Canada has sent 2 Kingston-class warships to the north Arctic port of Churchill, Manitoba following a territorial dispute with Denmark regarding Hans Island. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4175446.stm (BBC)]
- Christian religious leader Pat Robertson, a televangelist and former candidate for President of the United States, calls on the US to kill Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela.([http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050823/ap_on_re_us/robertson_assassination;_ylt=AnCN8Y8NH11lNpGiEoXCiHes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY- Yahoo! News]) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4177664.stm (BBC)] [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1062445 (ABC)]
- Iraq's parliament receives a draft of that country's constitution, minutes before the revised deadline. The parliamentary vote on the constitution will be delayed until a final draft emerges. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1443729.htm (ABC)]
- Eric Rudolph is sentenced to three more life terms without possibility of parole for the Centennial Olympic Park bombing of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4173760.stm (BBC)] [http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-08-22-voa41.cfm (VOA)]
- A large explosion injures several people in Beirut, Lebanon. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4175120.stm (BBC)] [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/22/beirut.blast/index.html (CNN)]
- The Piano Man has been identified and sent back home to Bavaria, Germany. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4172662.stm (BBC)][http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/22/uk.pianoman/index.html (CNN)]
- Conflict in Afghanistan: US Troops claim to have killed more than one hundred suspects following raids in south and East Afghanistan. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4172732.stm (BBC)]
- Conflict in Iraq: US Troops claim that they will investigate the circumstances following the death of a cousin of Iraq's envoy to the United Nations. The man died from a bullet wound to the head as he opened his door to US Soldiers in western Iraq. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4173278.stm (BBC)]
- Patriarch Theophilus III is unanimously elected 141st Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem to replace ousted predecessor Irenaios I.[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-holy-land-greek-patriarch,1,1942295.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines (LA Times)]
- Israeli forces enter the last remaining Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip to remove the settlers from Netzarim, a religious farming community of about 500, completing the evacuation of all the enclaves. Four small militant settlements on the West Bank will also be cleared, with 5,500 troops heading there to begin evictions on Tuesday. [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2238993.htm (Reuters)] [http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=26590 IMRA]
- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that existing large West Bank Israeli settlements will be expanded. [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Last_Gaza_settlement_cleared%2C_West_Bank_towns_prepare_to_resist (WikiNews)]
- Voting registration begins in the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead of planned elections. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4172678.stm (BBC)]
- In tennis, Maria Sharapova becomes the first Russian woman to reach world number one replacing injured American Lindsay Davenport at the top of the WTA rankings. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/4147644.stm (BBC)] [http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=reu-sharapovadc (Yahoo! News)]
- Tickle-U premieres on Cartoon Network at 9 AM.
- More than 800,000 people joined Pope Benedict XVI for the concluding Mass of World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany. [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/21/pope.germany.ap/ (CNN)] The next World Youth Day was announced to be held in Sydney, Australia in 2008. [http://www.kreuz.net/article.1736.html (kreuz.net)] [http://www.BlueAirNews.com BlueAirNews News]
- Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia, ordered the national intelligence agency and police to investigate after a power outage left about 100 million people without electricity. [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Indonesian_blackout_caused_by_lack_of_generation_capacity (Wikinews)]
- The original handwritten manuscript of a paper by Albert Einstein, entitled "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" (Bose-Einstein condensate), dated December 1924, has been found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics. It was considered one of Einstein's last great breakthroughs. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050821/ap_on_sc/einstein_manuscript (AP via Yahoo! News)] Photographs of the 16-page manuscript and a description of how a student stumbled upon it were posted on the institute's Web site. [http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/history/Einstein_archive/ (Leiden University)]
- Mounir El Motassadeq, the first person to be convicted for his role in the 9/11 attacks who had his conviction overturned in 2004, is re-convicted in Hamburg, Germany and sentenced to seven years in prison. [http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL19618150 (Reuters)], [http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2005/08/19/Moroccan_convicted050819.html (CBC)], [http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-cell20.html (Chicago SunTimes)], [http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,11209,1552975,00.html (Guardian)]
- Pope Benedict XVI speaks inside a synagogue at World Youth Day 2005 about the Judeo-Christian relationship. He also speaks with Protestant and Orthodox Christians about upcoming challenges within Christianity. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4167350.stm BBC News]
- Conflict in Iraq:
- 3 members of the main Sunni Arab political party in Iraq are kidnapped and killed as they put up posters urging people to vote in the upcoming elections in Mosul. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4167304.stm (BBC)]
- Two Iraqis have died following an IED explosion near Tikrit.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4167304.stm (BBC)]
- Pierre Nkurunziza of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy, a former rebel leader of the Hutu majority in Burundi, has been elected unopposed as the new President of Burundi by the parliament, the first president chosen through democratic means since the start of the civil war in 1993. He will be sworn in on 27 August. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4162504.stm (BBC)], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4165094.stm (BBC)]
- Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has died in a hospice at the age of 55. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4126986.stm (BBC)]
- A Jordanian soldier dies when three unexploded Katyusha rockets miss their targets and hit a warehouse and hospital in Aqaba, Jordan and hit a road by the airport in nearby Eilat, Israel. A group with alledged links to Al-Qaeda claims responsibilty for the attacks, stating the targets were US ships docked at the Red Sea port in Aqaba, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ashland. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/19/jordan.blasts/index.html (CNN)], [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9004040/ (MSNBC)]
- In a bid to end the armed conflict with Morocco, the Polisario Front independence movement in Western Sahara frees its last 404 Moroccan prisoners of war, many of them having been held for almost two decades. [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-18T111538Z_01_DIT840560_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-ALGERIA-MOROCCO-ICRC-DC.XML (Reuters)], [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-18T161414Z_01_SCH846099_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-MOROCCO-POLISARIO-DC.XML (Reuters)], [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8995966/ (MSNBC)], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4162790.stm (BBC)], [http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1552128,00.html (Guardian)]
- New York authorities reveal the existence of a letter from a deceased woman who claims her husband (according to the New York Daily News, WINS 1010 cites a cab driver named Frank Burn) and two others killed Judge Joseph F. Crater and buried him under the boardwalk at Coney Island. Crater has been missing since 1930 and has since become one of the most famous "missing person" stories. [http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_231071500.html (1010 WINS)] [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166191,00.html (Fox News)] [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9006026/ (MSNBC)] [http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/338782p-289273c.html (New York Daily News)] [http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/51443.htm (New York Post)]
- Merck & Co. loses the first wrongful death lawsuit over its painkiller Vioxx, with a jury awarding $253 Million in damages. There have been over 4000 cases filed against Merck over this drug. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9006921/ (MSNBC)] [http://www.money.cnn.com/2005/08/19/news/fortune500/vioxx/index.htm (CNN)]
- Pennsylvania police announced the discovery of a body presumed to be that of missing woman LaToyia Figueroa and the arrest of former boyfriend Stephen Poaches.([http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/20/Philadelphia.missing.ap/index.html CNN])
- Pakistan's Supreme Court upholds the death sentence awarded to Manjeet Singh, an alleged Research and Analysis Wing agent who was also reportedly involved in five bomb blasts in the country. Singh was arrested by security forces at the Indo-Pak border on August 30, 1990. [http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=76630 (Indian Express)] [http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1908053,0005.htm (Hindustan Times)]
- In one of the worst confrontations on the Indo-Bangla frontier in recent months, Bangladesh Rifles opens unprovoked fire at the India side at some outposts in West Bengal. About 500 rounds were fired in the skirmishes, but there was no casualty. [http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/0B92E0DDD5E8D642652570620034B426?OpenDocument (Press Trust of India)] [http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13921080 (Sify)]
- Suchit Handas Birthday he turns 15
- Ohio Governor Bob Taft pleads no contest to four counts of filing incomplete financial disclosure statements in Columbus, Ohio and a Franklin County municipal court judge finds him guilty, fines him $4,000, and orders him to apologize publicly. Taft says he will not resign his office. [http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050819/NEWS01/508190400 (The Cincinnati Enquirer)]
- A man described as Al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia, Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, is killed in a shootout with police.[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/18/terror/main784447.shtml (CBS) ] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4162084.stm (BBC) ]
- Dennis Rader, also known as the BTK Killer, is sentenced 10 consecutive life sentences for 10 murders between 1974 and 1991. [http://olympics.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-18T200322Z_01_EIC865248_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-CRIME-BTK-DC.XML (Reuters)] [http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/18/btk.killings/index.html (CNN)]
- Pope Benedict XVI made his first foreign trip to his homeland Germany, attending the World Youth Day 2005. He was welcomed with cheers and made several speeches to leaders of Germany and to pilgrims at the Rhine banks at a ship as well as in front of the Cologne cathedrale. - [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4163022.stm BBC Pictures]; [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4161706.stm BBC News]; [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8974211/ MSNBC].
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Insurgents kill 4 US Troops in an IED explosion in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Iraq. [http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2005_08_18_1506.html (Polit Info)], [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/18/content_3372646.htm (Xinhua)]
- An angry Iraqi crowd thronged the Amiriya district of Baghdad, after US Troops killed 3 local brothers, including a disabled man, accusing them of being Terrorists. [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO861510.htm (Reuters)]
- NASA has decided to push the next shuttle mission STS-121 to March 2006 and reassign it to the Space Shuttle Discovery [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8989072/ (MSNBC)]
- Israeli troops forcibly remove Zionist Jews opposed to Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan one by one from their strongholds in the synagogues in the Israeli settlements on the Gaza Strip. Some of the protesters threw paint, rocks and acid at the soldiers. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4161584.stm (BBC)], [http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=3362294 (ABC)]
Indonesia Republic's 60th Independent Day
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israeli settler kills 3 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The attack was condemned by Ariel Sharon as a "Jewish Terror act" and "twisted thinking" while Hamas claimed the right to avenge the deaths. [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-17T184351Z_01_MCC752278_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST-SHOOTING.xml (Reuters)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4160768.stm (BBC)]
- At least two people have been killed and several others injured in a series of over 300 blasts across Bangladesh. An outlawed Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, has claimed responsibility. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4158478.stm (BBC)]
- Conflict in Iraq: At least 42 people have died following a series of co-ordinated car bombings in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4158292.stm (BBC)]
- The first actual pullout of settlers in the Gaza Strip, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, has started. [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165951,00.html (FOXNews)]
- S.R. Nathan returns unopposed for a second term in the Singapore presidential elections. Three other candidates who filed for candidature were rejected by the Presidential Elections Committee due to "lack of experience", amongst other reasons. [http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/163595/1/.html (CNA)], [http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-17T154120Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-21
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an iconic American gospel, soul and R&B singer born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in Detroit, Michigan. On January 3, 1987 she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many have called her "The Queen Of Soul" and "Lady Soul". She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera. She is generally regarded as one of the best vocalists ever by such industry publications/media outlets as Rolling Stone and VH1, due to her phenomenal ability to inject whatever she may be singing about with gut wrenching soul (hence the title) and sheer conviction. She has won sixteen competitive Grammys (including an unprecedented twelve for Best female R&B vocal performance) and the state of Michigan has declared her voice to be a natural wonder.
Unknown by most people, Franklin surprisingly has only had two songs hit the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100, "Respect" in the 1960s, and her 1980's duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me". However, many of her singles have hit Top 20, Top 10, and Top 5 positions.
Biography
As a child, Franklin and her sisters, Carolyn and Erma, sang at her father's Detroit-area church and made her first recordings at the age 14. She signed with Columbia Records after being discovered by legendary A&R man John Hammond. In the early 1960s, Franklin had a few popular songs, most notably "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody." Though Columbia really wanted her as a jazz singer, the results never gave full rein to Franklin's talents. Her greatest and most innovative work was yet to come.
After moving to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin teamed up with producers Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin, resulting in some of the most influential R&B recordings of the 1960s, including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", a much more soulful and impassioned song than most of her earlier work. By the late 1960s, Franklin had earned the nickname "The Queen of Soul", having become an internationally famous artist and a symbol of pride for the Black community. Franklin said herself of this period, "When I went to Atlantic, they just sat me down at the piano and the hits started coming."
She released numerous Top Ten hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, dabbling in gospel music, blues music, pop music, psychedelic music and rock and roll, including notable covers of songs by The Beatles ("Eleanor Rigby"), The Band ("The Weight"), Simon & Garfunkel ("Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Sam Cooke and The Drifters. Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace were two of her most influential full-length releases, the latter a double LP of live gospel music recorded in a Los Angeles Baptist church. Surprisingly she never made it to number one in the [UK]] pop charts — the best result being a number four with her version of Burt Bacharach's "I Say a Little Prayer" in 1968.
Among her most successful hit singles from this era were "Chain of Fools", "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)", "Think", "Baby I Love You", "The House That Jack Built", and "Respect", a cover of an Otis Redding single which became her signature song. After the R&B category was added to the Grammy Awards in 1968, she was virtually unchallenged, winning eight successive awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance; she later added three more Grammies in this category in the 1980s.
In the early 1970s, her music mellowed slightly, though losing nothing of its power, and she continued the hugely successful relationship with Wexler and Mardin while beginning to take a greater role in producing her work. A partnership with Quincy Jones led to a disappointing album in 1973 Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky). But it still produced a standout track "Angel", written by her sister Carolyn which became a soul classic.
She returned to working with Wexler, but their last collaboration, the Atlantic LP You was released in 1975.
Franklin released several LPs after You including Sparkle in 1976 which yielded a #1 R&B single, "(Giving Him )Something He Can Feel" , Sweet Passion, Almighty Fire (also produced by Curtis Mayfield) and La Diva, her last Atlantic LP.
Wexler had now left Atlantic and the partnership was over. Despite working with artists of the stature of Curtis Mayfield, popularity and critical success waned during the mid to late 1970s and the 1980s, though she scored several hits, often with partners (such as Luther Vandross). Her most notable 1980s hit was the dance song "Freeway of Love", which charted in 1985. Most critics dismiss her post-Atlantic material as far inferior to the legendary recordings of the mid to late sixties.
She married Ted White in 1962 and he became her manager during her years with Columbia Records. The marriage ended in 1969 and she has always refused to answer questions about it. A Time Magazine cover story in 1968 led to a lawsuit from Ted White over allegations that he had roughed her up in public. Th | | |
