Portal:Current events/2005 May 14

May 14, 2005 (Saturday)

For the first time, a helicopter lands on top of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest in Himalaya. The standard production model Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel, piloted by the Eurocopter test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at the summit at 07:08 NPT (01:23 UTC). After staying for 3 minutes and 50 seconds, Delsalle lifted off and returned to the Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla, Nepal. (MountEverest.net)(National Geographic)
South Korea announces it will restart bilateral talks with North Korea for the first time in over a year on Monday. Discussion topics are expected to include North Korea's nuclear weapons program. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Sumatra in Indonesia. (VOA) (Earth Times)
Unrest In Uzbekistan:
- Thousands of protesters reappear on the streets of Andijan in Uzbekistan despite Friday's heavy bloodshed. (BBC)
- Uzbek President Islom Karimov blames militants for the violence. (National Post)
In Taiwan, despite a low voter turnout, the Pan-Green Coalition wins the National Assembly election, with 49.6 % of the votes and 149 seats out of the 300 in the National Assembly of the Republic of China. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]} (CNN)
Peter Gloystein, financial minister for the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, resigns from his posts after he was photographed pouring a bottle of wine over a homeless man (Deutsche Welle) (SBS) (BBC)
Suspected Guatemalan drug lord Otto Roberto Herrera Garcia escapes from prison in Mexico City. He was held pending extradition to United States. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
28 men in Sudan are sentenced to 5–15 years in jail for connection in a coup attempt. The government claims that they are connected to Islamist Popular Congress Party, but the party denies the allegations. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)