Portal:Current events/2005 November 25

November 25, 2005 (Friday)

Polish Minister of National Defence Radek Sikorski opens Warsaw Pact archives to historians. Maps of possible nuclear strikes against Western Europe, as well as the possible nuclear annihilation of 43 Polish cities and 2 million of its citizens by Soviet-controlled forces, are released. (Chicago Tribune)^{[permanent dead link]}
The European Commission starts a legal action against the Bank of Italy and its President, Antonio Fazio, who allegedly favoured the Italian bank Banca Popolare Italiana in the race to acquire Banca Antonveneta, thus penalising Dutch group ABN AMRO. (BBC)
Conflict in Iraq: German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff is kidnapped in Iraq. (BBC)
Cebu leads the "soft-opening" of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. Games will formally start on November 27, 2005, at Manila's Quirino Grandstand. (Manila Bulletin)
The president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, calls for the Holodomor to be internationally recognised as an act of genocide. (BBC)
Papua New Guinea decides to evacuate the 1500 inhabitants of Carteret Atoll to Bougainville, 100 km away, over the next two years. The atolls, maximum elevation 1.5 metres, are the first inhabited land to be abandoned to rising sea levels and they are expected to be totally inundated by around 2015. (Guardian) (Straits Times)
George Best, the Northern Irish international footballer who won the European Footballer of the Year award in 1968, has died of lung infection and organ failure at the age of 59. (BBC)
Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel hands over the bodies of three Hezbollah militants its Defence Forces killed earlier in the week to the Lebanese Government. (IOL)^{[permanent dead link]}
Al Jazeera bombing memo:
- Reporters Without Borders voice concerns over the Al Jazeera bombing memo and their shock over the reporting ban placed by the UK government on the issue. (New Kerala)
- Peter Kilfoyle, MP lodges Early day motion 1084 in the House of Commons calling on the government to publish the memo in full. (Daily Telegraph) Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine
- Wadah Khanfar, Al Jazeera's director general, is reportedly flying to the UK to discuss the matter with the UK government. (BBC)
Richard Burns, 2001 English World Rally Champion, dies due to a brain tumour that had kept him out of competition for the past two years.