Portal:Current events/2006 September 21

September 21, 2006 (Thursday)

In Uzbekistan, Komiljon Usmanov is on trial for "threatening Uzbekistan's constitutional order and public security," and is accused of allegedly leading the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. Usmanov was sentenced in 2001 to 10 years in jail on similar charges, but was freed under an amnesty. He maintains his innocence. (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty)
Former Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos is sentenced to a 20-year prison term for running guns to Colombian FARC guerrillas. (BBC)
Israeli troops raid a branch of Jordan National Bank and 23 other financial institutions, seizing the equivalent of over US$1.5 million in cash from West Bank cities. (Jordan Times)
A U.S. federal judge in San Francisco orders two San Francisco Chronicle reporters jailed for up to 18 months for refusing to reveal who leaked them secret grand jury testimony about steroids in baseball. (AP via Boston Herald)^{[permanent dead link]}
Cong Thanh Do, a U.S. democracy activist, is released by Vietnam. (Mercury News)^{[permanent dead link]}
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf says U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage threatened to bomb his country "back to the Stone Age" after the 2001 September 11 attacks if he did not help the U.S.-led War on Terror. (CTV NEWS) Archived 2006-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
The Government of Indonesia executes Christians Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42 by firing squad. The three men were accused of leading attacks on Muslims in 2000 that left 70 people dead. Thousands of police are blocking roads leading to the prison and are guarding churches. Various human rights workers have called the trial a shame. (CBS News)
Response to President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez's remarks that United States President George W. Bush is like the devil: (Washington Post) Archived 2012-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Democratic United States Representative Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calls Chávez a "thug." (Reuters)
- United States Representative Charles Rangel (D) also said in a press release that an attack on Bush is "attack on all of us (Americans)." (Rangel Press Release)
- Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Chavez is "A Dictator without Class." (News Limited/AAP)
- Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) says that Chávez's comments were "incendiary." (Radio Iowa)
United States Senate Republicans and the Bush administration announce an agreement on interrogation methods and the trial of suspects in the War on Terror. (CBS News)
Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond is seriously injured during filming for upcoming series. Hammond rolled a jet powered car at 300 mph. (BBC)
The Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center, ending STS-115. (Reuters)
Thailand coup d'état:
- The leaders of Thailand's coup ban all meetings and other activities by political parties, two days after taking power. (BBC)
- Thaksin Shinawatra urges the coup leaders "to reconcile and work toward national reconciliation for the sake of our king and country". Currently in London, he stated he was going to take a "deserved rest" for the time being. (CNN)
Turkish writer Elif Shafak is cleared of charge of "insulting Turkishness", under the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code, in an Istanbul Court. (Guardian Unlimited)
New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi admitted that he hired an employee of the state to drive around his wife. (New York Daily News)