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10 American soldiers killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan Ten American soldiers were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near the Afghanistan, Pakistan border close to a landing zone in the Kunar province. The Taliban claim they shot it down but the U.S. military says there is no indication that was the cause of the crash. Tension in central Athens during anti-war rally Fierce clashes between anarchist demonstrators and greek police took place in the centre of Athens, Greece, during the anti-war demonstration of the 4th European Social Forum. Riot police used tear gas, while a branch of a greek bank, a fast-food store and around 50 shop windows in central Athens were damaged.

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Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy involved in car accident near U.S. Capitol U.S. Representative Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) was involved in a traffic accident near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. at about 2:45 a.m. (EDT) yesterday morning. A police report was filed and it is unknown if Kennedy was arrested.

Wikipedia Current Events
The People's Republic of China appoints Paul Pei Junmin to the status of a Catholic bishop approved by the Vatican on Sunday, just days after the diplomatic clash due to the ordination of two other bishops by Beijing. Mahamat Nouri, until recently the Chadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who has previously served as the Chadian Defense Minister, defects to Sudan and joins the United Front for Democratic Change rebels. The People's Action Party is returned to government in Singapore for the twelth time with winning 82 out of 84 seats with the ruling party winning 66.6% of the total votes in the 2006 general election. The starboard engine of the cruise liner Calypso, sailing from Tilbury to St Peter Port on Guernsey, catches fire at 4 AM, 16 miles off Eastbourne, southeast of the British coast. Its crew puts the fire out, after its 708 passengers are moved into its lifeboats. Rescue lifeboats attend but neither these nor the ship's lifeboats are needed. The People's Republic of China plans to launch satellites for lunar surveying, probing the moon's surface, physiognomy, landform and geological structure.

Getafe CF coach Schuster criticises preliminary Spanish World Cup pick

Spanish Coat of Arms

On Friday, Luis Aragones, coach of the Spanish national football team, announced the preliminary squad for the World Cup finals in Germany. The pick was criticised by Getafe coach Bernd Schuster.

The 27-man squad includes 7 players from the Premier League, among them Chelsea left-back Asier Del Horno. Schuster claims that Getafe full-back Mariano Pernia should have been picked instead. "All Del Horno has done this year is kick Barcelona's Lionel Messi in the Champions League," says Schuster, refering to Horno's red card in the Champions League game between Chelsea and Barcelona back in February.

Pernia, who was born in Argentina, has dual citizenship, and could play for Spain in the World Cup finals. According to Schuster, Pernia had a successful season in La Liga, scoring ten goals.

Aragones must announce his 23-man squad by May 15.

Anarchists, police clash in central Athens during anti-war rally

Tension and battles between Greek police and anarchist demonstrators took place in the centre of Athens, Greece, during the anti-war demonstration of the 4th European Social Forum which is taking place in the greek capital, from 4 to 7 of May 2006. The march of the approximately 1,000 anarchists, ended with clashes between groups of anarchists and police. Riot police used tear gas, while a branch of a greek bank, a fast-food store and around 50 shop windows in central Athens were damaged.

The anti-war demonstration rally staged by the 4th European Social Forum started today morning with socialist politicians, peace and environmental groups from Greece and all over the world attending. It was organized by the Synaspismos party, a coalition of Social Movements and Ecology Parties of Greece. Thousands of people from Europe, Asia, and America, members of Greek labour unions and non-government organisations took part in the march together with representatives of the Steering Committee. According to the European Social Forum and the organizers, there were approximately 80,000 demonstrators.

A group of youths set off clashes outside the British embassy, the War Museum, the Ministry of Foreign Ministry and the Parliament. They then headed to Ermou Street, where they vandalised several shops. Riot police arrested more than 15 people. Further small-scale incidents were reported shortly after 5pm near the U.S. embassy and the Athens Police Headquarters, when a group of anarchists hurled Molotov cocktails against police officers and cars.

Car hits five-year-old Australian girl

A car driven by an 80-year-old man has hit a five year old girl at a pedestrian crossing at Frenchs Forest Road in Seaforth, in Sydney's north at 4pm AEST.

Sophie Delezio, 5, was rushed to Sydney Children’s Hospital. She has injuries to shoulder, jaw, numerous rib fractures but her most serious injury is bleeding around her left lung. She is in hospital and expected to fully recover. She is expected to be in intensive care for three weeks. She is not expected to have to undergo surgery. A drug called NevoSeven is credited with stopping the bleeding around her lung.

The 80-year-old driver of the car that crashed into her has been arrested on negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm and failing to give way at a pedestrian crossing. He is expected to front Manly Court on 15 July 2006.

Sophie was also involved in an accident involving a driver crashing into the Roundhouse Childcare Centre on December 15, 2003 causing her severe burns to 85% of her body. She also lost both feet, some fingers, and her right ear.

10 American soldiers killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan

Ten American soldiers were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border close to a landing zone in the Kunar province. A military spokesman said it crashed while conducting combat operations. The Soldiers were involved with Operation Mountain Lion which is aimed at rooting out al-Qaeda and former Taliban militants.

U.S. Army CH-47 Helicopter

"The remains of all the 10 soldiers have been found and there are no survivors. There is no indication that the helicopter came down due to some enemy action. Additional aircraft and crews were also at the landing zone and confirmed that enemy forces did not cause the crash," said Lt. Tamara D. Lawrence, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military.

However; Muhamad Hanif, a Taliban spokesman, said that the crash was the result of the Taliban. He also said that advanced weaponary was used to shoot down helicopters.

"We have no indication that that happened," said Lawrence in response to Hanif's claim. "The crash occurred in a very mountainous terrain and the landing zone was very difficult. It was a mountain-top landing zone. There were various weather factors that could have come into play ... There were high winds. We are investigating any possible causes for the accident but there were no enemy actions detected at the scene," she added.

In June of 2005, Taliban forces brought down a Chinook in the same province, which killed all American soldiers onboard. According to the military, rocket-propelled grenades were used in that attack.

At least 2,500 American soldiers are involved with Operation Mountain Lion and there are at least 20,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan, 18,000 of which are American soldiers.

Michelle Wie makes cut in Korean men's golf tournament

U.S. golfer Michelle Wie made the cut yesterday in the 2006 SK Telecom Open in Inchon, South Korea, finishing the second round with a 3-under-par 69 and 5-under-par overall, tying her for 17th overall.

This was Wie's eighth attempt at making it past the halfway point in a men's professional golf tournament. She had played in seven tournaments on the PGA, Canadian, Nationwide, and Japanese tours, failing to make the 36-hole cut in all seven attempts.

The 16-year old golfer from Hawaii became the second woman to accomplish this feat in a Korean men's tournament, after Se Ri Pak made the cut in the 2003 SBS Pro-Golf Championship and went on to finish 10th.

4 year old Indian boy runs 40 miles in 7 hours

A four-year-old Indian boy from the eastern state of Orissa ran 65 kilometers (40 miles) continuously, setting an Indian record and possibly a world record as well.

Budhia Singh, a slum resident whose talent was discovered by a local coach, completed his run in seven hours and two minutes. Budhia had originally planned to run 43 miles, but doctors intervened at the 40-mile mark when he started showing signs of extreme exhaustion. 300 cadets from the Central Reserve Police Force, which plans to sponsor his upbringing, escorted Budhia, while thousands of onlookers cheered him on.

Officials from the Limca Book of Records, India's best-known record book, witnessed the run and said that Budhia's accomplishment would appear in the 2007 edition of the book.

Coach Biranchi Das says that he had seen Budhia's talent when Budhia accidentally entered a sports field without permission. Das had the boy run laps as punishment, but after five hours the boy was still running.

Human rights groups in India decried the run, saying that government officials endangered Budhia's life by allowing him to run in sweltering temperatures. "It is an act done so rashly or negligently to endanger human life or the personal safety of others as defined under section 336 of the Indian Penal Code," said Suhas Chakma, director of the Asian Center for Human Rights.

Das said that doctors had examined the boy and found nothing wrong.

"I loved running today. I can run as much as I want," Budhia said after the run.

Polls open for the 2006 Parliamentary Elections, Singapore

Singapore polling stations opened this morning at 8 a.m. SGT (0000 UTC) and are expected to run until 8 p.m. SGT (1200 UTC) tonight. Election results are expected from as early as 10 p.m. SGT (1400 UTC).

Flag of Singapore

For the first time in 18 years, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) has not won a walkover victory on Nomination Day on 26th April after opposition parties fielded candidates for 47 of the 84 seats. However, political analysts believe that the PAP will win a majority victory again.

This is the first parliamentary election for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after he took over from the former Prime Minister and current Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong stepped down in August 2004 in a planned leadership transition. Lee, 54, is the son of the Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was the Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990.

As election surveys and exit polls are banned in Singapore, it is difficult to determine how the political outcome might be. However, in the previous parliamentary elections in 2001, the PAP won 82 of 84 seats with 55 walkovers. The 2 remaining seats went to Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Low Thia Khiang of the Workers' Party (WP). A win of less than 80 of the 84 seats could prove an embarrassment for PM Lee.

The last nine days saw intense campaigning from the incumbent PAP, the SDA, the WP and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). Several thousands of people attended the opposition rallies. Debates about the widening income gap, rising medical costs, job cuts, and calls for a less authoritarian political system dominated the campaigning.

Today in History

May 7

1763: Indian Wars: Chief Pontiac led an attempt to seize Fort Detroit and drive out the British settlers, beginning Pontiac's Rebellion.

1824: Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor premiered in Vienna.

1915: World War I: The ocean liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine Unterseeboot 20, killing 1,198 on board.

1920: Kiev Offensive: Polish-Ukrainian troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły captured Kiev during the Polish-Soviet War.

1945: End of World War II in Europe: On behalf of Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, General Alfred Jodl signed and submitted the capitulation documents to the Allies in Reims, France.

Quote of the Day

From Wikiquote
"The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in each new revelation."

- Rabindranath Tagore

Word of the Day

From Wiktionary

aah; interj

Definition

Indication of amazement or surprise or enthusiasm.

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