Leaked communications between two U.S. military prosecutors reveal internal doubts about the military commission system established to tryGuantanamo Bay detainees. In separate emails, the prosecutors allege that the commission system is rigged in favour of the prosecution and that the cases being pursued are "marginal". In Australia, the Australian Government came under renewed pressure to withdraw its support for the commissions, under which Australian citizen David Hicks would be tried. (Wikinews)(ABC)
President Bush endorses intelligent design, stating that it should be taught in school. He is quoted as saying: "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." A large portion of the scientific community does not recognise ID as a scientific theory and considers it to be creationistpseudoscience.(Boston Globe)
Anti-disengagement protesters rally in Sderot. The organizers said the crowd numbered 50,000, but police estimated the figure between 10,000 and 15,000. Some 18,000 troops and 12,000 police are involved in preventing protesters from getting to the Gush KatifIsraeli settlement on the Gaza Strip. (INN), (BBC), (HaAretz)
The Chinese national oil company CNOOC has withdrawn a bid for Unocal quelling the fears that the deal would give a foreign government too much control over American oil reserves. Chevron is now expected to acquire Unocal. (NY Times)
In Germany, police in Brandenburg announce that they have uncovered bones of nine newborn babies that had been buried in flower pots. The woman believed to be their mother, identified in newspapers as "Sabine H.", has been arrested in the worst case of individual infanticide in German history. (Reuters)(BBC)
More than 800 people have been wounded and 84 killed in the violence which erupted in Sudan after ex-rebel southern leader John Garang died in a helicopter crash. (BBC)(Reuters)
In Malaysia, former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim receives apology and compensation from former chief of police Rahim Noor, who beat him September 1999 ago when he was arrested on dubious grounds. In return, Ibrahim drops the case again him. (Channel News Aaia)(Reuters)
Wikimania has started. Audio streams are available on Meta. Reuters has reported that new restrictions on editingWikipedia and other rules, such as removing the ability to edit articles with "stable contents", are being considered, allegedly to protect against vandalism. (Reuters) The report is based on an interview with Jimmy Wales conducted by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.(SZ)
Three Irishmen accused of training Colombian FARC rebels have returned to Ireland. (RTÉ)
Yahoo! has introduced a test version of a new search service Yahoo! Audio Search that it claims can comb through 50 million music, voice and other audio files. (Yahoo! Audio)
Oil for food scandal: the UN-appointed panel released its third report. According to it, Benon Sevan took nearly $150,000 in cash bribes. A former UN procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev has pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from UN contractors. (BBC)
The Mayor of Baghdad, Alaa al-Tamimi, has been removed from office after 120 armed men, operating on behalf of the Interim Iraqi Government, stormed his office and installed the provincial governor in his place. (BBC)
In Delhi, India - SaMaPa (Sopori Academy Of Music and Performing Arts) presents its Inaugural Music Festival - SamaPA Sangeet Sammelan -2005' at IHC. the chief guests on the occasion are Chief Minister Smt. Sheila Dikshit and Dr. Farooq Abdullah. the function began with the Academy's Anthem -Saraswati Vandana composed by Abhay Rustum Sopori. a sitar and sarod recital by two young Zunain Halim Khan and Anirban Dasgupta and vocal recital by Bugum Parween Sultana are the main highlights of the day. Also samapa has introduced a cash award of Rs. 1,00,000 to Smt. Shameem Azad (for her contribution to Kashmiri Music) and Pandit Ramashray Jha (for contribution to Indian classical music).
The United States and the African Union have dropped their demands that last week's coup in Mauritania be reversed. The US is working with the military junta to ensure that multi-party elections are held as soon as possible (BBC)
Yahoo Inc. is negotiating to pay approx. US$1 billion, plus the transfer of its own China operations, in return for a 35% equity stake in Alibaba.com, China's second-largest e-commerce concern. (Reuters)
A private company, Space Adventures, announces plans to create a tourism program to send people around the Moon. A 5 1/2 day lunar flight could happen in 2008 or 2009, and cost about 100 million USD. (Yahoo), (CNN)
Scott Sullivan, once the chief financial officer of WorldCom, then the star witness in the prosecution of his former boss there, Bernie Ebbers, is sentenced to five years in prison.
At least 80 people have died from water-borne diseases and over 5,000 are sick in the western Indian state of Maharashtra following recent floods. (BBC)
An unofficial strike by ground staff at Heathrow forces British Airways to cancel over 100 flights. Flights have resumed. (BBC)
Salva Kiir, the new vice-president of Sudan, is opposed to independence for the country's south. (BBC) The Ugandan government shuts down a radio station for broadcasting a debate on the cause of death of former Sudanese vice-president John Garang. (BBC)
Kashmiri insurgents kill two defence committee soldiers and three members of their families, and injured nine others, three of them critically, in Mahore area of Udhampur district. (Economic Times)
Singapore President SR Nathan is returned unopposed by the Presidential Elections Committee, which ruled that he is the only eligible candidate out of 4 applicants. Singapore's nomination day is on October 17. (Bernama)
Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been sworn in as Kyrgyzstan's new president after winning nearly 90 percent of the vote last month in an election to find a successor to President Askar Akayev, who was ousted during protests in March.(Reuters)
The Indonesian government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) sign a peace deal aimed at ending their near 30 year conflict. (BBC), (chosun.com). UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan applauded both parties for reaching a peaceful settlement of the dispute through dialogue, and commended Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, for the mediation role that he played throughout the negotiation process. (XinHua)
