Portal:Current events/2005 November 8

{{Current events|year=2005|month=11|day=8|content=

• 2005 Liberian elections: Liberians go to the polls in a presidential run-off election between millionaire soccer star George Weah and former finance minister, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Sirleaf wins 59.4 percent to Weah's 40.6 percent. [http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2208492005 (Scotsman)] [https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/soccer-star-female-economist-face-off-in-liberia-vote-1.531262 (CBC)]
• 2005 United States elections. In the off-year elections, Democrats Tim Kaine and Jon Corzine are elected governor of Virginia and New Jersey, respectively.
• 2005 civil unrest in France: French President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency on the twelfth day of rioting in the banlieues. This followed the re-activation in a cabinet emergency session of a 1955 law allowing local authorities to impose curfews. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/international/europe/08cnd-france.html (New York Times)] (registration required)
• Trial of Saddam Hussein: Three gunmen assassinate Adel al-Zubeidi, the defense lawyer for Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was vice president of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
• Italian state-owned channel RaiNews 24 airs a controversial documentary in which Iraqi people and ex-U.S. soldiers report that white phosphorus, a chemical weapon, and Mk-77 napalm bombs were used by the U.S. Army against civilians in Fallujah last year. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417024.stm (BBC)] [http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/default_02112005.asp (Rai News 24, with video)]
• 2005 Sydney terrorism plot: Australian authorities arrest nine men, led by Abdul Nacer Benbrika, in a counterterrorism raid. Benbrika and six other men are later convicted of terrorism-related offenses. [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/terror-targets-not-known/2005/11/08/1131212028240.html (Sydney Morning Herald)]
• The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says that the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research is about to start a controversial program that could kill up to 940 whales in the name of scientific research, abusing the rights under the International Whaling Convention.

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