2005

Learn more about 2005

2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. <references/> It was designated:

• The Year of the Volunteer by the UK government
• The World Year of Physics
• The International Year of the Eucharist in Catholicism.
• The Year of Cork City as European Capital of Culture.

See also: Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

[edit] Climate

Based on estimates by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2005 was the warmest year since reliable wide-spread instrumental measurements became available in the late 1800s, beating the previous record set in 1998 by a few hundredths of a degree Celsius.

Other researchers place 1998 at the top of the temperature record.

[edit] Geography

Due to a combination of the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, and an overactive hurricane season and other factors, 2005 was also the costliest year for natural disasters, with world wide damages estimated at over 200 billion dollars.

[edit] Events

[edit] January

• January 4 - Gunmen assassinate the Governor of Baghdad, Ali Al-Haidri.
• January 4 - USC defeats Oklahoma 55-19 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida to win college football's national championship.
• January 9 - The same storm which pounded the U.S. earlier in the month hits England and Scandinavia, leaving 13 dead with widespread flooding and power cuts.
• January 9 - Palestinian election: [Mahmoud Abbas]] is elected to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority President.
• January 12 - Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral by a Delta 2 rocket.
• January 13 - Armed militants enter Israel from Gaza and open fire near the border, killing 6 people and wounding 5 others. Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claim joint responsibility for the attack.[1]
• January 14 - The Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

• January 16 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at 66, the oldest woman in the world to do so.
• January 16 - Armed militants kill 1 person and wound 8 people in the Gush Katif settlement, Gaza Strip. Hamas claims responsibility.^{Confirmation needed}
• January 20 - George W. Bush is inaugurated in Washington, D.C. for his second term as the 43rd President of the United States.
• January 20 - Ireland completes metrication.
• January 21 - In Belmopan, Belize, unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
• January 25 - A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi during a religious pilgrimage in India kills at least 215, mostly women and small children.
• January 26 - Glendale train crash: Two trains derail, killing 11 and injuring 200, in Glendale, California near Los Angeles.
• January 30 - The first free Parliamentary elections in Iraq since 1958 take place.
• January 30 - A Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane crashes in Iraq, killing 10 British servicemen. Iraqi insurgents release a video claiming to have shot the aircraft down using a missile.^{Confirmation needed}
• January 31 - The Michael Jackson trial commences in Santa Barbara, California, 14 months after Jackson was arrested with much publicity.

[edit] February

• February 6 - Super Bowl XXXIX: The New England Patriots win their second consecutive Super Bowl title, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21.
• February 8 - Danish parliamentary election, 2005: The center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his Liberal Party wins another term.
• February 9 - An ETA car bomb injures 31 people at a conference centre in Madrid.
• February 10 - North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States.
• February 10 - Saudi Arabia holds its first ever municipal elections, in which only male citizens are allowed to vote.
• February 11 - The computer game World of Warcraft is launched in Europe.
• February 12 - Fire devastates the Windsor Building, a 32 story office block, in Madrid.
• February 13 - Lúcia Santos, the last of 3 surviving shepherd children to whom Our Lady of Fatima appeared in 1917, dies.<ref>Catholic World News, February 14, 2005, "Sister Lucia, last Fatima seer, dead at 97"</ref>
• February 14 - A massive suicide bomb blast in central Beirut kills the former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri and at least 15 other people. At least 135 other people are also hurt.
• February 14 - Around 59 people are killed and 200 injured in a fire at a mosque in Tehran, Iran.

• February 16 - The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia.
• February 16 - The National Hockey League cancels its 2004-2005 season, becoming the first North American professional league to cancel a season due to a labour dispute.
• February 19 - Suicide bombers kill more than 30 people in Iraq as Shia Muslims mark Ashura, their holiest day.
• February 20 - Spain holds a referendum on the Constitution for Europe, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
• February 20 - Early legislative elections in Portugal result in a landslide victory for José Sócrates and the Socialist Party.
• February 22 - More than 500 people are killed and over 1,000 injured after entire villages are flattened in an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale in the Zarand region of Kerman province in southern Iran.
• February 23 - A controversial French law on colonialism, requiring teachers to paint it in a positive light, is passed by the national legislature.
• February 24 - David Hernandez Arroyo goes on a shooting rampage at the Smith County Courthouse in Tyler, Texas. He kills 2, including his ex-wife, and wounds 4 others before being killed in a police chase.
• February 25 - Wichita, Kansas police apprehend the so-called BTK serial killer Dennis Rader, 31 years after his first murder.
• February 25 - Terrorists kill 5 and wound 50 in Tel Aviv, Israel; Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the attack.
• February 25 - Radio Canada International marks its 60th anniversary.
• February 26 - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asks Parliament to amend the constitution to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005.

[edit] March

• March 1 - The prosecution begins their testimony in the Michael Jackson trial.
• March 1 - Roper v. Simmons: The Supreme Court of the United States rules the death penalty unconstitutional for juveniles who committed their crimes before age 18.
• March 3 - The freighter M/V Karen Danielsen crashes into the Great Belt Bridge of Denmark. All traffic across the bridge is closed, effectively separating Denmark in two.
• March 3 - Millionaire Steve Fossett breaks a world record by completing the first non-stop, non-refueled, solo flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.
• March 4 - The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, causing the death of 1 passenger and injuring 2 more.
• March 4 - The United Nations warns that about 90 million Africans could be infected by the HIV virus in the future, without further action against the spread of the disease.
• March 5 - The 27th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held in Australia.
• March 7 - Two young men are intoxicated and die in a tequila contest held in Blanc, a nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Others are left in a coma.
• March 8 - The Pakistan Army opens fire on insurgents in Baluchistan, in the first armed uprising since General Rahimuddin Khan's stabilization of the province in 1978.
• March 10 - Singer Michael Jackson arrives 90 minutes late to his trial, still wearing his pajamas. The singer had hurt his back during the night and had just arrived from the hospital.
• March 10 - Tung Chee Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, resigns.
• March 10 - Garry Kasparov retires from professional chess.
• March 11 - In the UK, the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 is finally given Royal Assent after one of the longest ever sittings by the House of Lords.
• March 11 - Three people, including a judge, are murdered in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia; the main suspect, Brian Nichols, surrenders to police the next day.
• March 13 - Central African Republic elections, 2005: The first round leads to a runoff between top candidates Francois Bozize and Martin Ziguele.
• March 14 - The People's Republic of China ratifies an anti-secession law, aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence.
• March 14 - Approximately 1 million people gather for an opposition rally in Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It is the largest rally in Lebanon's history.

• March 16 - Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, accused of the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, are found not guilty on all counts.
• March 19 - A suspected suicide bomber in Doha, Qatar kills 1 person and injures about 12 others.
• March 19 - A time bomb explodes in a Muslim shrine in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40.
• March 19 - A blast occurs at the Xishui coal mine in Shuozhou, China, and rocks nearby Kangjiayao coal mine, killing up to 59.
• March 19 - John DeLorean, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company and designer of the DMC-12 sports car, dies after complications from a stroke.
• March 20 - At least 250 people in Japan are injured and at least 1 killed, when a magnitude 7 earthquake strikes west of Kyushu Island, just 9km (5.5 miles) below the ocean floor.
• March 21 - Ten are killed in the Red Lake High School massacre in Minnesota, the worst school shooting since the Columbine High School massacre.
• March 23 - The United States' 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refuses 2-1 to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
• March 24 - The Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan reaches its climax with the overthrow of president Askar Akayev.
• March 26 - The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the walk.
• March 28 - The 2005 Sumatran earthquake strikes off Sumatra, 3 months after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. At a magnitude of 8.7 it is the second largest earthquake since 1965.

[edit] April

• Japanese history textbooks controversy
• April 2 - Pope John Paul II dies; over 4 million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him.
• April 4 - North Carolina defeats Illinois 75-70 to win the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Edward Jones Dome in Saint Louis, Missouri.
• April 6 - The first 13th root calculation of a 200-digit number is computed by Frenchman Alexis Lemaire.
• April 6 - Rainier III, Prince of Monaco dies, succeeded by his son Albert II.
• April 7 - MG Rover, the UK's sole remaining volume producer, goes into receivership after a planned alliance with Chinese manufacturer, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, collapses.
• April 7 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing 2 foreign tourists and wounding 17 others. A group called "Islamic Pride Brigades" claims responsibility.
• April 8 - A referendum is held in Curaçao on independence vs. integration with the Netherlands.

• April 9 - Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many of them supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, march through Baghdad denouncing the U.S. occupation of Iraq, 2 years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and rally in the square where his statue was toppled in 2003.
• April 9 - The marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles takes place, after being briefly postponed after the Pope's death. Camilla assumes the titles Her Royal Highness and The Duchess of Cornwall.
• April 15 - At least 21 people die and around 50 are injured in a devastating fire at a hotel in central Paris.
• April 16 - President Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador declares a state of emergency in the capital city and dissolves the Supreme Court.
• April 17 - Twelve holidaymakers are killed in southern Switzerland when a bus carrying 27 seven people plunges 656 feet into a ravine.
• April 18 - Five people die in ethnic clashes in Iran's south-west Khuzestan province.
• April 19 - Papal conclave, 2005: Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) succeeds Pope John Paul II, becoming the 265th pope.
• April 20 - Fifty six are hurt as earthquake hits Fukuoka and Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The earthquake measured a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scale.
• April 20 - President Lucio Gutiérrez of Ecuador is said to have fled after Congress voted to sack him amid growing protests.
• April 21 - A bus crash in Vietnam's Central Highlands kills 30 Vietnamese war veterans.
• April 21 - A gunfight on the edge of the Saudi city of Mecca kills 2 militants and 2 members of the security forces.
• April 23 - Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister of Italy, re-forms the government after its dissolution 3 days earlier.
• April 25 - Amagasaki rail crash): A passenger train derails in Amagasaki Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, killing 107 people and injuring another 456.
• April 26 - Facing international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-nine year military domination of that country.
• April 27 - The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse.
• April 29 - Apple Computer releases Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger."
• April 30 - Attacks on tourists in the Egyptian capital Cairo leave 3 militants dead and at least 10 people injured.
• April 30 - Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida closes its facilities there, and moves all its production to Burbank, California.

[edit] May

• May 1 - A suicide attack targets a Kurdish funeral in the northern Iraqi town of Talafar, near Mosul, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 30 others. Earlier, at least 5 policemen and 4 civilians were killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad.
• May 2 - A blast at an illegal munitions store in northern Afghanistan kills 28 people and injures at least 13 others.
• May 3 - At least 32 people are killed and 9 others injured when 3 two-story buildings in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore collapse after gas cylinders stored in one of them explode.
• May 4 - In one of the largest insurgent attacks in Iraq to date, at least 60 people are killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bombing at a Kurdish police recruitment center in Irbil, northern Iraq.
• May 5 - United Kingdom general election, 2005: The Labour Party is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority.
• May 5 - The defence begins stating their case in the Michael Jackson trial.
• May 5 - Two homemade bombs explode outside the British consulate in New York City.
• May 7 - A plane crash in Lockhart River, Australia kills 15 people.
• May 10 - A hand grenade ostensibly thrown by Vladimir Arutinian lands about 100 feet (30 m) from United States President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but malfunctions and does not detonate.
• May 11 - Serial killer Michael Ross becomes the first person executed in New England in 45 years.
• May 12 - An election is held in the Cayman Islands 7 months later than originally scheduled due to Hurricane Ivan. It results in a change of government, with the United Democratic Party giving 4 seats to the then-opposition People's Progressive Movement in the 15 member Legislative Assembly.
• May 13 - Uzbek troops kill up to 700 during protests in eastern Uzbekistan over the trials of 23 accused Islamic extremists. President Islam Karimov defends the act.
• May 13 - The United States Department of Defense issues a list of bases to be closed as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC 2005).
• May 13 - The final episode of the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise is broadcast in the United States. This episode marks the first time since 1987 that a Star Trek series is not in production.
• May 15 - A passenger ferry capsizes and sinks in strong winds in the Bura Gauranga River in Bangladesh, leaving over 100 people missing.
• May 16 - Sony officially unveils its PlayStation 3 game console at an E3 conference.
• May 16 - George Galloway appears before a U.S. Senate committee, to answer allegations of making money from the Iraqi Oil-for-Food Programme.
• May 17 - Kuwaiti women are granted the right to vote.
• May 19 - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is released, effectively completing the Star Wars movie saga begun by George Lucas in 1977 and shattering the opening day box-office record with $50,013,859.
• May 19 - The Canadian House of Commons members narrowly pass two budget bills at a second reading, allowing the minority Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin to stay in power.
• May 21 - Greece wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine.
• May 25 - Liverpool F.C. wins the UEFA Champions League by defeating AC Milan 3-2 in a penalty shootout in Istanbul.
• May 25 - The defense rests its case in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial.
• May 25 - The Acting Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang, resigns for participating in the Chief Executive Election last July. As a result, Henry Tang and Michael Suen become the Acting Chief Executive and Acting Chief Secretary for Administration respectively.
• May 27 - Mark Hobson is sentenced to life imprisonment for four murders committed in Yorkshire the previous summer. The trial judge recommends that Hobson, a 35-year-old former binman, should never be released from prison.
• May 29 - A French referendum on the European Constitution votes resoundingly to reject it.
• May 31 - W. Mark Felt is confirmed to be Deep Throat.

[edit] June

• June 1 - A Dutch referendum on the European Constitution votes to reject it, the second country to do so.
• June 2 - The construction of Northrop Grumman X-47B, the world's first unmanned surveillance attack aircraft that can operate from both land bases and aircraft carriers, begins.
• June 3 - WCBS-FM in New York City abruptly drops its oldies format to become Jack FM.
• June 5 - Switzerland votes to join the Schengen area and to allow same-sex partnerships.
• June 6 - Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam resigns.
• June 6 - Apple Computer announces in a keynote address that they will begin production of Intel-chipped Macintosh computers in 2006.
• June 9 2005 Logan Airport runway incursion: Almost 400 people narrowly avoid death when 2 jet airliners nearly collide on the runway.
• June 13 - 2005 trial of Michael Jackson: Singer Michael Jackson is acquitted of all charges in his child molestation trial.
• June 17 - (California earthquakes of June 2005): A 6.7 aftershock, which followed a 5.3 earthquake the previous day, hits California, making it the 4th earthquake since June 12 in California.
• June 17 - Because of "quadruple-witching" options and futures expiration, the New York Stock Exchange sees the heaviest first-hour trading on record. 704 million shares are traded between 9:30-10:30 A.M. (1.92 billion shares for the day).
• June 18-June 19 - Green Day performs their biggest concert to date (and one of the biggest rock concerts) at Milton Keynes, England, performing the next day as well to a total of over 130,000 people. The concert is released on CD/DVD on November 15, which is known as Bullet in a Bible.
• June 19 - Preliminarty election results in the Autonomous Community of Galicia, Spain show that Manuel Fraga and the Partido Popular have lost control of the autonomous parliament.
• June 21 - A Volna booster rocket carrying the first light sail spacecraft (a joint Russian-United States project) fails 83 seconds after its launch, destroying the spacecraft.
• June 23 - The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals. The series is the first NBA Finals in 11 years to go to a seventh game.
• June 28 - Queen Elizabeth II conducts the International Fleet Review of 167 international warships in the Solent, as part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations.
• June 30 - Spain joins Belgium and the Netherlands in permitting same-sex marriage.

[edit] July

• July 2 - Live 8, a series of 10 simultaneous concerts take place throughout the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History campaign.
• July 4 - NASA's "Copper bullet" from Deep Impact spacecraft hits Comet Tempel 1, creating a crater for scientific studies.
• July 4 - Violent anti-G8 demonstrations occur in Gleneagles, Scotland.
• July 6 - The European Parliament rejects the Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in its second reading in the codecision procedure.
• July 6 - The International Olympic Committee awards the 2012 Summer Olympics to London.
• July 7 - Four explosions rock the transport network in London, 3 on the London Underground and 1 on a bus; 56 people die and over 700 are injured (See 7 July 2005 London bombings).
• July 7 - Al-Qaeda admits to killing Egypt's Ambassador, Ihab al-Sherif.
• July 10 - A Luxembourgish referendum on the European Constitution votes to accept it.
• July 10 - Hurricane Dennis strikes near Navarre Beach, Florida as a Category 3 storm, killing 10 people after killing over 50 people in the Caribbean.
• July 12 - Terrorists kill 5 people and wound 90 in a crowded mall in Netanya, Israel. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for attack.
• July 13 - Ghotki rail crash: Three trains collide in Ghotki, Pakistan, killing over 150 people.
• July 14 - A mortar fired from the Gaza strip kills Dana Galkowicz, in the Netiv Haasara Moshav.
• July 16 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book of the Harry Potter saga by the British writer J. K. Rowling, is released.
• July 19 - President Bush nominates Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court, following the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor.
• July 20 - Canada's Civil Marriage Act, legalizing same-sex marriage, receives Royal Assent.
• July 21 - A terrorist attack on London, similar to the July 7 attacks, includes 4 attempted bomb attacks on 3 underground trains and a London bus. The bombs fail to explode properly, and only 1 injury is reported, later found to be unconnected.
• July 22 - A Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, is shot dead at a London underground station by police who mistake him for a suicide bomber.
• July 23 - A series of blasts hit a resort town in Egypt. See July 23, 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks.
• July 24 - Lance Armstrong wins a record 7th straight Tours de France before his scheduled retirement.

• July 26 - STS-114: The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on its "Return To Flight" mission. This is the first space shuttle flight in nearly 2 1/2 years since the breakup of Space Shuttle Columbia on its return from mission STS-107.

• July 26 - Mumbai and the Mumbai Conurbation area is submerged in 5-7 ft. of water due to heavy rains, making nearby dams release water causing a massive flood, which virtually stops the financial capital of India for 4-5 days.
• July 28 - The Provisional IRA issues a statement formally ordering an end to the armed campaign it has pursued since 1969 and ordering all its units to dump their arms.

[edit] August

• August 1 - King Fahd of Saudi Arabia dies, succeeded by his half-brother Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
• August 2 - Air France Flight 358 bursts into flames after overshooting the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport; all aboard survive.
• August 6 - An ATR-72 heading from Italy to Tunisia crashes into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 16 of 39 on board.
• August 9 - Space Shuttle Discovery returns to Edwards Air Force Base at 0814 EDT, completing STS-114, "Return to Flight."
• August 12 - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched.
• August 14 - Helios Airways Flight 522 crashes into a mountain in Greece, killing 121.
• August 16 - West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes into a mountain in Venezuela, killing 152 passengers.
• August 16 - The XX World Youth Day begins in Cologne, Germany.
• August 17 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
• August 17 - Bangladesh is hit by bomb explosions. [2]
• August 17 - Sellapan Ramanathan gains victory in the Singapore Presidential elections, 2005.
• August 18 - BTK killer Dennis Rader receives 10 consecutive life sentences.
• August 18 - Peace Mission 2005, the first joint China-Russia military exercise, begins its 8-day training on the Shandong peninsula.
• August 21 - The British rock band The Rolling Stones kicks off their A Bigger Bang tour with a show in Fenway Park, Boston.
• August 22 - A 4.1-kg (9-pound) meteorite crashes into the Dotito area of Zambezi Escarpment in Zimbabwe, leaving a 15-cm (6-inch) crater.

• August 23 - Israel's unilateral disengagement from 25 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank ends.
• August 24 - Hong Kong High Court Judge Michael Hartmann rules that sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
• August 26 - Jean Michel Jarre's "Space of Freedom" concert is held in Gdańsk, Poland, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the creation of Solidarność ("Solidarity" trade union).
• August 28 - A terrorist wounds 52 at a bus station in Beersheba, Israel. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the attack.
• August 29 - At least 1,836 are killed, and severe damage is caused along the U.S. Gulf Coast, as Hurricane Katrina strikes the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastal areas.
• August 31 - A crowd crush on the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills several hundred civilians (see Baghdad bridge stampede).

[edit] September