October 12, 2004

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[edit] October 12, 2004

• Federal, state, and local officials in the U.S. state of Nevada are gathering information regarding allegations that a private voter registration firm, Voters Outreach of America, destroyed registration forms collected from Democratic voters while submitting those collected from Republican voters. (KLAS-TV)
• Cambodia's legislature votes to allow a nine-member council to choose a successor to King Norodom Sihanouk. It is expected the council will choose Prince Norodom Sihamoni. (VOA)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • Moussa Arafat, cousin of Yasser Arafat and a top security official in the Gaza Strip, survives an apparent assassination attempt when a car bomb explodes in his convoy. (Reuters)
  • In the Gaza Strip, Ghadir Mokheimer, an 11-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl, is struck in the chest and critically wounded by gunfire when Israeli troops open fire near her school. She dies one day later. The Israeli army says soldiers returned fire after coming under mortar attack. (BBC: 1, 2) (CNN)
• The Nigerian government announces that last month, Nigerian Sharia courts sentenced two women, one of whom is pregnant, to death by stoning on charges of committing adultery, while acquitting the two men involved. The sentence may still be appealed. (Reuters)
• The government of Saudi Arabia announces that women will be prohibited from running as candidates or voting in the country's upcoming municipal elections. The elections, the first in Saudi Arabia since the 1960s, will be held from February 10 to April 21, 2005. (CNN)
• Conflict in Iraq: A U.S. Air Force air strike destroys Haji Hussein, the most popular restaurant in insurgent-controlled Fallujah. The U.S. says the restaurant was being used by militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Witnesses say two civilian security guards were killed in the attack. (BBC) (ABC Australia) (Reuters)
• The trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević for alleged war crimes has resumed after a month's delay. (BBC)
• Pakistan test fires a nuclear-capable missile with a range of 1,500 km (930 miles), sufficient to reach most cities in neighboring India. Pakistan and India routinely test their missiles. (BBC)(The Hindu [India])