2005 A recap....

Chronology of News Events in 2005
Dec 14, 2005
Jan. 1
Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln starts distributing tsunami aid on Sumatra island in Indonesia.
Jan. 2
Indonesia's president says Indian Ocean nations will work on tsunami warning system.
Jan. 3
President Bush taps former Presidents Clinton and the elder Bush to raise tsunami relief funds.
Energy Department says average retail gas price is $1.78 a gallon nationwide.
Jan. 6
Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen is arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi.
Jan. 9
Palestinians elect Mahmoud Abbas as president and successor to late Yasser Arafat.
Jan. 10
CBS fires three news executives and a producer for rushing to air a discredited report on Bush's National Guard service.
A mudslide in La Conchita, Calif., crushes homes and kills 10 residents.
Jan. 12
Deep Impact spacecraft blasts off, starts 268 million-mile journey to smash into comet.
Jan. 13
Major League Baseball adopts steroid-testing program that will suspend first-time offenders for 10 days and randomly test players year-round.
Jan. 14
Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. is convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and later is sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Jan. 16
Golden Globes are awarded to "The Aviator" as best drama and "Sideways" as best musical or comedy.
Jan. 18
The world's largest commercial jet, an Airbus A380 that can carry 800 passengers, is unveiled.
Jan. 19
Cancer passes heart disease as top killer of Americans age 85 and younger.
Jan. 20
President Bush is inaugurated for second term. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, ill with thyroid cancer, delivers oath of office.
Jan. 23
Former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson dies.
Jan. 26
Helicopter crash in Iraq kills 31 U.S. Marines.
Jan. 30
Iraqis vote in the country's first free election in a half-century.
Jan. 31
Vietnam says 12 people have died of bird flu in last month.
Jury selection begins in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 1
Pope John Paul II is hospitalized for breathing problems and the flu.
Feb. 3
Investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq finds gross mismanagement.
Senate confirms Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.
Feb. 6
New England Patriots win third Super Bowl in four years.
Feb. 10
North Korea boasts publicly for the first time that it has nuclear weapons.
Feb. 11
"Death of a Salesman" playwright Arthur Miller dies.
Feb. 13
Ray Charles' final album, "Genius Loves Company," wins eight Grammys.
Feb. 14
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is assassinated and suspicions focus on Syria.
A gas explosion inside a Chinese mine kills 214 people, the worst reported mining disaster since the 1949 communist revolution.
Feb. 16
National Hockey League cancels entire season after prolonged lockout.
Kyoto Protocol environmental treaty takes effect.
Feb. 17
Certified election results show a Shiite alliance won the majority of seats in Iraq's National Assembly.
Feb. 23
The New York medical examiner stops trying to identify victims of the 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center, leaving more than 1,000 victims unidentified.
Feb. 24
Pope John Paul II receives a tracheotomy to help him breathe.
Feb. 25
Municipal employee and church leader Dennis Rader is arrested for the BTK serial killings that terrorized Wichita, Kan. He later pleads guilty and is sentenced to 10 life prison terms.
Feb. 27
Academy Awards go to "Million Dollar Baby," its director Clint Eastwood, star Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.
Feb. 28
Suicide bombing targeted at security recruits kills 125 people in Hillah, Iraq.
MARCH
March 1
Supreme Court strikes down the death penalty for juvenile killers.
March 2
U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 1,500.
Woman who accused NBA star Kobe Bryant of rape settles lawsuit against him, ending case.
March 4
Martha Stewart leaves prison, starts five months of home confinement.
March 7
Bush nominates John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, then bypasses Senate opposition with recess appointment five months later.
March 8
Mount St. Helens releases towering ash plume, its most significant emission in months.
March 9
Dan Rather anchors his final "CBS Evening News."
March 10
Former President Clinton has surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid from his chest.
Michael Jackson, clad in pajamas and walking gingerly, arrives one hour late to trial after the judge threatens to arrest him for tardiness. A back injury is blamed.
March 11
A judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy are shot and killed at an Atlanta courthouse. The suspect, Brian Nichols, surrenders a day later.
March 15
Former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers is convicted of engineering the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history. Later, he's sentenced to 25 years in prison.
March 16
Actor Robert Blake is cleared in 2001 slaying of his wife. A civil court jury later orders him to pay $30 million to her four children.
March 17
Baseball players tell Congress that steroids are a problem in the sport, and stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testify they haven't used them. Mark McGwire refuses to answer.
Rapper Lil' Kim is convicted for lying to a grand jury about a shootout outside a New York radio station. She starts serving her 366-day sentence just before her fourth album is released in September.
March 18
Feeding tube keeping Terri Schiavo alive is removed after unprecedented fight over the brain-damaged woman's care.
March 20
First lady Laura Bush visits Afghanistan, talks with women in Kabul and urges greater rights.
March 22
A woman claims she found a fingertip while eating Wendy's chili, costing the fast-food chain millions in lost sales before she admitted it was a hoax.
March 23
Explosion at BP oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, kills 14 people.
March 27
Pope delivers Easter blessing at Vatican but is unable to speak.
March 31
Terri Schiavo dies 13 days after feeding tube was removed.
APRIL
April 1
President Bush authorizes quarantines if needed to prevent spread of particularly deadly flu outbreaks, a worry raised by bird flu cases in Asia.
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger pleads guilty to sneaking classified documents out of the National Archives. Later, he's sentenced to two years of probation.
FBI says explosives materials found in Terry Nichols' former home were related to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and were missed during earlier searches.
April 2
Pope John Paul II dies.
April 5
ABC News says anchor Peter Jennings has lung cancer.
April 6
Monaco's Prince Rainier dies. Son Prince Albert II later ascends to throne.
April 7
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, is named Iraq's interim prime minister. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani is sworn in as interim president.
The blockbuster painkiller Bextra is taken off the market, and the FDA says all similar prescription drugs should strongly warn about possible risk of heart attacks and strokes.
April 9
Prince Charles marries longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles, who takes the title Duchess of Cornwall.
April 10
Tiger Woods wins his fourth Masters.
April 13
Eric Rudolph pleads guilty to the 1996 Olympics bombing; he is later sentenced to life in prison for that and other bombings.
April 19
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected pope and takes the name Benedict XVI.
April 20
Bush signs legislation making it harder for people to wipe out debts by declaring bankruptcy.
April 22
Zacarias Moussaoui pleads guilty to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers.
April 26
Last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon, ending 29-year military dominance.
April 29
NASA again delays first space shuttle launch since Columbia disaster, worrying that ice falling off fuel tank could doom Discovery.
Vietnam marks 30th anniversary of war's end.
April 30
Missing Georgia woman Jennifer Wilbanks turns up in New Mexico, claiming to have been abducted but later admitting she was a "runaway bride."
MAY
May 4
Judge throws out Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, saying he was not convinced the Army reservist knew her actions were wrong at the time.
May 5
Tony Blair wins third term as British prime minister.
"Precious Doe," a slain girl mourned but unknown for four years in Kansas City, Mo., is identified as Erica Michelle Marie Green, and her mother and stepfather are charged with murder.
May 7
Giacomo, a 50-1 long shot, wins Kentucky Derby.
May 10
Bankruptcy judge approves United Airlines' plan to terminate its employees' pension plans, clearing the way for the largest corporate-pension default in American history.
May 13
Government troops in Uzbekistan put down an uprising they blame on Islamic militants. Opponents say the troops fired into crowds and killed hundreds of people.
May 15
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes surprise visit to Iraq to support its new government.
May 18
Antonio Villaraigosa is elected first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles in 133 years.
May 19
"Revenge of the Sith" opens, showing Anakin Skywalker's transformation to evil Darth Vader and completing "Star Wars" epic.
May 21
Favorite Afleet Alex wins the Preakness Stakes.
May 25
Country sweetheart Carrie Underwood wins "American Idol."
May 29
French voters soundly reject European Union constitution, which is defeated by the Dutch days later.
May 31
Former FBI official Mark Felt acknowledges he was "Deep Throat," the secret source who helped Washington Post reporters uncover Watergate.
JUNE
June 6
Judge upholds Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's victory by 129 votes in Washington state's 2004 election.
Rejection of planned Manhattan stadium effectively dooms New York City's bid for 2012 Olympics.
Actor Russell Crowe is arrested for throwing a phone that hit a hotel employee in New York. He later pleads guilty to third-degree assault.
June 7
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair embrace tentative plan to forgive debt of poor African nations.
June 11
First tropical storm of the season, Arlene, sloshes ashore in Florida Panhandle.
Afleet Alex wins the Belmont Stakes by seven lengths.
June 13
Senate apologizes for blocking anti-lynching legislation in early 20th century, when mob violence against blacks was commonplace.
Jury acquits Michael Jackson of molesting a 13-year-old boy.
June 14
U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins, who crossed into North Korea in 1965, arrives in the United States for his first visit in 40 years.
June 21
Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter in 1964 civil rights killings.
June 23
San Antonio Spurs win thrilling Game 7 over Detroit Pistons.
June 24
Tests confirm the second case of mad cow disease in the United States.
June 25
Hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins Iran's presidential election.
NAACP selects retired Verizon executive Bruce S. Gordon as its new president.
June 26
Six months after Indian Ocean tsunami, death toll stands at 178,000 in 11 countries with another 50,000 missing and presumed dead.
June 27
Oil prices settle at record high above $60 a barrel.
U.S. Supreme Court rules Ten Commandments displays are acceptable sometimes on government property.
Wal-Mart heir John Walton dies in a plane crash.
June 29
Investigator of Columbia disaster says he's fine with NASA resuming shuttle launches in just two weeks, even though some safety recommendations weren't made.
June 30
Federal Reserve raises key interest rate ninth straight time, noting rising energy prices.
Spain becomes third country to legalize gay marriage.
JULY
July 1
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, says she'll retire.
July 2
Shasta Groene, an 8-year-old girl kidnapped six weeks earlier, is rescued at a restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The man with her is arrested and accused of kidnapping and murder.
Marathon Live 8 concert rocks the globe and the Internet, focusing attention on African poverty.
July 4
Deep Impact probe collides with Tempel 1 comet, leaving a crater and kicking up dust to be studied for clues to the solar system.
July 6
New York Times reporter Judith Miller is jailed after refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the leak of an undercover CIA operative's name. She stays in jail 85 days before agreeing to testify.
London is selected as host of the 2012 Olympics.
July 7
Terrorist bombings in three Underground stations and a double-decker bus kill 56 people in the worst attack on London since World War II.
July 8
World leaders at Group of Eight summit unveil $50 billion package to help lift Africa from poverty.
July 9
A panda cub is born at the National Zoo in Washington.
July 10
Hurricane Dennis strikes Florida's Gulf Coast.
July 11
A top al-Qaida lieutenant and three other terror suspects escape a U.S. military jail in Afghanistan. The identity of Omar al-Farouq isn't acknowledged until November.
July 16
Millions of readers start "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," long awaited sixth book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series.
July 19
Bush nominates judge John G. Roberts Jr. to Supreme Court to replace O'Connor.
July 21
A repeat attack on London's transit system fails. Four suspected would-be bombers are detained later.
China stops pegging its currency to the U.S. dollar.
July 22
Labor agreement ends lockout that canceled the last hockey season.
July 24
Lance Armstrong retires after winning his seventh straight Tour de France.
July 25
AFL-CIO splinters in division over how to reverse the unions' declining membership.
July 26
Six nations resume nuclear disarmament talks that North Korea boycotted for 13 months, but little progress is made.
Discovery blasts off on first space shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years.
July 28
Pictures taken by the space station crew show Discovery wasn't damaged by debris during liftoff.
AUGUST
Aug. 1
Baseball star Rafael Palmeiro receives a 10-day suspension for steroid use.
Aug. 3
Fourteen Marines from a Reserve unit in Ohio are killed in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American forces in the Iraq war.
A South Korean cloning pioneer announces the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound named Snuppy.
Aug. 6
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier-son was killed in Iraq, starts a weekslong protest outside Bush's ranch in Texas.
Aug. 8
Iran resumes work at a uranium conversion facility after suspending nuclear work for nine months to avoid U.N. sanctions.
Aug. 9
Discovery lands safely.
Aug. 10
A Tennessee inmate and his wife are captured in Ohio days after she allegedly ambushed two prison guards, killing one of them, to help her husband escape.
Aug. 18
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft apologizes after pleading no contest to ethics violations and insists he won't resign.
Aug. 19
Drugmaker Merck & Co. is ordered to pay millions for death of man who took painkiller Vioxx in first damage award from thousands of pending lawsuits.
Aug. 22
Last Jewish settlers leave the Gaza Strip, soon to be turned over to the Palestinian government.
Aug. 25
Hurricane Katrina hits Florida with 80 mph winds and heads into the Gulf of Mexico.
Aug. 28
Mayor orders everyone in New Orleans to evacuate after Katrina grows to monster storm.
Aug. 29
Category 4 Katrina strikes Louisiana, and the first levee breaks in New Orleans.
Aug. 30
Floods cover 80 percent of New Orleans, and residents are rescued from rooftops.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 1
New Orleans convention center and Superdome swell with thousands of desperate people stranded by Katrina.
Sept. 2
President Bush tours Gulf Coast, acknowledges failure so far of government relief efforts.
Labor Department says unemployment rate for August was 4.9 percent, a four-year low.
At live-TV benefit concert, rapper Kanye West goes off-script to sharply criticize Bush.
Sept. 3
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist dies.
Sept. 4
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says thousands of people died due to Katrina and its aftermath. Official toll later stands at more than 1,300.
Sept. 5
President Bush nominates John Roberts as chief justice and says he will choose an associate justice in a timely manner.
Jerry Rice ends NFL career that included three Super Bowls and records for most career receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
Sept. 6
California Legislature becomes first in nation to approve same-sex marriages, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger later vetoes bill.
Energy Department says retail gas prices skyrocketed to average $3.069, a new record.
Sept. 7
U.S. troops rescue American Roy Hallums, held hostage 10 months in Iraq.
Sept. 12
FEMA Director Michael Brown resigns.
Sept. 14
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines file for bankruptcy.
Coordinated bombings kill at least 160 in Baghdad, the deadliest attack since Iraq's new government took office in April.
Sept. 15
Bush endorses military base closings, including Army's Walter Reed hospital.
Sept. 18
"Everybody Loves Raymond" wins Emmy for best comedy in final season; first-year hit "Lost" is named best drama.
Sept. 19
North Korea pledges to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties, but leaders quickly backpedal and disarmament talks stall.
Sept. 23
Bus full of Hurricane Rita evacuees catches fire, killing 23 nursing-home residents.
Sept. 24
Category 3 Rita strikes in eastern Texas and causes more flooding in New Orleans.
Sept. 26
Army Pfc. Lynndie England is convicted of abusing prisoners in Iraq. She's later sentenced to three years in prison.
Sept. 28
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay leaves post after indictment alleges he illegally funneled corporate donations to help Texas legislative campaigns.
Sept. 29
John Roberts takes oath of office as chief justice of the United States.
OCTOBER
Oct. 2
Tour boat capsizes on N.Y.'s Lake George, killing 20 people.
Oct. 3
President Bush nominates White House counsel Harriet Miers to Supreme Court, but she withdraws three weeks later after conservative criticism.
Oct. 5
Heavy rain falls in Central America for fourth straight day. More than 1,600 people are killed, most in Guatemala, where landslides destroyed towns.
Golfer Michelle Wie, six days before she turns 16, says she's turning professional.
Oct. 7
Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei.
Oct. 8
Major earthquake flattens villages on Pakistan-India border, kills estimated 86,000 people and leaves 3.5 million homeless.
Delphi Corp., the largest U.S. auto supplier, files for bankruptcy.
Oct. 11
Engineers finish pumping floodwaters out of New Orleans six weeks after Katrina.
China launches its second manned space flight, with two astronauts orbiting Earth for five days.
Oct. 12
A strain of bird flu that has killed humans in Asia spreads to Europe as a case is confirmed in Turkey.
Apple Computer introduces iPod that can play videos, television shows.
Oct. 14
The 2005 deficit is $319 billion, dropping from previous year but still third highest.
Blond, blue-eyed British actor Daniel Craig is named as new James Bond.
Oct. 15
Iraqis vote to approve a constitution.
Oct. 19
At start of his trial for a 1982 massacre of Shiites, defiant Saddam Hussein insists he is still Iraq's president, quarrels with judges and scuffles with guards.
Oct. 21
Hurricane Wilma strikes Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, then three days later speeds across Florida.
Oct. 24
Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies.
Bush nominates economic adviser Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chairman.
Oct. 25
U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 2,000.
Oct. 26
Chicago White Sox sweep Houston Astros to win first World Series since 1917.
Oct. 28
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser, is indicted on charges alleging he lied about disclosing CIA operative's name.
Oct. 31
Bush nominates judge Samuel Alito to Supreme Court.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1
Federal Reserve increases a key interest rate to the highest level in more than four years.
Nov. 3
European Union says it will investigate reports the CIA set up secret jails in Eastern Europe to interrogate terror suspects.
Drugmaker Merck & Co. wins for first time in court over painkiller Vioxx.
Nov. 5
Pirates attack a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia, but ship changes course and speeds away to escape.
Unrest and arsons that started in France's immigrant suburbs reach Paris. Violence diminishes two weeks later, after curfews and state of emergency are imposed.
Nov. 6
Overnight tornado kills 22 in Indiana.
Nov. 7
President Bush says the United States will aggressively pursue terrorists but "we do not torture."
Nov. 8
Kansas Board of Education approves science standards for public schools that cast doubt on evolution.
Virginia voters elect Democrat Tim Kaine as governor, and Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine (news, bio, voting record) wins governor's race in New Jersey. A slate of ballot proposals promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fails in California.
Nov. 9
Oil executives testify to Congress that their huge profits are justified, even as consumers struggle to cope with soaring gasoline and winter heating costs.
Suicide bombers strike three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing 60 people. An Iraqi woman is arrested after her own explosive belt failed.
Nov. 11
Germany's Christian Democrats seal deal with Social Democrats to form coalition government, allowing Angela Merkel to become first female chancellor.
Nov. 13
A plant explosion in Jilin, China, spills toxic chemicals into the Songhua River, the water source for major cities downstream in China and Russia.
Nov. 15
Baseball players, owners agree on tougher steroids-testing policy that increases suspension for first-time violators from 10 games to 50 games and imposes lifetime ban for third offense.
Nov. 17
Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania calls for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, saying troops have done their duty and "It's time to bring them home."
Nov. 21
General Motors says it will close 12 facilities, lay off 30,000 workers in North America.
Nov. 22
U.S. citizen Jose Padilla is charged with supporting terrorism, but indictment does not mention the alleged "dirty bomb" plot that prompted his three-year detention.
Ted Koppel airs final broadcast of ABC News' "Nightline."
Nov. 28
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California pleads guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes.
Nov. 29
Doctors in France perform world's first partial face transplant, attaching a donor's nose, lips and chin to a woman disfigured by a dog bite.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1
Roadside bomb kills 10 U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq.
Dec. 2
N.C. inmate Kenneth Lee Boyd becomes 1,000th person executed since nation resumed capital punishment 28 years ago.
Dec. 5
ABC News names Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff as co-anchors of "World News Tonight," replacing late Peter Jennings.
Dec. 7
Federal air marshals shoot and kill airline passenger at Miami International Airport after he falsely claims to have a bomb.
Dec. 8
Southwest Airlines jet slides off runway and onto busy street during snowstorm in Chicago, killing one boy in a car.
Dec. 10
Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, whose antiwar presidential campaign divided Democrats in 1968, dies.
Comedian Richard Pryor dies.