Mahmoud Abbas wins presidency of the Palestinian Authority.
Mahmoud Abbas
The Sudanese government and Southern rebels sign a peace agreement to end a 20-year civil war.
Iraqi elections to select a 275-seat National Assembly.
Former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri is assassinated.
Violent protests follow flawed elections in Kygyzstan.
Pope John Paul II Dies. Benedict XVI becomes the next pope.
Pope John Paul II
After a 29 year presence the Syrian military withdraws from Lebanon.
Tony Blair elected to third term.
Tony Blair
The European Union abandons plans to ratify the proposed European constitution by 2006 after both France and the Netherlands vote against it.
Former Teheran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-line conservative, wins Iran's presidential election with 62% of the vote. He defiantly pursues Iran's nuclear ambitions over the course of his first year in office.
London hit by Islamic terrorist bombings, killing 52 and wounding about 700. It is Britain's worst attack since World War II.
London bombing
Gerhard Schröder of Germany loses election to Angela Merkel, leader of the Christian Democratic Union.
Saddam Hussein goes on trial.
Saddam Hussein in court
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf becomes Africa's first woman elected head of state.
North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States. Later it agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation.
The Internet site YouTube goes online.
YouTube logo
The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, but without the participation of the US and Australia.
Violent anti-G8 demonstrations occur in Gleneagles, Scotland.
Police and demonstrators clash
Worldwide protests occur against the Iraq War, with over 150,000 protesters in Washington DC.
The 2005 Bali bombings kill 26 people and injure more than 100.
Worldwide aid pours in to help the eleven Asian countries devastated by the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami.
A 7.6 earthquake centred in the Pakistani-controlled part of the Kashmir region kills more than 80,000 and leaves an estimated 4 million homeless.
Survivours sift through the rubble
A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi during a religious pilgrimage in India kills at least 215, mostly women and children.
The Pakistan Army opens fire on insurgents in Baluchistan, in the first armed uprising since General Rahimuddin Khan's stabilisation of the province in 1978.
Pakistan Army
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.
A time bomb explodes in a Muslim shrine in Quetta, south-western Pakistan, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40.
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.
A passenger ferry capsizes and sinks in strong winds in the Bura Gauranga River in Bangladesh, leaving over 100 people missing.
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.
Bangladesh is hit by bomb explosions.
A train in Andhra Pradesh, India derails, killing at least 77 people.
At least 61 people are dead and many others wounded in three powerful blasts in the Indian capital, Delhi.
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took office as President of Sri Lanka after the Presidential Election.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Shakidor Dam fails in Pakistan due to heavy rain.
Sindhura Gadde is awarded the title "Miss India", in the Femina Miss India Pageant.
Sindhura Gadde
Hindustani Sarangi player Ram Narayan is awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour