Current events of 25 July 2006 (2006-07-25) (Tuesday) edit history watch

The Interstate Abortion Bill is passed by the United States Senate. The bill would make it illegal for non-parents to take a minor to another state to obtain an abortion without parental consent. (Washington Post)(Congress Record, Not yet updated) Typhoon Kaemi hits Taiwan with 119 kilometre winds, injuring four people. The landfall in Jinjiang, Fujian 4 hours later prompts the evacuation of more than 500,000 residents in Fujian and Zhejiang, where Typhoon Bilis claimed 612 lives. (Hindustan Times) (Xinhua) Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains): The Israeli army has been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in an operation in northern Gaza. According to the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during an incursion into the town of Beit Hanoun last week. (BBC) 2006 Kodori Gorge clashes: Georgia sends a military force to the Kodori Valley in the breakaway Abkhazia region, prompting a warning from Russia. (Interfax) (BBC) 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict: Israeli army radio reports that Israeli Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has ordered the air force to destroy 10 multi-story buildings in the Dahiya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa. As of Sunday the ratio of reported deaths was more than 17:1. (News24)(Scoop) Four UN peacekeepers die after being, according to the United Nations, shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery, and a rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble. "I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by IDF of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement from Rome. Israeli ambassadors expressed regret but called the assertion that the attacks were deliberate "baseless". The IDF will investigate the incident. (BBC News) (CTV NEWS) Also, the IDF announces that it has killed Abu Jafaar, a leading Hezbullah commander in charge of the central Lebanese border. (Haaretz) (CNN) US-based Human Rights Watch says Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas during its assault on Lebanon. (BBC) (Al-Jazeera) A missile, fired by Israel, has hit a house in Lebanon; seven civilians confirmed dead. (AP) Israel says it will keep control over an area in southern Lebanon until an international force can be deployed. (BBC) (Al-Jazeera) (NY Times) 90 rockets have been fired at northern Israel, killing an Israeli-Arab teenager and wounding about 20 others. (Haaretz) An Israeli air strike destroys two Red Cross ambulances. (The Guardian) 2006 Ukraine parliament crisis. Ukraine's parliament, Verkhovna Rada, misses the deadline to form a coalition, facing a possible dissolution. (BBC News)