February 16, 2006 (Thursday)
- Oxfam reports hundreds of thousands are affected by severe water shortages in Kenya and Somalia. (AllAfrica.com)
- Tens of thousands of refugees are homeless in the Western Sahara after rains wiped out their shelters. (AllAfrica.com)
- Bolkestein directive: 391 MEP vote for the new directive against 213 (among them the Party of the European Left, the European Green Party and the French Socialist Party). The controversial "country of origin principle", which had led to the Polish plumber controversy, was abandoned, although the current legislation still favorize it (BBC).
- Following their Palestinian legislative election victory, Hamas chooses Ismail Haniya, considered a moderate, as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. (BBC)
- Telephone recordings show governors in plot against journalist Lydia Cacho who exposed a ring of pedophiles. The recordings include conversations between businessman Kamel Nacif Borge and governors Mario Marín (Puebla) and Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía (Chiapas) in which they arrange for her imprisonment and bribe prison guards to have her raped on arrival. (El Universal) (Reporters Without Borders)
- A United Nations report condemns the continued existence of Camp Delta, and multiple breaches of Human Rights by the US. (BBC). The UN says that prisoners held there should be immediately charged or released. Like many other countries that the UN Human Rights watchdog has heavily criticised, the US has attacked the report as invalid (BBC). The UN report is available online as a large 54 page PDF
- Abu Ghraib prison abuse:
- After allegations of fraud, officials in Haiti have reached an agreement to declare René Préval the winner of that country's election. (BBC)
- Tokelau self-determination referendum, 2006: Tokelau decides to remain a New Zealand territory after a referendum on self-governance. A 60% majority voted in favor of self-governance, but a two-thirds majority was required for the referendum to succeed. (NZ Government press release)