After several recounts, DemocratChristine Gregoire is declared the winner of the Washington governor election. However, her Republican opponent Dino Rossi, who was initially declared the winner after the initial tabulation and a recount, has not conceded and proposes a special election be held. (USA Today)(ABC)
Theater and TV Actor Jerry Orbach has died at the age of 69 in New York City, he was in treatment for prostate cancer. He is most famous for his work in Law & Order. He is surrived by his second wife Elaine Cancilla and his sons from his first marriage Chris and Tony. (Yahoo!)
Voting machine manufacturer Diebold will pay a $2.6 million settlement to the State of California over the lawsuit filed by the state in September alleging that Diebold was not truthful about the security and reliability of its electronic voting machines. [1]
In a sharp change from their traditional role, members of the U.S. Electoral College have filed a protest of the official election results, one even casting his electoral vote "provisionally" upon a revote. They have called for a member of the senate to protest the election results on January 6th. [2],[3],[4]
In Topeka, Kansas, USA, days-old baby Victoria Jo Stinnett is reunited with her father after her mother was allegedly strangled to death by Lisa Montgomery. Montgomery then cut the baby from her mother's womb and abducted the child. The AMBER Alert system is credited with assisting her safe recovery. (CNN)
Sprint Corporation announces a US$35 billion deal to acquire Nextel Communications. With about $40 billion in combined yearly revenue the resulting company (called Sprint Nextel) will be the third largest wireless telephone service provider in the US. (MSNBC)
The leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, tells the BBC's Newsnight programme that his group has had secret contacts with the United States and the European Union. (BBC)
All members of the Ohio delegation of the Electoral College cast their ballots for George W. Bush while a legal recount is still ongoing, after a written request by 11 Democratic congressmen (pdf) to suspend voting. (ABC)(ABC)
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary will be holding a congressional forum in Columbus concerning new evidence of election irregularities and fraud in Ohio, the issue of Ohio electors meeting while recounts and litigation are pending, and to discuss legislative and other responses to the problems, on Dec. 13. (pdf)
The Civil Rights Coalition schedules a protest for Dec. 18, demanding a re-vote in "areas where substantive disenfranchisement took place" and the prosecution of officials involved in "election fraud." (Civil Rights Coalition)
Camp X-Ray Prisoner Controversy: "Australian Taleban" David Hicks, held at the US military camp in Guantanamo Bay, says he has been beaten, kicked, handcuffed and blindfolded, his head slammed into concrete, forced to run in leg shackles, routinely deprived of sleep and offered the services of a prostitute by US troops. (BBC)
President George W. Bush nominates Jim Nicholson, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, as his nominee for Veterans Affairs Secretary replacing out going secretary Anthony Principi.
The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of state laws that block merchants from shipping wine across state lines. Affected businesses and consumers claim that such laws are invalid under the commerce clause, long held to ban a state's discrimination against interstate commerce.
In a sworn affidavit Monday, a former programmer for a NASA contractor said that he developed a vote-rigging prototype at the request of a then-Florida state representative, Tom Feeney, who is now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. (Blue Lemur)(bradblog)
The U.S.consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is car bombed and then stormed by gunmen, killing nine Saudis. Saudi security forces kill three of the gunmen, arrest two others, and are in pursuit of several more. There are no U.S. casualties. (BBC)(Reuters/AFP)
Hundreds gather at the Ohio statehouse to demand a recount of votes, citing fraud that took votes from John Kerry and gave them to George W. Bush. (AP)
A lawsuit challenging the Volusia County, Florida election is thrown out for being a day late. The suit claims paperwork is missing from 59 of Volusia's 179 precincts and that precinct printouts show different numbers. (AP)
More than 20 are killed and many more injured in a series of attacks on Iraqis working for the United States by Iraqi insurgents today. (ABC)(BBC)(Reuters)
Dissident investors in Disney, including former board member Roy Disney, nephew of the company founder Walt Disney, announced that they won't nominate a slate of alternate directors for the 2005 annual meeting. The announcement is a sign of an easing of tensions at that corporation's board. thestreet.com
CBS and NBC refuse to air an advertisement by the United Church of Christ citing the advocacy of accepting homosexuals is "too controversial". The advertisement was accepted by numerous other networks including Fox, ABC and TBS. (CNN)(UCC)
