June 26, 2006
(Monday)
- Electronic IDs will be distributed to all under the age of 12 in Belgium, as a means of protection from child abduction, and will carry a special code in addition to a hotline. (The Telegraph Group Limited)
- U.S. President George W. Bush criticises the disclosure of a program to monitor financial transactions by suspected terrorists as "disgraceful". White House Press Secretary Tony Snow also states that news organizations, including the New York Times, should think if "the public's right to know, in some cases, might override somebody's right to live..." (CNN)(White House Press Briefing)
- Waziristan War: a suicide car bombing kills six Pakistani soldiers. BBC
- Marí Alkatiri resigns as Prime Minister of East Timor after weeks of political unrest. (Melbourne Herald Sun), (Reuters) Archived 2005-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
- A suicide bomb in Pannapittya, Sri Lanka, kills three people, including Parami Kulatunga, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army. (Asian Tribune)
- Israel has stated that they will ensure that the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government is "toppled" if their captured soldier, Gilad Shalit, is killed. Three Palestinian groups claiming to hold Shalit refuse to provide information about his health via the Palestine Red Crescent, unless all jailed Palestinian women and teenagers are released from Israeli prisons. Three Qassam rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip against Israeli towns, one of them wounding 4 civilians in Sderot and causing a power outage throughout the city. (ABC News America), (Haaretz), (AFP/High Ranking Source), (Jerusalem post)
- Italians reject the modification of their constitution. In a two-day referendum, "No" beats "Yes" approximately 61% to 38%, thus keeping the text unchanged. The Northern League had announced its withdrawal from the centre-right opposition coalition if reform was defeated. Votes of Italians living abroad are still to be counted. (BBC)(CorriereDellaSera)