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Including: Riots across France; Jordan hotel bombings; River pollution in China; Bird flu in Eastern Europe; Iranian aircraft Tehran building; UN Climate conference; and more. PAKISTANI RAPE VICTIM MUKHTAR MAI GIVEN BRAVERY AWARD Glamour magazine honoured rape victim Mukhtar Mai with a bravery award for her courage in bringing her violators to justice in conservative Pakistan. Mukhtar was raped in 2002 by a group of men on the orders of the tribal council (Jirga) as a family punishment after her younger brother was accused of sexual relations with a girl from an influential tribe. An appeal is pending in Paksitan's Supreme Court against a high court order to free 13 men of involvement in the crime. 'SCOOTER' LIBBY PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO CHARGES IN CIA LEAK PROBE President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, plead not guilty on November 3 to charges in the CIA leak probe, in a case that could put a spotlight on how the Bush administration made its case for the Iraq war. Libby resigned in October after he was indicted on five counts of obstructing justice, perjury and lying in the two-year investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. RIOTING AND CIVIL UNREST SPREAD FROM IMPOVERISHED SUBURBS OF PARIS ACROSS FRANCE, GOVERNMENT IMPOSES STATE OF EMERGENCY Sixteen nights of rioting and civil unrest across France were sparked after two youths of North African origin were electrocuted on October 27 in an electricity substation in what locals say was an attempt to escape the police. Authorities deny that they were being chased by police at the time. More than 5,000 cars were set ablaze and at least 1,500 people detained, many of them of Arab and African origin. One person died. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose tough line on the unrest had been widely criticised, said "We can see that the French integration model is not working and needs to be seriously revisited." JORDAN HOTEL BOMBINGS KILL OVER 50 PEOPLE Three suicide attacks on luxury hotels in Jordan's capital killed 56 people and injured 96 people on November 9, many of them attending wedding parties. Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in a statement that a "group of our best lions" had carried out the attacks. LIBERIA ELECTS FIRST FEMALE HEAD OF STATE IN AFRICA Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa's first elected female head of state after winning presidential elections in Liberia with 59.4 percent of the vote. Nicknamed the "Iron lady", the Harvard-educated economist beat former football star George Weah in an election run-off. Weah alleged the run-off vote was rigged but international observers said the poll was largely free and fair. SUICIDE ATTACKS ON TWO MOSQUES KILL AT LEAST 80 IN IRAQ A series of suicide bombings in Iraq left at least 80 people dead and another 100 injured on November 18. In the worst attacks, suicide bombers struck two Shia mosques in the town of Khanaqin near the Iranian border, killing at least 74 people. IRAQ PRISONER ABUSE ALLEGATIONS Earlier the same week, the Iraqi Interior Ministry denied allegations of systematic prisoner abuse, saying only a handful of the 173 detainees found by U.S. troops in a secret prison bunker were assaulted. Many of the prisoners said they had been beaten, tortured and deprived of food. Photographs showed signs of serious bruising and malnourishment. The discovery sparked in inspection process by Iraqi and U.S. officials which on December 12, saw a second packed prison in Baghdad, where 625 inmates were being held in very overcrowded conditions. GAZA BORDER WITH EGYPT OPENS UNDER PALESTINIAN CONTROL Palestinians formally opened on November 25 a border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt that will allow Gazans to travel abroad freely for the first time since Israel occupied the coastal territory in 1967. The cross-border movement will be supervised by European Union monitors as part of a U.S.-brokered deal after Israel's Gaza pullout in September and the first travellers were to begin using the terminal on November 26. RIVER POLLUTION THREATENS POPULATION OF CHINESE CITY OF HARBIN A toxic spillage into the Songhua river after an explosion at a petro chemical factory in Jilin threatened the water supplies of the north eastern city of Harbin for five days at the end of November. Schools were closed and residents urged not to panic buy supplies of bottled water. Imported water was rationed to drinking and washing as soldiers were deployed to install filters into water plants to absorb the chemicals. ASTEROID SCARES LOCALS IN SOUTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA, PROVIDES SPECTACULAR LIGHT SHOW Western Australia was treated to a spectacular light show on December 3 night as a meteor blazed through the sky, leaving a bright tail in its wake. Resident of Halls Head, south of Perth, Karun Cowper, who was enjoying a meal with his family at Halls Head, caught the moment on camera. SHIMON PERES THROWS HIS SUPPORT BEHIND PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON AND HIS NEW KADIMA PARTY Veteran Israeli statesman Shimon Peres threw his weight behind Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima Party. Sharon said Peres would play a key role in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking if Kadima won Israel's March's election. EXCLUSION ZONE SET UP IN CRIMEA AS CULLS CONTINUE AGAINST SPREAD OF BIRD FLU IN EASTERN EUROPE Ukrainian troops moved from house to house on December 4 in five villages in the Crimea peninsula where a virulent strain of bird flu has been detected, removing domestic birds for a mass cull in pits being excavated by diggers. Three kilometre exclusion zones were set up around each village. U.S. FORCES LAUNCH HEAVY BOMBARDMENT ON IRAQI CITY OF RAMADI FOLLOWING INSURGENT ATTACK As the year drew to a close the fighting in Iraq continued. American forces launched a heavy air bombardment on the Iraqi city of Ramadi on December 6 in retaliation for an insurgent attack on a U.S. military vehicle. IRANIAN MILITARY AIRCRAFT CRASHES IN TO TEHRAN APARTMENT BLOCK KILLING OVER 100 PEOPLE In one of the worst aircraft crashes of the year, an Iranian military aircraft burst into flames and smashed into a Tehran apartment block on December 6, killing all on board and others on the ground. 108 people died when a C-130 transport plane, carrying scores of journalists to cover military exercises in the south of the country, crashed. UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN MONTREAL ON GREATEST CHALLENGE FACING HUMANITY, HALTING GLOBAL WARMING Environment ministers agreed on December 10 to a road map to extend the Kyoto Protocol climate pact beyond 2012, breaking two weeks of deadlock at U.N. talks aimed at curbing global warming. The agreement on a Kyoto renewal road map gives members seven years to negotiate and ratify accords by the time the first phase ends in 2012. Most countries agree that deeper cuts will be needed to avoid climate chaos in coming decades. Global warming is widely blamed on a build-up of gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, cars and factories.