A hostage situation at a Russian school ended on Friday, September 5 with over 300 people dead, including over 150 children. The attackers, believed to have been Chechen separatists, stormed the school on September 3, taking many inside hostage and planting explosives throughout the school. Some of these explosives in the gymnasium went off, killing scores of people inside. More deaths were attributed to gun fighting between the attackers and Russian military forces. Russian president Vladimir Putin vowed to step up the fight against Chechen rebels, who have orchestrated several attacks against Russia in recent years.
John Garang, leader of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, has called for a unified national government in Sudan, claiming it would be the only way to end violence there that has been going on for years. Garang's remarks come as the United Nations considers a second resolution directing the Sudanese government to put an end to militia attacks on minority groups in the Darfur region, where tens of thousands have been killed.
The United States is calling for Iran to put an end to plans to start a uranium enrichment program, even as Iran has offered to suspend such programs. The proposed compromise would have Iran stop its enrichment program as long as European nations agree to take some of the pressure off Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. has insisted that Iran is seeking to create nuclear warheads, while Iran claims it is only working on nuclear power generation.
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq has now topped 1000, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday, September 8. Regarded by many political observers as a symbolic number, the Pentagon's announcement prompted responses from both the White House and from Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Kerry said that "Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq," while a spokesman for President Bush stated that "we remember, honor and mourn the loss of all those that made the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom."