April 2005

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Events

Click on the • beside each date for the details of one day at a time, April 1 includes world wide 'April the first' hoaxes.

1 April 2005 •

• Hamas and Islamic Jihad have declared, in principle, their intention to join the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). (Al Ahram)
• A death squad guns down at least 30 people in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Several teenagers and a child were among those killed in the districts of Queimados and Nova Iguacu on Thursday night. Authorities blame rogue police officers for the massacre. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• Google doubles the storage space of its Gmail service to two gigabytes. (internetnews.com)
• Pope John Paul II is on the verge of death as a result of his recent health problems. The Vatican announces that the pope has suffered cardiovascular collapse and septic shock. (CNN) The Vatican denies "unsourced" media reports claiming he has already died. (Reuters)
• The United Nations Security Council votes to refer those suspected of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. (Sudan Tribune) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• Zimbabwe parliamentary elections, 2005: In Zimbabwe, the ruling Zanu-PF gains a two-thirds majority over opposition party Movement for Democratic Change amidst claims of dis-enfranchisement and fraud. (News24) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Indian security forces launch an offensive against the United Liberation Front of Assam. (BBC)
• The World Bank agrees to fund a controversial hydroelectric dam project in Laos. (Planet Ark) (BBC)
• The Minuteman Project starts a month-long patrolling of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona for illegal immigrants, with about 100 volunteers, some of them armed. (ABC News)
• The government of Argentina delays the restructuring of its debt by the exchange of old bonds for new because of a decision by a federal court judge in the United States that froze the processing of the old bonds in the possession of the Bank of New York pending a hearing before the appeals court. (Financial Times)

2 April 2005 •

• Pope John Paul II passes away at 9:37 p.m. Vatican time (CEST) at the age of 84, thus beginning the period of Sede vacante. (Wikinews)
• Sumatran earthquake: Nine Australian Defence Force personnel are missing, presumed dead, after a Sea King helicopter crash on the Indonesian island of Nias. Two personnel survive. (Wikinews)
• Scientists at the California Institute of Technology devise a method to weigh the smallest mass ever, a cluster of xenon atoms weighing a few zeptograms, or billionths of a trillionth of a gram. (BBC) (AIP Bulletin)
• Riccardo Muti resigns as music director of La Scala opera house, Milan after 18 years, following a vote of no-confidence by 700 orchestra members and staff last month. (BBC)
• In France, radical wine producers attack the offices of agriculture ministries in Montpellier and Carcassonne with dynamite. A group calling itself Comité Régional d'Action Viticole (Crav) takes responsibility.(BBC) (WineNews, SA) (Independent)
• In Nepal, former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala is released from house arrest and demands the return to democracy. (New Kerala) (Telegraph, India) (BBC)

3 April 2005 •

• Conflict in Iraq: A group of at least 40 Iraqi insurgents attacks Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, using car bombs, grenades, and small arms. At least 20 American soldiers and 12 Iraqi prisoners are injured, but the US Army says it has put down the assault. (NYT) (BBC)
• Various world leaders express their condolences for the death of Pope John Paul II, including Queen Elizabeth II, John Howard, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Lawrence Gonzi. (AFR)
• Pope John Paul II lies in state in the Clementine Room of the Apostolic Palace for a private viewing, a ceremony to confirm and certify the death of the Pontifex Maximus. (Fox News)
• Deposed president of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev agrees to officially resign. (Moscow Times) (Reuters) (IHT)
• A man wielding a sword attacks a Tamil church congregation in Stuttgart, Germany, kills a woman and seriously injures three other people. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• The Marburg virus death toll in Angola rises to 146, one of them an Italian female physician in Uige. (Recombinomics) (News24) (BBC)
• In Thailand, two bombs explode in Hat Yai and one in Songkhla. Two are dead and dozens injured. (Channel News Asia) (BBC) (Bloomberg)

4 April 2005 •

• Israel is to begin dumping 10,000 tonnes of rubbish in the West Bank every month. This move is believed to be a breach of international treaties, and may also pollute the main Palestinian water supply. (Relief Web) (Haaretz) (Independent UK) (BBC)
• A UNDP report, the third Arab Human Development Report criticizes the United States for their actions in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. (TV4 Nyheterna - in Swedish) (Executive Summary of the Report)
• The United States awards its highest military award, the Medal of Honor, to Paul Ray Smith, who was killed in fighting at the Baghdad airport in 2003. This is the first presentation of the award since 1993 and only the third since the Vietnam War. (AP)
• The Vatican announces that Pope John Paul II's funeral is to take place on the morning of April 8 and that he is to be buried in the crypt of Saint Peter in the Vatican. (Guardian)
• The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, also scheduled for Friday, April 8, will be postponed one day to avoid a time conflict and allow Prince Charles to attend the Papal funeral. (BBC)
• Cuba announces three days of national mourning for Pope John Paul II. (BBC)
• Sudanese officials reject the United Nations resolution to use the International Criminal Court to prosecute the 51 people accused of responsibility for the Darfur atrocities. (ABC)
• Afghanistan:
  • Aid groups are accused of "squandering" large amounts of Afghan aid money. (Reuters)
  • Six to ten people are killed in a Taliban strike in southern Afghanistan. (BBC)
  • The United Kingdom makes plans to withdraw 5,500 troops from Iraq and place them in Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members. (The Scotsman) (Telegraph.co.uk)
• The Iraqi National Assembly elects Sunni Arab Hajim al-Hassani as its speaker. Shiite Hussain Shahristani and Kurd Aref Taifour are elected as his top deputies. The selections are the result of protracted debates between Iraq's top political parties. (BBC)
• Vandals deface the grave of Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah in the national cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Israel, spray painting them with slogans. (Ha'aretz) (Arutz Sheva) (BBC)
• Amnesty International reports that at least 3,797 people were executed and 7,395 sentenced to death in 2004. (Amnesty International) (Independent) (BBC)
• Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo fires his housing minister Alice Mobolaji Osomo for corruption in a housing scandal. (Reuters SA) (IOL) (BBC)
• The United Nations Security Council extends the mandate of UN and French peacekeepers in Côte d'Ivoire. (Reuters SA) (BBC)
• South African president Thabo Mbeki hosts a meeting between rebels and the Côte d'Ivoire government in his presidential palace. (News24) (IOL)
• The Moldovan parliament re-elects president Vladimir Voronin. (Reuters) (RIA Novosti)
• Serbian ex-police general Sreten Lukić surrenders to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He is charged for connection with killings of Kosovo Albanians in 1999 when he was a head of paramilitary group MUP. (Reuters) (BBC) (Kosovareport commentary)
• Jörg Haider, the former leader of Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), together with almost all of FPÖ's parliamentary representatives, leaves the party to found a new party Alliance for Austria's Future. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Brazilian police arrest 11 men over the Rio Massacre last Thursday when 30 people were killed. (Reuters)

5 April 2005 •

• The government of South Korea complains to the Japanese government about a revised set of official Japanese history schoolbooks. The complaint alleges the textbooks whitewash Japan's "imperialist" past, and question Korean sovereignty of the disputed Dokdo. (Korea Herald) (Japan Times)
• Tony Blair calls the General Election in the United Kingdom for May 5 2005, on the same day as the local elections. (BBC)
• Five Guatemalan politicians are convicted of racial discrimination for taunts hurled at Rigoberta Menchú. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• Preliminary results of the Italian regional elections show heavy losses for the parties in Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition. (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (BBC)
• American newscaster Peter Jennings states that he has lung cancer and will begin chemotherapy. (New York Times)
• Rwandan official Aloys Mutabingwa, a representative at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, says that 100 Rwandans connected to the Rwandan genocide are "comfortably living in France". (BBC)
• Mumbai, India police investigate a fire in which 21 circus animals died. They suspect that the Russian Circus on Ice intentionally abandoned the animals. (The Hindu) (Calcutta Telegraph) (Mumbai Newsline) (BBC)
• In Egypt, thousands of university students demonstrate for reform. (Middle East Online) (BBC)
• Nigerian senate speaker Adolphus Wabara resigns because of accusations that he took a large bribe from the education minister. (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)

6 April 2005 •

• Warring factions sign a peace treaty to end the civil war in Côte d'Ivoire, start immediate disarmament and make plans for new elections. (Globe&Mail)
• The Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party in Zimbabwe, presents 'proof of fraud' in the recent parliamentary elections that kept Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front in office. (BBC) (Reuters via Yahoo!News)
• At least 16 people are killed in Afghanistan when a U.S. military Chinook helicopter crashes in the south-eastern province of Ghazni. (BBC)
• The College of Cardinals sets April 18 as the date for a conclave for a papal election to select a successor to Pope John Paul II. (CNN)
• The world famous painting of Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa, is taken to its original location, the Salle des Etats, in the Louvre, Paris. (SKY News)
• Hong Kong's government asks Beijing to intervene in a dispute over the term to be served by new Chief Executive. (BBC)
• Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, is named as Iraq's President. (FOX News)
• The United Nations is looking at the allegations that some UN staff added false details to a UN document about the conflict of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. William Church, former UN employee and US intelligence analyst, says that some UN staff added false information about Rwandan military incursions to Congo last year. (BBC)
• Murdered British banker Alistair Wilson is buried in Nairn. The murderer is still at large. (Scotsman) (BBC)
• Monaco's Prince Rainier III dies at age 81. (NYT)
• In Brazil, members of Landless Workers' Movement (MST) occupy 12 farms trying to pressure the government to speed up land reform. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• A court on Guernsey in the English Channel blocks the release of papers that would name alleged backers of an aborted coup in Equatorial Guinea last year, due to bank secrecy in that jurisdiction. (This Is Guernsey) (BBC) (Reuters SA)
• Togolese police clash with demonstrators of the opposition party the Union of Forces for Change, who are demanding that presidential elections be postponed so that they would have more time for campaigning. (Reuters AlertNet) (Republic of Togo)
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, by a 3-2 vote, adopts a set of rules designed to create a National Market System. The dissenting commissioners describe the measure as 'anticompetitive'. (SEC press release)

7 April 2005 •

• The Mexican Chamber of Deputies votes by 360 to 127 to suspend the executive immunity of Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico City, thereby removing him from office to face criminal charges. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • A Palestinian-fired Qassam rocket hits a cemetery in the Israeli town of Sderot, causing minimal damage and no injuries. Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz says Israel will not let it pass and criticises the PA's lack of action. This is the first rocket fired inside the carrot-shaped "Green line" since late January. (Haaretz)
  • Two Jews are arrested on suspicion of planting fake bombs in Jerusalem in an attempt to disrupt the planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
  • Environmental groups condemn a plan by Israel to relocate Israeli settlers from Gaza to the Nitzanim nature reserve in southern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supports the request of some settlers to relocate the entire Gush Katif to the Nitzanim area and orders experts to start checking this issue thoroughly. Nitzanim is home to endangered turtles and around 100 gazelle. (BBC) (Haaretz)
• Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, has replaced Iyad Allawi as the interim prime minister of Iraq. (BBC)
• Passenger buses set out from India to Pakistan across the Indian Kashmir barrier through the troubled and controversial Kashmir region in a symbolic "Caravan of Peace." Some attacks on the buses were reported in the militant-occupied area, but none were successful, according to local media outlets. (MSNBC)
• The President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Chen Shui-bian will be accompanied by his foreign minister as well as Roman Catholic and Muslim religious figures for the trip to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II. (CNN) (BBC) (TVBS)
• Representatives of the government of Canada withdraw from a business conference with Iran in protest of the case of deceased journalist Zahra Kazemi. Kazemi died in Iranian police custody and Iranian refugee doctor Shahram Azam says that she had extensive injuries and had been tortured. Iranian officials deny the charges. Canada has unsuccessfully demanded return of Kazemi's body. (CTV) (IranMania) (IranMania) (BBC)
• In London, Sir Ian Blair, the chief of metropolitan police, orders an inquiry of claims that journalists of The Sun smuggled a fake bomb into grounds of Windsor Castle. (BBC)
• Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams appeals to the IRA to stop violence. (Reuters UK) (Reuters) (Irish Times) (BBC)
• In Nepal, according to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of the country, 42 people die in clashes between Maoist rebels and villagers (Reuters). Nepalese radio begins to block BBC World Service (Hindustan Times) (Asia Pacific Media Network)
• The Swiss cabinet intends to outlaw English-sounding names of government departments. (SwissInfo)
• The prime ministers of Malaysia and Australia announce that they intend begin talks of free trade agreement (Bloomberg) (Radio Australia) (Malaysian Star)
• Police in the Netherlands arrest a gang that has smuggled Chinese asylum seekers and sold them for cheap labor. (Expatica) (BBC)
• The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) announces that it has drilled a hole to the lowest level of the Earth's crust, and that it is poised to break through to the mantle, in search of the Mohorovicic discontinuity. SPACE.com

8 April 2005 •

• The funeral of Pope John Paul II takes place. (BBC)
• Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty to four bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in exchange for four life sentences. (AP/Yahoo! News)
• Islamic insurgents kill 14 people in an attack outside Algiers, trapping the victims at a fake roadblock, then killing them and burning their vehicles. (AP\Ynet News)
• A suicide bomber kills two foreign tourists in a Cairo market and injures a further score of bystanders. A group called "Islamic Pride Brigades" claims responsibility. (Haaretz), (BBC)
• Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz announces that private homes in the Gaza strip settlements will not be demolished after the disengagement plan. Religious structures such as synagogues, Mikveh baths and cemeteries will be dismantled and transferred inside the "Green line". (Haaretz), Ynet News
• Scientists at Manchester's Christie Hospital claim a cure for cancer could be available in 5 years. (BBC)
• In an interview with the Financial Times, a Hezbollah leader announces that the group would be willing to discuss potential disarmament after Israel withdraws from the Shebaa Farms. Lebanon and Syria maintain that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese territory, while the rest of the world community insists that the farms are part of the Golan Heights, thus part of Syrian territory occupied by Israel. (Financial Times) (Haaretz)
• Presidential elections begin in Djibouti. Incumbent president Ismail Omar Guelleh is the only candidate. (BBC)

9 April 2005 •

• A zircon crystal, thought to be the oldest piece of Earth at about 4.4 billion years old, goes on a one-day display at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (BBC)
• Spring 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations in China: Chinese rioters storm the Japanese embassy in Beijing. The riot grew from a protest against Japan's newly approved history textbooks, which according to critics, whitewashed Japanese wartime atrocities. (Wikinews)
• The South African New National Party, successor to the National Party which governed in the apartheid era, votes to dissolve itself following poor results in last year's elections. Its elected representatives are expected to join the governing African National Congress. (Daily News (South Africa)
• The World Health Organization announced a worsening of the Marburg virus in Angola. Doctors have suspended casualty counts due to worsening conditions; medical personnel are under increasing attacks by residents who blame doctors for the virus's spread. (CNN)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Islamic Jihad have announced that they are to "re-evaluate" their cease-fire after Israeli soldiers kill 3 Palestinians, all aged 14. Palestinian witnesses allege they were killed trying to retrieve a football in a no-go area near the Egypt border at the Rafah Refugee camp. According to Israel Radio, Palestinian security services notified Israel they had detained two boys who were not hit by IDF fire, and that the group of five youths were smugglers. At least 10 mortar shells are then fired at the Gush Katif settlements. A Hamas leader, Saeed Siyam, is quoted by the AP as saying the boys deaths would be "avenged". (Haaretz) (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (Scotsman)
• Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a 20-minute ceremony at Windsor Guildhall, which is followed by a blessing at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. (BBC) (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • 15 Iraqi soldiers have been killed following an insurgent attack near the town of Latifiya. (BBC)
  • Tens of thousands of Iraqis have staged an anti-American protest in Firdus Square, where Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled on April 9 2003. (BBC)
• Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says that despite his plans to go to New Delhi to watch the last Indo-Pak cricket ODI, Kashmir, and not cricket, was on top of his agenda. (Hindu)
• Calling for the abolition of death penalty, the Dalai Lama, currently on a visit to Japan, says criminals must be treated with compassion and made to feel part of the society. (Peninsula On-Line)

10 April 2005 •

• An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 occurs near Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia at 10:18 UTC. (BBC)
• The Mainland Affairs Council of the Republic of China (Taiwan) bans reporters from the People's Daily and Xinhua from Taiwan, saying the mainland's state-controlled media "tried to present their people with a distorted image of Taiwan". (BBC)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pushed for cooperation between India and the PRC to dominate high-tech industries. Urging the historical rivals to forget past tension, Wen said cooperation "will signify the coming of the Asian century of the IT industry." (ABC News)
• Former South African President FW de Klerk has called for a new political party to be set up following the dissolution of the New National Party. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • Israel arrests Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef on his return home after he illegally makes his way from Ramallah to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to deliver a sermon. (UPI) (Haaretz)
  • A large security operation in Jerusalem appears to have prevented Israeli Zionist extremists from staging a rally at the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif. The rally was to be in opposition to the proposed Israeli pull-out from the Gaza Strip. The police are also able to quell a stone-throwing Arab counter-demonstration. (BBC) (Haaretz)
  • Israeli Zionist extremists block a road near Tel Aviv during rush hour. Protesting the proposed Israeli pull-out from the Gaza Strip, they set tires alight and sit down on the road. Several are arrested and police are able to end the blockade within minutes. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • Militant Palestinian extremists again fire mortars at settlements in the Gaza Strip. They are believed to have been fired by Islamic Jihad. (Al Jazeera)
  • Al Jazeera states that Palestinian sources report that Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has apologised to Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasr Yusuf for the deaths of 3 Palestinian teenagers on April 9. (Al Jazeera)
• American spammer Jeremy Jaynes is sentenced for nine years in prison. The sentence is suspended until further appeals. (Spamfo) (E-Commerce News) (CNN)
• A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Tokyo. There are no reports of serious damages. (Japan Times) (Reuters)
• British carmaker MG Rover receives a loan of £6.5 million from the British government. (BBC) (Bloomberg) (Financial Times)
• Spanish police seize an ETA cache of explosives in Hernani, near San Sebastián. (EITB) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Italian deputy prime minister Marco Follini calls for an early general election after the centre-right coalition of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi lost in a regional ballot last week. (AGI) (ITH)
• In Mexico, Raúl Gibb Guerrero, editor of La Opinión newspaper, who covered Mexican drug cartels is killed. (Prensa Latina) (Reuters AlertNet) (San Diego Tribune)
• A Haitian police team and UN peacekeepers kill a prominent gang leader Grenn Sonnen (Jean Anthony Rene) and five of his supporters in a shootout. (Haiti Action Committee) (Reuters)

11 April 2005 •

• Yad Vashem bestow the honour of "Righteous Among the Nations" posthumously upon a Nazi Major, Karl Plagge. Plagge saved around 1,200 Jews, mostly women and children, from execution during the Holocaust by putting them in forced labor positions at a vehicle workshop. (BBC)
• At least 54 Hindu pilgrims have been killed when a dam in the Madhya Pradesh state in India is apparently opened by mistake. (BBC)
• Hezbollah, the Lebanese political and militant organisation, flies another unmanned drone plane over Israel. Hezbollah claims the "reconnaissance mission" was in retaliation for alleged Israeli violations of Lebanese Airspace. Israel quickly retaliates by sending jets to fly at a low altitude over southern Lebanon and caused sonic booms. (BBC)
• The election of a new secretary general of the Organization of American States ends in an unprecedented stalemate after five rounds of voting. (BBC)
• U.S. President George W. Bush praises the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his "courageous initiative" to pull all Israeli settlements out of the Gaza Strip, however Bush also told Sharon not to expand other existing settlements. The two leaders met in Texas, USA. (BBC Video) (BBC) (CNN)
• Tulip Revolution: The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan finally approves the resignation of deposed President Askar Akayev. (Fox News)
• Spring 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations in China: 20,000 protesters marching in two cities in southern Guangdong province objecting to a recently amended Japanese schoolbook which allegedly glosses over Japan's imperialist past. (CNN)
• Jeremy Jaynes, estimated to be the world's eighth most prolific spammer, is sentenced to nine years imprisonment. (IDG), (Spamfo.co.uk)
• The International Court of Justice at The Hague begins hearing a complaint by the Democratic Republic of Congo that Uganda of invaded its territory and committed human rights violations. (AllAfrica) (BBC)
• Australian Liberal MP David Tollner urges people to kill poisonous cane toads with cricket bats and golf clubs. The toads have become a nuisance in the Northern Territory. Animal rights groups prefer freezing them to death. (ABC) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• A 9-story factory building collapses in Dhaka, Bangladesh; five deaths are reported. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The World Health Organization announces that 203 people have died in Angola from the Marburg virus. News.com.au
• A court in Oslo, Norway, detains a man suspected of involved with the theft of the Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna. (Afternposten) (Reuters)
• Nepal allows United Nations Human Rights Commission to send monitors to the country to investigate claims of human rights abuses. (Times of India) (Bloomberg) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)

12 April 2005 •

• A 15-year Palestinian boy was caught in Hawara checkpoint (near Nablus), hiding five pipe bombs under his coat. He apparently tried to ignite them with a match when the soldiers apprehended him. Soldiers later pose for photographs with the boy. His brother says he did so in order to study for his high-school matriculation exams in an Israeli prison. [1] [2] (Haaretz)
• Andrus Ansip is confirmed by the Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament, as the country's next Prime Minister, following the 24 March resignation of former Prime Minster Juhan Parts. (BBC)
• Four girls who were held hostage for four hours are freed from a house in Ennepetal, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. (BBC)
• Israeli citizens against the proposed Israeli dismantling of Jewish settlements on the Gaza Strip have chained shut 167 schools and nurseries in Tel Aviv as part of their protest. The Fire Service quickly cut through the chains. (BBC) (Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
• The death toll in the collapse of a factory in Dacca, Bangladesh rises to 21 and hundreds are still trapped. (New Kerala) (Reuters)
• Anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles applies for asylum in the United States. Fidel Castro accuses the US of hypocrisy for protecting a terrorist. (Prensa Latina) (Wired)
• MareNostrum, Europe's most powerful (and the world's fourth most powerful) supercomputer, is booted up for the first time in the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain. (BusinessWeek)
• In Hungary, a group of people that claim descent from Attila the Hun demand minority status. (BBC)
• Three British men are indicted by a United States court in a 2004 alleged plot to destroy financial institutions in the USA, including such notable landmarks as the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, the Prudential building in New Jersey, and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.. The U.S. claims that one is a senior Al-Qaeda member. (Wired) (ABC News)
• Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Canadian government's Bill C-38 survives a vote on a wrecking amendment which would have defined marriage as an union between a man and a woman, introduced by the Conservative Party of Canada. (CBC)
• According to report of the Human Rights Watch, young veterans of wars in West Africa have been recruited to fight in other conflicts because they have had no other means of support. (Human Rights Watch) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The Iranian parliament approves abortion in cases where mother's life is in danger or the fetus is deformed. The bill still needs the approval of the Guardian Council. (IranMania) (Reuters UK) (Middle East Online) (Persian Journal)
• In Israel, Mordechai Vanunu is charged with 21 counts of violating the terms of his parole. (Ha'aretz) (Arutz Sheva) (Reuters)
• In Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh rules that forcing women marry against their will is against Islam. (Arab News) (Al Jazeera) (Middle East Online)
• The Indonesian army promises to give up its businesses within two years. (Jakarta Post) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Anheuser-Busch, the largest U.S. beer brewer and the No. 1 buyer of rice in the United States said it would not purchase rice grown in Missouri if it were genetically modified. This decision was prompted by a Ventria Bioscience plan to grow 200 acres (800,000 m²) of genetically engineered rice in Missouri. (AP)

13 April 2005 •

• Canada's most prominent white supremacist and founder of the Heritage Front, Wolfgang Droege, is shot to death in his apartment. One suspect is arrested at the scene. (CTV)
• Omar Karami resigns his position as the Prime Minister of Lebanon after he fails to form a government. Without a government to call them, no elections can take place in Lebanon. Elections are due this May. (BBC)
• The European Parliament votes to allow Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union in 2007. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • At least nine Iraqi police have been killed by insurgents in Kirkuk. The police were defusing a decoy bomb, when another nearby bomb detonated and killed them. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
  • Al Jazeera broadcasts a video of the civilian contractor, Jeffrey Ake, abducted in Iraq earlier this week. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Japan increases the already boiling tension with China as Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry begins allowing Japanese companies rights to drill for oil in a part of the East China Sea claimed by both nations. (BBC)
• The College of American Pathologists asks laboratories worldwide to destroy a flu sample they sent in their testing kits. The Canadian National Microbial Laboratory identified it as a strain of Asian flu virus that killed millions in 1957. People born after 1969 would have no antibodies to resist it. The World Health Organization supports the plea. (CNN) (Yahoo) (CBC)
• The National Geographic Society and IBM support a project to take DNA samples from various people all over the world to track migration of Homo sapiens from Africa. (Reuters) (New York Times)
• The death toll in the collapse of a factory in Dacca, Bangladesh increases to 30. (The Hindu) (Reuters AlertNet)
• Mount Talang volcano erupts in Sumatra, Indonesia. 27,000 residents are evacuated. (Jakarta Post) (Indonesia Relief) (Reuters)
• In Nigeria, former education minister Fabion Osuji, former senate president Adolphus Wabara and five others are charged with corruption. (Vanguard) (NigeriaWorld)
• In Germany, Armin Meiwes appeals for the reduction his sentence of eight years for cannibalism. His defense says that the killing was a mercy killing, eligible only for five years. State prosecutors appeal as well so he could retried for murder. (Deutsche Welle) (Independent)
• A group of Indigenous Australians threaten to disrupt the Commonwealth Games next year unless prime minister John Howard and others are charged with genocide. (Radio Australia) (SBS) (BBC)
• Burundi's last rebel group, Hutu Forces for National Liberation, states that they are ready to negotiate with the government. (Reuters SA) (BBC)

14 April 2005 •

• Microsoft Encarta launches a Nupedia-like version of its encyclopedia where anonymous users can submit their new or edited entries to be approved by a paid staff of editors. Server problems delayed the launch. (FairfaxDigital) (Business Week) (Encarta Blog)
• The claim that traces of the deadly poison ricin had been found in the London apartment of alleged al Qaeda operatives is proved wrong, according to a senior British official. (Seattle Times) (Guardian Unlimited)
• Researchers from the University of Miami have published a study which claims that Prisoners executed by lethal injection in the U.S. may have been aware of what was happening to them. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • Israel kills a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade following a raid into the Palestinian town of Nablus. Palestinians maintain that a special unit disguised as Arabs carried out the act. Israeli Defence Forces say the man was a "ticking bomb" and that soldier shot only after he opened fire on them. Witnesses from the Balata camp, however, say the Israelis opened fire without warning and then took the body away. (BBC) (Haaretz) (NY Times)
  • The Israeli soldier accused of shooting British cameraman James Miller is cleared of any wrongdoing by an Israeli Judge, meaning the soldier will not be prosecuted. Miller's family accuse the Israel Defense Forces of a coverup and threaten to sue. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 11 people have been killed following a double suicide bombing in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. (BBC)
• In Quito, Ecuador, riot police clash with demonstrators and strikers that protest against the government of president Lucio Gutiérrez. Congress replaced the entire supreme court last December and has not come to an agreement with the political opposition. (Reuters) (World Peace Herald)
• The Czech coalition government agrees to form a new cabinet. Jan Kohout is expected to succeed Stanislav Gross as the new prime minister. (Bloomberg) (CNN) The deal collapses later in the day when the Social Democrats reject it. (Prague Post) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Police in China arrest 15 people involved with illegal blood trade that may have contributed to the spread of AIDS. (China Daily) (People's Daily) (Reuters)