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April 4, 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 Lukic 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)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2005
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