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April 7, 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)
The last British mass car manufacturer
MG Rover Group enters administration after a £1 Billion
deal with Shanghai Automotive fails to materialise. It's Longbridge
plant in Birmingham UK was once the largest manufacturing site
in the world and still the largest in western Europe when it
collapsed.
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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2005
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