Portal:Current events/2005 April 4

April 4, 2005 (Monday)

War in Afghanistan:
- Aid groups are accused of "squandering" large amounts of Afghan aid money. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
- 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) Archived 2005-04-07 at the Library of Congress Web Archives
Israel is to begin dumping 10,000 tonnes of rubbish in the West Bank every month. Opponents say the move is a breach of international treaties and may also pollute the main Palestinian water supply, an assertion denied by the Israelis. (Haaretz) (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)^{[permanent dead link]} (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)
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. (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)^{[permanent dead link]} (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. (Al Jazeera)
In basketball, the North Carolina Tar Heels beat the Illinois Fighting Illini, 75-70, to win the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. (CBS News)