Portal:Current events/2005 March 16

March 16, 2005 (Wednesday)

Israel formally hands Jericho to Palestinian Authority control, which is likely to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas. The PA will resume security control over the city and will have to make sure that wanted militants will remain in check. (Yahoo!)(BBC)
Anti-fascist protesters in the center of Riga, Latvia, end up in custody after trying to stop the annual march of Waffen-SS veterans and young radical nationalists. (BBC)
Russia announces that it will pay US$10 m to the people who betrayed Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed by Russian special forces. (The Guardian)
President of Bolivia Carlos Mesa has asked the country's congress to approve early elections in August to replace him to "prevent bloodbath". There are still widespread opposition protests against his economic policies. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]} (Bloomberg) (BBC)
President of El Salvador, Tony Saca, criticises new inquiries of The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights into El Mozote massacre in 1981. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
The United States Senate accuses seven US banks of complicity of allowing Augusto Pinochet to set up 100 bank accounts to hide money total to US$15 million. (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-18 at the Wayback Machine (CNN) (BBC)
Amnesty International states that fair elections are "impossible" in Zimbabwe. (Amnesty International) (Reuters AlertNet) (News24)
In the Supreme Court of British Columbia today, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were found not guilty in their trial for the bombing of Air India Flight 182. (The Globe and Mail) (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-18 at the Wayback Machine (Bloomberg)
European Union postpones negotiations for Croatia's possible membership. Delegates state that Zagreb has not cooperated with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in trying to arrest suspected war criminal Ante Gotovina. (EUObserver) (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (World Peace Herald)
A plane crash in Russia kills 28, some of them employees of Lukoil oil company. (Mosnews) (RIA Novosti) (Bloomberg)
Zambian government files corruption charges against ex-president Frederick Chiluba in a British High Court. He is accused of defrauding the state of the equivalent of US$35 million. (Reuters SA) (BBC)
United Nations withdraws its foreign personnel from west of Darfur after threats from pro-government militias. (AllAfrica) (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-18 at the Wayback Machine (BBC)
Iran publicly executes serial killer Mohammed Bijeh, nicknamed the "Tehran Desert Vampire". (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
In Japan, Hitachi unveils two examples of its wheeled robot Emiew. (Reuters) Archived 2015-04-23 at archive.today (Slashdot)
In China, smth, the biggest BBS in Chinese campus, announced that IP outside the Tsinghua University would be blocked off. (yahoo)