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April 20, 2005 (2005-04-20 ) (Wednesday)
Connecticut Governor
Jodi Rell signs a bill making same-sex civil unions legal. Connecticut is now the second
U.S. state to legalize same-sex civil unions.
(ABC)
RTÉ News states that
Pope Benedict XVI won "far more than the 77 votes" required to secure his election as pope.
(RTÉ)
Zacarias Moussaoui plans to plead guilty to charges in connection with the
September 11, 2001, attacks , which could bring him the
death penalty .
(AP)
Conflict in Iraq :
Over 50 human corpses have been removed from the
River Tigris in past weeks. Some appeared to have their
throats cut, some others
decapitated .
(BBC)
In
Haditha , a town northwest of
Baghdad , at least 19 men are shot dead. The Interim Government maintains that they are the bodies of Iraqi soldiers and had been killed by
insurgents .
(BBC)
The
Prime Minister of Italy ,
Silvio Berlusconi , resigns so as to form a new
government . He is expected to maintain the post of Prime Minister in this new government.
(BBC)
The
Government of Singapore 's approval for the building of two
casinos as part of integrated resorts in
Singapore 's new
downtown , and on
Sentosa island ignites intense speculation on the likely winners from 19 submitted proposals, and caps off more than a year of moral debates in the traditionally
conservative city.
(The Standard)
(BBC)
(CNA)
In
Israel ,
Uriel Yitzhaki is arrested on allegations of selling passports for bribes.
(BBC)
A 5.8
Richter scale
earthquake hits northern
Kyūshū ,
Japan .
(Japan Today)
(Channel News Asia)
(Reuters)
Archived 2005-04-20 at the
Wayback Machine
(Bloomberg)
World-renowned Japanese novelist
Fumio Niwa dies in Tokyo.
Vice President
Alfredo Palacio is sworn in as new interim
President of Ecuador , after
Congress removes President
Lucio Gutiérrez from office after a week of escalating street protests demanding his ouster.
Riot police fire
tear gas at protesters who demand the resignation of president Gutiérrez. One man has died of a
heart attack during the demonstration.
(ABC)
(Independent)
(BBC)
The
United Nations Commission on Human Rights demands that government of
Nepal restore
civil liberties and
democracy .
(Bloomberg)
(Reuters AlertNet)
Two members of the ruling
Mexican
National Action Party post bail for
Andrés Manuel López Obrador so he would not run a presidential campaign from jail. He cannot return to his post as mayor of
Mexico City .
(Reuters)
Archived 2005-04-24 at the
Wayback Machine
Maurice Strong ,
Canadian
United Nations representative, steps down due to allegations of involvement with
Tongsun Park and
oil for food scandal.
(CBC)
(Reuters AlertNet)
European Union representatives cancel meeting with a
Pakistan delegation because of the inclusion of hardliner
Maulana Sami ul-Haq , who allegedly has links to the
Taliban .
(Pakistan Times)
(Daily Times)
(BBC)
Spanish officials state that they are "concerned" about an apparent disappearance of
Severo Moto , leader of an opposition political movement in
Equatorial Guinea , who has lived in Spain in exile. His wife reported him missing.
(AllAfrica)
(Reuters AlertNet)
(BBC)
An explosion in a mining
explosives factory near the
Chambishi copper mine in
Zambia kills 46.
(Reuters)
Archived 2005-04-24 at the
Wayback Machine
(BBC)