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Time: 21:52 UTC  |  Date: April 20

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Other current events
World - Sci-Tech
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Current events by region 2006 developments by topic
See also: Wikinews

Recent Deaths
April • 19: Albert Scott Crossfield • 13: Muriel Spark • 13: Arthur Winston • 12: William Sloane Coffin • 12: Rajkumar • 11: DeShaun “Proof” Holton • 11: June Pointer • 8: Richard Pearlman • 8: Gerard Reve • 5: Gene Pitney • 4: Denis Donaldson • 2: Nina von Stauffenberg • 2: Michael J. Novosel

Events

Recent • XVIII Commonwealth Games • Malaysian Baldgate scandal • NSA Spying Controversy • Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry Ongoing • Abramoff scandal • Ariel Sharon illness • Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak • Black sites scandal • CIA leak grand jury investigation • Formation of a new Iraqi government • Horn of Africa food crisis • Iran’s nuclear program • Liberal leadership race in Canada • Malawi food crisis • Montenegrin independence campaign • Muhammad cartoons controversy • North Indian cyclone season • Demonstrations in Nepal • Pacific typhoon season • Southern Hemisphere cyclone season • Cole Inquiry

Ongoing armed conflicts
• Acholiland insurgency • Arab-Israeli conflict (Al-Aqsa Intifada) • Darfur conflict in Sudan • Iraq War • Ituri conflict in the DR Congo • Ivorian Civil War • Nepal Civil War • Second Chechen War • South Thailand insurgency

Elections

Upcoming - April 21: Haiti, Parliament (2nd Round) 23: Hungary, Parliament (2nd Round) 27: Scotland, Moray by-election 30: Laos, Parliamentary Upcoming - May 3: Chad, President 4: England, Local government 6: Singapore, General Election 6 - 13: Fiji, General Election 7: Peru, President (2nd Round) 14: Comoros, Federal president 16: Dominican Republic, Legislature 21: Montenegro, independence referendum 21: Cyprus, Parliament 28: Colombia, President 28 and 29: Italy, Local government 28 and 29: Sicily, President and Regional Assembly 31: Montserrat, President 31: South Korea, Local government Results - April 2: Thailand, Legislative (Lower house) 9: Peru, President (1st Round) and legislature 9 and 10: Italy, Parliament 9: Hungary, Parliament (1st Round) 15: India, State legislature 19: Thailand, Legislature (Upper house) Results - March 28: Israel, legislature 26: Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada 19: Belarus, Presidential 19: Benin, Presidential 18: South Australia, legislative election 18: Tasmania, legislative election 12: Colombian legislative elections 12: El Salvadoran legislative elections 11: Malta, Local Council Elections 6: Netherlands, municipal 1: South Africa, municipal

Trials

Upcoming Israel: Mordechai Vanunu Libya: Benghazi Six U.S.: Conrad Black U.S.: José Padilla U.S.: Lewis “Scooter” Libby Ongoing Chile: Alberto Fujimori (extradition) Chile: Augusto Pinochet Ethiopia: 111 defendants, including leaders of the CUD and journalists, for charges related to the 2005 elections. Iraq: Iraqi Special Tribunal — Saddam Hussein, among others Netherlands: ICC — Thomas Lubanga Netherlands: ICTY Russia: Nur-Pashi Kulayev Sierra Leone: SCfSL — Charles Taylor South Africa: Jacob Zuma UK: Leo O’Connor & David Keogh U.S.: Brian Nichols U.S.: Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling U.S.: Tom DeLay U.S.: Zacarias Moussaoui

Upcoming holidays and observances

April 20: Festival of Matsu (South Eastern China) 20: Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá’í Faith) 21: Tiradentes (Brazil) 21: Grounation Day (Rastafari movement) 21: Good Friday (Eastern Christianity) 21: San Jacinto Day (Texas) 22: Great Sabbath (Eastern Christianity) 22: Earth Day (United States) 23: Easter (Eastern Christianity) 23: Saint George’s Day (England, Georgia, Bulgaria, Portugal and Catalonia) 23: National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Turkey) 23: World Book and Copyright Day 24: The Feast Day of Saint George (Greece) 24: Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia) 25: ANZAC Day (Australia & New Zealand) 25: Freedom Greg Day (Portugal) 25: Liberation Day (Italy) 25: Africa Malaria Day 25: Red Hat Society Day 25: Yom HaShoah (Israel) 25: Flag Day (Faroe Islands) 26: Administrative Professionals’ Day (Canada, USA) 26: Confederate Memorial Day (Florida, Georgia) 26: World Intellectual Property Day 27: Freedom Day (South Africa) 27: Constitution Day (Serbia) 27: World Day of Design 28: World Day for Safety and Health at Work 29: Greenery Day (Japan) 29: International Dance Day 29: Queen’s Day (Netherlands) 30: Walpurgis Night (various European countries) 30: Reunification Day (Vietnam) May 1: May Day

News about Wikipedia About this page

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20 April 2006 (Thursday)

• Following reports of the UK government’s hostility to a takeover of Centrica, Russian gas giant Gazprom warns of Europe-wide supply disruption (Channel4 News)
• April 2006 Nepalese General strike: Nepali police opened fire on pro-democracy protesters to prevent them from marching into Kathmandu, the capital, killing at least three people and injuring dozens. (Reuters) The United Nations condemns the “the excessive and deadly use of force by members of the security forces against protesters and innocent bystanders”. (BBC)
• The Tamil Tigers have ended peace talks, stating they are not viable indefinitely. (Reuters)
• U.S. test pilot Scott Crossfield dies in an air crash of a private plane.(AP)
• A vast river system connecting various subglacial lakes is discovered under the Antarctic ice shield. (MSNBC) (BBC) (nationalgeographic.com)
• U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes the Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White House. A Falun Gong protester–an accredited journalist from The Epoch Times–interrupts Hu’s speech at the arrival ceremony. (BBC)
• German automaker Volkswagen is in talks for a restructuring program to cut costs and make the core unit Volkswagen more profitable. (AP via Yahoo)
• Snyder Rini was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands and took office in secret, amid continued post-election rioting targeting ethnic Chinese. (Guardian)

19 April 2006 (Wednesday)

• The Italian Supreme Court has confirmed the victory of centre-left opposition candidate Romano Prodi in last week’s contested Italian general election, 2006, dismissing complaints by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that the vote was marred by irregularities. (BBC) (Reuters)
• White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan announces his resignation. Karl Rove is expected to lose his position as Deputy Chief of Staff for political development. President George W. Bush tries to shake up his cabinet because of the mid-term elections in November. (BBC)
• The Bolivian army frees three ministers taken hostage by local village people in El Mutún, the world’s largest iron ore deposit (Le Monde).
• Elections in the Solomon Islands: The announcement of the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Snyder Rini, causes riots in Honiara. Australia and New Zealand promise to send more troops to keep order. (Radio NZ) (VOA)

18 April 2006 (Tuesday)

• Hu Jintao arrives in Seattle, Washington on his first visit to the United States since becoming President of the People’s Republic of China in 2003. (CNN).
• The H5N1 strain of avian flu is reported in Sudan following reports in neighbouring Egypt. (BBC)
• The New York Stock Exchange is in merger talks with London Stock Exchange. If the merger went ahead, it would create a stock exchange giant. (Reuters)
• The Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam opens in Hanoi amid the PMU-18 corruption scandal. (Reuters) (BBC)
• 2006 European floods: Thousands of emergency workers in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia try to bolster dikes to prevent flooding along the swollen Danube River, which has surged to its highest level in more than a century. (CNN) Several thousand people have been evacuated from their homes. (BBC)
• An El Al airplane in which a malfunction had been detected made a successful emergency landing at the Ben Gurion Airport. The flight, which had departed for Moscow made its way back to Tel Aviv after a malfunction was discovered in one of its wheels upon liftoff. The plane emptied its fuel tank above the sea and then landed at the Ben Gurion airport. (Ynetnews)
• Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Events marking the centennial will be held today and will continue through the end of the year. (CBS) (BBC)

• The head of Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas monopoly, told officials of the European Union not to “politicize” the gas market — the speech was part of an escalating war of words between Russia as supplier and the EU as customer. (Moscow Times)

17 April 2006 (Monday)

• A general strike in Nepal called by political parties opposed to King Gyanendra enters its 12th day, with food shortages and price rises triggering panic buying in some areas. (BBC) Security forces fatally shot a protester and wounded five in Nijgadh, 75 miles south of Katmandu. (CNN)
• 21-year-old Palestinian Sami Hammad, a suicide bomber, blew himself up at the old central bus station in southern Tel Aviv, in the Neveh Sha’anan neighborhood. Nine people were killed and 70 more were wounded in the blast. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has taken responsibility for the bombing. A Hamas spokesman calls the attack an “act of self-defense.” (Haaretz) (Ynetnews) (CNN) (BBC)

16 April 2006 (Sunday)

• In Dublin, Irish military forces parade for the first time since 1970 in commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern lays a wreath at Kilmainham Jail, where most of the rebel leaders were subsequently shot, in memory of the civilian and military dead of both sides. (BBC)
• Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, holds an official meeting and banquet with the Honorary Chairman of the Nationalist Party of China (Kuomintang), Lien Chan. The two reached on the new “15 Favourable Policies” on relations between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. (People’s Daily)

15 April 2006 (Saturday)

• 2006 European floods: The Danube rises to its highest level in more than a century. (CNN)
• In a gunfight with the Afghani Police Force, the Taliban lose 41 fighters and the police lose 6. (National Nine News)
• Two trains collide in Java, Indonesia, killing at least 13 people and injuring 26 others. (BBC)
• The Jammu and Kashmir police arrest nine suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad members in connection with the grenade attacks that shook Srinagar killing five and injuring 40 others. (The Tribune) (The Hindu)
• Thousands of people have taken part in pro-democracy marches in towns and cities across Nepal. (BBC)

14 April 2006 (Friday)

• Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticizes Israel in a three-day conference attended by Palestinian Hamas officials. He calls the Israeli regime “a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.” (Washington Post)
• Chad severs diplomatic ties with Sudan following an attempted coup by Chadian rebels in which around 350 died. Chad accuses Sudan of sponsoring the rebels. (AP)
• Burundi lifts a midnight-to-dawn curfew that has been in place for 34 years. (BBC)
• 2006 European floods: The Danube, swollen by heavy rain and melting snow, rises to record levels, and floods hundreds of homes in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. (BBC)
• In Delhi, India, two explosions inside the 16th century mosque Jama Masjid injure at least nine people. (BBC) (VOA)
• An editorial in The Lancet, an influential medical journal, says that researchers should study the effects of psychedelic drugs by using them themselves, and thereby weakening the force of the social demonization of such substances. (Guardian)
• An accident occurs on the Yurikamome rail line in Tokyo, Japan when a damaged axle causes a rubber traction tire on a train to fall off, forcing the cancellation of all weekend train services. (Kyodo News)
• Suspected militants kill at least four civilians in a series of grenade attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir. A fifth civilian dies after police opens fire on the suspected militants. At least 17 others are injured. (BBC)
• A man disfigured in a bear attack becomes the first in China to have a face transplant. (BBC)

13 April 2006 (Thursday)

• Battle of N’Djamena: The United Front for Democratic Change’s attack on the Chadian capital of N’Djamena is repelled by the Chadian army. (Canadian Press) The UN Security Council condemns the rebel attack. (BBC)

12 April 2006 (Wednesday)

• United Front for Democratic Change rebels approach N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. (BBC)
• Coronary specialist Sir Magdi Yacoub operates on Welsh schoolgirl cardiomyopathy patient Hannah Clark, whose original heart is reconnected, after a donor heart was rejected by her body. This is a UK-first organ-replacement reversal. (BBC)
• John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia denies being aware of an Australian company giving “kick-backs” to Saddam Hussein during the United Nation’s Oil for food programme. (BBC)
• The UK’s Terrorism Act 2006 comes into force, making illegal the act of glorifying terrorism. (BBC)
• Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka: coordinated bombings and rioting in the north-eastern part of the country leaves 16 dead. A claymore anti-personnel mine explodes in Trincomalee, killing 2 policemen in their vehicle. Another blast set off in a crowded vegetable market kills 1 soldier and civilians. Ensuing rioting leaves more than a dozen dead. Authorities have blamed LTTE rebels for the recent attacks since Monday. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Fossils of Australopithecus anamensis help bridge a long gap during a crucial phase of human evolution. (BBC)
• A teenager, Joe Van Holsbeeck, is stabbed to death at rush hour in Brussels Central Railway station’s main hall in Belgium. (VRTNieuws)

11 April 2006 (Tuesday)

• The city of Essen, Germany is selected to be the European Capital of Culture of 2010 by the EU jury. (Deutsche Welle)
• A suspected suicide bomber detonates a bomb at a religious gathering in Karachi, Pakistan, killing at least 47 and injuring more than 80 celebrating Mawlid al-Nabi. (BBC)
• Bernardo Provenzano, boss of the Sicilian Mafia (capo di tutti i capi), is caught near the town of Corleone. (BBC)
• The Venus Express spacecraft of the European Space Agency approaches Venus approximately 5 months after it was launched and starts its main engine burn to slow itself down and allow the capture into orbit around Venus. (BBC) (ESA)
• Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka: a bus carrying soldiers from Trincomalee hits a claymore mine, killing 10 navy sailors, their driver and leaving another 8 wounded. A pair of British tourists are also injured in the blast. (BBC)
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has successfully enriched uranium. In a televised address from the northeastern city of Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said “I am officially announcing that Iran has joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology”. (Bloomberg)

10 April 2006 (Monday)

• Preliminary results from the general election in Peru shows Ollanta Humala leading, but certain to face a runoff election in late May or early June. Alan García is narrowly leading Lourdes Flores for second place and a spot in the runoff. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• Non-violent demonstrations for immigrant rights are held in dozens of U.S. cities today in opposition to H.R. 4437, which would classify illegal aliens as felons. (Reuters) (New York Times) (AP via Wired)
• Shedden massacre: Ontario Provincial Police announce that five people have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of eight people found dead in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The OPP also confirms that the deaths were connected to an “internal cleansing” of the Bandidos biker gang. (CBC)
• Matthias Platzeck resigns from the Chair of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) after suffering a major hearing loss in March 2006 because of occupational stress. The next SPD chairman will be Kurt Beck (Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate). (BBC)
• Italian general election, 2006: Romano Prodi declares victory in a tight election as preliminary results show The Union ahead of Silvio Berlusconi’s House of Freedoms by 0.1 percent in the Chamber of Deputies, but Berlusconi refuses to concede. (BBC) (La Stampa)
• The government of France announces the withdrawal of its youth employment law. The proposed law had catalyzed more than a month of sometimes-violent protests on the streets of Paris and other cities. (Washington Post)
• Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka: a claymore mine explodes in northern Jaffna, killing 5 soldiers on patrol and 2 civilians working for the Caritas Internationalis aid agency. (BBC)
• Pakistan’s foreign office declares that the United States did not keep it fully informed about the Indo-US nuclear deal as the information shared initially with it did not match the final agreement. (Pakistan Link) (The Dawn, Pakistan)

9 April 2006 (Sunday)

• Scooter Libby says U.S. President George W. Bush okayed leaks of secret CIA intelligence material. (Buffalo News)
• Hungarian parliamentary election, 2006: The ruling Hungarian Socialist Party wins the first round. Voter turnout was 67.7 percent.(XinHua)

8 April 2006 (Saturday)

• Shedden massacre: Eight bodies are found by a resident in a cornfield in southwest Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Provincial Police launch a full-scale murder investigation. (CBC) (London Free Press (Ontario)) (National Nine News)
• The United Front for Democratic Change has attacked and gained control of the cities of Haraze Mangueigne, Am Timan, and Abou-Deia, in Chad. Their initial attack came from northern Central African Republic with the help of the Military of Sudan. This is the largest and most successful attack since the start of the Chadian-Sudanese conflict despite taking only an hour, with only four men injured and none killed because the Chadian military has either fled or refused to fight the rebels. (AlertNet)
• The death toll in the Djibouti ferry disaster reaches 109. (Reuters)
• The Aligarh Riots between Hindus and Muslims enter its fourth day. At least 5 people have been killed in the rioting in the North Indian town of Aligarh so far. (Reuters)
• Three protesters are wounded and six buildings are burned down in the fourth day of the pro-Democracy General Strike in Nepal against King Gyanendra. (AFP)
• The World Health Organization announces that the average life expectancy of Zimbabweans has declined to 37 years for men and 34 years for women. (BBC)
• Newcastle Falcons sevens team win the annual Melrose Sevens rugby tournament in Scotland. They beat Edinburgh team Heriots in the final. The event which is the oldest rugby sevens tournament in the world (founded in 1883)was sponsored by Cala Homes.

7 April 2006 (Friday)

• For the second time in less than a week, a number of tornados strike the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. (FOX News)
• The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown and his publisher, Random House, win the lawsuit that claimed that Brown committed copyright infringement by using ideas similar to those in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. (CNN)

6 April 2006 (Thursday)

• An earthquake of 5.5 magnitude is reported in Western Gujarat in India.
• The World Meteorological Organization has announced the retirement of a record five storm names from the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Retired names include Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma. (CNN)
• The National Geographic Society unveils the restored Gospel of Judas in Washington D.C. Written in Coptic, the document is thought to have come from the 2nd Century. It had been deteriorating rapidly when found. (NPR)
• A 1,500 year old pyramid called the Hill of the Star has been found in Mexico City. (Guardian Unlimited) (BBC)
• Orthodox Jews in Boro Park in New York City continue to protest after a 75-year-old Hasidic man was beaten and arrested by police for talking on a cell phone while driving. NYPD Chief Joseph Esposito allegedly cursed out the protestors in anti-Semitic terms, resulting in condemnations and calls for him to step down. (FOX news) (New York Sun)
• Palaeontologists announce the discovery of the Tiktaalik genus, an important fossil link between fish and land animals. (BBC)(Guardian)(New York Times)
• Israeli police arrest and release Khaled Abu Arafa, minister of Jerusalem affairs in the new Hamas-led government of the Palestinian Authority. (Associated Press)
• The New Zealand Parliament passes a bill that on receiving Royal Assent will make New Zealand Sign Language the third official language of New Zealand, alongside English and Māori. (TVNZ)
• Health experts announce that a dead swan found in Scotland has tested positive for bird flu. (BBC). It has been further confirmed that the bird had the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus (Bloomberg). Scotland and the UK confirm H5N1 virus, but say a GB-wide poultry housing requirement would be “disproportionate.” (Farmers Weekly).

5 April 2006 (Wednesday)

• US scientists have successfully implanted artificial bladders (artificial urinary bladders) grown in the laboratory from patients’ own cells into patients. (VoA)

4 April 2006 (Tuesday)

• 2006 labor protests in France: Three million people march against the First Employment Contract (CPE) law, 700 000 in Paris. Student organizations call for a general strike. (Washington Post)
• In the Republic of Ireland, Denis Donaldson a former senior Sinn Féin member, is found shot dead near the village of Glenties, County Donegal, close to where it is believed he had been living since he admitted, in December 2005, to being a paid British agent for over twenty years. (BBC)
• Thailand legislative election, 2006: Thaksin Shinawatra resigns as Prime Minister of Thailand despite his ruling Thai Rak Thai party winning an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives. (BBC)
• A security expert testifies to an inquest that film director James Miller was shot intentionally by an Israeli soldier while making a film in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. (The Independent) (BBC)
• Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay announces his resignation from the United States House of Representatives. (TIME)
• The 39th Canadian Parliament opens in Ottawa, with the Speech from the Throne delivered by the Governor General on behalf of the newly-elected government of Stephen Harper. (Toronto Star)

3 April 2006 (Monday)

• The jury in the first phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui has decided that he is eligible for the death penalty. (CNN)
• A large air force C-5 Galaxy military cargo jet crashed when landing at Dover Air Force Base in the U.S. state of Delaware. (CNN)
• Judge Anand Satyanand has been appointed to succeed Dame Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General of New Zealand. He will take up office on August 4, 2006. (Beehive)

2 April 2006 (Sunday)

• In Thailand, the 2006 legislative election is held. All three major opposition parties have announced they are boycotting the election. (Indep. UK)
• Lucent Technologies announced its merger agreement with Alcatel. (BBC)
• The Human Rights Protection Party wins Samoa’s general election. The HRPP was already the ruling party, and its leader Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi the Prime Minister, but the party did better in the election than polls had indicated. (Radio NZ)
• After about 3 months captivity as a hostage in Iraq, American journalist Jill Carroll returns to American soil in Boston, Massachusetts. (CNN)

1 April 2006 (Saturday)

• Marcos Pontes, Brazil’s first astronaut, reaches the International Space Station. (CNN)
• A small aircraft goes missing whilst in flight towards Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with 19 people onboard. It is found to have crashed near Saquarema, about 100 km from Rio. There are no survivors. (BBC)
• The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the ‘British FBI’, is launched in the United Kingdom. (BBC)

Events by month

2006: January, February, March, April,
2005: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
2004: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
2003: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
2002: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
2001: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
2000: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,
1999: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December,

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