Portal:Current events/2005 March 30

March 30, 2005 (Wednesday)

The island of Malta is in dispute with Italy over the transportation of Chinese illegal immigrants between Malta and Sicily. (di-ve)
Jean-Claude Juncker and Olli Rehn confirm the European Union's support for Paul Wolfowitz to become the president of the World Bank. (Guardian)
Doron Grossman, the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia, is to be flown back to Israel after receiving a critical head injury following an apparent failed suicide attempt. (BBC)
Osama Mattar, a Palestinian Hamas activist held in custody in an Israeli prison, claims that he received militant training in Syria, Syria and Hamas claim no such training takes place. (AP\Yahoo)
In India, shops and businesses close down in protest of a new tax law. (BBC)
A Shanghai online game player stabs a competitor to death for selling his cyber-sword. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
In Israel, Jerusalem police deny members of Jewish organization Revava access to Temple Mount during Passover because of danger that they could use the situation to encourage violence. Revava has planned a pilgrimage to the site in April 10 (Jerusalem Post) (Arutz Sheva)
In Guatemala, dozens of disguised AIDS patients protest government ruling that gives pharmaceutical companies 5-10 years to keep their drug trial data secret, limiting access to cheap generic AIDS drugs (Reuters AlertNet) (Washington Post)
European nations has expressed support of UN secretary general Kofi Annan after US probe found no evidence of his involvement with the foul play in Oil-for-Food Program (Reuters)
In India, the state of Maharashtra closes its dance bars outside the city of Mumbai as breeding grounds for prostitution (Hindustan Times) Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine (Rediff) (BBC)
In Egypt, thousands of demonstrators protest against the fifth term of president Hosni Mubarak despite the ban on protests. There are conflicting reports on the number of protesters police has detained (Reuters AlertNet) (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters SA) (BBC)
Czech Republic government is in crisis after the coalition partner of the ruling Civic Democrats party. Christian Democrats, calls for its three ministers to leave. That would lead into a minority government. Prime minister Stanislav Gross also faces a no confidence vote in Friday over his personal finances (Bloomberg) (BBC)
In Nigeria, anti-corruption group Economic and Financial Crimes Commission detains former police chief Tafa Balogun for questioning (Vanguard, Nigeria) (Reuters AlertNet) (AllAfrica)
In Rwanda, defense minister Marcel Gatsinzi appears before the traditional gacaca court accused of failing to stop his troops during the Rwandan genocide. He says that one of his first orders was to stop the killing. (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet)