Portal:Current events/2005 April 10

April 10, 2005 (Sunday)

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 occurs near Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia at 10:18 UTC. (BBC)
The Mainland Affairs Council of the Republic of China (Taiwan) bans reporters from the People's Daily and Xinhua from Taiwan, saying the mainland's state-controlled media "tried to present their people with a distorted image of Taiwan". (BBC)
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pushed for cooperation between India and the PRC to dominate high-tech industries. Urging the historical rivals to forget past tension, Wen said cooperation "will signify the coming of the Asian century of the IT industry." (ABC News)
Former South African President FW de Klerk has called for a new political party to be set up following the dissolution of the New National Party. (BBC)
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- Israel arrests Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef on his return home after he illegally makes his way from Ramallah to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to deliver a sermon. (UPI)^{[permanent dead link]} (Haaretz)
- A large security operation in Jerusalem appears to have prevented Israeli Zionist extremists from staging a rally at the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif. The rally was to be in opposition to the proposed Israeli pull-out from the Gaza Strip. The police are also able to quell a stone-throwing Arab counter-demonstration. (BBC) (Haaretz)
- Israeli Zionist extremists block a road near Tel Aviv during rush hour. Protesting the proposed Israeli pull-out from the Gaza Strip, they set tires alight and sit down on the road. Several are arrested and police are able to end the blockade within minutes. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Militant Palestinian extremists again fire mortars at settlements in the Gaza Strip. They are believed to have been fired by Islamic Jihad. (Al Jazeera)
- Al Jazeera states that Palestinian sources report that Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has apologised to Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasr Yusuf for the deaths of 3 Palestinian teenagers on April 9. (Al Jazeera)
American spammer Jeremy Jaynes is sentenced for nine years in prison. The sentence is suspended until further appeals. (Spamfo) (E-Commerce News) (CNN)
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Tokyo. There are no reports of serious damages. (Japan Times) (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-12 at the Wayback Machine
British carmaker MG Rover receives a loan of £6.5 million from the British government. (BBC) (Bloomberg) (Financial Times)
Spanish police seize an ETA cache of explosives in Hernani, near San Sebastián. (EITB) (Reuters AlertNet)
Italian deputy prime minister Marco Follini calls for an early general election after the centre-right coalition of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi lost in a regional ballot last week. (AGI)^{[permanent dead link]} (ITH)
In Mexico, Raúl Gibb Guerrero, editor of La Opinión newspaper, who covered Mexican drug cartels is killed. (Prensa Latina) (Reuters AlertNet) (San Diego Tribune)
A Haitian police team and UN peacekeepers kill a prominent gang leader Grenn Sonnen (Jean Anthony Rene) and five of his supporters in a shootout. (Haiti Action Committee) (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}