April 7, 2005

• The Mexican Chamber of Deputies votes by 360 to 127 to suspend the executive immunity of Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico City, thereby removing him from office to face criminal charges. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • A Palestinian-fired Qassam rocket hits a cemetery in the Israeli town of Sderot, causing minimal damage and no injuries. Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz says Israel will not let it pass and criticises the PA's lack of action. This is the first rocket fired inside the carrot-shaped "Green line" since late January. (Haaretz)
  • Two Jews are arrested on suspicion of planting fake bombs in Jerusalem in an attempt to disrupt the planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
  • Environmental groups condemn a plan by Israel to relocate Israeli settlers from Gaza to the Nitzanim nature reserve in southern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supports the request of some settlers to relocate the entire Gush Katif to the Nitzanim area and orders experts to start checking this issue thoroughly. Nitzanim is home to endangered turtles and around 100 gazelle. (BBC) (Haaretz)
• Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, has replaced Iyad Allawi as the interim prime minister of Iraq. (BBC)
• Passenger buses set out from India to Pakistan across the Indian Kashmir barrier through the troubled and controversial Kashmir region in a symbolic "Caravan of Peace." Some attacks on the buses were reported in the militant-occupied area, but none were successful, according to local media outlets. (MSNBC)
• The President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Chen Shui-bian will be accompanied by his foreign minister as well as Roman Catholic and Muslim religious figures for the trip to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II. (CNN) (BBC) (TVBS)
• Representatives of the government of Canada withdraw from a business conference with Iran in protest of the case of deceased journalist Zahra Kazemi. Kazemi died in Iranian police custody and Iranian refugee doctor Shahram Azam says that she had extensive injuries and had been tortured. Iranian officials deny the charges. Canada has unsuccessfully demanded return of Kazemi's body. (CTV) (IranMania) (IranMania) (BBC)
• In London, Sir Ian Blair, the chief of metropolitan police, orders an inquiry of claims that journalists of The Sun smuggled a fake bomb into grounds of Windsor Castle. (BBC)
• Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams appeals to the IRA to stop violence. (Reuters UK) (Reuters) (Irish Times) (BBC)
• In Nepal, according to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of the country, 42 people die in clashes between Maoist rebels and villagers (Reuters). Nepalese radio begins to block BBC World Service (Hindustan Times) (Asia Pacific Media Network)
• The Swiss cabinet intends to outlaw English-sounding names of government departments. (SwissInfo)
• The prime ministers of Malaysia and Australia announce that they intend begin talks of free trade agreement (Bloomberg) (Radio Australia) (Malaysian Star)
• Police in the Netherlands arrest a gang that has smuggled Chinese asylum seekers and sold them for cheap labor. (Expatica) (BBC)
• The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) announces that it has drilled a hole to the lowest level of the Earth's crust, and that it is poised to break through to the mantle, in search of the Mohorovicic discontinuity. SPACE.com