Portal:Current events/2005 April 1

April 1, 2005 (Friday)

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have declared, in principle, their intention to join the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). (Al Ahram)
A death squad guns down at least 30 people in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Several teenagers and a child were among those killed in the districts of Queimados and Nova Iguacu on Thursday night. Authorities blame rogue police officers for the massacre. (BBC) (Wikinews)
Google doubles the storage space of its Gmail service to two gigabytes. (internetnews.com)
Pope John Paul II is on the verge of death as a result of his recent health problems. The Vatican announces that the pope has suffered cardiovascular collapse and septic shock. (CNN) The Vatican denies "unsourced" media reports claiming he has already died. (Reuters)
The United Nations Security Council votes to refer those suspected of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. (Sudan Tribune) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
Zimbabwe parliamentary elections, 2005: In Zimbabwe, the ruling Zanu-PF gains a two-thirds majority over opposition party Movement for Democratic Change amidst claims of dis-enfranchisement and fraud. (News24) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
Indian security forces launch an offensive against the United Liberation Front of Assam. (BBC)
The World Bank agrees to fund a controversial hydroelectric dam project in Laos. (Planet Ark) (BBC)
The Minuteman Project starts a month-long patrolling of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona for illegal immigrants, with about 100 volunteers, some of them armed. (ABC News)
The government of Argentina delays the restructuring of its debt by the exchange of old bonds for new because of a decision by a federal court judge in the United States that froze the processing of the old bonds in the possession of the Bank of New York pending a hearing before the appeals court. (Financial Times)