Portal:Current events/2005 April 5

April 5, 2005 (Tuesday)

The government of South Korea complains to the Japanese government about a revised set of official Japanese history schoolbooks. The complaint alleges the textbooks whitewash Japan's "imperialist" past, and question Korean sovereignty of the disputed Liancourt Rocks. (Korea Herald) (Japan Times)
Tony Blair calls the General Election in the United Kingdom for May 5, 2005, on the same day as the local elections. (BBC)
Five Guatemalan politicians are convicted of racial discrimination for taunts hurled at Rigoberta Menchú. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
Preliminary results of the Italian regional elections show heavy losses for the parties in Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition. (Bloomberg) (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (BBC)
American newscaster Peter Jennings states that he has lung cancer and will begin chemotherapy. (New York Times)
Rwandan official Aloys Mutabingwa, a representative at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, says that 100 Rwandans connected to the Rwandan genocide are "comfortably living in France". (BBC)
Mumbai, India police investigate a fire in which 21 circus animals died. They suspect that the Russian Circus on Ice intentionally abandoned the animals. (The Hindu) (Calcutta Telegraph) (Mumbai Newsline) (BBC)
In Egypt, thousands of university students demonstrate for reform. (Middle East Online) (BBC)
Nigerian senate speaker Adolphus Wabara resigns because of accusations that he took a large bribe from the education minister. (AllAfrica) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
Deathcore band Despised Icon release their fist LP album called The Healing Process