Matthew Nagle , a 25 year old paralysed man, has become the first person known to have benefited from a microchip implanted into his brain which can "read" thoughts. He can think his TV on and off, change channels and alter the volume thanks to the technology and software linked to devices in his home.(BBC)
The elections in Zimbabwe have proceeded with large queues seen at many polling stations. No violence has been reported, and Incumbent president Robert Mugabe of the ZANU-PF party has declared the elections to be free and fair. Opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai of the party MDC, disputes this, but still believes his party will win. The election has already been branded unfair by both the US and the EU and their observers have been barred from monitoring the poll. Results are expected in two days.(Bloomberg)(CNN)(News24)(Reuters)(BBC)
Israel has allowed people who received non-Orthodox training in Israel but were converted overseas to become Jews. These people will now be eligible for Israeli citizenship. (BBC)
Malta commemorates the 26th anniversary of the departure of the last British forces from the island (di-ve)
Doron Grossman , the Israeliambassador to Ethiopia, is to be flown back to Israel after receiving a critical head injury following an apparent failed suicide attempt. (BBC)
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)
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)
The Israeli Defence Forces arrested 8 Palestinians during a raid into Jenin. Israel claims the 8 men were members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad building a Qassam rocket, and the IDF have released a list of the 8 Palestinian arrested, stating their name and their alledged activities. According to that list, one of those arrested, Hasin Mahmed Mashkah , was released in February as a part of the prisoner-release program involving 500 men. Residents dispute the Israeli claims and state that 3 of the men were members of the security services, and that the other 5 were not known militants. (Haaretz), (BBC)(IDF), (Haaretz)
Court in Moscow sentences director Yuri Samodurov and Lyudmila Vasilovskaya for fine of 100,000 roubles (about Ł2,000 or $3,600) for blasphemy because of their 2003 exhibition Caution! Religion . (Mosnews), (Reuters AlertNet), (BBC)
In comments posted in a German newspaper Easter Sunday, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder expressed the hope that German-based companies will stop outsourcing, that they'll invest in employment opportunities within Germany. German companies have long complained of the stifling labor/regulatory/tax climate at home. (New York Times)
Several Imaxcinemas in the USA (in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas) have chosen not to show the film "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" in light of its reference to the theory of evolution. (BBC)
Good Friday was celebrated all over the world. Processions with statues representing the Passion of Christ (Way of the Cross) were held all over Malta. [NEWSLINK MISSING]. In Mexico City 19 year old Osvaldo Gordon was starved, whipped, fainted, crucified with nails through hands, in 162nd such reenactment. (El Universal)[ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSLINK MISSING]
The Washington Post claims to have obtained documents indicating that "ghosting", the use of Army prisons in Iraq by the CIA to hold unregistered inmates, is "systematic and known to three senior intelligence officials", contradicting earlier claims by the Army that such incidences were rare and ad hoc. (Washington Post)
The US Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal filed by the parents of Terri Schiavo to have her feeding tube reinserted. Florida judge George Greer likewise declines to open Schiavo's records to the Florida Department of Children and Families (Reuters)
Two people die following a bomb in a shopping centre in a Christian area of North Beirut, Lebanon. The two are believed to have been foreign workers. (BBC)
In Brazil, the Brazilian Army receives permission to set up second emergency field hospital in the park of Rio De Janeiro to alleviate shortage of medical services. MayorCesar Maia opposes the move, blaming the situation on lack of government funding. (Reuters AlertNet)(BBC)
The College of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of Scotland declares that being a practicing homosexual does not constitute "a bar to the exercise of an ordained ministry". (BBC)
In the Central African Republic, the spokesman of André Kolingba, former military ruler, says that yesterday's shootout outside his house was an assassination attempt. Kolingba has called for an annulment of the results of the presidential elections. (BBC)
Member of KnessetEffi Eitam, announced he will move to settle in Gush Katif. This is despite a restriction order on relocating in the Gaza Strip issued by the Chief of the Southern Command. The Knesset chairman Reuven Rivlin said MK immunity covers Eitam's act. (Haaretz)
Transparency International (TI), a nonprofit which works against corruption, warns about US companies overcharging for the rebuilding of Iraq. A TI study showed that a multi-million-dollar deal was awarded to a US company only for it to sub-contract the work to an Iraqi firm for a fraction of the cost. (Zaman)(Aljazeera)
Israel formally hands Jericho to Palestinian Authority control, which is likely to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas. The PA will resume security control over the city and will have to make sure that wanted militants will remain in check. (Yahoo!)(BBC)
Anti-fascist protesters in the center of Riga, Latvia, end up in custody after trying to stop the annual march of Waffen-SS veterans and young radical nationalists. (BBC)
President of BoliviaCarlos Mesa has asked the country's congress to approve early elections in August to replace him to "prevent bloodbath". There are still widespread opposition protests against his economic policies. (Reuters)(Bloomberg)(BBC)
U.S. Representative Henry Waxman sends a scathing letter to President George W. Bush, accusing the administration of having withheld until after the election a damaging audit regarding overcharges by Halliburton for services in Iraq (such as charging $27,000,000 for transporting $82,000 worth of fuel from Kuwait to Iraq). (Guardian)(Philadelphia Daily News)
OPEC announces that it's unable to control oil prices. (MSNBC)
The government of Italy announces that it will begin to withdraw its troops from Iraq in several months. (BBC)
In Niger, thousands of protesters demonstrate violently outside parliament against rising prices and high tax increases. Some of them call for resignation of the president Mamadou Tandja(AllAfrica)(Reuters SA)(BBC)
Massive protests take place in Beirut, Lebanon, against the Syrian presence there. With an estimated turnout of 800,000 to 1 million, it is the largest public demonstration on the issue yet. (ABC News)
In the Philippines, inmates of a Camp Bagong Diwa maximum security prison in Manila took hostages during an attempted jailbreak and demand to talk with authorities. At least four guards and one prisoner have been killed. Prisoners claim to hold 100 hostages; police dispute this number. According the police, the attempt was led by imprisoned members of Abu Sayyaf. (Sun Star, Manila)(Reuters)
In Macedonia Ljube Boskowski , former interior minister, is indicted for war crimes for an alleged role in clashes between ethnic albanians and security forces in 2001(Reuters)(RFE)(BBC)
In Zambia, former president Frederick Chiluba protests when government anti-corruption investigators seize hundred of pieces of clothing from the warehouse he used to store them. Police suspect that the clothes were bought using government funds (AllAfrica)(BBC)
Roll Back Malaria charity concert begins in Dakar, Senegal, to collect funds to fight against malaria and to buy mosquito nets . Local musician Youssou N'Dour organized the concert and it features major african artists. (News24)(Reuters)(IOL)
In Turkey, authorities close down the Bosphorus shipping channel after a cargo ship that carried liquiefied petroleum gas sinks due to bad weather. It takes hours for the shipping authorites to collect gas tanks. (Planet Ark)(BBC)
In Italy, explosion in the Motta di Livenza injures three people. Officials suspect serial bomber (CNN)(BBC)
Israeli troops kill Mohammed Abu Hazneh, a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and an alledged plotter of the recent Tel Aviv "Stage" nightclub suicide bombing. After he killed a K9dog, the troops bulldozed his house, crushing him to death. (BBC)
The Islamic Commission of Spain, that country's largest Muslim group, issues a fatwa against al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Ladin, ruling that his actions have made him an apostate, that he should not be regarded as a Muslim, and that his claim that the Qur'an justifies his terrorist actions constitutes istihlal , the sin of making up one's own law. It is claimed to be the first fatwa to be pronounced against Bin Ladin, and to have the tacit support of Muslim leaders in several Islamic countries. (CBC)
Conflict in Iraq: Iraqi police discover the bullet-riddled and/or headless bodies of 41 people at two sites, one near the Syrian border, the other just south of Baghdad. (AP)
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian head of the PNA Mahmoud Abbas have not agreed upon giving Jericho and Tulkarm to Palestinian security control, as early reports suggested, but talks continue. (Haaretz)(BBC)
In Israel, an official report has revealed that Israeli state bodies have been diverting funds from state projects to fund the establishment of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Former state prosecutor Talia Sasson has recommended that criminal investigations be launched. (BBC)
In Guinea, president Lansana Conte sacks three senior ministers, security minister Moussa Sampil , foreign affairs minister Mamadi Conde and mines minister Alpha Mady Soumah , to replace them with the members of his own Party of Unity and Progress . Journalists and students welcome sacking of Sampil because of his handling of an alleged assassination attempt against the president in January. (Reuters)(BBC)
In Northern Ireland the IRA issues an unprecedented statement that they made an offer to the family of murder victim Robert McCartney to shoot the members involved in his 31 January killing. The family made it clear that they wanted the people concerned prosecuted, not physically harmed. (BBC)
In Australia, 104-year-old Chinese widow Cui Yu Hu , who has lived in the country for 10 years, loses an appeal to receive a permanent visa. She has asked immigration minister Amanda Vanstone to intervene. (The Australian)(BBC)
Prisoner Abuse in Iraq: American troops in Iraq filmed themselves kicking a gravely wounded prisoner in the face and making the arm of a corpse appear to wave, then titled the effort "Ramadi Madness" after the city where it was made. (Reuters via Yahoo)
133 prisoners have died following a fire in a prison in the Dominican Republic. The government has promised an investigation, as the fire follows clashes between rival gangs in the prison which is located in the eastern city of Higuey. (BBC)
President of India, APJ Kalam meets Syed Sibte Razi , governor of the northern state Jharkhand after opposition protests. Despite the hung elections in the assembly, the governor has appointed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party member Shibu Soren as a chief minister. JMM is part of a political alliance backed by the Congress Party(NDTV)(BBC)
The BSESensex breaches the 6,800-mark for the first time in its history, ending at 6,849, up 65 points over its previous close. The market rally has added about 160 billion Indian rupees (approx. 3.6 billion US$) to investor wealth with the BSE's market capitalisation at a record high of 17.65 trillion Indian rupees (approx. 400 billion US$). (Financial Express, India)
In Belgium, Naďma Amzil , a Muslim woman leaves her job after her employer is targeted with a seventh death threat, sent by a group named New Free Flanders (Dutch: Nieuw Vrij Vlaanderen). She is targeted because she is Muslim and wears a headscarf at work. (BBC)(Middle East Online)
Five men who had been sentenced to death for the rape of Mukhtar Mai, who was raped as punishment for another rape falsely attributed to her brother, are acquitted on appeal. A Pakistanitribal council allegedly ordered the rape of Mukhtar Mai in February2002. (BBC)
Steve Fossett's GlobalFlyer touches down in Kansas, completing his nonstop around-the-world flight. Fossett had overcome earlier fuel problems to become the first person to achieve the flight solo. (CNN)
In Pakistan, a bill proposing to strengthen the law against "Honour Killing" is defeated in Parliament, after the government sides with the Islamist opposition and deems the bill "un-Islamic". (BBC)
The Israeli Defence Forces discover a Hamasbomb-lab near Jenin in a metal workshop. The lab contains what appeared to be a Qassam rocket in an initial state of production, and large quantities of other materials used for manufacturing bombs. (Haaretz)
Windsor Tower, the building in central Madrid which was burnt down by a fire on February 12th, starts to be demolished. Technicians pay attention now to the wind, since it may make harder to control the cranes. (EiTB)
In Italy, a court sentences Laura Proietti , a member of the Red Brigades, to life in prison for involvement in the murder of Massimo D'Antona in 1999. A second member, Cinzia Banelli , receives 20 years (BBC)(Newsday)
In Lebanon, opposition leaders call for the protest to continue even when the government has resigned. New protests demand that all Syrian troops leave the country (Reuters)(BBC)
President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan orders the closure of all the hospitals in the country except those in the capital, Ashgabat. He also orders the closure of all rural libraries, as he believes that village Turkmen do not read. (BBC)
