Portal:Current events/2005 July 21

July 21, 2005 (Thursday)

In Maharashtra, India, the state Assembly unanimously adopts a Bill amending the Bombay Police Act, 1951 which will ban dance bars across the state. (IndianExpress)
Kenyan legislators approve a constitution which critics say leaves too much power in the hands of the President. (BBC).
German President Horst Köhler agrees to dissolve parliament. He calls for earlier elections in mid-September 2005. BBC News. - see German federal election, 2005
After a blitz of detentions of suspected militants and Islamists, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf calls for a holy war against preachers of hate and announces steps to curb militant Islamic schools and groups. (Reuters)
Tatarstan: On the feast day of the holy icon "Theotokos of Kazan", in the presence of the crowd of 10,000 pilgrims, Patriarch Alexius II and the President of Tatarstan place at the newly-restored Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin the holiest copy of the long-lost icon, which was presented to Russia by Pope John Paul II shortly before his death. (Asianews)
Conflict in Iraq: Algeria's two most senior diplomatic staff in Iraq are kidnapped from outside a restaurant in the western Mansour district. (BBC)
Parts of the London Underground are evacuated, as British police are investigating reports of three separate incidents involving minor explosions in Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval underground stations. There are also reports of an incident on the no. 26 bus in Hackney, East London. There are no reported casualties and police are not yet treating the incidents as "major". (BBC)
The People's Bank of China announces a 2 percent revaluation of its currency, the Renminbi (yuan), and says the yuan will no longer be pegged to the US dollar, instead trading within a narrow range against a market basket of currencies. (AP)
In Morocco, authorities detain five supporters of Western Saharan independence for their alleged part in violent demonstrations last May. (Al-Jazeera)
Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono orders the army to stop offensive against separatist rebels in Aceh after the acceptance of the new peace deal. (Channel News Asia) (Bloomberg)
In Mexico, police are looking for kidnapped soccer coach Omar Romano. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
In Rwanda, gacaca court investigating the Rwandan genocide summons Thaddee Ntihinyurwa, head of the Catholic Church in the country, to testify. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
In China, a group of farmers in Shengyou village in Hebei province that demonstrated over seizure of an arable land for the power plant, win in a dispute. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
Malaysian government also remove the ringgit's peg to US dollar. (Straits Times, Malaysia) (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
African Development Bank elects Donald Kaberuka, former finance minister of Rwanda, as president. (AFDB) (Forbes)
In the Republic of Congo, trial of sixteen military and security officer begins. They are accused of killing 353. refugees who disappeared 1999 in the so-called Beach case. (World Peace Herald) (Reuters) (BBC)
In China, a dam collapses in Yunnan province. At least 15 dead and 23 injured. (Xinhua) (China Daily)
The Maccabiah games has finished.