Portal:Current events/2005 March 23

March 23, 2005 (Wednesday)

An explosion occurs at a BP oil refinery in Texas City, Texas. Over 100 are injured, and at least 15 are dead. (Fox News) (Globe and Mail) (BP)
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco reportedly has gone into renal and heart failure and is on a ventilator. (Yahoo! News)
Conflict in Iraq: Iraqi Army officials claim that they along with backing from U.S. troops have killed at least 80 insurgents in a raid on a camp near Tikrit. (BBC)
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 Lebanon, Michel Abu Arraj, a judge investigating the murder of Rafik Hariri, asks to step down from the case prior to public announcement of the results of the United Nations investigation. (Reuters Alertnet) (BBC)
Israel announces that it will ban Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering Israel during the upcoming Purim holiday. (People's Daily) (RTE)
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. Mayor Cesar Maia opposes the move, blaming the situation on lack of government funding. (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
In Kyrgyzstan, riot police break up a protest in the capital Bishkek. (Reuters Alertnet) (BBC) President Askar Akayev sacks his interior minister and prosecutor general for "poor work" in dealing with the growing protests against his government. (Interfax) (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-23 at the Wayback Machine (RIA Novosti) (BBC) US and UN appeal for calm and negotiations. (Bloomberg) (Bloomberg)
The College of Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church reiterates that it has no policy that treats being in a same-sex partnership as "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)
In Cambodia, 16 prisoners die during a jailbreak in the province of Kampong Cham; 30 others escape. (Reuters AlertNet)(BBC)
In Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi states that he is not going to pardon five Bulgarian nurses that face a death penalty accused of injecting children with the HIV (Gulf Daily News) (Bulgarian News Network) (Reuters) Archived 2005-05-27 at the Wayback Machine (BBC)