Portal:Current events/2006 April 20
April 20, 2006 (Thursday)
- The President of Singapore, Sellapan Ramanathan, "on the advice of the prime minister (Lee Hsien Loong), has dissolved parliament" to prepare for the 2006 general election, to be held on May 6. (BBC)
- Following reports of the UK government's hostility to a takeover of Centrica, Russian gas giant Gazprom warns of Europe-wide supply disruption (Channel4 News)
- April 2006 Nepalese general strike: Nepali police open fire on pro-democracy protesters to prevent them from marching into Kathmandu, the capital, killing at least three people and injuring dozens. (Reuters) The United Nations condemns "the excessive and deadly use of force by members of the security forces against protesters and innocent bystanders". (BBC)
- Sri Lankan Civil War: The Tamil Tigers have ended peace talks, stating they are not viable indefinitely. (Reuters)
- Famous U.S. test pilot Scott Crossfield dies in an air crash of a Cessna 210, aged 84.(AP)
- A vast river system connecting various subglacial lakes is discovered under the Antarctic ice shield. (MSNBC) (BBC) (nationalgeographic.com)
- U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes the Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White House. A Falun Gong protester—an accredited journalist from The Epoch Times—interrupts Hu's speech at the arrival ceremony before being removed by the Secret Service. The announcer violates protocol by accidentally calling the March of the Volunteers the "National Anthem of the Republic of China". (BBC)
- German automaker Volkswagen is in talks for a restructuring program to cut costs and make the core unit Volkswagen more profitable. (AP via Yahoo)
- Snyder Rini was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands and took office in secret, amid continued post-election rioting targeting ethnic Chinese. (Guardian)