May 4, 2005 (Wednesday)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- Israel freezes the handover of West Bank Palestinian towns to the Palestinian Authority. Israel claims they will resume the handover process when militant groups are disarmed. The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, had agreed to hand over five West Bank towns to Palestinian control, but thus far has only handed over Tulkarm and Jericho. (BBC)
- Israeli troops shoot dead two teenage boys. The cousins were protesting against the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier among a group of people, many of whom were throwing stones at the soldiers. According to the Stop the Wall group, protestors were chased by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition. (BBC)
- War on Terrorism:
- The Pakistani government announces that it has captured Abu Faraj al-Libbi. If verified, this is the most important Al-Qaeda suspect to have been arrested thus far. (BBC)
- A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent reveals the CIA sent a team to Afghanistan only days after the September 11, 2001 attacks with orders to "Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice" and to leave other Al-Qaeda leaders' "heads up on pikes." (BBC) (Wikinews)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- A suicide bomberer in Irbil, a Kurdish city of Northern Iraq, kills more than 50 people. (BBC)
- Ayman Sabawi Ibrahim, the nephew of former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, has been arrested, accused of aiding the insurgency. (BBC)
- Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister of Australia, appears on al Jazeera to urge for the release of Douglas Wood, who is being held hostage by insurgents who demand the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq. John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia has said he refuses to negotiate. (BBC)
- In Cambodia, the Municipality of Phnom Penh grants JC Royal Co. a 30-year charter to develop the memorial at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 02:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
- A Peruvian congressional committee accuses President Alejandro Toledo of electoral fraud. (BBC)
- Peru suspends free trade talks with Chile due to allegations that Chile supplied arms to Ecuador during that nation's 1995 war with Peru. (BBC)
- Italy's supreme court clears three men who had received a life sentence for 1969 bombing in Milan bank. (Reuters)[permanent dead link] (BBC)
- U.S. firefighter Donald Herbert, blind and virtually silent due to brain injury since 1995, recovers unexpectedly, regaining the powers of speech. (New York Times) (registration required) (Buffalo News) (Reuters AlertNet)