April 13, 2005 (Wednesday)
- Canada's most prominent white supremacist and founder of the Heritage Front, Wolfgang Droege, is shot to death in his apartment. One suspect is arrested at the scene. (CTV) Archived 2008-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Omar Karami resigns his position as the Prime Minister of Lebanon after he fails to form a government. Without a government to call them, no elections can take place in Lebanon. Elections are due this May. (BBC)
- The European Parliament votes to allow Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union in 2007. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- At least nine Iraqi police have been killed by insurgents in Kirkuk. The police were defusing a decoy bomb, when another nearby bomb detonated and killed them. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
- Al Jazeera broadcasts a video of the civilian contractor, Jeffrey Ake, abducted in Iraq earlier this week. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Japan increases the already boiling tension with China as Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry begins allowing Japanese companies rights to drill for oil in a part of the East China Sea claimed by both nations. (BBC)
- The College of American Pathologists asks laboratories worldwide to destroy a flu sample they sent in their testing kits. The Canadian National Microbial Laboratory identified it as a strain of Asian flu virus that killed millions in 1957. People born after 1969 would have no antibodies to resist it. The World Health Organization supports the plea. (CNN) (Yahoo) (CBC)
- The National Geographic Society and IBM support a project to take DNA samples from various people all over the world to track migration of Homo sapiens from Africa. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-15 at the Wayback Machine (New York Times)
- The death toll in the collapse of a factory in Dacca, Bangladesh increases to 30. (The Hindu) (Reuters AlertNet)
- Mount Talang volcano erupts in Sumatra, Indonesia. 27,000 residents are evacuated. (Jakarta Post) (Indonesia Relief) (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
- In Nigeria, former education minister Fabion Osuji, former senate president Adolphus Wabara and five others are charged with corruption. (Vanguard) (NigeriaWorld)
- In Germany, Armin Meiwes appeals for the reduction his sentence of eight years for cannibalism. His defense says that the killing was a mercy killing, eligible only for five years. State prosecutors appeal as well so he could be retried for murder. (Deutsche Welle) (Independent)
- A group of Indigenous Australians threaten to disrupt the Commonwealth Games next year unless prime minister John Howard and others are charged with genocide. (Radio Australia) (SBS) (BBC)
- Burundi's last rebel group, Hutu Forces for National Liberation, states that they are ready to negotiate with the government. (Reuters SA) (BBC)