Current events of 20 October 2007 (2007-10-20) (Saturday) edit history watch

Bobby Jindal of the Republican Party is elected as the next Governor of Louisiana and becomes the first Indian American governor in the history of the United States. With 53% of the vote, he defeats five Democrats, a Libertarian and five independents without requiring a runoff. (NYT) Riots erupt in the immigrant quarter of Amsterdam for the sixth night in succession after the death of a Moroccan man the previous weekend. (Reuters via ABC News Australia) Hundreds of thousands of left wing Italians march in Rome putting increased pressure on the Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi. (Reuters via ABC News Australia) Thousands flee a fresh outbreak of fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Turkish Press) South Africa defeats England to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. (BBC) Karachi police release a photograph of the suicide bomber who killed at least 130 people in the 2007 Karachi bombings. (BBC) J.K. Rowling has revealed that Dumbledore of the Harry Potter books is homosexual. (CNN) Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council lifts the curfew it imposed in Yangon and Mandalay on September 26. (BBC) French trains resume service after a two-day strike against President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposed welfare reform. (BBC) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani criticizes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for his support of a possible Turkish attack against Kurdistan Workers Party fighters in the Iraqi Kurdistan. (BBC) Mikhail Gorbachev founds a new political party in Russia, called Union of Social-Democrats. (BBC) Saeed Jalili replaces Ali Larijani as Iran's nuclear negotiator. (Reuters via News Limited) At least seven people die in a bomb blast in the town of Dera Bugti in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. (BBC)