Portal:Current events/April 2018
April 2018 was the fourth month of that common year. The month, which began on a Sunday, ended on a Monday after 30 days.
Portal:Current events[edit]
This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from April 2018.
April 1, 2018 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2016–18 Kashmir unrest
- Clashes in South Kashmir[disambiguation needed], India, kill two civilians, three soldiers, and 13 militants. (The Times of India)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israeli Government rejects calls for an inquiry, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likening criticism by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to an April Fool's Day joke. (The Telegraph)
- Pope Francis uses his Easter address to call for peace between the peoples of Israel and Palestine in response to the clashes. (The Guardian)
- Syrian Civil War
- Rebel fighters start evacuating from Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Syria, and head to Idlib Governorate on government buses. Douma is the last rebel stronghold in Eastern Ghouta. (The Washington Post)
- Guatemalan Civil War
- The trial of Guatemalan ex-ruler Efraín Ríos Montt, accused of genocide during the civil war in the 1980s, ends abruptly with the defendant's death. (BBC)
Business and economy
- Bahraini state media reports the discovery of the nation's largest known deposit of oil and gas in an offshore field. (Bloomberg)
- Iraq's Oil Ministry brings forward the proposed date for awarding oil exploration contracts for new fields offshore and near the Iranian and Kuwaiti borders to April 15. (CNBC)
Disasters and accidents
- 2018 Kemerovo fire
- Governor Aman Tuleyev of Russia's Kemerovo Oblast resigns over the disaster last week at the Winter Cherry complex. Tuleyev himself lost a young relative in the fire, but had faced protests in the aftermath. (The Guardian)
- Football matches across Russia are marked with silence from fans throughout the first half to commemorate the dead. (BBC)
- History of autonomous cars
- The US National Transportation Safety Board criticizes Tesla over the carmaker's release of investigative information regarding the fatal crash of a Model X in California. (The Washington Post)
- Two buses collide head-on in Kuwait, killing fifteen oil workers from India, Egypt, and Pakistan. Six people are injured. (The National)
- Water shortages caused by a burst pipe in Thessaloniki, Greece, enter a fifth day. (eKathimerini)
- A bus crash in Slanic Prahova, Romania, injures 23 Israeli tourists. (The Times of Israel)
- A KLM Boeing 777 flying from Atlanta, Georgia to Amsterdam, Netherlands encounters severe turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean causing injuries to four occupants. (The Aviation Herald)
International relations
- South Korea–United States relations
- The governments of the United States and South Korea begin their Foal Eagle and Key Resolve military drills. (New Indian Express)
- Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh travels to Iraq to reclaim the bodies of 38 workers abducted in Mosul by ISIL in 2016 after they were found in a mass grave near Badush last month. (Iraqi News)
- Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- The Embassy of Russia in London releases a list of 14 questions over the attack, including a question on possible French involvement. (Sky News)
- An Ilyushin Il-76 jet carrying Russian diplomats and their families who were expelled from the United States as a reaction to the poisoning arrives at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport. (Sky News)
- In an interview, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko calls the poisoning a provocation and states that the Russian government suspects British intelligence agencies of being behind the incident. (RT), (Daily Star), (TASS)
- Foreign relations of Zambia
- Zambian President Edgar Lungu requests that Cuba recall its ambassador, Nelson Pages Vilas, for allegedly expressing support for a new opposition party. (News24)
Law and crime
- In response to the suicide of a student, protestors attack Crossroads Higher Secondary School in Pampady, India, and clash with police. (Gulf News)
- Hart family crash
- California Highway Patrol says a crash that left five dead and three children missing after a car fell off a cliff into the sea may have been intentional. (NBC News)
- An overnight prison riot kills seven police officers in Amatlán de los Reyes, Veracruz, Mexico. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Botswana
- Botswanan President Ian Khama retires from office. Mokgweetsi Masisi is inaugurated as the fifth President of Botswana. (Africa News), (Reuters)
- Costa Rican general election, 2018, Recognition of same-sex unions in Costa Rica
- Pro-same-sex marriage candidate Carlos Alvarado of the Citizens' Action Party defeats conservative candidate Fabricio Alvarado of the National Restoration Party in the second round of voting to become the new President of Costa Rica. (BBC)
- Politics of the Gambia, ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia, 2016–17 Gambian constitutional crisis
- The new government of the Gambia accuses ex-President Yahya Jammeh's supporters of assisting and sheltering foreign militants (the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance). (The Guardian)
- Politics of San Marino
- Matteo Ciacci of Civic 10 and Stefano Palmieri of Future Republic take office as the Captains Regent of San Marino. (SMTV San Marino)
Sports
- 2018 Commonwealth Games
- The Commonwealth Games Federation places India under formal investigation for doping. (TVNZ)
- 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament
- Notre Dame wins the 2018 NCAA Tournament over Mississippi State 61–58, with the deciding points coming on a dramatic 3-point shot by Arike Ogunbowale just before the final buzzer. (ESPN)
April 2, 2018 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and United States President Donald Trump hold a telephone conversation discussing the incidents. (Business Standard)
Disasters and accidents
- Earthquakes in 2018
- A lorry carrying five circus elephants crashes in Albacete, Spain, killing one elephant. (Fox News)
- An oxygen cylinder explodes at a Burger King restaurant in Yerevan, Armenia, resulting in at least nine injuries. (Public Radio of Armenia)
- A light aircraft and a small jet collide on a runway at Marion Municipal Airport, Indiana, United States. Two are killed and five more survive. (CNN)
International relations
- China–United States relations
- The White House criticizes China's decision to place tariffs of up to 25% on 128 U.S. imports including pork and wine which was in retaliation to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to introduce tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium imports. (BBC)
- South Africa's Winnie Madikizela-Mandela OLS, also known as Winnie Mandela dies.Winnie Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela and a well respected ANC Stalwart.
Politics and elections
- Philippine presidential election, 2016
- The manual recount of the votes begin for the 2016 vice presidential candidates, former Senator Bongbong Marcos and incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo. (CNN)
- Caste politics in India
- Nine people have died amid violent protests involving tens of thousands of protesters from the SC/ST caste groups across India. (News18)
- Terrorism in Egypt
- The Egyptian Parliament approves a draft law creating the 18-member Supreme Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism. The new body is headed by the President and is expected to also contain the Prime Minister, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the defence and interior ministers. The new body replaces the National Council to Combat Terrorism and Extremism created by Presidential decree by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in 2017. (Asharq Al-awsat) (Arab News)
- Egyptian presidential election, 2018
- Incumbent Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is declared the winner, with 97% of the vote and a 41% turnout. (Ahram Online)
Science and technology
- Chinese space program
- Chinese space station Tiangong-1 crashes into the South Pacific Ocean near Tahiti. (CNN) (BBC)
- Astronomers report the discovery of MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1, nicknamed Icarus, the farthest known star at 9 billion light-years away. (Space)
- The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor launches to the International Space Station to monitor and research thunderstorms. (BBC)
Sports
April 3, 2018 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman says the nation will maintain its tactics at the Gazan border of shooting anybody who approaches the fence, and calls on Hamas to cease hostilities in exchange for aid. (The Times of Israel)
- Human Rights Watch claims there was no evidence of any threat to Israeli soldiers and calls the killings 'unlawful' and 'calculated'. (Al Jazeera)
- The death toll rises to eighteen. (The Washington Post)
- Hamas claims Israeli forces fatally shoot a 25-year-old man at the border fence near Bureij. (The Times of Israel)
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- The Saudi-led Arab Coalition says the Saudi Arabian Navy repelled an attack by Iran and Houthis against a Saudi-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea. (Arab News)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Military scientists at Porton Down state they are uncertain of the source of the nerve agent used, but are "completely confident" it was a Novichok agent. (ITV)
- Russia requests for the United Kingdom to release "every possible element of evidence" proving Russian involvement and requests the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to call a special session tomorrow. (The Independent)
- Eyewitnesses and officials say an Afghan airstrike targeted a madrasa being used as a meeting place by the Taliban in Kunduz during a graduation ceremony, with casualties including civilians. (Al Jazeera)
- Terrorism in Pakistan
- The United States designates the Milli Muslim League and Tehreek-e-Azaadi Jammu and Kashmir, both Pakistani groups, as terrorist organisations. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
- Pakistani Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal says the government will contest a court ruling allowing MML's participation in upcoming elections this year. (Bloomberg)
- ISIL claims responsibility for the deaths of four Christians in Quetta, Pakistan on April 2nd. (UCA News)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Police raid two homes in West Yorkshire and detain two men suspected of "being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism". (The Independent)
- The Police Service of Northern Ireland says it was firebombed at a march in Londonderry to commemorate a Troubles attack, calling the assaults an "attempt to kill or maim" officers. (News Letter)
- Police launch an investigation after Robert McClenaghan, a convicted ex-Irish Republican Army bomber, claims online to have planted a large number of bombs during the Troubles. (News Letter)
- Terrorism in Indonesia
- Failed suicide bomber Kurnia Widodo tells a court in Jakarta he believes imprisoned cleric Aman Abdurrahman is ISIL's Indonesian leader. (The Australian)
- Terrorism in Italy
- Italian authorities say a major terror alert in Rome last week was for an innocent man whose fiancé had made false, anonymous accusations to the Italian embassy in Tunisia. (Al Arabiya)
Arts and culture
- Censorship in the United Kingdom, Legal status of pornography
- The British Board of Film Classification issues draft guidelines outlining how it plans to enforce planned blocks on online pornography unless it comes with age verification systems. The blocks were initially planned to come into force this month. (Wired)
Business and economy
- Following the bankruptcy of UK engineering outsourcing firm Carillion, the Official Receiver reveals more than half of the roughly 20,000 employees have found new jobs. (Sky News)
- UK retailer Conviviality, owner of Bargain Booze, says it intends to appoint administrators within ten days. (Citywire)
Disasters and accidents
- A bus crashes in rain and poor visibility at the Mporokoso-Luwingu junction in Zambia, killing four and injuring 41. (Zambia Daily Mail)
- A double-decker sightseeing bus collides with a car in Hamburg, Germany, leaving eleven injured. (The Local)
- The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman launches an investigation after a burglar dies from burns suffered in a fire in his cell at HMP Risley in England. (Manchester Evening News)
- A report into the partial collapse of an Edinburgh school reveals similar construction errors in nineteen other public buildings in the city. (Construction Enquirer)
- An air traffic control system failure in Europe delays up to 15,000 flights, according to the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation. (BBC)
- Four people, all British nationals, are killed in a head-on collision with a pick-up truck in the U.S. state of Florida, according to Titusville Police Department. (BBC)
- Two underground trains collide in Duisburg, Germany, injuring at least 35. (Euronews)
- At a United Nations donor conference nations pledge US$2 billion in aid for Yemen, with almost half coming from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (The Guardian)
- A CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter carrying US Marines crashes near El Centro, California killing four people. (Military Times)
- A bus carrying US tourists crashes near Los Ramones, Mexico. One person dies and at least 20 are injured. (WFAA)
- A 13-year-old boy is rescued after falling into a sewer and becoming trapped for 12 hours in Los Angeles. (Isle of Wight Radio)
- A military pilot is killed when his F-7 fighter jet crashes into a paddy field in Kyunkone, central Myanmar. (The Straits Times)
- A fire in a Bangkok apartment building kills three and injures 60. (The Bangkok Post)
Health and environment
- The WWF describes Germany's rivers as being in a state "bordering on critical" after it emerges more than 90% do not meet European Union standards for cleanliness and ecological quality. (The Local)
International relations
- Latvia–Russia relations
- Egypt–Saudi Arabia relations
- Saudi Arabia lifts a ban on imports of frozen guava from Egypt. (Egypt Today)
- Member states of the Nile Basin Initiative hold their annual meeting in Khartoum after a two-year hiatus. (Anadolu Agency)
- The United Nations places sanctions on a North Korean ship for conducting fuel transfers in breach of UN sanctions. (P.M. News)
- Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatar–United States relations
- Reuters reports the United States' planned meeting this spring with Gulf Arab leaders is postponed because of the ongoing dispute between Qatar and other U.S. allies in the Middle East. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2017 Saint Petersburg Metro bombing
- On the first anniversary of the attack Russia's Investigative Committee releases a statement saying they have identified all participants, have eleven suspects in custody, and have almost concluded their investigation. (The Moscow Times)
- Police say a firebombing of a bus in Driekop, South Africa, killed six people. (Independent Online)
- A court in Kuwait sentences a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife to death in absentia for the murder of their Filipino maid. The case sparked an Interpol manhunt and diplomatic tensions. (CNN) (News.co.au)
- Three men plead not guilty to arson and manslaughter in connection to the deaths of five people in an explosion at a shop in Leicester, England. (BBC)
- YouTube headquarters shooting
- A shooting at YouTube headquarters wounds four. The gunwoman takes her own life. (The Guardian)
- German police defuse a parcel bomb in Berlin. It is thought to be the fourth device sent by a blackmailer targetting DHL. (The Local)
- The editor of Citylife Chiang Mai apologises to Chiang Mai's governor after being threatened with criminal charges for sharing on Facebook a painting by a student that depicted historic kings in anti-pollution masks. (The Bangkok Post)
Politics and elections
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- German prosecutor requests permission to extradite Carles Puigdemont to Spain. Puigdemont is in preventive detention in Germany since his March 25 arrest under a European Arrest Warrant on the grounds of risk of absconcion. (The Guardian)
April 4, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Shin Bet and the Israeli Defence Forces announce the arrests of eleven suspected members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group off the Gazan coast suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli Navy. (Israel National News) (The Times of Israel)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Protests enter a second week, with the death toll from last week's clashes at the Israeli-Gazan border rising to 19. Hamas organisers direct participants to stay well back from the border fence to prevent further violence. (Haaretz)
- The Palestinian Authority asks the United Nations to investigate. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Israeli human rights group B'Tselem launches a campaign calling on soldiers to refuse orders at the border. (+972)
- Ahmed Aboul Gheit, head of the Arab League, asks the International Criminal Court for an investigation. (The Times of Israel)
- The Israeli Defence Forces state one of their jets opened fire on a man near the Gazan border yesterday, saying the individual was an armed terrorist. (Ynet)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Police questioning two men suspected of plotting terror attacks in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire are granted an extension until April 10 to detain the suspects. (BBC)
- Terrorism in Syria
- The parents of Ayşe Deniz Karacagil, killed in Raqqa, Syria, after she joined the Kurdistan Workers' Party, are acquitted of a terrorism propaganda charge for attending her funeral. (Hurriyet Daily News)
- Terrorism in Egypt
- The Sohag Criminal Court in Egypt sentences 35 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to life imprisonment and imposes prison terms on 155 more. Separately, a military court sentences four more to life imprisonment, imposes prison terms on two others, and acquits 13. (The Star Tribune)
- Terrorism in Turkey
- Police across the nation arrest a total of 29 alleged coup participants on suspicion of terrorism. (Anadolu Agency)
- Authorities in Ukraine announce the arrest of a suspected terrorist in connection with a 2017 Kiev attack that killed two and wounded three including MP Ihor Mosiychuk. (Interfax)
- List of people indicted in the International Criminal Court
- Malian alleged Islamic extremist war criminal Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud makes an initial appearance before the International Criminal Court accused of demolishing shrines in Timbuktu, rape, torture, and sexual enslavement. (ENCA)
- Djibouti grounds all flights at a US military base in the country after two accidents in two days. The base is used for counterterror operations in Yemen and Somalia. (Euronews)
Business and economy
- High-speed rail in Europe
- The first ever direct train from London to Amsterdam departs from St Pancras railway station. The new Eurostar service estimated at three hours and 41 minutes arrived six minutes behind schedule. (The Independent)
- Jet Airways of India orders 75 Boeing 737 Max jets. (Flight Global)
- Bahrain says a recently-discovered offshore oilfield in its territorial waters contains 80 billion barrels of petroleum. (OilPrice.com)
Disasters and accidents
- A fire at the Perseus shopping centre in western Moscow kills at least one person and injures at least six others. (The Independent)
- 2018 Balikpapan oil spill
- The port city of Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia declares a state of emergency in response to an ongoing oil spill fire off the coast. The spill and fire killed four fishermen and is releasing toxic fumes. The slick currently extends to around seven square miles and marine fauna including protected species are being affected. (The Guardian)
- A fire in a building housing the Portuguese, Tunisian, Argentinian and Belgian embassies in Stockholm, Sweden injures 14 people. A man is arrested on suspicion of arson. (The Local)
- A U.S. Air Force F-16 crashes at the Nevada Test and Training Range near Las Vegas. (The Telegraph)
Health and environment
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the six-month closure of the island of Boracay in the Philippines, starting April 26. (Rappler)
International relations
- Syrian Civil War
- Illegal immigration to the United States
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs an order sending the National Guard to patrol the Mexico–United States border in response to Congress's failure to pass tightened border security measures. (CBS)
- The Viacrucis del Migrante caravan of mostly Central American migrants is stopped by Mexican authorities. (Reuters)
- Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
- Lawyers representing U.S. President Donald Trump are told by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller the President is considered to be more than a witness but is not under criminal investigation. (CNN)
- United States–Venezuela relations
- United States Senator Dick Durbin visits Venezuela to negotiate the release of Joshua Holt, who has been detained for two years awaiting trial on a weapons charge. The United States has been critical of his prosecution. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
- Ukraine and Turkey sign an agreement improving aviation co-operation. (Anadolu Agency)
- China threatens tariffs of 25% on the import of 106 U.S. products, including soybeans and Boeing aircraft in reaction to a previous U.S. threat of tariffs worth up to $50 billion. (Deutsche Welle)
- At a summit in Baku, India and Azerbaijan discuss cooperation in areas including counterterrorism, agriculture, infrastuctural development, women's rights, and trade. (ANI)
- The European Commission reveals it has received notice from France that the nation intends to extend passport checks, normally not carried out at Schengen Area borders, for six months beyond the present April 30 expiry date. (telesur)
Law and crime
- Police arrest five suspects over a firebombing of a bus in Limpopo, South Africa that killed six people. (Eyewitness News)
- LGBT rights in the United States
- Voters in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, reject a proposed amendment to the city charter which would have restricted public restroom use to the gender appearing on the user's birth certificate. (Out) (Anchorage Daily News)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, calls for an investigation into comments by UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Johnson is facing criticisms he overstated the strength of evidence against Russia, an accusation he calls "lamentable" and accuses Corbyn of sympathizing with Russia. (The Guardian) (BBC)
- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons rejects a Russian request for a joint investigation. (BBC)
- Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach
- The Conseil National des Barreaux, which represents French lawyers, calls for nationwide action to protest proposed legal reforms by Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet. (The Law Gazette)
- Police arrest a 78-year-old man in London on suspicion of murder after he allegedly killed a burglar during a fight in his home. (The Telegraph) (BBC)
- Pascal Blasio makes an initial court appearance charged with causing an explosion likely to endanger life in connection to a 2017 blast that injured 31 in New Ferry, England. (BBC)
- Search and rescue operations continue for three children missing after an SUV crashed off a cliff and into the sea in California, killing five. The Mendocino County Sheriff says the crash was deliberate and a crime. (CNN)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Christian extremist terrorism in the United States
- Lawyers representing two of the three defendants in a Kansas case alleging a Christian extremist plot to bomb a mosque tell jurors the FBI manipulated and encouraged the actions of the accused. (KCUR)
- Former President of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is found responsible of the death of 60 demonstrators during protests in October 2003. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Botswana
- Slumber Tsogwane is endorsed and elected the 9th Vice President of Botswana by Parliament in a 35-1 vote. (Mmegi) (The Herald)
- Italian general election, 2018
- Ahead of formal talks on the formation of a coalition government, Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio states he is willing to enter government with the Democratic Party and League but not with former President Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party. (Politico)
- Egyptian presidential election, 2018, Censorship in Egypt
- Egyptian news site Masr al-Arabia says its offices were raided and a journalist arrested in response to the republication of an article by The New York Times alleging irregularities in the nation's recent Presidential election. (The Guardian)
- Sierra Leonean general election, 2018
- Julius Maada Bio is sworn in as President of Sierra Leone. (BBC News)
Science and technology
- A study published to the journal Nature finds dozens of potential stellar mass black holes in the Galactic Center, suggesting there may be as many as 20,000 orbiting the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. (National Geographic)
April 5, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israeli Defence Forces releases footage of a man fatally shot yesterday during an apparent attempt to breach the Gazan border fence. Israel says he was carrying an AK-47 and explosive devices including grenades, and accused Hamas of "playing with fire". (Ynet News)
- Ukrainian crisis, War in Donbass
- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko holds a press conference in Vinnytsia announcing the end of the anti-terror operation in Donbass in May. It will be replaced with a military force. (UNIAN)
- Terrorism in Turkey
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls 15 peaceful anti-war protestors arrested last month at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul terrorists and says they will not be allowed to complete their education. (Times Higher Education)
Disasters and accidents
- Earthquakes in California
- A magnitude 5.3 earthquake, the strongest in the region in four years, takes place near Santa Cruz Island off the coast of California, being felt as far as Riverside. No injuries are reported. (Los Angeles Times)
- A bus crash in Makomero, Tanzania, kills 12 people and injures 46. (News24)
- An F-15K fighter jet crashes on a mountainside in Chilgok, South Korea. One pilot is killed and another is missing, presumed dead. (The Washington Post)
- A fire breaks out on the roof of a hospital in Gaziosmanpasa, Istanbul, and spreads down the outside to ground level. Minister of Health Ahmet Demircan say all patients have been evacuated and transferred to hospitals elsewhere by ambulances. (CNN)
Health and environment
- 2017–18 Philippine dengue vaccination controversy
- The Public Attorney's Office filed the criminal charges against former Health Secretary Janette Garin and other executives from Sanofi Pasteur and Zuellig Pharma Corporation, the manufacturer and distributor of dengue vaccine called Dengvaxia. (Rappler)
- Medically assisted suicide became legal in the state of Hawaii. (AP)
International relations
- China–North Korea relations
- Korean Workers' Party chairman Kim Jong-un has reportedly told Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping that he is willing to resume six-party talks. (Yahoo! News)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Vasily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, tells the UN Security Council the United Kingdom has created a "fake story" and says Russia has "told our British colleagues that you are playing with fire and you will be sorry." UK representative to UN Karen Pierce tells the Security Council UK actions "stand up to any scrutiny" and compares Russian requests to join the investigation to an arsonist investigating their own fire. (BBC)
- Trump tariffs, China–United States relations
- Trump instructs officials to consider a further $100 billion of tariffs against China in addition to the $50 billion worth of US tariffs already proposed on hundreds of Chinese imports. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Crime in Turkey
- At Eskişehir Osmangazi University, central Turkey, a research assistant shoots and kills four staff members. Media report that three people are wounded and that the shooter has turned himself in to police. (Fox News)
- Operation Car Wash
- Brazilian federal judge Sérgio Moro orders the arrest of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by late Friday to begin serving a 12-year sentence for corruption. (Reuters)
- Terrorism in the United States
- Newly released documentation reveals Benjamin Morrow, a man killed by an explosion on March 5 in his home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, possessed white supremacist literature, five guns with ammunition, boxes of binary explosives, jars of explosive TATP, and a small explosives manufacturing laboratory. (Wisc News)
- Orlando nightclub shooting
- Sixteen survivors use anti-terror legislation to sue Google, Twitter and Facebook, alleging the firms "provided support and resources" to the Islamic State. (WSB-TV)
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Former major of the Mossos d'Esquadra Josep Lluís Trapero is charged with two counts of sedition and one of criminal organisation. (BBC)
- Former director of the Mossos d'Esquadra Pere Soler, former Lt. Teresa Laplana, and former General Secretary of Catalan Ministry of the Interior Cèsar Puig are charged with one count of sedition and one of criminal organitsation. (RTVE)
- Twitter suspensions
- Around 20 armed robbers attack a police station with guns and a bank with dynamite in Offa, Kwara State, Nigeria. The shooting kills nine and the explosion kills seven. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Human rights in Vietnam
- A Vietnamese court sentences six high-profile Brotherhood for Democracy activists to prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the government, with the longest sentence handed to human rights lawyer Nguyễn Văn Đài. (BBC)
Sports
- 2018 in UFC
- An arrest warrant is issued for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Conor McGregor after he was involved in a melee at a press conference at the Barclays Center in New York City ahead of UFC 223. Video footage appears to show McGregor throwing a hand truck through a window of the Khabib Nurmagomedov team bus. (The Guardian)
April 6, 2018 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warns Israel to use "extreme caution" as further protests are held at the Gazan border. Israeli Defence Forces open fire again, killing at least seven Palestinians. (The Guardian)
- Protestors begin burning tyres at the border. (The Guardian)
- Moro conflict
- Acting on a tipoff about a planned attack, authorities in Shariff Aguak detain two suspected would-be bombers and disable an improvised explosive device. (Philstar Global)
- Terrorism in the Netherlands
- The Dutch Court of Appeal increases the sentence of a man who twice attempted to travel to Syria from 31 months partially suspended to 40 months. The man was previously convicted of preparing terrorist crimes and trying to participate in a terrorist organisation. (Dutch News)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Police announce they will expand Project Servator to cover London. Project Servator involves the deployment of hundreds of armed counterterror officers in a bid to rapidly swarm potential terrorists. (Sky News)
Arts and cultures
- Weinstein effect
- Three members of the Swedish Academy leave their seats after failing to oust another member whose husband is accused of sexual misconduct including raping young female writers. (Expressen)
Business and economy
- Economy of the United Kingdom
- A report reveals that 2017 saw over ten thousand new businesses in the technology sector throughout the United Kingdom, with all areas seeing growth over 2016. Scotland saw a 77% increase with 440 new firms. (The Scotsman)
- Trump tariffs
- U.S. stocks drop by about 2 percent in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff statement yesterday concerning Chinese imports. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Humboldt Broncos bus crash
- A transport and a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collide north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, en route to a play-off game against the Nipawin Hawks, killing 15 people. (CTV News) (CBC) (BBC)
- A bus crashes near Genting Highlands in Bentong, Pahang, Malaysia, hitting a car and a barrier. Twenty-three people are injured, including sixteen Chinese tourists. (Channel NewsAsia)
- A helicopter crash in Istanbul kills five and injures seven. (T.A.A.S.)
Health and environment
- Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, invites bids for oil and gas exploration at Northeast Newfoundland Slope, a protected marine area that was closed to fishing in December. (CBC)
International relations
- Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
- The United States imposes sanctions on twelve Russian owned companies, a Russian arms exporter, and a bank. The U.S. cites multiple reasons, including Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and military engagements in Ukraine, Crimea, and Syria, among others. (ABC News)
- Australia says it will prevent the departure of a ship due to carry 65,000 sheep to the Middle East next week unless the operators can reassure the government of the animals' welfare. The government launched an investigation yesterday after a video depicting conditions on the ship emerged. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Impeachment of Park Geun-hye
- Former President of South Korea Park Geun-hye is sentenced to 24 years in prison and an ￦18 billion fine for bribery, coercion, and abuse of power, among other charges. (The New York Times)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Salisbury District Hospital says poisoned spy Sergei Skripal is no longer critically ill, responding well to treatment, and "improving rapidly". His daughter was previously revealed to have regained consciousness. (BBC)
- Viktoria Skripal, a cousin of Yulia, states the poisoned pair suffered food poisoning rather than an attack with a nerve agent. Hours later she is denied a visa to visit her relatives in hospital. (Sky)
- Killings by law enforcement officers in the United States in April 2018
- Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act
- Several U.S. federal authorities led by the FBI seize the personal ad website Backpage in an effort to stop alleged human trafficking, including that of minors. Its co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin were also charged with 93 counts of human trafficking. (Reuters) (Arizona Central)
- Sexual offences in the United Kingdom
- Glasgow Sheriff Court sentences HMP Barlinnie prison officer Brian Johnstone to three years imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting two inmates in the showers and their cells between 2013 and 2016. (BBC)
- ValuJet Flight 592
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- A Central Criminal Court judge sentences Dutch-Somali terror convict Aweys Shikhey to eight years with an extended licence of four years. Shikhey received international attention for fantasy chats with a Kenyan online about murdering David Cameron, Queen Elizabeth II, Jews, and football fans. (The Times of Israel) (NLTimes.nl)
- 2018 in UFC
- Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor appears in court and is released on bail after being charged with assault and criminal mischief. (BBC)
- Human rights in North Korea
- The International Criminal Court rejects a petition to investigate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for war crimes. The petition by Japanese families of alleged victims was turned down because the alleged wrongdoing predates Japan's 2007 joining of the ICC. (NHK)
Politics and elections
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Carles Puigdemont is released on bail, following the German judge's decision that he cannot be extradited for rebellion. However, proceedings for misuse of public funds are being considered against Puigdemont. (The Guardian)
- Puigdemont calls for the opening of dialogue with Spain. (BBC)
- 2017–18 United States political sexual scandals
- U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold announces his resignation from Congress. (NPR)
Science and technology
- Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach
- Facebook states that people running popular pages will now have to verify their identity as part of its continued efforts to stem fake news and propaganda. (BBC)
- Facebook suspends AggregateIQ, a Canadian data firm, over concerns about possible data misuse. AggregateIQ was used by the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. (BBC)
- SpaceShipTwo
- Virgin Galactic successfully tests VSS Unity, the first test since an October 2014 crash destroyed a previous version, VSS Enterprise. (Euronews)
April 7, 2018 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Israeli troops shoot dead ten Palestinians near the Israel–Gaza barrier, including a Palestinian journalist, as protests continue. (BBC)
- A funeral is held for journalist Yasser Murtaja, shot at the fence wearing a press jacket covering tyre burnings by protestors yesterday. Israel denies targeting journalists intentionally and says it is investigating. (The Guardian)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman both praise the military response, with Liberman accusing Murtaja of "putting himself in danger" by operating a drone. (The Times of Israel)
- 2018 Münster vehicle ramming
- A man drives a van into a group of people in Münster, Germany, killing two and injuring 30. The driver then shoots and kills himself. (Express) (CNN)
- Terrorism in India
- Local authorities in Goa, India, issue a terror alert for the West Coast for fishing vessels, resorts, barges, and offshore casinos. The alert states a fishing vessel may be used to launch a terrorist attack. The Ports Minister states that Pakistan has seized an Indian fishing vessel in connection with the alleged plot. (The Financial Express)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Metropolitan Police arrest a suspected terrorist at Gatwick Airport after he arrives on a flight from Morocco. (BBC)
- Cyberattacks on Iran
- The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Iran says hackers attacked its networks, leaving an image of US flags on screens. A researcher at Cisco's Talos security group acknowledges "several incidents in multiple countries" involving the use of their Smart Install protocol. (Reuters)
- Syrian Civil War
- 2018 Douma chemical weapons attack
- Dozens of people in the Syrian city of Douma are reported killed in an apparent chemical weapons attack. (The Washington Post)
- 2018 Douma chemical weapons attack
Disasters and accidents
- A fire breaks out at the 50th floor of the New York Trump Tower, killing one resident and injuring four firefighters. According to the New York City Fire Department, the building had no sprinklers. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- A military helicopter crashes in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, United States kills both pilots. (CNN)
- List of shipwrecks in 2018
- MV Vitaspirit, a 225-meter cargo ship, crashes into a 200-year-old historic coastal mansion on the outskirts of Istanbul, Turkey after an engine failure during a voyage from Russia to Saudi Arabia. (Hurriyet Daily News)
International relations
- 2018 North Korea–United States summit
- Several administration officials say the governments of the United States and North Korea have begun secret, direct talks with each other. (CNN)
- Japan activates a 2,100-member Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, its first marine force since World War II. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gives a public address alongside his impeached successor Dilma Rousseff in São Bernardo do Campo, saying he will comply with an arrest warrant and begin a 12-year term for corruption after two failed appeals to have the warrant withdrawn. He maintains his innocence. (BBC)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- Iraqi security services announce the arrests of 20 suspected Islamic State militants in raids in Nineveh. (Iraq News)
Politics and elections
- Brenna Spencer, a female supporter of Donald Trump, goes viral after carrying a handgun in her pants while taking a photo. (Yahoo! News)
Sport
- 2017–18 Bundesliga
- Football team FC Bayern Munich win the competition. It is their sixth title in a row and their 28th German title overall. (AFP via Yahoo! Sport)
April 8, 2018 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- 2018 Douma chemical attack
- The death toll from yesterday's suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, rises to at least 70, according to the White Helmets group. The Syrian government and Russia deny the allegations of a chemical attack. (BBC)
- U.S. President Donald Trump warns Russia and Iran for backing Bashar al-Assad and calls him "Animal Assad". (Sky News)
- Eight missiles are launched at the Syrian T4 air base in Homs Governorate, reportedly by Israeli F-15s. Syria claimed that five of the missiles are intercepted by the Syrian Air Defense Force. Reports stated that 14 soldiers were killed in the strike, including 4 Iranian Revolution Guards. (BBC) (Reuters) (Times of Israel)
- 2018 Douma chemical attack
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Israeli Defence Forces fire shells at Palestinians on foot near the border fence, saying the men had crossed the fence before reentering the Gaza Strip near Gaza City. (Haaretz)
- Gazan hospitals declare a state of emergency owing to the thousands injured. (Al Jazeera)
- The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, says conduct by both Israel and Hamas may amount to war crimes and warns anybody violating international law may face prosecution. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Defence Forces deny reports three Palestinians fired upon in Gaza yesterday by an Israeli tank had opened fire on Israeli soldiers and hardware, but says they planted two bombs made from plastic drinks bottles and containing an explosive liquid near the border fence. The suspects were not injured. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman asks Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to probe NGO B’Tselem for "incitement to disobedience" for asking Israeli troops at the border to refuse orders. B’Tselem accuses Liberman in response of "a deep contempt for basic moral principles" and reiterates its call for IDF personnel to refuse to carry out "manifestly illegal orders". (The Times of Israel)
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the PA will take no further responsibility for the Gaza Strip unless Hamas hands over full control. (The Times of Israel)
- Gazan journalists hold a protest against the shooting death of Yasser Murtaja at the border, which they face with their mouths taped shut. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Sinai insurgency
- The Egyptian Army kills four suspected terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula. (Xinhua)
- Terrorism in Germany
- German authorities arrest six men aged 18 to 21 suspected of planning a terror attack on today's Berlin Half Marathon. (The Telegraph)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Police release two men detained for terrorism in Dewsbury, saying they are confident no terrorism offences can be charged. (ITV)
- A report commissioned by the UK states terrorists and extremists are increasingly turning to Bitcoin, the dark net, and encrypted communications apps in a bid to evade detection. (The Guardian)
- Police release on bail a suspected terrorist arrested yesterday at Gatwick Airport after he arrived on a flight from Morocco. (BBC)
- Terrorism in Israel
- A Palestinian man launches a stabbing attack in the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim and is shot by a civilian. The attacker is hospitalised, as are three Israelis who suffered shock. (Israel National News)
- Authorities charge Ahmed Kunba with several attacks including a drive-by shooting in the West Bank settlement of Havat Gilad that killed one, shooting at a bus, and trying to infiltrate the West Bank settlement of Dotan. (The Times of Israel)
- Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)
- Iraqi security forces kill six suspected terrorists and seize guns and explosives in an operation targeting Islamic State in Anbar. (Iraqi News)
- A suicide bomber injures six Iraqi soldiers near Ramadi, Anbar. The soldiers were combing a building hit by a separate bombing yesterday that killed five and injured seven including a politician. (Iraqi News)
- Iraqi authorities say an unexplained explosion in Mutaibija, on the border of Diyala and Salahuddin, killed an alleged senior member of the Islamic State. (Iraqi News)
Disasters and accidents
- A bus collides with a train near Armyansk, Crimea, killing five people and injuring four others. (Xinhua)
- 2018 Paris–Roubaix
- Belgian Vérandas Willems–Crelan cyclist Michael Goolaerts crashes during the race in France and subsequently dies in hospital. (BBC)
- 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Ferrari Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen hits a mechanic during a pit stop. The mechanic receives multiple leg fractures. (ESPN)
- The UK Airprox Board reveals a Red Arrows jet came within 100ft of collision with a civilian plane last year. (Lincolnshire Live)
International relations
- Sino-Indian border dispute
- The Indian Army rejects Chinese categorisations of its patrols in Asaphila near the disputed Arunachal Pradesh border as "transgressions", and accuses China of damaging Indian roadlaying equipment. (The India Express)
- Russia-United Kingdom relations
- Russia accuses the United Kingdom of withholding information on the investigation into the murder of Russian exile Nikolay Glushkov, which is being probed by counterterrorism officers. Glushkov had political asylum and was wanted in Russia for embezzlement from Aeroflot. (The Independent)
Law and crime
- 2018 Münster attack
- German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer rejects claims that yesterday's car attack was an act of either Islamic or far-right terrorism, saying the attacker was not politically motivated. (The Journal)
- Operation Car Wash
- Former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva surrenders to police following a two-day stand-off at a steelworkers' union building in São Bernardo do Campo. (BBC)
- Animal welfare and rights in Australia
- A ship due to carry 65,000 sheep to the Middle East fails an Australian Maritime Safety Authority inspection after docking in Fremantle, Western Australia and is denied permits for the voyage. The government is investigating newly emerged footage of conditions on the ship, where thousands of sheep died during a similar voyage last year. (ABC)
Politics and elections
- Hungarian parliamentary election, 2018
- Voters in Hungary go to the polls for a parliamentary election with the Fidesz Party led by Viktor Orbán achieving a super-majority for the third election in a row. (AFP via Focus News), (Washington Post)
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces the departure of National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton. (CNN)
Sport
- In golf, American Patrick Reed wins the 2018 Masters Tournament held in Augusta, Georgia. (SBNation)
April 9, 2018 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Israel launches an investigation into a video appearing to show soldiers cheering as a Palestinian man is shot by an Israeli sniper through the Gazan border fence. (The Washington Post)
- The Palestinian Authority pays salaries to its West Bank staff but not to staff in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, amid growing disputes between the two groups. (The Sun Daily)
- Terrorism in Thailand
- Three bombs explode in Sungai Kolok, Narathiwat, Thailand, injuring four people. (The Bangkok Post)
- A motorcycle bomb kills at least eight and injures at least seven at a market in Shindand, Afghanistan. (Voice of America)
- Syrian Civil War
- 2018 Douma chemical attack
- Human Rights Watch calls the attack a war crime and says both Russia and Syria may bear criminal responsibility. (Reuters)
- An explosion in Idlib kills more than a dozen, including civilians and children. (euronews)
- 2018 Douma chemical attack
- A prosecutor asks the International Criminal Court to decide if it has jurisdiction over Rohingya deportations from Myanmar to Bangladesh, saying they may constitute a crime against humanity. (Reuters)
- The Metropolitan Police in London launches a war crimes investigation into five men wanted in Rwanda for alleged massacres in 1994. A United Kingdom court previously refused to extradite the men over concerns they may not receive a fair trial. (The London Evening Standard)
- Three US Navy SEALs go on trial in San Diego accused of war crimes. Prosecutors allege the trio tortured unidentified detainees in Village Stability Platform Kalach in Chora, Uruzgan, Afghanistan. (The San Diego Union Tribune)
Arts and culture
- "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour"
- In a new apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis mentions Satan or the Devil twelve times. Warning against Catholic media transgressing the eighth commandment, he calls to "see how the unguarded tongue, set on fire by hell, sets all things ablaze." (Reuters)
Business and economy
- The New Zealand Overseas Investment Office approves the sale of clothing company Icebreaker to U.S. retail conglomerate VF Corporation, revealing the sale price as NZ$288 million. (Stuff)
Disasters and accidents
- List of shipwrecks in 2018
- A fire breaks out on South Korean fishing vessel FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand. Ten fire crews and a tug are in attendance. At least three are hospitalised and the ship is evacuated. (Stuff) (Radio New Zealand)
- A school bus plunges into a gorge in the foothills of the Himalayas, in Himachal Pradesh, India, killing three adults and at least 27 children. (CBS News)
- A wall collapses onto playing children in Doornfontein, South Africa, killing three. (Times Live)
- A school charter bus traveling illegally on a parkway on Long Island, New York, collides with a bridge. Dozens of students are injured. (ABC News)
- The Norfolk Southern Railway sues two staff members involved in a train collision last month in Georgetown, Kentucky, that derailed 13 cars and injured four. (Cincinnati)
- A double decker tourist bus collides with low-lying tree branches in Żurrieq, Malta, killing two adults with six others being critically injured. (The Times of Malta)
- A Piper PA-24 Comanche crashes after takeoff in Scottsdale, Arizona, killing all six people aboard. (USA Today)
- Investigators say Trump Tower, where a man died in a fire yesterday, had no working smoke alarms. (CNN)
- A Gol Transportes Aereos Boeing 737-800 passenger jet takes off over the top of an Air Force Embraer C-95 Bandeirante that was blocking the runway at Brasilia International Airport. (The Aviation Herald)
Health and environment
- The International Maritime Organisation commences meetings in London aimed at reducing emissions in the shipping industry, which are presently unregulated. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol made the IMO responsible for controlling ship emissions. (BBC)
- Prince Albert II of Monaco arrives in Edinburgh to launch an international conference of oceanographers and environmental experts to discuss the global marine environment, including oceanic acidification and plastic pollution, as well as the local creation of Marine Protected Areas in Scotland. (BBC)
International relations
- Somalia seizes US$9.6 million from three bags arriving on a Royal Jet flight from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in the midst of diplomatic tensions between the nations. (al-Jazeera)
- The United States says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has indicated willingness to discuss denuclearisation. (Voice of America)
Law and crime
- Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations
- U.S. entertainer Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial begins. As he enters the court a topless woman with the words Women's Lives Matter written on her body charges him and is arrested. (AP via Fredericksburg)
- Terrorism in Finland
- Abderrahman Bouanane goes on trial in a courtroom set up within a prison in Turku, Finland, accused of two murders and eight attempted murders in an alleged terror attack. The charges, the first terrorism crimes ever charged in Finland, relate to a stabbing in Turku's main market square. Bouanane is charged with two counts of terror-related murder and eight counts of attempted murder with a terror-related motive. (ABC)
- Terrorism in the United States, Orlando nightclub shooting
- Sixteen survivors use anti-terror legislation to sue Google, Twitter and Facebook, alleging the firms "provided support and resources" to the Islamic State. (WSB-TV)
- Terrorism in France
- French police arrest three men and three women accused of involvement in the 2016 Magnanville stabbing by an ISIL supporter. Local media reports the detainees include police major Maryline Bereaud and her daughter. (The Guardian)
- Terrorism in Indonesia
- Extremist Muslim preacher Kiki Muhammad Iqbal is sentenced to nine years for inciting terrorism for a sermon he gave last year at a mosque in Bandung. The sermon is alleged to have caused two suicide bombers to launch a May 2017 attack that killed three policemen in East Jakarta. (The Straits Times)
- Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal
- The FBI raid the office, hotel room and home of U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer and spokesperson Michael Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to pornographic-film actress Stormy Daniels. (The New York Times)
- Around 2,500 police armed with tear gas launch a raid in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France, in a bid to force the removal of 250 activists who have occupied the site of the proposed Aéroport du Grand Ouest for ten years to prevent its construction. The proposed airport is abandoned but the activists refuse to leave their community. (The Guardian)
- A day after a woman and her family tried to burn themselves in protest alleging she was raped by a local official and her husband murdered whilst in custody, six policemen are arrested in Unnao, India. (The Quint)
- Berlin Half Marathon, terrorism in Germany
- Police in Germany release six men suspected of plotting a terror attack at yesterday's Berlin Half Marathon, one of whom was linked to Anis Amri, after failing to find evidence to substantiate their suspicions. (The Local)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- The British Transport Police reject claims by entertainer Olly Murs of a cover-up of a possible terror incident in London in November. Murs reported hearing gunfire but investigations found no evidence of weapons use. (Sky)
- Six alleged members of banned neo-Nazi group National Action appear before the Central Criminal Court. Two, including the group's alleged leader, are charged with plotting the terrorist murder of MP Rosie Cooper. (The Warrington Guardian) (The St. Helens Star)
Politics and elections
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- The Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia, Roger Torrent, announces the investiture session of Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol for Friday, April 13. Sànchez, who has been imprisoned since October 2017 accused of sedition, was nominated again for President de la Generalitat on April 7. (La Razón)
Science and technology
- MV Symphony of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship at 206,912 tonnes, begins its first voyage with paying passengers. (Stuff)
Sports
- 2018 Green Bay Packers season
- Green Bay Packers wide receiver Trevor Davis is arrested after making a bomb joke at Los Angeles International Airport. (Bleacher Report)
April 10, 2018 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- 2018 Douma chemical attack
- Anonymous U.S. officials say the United States is considering a multinational military response against Syrian government forces, with experts saying that France, the United Kingdom, and Middle Eastern allies would be considered to help. (Reuters)
- Eurocontrol warns airlines to operate with care over the Mediterranean Sea owing to planned airstrikes in Syria. (Reuters)
- 2018 Douma chemical attack
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Yulia Skripal is released from hospital. Russia says it will view any resettlement efforts by the United Kingdom as "abduction." (Sky News)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- An Israeli Defence Forces investigation clears a sniper who fired a single bullet through the Gazan border fence, striking a Palestinian, but criticises a second soldier who filmed the incident and cheered. Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman says Israel has the world's most moral army and soldiers occasionally "let out some tension". (The Times of Israel)
- New York police arrest members of Jewish group IfNotNow during a protest against Israeli actions. IfNotNow members were blockading a local politician, and have previously chained themselves to the Israeli consulate. (The Jewish Telegraphic Agency) (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman calls Gazan journalist Yasser Murtaja, shot dead by Israel while covering border protests, as a "Hamas terrorist" engaged in intelligence gathering against the Israeli military. (The Times of Israel)
- Greek soldiers fire warning shots at a Turkish helicopter over the Aegean Sea after it approaches the island of Ro. (The Telegraph)
- France claims that a Russian military plane made a low pass over the warship Aquitaine off the Lebanese coast, claiming the aircraft was in deliberate breach of international law. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- A Yemeni human rights group files a war crimes complaint against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Paris as the prince visits France. (Sputnik News)
- Terrorism in Italy
- A car bomb in Limbadi, near Vibo Valentia, Calabria, kills local politician Matteo Vinci and leaves his elderly father critically injured. (ANSA)
- Police say an improvised explosive device exploded overnight at a Unicredit bank in Bologna, with the bomber leaving behind graffiti criticising Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (ANSA)
- Terrorism in Russia
- Russian Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov says the FSB has foiled six terror attacks in 2018 so far, including plots targeting polling stations and a shopping centre. (TASS)
- Terrorism in the United States
- United States Federal Prosecutors file a request to sentence Enrique Marquez, who purchased rifles used in a 2015 terror attack in California, to 25 years in prison. (AP via U.S. News & World Report)
- 2016–present purges in Turkey, HDP repression:, Terrorism in Turkey
- An appeals court in Turkey hands opposition Peoples' Democratic Party MP Burcu Çelik Özkan a sentence of more than seven years in prison for terrorism propaganda. She had previously received a six-year sentence for pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party activity, but the case has been retried following an appeal. (Ahval News)
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- The Civil Guard arrests one woman and warrants a man from the Committees for the Defense of the Republic, focused on the defense of Catalan Republic, accused of terrorism and sedition. (El País)
Arts and culture
- List of Japanese supercentenarians
- Japanese supercentenarian Masazo Nonaka is confirmed as the world's oldest living man. (Sky News)
Business and economy
- Hungarian parliamentary election, 2018
- Hungarian businessman Lajos Simicska shuts down daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet after 80 years in print, and Lánchíd Rádió in response to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán winning a third consecutive parliamentary supermajority. Simicska was a former supporter of Orbán until he fell out with the Prime Minister in 2015. (Bloomberg)
- Economy of India
- Jet Airways withdraws from the race to acquire debt-ridden state-owned Air India. (Arabian Business)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- Firefighters contain a fire on FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand. The ongoing blaze, which broke out yesterday, has injured three people. (The New Zealand Herald)
- A court in Istanbul issues a warrant for the seizure of MV Vitaspirit, a Maltese tanker that crashed into a historic waterfront mansion on the Bosphorus on April 7, until the mansion's owners receive US$50 million. (Hurriyet Daily News)
- Humboldt Broncos bus crash
- The Alberta Transportation Ministry suspends operations by Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd pending investigation into a crash with a bus which killed 15 people. (Global News)
- US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211
- Nepalese investigators release their preliminary report into the disaster. (The Aviation Herald)
- Two buses collide head-on in Luton, England, resulting in thirteen people injured. (Sky News)
- A French military jet accidentally drops an inert bomb on a car factory in Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France. Two are injured and gendarmes evacuate 150. (The Express)
- Thousands are left without power and flights are grounded after a powerful storm hits Auckland, New Zealand. (Radio New Zealand)
- A 53-metre (174 ft) tower collapses the wrong way during demolition in Vordingborg, Denmark, severely damaging many buildings, including a cultural centre. (The Independent)
- 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
- Poland's ruling Law and Justice unveils a new monument on the eighth anniversary of the disaster, which killed 96 including then-President Lech Kaczyński near Smolensk, Russia. Initial investigations primarily blamed errors on the flight crew but Poland is conducting a new investigation with a new report expected to claim Russian air traffic controllers purposely misled the jet about its location before it was destroyed in an explosion. (Radio Poland)
- Law and Justice's Jarosław Kaczyński, twin brother of ex-President Lech, calls off Marches of Remembrance held in Warsaw every month since the disaster, saying they are not needed owing to the new monument. (Poland Radio)
International relations
- Israel–Russia relations
- 2017–18 Qatar diplomatic crisis
- U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and praises the nation's efforts to combat terrorism, reversing his previous stance that Qatar funded terrorists at a "high level". Qatar and its neighbours are presently disputing the level and nature of terrorism in Qatar. (Fox News)
- Terrorism in Malaysia, Terrorism in the United States
- Judges from the United States meet with counterparts in Malaysia to discuss strategies for prosecuting terrorists. (The New Straits Times)
- Israel extends the area fishermen from southern Gaza are allowed to operate in from six miles offshore to nine miles offshore for three months. Restrictions remain unaffected in northern Gaza. (The Times of Israel)
Law and crime
- Indonesia announces the capture of MV STS-50, a stateless vessel wanted by Interpol for illegal fishing, and her crew following a chase. MV STS-50 previously evaded capture in Mozambique and escaped after being detained in China. Following the ship's detention Indonesia launches a slavery investigation into working conditions on board. (Channel NewsAsia) (The Independent)
- Inn Din massacre
- Seven Myanmar Army soldiers are convicted of murder and sentenced to ten years in prison for their participation in the execution of ten Rohingyas in Inn Din. (Reuters)
- Ukraine detains a Russian ship in Odesa suspected of illegally extracting sand. (TASS)
- An Italian judge says a mafia clan has been plotting the murder of Spia.it journalist Paolo Borrometi. Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni voices his support to the journalist. (ANSA)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- An al-Hashd al-Shaabi commander announces the deaths of 90 Islamic State members in Kirkut, Iraq. (Iraqi News)
Politics and elections
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert resigns at the request of National Security Advisor John R. Bolton. (CNBC)
- 2018 Kemerovo fire
- Aman Tuleyev, who resigned as governor of Kemerovo Oblast after a shopping centre fire killed 64 people there, is elected speaker of the regional legislature. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
- Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Ali Najafi resigns from his post after eight months in the office. His last resignation was rejected by the City Council. (Radio Farda)
- Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal
- United States senators question Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the various controversies the social network is dealing with, including recent disclosures concerning Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook data. (Los Angeles Times), (Wall Street Journal)
Science and technology
- Discoveries of exoplanets
- Four new Hot Jupiter exoplanets are discovered: HATS-39b, HATS-40b, HATS-41b and HATS-42b. (Phys.org)
- The Scott Polar Research Institute announces a mission planned for 2019 to search for Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton's famed lost ship Endurance, which sank in 1914 leading to a multi-year rescue operation. (The Independent)
- Proxima Centauri b, an Earth-like exoplanet, is hit with a deadly superflare. (ARS technica)
April 11, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- The Royal Saudi Air Defense intercepts a ballistic missile fired from Yemen over the Saudi capital Riyadh that caused panic among residents. Houthis say they fired several Burkan-2 missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia, including Saudi Aramco oil facilities. Separately, Saudi Air Defenses shoot down two Houthi-operated Qasef-1 drones near the border. (Reuters) (Middle East Eye)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israeli Defence Forces say a bomb exploded near one of their construction vehicles near the Gazan border. In response, the IDF launches attacks on Hamas positions within the Gaza Strip. (The Times of Israel)
- The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre states 80% of the deceased Palestinians, including journalist Yasir Murtaja, are terrorists. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Tamer Abu Daqqa, a resident of Khan Younis, Gaza, claims he is the man shown on an unauthorised video taken by an Israeli soldier being shot by a sniper through the border fence. Daqqa rejects Israeli claims he was a ringleader of violence and says he was assisting wounded Palestinians. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman bars 110 Palestinians from entering Israel to attend a joint Israeli-Palestinian Remembrance Day ceremony in Tel Aviv. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Terrorism in Spain
- Spain's Audiencia Nacional sentences ten Islamic extremists to between eight and twelve years in prison for a plot to launch attacks against Barcelona landmarks and behead a hostage on camera. The cell was convicted yesterday. (El País)
- Terrorism in the United Arab Emirates
- The Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court jails two Egyptians and a Saudi for fifteen years each and fines them for promoting terrorist ideologies online. The court orders them deported after release, their computer equipment seized, and their social media presences deleted. (Gulf News)
- Terrorism in Canada
- Lawyers representing Ayanle Hassan Ali, accused of three attempted murders in a 2016 Toronto knife attack on Canadian soldiers, say he should be acquitted entirely of allegations the charges had a terrorist motive and found not criminally responsible for the underlying offences on the grounds of his mental health. (CBC.ca)
- Mexican Drug War
- Fourteen people are killed in 36 hours in Cancún, Mexico, in the worst spate of violence in the city since 2004. (The Daily Mail)
- The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals partly overturns the acquittal of Serb radical nationalist Vojislav Šešelj and finds him guilty of crimes against humanity during the Yugoslav Wars. He is not detained as he served more than eleven years in the court's custody, and takes to Twitter to declare himself "proud of my war crimes" and "ready to repeat them". (Bloomberg) (The Irish Times)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi attends the funeral of bodyguard Brigadier General Sherif Ismail el-Morshedy, killed in action in Nineveh against Saraya al-Salam. (Iraqi News)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- The fire onboard South Korean ship FV Don Wong 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand, enters its third day. At least four vessels – MV Searuby, MV San Granit, MV Longview Logger and MV Jeppesen Maersk – are delayed from arriving. (Stuff) (Stuff)
- 2018 Algerian Air Force Il-76 crash
- An Ilyushin Il-76 military plane crashes shortly after take-off from Boufarik Military Airport in Algeria, killing all 257 passengers on board. (BBC) (sbs.com)
- 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
- Poland releases a new report on the disaster, which killed 96 including then-President Lech Kaczyński, rejecting previous findings and claiming instead air traffic controllers in Smolensk, Russia, gave the jet erroneous information prior to two explosions destroying the jet in midair. (Radio Poland)
- Humboldt Broncos bus crash
- The athletic therapist for the Humboldt Broncos, Dayna Brons, dies from injuries sustained in the crash, raising the death toll to 16. (Sportsnet.ca)
- Saskatchewan politicians seek a redesign of the intersection where the crash occurred, which was also previously the scene of a six-death crash in 1997. (Sportsnet.ca)
- The family of a man killed in California when his Tesla Model X crashed with the Autopilot engaged says they intend to sue the carmaker. His wife further says he had complained of flaws in the vehicle's behaviour and predicted his death in a collision with the barrier his car ultimately hit. (Electrek)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- The death toll from a fireworks factory explosion in Vellore, India, rises to four. (The Times of India)
- The death toll from a Malawi cholera epidemic reaches 30. (Reuters)
- Synthetic cannabis containing rat poison kills three and injures over 100 across the United States according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (USA Today)
Health and environment
- Climate change in New Zealand
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern bans future offshore oil and gas exploration in New Zealand, leaving existing permits untouched. (The New Zealand Herald)
- A survey commissioned by Water New Zealand reveals sanitary sewer overflows increased by 379% across the nation in 2017. (The New Zealand Herald)
International relations
- South Korea–United States relations
- South Korea national security adviser Chung Eui-yong visits Washington, D.C. and meets with his U.S. counterpart John R. Bolton. (Yonhap News Agency)
- The European Union says it is optimistic a two-year dispute with Poland's ruling Law and Justice over proposed judicial reforms will be resolved by mid May. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has been engaged in talks on the issue with the European Commission. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act
- U.S. President Donald Trump officially signs the anti-human trafficking act into law. (The Washington Post)
- Elmira Medynska, the partner of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, tells his inquest at the Central Criminal Court in London he seemed nervous and had been unwell prior to his death. The inquest is attempting to determine if Perepilichnyy had been murdered. (BBC)
- South Korean politician Ahn Hee-jung is indicted on accusations he repeatedly raped his aide Kim Ji-eun, who previously accused him publicly of sexual abuse. (Gulf News)
- Former President of Andalusia and ex-Minister of Health and Labour José Antonio Griñán declares before the court as a key in the ERE corruption scandal. (El Mundo)
Politics and elections
- Azerbaijani presidential election, 2018
- Millions of Azerbaijanis vote in the presidential elections. President Ilham Aliyev receives 86% of the vote and is re-elected for another seven-year term. (The Washington Post)
- 2017–18 United States political sexual scandals
- A special investigatory committee from the Missouri House of Representatives releases a report on Governor Eric Greitens's alleged invasion of privacy and sexual misconduct. (Chicago Tribune), (FOX2Now)
- Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, announces that he will not seek re-election to his seat from Wisconsin's 1st congressional district in the November mid-term election. Ryan has been Speaker since October 2015. (The Washington Post)
April 12, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons states it agrees with UK authorities on their analysis of the identity of the toxic chemical used against the Skripals. The UK identifies the substance as a Novichok nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia. (BBC) (OPCW)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- A further two Palestinian protestors die, bringing the death toll at the Israeli-Gazan border to 34 since March 30. (al-Jazeera)
- Adalah and Al Mezan say Gazan doctors had to amputate the legs of two young protestors wounded by Israeli fire after Israel refused permission for their transfer to Ramallah in the West Bank for treatment. Israel says the men were refused transfers because they were involved in violence. (The Times of Israel)
- Egypt, citing humanitarian reasons, opens the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula for three days. (The Times of Israel)
- The 9th International Conference on the Holy City of Jerusalem begins, with Israel denying access to the Palestinian Authority-hosted conference to a number of foreign invitees including a party of thirteen Indians, two buses containing academics, and Ghanan MP Ras Mubarak. Israel's ambassador to Ghana denies ever issuing Mubarak with permission to enter the Occupied Palestinian Territories, calling Mubarak a "propaganda machine" and claims it's a "complete lie". (al-Jazeera)
- Syrian Civil War
- Siege of Eastern Ghouta
- Syrian government fighters remove the last rebels from Douma, completing the Syrian government's recapture of former rebel stronghold Eastern Ghouta. (al-Jazeera)
- Siege of Eastern Ghouta
- Right-wing terrorism in the United Kingdom
- The High Court in Glasgow sentences Banff resident Connor Ward to life in prison with a minimum term of six years for plotting an anti-Islamic terror attack against mosques in Aberdeen. (The Press and Journal)
- Two serving soldiers are cleared of terror offences related to banned neo-Nazi group National Action. A civilian is convicted. (BBC) (BBC) (Birmingham Mail)
- Unidentified militants attack Kuru-kuru and Jarkuka in Zamfara, Nigeria, killing dozens. (The Punch)
- Ex-MI5 agent Jeremy Fleming gives his first public speech as head of GCHQ, revealing the United Kingdom launched a "major offensive cyber-campaign" against Islamic State. He also criticises Russia for actions such as launching the NotPetya virus and the poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal, both actions Russia denies involvement in. (BBC)
Arts and culture
- Chernobyl disaster
- The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant opens its doors to tourism. (TASS)
- Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit, says racism is allowed on the website. Some users criticize his position, while others praise Huffman for defending free speech. (BBC)
Business and economy
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- The fire onboard South Korean ship FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand, enters its fourth day. The port resumes limited operations despite the ongoing blaze and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission starts an investigation despite being unable to board the vessel. (The New Zealand Herald) (Stuff)
- A Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000-5F fighter jet crashes near the Greek island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea while intercepting a Turkish aircraft that had violated Greek airspace. The pilot is reported dead. (The Independent) (Protothema)
- Strong winds from a storm cause two of the Taj Mahal's minarets to collapse. No injuries are reported (BBC)
- Tesla Inc. withdraws from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's probe of a fatal Model X crash in California. Tesla had drawn the NTSB's ire by releasing information publicly about its view of the case and about the car's Autopilot feature, something the Board does not allow during active investigations. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
International relations
- 2018 inter-Korean summit
- A joint letter from more than 200 NGOs urge South Korean president Moon Jae-in to discuss North Korean human rights at the April 27 summit. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- 2018 Hamburg stabbing attack
- A man fatally stabs his ex-wife and his one-year-old daughter at a crowded subway platform in central Hamburg, Germany. (The Washington Post)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- Counterterror forces in Ninevah arrest and charge four suspected Islamic State members over a fatal bombing at a market in regional capital Mosul last year. Separately, authorities discover an unidentified corpse in Mosul thought to be connected. (al-Bawaba News)
- A mass grave containing burnt bodies is found in al-Tarabisha, Anbar. (Iraqi News)
- Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act
- Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer pleads guilty to conspiracy and money laundering and agrees to assist in the prosecution of other Backpage employees, including co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin, who were charged with several counts of human trafficking on April 6 after the site was seized by the FBI. (The Wall Street Journal)
Science and technology
- 2018 in spaceflight
- NASA announces that the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will be launched from Cape Canaveral on April 16. (Times Now News)
- 2017 Atlantic hurricane season
- Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate join the list of retired Atlantic hurricane names. (USA Today)
- Threatened fauna of Australia
- The Mary River turtle, which is endemic to the Mary River in south-east Queensland, Australia, is added to the Zoological Society of London's list of endangered species. (CNN)
- A study in Nature shows species which are visually unusual or attractive go extinct at higher rates. (Tech Times)
April 13, 2018 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War
- The United Nations Security Council meets amid concerns of military strikes in Syria by the United States and its allies following a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria last weekend, with the United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, accusing Russia of lies and covering for the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which she said had used chemical weapons at least 50 times in the past seven years of warfare, and the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, blaming the United States, France and the UK for escalating tensions. (The Washington Post)
- The British government issues a statement saying it is "highly likely" the Assad regime used chemical weapons on its own people, and that since such an action could not go unchallenged, Britain would work with United States and France to coordinate an international response, without specifying what measures the United Kingdom would take. (CNN)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Protests enter a third week, with thousands taking part. (The Washington Post)
- The Israeli Defence Forces claim an improvised explosive device was set off near the Gazan border with possible Palestinian casualties and other protestors attempted unsuccessfully to fly a kite carrying a firebomb over the border fence. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Israel opens fire again, with the Gaza Health Ministry claiming one Palestinian was killed and 233 injured as protesters torched tyres and Israeli flags. (Haaretz)
- The International Federation of Journalists, Norwegian Refugee Council, and Committee to Protect Journalists criticise Israeli authorities for shooting dead Yaser Murtaja during his coverage of the protests last week. The IFJ calls Murtaja's death murder and its general secretary accuses Israel of "fabricating lies" to support the killing. (The Jeruslalem Post)
- Police say a bombing took place in Barawe, Lower Shabelle, Somalia, at a football stadium yesterday, the first time a stadium in the country has been targeted, killed up to five spectators. (Reuters)
- Armed bandits storm a mining site in the northwestern Nigerian state of Zamfara, killing 26 people, including 16 illegal gold miners. (CNN)
- The Government of Ecuador says that the three Ecuadorian journalists kidnapped by rebel members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on 26 March have been murdered. President Lenín Moreno orders military operations on the Colombian border to catch the murderers, offering a reward of US$100,000. (The Guardian)
- Poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal
- Sir Mark Sedwill, national security advisor to the United Kingdom, says Russian intelligence targeted Yulia Skripal's email account. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- The fire aboard Korean ship FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand, enters its fifth day. Fire and Emergency New Zealand rejects a proposal to tow the vessel out to sea as too dangerous. Firefighters commence efforts to seal the ship to suffocate ongoing fires. (Stuff)
- A bus overturns near the village of Vakarel, Bulgaria, killing six people and injuring 20. (Reuters)
- Vanuatu plans another evacuation from Ambae Island due to volcanic activity from Manaro Voui. (RNZ)
- Summit Air Flight 409
- The Nepalese Accident Investigation Commission concludes its investigation, finding the plane stalled after the flight crew lost situational awareness and began a rapid ascent to avoid terrain whilst still configured for landing. (The Aviation Herald)
- Russian authorities say a Kamov Ka-29 belonging to the Baltic Fleet crashed late yesterday whilst attempting to land on a ship, killing two people. (RadioFreeEurope / Radio Liberty)
Health and environment
- The International Maritime Organisation announces agreements to reduce shipping emissions by 50% of 2008 levels by 2050, and to ban heavy fuel oil from the Arctic. (CBC) (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Terrorism in France
- French judges clear the Tarnac Nine, accused of performing an anarchist terror sabotage in a controversial trial, of wrongdoing and describe the existence of a terror group as a "fiction". Defence lawyers had accused ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy's government of misusing counterterror law. (The Guardian)
- Terrorism in Germany
- Three Syrian nationals are arrested in Saarland suspected of terror links. Two are suspected of fighting with the Islamic State in Syria. (Deutsche Welle)
- Right-wing terrorism in the United Kingdom
- An unidentified civilian is jailed for three and a half years for terror offences connected to banned neo-Nazi group National Action. Acquitted Finnish national Mikko Vehvilainen, a serving soldier in the British Army, is jailed alongside him for a weapons offence, receiving 12 months. (BBC) (BBC) (The Birmingham Mail)
- LGBT rights in Portugal
- The Parliament of Portugal passed a new law, by a 109 vote margin, making it easier for people to change their legal gender. Portuguese citizens from the age of 16 will now be able to change their gender and name in documents without the need of a medical report. (BBC)
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- U.S. President Donald Trump pardons former Vice-President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of lying about leaks to the media. (BBC)
- 2016 Ludwigshafen bombing plot
- An Islamic State member is sentenced in Vienna to nine years in prison, among others for instigating a 12-year-old boy to commit a Christmas market bombing in Ludwigshafen, Germany. (Deutsche Welle)
- An improvised explosive device goes off prematurely in Wardaka, Baghlan, Afghanistan, killing nine insurgents and injuring five more. (Tolo News)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- Islamic State claim responsibility for bomb attacks on al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Asdeira, Salahuddin, Iraq that killed at least ten. (Iraqi News)
- The Iraqi Interior Ministry announces the arrest of six alleged Islamic State fighters including one woman in Mosul. (Iraqi News)
- An al-Hashd al-Shaabi statement claims the group launched missiles over the Syrian border at Islamic State militants preparing to launch an international assault, killing and injuring dozens of militants. (Iraqi News)
Politics and elections
- Brexit negotiations
- Thousands of pro-European Union supporters of Open Britain, the European Movement and Britain for Europe demonstrate across the United Kingdom calling for a referendum on the final terms of the UK's planned exit from the European Union. (The Belfast Telegraph)
- 2017–18 United States political sexual scandals
- Elliott Broidy resigns as deputy financial chairman of the U.S. Republican National Committee following reports that he negotiated a $1.6 million payoff with a Playboy Playmate over claims he had impregnated her. (Politico)
- Heads of state and government from across the Americas meet in Lima, Peru, for the Eighth Summit of the Americas. (Al Jazeera)
- The U.S. government releases a report by Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz that accuses former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe of improperly authorizing a media disclosure and "lack of candor" concerning this disclosure. (The Hill)
Science and technology
- Experimental satellite RemoveDEBRIS arrives at the International Space Station ahead of a planned mission removing orbital debris. (GetSurrey)
April 14, 2018 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- 2018 bombing of Damascus and Homs
- The United States, France, and the United Kingdom target chemical weapon sites and other Syrian military sites with missile strikes on early Saturday morning Syrian time (EET), in response to the Douma chemical attack. (The Washington Post) (BBC)
- Russia calls for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council as it considers supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria. (Reuters)
- 2018 bombing of Damascus and Homs
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- An explosion near the Israel–Gaza border fence kills at least four Palestinians. Hamas says terrorists from Islamic Jihad were killed. Locals claim the explosion was from the Israeli Defence Forces shelling Hamas. Israel denies any involvement. (The Times of Israel)
- The Palestinian Authority says an Egyptian delegation presently visiting Gaza City has asked Hamas to call off the Great March of Return. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli forces shoot and wound a Palestinian near Khan Younis. Local medical personnel report he has a bullet lodged in his head. (wafa)
- Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi calls for international intervention to "protect Palestinians". (wafa)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- The Taliban destroy an electricity pylon in Doshe, Baghlan, Afghanistan, overnight. The pylon carries imported power from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and its destruction causes widespread blackouts across several provinces and in capital Kabul. (Tolo News)
- An explosion strikes a major weapons depot linked to Hezbollah and Iran in Mount Azzan, near Aleppo, Syria. Local media and Sky News reports an unidentified jet attacked the site, possibly as part of Western coalition airstrikes in the region, but al-Mayadeen denies any airstrike happened and said controlled explosions were carried out at the site yesterday. (The Times of Israel)
- Terrorism in Egypt
- The Egyptian military says 14 terrorists attacked a Sinai military base today, with four of them blowing themselves up and killing eight soldiers. (Egypt Today)
- Yemen accuses Iran of arming Houthi rebels with drones in violation of United Nations sanctions to allow the militants to launch attacks on Saudi Arabia. Iran supports the Houthis but denies arming them. (The Daily Star)
- A civilian vehicle hits an unexploded landmine in Arsal, Lebanon. Three occupants die. (The Daily Star)
Disasters and accidents
- A storm blasts central US with heavy snow, winds, and hail, forcing flight cancellations, creating treacherous road conditions and killing at least three people. (ABC News)
- The US Navy concludes its investigation into the October crash of a T-45C Goshawk military training jet in Tennessee that killed both on board, concluding pilot error caused the accident. (Navy Times)
Law and crime
- The Court of Cassation in Egypt upholds life sentences for three Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Mohamed Badie and five-year terms for fourteen others. (The Daily Star)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- The Islamic State ambushes a member of al-Hashd al-Shaabi on Neft Khana road, near Khanqeen, northeast of Baquba, Iraq. The militants execute him. (Iraqi News)
Politics and elections
- UK Independence Party leadership election, 2018
- Gerard Batten is elected unopposed as the leader of the UK Independence Party, having been interim leader of the party since previous leader Henry Bolton was overthrown in a vote of no confidence in February. (Sky News)
Science and technology
- March for Science 2018
- A second March for Science is held with various rallies happening internationally. (Mother Jones)
Sports
- 2018 NBA Playoffs
- The first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs begins. (Yahoo! Sports)
April 15, 2018 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal
- UK Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn of Labour asks to see "incontrovertible evidence" before accepting Russia was responsible. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson responds, saying it is "quite extraordinary" to question Russian involvement. (BBC News)
- Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes
- Afghan and Pakistani forces exchange cross-border fire on the Durand Line, killing two Pakistan Army troops and injuring five others. (Voice of America)
- Sinai insurgency
- ISIL claims responsibility for an attack on a military base in the Sinai peninsula, Egypt, yesterday that killed eight soldiers and injured fifteen. The Egyptian Military said 14 militants were killed in the attack. (The Washington Post)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Gazans launch a kite carrying a firebomb over the Israeli border near Kibbutz Kissufim, starting a fire in a field. It is the fourth such incident this week. Local authorities alert residents to be vigilant for potential repeat attacks. (The Times of Israel)
- Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)
- A car bomb in Kirkuk, Iraq, kills and injures several civilians. The blast follows a bombing at Hor Rajab, Baghdad, earlier in the day that wounded one civilian. (Iraqi News)
- Israel Defense Forces announce the destruction of a Gaza-Israel tunnel thought to belong to Hamas, with Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman claiming it to be the longest tunnel found to date. (Jerusalem Online)
- Militants disguised as United Nations troops attack two military bases near Timbuktu, Mali, using rockets and two car bombs. At least one soldier at the bases, used by France and the UN, is killed and more than twelve others are wounded. (BBC News)
- Russia sends landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov, chartered civilian vessel MV Alexander Tkachenko, and transport ship Orsk to Syria laden with military equipment. (Metro)
Arts and culture
- Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
- Deputy tourism and antiquities minister Qais Hussein Rashid unveils a United Nations-brokered plan for "re-constructing touristic, archaeological and heritage sites" damaged by ISIL in Mosul. (Iraqi News)
- Prominent New York LGBT and environmental lawyer David Buckel commits suicide by setting himself on fire with petrol in Prospect Park. He leaves and circulates a suicide note indicating his death is in protest against the use of fossil fuels. (BBC News)
- Theology of Pope Francis
- Pope Francis comforts a crying boy in San Paolo della Croce, Rome, by telling him his recently-deceased father, an atheist, will have ascended to heaven on the basis his father had "a good heart". (A.N.S.A.)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand announce they hope the fire aboard Korean ship FV Dong Won 701 is extinguished seven days after catching light in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand. Firefighters say they plan to board the vessel tomorrow to confirm. (Stuff)
- 2017–18 Australian bushfire season
- A state of emergency is declared in New South Wales, Australia, as a bushfire continues to burn out of control. More than 500 personnel from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Australian Defence Force are tackling the bushfire, which has torn through the Holsworthy Barracks and threatens the suburbs of Sydney. (The Guardian)
- 2017 M1 motorway crash
- The UK Department of Transport rejects a call by road safety campaign NGO Brake for tougher legislation on licencing for commercial drivers in response to a crash that killed eight last year. (BBC News)
Health and environment
- Rose Acre Farms recalls around 207 million eggs from a farm in North Carolina after 22 people fell ill with suspected Salmonella braenderup. It is the largest recall of eggs in the United States since 2010. (Reuters)
- Former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush declines further medical treatment for serious ongoing health issues. (KFOR-TV)
International relations
- Syria–United States relations, 2018 bombing of Damascus and Homs
- U.S. President Donald Trump warns Syria's government that the U.S. is "locked and loaded" to strike again if Syria were to carry out new chemical attacks. (BBC News)
- Bangladesh–Tajikistan relations
- Tajikistan foreign minister Sirodjidin Aslov meets with Bangladesh State Minister of Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam. (Bdnews24.com)
- 2018 Arab League summit
- The Arab League summits in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, their first meeting since the Qatar diplomatic crisis, focused on Jerusalem and Iran. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Israeli authorities release 207 African migrants from Saharonim Prison after a Supreme Court ruling ordering their release amid deportation negotiations. The migrants had refused to leave the country voluntarily. (The Times of Israel)
- An improvised explosive device damages a shopfront in Limassol, Cyprus. (The Cyprus Mail)
- A court in Somaliland jails poet Nacima Qorane for three years for bringing the state into contempt by writing a poem calling for reunification with Somalia. (BBC)
- Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews riot outside the Israel Defense Forces draft office in Jerusalem after rumours emerge of a female draft dodger being arrested in Har Nof. Police open fire with water cannons and stun grenades. (The Times of Israel)
- Inmates at E Wing of HMYOI Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, riot, injuring four prison officers. A woman claiming to be an inmate's partner says the riot was in response to the inmates being housed en masse in solitary confinement without association with other prisoners for at least a week. (BBC News)
- Turkmenistan bans the import of bikinis, shorts, and swimsuits. (RadioFreeEurope / Radio Liberty)
- Boston Marathon bombing
- Boston marks the fifth anniversary of the April 2013 bombing with a private ceremony inside the Boston Public Library. The bells at a local church rang at 2:49 p.m. to mark the exact time the two bombs exploded seconds apart near the marathon's finish line. (AP News)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Guatemala
- Guatemalan territorial dispute referendum, 2018
- Millions of Guatemalans are summoned to participate in a referendum in which they will determine if they submit to the International Court of Justice the territorial, insular and maritime dispute with Belize. (teleSUR)
- The election of the candidates for Attorney General of Guatemala and successor of Thelma Aldana has concluded and 14 candidates have obtained the necessary qualifications to participate. President Jimmy Morales will appoint the Attorney General in the coming days. (teleSUR)
- Guatemalan territorial dispute referendum, 2018
- Montenegrin presidential election, 2018
- The Presidential election begins in Montenegro, with Milo Đukanović of the hegemonic Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro and independent candidate Mladen Bojanić being the favorites in the polls. (Foreign Brief)
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis, Catalan independentism
- 315,000 demonstrators in Barcelona demand the freedom of jailed separatist leaders and freedom of speech. (The Guardian)
- Efforts to impeach Donald Trump
- Former FBI Director James Comey doesn’t believe Donald Trump should be impeached, despite saying that he’s “morally unfit” to be president. (CNN)
Science and technology
- Asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2018
- An asteroid, 2018 GE3, sized between 37 and 138 metres (121 and 453 ft) passes 193,000 kilometres (120,000 mi) from Earth, possibly the largest known asteroid to ever pass that close in observational history. (Minor Planet Center)
- Another asteroid, 2018 GY3, which had passed 301,000 kilometres (187,000 mi) from Earth on April 10, is identified as the lost asteroid 2008 GY21, which had passed similarly close to Earth in 2008. (Minor Planet Center)
- Scientists say that they have identified genes that cause deadly heart condition pulmonary arterial hypertension which kills 50% of those affected within five years. (BBC News)
- USS Portland, a new United States naval ship costing $1.6 billion, arrives and docks in Portland, Oregon, ahead of being formally commissioned later this month. (KGW)
Sports
- Athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games – Men's marathon
- Scottish athlete Callum Hawkins collapses twice and strikes his head. Journalists, fellow athletes, and Commonwealth Games Scotland criticise a delay in him receiving medical assistance. (The Telegraph) (BBC Sport) (Herald Scotland)
- 2017–18 Premier League
- Football team Manchester United lose 1-0 to West Brom, handing rivals Manchester City the Premier League title. (BBC Sport)
- 2018 NBA Playoffs
- The Indiana Pacers defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98–80 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series in Cleveland, snapping LeBron James' personal streak of 21 consecutive wins in the first round. (The Star)
April 16, 2018 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Terrorism in Israel
- Petah Tikva resident Zohar Zuaretz is indicted on counterterror charges for far right social media posts in which he spoke of killing Arabs. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman declares the Iliya Institute, a Jerusalem community centre, to be a terror organisation operating on behalf of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Terrorism in Malaysia
- Malaysia announces the arrest of six alleged Islamic State members accused of plotting to abduct and murder police and assault places of worship. Authorities appeal for information on four more suspects. (Channel NewsAsia)
- Syrian Civil War
- Russia denies interfering with the site of a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, and says a nine-member Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons team currently waiting in Damascus will be allowed to visit on Wednesday. (BBC)
- Syrian state media SANA reports that the Syrian Air Defense Force has intercepted several missiles fired at Shayrat Airbase in the Homs Governorate. The U.S. denies any involvement. (Haaretz)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Israel announces sanctions on the owners of fourteen bus companies, and their families, in response to the firms transporting Palestinian protestors to the Gaza-Israel border. (The Washington Post)
Arts and culture
- 2018 Pulitzer Prize
- The annual Pulitzer Prizes, which celebrate US journalism, are awarded. The New York Times wins the most with three. Pieces on Donald Trump and the #MeToo movement feature prominently. (The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
- Grenfell Tower fire
- A leaked draft report by fire investigators BRS Global for the Metropolitan Police reveals new details of mistakes in the construction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower in London. As well as flammable cladding the report finds errors in window and cavity installation. It concludes the fire would have not spread beyond a single flat and all 71 victims would have survived had refurbishment not been performed, and that victims may also have survived had they sought refuge behind fire doors protecting waste chute rooms on each floor. (The Evening Standard) (The Independent) (The Evening Standard)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- A warehouse in Cirebon, Indonesia, collapses onto a neighbouring arts centre where teenagers were preparing for a dance show. At least seven people die, six of them children. (The Straits Times)
- The Indonesia People's Representative Council convenes a meeting to discuss the ongoing oil spill in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan. (Tempo)
- Shipping accidents in 2018
- An initial report on a collision between container ships MV Tolten and MV Hamburg Bay near Karachi, Pakistan, that caused millions of rupees in damage and lost cargo last month suggests errors by MV Toltens captain caused the collision and better tug provision by Karachi Port would have prevented it. (Geo)
- Firefighters reopen the sealed Korean fishing ship FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand, in a bid to finally extinguish the fire that broke out on April 9. (NZCity.co.nz)
- Railway accidents in 2018
- Four elephants are killed after being hit by a freight train near a Bagadihi Forest Range area in Jharsuguda district in the Indian state of Odisha. (The Tribune Chandigarh)
Health and environment
- An international team researching a plastic-consuming bacterium discovered in 2016 at a Japanese landfill site announce the accidental synthesis of an artificial enzyme that breaks down plastics more efficiently than the bacterium. The team suggest the molecule could be used for environmentally sound plastics disposal. (The Guardian)
International relations
- 2018 inter-Korean summit
- South Korea is expected to open a press center and online platform in preparations for the summit with North Korea. (The Korean Herald)
- The summit is expected to set the tone for the North Korea–United States summit later this year. (Yonhap News Agency)
Law and crime
- Crime in India
- Eight people, including a juvenile and a caretaker for a local temple, go on trial in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, accused of abducting an eight-year-old girl, keeping her captive, sexually abusing her, and murdering her in a high-profile case that has already been the subject of nationwide protests and pretrial Supreme Court proceedings. (The Times of India)
- Former President of Andalusia and ex-Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Manuel Chaves González declares before the court as a key figure in the ERE corruption scandal. (El País)
- A judge in Ragusa, Sicily, Italy, orders the release of a Proactiva Open Arms migrant search and rescue ship detained in Pozzallo since arriving there on March 18 carrying over 200 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. Catania prosecutors requested the Spanish ship's detention alleging involvement in illegal immigration after Proactiva refused to hand the migrants over to Libya. (A.N.S.A.)
- Police clash with KKE protestors in Athens, Greece, firing tear gas as the crowd uses angle grinders in an attempt to topple a statue of former U.S. President Harry Truman in response to the United States' airstrikes in Syria. Three protestors are injured. (eKathimerini)
- South Carolina authorities announce that a riot yesterday at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, Lee County, killed seven inmates and wounded seventeen others. (The Guardian)
- Terrorism in Turkey, Turkey–United States relations
- U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson goes on trial in Turkey facing espionage and terrorism charges that carry a maximum prison term of 35 years. (ABC News)
- List of journalists killed in Russia
- Russian investigative journalist Maxim Borodin falls from a window in Yekaterinburg and dies. Local officials say the death is non-suspicious but Novy Dens chief editor and international monitor OSCE both say he may have been murdered. (BBC)
- The Holocaust
Science and technology
- Explorers program
- SpaceX's scheduled launch of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is delayed until April 18. TESS is designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method and is 400 times more powerful than the Kepler space observatory. (BBC)
- China's People's Liberation Army says the nation's J-10C fighter jets have entered combat service. (Xinhua)
- Bombardier announces an increase in range for the Global 7000 business aircraft to 7,700 nautical miles, surpassing the Gulfstream G650 as the longest-range private jet. (The Montreal Gazette)
- Archaeologists announce the discovery of a treasure haul potentially linked to 10th Century Danish King Harald Bluetooth in Rügen, Germany. The initial finds were made by amateur treasure hunters in January and the total haul is the largest of its type. (BBC)
Sports
- 2018 Boston Marathon
- Desiree "Desi" Linden becomes the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years. For the men's division, Yuki Kawauchi of Japan became the first Japanese person to win since 1987. (USA Today)
April 17, 2018 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration are considering replacing the U.S. military forces in Syria with a regional Arab force. (Haaretz)
- American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Memorial Day
- Israel holds services remembering 23,646 Israeli soldiers and 3,134 civilians killed in the conflict. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a Foreign Ministry ceremony commemorating the nation's sixteen diplomats killed in service, states security services are prepared to foil possible attacks on diplomats by Iran. (The Jerusalem Post)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Egypt invites rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to meet in Cairo in a bid to halt violent protests at the Israeli-Gazan border. (i24 News)
- Memorial Day
- The names of 3,607 employees of Unit 731, a Japanese military medical experimentation unit associated with war crimes during World War II, are released. Prosecutors in the United States had kept their identities secret following the war in exchange for access to data gleaned from the project. (Newsweek)
- Terrorism in Spain
- Eight people go on trial in Navarra, Spain, accused of terrorism after an alleged attack on two Civil Guards in a controversial case with the prosecution seeking a total 375 years imprisonment for the defendants. The defence claims the incident was nothing more than a bar brawl and Amnesty International describes the charges as "inappropriate". (The Local)
- A grenade explodes in Moyale, Ethiopia, killing three people and injuring dozens. (Africa News)
- Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)
- Iraq sentences seven foreign women for links to Islamic State. Three Azerbaijanis and one Kergyz receive death sentences while two Russians and a French women receive life sentences. (Iraqi News)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- Disasters in Indonesia
- Oil exploration ship MV Ocean Geos catches fire after an explosion on board off Kuala Baram, Indonesia. Of the crew, 37 are evacuated including two injured and one more remains missing. Four firefighting tugs are in attendance. (The New Straits Times) (Offshore Support Journal Online)
- Tanker ships MT Crystal Sunrise and MT Astro Saturn collide off Singapore, causing damage to both vessels and a butane leak. (Channel NewsAsia)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- A passenger jet suffers an uncontained engine failure during a flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Dallas Love Field in Dallas, Texas. One passenger is killed. The aircraft diverts to Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (BBC)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- A bridge linking Babat, Lamongan, and Widang, Tuban, in East Java, Indonesia, collapses. Several vehicles fall into the Bengawan Solo River, killing at least two truckers. (The Sunday Times)
Health and environment
- The European Commission rules Poland's logging operations in the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are a violation of international law. (The Independent)
International relations
- 2018 inter-Korean summit, North Korea–South Korea relations
- North Korea and South Korea announce that they are planning to officially end the Korean War by writing a peace agreement. An armistice agreement was reached, ending armed conflict, in 1953. U.S. President Donald Trump called the decision to end the war a blessing. (Business Insider), (CBN)
- 2018 North Korea–United States summit, North Korea–United States relations
- United States officials state that Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo met with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. (WBIR-TV)
Law and crime
- Terrorism in Europe
- The European Commission announces plans to force tech companies worldwide that provide services within the European Union to supply data on their users in counterterror investigations. (The Guardian)
- 2018 Berlin anti-semitic attack
- 8,500 prisoners are granted amnesty in Myanmar by President Win Myint. (Voice of America)
- Officials announce the arrests in Iraq of two men suspected of plotting terror attacks for Islamic State in Australia. (ABC)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Armenia
- Amid anti-government protests, Armenia's National Assembly swears in former President Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister. The opposition call the move a "power grab". (BBC)
- Former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush dies at age 92. (Reuters)
Science and technology
- In Los Angeles, SpaceX announced that they will build a massive rocket named BFR capable of sending humans to Mars. (PC Magazine)
- New research suggests the Almahata Sitta meteorites are evidence of a lost additional planet in the Solar System. (Science)
- The lesser long-nosed bat, once on the brink of extinction, is removed from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered mammals and birds. It is the first U.S. bat species to officially recover from the imminent threat of extinction. (National Geographic)
Sports
- 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs
- In ice hockey, the Las Vegas Golden Knights became the first NHL franchise to complete a 4-game sweep in the postseason during their inaugural season after their victory over the Los Angeles Kings. (ESPN)
April 18, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Terrorism in Israel
- As Israel marks Memorial Day followed immediately by Independence Day a truck driver is arrested at a checkpoint at the Reihan Crossing in the West Bank suspected of being on his way to launch a terror attack. The truck's contents were marked as supplies for communities on the border but were actually explosives. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman orders the checkpoint closed. Henceforth only humanitarian cases will be allowed passage at Israel's discretion. (Israel National News) (Haaretz)
- Terrorism in Israel
- Syrian Civil War
- Libyan Crisis (2011–present)
- Terrorism in the United States
- Terrorism in Egypt
- An Egyptian court jails three Muslim Brotherhood members for life and 36 others for ten years each for terror offences. Fourteen others are acquitted. (News24)
- Eternal derby of Bulgarian football
- A bomb explodes at a football match between Bulgarian rivals Levski Sofia and CSKA at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, injuring two police officers, one seriously. It is the second time a match between the two has seen an explosion, with a similar incident killing a man in 2000. (ESPN UK)
- Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- UK media regulator Ofcom launches investigations into RT over possible breaches of impartiality rules in its coverage of the poisoning. Ofcom warns producer TV Novosti it may be forced to cease UK broadcasting. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- Cinema of Saudi Arabia
- A 35-year ban on movie theaters ends in Saudi Arabia with Marvel Studios' Black Panther being the first film to show. (CNN)
Business and economy
- Economy of Iran
- Iran's central bank officially switches from using the U.S. dollar to the euro in its international transactions. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- Search and rescue operations end after a crewman missing after a fire broke out aboard drillship MV Geo Technical in the South China Sea yesterday is found dead on the vessel. A gas leak discovered today was hampering the efforts. (The Star) (The Maritime Executive)
- 2018 in Puerto Rico
- Accidents involving helicopters
- An Iranian helicopter crashes into the Persian Gulf whilst evacuating an unwell oil worker. Two people die. (Trend)
- Associated Aviation Flight 361
- Nigerian investigators release a final report finding the disaster occurred because of an unidentified engine malfunction which was mismanaged by the crew leading to a stall. The resulting crash killed fifteen. (The Aviation Herald)
- Saratov Airlines Flight 703
- Russian investigators say the flight crew received indications of a failure in the heating for the pitot-static system, which measures parameters including airspeed. The crew received mismatching airspeed information prior to the crash near Moscow. All 71 on board died. (The Aviation Herald)
- A bus and a truck collide near Winterthur, Switzerland, injuring 15. (ABC News)
International relations
- Tajikistan–Uzbekistan relations
- Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agree to hold military drills for the first time. (Trend)
- Iran and weapons of mass destruction
- Iran reveals several new missiles on Islamic Republic of Iran Army Day, including the new air missile defense system Kamin-2. (Tasmin News Agency)
Law and crime
- Criminal transmission of HIV in the United Kingdom
- A Crown Court in England jails Daryll Rowe for life with a minimum of 12 years for deliberately infecting five men with HIV and attempting to infect five more. He is the first person convicted of deliberate HIV transmission in the United Kingdom. (BBC News)
- Basque conflict
Politics and elections
- Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
- Cuban president Raúl Castro prepares to step down as Miguel Díaz-Canel is elected as his successor. This marks the first time since the Cuban Revolution that the country is not led by a member of the Castro family. (Washington Post)
- Protests against Donald Trump
- Pittsburgh Police prepares large riot gears for a potential protest if Donald Trump fires Robert Mueller. (Washington Post)
- Protests in Nicaragua against Daniel Ortega
- Initially sparked by proposed social security reforms, culminated in demands for president Daniel Ortega to step down and a government crackdown. (The Guardian).
Science and technology
- 2018 in spaceflight
- NASA's TESS exoplanet space telescope, whose launch was initially delayed, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket. The first stage of the rocket successfully landed on SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (CNN) (Space)
- The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory states that Kīlauea is showing unusually high activity and that a new vent could form. (Big Island Now)
- Stratolaunch announce plans to test fly the world's largest plane this year. (Engadget)
Sports
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Reports emerge Palestinian cyclist Alaa Al-Daly, 21, had his leg amputated after being shot by an Israeli sniper on the first day of the protests and as a result can no longer compete in the upcoming Asian Games. (Reuters)
April 19, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- Iraqi Air Force F-16 jets attack an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria near the city of Hajin in coordination with the Syrian Armed Forces. (Reuters)
- War in Donbass
- Ukrainian ecology minister Ostap Semerak warns of a major nuclear disaster if pro-Russia separatists go forward with a plan to flood a mine where a small nuclear weapon was tested in the 1970s. Semerak appeals for international assistance to prevent the flooding. (The Irish Times)
- Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a recruiter for the September 11 attacks, is arrested in Syria. (NBC News)
Arts and culture
- Prosecutors in Minnesota say nobody will be charged over the death of Prince, who accidentally overdosed on counterfeit fentanyl pills. (BBC News)
- Yom Ha'atzmaut
Disasters and accidents
- Shoreham Airshow crash
- Jet pilot Andy Hill, accused of eleven counts of manslaughter over a 2015 crash at Shoreham Airshow in England, makes an initial Magistrates' Court appearance. He indicates he will deny the charges and the case is transferred to Crown Court. (BBC News)
- Mount Kirishima in Kyushu, Japan, erupts. It is the first time it has erupted since 1768. (Click Lancashire)
- Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board declares metal fatigue caused a fan blade failure that killed a passenger on April 16, the same issue behind a similar accident on another Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration announces mandatory ultrasonic inspections on fan blades fitted to CFM56-7B engines of which around 8,000 are flying worldwide. (BBC News)
- Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee releases a preliminary report detailing the circumstances of a collision between two passenger planes on a runway at Kuala Namu International Airport last year. (The Aviation Herald)
International relations
- North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea states that North Korea has expressed a desire to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula without attaching preconditions such as withdrawing US troops. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Murder in English law
- A woman goes on trial in England accused of murdering a man who was voluntarily euthanised in Belgium after she allegedly attacked him with acid. Prosecutors say medical evidence indicates "he could not bear to live in that condition." (BBC News)
- The High Court in Glasgow jails corrupt juror Catherine Leahy for six years in the first case of its kind in Scotland. (The Guardian)
- Terrorism in Norway
- The police bomb group moved out to an apartment in Rosenhoff, Oslo, when informed that there might be explosives in the apartment. One person was found slightly injured. (Aftenposten)
- Two deputies are shot dead at a Chinese restaurant in Trenton, Florida, in what appears to be a targeted killing. The gunman was found dead outside the restaurant. (CNN)
- A court in Tajikistan sentenced a 71-year old woman to 12 years in prison after having links to the Islamic State group. (EurasiaNet)
- A US federal judge rules the Department of Defence cannot transfer an unidentified ISIS suspect with US-Saudi dual citizenship to an unnamed foreign country. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
- Miguel Díaz-Canel is named the new President of Cuba. It is the first time in six decades that a Castro family member is not leading Cuba. (WTKR)
- History of Swaziland
- Marking the country's 50th anniversary of independence, Swaziland's King Mswati III officially renames the country the Kingdom of eSwatini. (BBC News)
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
- Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Bob Corker opt not to commit to endorsing Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. (ABC News)
- South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham states that he will support Trump in the 2020 elections. (The Post and Courier)
- Political appointments by Donald Trump
- The U.S. Senate votes 50–49 to confirm Jim Bridenstine as administrator of NASA. (CBS News)
Sports
- 2018 NFL season
- As expected, the regular-season schedule for the 2018 NFL season is released, with the defending champions Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Atlanta Falcons in the league's season opener on September 6. (Yahoo! Sports)
April 20, 2018 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- ISIL agrees to hand over control of Yarmouk Camp in southern Damascus to the Syrian Army in return for safe passage to ISIL-held territory in the Syrian Desert, bringing the predominantly Palestinian refugee district under government control for the first time since 2012. (The Washington Post)
- International military intervention against ISIL
- Iraq conducts a series of air strikes against an ISIL target in Syria. (Yahoo! News)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Palestinians riot along the Israel-Gaza border fence, burning tyres and flying flaming kites across the border to set Israeli fields ablaze; Israel Defence Forces soldiers respond with tear gas and live fire, killing four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. (Haaretz) (The Times of Israel)
- B’Tselem alleges Israeli forces have been firing on tents around 400 metres back from the border housing protestors including the elderly and children, and attacked peaceful protestors with tear gas. (B’Tselem)
- One petrol bomb-carrying kite is flown over the border adorned with a swastika. (The Times of Israel)
- First Liberian Civil War
- Liberian warlord Mohammed "Jungle Jabbah" Jabbateh is sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United States for immigration offences. Jabbateh lied to authorities about his role in the Liberian Civil War. (BBC News)
- Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry passes through the English Channel, and is shadowed by Royal Navy coastal defence ship HMS St Albans. (The New York Post)
- 2014–2018 Nicaraguan protests
- The government put the number of people killed in two days of protests at 10. (The National)
Arts and culture
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Actress Natalie Portman, who was born in Jerusalem, pulls out of the upcoming Genesis Prize (worth 1 million USD) ceremony in Israel over "recent events in Israel". The Genesis Prize Foundation says it is worried the event will become politicised. (CBS News)
- Expo 2020
- Tajikistan announces that it will participate in the Expo 2020 in Dubai. (Trend)
- Deaths in 2018
- Swedish musician Avicii dies in Oman at the age of 28. (BBC News)
Business and economy
- Economy of the United States
- Wells Fargo bank is fined US$1 billion by the United States government for mishandling of mortgages and automobile loans. Wells Fargo is also ordered to reimburse customers who were overcharged. (CNN)
- All Bon-Ton department stores are expected to close by August. At the time of announcement, the company operated 256 stores under its own name and the Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's and Younkers nameplates. (Pymnts.com) (CNN)
- South Korean shipbuilding firm Sungdong collapses into receivership after surviving on government aid for eight years. (Splash 24/7)
Disasters and accidents
- Around 40 people are injured after two passenger trains collide in Salzburg, Austria. (Reuters)
- Around 10,000 people are evacuated from central Berlin, Germany, while bomb disposal experts defuse a 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) World War II–era British bomb at a construction site. (BBC News)
- Mount Iō in northern Japan erupts for the first time in 250 years, together with nearby Mount Kirishima (USA Today) (Click Lancashire)
- Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- The United States Federal Aviation Administration issues an emergency Airworthiness Directive for CFM56-7B jet engines. The EAD expands on previous orders requiring ultrasonic testing to search for metal fatigue in fan blades. It mandates testing on engines that have reached 30,000+ flights, believed to cover 352 US engines and 681 engines worldwide. (The Aviation Herald) (The Aviation Herald)
- A helicopter crashes in Sulawesi, Indonesia, killing one and injuring nine. (The Straits Times)
Health and environment
- A British man reported last month to be suffering what doctors called the "worst-ever" super-gonorrhoea is said by Public Health England to have been cured. (BBC News)
International relations
- 2017–18 North Korea crisis
- North Korea leader Kim Jong-un announces that North Korea will suspend its missile and nuclear tests and has agreed to shut down its nuclear test sites. (Military) (NBC News)
Law and crime
- Offenders executed in the United States in 2018
- Alabama executes 83-year-old Walter Moody via lethal injection, who assassinated United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit judge Robert Smith Vance on December 16, 1989. Moody is the oldest prisoner to be executed in the US since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. (BBC News)
- Cybercrime
- The Central Criminal Court in London jails Kane Gamble, 18, for two years for unlawfully accessing CIA, FBI and United States Department of Justice databases and phone and email accounts of senior US intelligence officials. (BBC News)
- Politics of Zimbabwe
- The Parliament of Zimbabwe summons ex-President Robert Mugabe over an alleged theft of diamonds. (BBC News)
- Basque conflict
- The Basque separatist terrorist group ETA apologises to "every victim" of its actions. The ETA killed more than 800 people in its 40-year history, committing terrorists attacks throughout Spain. (BBC News)
- Crime in Poland
- A court in Radom, Poland, hands a six-month suspended prison term and a 10,000 zloty fine to a Russian pilot who caused a security scare during Pope Francis's 2016 visit for World Youth Day. The Russian had flown from the Czech Republic to compete in an international aerobatics competition and unknowingly violated a no-fly zone imposed for the papal visit. After failing to contact the aircraft, local authorities scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it. (Radio Poland)
- Polish Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro announces plans for a change to national self defence law to allow people to use more force than their attacks, and orders prosecutors to abandon proceedings against a businessman who shot at a getaway car containing fleeing robbers. (Radio Poland)
- The U.S. Department of Justice announces it intends to appeal yesterday's ruling that an unnamed detained ISIL suspect in the custody of U.S. troops in Iraq cannot be transferred to an unnamed foreign nation. The man has dual U.S.-Saudi Arabian citizenship. (CNN)
- Inn Din massacre
- A Myanmar police captain testifies in court that he and his colleagues were ordered by their superiors to entrap two Reuters journalists, who were arrested on 12 December 2017 for "possessing state secrets" under a colonial-era law. The journalists had been working on a report documenting the massacre at Inn Din. (Reuters) (Voice of America)
- An Iraqi judge hands a death sentence to an ISIL member who acted as a judge deciding on marriages in Mosul. (Kurdistan 24)
Politics and elections
- Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation
- The Democratic National Committee file a lawsuit against Russia, the Donald Trump administration, and WikiLeaks alleging that the former conspired to interfere in the 2016 United States elections. (The Washington Post)
- Brexit negotiations
- The UK Audit Office rejects a Treasury estimate of the cost of leaving the European Union that was repeated by Prime Minister Theresa May. Rather than the official £35–39 billion estimate, the watchdog says that figure misleadingly included £7.2 billion earmarked directly for private hands and did not include up to £3 billion in budget contributions and £2.9 billion in European Development Fund payments. (FXstreet)
- 2018 United States gun violence protests
- On the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, thousands of students across the United States walk out of school to protest against school shootings. (NBC News) (People)
Science and technology
- Discoveries of exoplanets
- A study has been revealed that WASP-104b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet, has been discovered as one of the darkest exoplanets ever seen. (New Scientist)
April 21, 2018 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Ambassador to the United Nations for Palestine Riyad Mansour says diplomats will ask the UN to probe the violence. (The Washington Post)
- Syrian Civil War
- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons takes samples from the site of a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria. (The Independent)
- Rebels in Qalamoun begin to evacuate after agreeing to surrender the region to Syria's government. (Al Jazeera)
- Sweden hosts the United Nations Security Council in Backåkra where the Syrian conflict is discussed by diplomats at a rare meeting outside the UN's New York headquarters. (BBC News)
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- An International Committee of the Red Cross aid worker is shot dead in Taizz Governorate, Yemen. The United Nations condemns the attack. (Relief Web)
- Yemeni Vice President Lt. Gen Ali Mohsen Saleh says a plot to overthrow the internationally recognised government by Iran and Houthi rebels has been foiled. (Arab News)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing
- A bomb explodes in a voter registration centre in Kabul killing at least 30 people and injuring approximately 50. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility. (CNN)
- April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing
Arts and culture
- Nabi Tajima, the world's oldest person, dies at age 117 in southern Japan. (USA Today)
Business and economy
- German manufacturer Bavaria Yachtbau is expected to collapse into administration. (Yachting Monthly)
- Irish firm Smyths Toys agrees to buy 93 Toys R Us stores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland plus four related online shops. (WOWK TV)
International relations
- Japan–North Korea relations
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe praises North Korea's statement that it would suspend nuclear and missile tests, but he also states the results must lead to verifiable denuclearization. (Reuters)
- Libya–Tunisia relations
- Tunisia reopens its embassy in Tripoli, Libya. The embassy has been closed since the kidnap of ten staff in 2015. (The Libyan Express)
- Hamas says Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh, shot dead on his way to a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, today, was an important member. Hamas does not ascribe responsibility for the killing but the victim's relatives allege Israeli involvement. Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett calls al-Batsh a terrorist and says no burial will be permitted in Gaza. (WOWK TV) (Israel National News)
- The United Arab Emirates says Qatari jet fighters intercepted a passenger plane heading to Bahrain and flew dangerously close to it. (Arab News)
Law and crime
- Terrorism in Australia
- Police in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, charge a man with several crimes under the Terrorism High Risk Offenders Act. (The Guardian)
- 2014–2018 Nicaraguan protests
- Ten people are killed in Nicaragua as anti-government protests over pension reforms enter their fourth day. (BBC News)
- Police in Mahikeng, Northwest Province, South Africa, fire rubber bullets as protestors against corruption and public service provision riot. President Cyril Ramaphosa leaves a Commonwealth summit in London to attend the scene. (The Guardian)
- Indian lawmakers approve capital punishment for men who rape children under the age of 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signs the measure. (BBC News)
- Libyan terrorists bomb an oil pipeline near Mrada, causing an explosion and fire. The same pipeline was previously attacked in December. (Xinhua)
- Opposition demonstrations in Antananarivo, Madagascar, turn violent. Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana says one died and seventeen were injured but opposition Parliamentarian Hanitra Razafimanantsoa, who supports ex-President Marc Ravalomanana, says two were shot dead and two babies at a nearby hospital killed by tear gas. (Xinhua)
Politics and elections
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
- Mitt Romney says that he won't commit to supporting Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. (The Hill)
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- Donald Trump is considering a posthumous pardon for Jack Johnson. (The Washington Post)
- Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones announces his plans to step down this autumn. (BBC News)
Sports
- 2017–18 Milwaukee Bucks season
- The Milwaukee Bucks announces Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be a part owner of the franchise. (Bleacher Report)
- 2018 NBA Playoffs
- The New Orleans Pelicans became the first No. 6 seed (or lower) to sweep its first-round series since the NBA switched from its best-of-five format in 2003 after their 131–123 game 4 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Anthony Davis scored 47 points and Jrue Holiday 41 points during the win. (USA Today) (UPRX)
April 22, 2018 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Rival Hamas and Fatah members clash in the Gaza Strip at a tent set up by the family of Mohammed Ayoub, 14, to receive condolences on his death in the protests. Hamas later dismantles the tent and orders all present to leave. (The Times of Israel)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing
- The death toll from a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday rises to 57, with the number of wounded reaching 119. (The Washington Post) (ITV)
- April 2018 Kabul suicide bombing
- Terrorism in Pakistan
- Police in Quetta, Pakistan, say gunmen shot at Shiites in the city, killing two and injuring one in the latest of a string of attacks on Shiites. (The Kansas City Star)
- Second Libyan Civil War
- The Libyan National Army claims to have launched airstrikes destroying dozens of vehicles in Sadada allegedly used by Al-Qaeda linked militants. (The Kansas City Star)
- Syrian Civil War
- Iraq claims airstrikes on Thursday in Syria killed 36 Islamic State militants. (Rudaw)
- Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad accuses the United Kingdom of faking evidence of a chemical weapons attack in Douma. (ITV)
- Hamas fighter Thaer Nayef al-Zaraei of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades dies in a tunnel collapse in the Gaza Strip. (i24 News)
- Terrorism in Israel
- Israel's Defence Forces, Border Police, and Shin Bet jointly arrest nineteen suspected terrorists, fifteen of them Hamas members detained for links to Gazan Hamas activist Khaled al-Din Hamed, in Ramallah. Troops disable a Hamas printing press and seize money and a car. (Israel National News)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Following recent attacks in Manchester and London, The Sunday Times says a leaked Home Office report reviewing the attacks proposes a new strategy increasing information sharing on terror suspects from MI5 to other organisations before they are considered to require surveillance. Also included are harsher sentences for terror offences, and additional attention on "communities where the threat from terrorism and radicalisation is highest". (BBC News)
- 2014–2018 Nicaraguan protests
- Reporter Ángel Gahona is shot dead during a live broadcast from Bluefields, Nicaragua, while reporting on antigovernment protests. (BBC News)
- Terrorism in Egypt
- Cairo Criminal Court adds 2,833 Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters including ex-President Mohamed Morsi on an official list of terrorists for three years. (The Egypt Independent)
- Terrorism in Russia
- Russian authorities say nine insurgents who were planning to launch an attack next month have been killed in a gunfight in Derbent, Dagestan. (Radio Free Europe / Radio Libery)
- Terrorism in France
- Police evacuate Mont Saint-Michel abbey, a major tourist site, and launch a house-by-house search for a possible terrorist after a visitor is heard shouting "I'm going to kill a cop." The suspect is not found. (ABC Online)
Disasters and accidents
- A coach carrying British Muslim pilgrims on an Umra trip from Mecca to Medina crashes near Al Khalas, Saudi Arabia. Four are killed and twelve more injured. (BBC News)
- Two dragon boats capsize in the Taohua river in Guilin, China, resulting in at least 17 deaths. (The Guardian)
- West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says he is willing to use state law to block livestock export ships on animal welfare grounds. The move comes as MV Awassi Express is detained in Fremantle undergoing ventilation upgrades mandated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority after video emerged of 2,400 sheep dying on board during a voyage last August. MV Maysora left the port last week despite inspectors reporting water troughs that were empty or filled with faeces. (ABC)
- Cracks are discovered in the core of Hunterston B nuclear power station in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The Office for Nuclear Regulation is investigating to determine if the reactor is now too dangerous to restart. (Herald Scotland)
- Two Chinese crewmen aboard MV Feng Hui Hai are overcome by coal gas in Jamnagar, India after a voyage from Indonesia. Another crewman is hospitalised. (Splash 24/7)
International relations
- Turkey–United States relations
- The United States warns Turkey of consequences if pastor Andrew Brunson isn't freed. (The Narco Path)
Law and crime
- Nashville Waffle House shooting
- A partially naked man shoots and kills four people at a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, Tennessee. (WLS-TV) (Vox)
- Crime in Germany
- A report shows German crime rates fell by 10% in 2017, with crimes by foreigners down 22.8% amid controversy over crimes by migrants. Murder, drug offences, and burglaries were among the categories to rise. (Deutsche Welle)
Politics and elections
- Makhosi Khoza, leader of South Africa's African Democratic Change party, resigns just five months after the party formed. (Herald Live)
- Turkish general election, 2018
- Fifteen members of Turkey's Republican People's Party quit and join the İyi Party, allowing the İyi Party to satisfy eligibility requirements such as having 20 lawmakers in Parliament for upcoming elections. Party leader Meral Akşener, who defected from the Nationalist Movement Party, will run against incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the presidency. (The Kansas City Star)
- 2018 Armenian protests
- Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan is detained by police shortly after a televised meeting with Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan who stormed out after three minutes, claiming he was being blackmailed to resign. (BBC News)
- Andrea Nahles is elected as the first female leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. (The Guardian)
- Paraguayan general election, 2018
- Colorado Party candidate Mario Abdo Benítez is elected President of Paraguay. (BBC News)
Science and technology
- UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt writes to social media firms including Google and Facebook giving them until the end of the month to come up with ways to counter online bullying, underage usage, and unhealthy amounts of interaction online. He says they will face new legislation if they do not comply. (BBC News)
- Tanzania's Communications Regulatory Authority issues a two week deadline for bloggers, Internet TV shows, and other online content creators and distributors to register with the government. (Xinhua)
Sports
- 2018 London Marathon
- Kenyan runners Eliud Kipchoge and Vivian Cheruiyot win the men's and women's events respectively. The event was the hottest since the inaugural race in 1981 with temperatures hitting 23.2 °C (73.8 °F). (Deutsche Welle)
- 2017–18 in English football
- Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah, who plays for Liverpool and is currently the top scorer in the Premier League with 31 goals, is named PFA Players' Player of the Year, while Manchester City winger Leroy Sané wins PFA Young Player of the Year. (Sky Sports)
April 23, 2018 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Two more Palestinian protestors, aged 18 and 20, die from wounds sustained in clashes at the Israeli–Gazan border. Both were shot by Israeli troops. (US News)
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- A Saudi-led coalition airstrike kills Yemen's Supreme Political Council president Saleh Ali al-Sammad. He was considered the most senior Houthi official in Sana'a. (BBC)
- An airstrike hits a wedding procession in Bani Qa'is District in Yemen's northwestern Hajjah Governorate, killing between 22 and 33 people, according to Yemeni health officials. (South China Morning Post)
- 2018 Toronto van attack
- A van strikes a group of pedestrians in Toronto, Canada, killing ten and injuring sixteen. According to the Toronto Police Service, the driver, who fled the scene, was later arrested. (BBC) (Globe News) (The Guardian) (BBC)
Arts and culture
- Freedom of speech in Egypt
- United Nations cultural authority UNESCO awards imprisoned Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid the 2018 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, drawing criticism from Egypt. Abu Zeid faces the death penalty. (The Straits Times)
- Israeli lawmakers Yuval Steinitz and Oren Hazan accuse Jerusalem-born actress Natalie Portman of antisemitism and seek to revoke her citizenship with Hazan calling her a "little hyprocrite liar" after she decides not to travel to Israel and accept the US$2 million Genesis Prize. (i24 News)
- Beverley Folk Festival in England collapses into administration. (NME)
- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to her and the Duke's third child and second boy; the child is fifth in line to the British throne. (BBC)
Business and economy
- Underwater engineering firm Subsea 7 begins negotiations to acquire offshore company McDermott International, offering US$2 billion for it. (Splash 24/7)
- The Finnish government decides not to expand a small two-year trial of universal basic income. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- List of shipwrecks in 2018
- Ferry operator DFDS has discontinued their Rosyth – Zeebrugge ferry service. DFDS says it is no longer profitable to operate the route. The change follows a fire aboard the MV Finlandia Seaways a day before. The Scottish government seeks urgent talks between DFDS and Transport Secretary Humza Yousaf. (BBC)
- 2018 North Korea bus accident
- A bus crash in North Hwanghae, North Korea, kills 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans. A further two people are seriously injured. (The Independent)
- Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- Southwest Airlines cancels 128 flights in addition to 40 cancelled yesterday as it inspects the CFM56-7B engines mounted to its Boeing 737 fleet following a fatal accident. (NBC News)
- 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
- European Commission President Donald Tusk testifies in Warsaw about the disaster which killed 96 including then-President Lech Kaczynski. Tusk was Prime Minister at the time. He is locked in disputes with Law and Justice over the crash. (The Independent)
Health and environment
- Doctors at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, perform the world's first successful transplant of a penis and scrotum from a deceased donor to a U.S. soldier injured in Afghanistan. The testicles are not transplanted. (BBC)
International relations
- North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea ceases loudspeaker broadcasts directed at soldiers over the North Korean border ahead of a planned meeting later this week between leaders Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un. (i24 News)
- Nicaragua–United States relations
- The U.S. State Department orders the families of U.S. diplomats in Nicaragua to leave amid riots by protestors against proposed pension changes. President Daniel Ortega has scrapped the changes but further protests are nonetheless anticipated. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Bosnian War
- Radovan Karadžić starts his appeal against his conviction for genocide and other wartime crimes at the UN court at The Hague. (Balkan Transitional Justice)
- Freedom of speech in the United Kingdom
- Scottish YouTuber Mark "Count Dankula" Meechan is fined £800 for a racially aggravated offence under the Communications Act for a video of a pug dog responding to Nazi slogans. Protests are held outside Airdrie Sheriff Court and English Defence League ex-leader Tommy Robinson sits in court to support Meechan. (BBC)
- Murder of Stephen Lawrence
- UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces that henceforth April 22 will be marked nationally as Stephen Lawrence Day to commemorate the black teenager murdered 25 years ago in a racist assault. The high-profile crime led to the Metropolitan Police being labeled "institutionally racist". (BBC) (The Telegraph)
- Death of Kim Wall
- Danish prosecutors seek a life sentence for Peter Madsen, accused of murdering a Swedish journalist on board his self-built submarine. Psychiatric evidence describes Madsen as presenting "psychopathic traits" and a "high risk" of offending further. (The Straits Times)
- Nashville Waffle House shooting
- Travis Reinking, suspected of shooting and killing four people in a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, Tennessee, is captured following a police manhunt. (Yahoo! News)
- Piracy in the 21st century
- The owners of the Dutch ship MV FWN Rapide announce the ship was attacked by pirates last night while sailing from Ghana to Nigeria and 12 of the crew abducted. (Splash 24/7)
- November 2015 Paris attacks
- Suspect Salah Abdeslam and a co-defendant are convicted of attempting to murder police officers and terror offences in Belgium, with each receiving a 20-year sentence. Abdeslam is being held in France awaiting trial for the 2015 attacks. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- 2018 Armenian protests
- Serzh Sargsyan resigns as Armenia's prime minister after eleven days of large street protests against him. (The Guardian)
- Mausoleum of Reza Shah
- A mummified body is found at Shahr-e Rey which Iranian media reports possibly belongs to former country's king, Reza Shah. His mausoleum was destroyed after 1979 Revolution. (The Daily Sabah)
- Politics of Malawi
- Former Malawian President Joyce Banda announces she is to return from three years of exile amid a corruption scandal. (Euronews)
Science and technology
- Discoveries of exoplanets
- A study reveals that WASP-104b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet, is darker than charcoal and absorbs 99% of light. (The Inquisitr) (I4U)
Sports
- 2018 London Marathon
- It is confirmed runner Matt Campbell, a former MasterChef semifinalist, died in hospital after collapsing during yesterday's London Marathon. The race was the hottest since the annual event began. (BBC)
April 24, 2018 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israel Defense Forces detain two alleged terrorists attempting to cross the Gaza border into Israeli territory armed with a knife and a grenade. (Israel National News)
Disasters and accidents
- West Wind Aviation Flight 280
- The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reports the aircraft departed with ice on it before losing height shortly after takeoff. The December 17 crash killed one and injured fifteen. (The Aviation Herald)
- A United States F-16C fighter jet crashes during a landing attempt at Lake Havasu City Municipal Airport, Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The pilot escapes via ejection and is hospitalised. (ABC11)
International relations
- 2018 North Korea–United States summit
- Thailand expresses its interest in hosting the planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (ABC News)
- France–United States relations
- Donald Trump meets with French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss the Iran nuclear deal along with economics and trading. (i24) (USA Today)
- United States energy developer Invenergy files for arbitration against Poland with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law over a dispute following construction of four wind power projects in the country. Invenergy claims Polish authorities are ignoring binding rulings by local courts. (Wind Power Monthly)
Law and crime
- 2018 Toronto van attack
- Yahoo! data breaches
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fines Altaba US$35 million for failing to disclose its 2014 data breach in a timely manner. (CNET)
- Crime in Italy
- Italian police arrest a Bosnian driver driving a van loaded with weapons bound for Barcelona. (The New York Times)
- The United States Supreme Court rejects a case brought by foreign nationals under the Alien Tort Statute attempting to sue the Arab Bank over terror attacks in Israel. (USA Today)
- A former MP from Poland's Samoobrona party is charged with spying for Russia and China. (Radio Poland)
- Crime in Texas
- Three people are shot and critically wounded, two of them Dallas Police officers and the other a security guard, at a Home Depot in Dallas, Texas. The suspected shooter, who was also attempting to shoplift merchandise, was arrested soon after. One of the police officers died from his injuries the next day. (CBS News) (ABC News)
- In Lima, Peru, a 36-year-old man gets on a public transport bus and sets fire to the passengers, after spraying them with gasoline, leaving 10 people injured. The most affected, a 22-year-old young woman, was seriously injured and believed to be the target of the attack. (Panamericana Televsión) (Diario Correo)
- An alleged arson attack kills 18 in a karaoke lounge in Qingyuan, China. A suspect is arrested. (The Guardian)
Science and technology
- Atmosphere of Uranus
- Scientists using infrared spectroscopy data from the Gemini North telescope have established the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the clouds of Uranus. (Time)
April 25, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Ahmed Abu Hussein, aged 24, becomes the second journalist killed while covering protests at the Israel–Gaza border. Hussein was hospitalized in Gaza after being shot by Israeli Defence Forces two weeks prior while wearing a press jacket. (The Jerusalem Post)
- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs releases a detailed breakdown of Palestinian casualties since March 30 by date, age, gender, and injury. A total of 40 deaths and 1,511 injuries are listed. More than 400 injuries are ascribed to gas inhalation. (Haaretz)
- The Bangladeshi International Crimes Tribunal sentences former National Security Intelligence director general Wahidul Haque to prison for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War when Haque was a Pakistani Army general. The convictions relate to the deaths of 500–600 unarmed Bengalis and Santals in Rangpur. (The Dhaka Tribune)
- Rwandan Genocide
Disasters and accidents
- Disasters in Indonesia
- An oil well catches fire in Ranto Peureulak, East Aceh Regency, Indonesia, killing ten people. (Sky News)
International relations
- South Korea–United States relations
- South Korea president Moon Jae-in announces that he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in mid-May. (Upi)
- It is announced that Admiral Harry B. Harris may be nominated as the new U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. (Military)
- Around 500 experts from over 70 countries meet in Paris to start a two-day counterterror conference discussing methods of cutting financing to Al-Qaeda and ISIL. (The Tampa Bay Times)
Law and crime
- Politics of Spain
- The President of the Community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, resigns after the discovery of a video of her stealing anti-aging cream in a supermarket and after several weeks of controversy after it came to light that she obtained her master's degree fraudulently. (BBC)
- Murder of Kim Wall
- Danish inventor and submariner Peter Madsen is convicted of the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall and sentenced to life in prison. (BBC)
- Golden State Killer
- Sacramento County Sheriff's Department arrest Joseph James DeAngelo in connection to the Golden State Killer case. (The Week)
- Terrorism in Germany, NSU Trial, NSU murders
- The terror trial of Beate Zschäpe hears closing arguments in Germany. In addition to a series of murders, Zschäpe stands accused of bombings and bank robberies. (The Local)
- Crime in Israel
- Israeli border police officer Ben Deri receives a 9-month sentence for fatally shooting Palestinian teen Nadeem Nawara in 2014. Deri was convicted of causing the unarmed boy's death by negligence. No charges were brought over the shootings of two other teens, one of whom also died. The court heard Deri used live ammunition without authorisation. (The Guardian)
- Indian guru Asaram Bapu is sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a child. (Sky News)
- Scotland's Parliament approves a bill devolving authority for social care payments. The bill arranges staggered introduction with complete devolution by 2021 and formation of a new agency to administer it. (BBC)
- A Turkish court convicts and sentences thirteen Cumhuriyet journalists accused of supporting terrorist organisations. The newspaper is critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- Mausoleum of Reza Shah
- Reza Pahlavi, former crown prince and son of Iran's last Shah, asked authorities for access to the body of Reza Shah, through trusted doctors and scientific experts. He also added his grandfather must ultimately be buried again in Iran, in a manner that respects the wishes of their family and the Iranian people. (Newsweek)
- United States elections, 2020, Donald Trump presidential campaign endorsements, 2020
- Texas senator Ted Cruz said he will support Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. (Arutz Sheva)
Science and technology
- 2017 North Korean nuclear test
- Scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China state that North Korea's nuclear test site, the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site at Mount Mantap, would have collapsed just minutes after the country performed its sixth nuclear test and opened up a hole of up to 656 feet (200 m) in diameter. It has been one of the possible reasons given for North Korea agreement to suspend nuclear and missile tests. (Fortune)
- A flaw, called the "Ghost in the Locks" exploit, is reported with hotel keycard systems created by the Swedish lock company Assa Abloy. The company states that they began deploying a patch in February. (BBC)
- The European Space Agency releases the largest-ever 3D map of stars in our galaxy from the Gaia spacecraft. (Le Monde)
- Astronomers detect light from 14 colliding galaxies. Due to the distances involved, the light comes from events which occurred around 12 billion years ago. (BBC)
Sports
- 2018 CONCACAF Champions League Finals
- C.D. Guadalajara wins the Champions League title, their first since 1962, by winning in a penalty shootout over Toronto FC. (Washington Post)
April 26, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- The United Nations reports the discovery of five "likely" mass graves in Blukwa Centre and Maze/Waliba in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo. (News24)
Arts and culture
- Cinema of Saudi Arabia
- Three 4DX locations are expected to open in Riyadh and other major Saudi Arabia cities. (Arabian Business)
- Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations
- American actor Brad Pitt announces that he will produce a film about the allegations of sexual misconduct against American film producer Harvey Weinstein. (Firstpost) (People)
Business and economy
- Erin Energy, a Texas company specialising in African offshore oil deposits with licences to explore off Nigeria, The Gambia, Ghana, and Kenya, files for bankruptcy protection. (Splash 24/7)
Disasters and accidents
- An explosion occurs in the Husky Oil Refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. Five people are reportedly injured. Local residents have been ordered to evacuate. (mix108)
- Thirteen children are killed after their school bus collides with a train in the Uttar Pradesh, India. (BBC)
- Flash floods strike a class hiking trip in the Nahal Tzafit riverbed in the Dead Sea, Israel. Nine children are killed and another is reported missing. (The Times of Israel)
- The Transportation Safety Board of Canada concludes pilot disorientation was the most likely cause of a plane crash that killed former Premier of Alberta Jim Prentice and three others. The TSB asks Transport Canada to mandate cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders on all commercial and private business aircraft. (CBC)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- The death toll from yesterday's oil well explosion and fire in Pasir Putih, Aceh, Indonesia, reaches 22. (Star Tribune)
International relations
- United States and weapons of mass destruction
- The United States Air Force tests a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The missile test is considered to be successful. (Business Times)
- Iran–Israel relations
- South Korea–United States relations
- South Korea and the United States suspend their Foal Eagle military exercises. Furthermore, they also finish parts of the Key Resolve exercises. (UPI)
- United Kingdom–United States relations
- U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he will visit the United Kingdom on July 13. (Sky News)
Law and crime
- Corruption in Spain
- Former President of the Community of Madrid, ex-Mayor of Madrid and ex-Minister of Justice Alberto Ruiz Gallardón is imputed by his role in Lezo Operation corruption scandal. (El País)
- Bill Cosby sexual assault case
- Bill Cosby is found guilty of three counts in regard to an aggravated sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in a retrial. He faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and a fine of up to $25,000 on each count. (NBC News)
- Terrorism in Israel
- Ali Abu Hassan, a Hebron University student from Palestine, is convicted of planning a terror attack against light rail in Jerusalem using pipe bombs containing nails coated in rat poison. He is found guilty of attempted murder, manufacturing weapons, and an immigration offence. (The Times of Israel)
- Far-right terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Five alleged members of British neo-Nazi group National Action go on trial in Birmingham charged with inciting racial hatred at Aston University. National Action is a banned terror group. (BBC) (The St. Helens Star)
- La Manada sexual abuse case
- A court in Pamplona, Spain, convicts a group of five men on charges of sexual abuse at the festival of San Fermín in 2016, clearing them of charges of gang rape. (ABC Online)
- Thousands of people throughout Spain protest the court's verdict. (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- Mueller special counsel investigation
- In the United States, the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on a bill to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The bill passes 14–7. (The Miami Herald)
- Political appointments by Donald Trump
- Ronny Jackson withdraws as nominee for United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (NPR)
- The United States Senate votes 57–42 to confirm former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. (BBC)
- United States Ambassadors appointed by Donald Trump, Germany–United States relations
- Richard Grenell is confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to Germany. (The Local)
Sports
- 2018 NFL season
- In American football, the National Football League starts its draft for the 2018 season, with the Cleveland Browns selecting Baker Mayfield with the first overall pick. (NFL)
April 27, 2018 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein asks Israel to refrain from using lethal force as protests enter their fifth week. The Israeli Defence Forces open fire again, including use of live ammunition. (Haaretz) (The Washington Post)
- Three Palestinians are killed and over 300 hurt according to the Hamas-run health ministry as thousands protested. The Israeli army says that hundreds of rioters tried to infiltrate Israel, attempted to start fires in a number of ways, and attacked the security fence with explosive devices, grenades, and rocks. (The Times of Israel)
- Protestors give thanks to actress Natalie Portman, who last week drew criticism from Israel after refusing to accept the Genesis Prize from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. (Arutz Sheva)
- 2018 Nicaraguan protests
- The Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights says the death toll from ongoing anti-government protests has reached 38. (CNN)
Arts and culture
- LGBT rights in Kenya
- The Kenya Film Classification Board bans the lesbian romance film Rafiki saying it intends to "promote lesbianism". (CNN)
Business and economy
- Conservative media site RedState fires most of its staff and its owner Salem Media Group freezes the site, stating they could "no longer support the entire roster of writers and editors". Staff claim they were fired for their opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump. (The Hill)
Disasters and accidents
- Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- Jet engine manufacturer CFM International calls for heightened checks of its CFM56-7B after a Boeing 737 passenger died in an accident this month. The CFM56-7B is one of the most commonly used engines worldwide. (CNBC)
- The death toll from flash floods in the Dead Sea, Israel, reaches fourteen including ten teenage hikers with a lorry driver still missing. Three youth workers connected to the hike are arrested. Two Palestinian children are reported to have also died in the West Bank. (Haaretz) (The Washington Post)
- LaMia Flight 2933
- Colombian investigators release their final report on the 2016 disaster, which killed 71 including most of the Associação Chapecoense de Futebol team. The report blames mismanagement leading to fuel exhaustion, noting the aircraft departed without adequate fuel. (The Aviation Herald)
- The roof of a partially-constructed building collapses in Lahore, Pakistan. Three are killed and two more injured. (The Nation)
- A Botswanan CF-5 fighter jet crashes in Gaborone, killing the pilot. (Xinhua)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- 2018 Balikpapan oil spill
- The Chinese captain of MV Ever Juder is charged in connection with an oil pipeline rupture and fire that killed five. He and 21 of his crew are detained in Balikpapan, Indonesia after the ship's anchor was dropped in a prohibited area. The dragging anchor struck and ruptured the pipe. (Splash)
- 2018 Balikpapan oil spill
International relations
- 2018 inter-Korean summit, Panmunjom Declaration
- South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Moon and Kim agree to officially end the Korean War and the Korean conflict overall. Kim becomes the first North Korean leader to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone since the war. (Reuters), (Israel National News), (CNN)
- Germany–United States relations
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference at the White House. Merkel states she believes that there can be a bilateral trade deal between the European Union and the United States. (Reuters) (UPI)
- China–India relations
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invites Chinese President Xi Jinping to an informal summit next year as he began an ice-breaking visit to China on Friday in which the giant neighbors are seeking to re-set troubled ties. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Environmental policy of the European Union
- The European Union approves a total ban on neonicotinoids,suspected of harming bees, which is expected to come into force by the end of 2018. (The Guardian)
- Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
- Nikolas Cruz, the accused suspect of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, is due to be in court. The hearing is expected to deal with several procedural issues, possibly including the setting of an initial trial date. (NBC News)
- North Korea–United States relations, Crime in North Korea
- Fred and Cindy Warmbier, the parents of detained American student Otto Warmbier, files a lawsuit against North Korea government, stating that Otto was "tortured and murdered", and also claimed that the DPRK "intentionally destroyed" their son's life. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Cyberwarfare
- Europol announces a coalition comprised of seven European nations and the United States this week launched a cyberattack against ISIL propaganda websites, taking a number of them down. (The Huffington Post)
- A man with a knife kills seven children and wounds twelve more in Mizhi, Shaanxi, China. (al-Jazeera)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- Islamic State releases a video showing the shooting executions of two men, said to be election "advocators" from al-Tarmiyah, Iraq. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Romania
- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis asks Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă to resign. Iohannis says Dăncilă did not consult him before endorsing a plan to move Romania's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. (al-Jazeera)
Science and technology
- 2017 Pohang earthquake
- Scientific studies have offered evidence that a geothermal plant may have caused the earthquake in South Korea. (Phys.org)
- Astrophysics
- A photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a companion star that survived the explosion of a supernova in galaxy NGC 7424. This brings strong evidence to a theory according to which Type IIb "stripped-envelope" supernovae are due to stellar companions capturing hydrogen from the progenitor star's envelope before its explosion. (UPI)
- De-extinction
- Biologists at the University of Melbourne announce plans to clone the extinct thylacine (Tasmanian tiger). (News Corp Australia)
- Detached objects
- Astronomers from the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) announce the discovery of ~80-kilometre (50 mi) asteroid 2015 KE172, a detached object orbiting 44–222 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. (Minor Planet Center)
Sports
- FIFA hands a lifetime ban to Marco Polo del Nero, President of the Brazilian Football Confederation, for taking bribes. He is also fined one million Swiss francs. (BBC)
- European Athletics Indoor Championships
- The city of Toruń in Poland wins the right to host the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships, defeating Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. (Radio Poland)
April 28, 2018 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- Israel launches airstrikes on Hamas ships in Gaza's port and a Hamas building in Deir al-Balah in response to the ongoing, and sometimes violent, protests. (Ynetnews)
- Protestor Azzam Aweida, 15, dies of injuries sustained when the Israeli Defence Forces shot him yesterday. (The New York Post)
- Egypt opens the Rafah Crossing into the Gaza Strip for three days, saying it is to be used by students, those requiring medical assistance, and people with permits to enter Egypt. (Haaretz)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- A car bomb targeting a military base in the Nadali District of Helmand, Afghanistan, kills six including two soldiers. (CNN)
- A suicide bombing in a restaurant in Galkayo, Somalia, kills three military officials and two soldiers. Eight more people are injured, some critically. al-Shabaab claims responsibility. (CNN)
- Hamas accuses the Palestinian Authority of performing a bombing against its own Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah. Hamdallah escaped injury when his convoy was bombed during a visit to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip last month. (Middle East Eye)
Arts and culture
- Art forgery
- 82 paintings at a museum dedicated to Étienne Terrus in Elne, France, are revealed as forgeries. (BBC)
- Cardinal Angelo Amato, acting on behalf of Pope Francis, beatifies Hanna Chrzanowska in Kraków, Poland. Chrzanowska dedicated her life to helping the sick and homeless and had worked with Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, who led her funeral services before he became Pope John Paul II. (Radio Poland)
- Bone remains of more than 140 children and about 200 young llamas were found in the Peruvian city of Trujillo, near the Chan Chan citadel, according to a National Geographic publication. This discovery, which would date from the time of the little-known Chimú pre-Columbian civilization (about 550 years ago), would be, for researchers, the largest mass sacrifice of children in the American continent. (El Comercio) (National Geographic)
- A statue honouring comfort women, sex slaves raped by Japanese World War II soldiers, in Manila, Philippines, is removed less than five months after it was installed. (Xinhua)
Disasters and accidents
- A communal toilet collapses in Bhandup, Mumbai, India. Several people are trapped and require rescue, with two dying en route to hospital. (First Post)
International relations
- Sanctions against North Korea
- Australia and Canada deploy surveillance aircraft to Japan to monitor ship-to-ship transfers between North Korean vessels that bypass United Nations sanctions. The aircraft join a warship already deployed by the United Kingdom. (CBC)
- Panmunjom Declaration, South Korea–United States relations
- United States Defense Secretary James Mattis and South Korea Defense Minister Song Young-moo say they are committed to "a diplomatic resolution that achieves complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of North Korea, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Mattis repeats the United States' "ironclad" commitment to defend its ally South Korea "using the full spectrum of U.S. capabilities." (CBS News)
Law and crime
- A judge in the U.S. state of Oklahoma dismisses charges against seven detainees over a prison riot that killed four at Cimarron Correctional Facility in 2015. (Stillwater News Press)
- Worthing Magistrates Court fines the Church of Scientology £14,000 and orders it to pay £2,566 in costs for polluting the River Medway in West Sussex, England, with raw sewage. (The Independent)
- Terrorism in Iran
- An Iranian Revolutionary Court begins a trial of eight alleged Islamic State members accused of involvement in gun and suicide bomb attacks that killed eighteen in Tehran. (Reuters)
April 29, 2018 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israel Defense Forces arrest a suspected Hamas member caught tampering with equipment at the Karni Crossing on the Israeli-Gazan border. (Haaretz)
- An Israeli military officer states IDF snipers are targeting the legs of protestors and deaths are largely the unintentional result of protestors bending over, missing shots, and the subsequent rounds ricocheting from intended targets. (Haaretz)
- A Palestinian youth is shot and injured at the border near al-Awdeh after approaching the border fence. (W.A.F.A.)
- In response to a Yesh Din petition to the Israeli High Court calling for a ban on the use of live rounds to prevent protestors breaching the border fence, the Israeli government says its rules of engagement meet local and international law, that intelligence used to justify decisions will be submitted to the court, and that the protests are considered part of the ongoing conflict with Hamas. (Ynetnews)
- Amnesty International makes a fresh call for an arms embargo against Israel, claiming "malicious tactics" and "murderous" attacks on Gazan civilians justify one. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Syrian Civil War, American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Army, along with what is believed to be Iranian-backed militias, took control villages east of the Euphrates river near the city of Deir ez-Zor that were under the control by Kurdish-led forces in a rare clash with the Syrian Democratic Forces. The territory was later recaptured by U.S.-backed forces in a counter-attack spearheaded by the YPG with help from U.S.-led coalition jets that took off from American bases in northern Syria. The U.S. military says in a statement that the "coalition used established deconfliction channels to de-escalate the situation". (Reuters)
- Syrian state media, Syrian Arab News Agency, reports missile strikes have targeted military sites in the Hama Governorate and Aleppo Governorate. It is unclear who carried out the strikes. (Xinhuanet)
Business and economy
- T-Mobile US and Sprint agree to merge in a deal valued at US$146 billion. The merger is subject to approval from regulators. (USA Today)
Disasters and accidents
- A truck collides with a bus in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, India, killing at least seven people with at least 25 more injured. (Xinhua)
- A fire in a circuit board factory in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, kills seven people including five firefighters. It is the city's third major industrial fire this year. (The New Indian Express)
International relations
- 2017–18 North Korea crisis
- South Korean officials say that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stated during his summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he would close the country's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site in May. (SCMP)
- South Korea stated that Kim is willing to give up his nuclear weapons if the United States vows not to attack. (ABC News)
- Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- The leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany and France agree on their support for the Iran nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. (The Hill)
- United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will quit the agreement if its "flaws" can't be fixed. (Bloomberg)
- A member of Iran's Expediency Council calls on the European Union, Russia and China to support the deal and guarantee economic and banking relations with Iran. He warns that Iran would likely exit the deal if it doesn't benefit Iran. (Tehran Times)
Law and crime
- In Newport, Wales McCauley Cox drove his car into a crowd outside a nightclub and intentionally hit and injured 4 people before he fled the scene. He claimed he was trying to stop a fight but was found guilty and sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm with intent, causing serious injury through dangerous driving and causing actual bodily harm. Teens Benjamin Thomas and Callum Banton pleaded guilty to affray for their part in starting the brawl which preceded the attack. (South Wales Argus)
- A bomb explodes outside the Arun III Hydroelectric Power Plant in Tumlingtar, Nepal. No group claimed credit for the attack. The plant was codeveloped with India and is due to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi within weeks. (The New Indian Express)
- The Central Criminal Court in Baghdad, Iraq, sentences nineteen Russian women, six Azerbaijani women, and four Tajikistani women to life in prison for membership to ISIL. (The Sunday Times)
- The Israel Defense Forces detain one of two Lebanese shepherds who they say crossed the United Nations-patrolled border between the two nations. Lebanon calls the detention an "abduction". The IDF says the female shepherd, detained in the disputed Shebaa region, was quickly repatriated. (The Jerusalem Post)
- A police operation in nine commercial premises of the district of La Victoria, in Lima, Peru, managed to seize two tons of pharmaceutical and natural products with an expired shelf life, without sanitary registration, and allegedly falsified. The police officers in charge of this raid on informed that now they will continue to find the whereabouts of all the people involved in the commercialization of this merchandise. (Perú 21)
Politics and elections
- Amber Rudd resigns as the United Kingdom's Home Secretary amid controversy over the threatened deportation of Windrush generation immigrants. (BBC)
Sports
April 30, 2018 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- List of journalists killed during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- BBC Pashto reporter Ahmad Shah is shot dead in the eastern province of Khost. (BBC)
- 30 April 2018 Kabul suicide bombings
- Twin suicide bombings in Kabul, Afghanistan, kill at least 25 people, including prominent Agence France-Presse photographer Shah Marai and three Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists who were covering the first bombing. ISIL's Afghan branch claims responsibility. (BBC)
- A suicide attack on a foreign military convoy in Kandahar kills at least eleven nearby children and wounds sixteen including five Romanian soldiers. (The Times of India)
- Two rush hour bombings hit Kabul, killing four and injuring five. (The Times of India)
- List of journalists killed during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israel Defense Forces say they shot dead three Palestinians in two incidents yesterday. The IDF says one was killed trying to breach the Israeli-Gazan border fence while a second was wounded and arrested. They say the second incident saw two men shot dead after bypassing the fence and throwing explosives at IDF soldiers. (The Wire)
- Iran–Iraq War
- Amnesty International and Justice for Iran accuse Iran of building over at least seven mass graves in six provinces containing thousands of bodies from executions of suspected Mujahedeen-e Khalq towards the end of the 1980-88 war. (RFE/RL)
- Operation Inherent Resolve
- The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq declares an end to major combat operations against ISIL in Iraq and closes the Coalition Forces Land Component Command headquarters. The U.S.-led coalition says in a statement that it would transition "from supporting and enabling combat operations to the training and development of self-sufficient Iraqi security-related capabilities". (Reuters)
- Syrian Civil War
- Iran's Tasnim News Agency denies reports that yesterday's missile attack in Hama and Aleppo Governorate hit an Iranian military base and says that no Iranian soldiers were killed in the attack. (Reuters)
- A Syrian military source cited by pro-Syrian government news outlet Al-Masdar News says that an Israeli F-35 killed more than 30 soldiers yesterday in an attack that completely destroyed the Syrian government's Brigade 47 missile base in Hama. (Al-Masdar News)
Business and economy
- Economy of the United Kingdom
- British supermarkets Asda and Sainsbury's agree terms on a £13 billion merger, which could form the largest UK supermarket company. (Sky News)
- The Central Bank of Iraq holds a currency auction, raising US$174,367,874. (Iraqi News)
- Marathon Oil purchases Andeavor for $23.3 billion, creating the biggest oil refining firm in the United States. (Bloomberg)
Disasters and accidents
- The Mezhegei coal mine in Tuva, Siberia, Russia, suffers a collapse. A total of 79 miners are rescued but one remains missing. (The Moscow Times)
Health and environment
- Euthanasia in Australia
- David W. Goodall, an Australian scientist aged 104, announces his intention to travel assisted by Exit International to Switzerland to end his own life. Goodall is not terminally ill but says his quality of life has deteriorated with age. (The Guardian)
International relations
- Foreign relations of Uzbekistan
- Uzbekistan agrees to formally join the Turkic Council following a meeting between Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Tashkent. (APA)
- South Korea–United States relations
- South Korean president Moon Jae-in suggests that U.S. president Donald Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to help denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. (The Washington Post)
- China–North Korea relations
- Chinese diplomat Wang Yi will travel to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-un following the summit. (Upi)
- Ukraine–United States relations
- The U.S. State Department confirms the U.S. has completed a delivery of FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine. (RFE/RL)
- 2018 North Korea–United States summit
- The summit is considering to take place at the Peace House at the DMZ, where the North-South Korea summit was also held. (CBN)
- Human rights in Vietnam
- The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that last year’s visit of the Vietnamese public security minister and his entourage to Slovakia was used to cover for the abduction of a dissident Vietnamese entrepreneur Trịnh Xuân Thanh who had previously emigrated to Germany. (The Slovak Spectator)
- Poland in the European Union
- Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz says the nation will oppose European Union budget rules set to be introduced on May 2 by the European Commission. The proposals would see funding in the 2021-2027 budget cut for countries where democratic principles and the rule of law are deemed under threat. (The Washington Post)
- Japan–United States relations
- Japan lodges a formal complaint after footage appears on YouTube of a US F-16 fighter jet based at Misawa Air Base in Aomori flying at high speed and low altitude through mountains in an apparent breach of regulations. Japanese law prohibits aircraft from descending below 150 feet in non-residential areas. (The Telegraph)
- Brexit negotiations
- The UK House of Lords approves amendments to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill in defiance of the government, adding requirements for Parliament to have a final say on negotiations with the European Union and provisions for the families of existing migrants to join them in the UK. (BT)
Law and crime
- Terrorism in Sweden
- SAPO arrests three in the greater Stockholm area suspected of plotting a terror attack. SAPO says the case has an international connection; local media reports one of the detainees is an Uzbekistani citizen. (ABC News)
- Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- ISIL terror suspect Husnain Rashid appears before Woolwich Crown Court in London. Rashid pleads not guilty to planning and encouraging terrorism, distributing terrorist material, and breaching a notice issued under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The charges include an allegation he posted details of Prince George's school and encouraged an attack against him. (ITV)
- 2008 Mumbai attacks
- Pakistan's Interior Ministry removes chief prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar from the case, which concerns the murders of 166 people. The Interior Ministry said Azhar did "not take the government line". Seven alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba members have been facing charges since 2009 but nobody has yet been convicted in Pakistan. (The Times of India)
- The United Nations suspends Miriam Maluwa as director of the UNAIDS programme in Ethiopia. Maluwa is a key witness in allegations of sexual assault against a programme director, Luiz Loures. Loures is accused of attacking colleague Martina Brostrom in a lift and is due to leave his post today. Brostrom today said she has no confidence the UN will deliver justice as it reopens its investigation. (The Times of India) (The Times of India)
Politics and elections
- Politics of the United Kingdom
- Sajid Javid becomes the United Kingdom's Home Secretary following the resignation of Amber Rudd over the Windrush scandal. He is the first Home Secretary from an ethnic minority background. (BBC)
- The Palestinian National Council, the legislative arm of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, convenes for the first time in nine years in Ramallah. The agenda includes voting in a new eighteen-member PLO Executive Committee, transforming the Palestinian Authority into a state with its own institutions and monetary system, and cessation of ties with Israel. Gazan rivals Hamas are not invited. (al-Jazeera)
Science and technology
- Russian floating nuclear power station
- Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, sets sail across the Baltic Sea from St. Petersburg. (Alphr)
- The world's oldest known spider, a trapdoor spider known as "Number 16", dies of a wasp sting at the age of 43. (Yahoo! News via AFP)
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Ongoing events
Business
Culture
Disasters
- Australian bushfire season
- Australian region cyclone season
- Cape Town water crisis
- Oklahoma earthquake swarms
- Pacific typhoon season
- European windstorm season
Politics
- Armenian protests
- Brexit negotiations
- Cyprus gas dispute
- European migrant crisis (timeline)
- Iranian protests
- Nicaraguan protests
- North Korean crisis
- Philippine protests (timeline)
- Qatar diplomatic crisis
- Rohingya persecution in Myanmar
- Spanish constitutional crisis
- Turkish purges
- U.S. political sex scandals
- U.S. Special Counsel investigation (timeline)
Sports
More details – ongoing conflicts
Elections and referendums
Recent
- April
- 20: Bhutan, National Council
- 22: Paraguay, President and Congress
- 22: French Polynesia, Assembly (1st round)
- 24: Greenland, Parliament
- 25: Faroe Islands, Referendum
Upcoming
- May
- 6: Lebanon, Parliament
- 6: French Polynesia, Assembly (2nd round)
- 9: Malaysia, Parliament
- 12: East Timor, Parliament
- 12: Iraq, Council of Representatives
Trials
Recently concluded
- Denmark: Peter Madsen
- Germany: Hussein Khavari
- Indonesia: Setya Novanto
- South Korea: Park Geun-hye
- Spain: La Manada
- United Kingdom: Paul Golding, Jayda Fransen, Ahmed Hassan
- United States: Larry Nassar, Ed Pawlowski, Bill Cosby
Ongoing
- Cambodia: Kem Sokha, Mu Sochua
- Estonia: Edgar Savisaar
- Germany: Beate Zschäpe
- Guatemala: Otto Pérez Molina, Roxana Baldetti, Juan Carlos Monzón and others
- Israel: Faina Kirschenbaum
- Malaysia: Siti Aisyah and Đoàn Thị Hương
- Philippines: Leila de Lima
- Spain: Bárcenas affair, Gürtel case, EREs
- United States: Fat Leonard scandal
- International
Upcoming
- Australia: George Pell
- Canada: Alek Minassian
- Egypt: Mohamed Morsi
- Guatemala: Alvaro Colom, Manuel Baldizón, Juan Alberto Fuentes
- Iran: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
- Philippines: Andal Ampatuan Jr., Jovito Palparan, Maria Lourdes Sereno
- Romania: Liviu Dragnea
- South Africa: Jacob Zuma
- Spain: Jordi Pujol
- Ukraine: Roman Nasirov
- United Kingdom: Football sex abuse scandal
- United States: Patrick Ho, Paul Manafort, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Sayfullo Saipov, Turpin case
- Zimbabwe: Ignatius Chombo
Sport
- Association football
- Women's association football
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Golf
- Ice hockey
- Motorsport
- Rugby league
- Rugby union
- Tennis
- Other sports seasons
More details – current sports events
Recent deaths
April 2018
- 29: Richard L. Collins
- 29: Luis García Meza Tejada
- 29: Michael Martin
- 28: Alfie Evans
- 27: Álvaro Arzú
- 27: Paul Junger Witt
- 25: Michael Anderson
- 25: Inuka
- 24: Rick Dickinson
- 23: Bob Dorough
- 21: Nabi Tajima
- 21: Verne Troyer
- 20: Avicii
- 19: Gil Santos
- 19: Agnès-Marie Valois
- 18: Dale Winton
- 18: Bruno Sammartino
- 17: Barbara Bush
- 17: Carl Kasell
- 16: Harry Anderson
- 16: Matthew Mellon
- 15: Philip D'Antoni
- 15: R. Lee Ermey
- 15: Vittorio Taviani
- 14: Hal Greer
- 14: Michael D. Healy
- 13: Art Bell
- 13: Miloš Forman
Ongoing conflicts
Africa
- Algeria, Libya and Tunisia
- Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Libya
- Mali
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
Americas
- Mexico
- Peru
Asia
- Afghanistan
- China
- India
- India and Pakistan
- Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines
- Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
- Myanmar
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Thailand
Europe
- Armenia and Azerbaijan
- Georgia
- Russia
- Ukraine
Middle East
Wikimedia Commons has media related to April 2018.