Portal:Current events/April 2011

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Libyan civil war:
    • An envoy of Muammar Gaddafi is reported to have been seen gossiping with officials on a visit to London, England. (BBC)
    • More people leave the inner circle of Gaddafi, including Ali Treki, his choice for the United Nations ambassador. (Al Jazeera)
    • Forces loyal to Gaddafi continues the attack on the city of Misrata. (Al Arabiya)
    • Forces loyal to Gaddafi capture the wife of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Moussa Koussa after a firefight. (The Daily Telegraph)
  • 2011 Bahraini protests: Authorities release a prominent blogger, Mahmood Al-Yousif, but detain several others in a series of arrests. (Alert Net)
  • 2011 Syrian protests:
    • Anti-regime protests break out in cities across the country after Friday prayers. (Alert Net) (BBC)
    • Several people die in the protests. (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests: Thousands of pro and anti-government protesters demonstrate in the capital Sana'a, amid fears of a confrontation between the two sides. (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Jordanian protests: Police attempt to separate pro and anti-government rallies held in the capital Amman. (CNN)
  • 2011 Omani protests: Police shoot dead a protester in the city of Sohar during a large demonstration. (Reuters)
  • 2011 Saudi Arabian protests: Demonstrations occur in the east of the country in support of anti-government rallies in Bahrain and calling for political freedoms in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
• 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis: Heavy fighting continues in Abidjan, the largest city in the Ivory Coast between forces loyal to current President of the Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo and internationally-recognised claimant Alassane Ouattara. (BBC)
• The Turkish army kills seven PKK rebels who crossed the border from Syria. (Hindustan Times) (Today's Zaman)
• At least twelve people have been killed at a protest against Koran burning in Mazar-i-Sharif with at least eight of them being United Nations personnel. (Fox News) (Reuters)
• More than 1.5 million web sites around the world have been infected by the LizaMoon SQL injection attack spread by scareware since Tuesday. (USA Today) (Reuters)

• Knut's brain swelled significantly before his recent death. (BBC)
• Penélope Cruz becomes the first Spanish actress to receive a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame

• Ireland's government agrees to bank bailout number five, valued at €24 billion, and does not force senior bondholders into burden-sharing. (The Irish Times)
• It is revealed that chief executive of nationalised Anglo Irish Bank Mike Aynsley received €1 million, including a "housing allowance" for his second home in Australia, while the bank admits billions were squandered last year in the biggest corporate loss in the country's history. (Irish Independent)
• Microsoft lodged an antitrust complaint against Google with the European Commission. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Unemployment in the United States falls to 8.8 per cent on the back of 216,000 jobs being added. (MSNBC)
• Nasdaq, in cooperation with Intercontinental Exchange, bids $11.3 billion for NYSE Euronext, the holding company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, in an attempt to interfere with a planned merger between NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Borse. (Reuters)

• 10 people are swept away in an avalanche in the southwestern Swiss Alps; with three reported deaths. (IOL) (Swissinfo)
• Japan Self-Defense Forces and the members of the United States Armed Forces search for people still missing after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Kyodo)
• Radioactivity levels surge in Japan. (Los Angeles Times)
• Efforts to refloat a stranded German-Danish consortium-owned steel vessel which flies the flag of Antigua and Barbuda get underway off the coast of Connemara in the west of Ireland. (Irish Independent)
• A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits the island of Crete. (AP via MSNBC)
• A 6 foot hole appears at 36,000 feet aboard Southwest Airlines Flight 812, a Boeing 737 en route from Phoenix, Arizona to Sacramento, California; the plane lands safely in Yuma, Arizona. (Associated Press) (King5)

• The South African Development Community demands an end to the political violence in Zimbabwe, amid tensions in the unity government. (IOL)

• The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that the number of traffic deaths has fallen to 32,788 in 2010, the lowest level since 1949. (New York Times)
• Former chief executive of nationalised Anglo Irish Bank David Drumm is questioned about the bank's debts and his declaration of bankruptcy in Massachusetts. Drumm bans the press from attending. (The Irish Times)
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague dismisses by 10-6 Georgia's accusation that Russia and separatist rebels engaged in ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. (BBC)
• A female Chinese national exchange student to Sweden studying in Örebro is found murdered in daylight. (Stockholm News)

• French Polynesian President Gaston Tong Sang is ousted in a vote of no confidence led by opposition leader Oscar Temaru. Temaru once again becomes President of French Polynesia for the fifth time. (RNZI)
• Senator Steve Fielding launches his campaign to outlaw lies on April 1 in his battle against those who engage in the "ever-growing annual tradition of playing practical jokes on less intelligent Australians". (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Mohammad-Ali Najafi is elected leader of Iranian Executives of Construction Party to replace with Gholamhossein Karbaschi. (Kalame)
• Government of Kuwait led by Nasser Al-Sabah has resigned due to a stand-off with parliament, potentially allowing for early elections. (Al Jazeera)

• Scientists use a geoid model to illustrate the force of gravity on Earth from data from the Goce satellite. (BBC)

• FIFA suspends Bosnia and Herzegovina from international football after its failure to drop a rotating presidential system between a Muslim, a Serb and a Croat, which is similar to the country's complex political system. (BBC Sport)

• At least 800 people are killed in a massacre in Duékoué, Côte d'Ivoire, during the Second Ivorian Civil War. (CBC News)
• Libyan Civil War:
  • Friendly fire from coalition forces reportedly kills 13 rebels in Libya. (MSNBC)
  • Rebel forces in Misrata estimate that 28 people have died in fighting over the past three days. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Security forces in Syria arrest dozens of people following pro-reform protests. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Yemeni protests:
  • Anti-government protesters clash with riot police in Aden, southern Yemen. (AP via Google News)
• Gaza War:
  • Israel asks the United Nations to disavow the Goldstone Report after the report's author, Judge Richard Goldstone, says that he retracts the accusation that Israel intentionally targeted civilians during the 2008–2009 Gaza War. (BBC) (The New York Times) (Ynet) (The Washington Post)
  • Goldstone continues to defend portions of the report, including those that accused Hamas of violations and demands that the Palestinians investigate their violations in Gaza, as Israel has investigated its actions, while Hamas has not held any investigations. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Afghan National Army soldiers kill two insurgents including a would-be suicide bomber who attacked Camp Phoenix in Kabul. (BNO)
• A bomb explodes in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killing one, hours after around 2,000 participants in a half marathon pass by. The incident evokes memories of the 1998 Omagh bombing, while taoiseach Enda Kenny (Republic of Ireland) accuses the perpetrators of "acting in defiance of the Irish people". (BBC) (The Guardian) (CBC News)

• Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan visits the areas of the country worst affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Reuters via WAMC)
• Tepco confirms radioactive water has been (and still is) leaking into the sea from a crack at the malfunctioning Fukushima nuclear plant. (BBC)
• A 5.9 magnitude earthquake hits northern Chile. (IOL)

• India charges former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, several executives and three firms in a telecoms scandal. (The Times of India) (Reuters)
• The North Korean government cracks down on IT gadgets such as computers and phones amid fears that news about the Arab Spring could influence its citizens. (The Straits Times)
• Almost half of China's dairies are to close after failing to obtain new licenses following a safety audit. (BBC) (Xinhua)
• Gunmen attack a bar in Ciudad Juárez in northern Mexico, killing five people. (AP via The Ledger)

• A parliamentary election is to take place in Nigeria, but is postponed to 4 April as voting materials did not arrive on time. (Pana Press) (AFP via Google News) (CNN)
• Thousands of people attend pro- and anti-carbon tax (part of a phase-in of an emissions trading program) rallies in Sydney, Australia. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)(ABC News online)
• The Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announces that he will not be seeking a third term in the next election. (Al Jazeera)
• Police make 12 arrests following protest marches by the English Defence League and opposing groups in Blackburn, Lancashire. (BBC)

• The India cricket team wins the 2011 Cricket World Cup, defeating Sri Lanka by six wickets. (Daily Mail)
• Manager José Mourinho loses his first home game since 23 February 2002. (Marca)

• 2011 Bahraini protests:
  • Authorities ban the publication of the main opposition paper Al Wasat. (Times Live South Africa) (Al Jazeera) (Malaysia Star)
• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi continue to shell the western city of Misrata. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Syria tightens security to crack down on anti-government protests. (FoxNews)
  • President Bashar al-Assad appoints Adel Safar as Prime Minister to form a new government. (newser)
  • The United States Government offers free flights out of Syria to its employees. (Reuters)
• 2011 Yemeni protests:
  • Anti-government opposition coalition unveils plan to end month-long unrest. (Haaretz)
• At least 40 people are dead and 100 injured following a Taliban suicide bomb on a Sufi Muslim shrine in Pakistan. (The Scotsman)

• The People's Republic of China detains Ai Weiwei, a leading artist and dissident, as part of a crackdown on dissenting views. (Wall Street Journal)
• Taylor Swift wins the Entertainer of the Year award at the Academy of Country Music Awards 2010 with Miranda Lambert winning four awards including Female Vocalist of the year. (AP)

• The bodies of two dead workers are found at the afflicted Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. (New York Times)
• The efforts to plug the leaks at the Fukushima I plant appear not to be working. (New York Times)
• The official death toll from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami passes 12,000 with over 15,000 people missing. (National Police Agency of Japan)
• The wreckage of Air France Flight 447, which crashed in June 2009, killing 228 people, is found in the Atlantic Ocean. (BBC), (AP via MSNBC)

• A presidential election takes place in Kazakhstan, with President Nursultan Nazarbayev winning 95% of the vote. (BBC) (RIA Novosti)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev orders Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to remove his deputies on the boards of state companies by 1 July. (Reuters) (RIA Novosti), (BBC)
• Guido Westerwelle, the Foreign Minister of Germany, resigns as leader of the Free Democrats following recent poor electoral performances. (Financial Times)

• Among the rising concerns about the water quality in Hanoi's Hoàn Kiếm Lake, its giant sacred turtle is captured for study and (possibly) medical treatment. Time magazine; Reuters

• 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis:
  • United Nations and French military helicopters fire on a pro-Laurent Gbagbo military camp. (Reuters), (AP)
• At least 5 people are killed during a bomb explosion at a bus station in Jandool in Lower Dir, Pakistan. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Police baton and tear gas people protesting on a highway in Dhaka, arresting dozens. (BBC)
• 2011 Yemeni protests:
  • Yemeni police fire live rounds and teargas at protesters in the city of Taiz killing one person and injuring over 400. (Reuters) (BBC)
  • Police injure hundreds of people in Hudaida by firing tear gas and live rounds at them as they approach one of the presidential palaces. (BBC)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Syrian president Assad appoints a new governor for Daraa as he struggles to please the people demonstrating in unprecedented protests against his regime. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • A humanitarian ship from Turkey rescues more than 250 injured people from Misrata and safely delivers them to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. (BBC)
  • Libya's acting foreign minister is sent to Athens by Muammar Gaddafi, while Scottish officials travel to London to question his defected predecessor Moussa Koussa on the Lockerbie bombing. (The Independent)
  • Kuwait becomes the second Arab country to recognise the opposition National Transitional Council in Benghazi, after Qatar. (AGI)
  • Italy recognizes Libyan rebel government (Christian Science Monitor)
• 2011 Jordanian protests:
  • Police arrest a man with a fake explosive belt attempting to enter the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Amman. (Al Arabiya)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Israeli war planes roam at low attitudes across the skies of Gaza. (WAFA)
  • Israeli actor and peace activist Juliano Mer-Khamis is gunned down in the West Bank by masked militants. (J Post), (BBC)
  • Dirar Abu Seesi, a Palestinian engineer from Gaza, is indicted at Beersheba's District Court, accused of developing missiles and upgrading rockets for attacks on Israel; he claims that the Mossad kidnapped him. (The Jerusalem Post) (BBC)(Ynetnews)
• War on Terror:
  • 5 people, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are to be put on trial by the United States military at the U.S.-operated Guantanamo Bay detention camp, it is announced. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Greek fighter jets escort a British civilian airliner as it makes an emergency landing in Athens after a bomb threat; no one is hurt. (BBC)

• Disappearance of Ai Weiwei:
  • Concern grows as Ai Weiwei, who has criticised his country's human rights record, fails to reappear more than 24 hours after his disappearance by guards at Beijing Airport. Police issue no comment, though they have since raided his studio. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Radio Television Hong Kong)
  • The French and German foreign ministries call on China to release Ai Weiwei from prison, while Amnesty International is also critical of his detention. (BBC)
• A three-panel Zhang Xiaogang oil painting sells for a record HK$79 million. (BBC) (The Hindu)
• Prince Albert II of Monaco's Rhodesian-born fiancée Charlene Wittstock converts to Roman Catholicism. (The Straits Times)

• The Bank of Japan releases its Quarterly Tankan survey of business sentiment confirming that the recent 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami has had a negative effect on business confidence. (Kyodo News)
• It is reported that China has succeeded in genetically modifying cows to produce "human" milk. (IBN Live)

• Indonesian earthquake and tsunami:
  • A 6.7 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Java in Indonesia. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
  • A tsunami alert is issued after the earthquake in Indonesia. (Xinhua)
• A magnitude 5.4 earthquake strikes western Nepal near the Indian border, and is felt in Delhi. (Times of India) (NDTV)
• At least 10 people are killed and at least 16 others are injured as a United Nations plane breaks in two and ignites at Kinshasa Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC) (Indian Express)
• The M11 motorway is closed after a nine car pile up in Essex, England. (BBC)
• A two-year-old dog is reunited with her owner in tsunami-ravished Japan. (BBC)
• U.S. tornado outbreak:
  • A possible tornado hits an automotive plant in Hopkinsville, Kentucky near Nashville, injuring seven people. (LEX18)
  • Storms kill eight people in Northern Georgia, one in Mississippi and another in Tennessee. (Reuters) (11 Alive)
  • Two tornadoes pass through Nashville, Tennessee. (The Tennessean) (Huffington Post)
  • Some damage is reported in Louisiana, near New Orleans. (WDSU)
  • A record number of American storm reports in a 24-hour period is set, likely in part due to increased reporting. (The Weather Space)
• A United Nations Bombardier CRJ200 crashes at Bombardier CRJ200 in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo killing 32 of 33 people on board. (BBC)
• Severe thunderstorms kill 13 people in Bangladesh. (San Francisco Chronicle) (AccuWeather)

• The Gulf Co-operation Council denounces Iranian "interference" in its internal affairs. (Al Arabiya)
• The Indonesian government appeals after Saudi Arabia acquits a woman accused of torturing her Indonesian maid. (Jakarta Post)
• Prince Albert II of Monaco and his fiancée Charlene Wittstock arrive in Ireland for a state visit, 50 years after the visit of Prince Rainier and Hollywood actress Princess Grace. They are to dine at a state banquet hosted by President Mary McAleese and her husband at Áras an Uachtaráin. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Irish Independent)
• South Korea approves additional humanitarian aid worth 176 million won to North Korea. (Xinhua)
• The Japanese Foreign Ministry issues a statement that 19 foreign nationals died in the earthquake and tsunami, with dozens more still missing, mostly from China and South Korea. (UPI)

• North Korea executes former railways minister Kim Yong Sam in connection with the Ryongchon disaster in 2004. (Straits Times)
• Three more human remains are found in the Gilgo area of Long Island New York bringing the total number of bodies to eight with a serial killer believed to be responsible. (Newsday)
• Three people die in a shootout between Mexican security forces and gunmen in the resort of Acapulco. (BBC)

• Former First Lady of Austria Edith Klestil dies of cancer aged 78. (Austrian Independent)
• A court in Vietnam jails prominent government critic Cù Huy Hà Vũ for seven years for spreading "anti-state propaganda". (BBC) (VOV News Vietnam)
• Than Shwe, the former head of Burma's State Peace and Development Council, retires as the head of the Myanmar military. (AFP via Channel News Asia)
• Controversial Irish senator Ivor Callely, who last year was embroiled in an expenses scandal, is fined €60 by a court for breaching the law. (TV3) (The Irish Times) (RTÉ)
• Barack Obama is to run for a second term as President of the United States next year, his campaign announces. (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera) (BBC), (CNN)
• Musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly wins the Haitian general election, 2010–2011. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• As part of the British government's package of welfare reforms, from today the one-and-a-half million people in the United Kingdom who claim incapacity benefit will begin to receive letters asking them to attend a work capability assessment. The tests are part of government plans to reduce the number of long-term claimants and will take until 2014 to complete. (BBC)

• The candidates for FIFA's presidential election on 1 June are confirmed, with Qatari multi-millionaire Mohammed Bin Hammam to be Sepp Blatter's only challenger. (BBC Sport) (Sky Sports)
• Carlos Queiroz signs a contract to coach Iran national football team through to the end of the 2014 World Cup. (AFP)
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announces its induction class of 2011, which will be formally inducted in August. The class includes Dennis Rodman, Chris Mullin, Tex Winter, Herb Magee, Tara VanDerveer, Artis Gilmore, Arvydas Sabonis, Teresa Edwards, Reece "Goose" Tatum and Tom "Satch" Sanders. (ESPN)
• The Connecticut Huskies win the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in the US defeating the Butler Bulldogs 53–41. (WRAL)

• 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis:
  • Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara claim to have captured Laurent Gbagbo's Presidential Palace in Abidjan. (BBC)
  • Alcide Djédjé, the Foreign Minister claims that Gbagbo's forces have laid down their arms and he is negotiating with Ouattara over the terms of surrender. (CNN)
• 1,000 students protest at Kabul University as protests continue in Afghanistan over the burning of a Qur'an "found guilty" by pastor Terry Jones' church in the U.S. state of Florida. (CNN)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Amid ongoing protests, Syria opposition says Assad wants talks (Haaretz)

• The whereabouts of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei remain undetermined 48 hours after his disappearance as the U.S., France, Germany, Britain and Amnesty International ask that he be released immediately. (Al Jazeera)
• A public civil partnership between a same-sex couple takes place in Dublin, the first time this has happened in Ireland. (The Irish Times)
• Sathya Sai Baba is reported to be in a critical condition as thousands of followers gather outside the hospital. (BBC) (The Times of India) (AFP via The Asian Age) (news.com.au)
• Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb cancels performances in Brazil due to abdominal pains. (BBC)

• Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus loses his final appeal in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh against his dismissal from his own Grameen micro-finance bank; the bank thought him too old for the job. (BBC)
• Rebels against the Gaddafi regime in Libya have begun to export oil. (BBC)
• The United States Federal Trade Commission considers taking antitrust action against Google. (Bloomberg)
• Wayne Swan, the Treasurer of Australia, advises that he is inclined to reject a proposed merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Singapore Stock Exchange. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• Texas Instruments announces plans to buy long-time rival National Semiconductor, in a transaction that would consolidate the market for analog chips. (The Guardian)
• Cuba and its partners announce plans to drill for oil in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP via Boston Globe)

• Fukushima I nuclear accidents
  • Japan sets a maximum level of radiation for fish after a catch from Ibaraki prefecture is found with a high level of radioactive iodine from the nuclear accidents. (AP)
  • Japan defends dumping of water with low level radiation from the accidents in the Pacific Ocean following criticism from South Korea and Russia. (Kyodo)
• For over 50 days, the Libyan city of Misrata has been shelled by artillery, tanks, and snipers, and for over 20 days has had its water intentionally shut off by Muammar Gaddafi's forces. As supplies run short, hundreds of thousands are at risk of death. (Euronews)
• At least nine people die in the southern United States in heavy storms. (AP via Yahoo! News)

• Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, Prime Minister of the United Nations-backed Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, calls on UN agencies basing themselves in Kenya for safety reasons to move to Mogadishu within three months, citing the presence of UN agencies in "more dangerous" cities such as Kabul and Baghdad. (BBC) (Mareeg)

• Police investigating the murder of Sian O'Callaghan have identified human remains found at a second site as those of Swindon woman Becky Godden-Edwards, who had been missing for eight years. (BBC)

• Amid growing concern and criticism of its planned reforms to the NHS in England, the UK government says it is willing to make major changes to the policy. (BBC)
• The Idaho House of Representatives passes a bill banning abortion once a fetus is more than 20 weeks old. (AP via Idaho Statesman)
• More than a million voters go to the polls in the US state of Wisconsin for an election for a position on the Wisconsin Supreme Court with challenger Joanne Kloppenburg holding a narrow lead over incumbent David Prosser, Jr.. (Reuters)
• Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is appointed as the Chairwoman of the US Democratic National Committee. (Boston Globe)

• The World Meteorological Organisation reports that the ozone layer is damaged to its worst extent ever in the Arctic. (The Independent)

• In cricket, Kumar Sangakkara quits as captain of Sri Lanka's one-day and Twenty20 sides so that "a new leader can be properly groomed for the 2015 World Cup". (BBC Sport)

• 2011 Yemeni protests: six people are killed and hundreds injured in Yemen violence. (CNN)
• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • NATO pledges to protect the besieged town of Misrata amid criticism from rebel fighters. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Syria reverses a ban on teachers wearing veils and closes the country's only casino ahead of anti-regime protests. (The Guardian)
• 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis:
  • Forces loyal to internationally-recognised Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara storm the bunker of Laurent Gbagbo in a "final assault". (France 24)
  • Negotiations to end the political deadlock fail. (Al Jazeera)
  • The International Criminal Court could investigate crimes against humanity committed in the country. (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)

• Civil partnerships for same-sex couples come into effect on the Isle of Man. (BBC)
• Conservative U.S. broadcaster Glenn Beck announces that he will no longer be presenting his program from later in the year. (The Wrap)

• The New Zealand Press Association closes down after over 130 years in operation with 42 job losses. (3 News)
• José Sócrates, the caretaker Prime Minister of Portugal asks the European Union for financial assistance. (BBC)

• Workers at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant manage to plug radiation leaks. (AP)
• At least 200 African migrants are missing after a boat capsizes off Italy. 20 bodies recovered. (BBC), (New York Times)
• A United States Navy F/A-18 crashes near Naval Air Station Lemoore in California. (CBS 47)

• Ecuador expels the United States ambassador over Wikileaks diplomatic cables alleging corruption within the Ecuadorian police force. (BBC)

• The trial of Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi for having sex with an underage prostitute begins. (Reuters)
• A tape recording is released of police in the Republic of Ireland allegedly threatening to rape two female protesters, one of whom is from North America, after arresting them, causing an outcry among women's groups and anti-rape organizations. (Irish Examiner) (The Belfast Telegraph) (The Guardian) (The Irish Times) (TV3)
• Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron, loses his appeal against his conviction for fraud in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. (Wall Street Journal)
• More than forty bodies are found in a mass grave in Mexico's Tamaulipas state. (AP via Star Tribune)
• The United States Senate defeated a measure that would have banned the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (United States). The new regulations which began being applied early this year affect air polluters such as power plants and oil refineries, attempts to address climate change mitigation. (Reuters) (New York Times)Washington Times(Bloomberg)

• The Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper dismisses international criticism over the arrest of artist Ai Weiwei. (Angola Press) (Straits Times) (Global Times)

• Basketball star LeBron James buys a minority interest in Premier League team Liverpool Football Club. (Wall Street Journal)

• A Mexican Drug War-related march inspired by the killing of seven people, one of whom was the son of prominent poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, occur in more than 20 Mexican cities, with marchers chanting "No more blood!". (BBC)(LA Times)
• 1.5 million people participate in nationwide street demonstrations against the policies of President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, with police using tear gas on protesters. (BBC)
• Bahrain:
  • Médecins Sans Frontières releases a report accusing Bahrain's military of deliberately targeting doctors and hospitals, "paralyzing" them, and turning them into "places to be feared". (Al Jazeera)
• Libya:
  • NATO kills at least 13 Libyan rebels and injures many more in an air raid near Ajdabiya after rebels reportedly fired on NATO planes, though there is speculation that the air-strike may have come from Gaddafi's fighter jets evading the no fly zone. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • The United States considers putting troops on the ground. (CBS)
• Syria:
  • The Assad regime grants nationality to thousands of Kurds in al-Hasaka in a bid to appease protesters. (Al Jazeera)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Hamas militants fire an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, critically injuring a teenage boy and the driver, and then fire 45 mortars and 3 rockets at towns in southern Israel; the Israeli army launches a counterattack in Gaza, killing five people and injuring a number of others (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post)(Al Jazeera)(CNN)
  • The Iron Dome mobile air defense system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli city Ashkelon, marking the first time in history a short-range rocket was ever intercepted.(Haaretz)
  • The United States and Britain condemn the attack in southern Israel after Hamas claims responsibility for firing an anti-tank missile at a school bus. (AFP) (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Following a day of missile attacks on southern Israeli communities, Hamas declares a deal for militant groups in Gaza to ceasefire, a truce it says is intended to halt an escalation of Israeli "aggression". (BBC) (Ynet)
• A man bursts into a school with a gun and kills 12 people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before he commits suicide. (Folha de S.Paulo) (Al Jazeera)
• An Iranian asylum seeker self-immolates to death in central Amsterdam. (BBC)
• 25 people are killed in a bomb assault in the Nigerian town Suleja. (THEWILL)

• China's foreign ministry confirms police are investigating artist and government critic Ai Weiwei, who disappeared over the weekend, for suspected economic crimes amid reports that he has been force-fed milk powder while on hunger strike in prison in reference to his campaigns against the 2008 Chinese milk scandal. (BBC) (AFP via Jakarta Globe) (Al Jazeera)
• Politicians in Montreal call for French rock star Bertrand Cantat to be denied entry after Théâtre du Nouveau Monde hires him for some plays by Sophocles. (BBC)

• Eurozone interest rates are raised to 1.25 per cent from the record low of 1 per cent by the European Central Bank (ECB) amid concerns this could cause problems for countries such as Portugal and the Republic of Ireland. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• The Australian dollar reaches a 28-year high against the United States dollar due to strong employment figures for March. (The Australian)
• General Electric Co. announces that it is investing $600 million to construct a facility for the manufacture of thin-film solar panels, and says it hopes and expects to drive the price of solar energy down. (Reuters)

• Officials give no hope for the missing migrants of yesterday's fatal boat disaster off Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. (BBC)
• A 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of northern Honshu resulting in two deaths and 100 injuries. (USGS), (Sydney Morning Herald)
• A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Mexican state of Veracruz. (USGS)
• Injections of nitrogen into one of the reactors at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant begins in an effort to stop further hydrogen blasts. (BBC)
• Blackouts hit most Venezuelan states including the capital Caracas. (Reuters via MSNBC)

• A British government diplomat calls the United States Department of State to draw "attention to our concerns over Bradley Manning", the Welsh-born U.S. serviceman imprisoned by the U.S. military in solitary confinement and forced to sleep naked, conditions condemned by Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and British MPs among others. (AFP via Google News)
• UK prime minister David Cameron admits to students in Pakistan that Britain and its empire is to blame for many of the world's problems. (The Daily Telegraph)

• Police sexual abuse scandal:
  • Calls increase for an independent international investigation into the recently released tape recording of police in the Republic of Ireland discussing the rape of two female protesters, one of whom is from North America. One of the women discusses her experience in public after police leak the identities of the women. (Irish Examiner) (TV3)
  • A second tape is released. (The Belfast Telegraph) (The Irish Times)
  • Ireland's police chief is forced to issue an apology following the rape tape revelations. (UK Press Association) (The Irish Times) (RTÉ)
• The case of a group of elderly Kenyans - 3 men and 1 woman in their 70s and 80s - reaches London's High Court, with the group seeking compensation and apology for their torture by British officers during the 1950s Mau Mau Uprising, including castration, sexual abuse, forced labour and beatings. (Al Jazeera)
• The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals dismisses an appeal from a man wanting to see the President of the United States Barack Obama's birth certificate. (Honolulu Star Advertiser)
• Former British Labour Party minister Elliot Morley pleads guilty to dishonestly claiming more than £30,000 in parliamentary expenses. (BBC)

• Nicola Roxon, the Australian Minister for Health, announces plans to introduce legislation requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• Seventeen people are arrested at a protest organised by the Service Employees International Union trying to storm the Governor of the US state of Washington's office in Olympia. (The Olympian)

• League football is to resume in Tunisia on 17 April for the first time since December when the Tunisian revolution, which toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from decades-long rule, began. (BBC Sport)

• At least 12 Palestinians, including 3 civilians, are killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza in response to numerous mortar and rocket attacks. (BBC)
• Prominent religious leader Maulvi Showkat Ahmed Shah is killed when explosives attached to a bicycle are detonated outside a mosque in Srinagar, Kashmir, thought to be the first attack of its kind in about two years. The capital's shops shut down and traffic is suspended. (BBC)
• At least 25 people are killed and at least 320 others are wounded at Camp Ashraf. (Al Jazeera)
• Arab Spring
  • Today's Friday protests take place in Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Yemen among other places. (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Syrian protests:
    • At least 27 people are killed at rally in Daraa during continuing protests against the al-Assad regime. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests:
    • At least two people are killed and hundreds more are injured, including 30 critically, as security forces open fire on people in Ta'izz during protests against the Saleh regime. (Al Jazeera)
    • A newly released cable indicates the Saleh government encouraged Saudi Arabia to bomb a rival's headquarters by declaring it a rebel base. (The Guardian)
  • 2011 Egyptian revolution:
    • Thousands of people gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo for a "Day of Trial and Cleansing", calling for ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his regime to be prosecuted. (Al Jazeera)
• A crew member shoots two of his crew mates on board the nuclear submarine HMS Astute at Southampton in Hampshire, England, killing one and sending the other into a life-threatening condition; police dismiss any link to terrorism. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• The European Union aims to complete Portugal's bailout of approximately €80 billion in exchange for cuts before a new government is elected in June, with the previous government having fallen at the loss of a parliamentary vote on imposing similar austerity measures. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
• The United States Department of Justice defends its probing of WikiLeaks-related Twitter accounts and dismisses as "absurd" any privacy and freedom of speech concerns. (CNET)
• Wayne Swan, the Treasurer of Australia, formally rejects an offer by the Singapore Exchange for the Australian Stock Exchange following advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board. (Bloomberg via Business Week)
• Virtual economies in online games have become a billion dollar industry. (BBC)
• The Rupert Murdoch-owned News International admits liability in several cases brought against The News of the World newspaper for alleged phone hacking, and issues an "unreserved apology". (BBC)
• Amgen, a U.S. based biotech firm, acquires Bergamo, a privately held Brazilian medical supplier. (Reuters)

• The death toll from yesterday's aftershock from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami rises to three and 140 wounded. (CNN)
• Eight people are killed and 130 injured in a massive car pile-up caused by a sandstorm on the German autobahn A 19 near Rostock. The pile-up involves about 80 vehicles and causes at least 30 of them to catch fire, making it the worst accident in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. (BBC) (TheLocal)
• Three children die after drinking suspected nitrite- (as opposed to 2008's melamine-) tainted milk in China; 35 others are hospitalized. (BBC) (China.org.cn)

• Nursultan Nazarbayev is sworn in as President of Kazakhstan for another five year term, in a vote criticized as flawed. (Al Jazeera)
• Three officials from Kenya, including the deputy prime minister, go on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). (Al Jazeera)
• Mike Campbell, a white farmer who took President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe to court in 2007 over his programme of land seizures dies. (BBC)
• The United States Congress reaches a deal on the 2011 United States federal budget an hour before the deadline to avoid a government shutdown. (BBC)

• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • Fighting continues between government and rebels in Brega and Ajdabiya in Libya. (Al Jazeera)
• 2010-2011 Ivorian crisis/Second Ivorian Civil War:
  • Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo regain ground in Abidjan. (Reuters)
• The Egyptian Army initiates a fatal crackdown in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on people protesting that ousted president Hosni Mubarak be prosecuted for corruption. (BBC)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Over 120 rockets are fired into southern Israel this weekend, wounding 5 people. The Iron Dome missile system intercepts 10 rockets. (Jerusalem Post)
  • Israeli air strikes kill 12 in Gaza, according to doctors. (BBC)
  • Israel promises to carry out more air strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to the recent mortar and rocket attacks. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Basque conflict:
  • Despite a ceasefire, ETA shoot a French policeman in Valliere, Limousin. Two more shooting incidents follow the first one. (Typically Spanish)

• U.S. movie director Sidney Lumet dies in Manhattan.(Reuters via TV New Zealand)

• A tornado hits in Iowa's Monona County in the midwestern United States. (Omaha World-Herald)

• Australian police are condemned for their failure to treat the 2007 death of an Aboriginal boy found weighted with rocks in a waterhole as anything other than an accident in Borroloola, Northern Territory. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• A shooting spree in a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands leaves seven dead, including the perpetrator. (NOS)
• Women's groups protest outside the Oireachtas after police are filmed discussing raping women after their arrest. (The Guardian)
• The Police Service of Northern Ireland says that a "sophisticated and substantial" 500lb bomb left in a van under the main Belfast to Dublin road near Newry had the potential to cause huge loss of life and devastation, and may have been destined for a town centre. (BBC)
• Australian army sex scandal:
  • Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, describes a broadcast of a young cadet engaging in sexual intercourse at the Australian Defence Force Academy as an "abhorrent" but "isolated" incident. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  • More army members speak out about other incidents of sexual abuse. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• Ismael Omar Guelleh is re-elected as President of Djibouti. (Manilla Bulletin)
• Icelanders vote in a referendum on a renegotiated compensation deal with Britain and the Netherlands over the collapsed Icesave bank. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Nigerians vote in parliamentary elections. (BBC)
• 72-year-old Indian social activist Anna Hazare is to end a four-day hunger strike after the government agrees to his wishes for tougher anti-corruption laws which have gained widespread public support. (BBC)

• United Nations and French forces open fire on the residence of the President of Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo in response to recent attacks. (AP via Times Union)
• 2011 Syrian protests
  • Eyewitnesses claim that Syrian security forces killed four protesters in the coastal city of Banias. (AP via Forbes)
  • Eyewitnesses report that Daraa where dozens of protesters were shot on Friday is 80 per cent paralysed. (Al-Jazeera)
• An African Union mission arrives in Libya to negotiate a settlement in the 2011 Libyan civil war between Muammar Gaddafi and his opponents. (BBC)

• U2's 360° Tour becomes the highest grossing music tour of all time following a show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (NME via Bigpond Music)

• The People's Republic of China records its first trade deficit in six years with rising commodity prices blamed. (AP via CBS Moneywatch)

• Wildfires in the US state of Texas destroy more than 230,000 acres of land, including about 20 homes in the small town of Fort Davis. (Reuters)

• Beijing police arrest at least a dozen members of a Christian house church for attempting to hold a church service in public after they are evicted from their usual place of worship. (AP via Star Tribune)
• A British Royal Navy sailor is charged with murdering an officer and attempted murder of three crew members aboard a nuclear submarine HMS Astute on Friday night in Southampton. (AP via Yahoo News), (AFP via ABC News)

• Peruvians vote in presidential elections with the most likely result a runoff between Ollanta Humala and either Pedro Pablo Kuczynski or Keiko Fujimori. (BBC), (AP via Newsday), (New York Times), (BBC)
• The governing Democratic Party of Japan loses 70 seats in local government elections due to concerns over handling of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

• Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing wins the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix. (News Limited)
• South African golfer Charl Schwartzel wins the United States 2011 Masters Tournament. (NineMSN), (CBS Sports)

• 2011 Syrian protests
  • Students take part in a demonstration at Damascus University to express solidarity with protesters killed in the unrest. (Al Jazeera) (Al Bawaba) (Press TV)
  • Student killed after Syria forces attack protest in Damascus University. (Haaretz)
• 2011 Egyptian revolution:
  • Demonstrators remain in Tahrir Square calling for the acceleration of reforms. (Reuters)
  • The Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf apologises for violence against the protesters in Tahrir Square and calls for a judicial investigation. (Al-Jazeera)
• 2011 Minsk Metro bombing
  • At least 11 people are killed and dozens are injured in a bomb explosion at Kastrychnitskaya metro station in Minsk. (RT) (Reuters via Yahoo News)
• 2010-2011 Ivorian crisis/Second Ivorian Civil War:
  • Laurent Gbagbo is captured and arrested in Abidjan. Gbagbo has been reportedly taken to the headquarters of Alassane Ouattara. French reports claim he was captured by Ouattara supporters while contradictory reports suggest he was captured by French special forces. (Washington Post) (France 24) (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• 2011 Libyan civil war: Libyan rebels reject an African Union peace plan because it does not include the removal of Gaddafi from Libya. (Reuters)
• Fighting between rebels and government forces kill 27 people in the Central African Republic. (AFP via Google News)

• The French law banning the burqa and niqab comes into effect. (AFP via News Limited) (BBC)

• Mexican businessman Carlos Slim is again the richest man in the world according to the Forbes list of billionaires. (BBC)
• Intel announces (former codename "Oak Trail") Atom processor will be in devices beginning in May, especially designed for netbook and tablet devices. (Intel Release).
• Highland Capital has brought an adversary proceeding within the U.S. bankruptcy court, New York, in regard to the Lyondell reorganization, against the securities unit of UBS AG for third-party inferenece with a contract between Highland and Lyondell. (BusinessWeek)

• Over 14,000 people are still missing in Japan, a month after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Kyodo News)
• The President of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. visits the government offices of Fukushima Prefecture and the command centre for the Fukushima I nuclear accidents to apologise. (Kyodo) (CNN)
• The government of Japan announces plans to evacuate more towns near the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant as the crisis continues. (CNN)
• Japan is hit by a magnitude 6.6 aftershock one month after the main earthquake, knocking out power to Fukushima I for nearly an hour. (Washington Post)

• India repatriates 39 Pakistani prisoners in a goodwill gesture. (Times of India) (Dawn)

• Authorities in Tajikistan are to ban divorce by text message. (CP)
• Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil is sentenced to three years in prison by a military court for criticising the army. (BBC) (AP via Google News)
• Farooque Ahmed is sentenced to 23 years in jail in the US for plotting attacks on the Washington Metro system. (Washington post)
• Nepalese Energy Minister Gokarna Bista is stabbed in Katmandu. (AP via Silicon Valley Mercury)

• Uganda's opposition leader Kizza Besigye is arrested after calling for a protest against recent fuel price increases. (AFP via Google News) (BBC)
• Stephen Smith, the Australian Minister for Defence, orders an investigation into the way women are treated at the Australian Defence Force Academy following recent sexual abuse allegations. (ABC News Australia)
• The President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh welcomes a proposal by the Gulf Cooperation Council that would see him stand aside for his Vice-President. (Reuters via Ynet)
• British Prime Minister David Cameron is criticised by the University of Oxford for an "incorrect and highly misleading" claim that only one black student was enrolled there in 2009. During a question and answer session on the effect of higher tuition fees on poorer students, Cameron had called the figures "disgraceful". The University says that at least 26 black students started there that year. (BBC)
• In a confidential letter to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, the party's former leader of Liverpool City Council, Warren Bradley, urges Clegg to pull out of the coalition government before the Lib Dems "disappears into the annals of history". (BBC)
• Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney announces that he will be a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. (The Guardian)
• Vincent C. Gray, the Mayor of Washington DC is arrested while protesting about a US budget deal. (CNN)

• American businessman Stan Kroenke acquires 62.89% of Premier League club Arsenal. (BBC)
• Australian cricket player Shane Watson breaks the world record for number of sixes in a One Day International in the second match in the series against Bangladesh. (Super Sport)
• The U.S. Attorney's office for San Diego announces that 10 individuals have been indicted on charges relating to an alleged point shaving scheme involving college basketball games. The accused include two former players and a former assistant coach for the University of San Diego men's team. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

• 2011 Libyan civil war: Muammar Gaddafi's forces attack the eastern front line and shell the city of Misrata. (MSNBC)

• Almost all of 169 Chinese Christians detained on Sunday, after they tried to hold an outdoor prayer session, are released; the unofficial Chinese church vows to hold more services. (MSN Malaysia News) (BBC)

• Fukushima I nuclear accidents
  • The Government of Japan raises the crisis level of the accidents to level 7, the highest level on the international scale and equivalent to the Chernobyl disaster. (NHK), (Reuters)
  • Workers at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant fight a fire following another aftershock. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
• The state of emergency in New Zealand following the 2011 Canterbury earthquake is extended for another week. (TV New Zealand)

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mulls withdrawing IDF forces from parts of the West Bank and handing over full security control to the Palestinian Authority to demonstrate an Israeli diplomatic initiative that would block a possible "diplomatic tsunami" that could follow international recognition of a Palestinian state. (Haaretz)
• Pakistan seeks CIA reduction in the country by 25%-40% (BBC)

• Los Angeles County prosecuters lodge four felony charges against a man suspected of bombing a Chabad house in the US suburb of Santa Monica, California. (LA Fox)

• Police in Swaziland arrest any person in a group ahead of planned pro-democracy protests in the country. (BBC) (News24 South Africa)
• Former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is taken to hospital after suffering heart problems while being interrogated about alleged corruption and violence against protestors. (BBC), (AP via Fox News)
• Former Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty announces that he will be seeking the 2012 Republican nomination for President of the United States. (CNN)
• Leaders of Canada's major political parties hold an English language debate for the Canadian federal election. (BBC)
• The Senate of the US state of North Carolina pardons former Governor William Woods Holden who was impeached in 1871 because of his suspension of habeas corpus in the process of battling the Ku Klux Klan terror campaign. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

• Australian rugby league coach Wayne Bennett agrees to coach the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League in the next four seasons starting in 2012. (NRL)

• 2011 Libyan civil war
  • Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi continue to attack the city of Misrata. (Al Arabiya)
• The Malaysiakini Malaysian news website is attacked ahead of elections in Sarawak. (AFP via Channel News Asia)
• The 2011 Syrian protests spread to Aleppo. (Gulf News)

• Toyota closes several plants in Europe for part of April and May due to parts shortages caused by the power outages associated with the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (AP via Forbes)
• Royal Dutch Shell announces that it will close the Clyde oil refinery in Sydney, Australia, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announces that it has launched a new environmental impact study of oil shale and tar sands development. (Denver Post)

• Japan's Sendai Airport partially reopens for the first time since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (Kyodo News)

• The United States requests the release of one of its citizens detained in North Korea. (AFP via Google News)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  • The government in the West Bank is largely ready to govern a Palestinian state, a United Nations report claims. (BBC) (Washington Post) (Al Jazeera)

• Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara says former leader Laurent Gbagbo will face charges at the national and international level. (Al Jazeera)
• Egyptian authorities detain former president Hosni Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal for 15 days as part of an investigation related to possible charges of corruption and abuse of power. (Al-Arabiya) (BBC) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• English actor Brian Regan is charged with the murder of a bouncer in a pub in Liverpool. (BBC)
• US baseball star Barry Bonds is convicted of obstruction of justice charges with a hung jury on other charges. (AP via Fox News)
• Lee Bradley Brown, 39, a British tourist is allegedly beaten to death in the Bur Dubai police station in Dubai after being arrested for swearing. (Daily Mail)

• Chinese authorities continue a crackdown on dissent, with some activists placed on labour camps according to rights groups. (Taipei Times) (Radio Television Hong Kong) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Former US Senator Rick Santorum announces that he has formed a committee to explore a bid for the Republican Party nomination in the presidential election. (USA Today)
• The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the United States Senate releases a report on the financial crisis of 2008, focusing largely on the role played by Goldman Sachs in "creating and selling structured finance products" that had their customers betting in one direction while Goldman itself bet the other way. (Subcommittee Release)

• Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is shot and injured during a protest against rising food and oil prices in the capital Kampala; tear gas is also fired by police to disperse protesters. (BBC) (Capital FM Kenya)
• A pro-Palestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni is kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by an Islamic Salafite group with threats to execute him within hours. (BBC) (Israel National News), (Antara)
• Barack Obama, the President of the United States, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France publish an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune outlining their strategy on the 2011 Libyan civil war. (New York Times)
• Shots are fired in the compound of the President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré. (AFP via France24)

• Encyclopedia Dramatica shuts down and is replaced by "oh internet", provoking protests by 4chan members and former readers of the site. (Geekosystem)

• Ford Australia announces plans to cut 240 jobs and cut production in its plants at Geelong and Broadmeadows due to falling demand for larger vehicles. (The Australian)

• Japanese police search for the bodies of victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami near the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant for the first time due to declining radiation levels. (AP)
• Two people are killed, one missing and four people critically injured after a tornado hits Atoka County in the US state of Oklahoma. (KTUL), (AP via MSNBC)

• North Korea confirms that it has detained a United States citizen Jun Young Su and is preparing to charge him with "committing a crime" against the country. (BBC)
• Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa attend a BRICS summit in Sanya in China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua)
• NATO foreign ministers meet in Berlin, Germany, to discuss issues including Libya. (AP via Yahoo! News)

• Réjean Hinse, a Quebec man wrongly convicted of a crime in the 1960s before being acquitted by the Supreme Court of Canada 30 years later receives a record $13.1 million in compensation. (CBC)
• Chinese police hunt for a man believed to have killed ten people in Anshan City. (Xinhua via CRI)

• Five months after his expulsion from the Shas party, Israeli rabbi Chaim Amsellem forms the Whole Nation party, and announces plans to run for the 19th Knesset on a secular-religious unity platform. (Ynetnews)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad forms a new government with Adel Safar confirmed as new Prime Minister, and orders the release of protesters detained over past couple of weeks.(Al Jazeera)
• British Business Secretary Vince Cable criticises Prime Minister David Cameron as "very unwise" for making a speech on immigration in which he spoke of reducing the number of immigrants into the UK from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands. He said the comments "risked inflaming extremism", although Cameron dismissed these concerns. (BBC)

• India and Pakistan resume sporting relations, frozen since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. (Al Jazeera)

• 2011 Libyan civil war: Human rights groups accuse pro-Gaddafi troops of using cluster bombs in Misrata. (Reuters)
• 2011 Syrian protests: Police use tear gas to disperse tens of thousands of protesters in the capital Damascus. (BBC)
• 2011 Jordanian protests: Islamists clash with monarchists in the town of Zarqa. (Al Jazeera)
• 2010-2011 Algerian protests: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika addresses the nation and pledges reforms amid weeks of protests. (Al Jazeera)
• Hamas finds the dead body of kidnapped Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza City. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• A bomb explodes in a mosque in the Indonesian city of Cirebon in West Java with at least one person dead and seventeen injured. (Jakarta Globe)
• Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso, who took power in a coup 24 years ago, reportedly flees a mutiny of his military bodyguards. (Al Jazeera)

• Australian artist Ben Quilty wins the Archibald Prize for his portrait of artist Margaret Olley. (The Canberra Times) (AAP via ABC News)

• The Chinese economy grew by 9.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2011 while inflation was 5.4%, the highest level in nearly three years. (Reuters)
• Two South Korean internet search engines accuse Google of antitrust violations. (Bernama)
• Credit rating agency Moody's downgrades Ireland's rating to Baa3, one step above junk bond status. (Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal)
• Nasdaq, in pursuit of its bid for control of NYSE Euronext, would be willing to sell one key NYSE Euronext property, the American Stock Exchange, in order to resolve antitrust issues, according to an unnamed source cited by Reuters. (Reuters)

• The Tokyo Electric Power Company will pay a provisional 1 million yen to each household living within the exclusion zone near the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. (Kyodo)
• Two people in Oklahoma and seven in Arkansas are killed by a strong tornado outbreak. (CNN) (UPI) (NewsOK)(BBC)
• Wildfires in Texas, United States destroy dozens of homes and kill a firefighter. (Dallas Morning News) (AP)

• Former Australian water polo player Keli Lane is jailed for 18 years for murdering her baby daughter Tegan Lane in 1996. (AFP via Channel News Asia)
• Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption arrests 11 Deutsche Bank staff, including two senior officials, for alleged involvement in a fraudulent trading case. (AFP via France24)
• Croatian military leaders Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač were convicted of war crimes (BBC)
• The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan announces indictments of the owners of the three largest online poker sites accepting U.S. players—PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker—on charges of bank fraud, gambling offenses, and money laundering. (ESPN)
• Karl Rodney, the organiser of controversial trips to the Caribbean by United States House of Representatives member Charles Rangel, is charged with lying to investigators about them. (New York Post)
• US actor Nicolas Cage is arrested in New Orleans for alleged domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness. (UPI)
• A Chinese student from Beijing studying at York University in Toronto is found dead after a male stalker entered her room to use a cell phone while she was chatting online via webcam to a friend in China; she was found undressed and her computer is missing. (AFP) (Montreal Gazette) (Global Post)

• The Australian Council of Trade Unions and Australian Workers' Union threatens to withdraw support for the Julia Gillard minority government's plans to introduce a carbon tax unless it can be guaranteed that no jobs will be lost. (Reuters)
• At a fundraiser, Barack Obama is caught on an open mic confronting Paul Ryan's record of creating the debt which he is now claiming to be trying to fix, among numerous other things. (ABC)

• Researchers in Japan and Australia successfully teleport wave packets of light, the first transfer of quantum information from one point to another in a Schrödinger's cat experiment. (ABC News Australia)

• US health officials report that 21 players on 13 National Basketball Association teams were sickened with the norovirus stomach virus last fall including Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. (ESPN)

• Burkina Faso unrest
  • Hundreds of traders in Burkina Faso set fire to the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress headquarters and ransack other government buildings, after mutinous soldiers looted their shops. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • The capital Ouagadougou is placed under curfew. (BBC)
• Second Ivorian Civil War: Ivorian Popular Front, the party of ousted Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, calls upon its supporters to end the unrest in the country after his arrest. (AFP via Google News)
• Arab Spring
  • 2011 Syrian protests
    • President Bashar al-Assad announces that the 48-year-old state of emergency law will be lifted next week. (Al Jazeera)
    • Pro-democracy protests continue in Syria. (Syrian Arab News Agency) (The Guardian)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war
    • Fighting intensifies in the western city of Misrata. (BBC)
    • Rebel forces advance towards the oil town of Brega. (Times of India)
  • 2011 Iranian protests
    • One person is killed in a second day of clashes between protesters and security forces in Ahvaz, western Iran. (Al Arabiya)
  • 2011 Jordanian protests
    • 70 Islamists are arrested after clashes with pro-monarchy groups in Zarqa and Rassifeh, Jordan. (Al Arabiya)
• Philippine Army soldiers kill two Abu Sayyaf fighters in Al-Barka, Basilan. (AP via The Guardian)
• The United Nations calls for an investigation after an Iraqi raid into an Iranian opposition Camp Ashraf which left 34 people dead. (AFP via Google News)
• Insurgency in Laos: A human rights group accuses Laos and Vietnam of killing four Hmong Christians. (Straits Times)

• Tornadoes kill several people in the US states of North Carolina and South Carolina with storms killing at least 20 people in the southern United States over the past few days. (CBS News), (Reuters)

• A United Nations expert panel finds "credible allegations" which, if proven, indicate that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (PTI/The Hindu) (AFP/France 24)
• Mexican authorities announce the arrest of Los Zetas Cartel leader Martin Omar Estrada "El Kilo" Luna. (CNN)

• A 50,000-strong anti-government demonstration calling for snap elections takes place in Belgrade, Serbia, with leader of the opposition Serbian Progressive Party Tomislav Nikolić announcing he is to begin a hunger strike until new elections. (Deutsche Welle)
• Pro and anti-government rallies against corruption take place in Moscow, Russia. (RIA Novosti)
• Cuban President Raúl Castro proposes term limits for public office. (CNN)
• The ruling National Front coalition in Malaysia win an election in the country's largest state Sarawak. (Al Jazeera) (Bernama)
• An Egyptian court orders the dissolution of the former ruling National Democratic Party of Hosni Mubarak. (Reuters)
• A presidential election takes place in Nigeria. (iAfrica) (BBC)

• At least four people are shot dead by security forces during anti-government protests in Syria. (CBC) (AFP via Channel News Asia)
• 2011 Libyan civil war
  • Rebel forces in Libya regain the town of Ajdabiya. (Al Jazeera)
  • Heavy fighting continues in Misrata with reports of seventeen people dying. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• NATO announces that eight soldiers from member countries died in fighting in Afghanistan. (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution) (AP via Fox News)
• Fourteen people claimed to be responsible for shooting 52 protestors in Sana’a in March are referred to the state prosecutor. (Al-Arabiya)

• China raises its bank reserves requirements as an anti-inflation move, an increase of 50 basis points (half of a percent) effective April 21. (Financial Times)
• Oman is to spend 1 billion rials in an attempt to prevent further anti-government protests. (IOL)

• The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Japan to announce US assistance for the recovery effort following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (BBC)
• More than forty people die in the tornado outbreak of April 14–16, 2011, with North Carolina being the worst affected state. (CNN)
• At least twelve people are killed in a severe storm in China's Guangdong Province. (The Telegraph)

• Police in China detain dozens of underground Protestant church followers in Beijing. (AFP via Google News) (Hong Kong Standard)
• The National Coalition Party wins the Finnish parliamentary election (44 seats), with the True Finns, third-place finishers, emerging as a new major political party (39 seats). Biggest losers are the Centre Party (36 seats); coalition talks will probably be held between the Coalition, the True Finns and the Social Democrats (42 seats).(YLE)
• Goodluck Jonathan will be reelected as President of Nigeria based on unofficial results in the presidential election. (The Guardian)
• The Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refuses to accept the resignation of Intelligence Chief Heyder Moslehi. (AFP via Google)

• The 17th edition of the CAF African Youth Championship begins in South Africa. (BBC)
• Lewis Hamilton of McLaren wins the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix. (Super Sport)
• Emmanuel Mutai wins the London Marathon, setting a new course record. (BBC)

• A 16-year-old Israeli boy injured by a Palestinian missile attack on his school bus on April 7 dies. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • Gaddafi's forces kill over 100 civilians in grad rocket attacks in the Nafusa Mountains of Libya. (Al Jazeera)
  • Gaddafi's forces commit mass rape of women in battle of Misrata. (The First Post) (Ottawa Citizen)
• Suspected Muslim insurgents detonate a bomb in southern Thailand, killing one and injuring 23 people. (Straits Times)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Eight killed in Syrian Protests. (BBC)
  • Syrian city of Homs "boiling" after deaths of 25 protesters. (Haaretz)
  • A Syrian officer is reportedly killed for his unwillingness to open fire at protesters. (Haaretz)
• Suicide bombing in Iraq kills 9 and wounds 25. (BBC)

• Storms in Guangdong, southern China, kill at least 18 people and leave 150 injured. (BBC) (Xinhua)
• A landslide kills 10 people in Indonesia's East Java province. (Jakarta Post) (The Hindu)
• 14 people killed in mudslide in Colombia. (BBC)

• An anti-piracy conference opens in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Al Jazeera)

• Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is arrested during a protest against high food and fuel prices in the capital Kampala. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

• 2011 Boston Marathon
  • Geoffrey Matai of Kenya sets a new record for the fastest time to run the Boston Marathon, completing its 26-mile course with a time of 2:03:02. (New York Times)

• Hamas fatally shoots two of the suspects in last week's murder of Italian pro-Palestinian activist Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • NATO and the civilian council of Misrata request ground troops to protect the city of Misrata from Gaddafi's forces, after NATO admits it is unable to stop the artillery shelling of Misrata. (Hotair)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Thousands of anti-government protesters occupy and start a sit-in at Al-Saa Square in Homs, the third largest city in Syria. (BBC)
  • President Assad lifts the 48-year controversial state of emergency following demands by protests. (AlJazeera) (BBC)
• 2011 Yemeni protests:
  • The United Nations Security Council meets to discuss as the Yemen government killing of the people protesting continues. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Egyptian revolution:
  • Long-time intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is questioned about the Hosni Mubarak regime's attacks on the people of Egypt. (Al Jazeera)
• U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning is moved by officials to a military prison in Kansas amid increased international concerns about the U.S. military's policy of forcing him to strip naked in his cell and taking away his clothes. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Three kindergarteners are wounded after a gun goes off in a school cafeteria in the U.S. state of Texas. The gun was brought to the school by a six-year-old child. (BBC) (The Guardian) (South Africa Star) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (AP via Los Angeles Times) (Houston ABC 13)

• Seagate Technology, a California based manufacturer of hard disk drives (HDDs), buys the HDD division of Samsung, to create an entity with a combined HDD market share of 40 percent. (Reuters).

• Devastating fire in Manila, Philippines leaves about 8,000 people homeless and nine injured in a Makati City squatter community. (Inquirer) (Mindanao Examiner) (AP via Greenfield Daily Reporter)
• A donation campaign raises less money than expected towards a newer containment shell at Chernobyl. (Al Jazeera)

• British prime minister David Cameron sets out to block his predecessor Gordon Brown's attempt to take the £270,000 per year role of head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). (The Guardian)
• Georgia annuls a military transit treaty with Russia, which allowed the latter access to its military base in Armenia.(Civil Georgia)

• Singapore's Parliament is dissolved for the 14th General Election which is to be held on 7 May 2011. (Channel News Asia) (Channel News Asia)
• Fidel Castro resigns from the Cuban Communist Party's central committee, formalising his gradual retreat from the spotlight that started in 2006. (Euronews.net)
• An error by an American air traffic controller leads to the plane carrying Michelle Obama of the United States to come two miles too close to another plane near Washington, D.C. (BBC)

• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • Renowned photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros are killed and four others injured in Misrata. (CBC)
  • France and Italy are to send military officers to Libya to train rebels. (IBN Live)
• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • Protests continue in Syria despite the lifting of the state of emergency law. (Al Jazeera)
  • Opposition figure Mahmud Issa is arrested after giving a television interview. (Times of India)
• 2011 Yemeni protests:
  • The United Nations Security Council fails to come up with an agreed public statement at its first meeting to discuss the crisis in Yemen as violence continues. (BBC)
• Second Ivorian Civil War
  • Pro-Ouattara forces attempt to remove remaining militia loyal to deposed President Laurent Gbagbo. (AFP via Google News)

• Two prominent Chinese human rights lawyers Jiang Tianyong and Liu Xiaoyuan are released. (BBC) (Angola Press) (Al Jazeera)

• President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria wins the presidential election held on 16 April. (This Day Live)

• 2011 Libyan civil war:
  • Muammar Gaddafi's forces continue to use artillery shelling against civilians and rebels in Misrata. Rebels from the Nafusa Mountains region capture Libya's west border, where over 100 loyalist soldiers surrender to Tunisian authorities after being chased out by rebels. (Al Jazeera)
  • United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says NATO will begin using armed predator drones to combat Muammar Gaddafi's forces. (The New York Times)
• Sri Lanka asks the United Nations not to publish a report on alleged war crimes. (Straits Times) (Hindustan Times)
• Apple / Google smartphone tracking:
  • U.S. Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sends Apple chief executive Steve Jobs a letter asking him to explain the purpose of a file embedded on iPhones and iPads that keeps a detailed log of the devices' location. (Los Angeles Times)
  • The controversy escalates as some governments announce an intent to investigate any violation of privacy laws. (The New York Times)

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fines Brian Hunter $30 million for trades in which he engaged on behalf of Amaranth Advisors in the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2006 that manipulated the value of natural gas futures. (Bloomberg)

• Prominent Vietnamese dissident Cu Huy Ha Vu appeals his sentence for "anti-state propaganda". (Straits Times)
• Protests take place in Uganda after the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye during a demonstration. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (Daily Monitor)
• Chinese truck drivers stage a second day of protests in Shanghai at rising inflation. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's name is to be removed from all public places including schools and streets by order of an Egyptian court. (Al Jazeera)
• U.S. Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, announces his resignation from his Senate seat effective May 3, due to allegations he had an affair with the wife of a member of his staff. (Bloomberg)

• Cambodia and Thailand exchange fire across their mutual border; with casualties on both sides. (The Hindu) (Bangkok Post) (BBC)
• 3 people are killed and 3 others are wounded as a result of a blast in a factory in the Gaza Strip. (AFP via Google News) (PNN)
• Arab Spring
  • 2011 Syrian protests: At least 88 people are killed as a result of police firing at massive "Great Friday" anti-government protests across the country, the deadliest day of protest there yet. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests: Rallies occur in Sana'a. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Press TV)
  • 2011 Omani protests: Thousands of protesters demonstrate in pro-reform protests in Oman. (The National) (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
  • 2011 Bahraini protests: Non-governmental organisations call upon Bahrain to end a crackdown on doctors and patients who joined anti-government protests. (Reuters) (BBC) (Press TV)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: The head of America's military says the war is moving towards stalemate, even after its air strikes destroy 30-40 per cent of Libya's ground forces. American senator John McCain visits Benghazi. (BBC)
  • 2011 Egyptian revolution: The detention of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is extended by a further 15 days. (The Times of India) (Al Jazeera)
• Amid a protest against the construction of a new Tesco superstore in the Stokes Croft area of the English city of Bristol, 9 people are arrested and 8 police officers are injured. (BBC)
• A farmer in Los Pozos, Veracruz, Mexico opens fire outside a local church after its Good Friday sermon, killing a woman and two children. (WLOS)

• Good Friday celebrations occur internationally. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Times of India) (Malaysia Star) (BBC)
• 24 Filipinos are nailed to crosses in to San Fernando, near Manila, though celebrations are cancelled in Syria due to ongoing incidents there. (Daily Mail)
• Pope Benedict XVI becomes the first pontiff to take part in a televised question-and-answer session, a pre-recorded programme for Italian television. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Anne Robinson leaves The Weakest Link, prompting the BBC to end the quiz show. (The Guardian)

• Dozens of people are feared dead in a landslide in the southern Philippines. (Xinhua) (BBC)
• The United Nations says children in drought-infected Somalia are suffering some of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. (BBC)
• Japan's government announces a 4 trillion yen emergency budget to deal with the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country last month. (BBC)

• France calls for changes to the Schengen Agreement after Italy allows people from Tunisia and Libya into the passport-free Schengen Area. (BBC)
• New research reveals Apple and Google are running their iPhone and Android software to build gigantic databases from owners' movements as governments move to investigate. (The Guardian) (Xinhua) (The New York Times)

• Advance voting for the Canadian federal election, 2011 coincides with Easter. (CBC News) (CBC News)

• Cambodia and Thailand clash on their border. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Arab Spring
  • 2011 Syrian protests:
    • At least twelve people are killed by security forces during funerals. (Reuters)
    • The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemns the killing by the government of at least 300 people since mid-March. (RIA Novosti)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: The United States Air Force confirms an air strike by a predator drone in Misrata. (BBC) (CBC)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests
    • President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen agrees to step down under a 30-day transition plan to end increasingly violent unrest over his rule. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• The guest list for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton is announced. (CNN) (BBC)

• Police in China raid a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan, killing two people according to a rights group. (BBC) (Radio Television Hong Kong)

• More than 500 people are killed in Nigeria. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Military clashes kill 57 people in Sudan. (CNN) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• NATO fires on Iranian fishermen, wounding them and killing some civilians. (Press TV)
• At least 4 people are wounded at the entrance of a Catholic church after Easter Mass in Baghdad. (BBC)
• A group of 15 Israeli Jewish worshipers entered the Palestinian city of Nablus to pray in the Jewish holy site Joseph's Tomb, without coordinating their visit with the IDF as required by law. After finishing praying, as the Jewish worshipers were leaving Nablus, their cars came under fire from a Palestinian Authority police jeep. Five Israelis were injured in the attack and the nephew of Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat was killed.(The Jerusalem Post) (Ynet)
• After the shooting, Ynet reports "Palestinian sources reported local Palestinian youths gathered around the Joseph Tomb's compound shortly after the incident and set it on fire." (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post)
• Arab Spring:
  • Tunisian revolution: Thousands of people demonstrate in Tunis to demand both the resignation of interim prime minister Beji Caid el Sebsi, a link with the old guard brought down in January's popular revolution, and the prosecution of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia after being ousted, on charges such as murder and drug-trafficking. (Press TV)
  • 2011 Syrian protests: Police and soldiers open fire from rooftops in Jabla, killing and injuring nearby people; no protest was taking place at the time. An independent investigation is urged into Friday's massacre of close to 100 people as well as Saturday's killings of mourners at the funerals. (BBC) (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Moroccan protests: Thousands of people participate in massive peaceful demonstrations against the government on streets across Morocco, calling for an end to corruption and torture. (Press TV) (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Saudi Arabian protests: Amid demonstrations by the unemployed, women protesters gather to demand a vote but are defeated and rounded up by authorities. (Press TV)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests: Mass protests continue nationwide in defiance of the Saleh regime's claims the country's leader is to soon resign from his 32-year rule; protesters demand his immediate removal from power. (BBC) (CNN) (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: Deaths continue to climb in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata, while Spanish photojournalist Manu Brabo telephones his parents from the military prison in which he is being held in Tripoli. (CNN) (BBC)
  • 2011 Egyptian revolution: Hosni Mubarak, ousted from the presidency by popular revolution in February, is to be moved to a military hospital in Cairo amid pressure to have him stand trial over corruption and the killing of protesters. (BBC) (Press TV) (Al Jazeera)

• Pope Benedict XVI blesses Easter Mass in Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City, calling for diplomacy and dialogue to bring ongoing events in Libya to a peaceful conclusion. (BBC)
• Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa vows with "deep regret" not to attend Friday's wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in the UK due to his preoccupation with a popular uprising among his own people against his father's long-running rule. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• At least 10 people are killed due to floods and landslides brought on by torrential rain in Rio Grande do Sul. (BBC)
• A magnitude 6.2 earthquake hits southeastern Sulawesi in Indonesia. (Reuters Africa) (NPR)
• Flooding on the Red River of the North forces the evacuation of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation community in Manitoba. (Winnipeg Sun)

• Vanuatu Prime Minister Sato Kilman is ousted in a vote of no confidence. Serge Vohor becomes the new Prime Minister of Vanuatu. [1]
• In the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne of Liberal Democrats threatens legal action over "untruths" told by Conservatives opposed to the Alternative Vote system as the country prepares to vote on the issue. (BBC)

• Scottish football:
  • UK police express relief after an Old Firm match between Celtic and Rangers plays out without descending into expected violence related to parcel bombs sent amid increasing sectarian tensions. (The New York Times) (The Irish Times) (The Guardian)
  • Celtic manager Neil Lennon is reported to the Strathclyde Police after making a gesture, but police announce they will not pursue the matter. (The Guardian)

• Guantanamo Files: (The Guardian) (WikiLeaks) (Al Jazeera)
  • WikiLeaks releases classified cables detailing the interrogations carried out by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, as well as the imprisonment in the camp of Afghans and Pakistanis, children, elderly and mentally ill, before later being released without charge. (The Guardian) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  • The cables show the United States relied on the internationally widely available Casio F91W digital watch as "the sign of al-Qaida" and as "evidence" to imprison its captives in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (The Guardian)
  • Staff at Guantánamo Bay were instructed that any Muslim traveling to Afghanistan after 11 September 2001 was likely to have gone there "to support Osama bin Laden through direct hostilities against the US forces", with any other reasons being dismissed as "total fabrications", making it difficult for the interrogated to plead their innocence. (The Guardian)
  • Details of U.S. collaboration with at least 10 foreign intelligence agencies emerge, with Chinese, Tunisian, Moroccan, Russian, Saudi, Tajik, Jordanian, Algerian, Yemeni and Kuwaiti delegations assisting the U.S. with interrogations at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and China and Russia vowing to prosecute and punish any repatriated Uighurs or Uzbeks. (The Guardian)
  • A British resident, an organiser of hunger strikes imprisoned for nine years without trial and whose release has been repeatedly requested by William Hague, remains locked up in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (The Guardian)
  • Details of how an al-Qaeda-linked militant duped Canadian intelligence agents also emerge. (The Globe and Mail)
  • It is disclosed that an Al Jazeera journalist imprisoned by the United States at Guantánamo for six years was interrogated about the news network. He claims to have been beaten and sexually assaulted. (The Guardian)
  • The controversial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp of anti-extremist author Abdul Badr Mannan emerges. (The Guardian)
  • It emerges that the U.S. government released dozens of Guantánamo inmates it regarded as "high risk" and that one of the rebels it is backing in the ongoing 2011 Libyan Civil War fought for the Taliban against the Soviet Union and served as Osama bin Laden's driver in Sudan. (The Straits Times)
  • The U.S. government "strongly condemns" international media outlets, specifically The New York Times, for publishing the files it had wanted to keep secret. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Arab Spring
  • 2011 Libyan Civil War:
    • NATO jets fly over Tripoli on their mission to destroy Muammar Gaddafi's forces as loud explosions knock 3 television stations (Libyan Television, Jamahiriya TV and Shababiya) off-the-air. (BBC)
    • At least 45 people are wounded, with others missing, following a strike by warplanes on Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound as NATO conducted the raid. (Press TV) (Reuters)
    • Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov calls for an immediate ceasefire. (Press TV)
  • 2011 Syrian protests:
    • An operation by security and military forces takes place in the city of Daraa. (BBC) (CNN)
    • Protestors claim that at least 25 people have been killed in the Daraa crackdown with the Jordanian border closed. (USA Today)
• Violence in Nigeria:
  • A Nigerian human rights group says 500 people were killed in violence in the north of the country following the presidential election. (NgEX)
  • Three bombs explode in the northeastern city of Maiduguri killing three people, in an attack blamed on the Islamist sect Boko Haram. (BBC)
• Cambodian and Thai troops exchange fire for a fourth consecutive day. (Al Jazeera)
• Iran claims that a second cyberattack (Stuxnet previously) has been attempted via Stars, a computer worm. (UPI) (Al Jazeera)

• Poly Styrene, founding Punk vocalist, dies in England of breast cancer at age 53. (New York Times)
• Australia and New Zealand mark Anzac Day. Events occur in Afghanistan, France, Turkey and Vietnam, while Julia Gillard heads to South Korea. (BBC)
• The death occurs of Chilean poet Gonzalo Rojas, one of Latin America's greatest modern writers. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (AFP via Google News) (Fox News)

• Disneyland Paris closes its Thunder Mountain ride after a piece of scenery falls on one of the carriages. (Reuters)
• Nintendo's annual profits slump. (BBC)

• At least 17 people are killed and at least 24 others are injured as a four-storey building goes up in flames in Daxing, a suburb of Beijing. (BBC) (Xinhua)
• A human cannonball performer is killed in public in Kent, England, UK. (BBC)
• The Governor of Arkansas Mike Beebe declares a state of emergency following heavy storms including tornadoes hit the US state of Arkansas with at least two people dead and 100,000 without power. (Arkansas Online), (Reuters)
• The Governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear declares a state of emergency due to rising flood waters from the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

• A Kazakh UNESCO official attempts to hijack a plane and divert it to Tripoli, Libya. (RIA Novosti)
• A court in Bangladesh clears Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus of misappropriating Norwegian aid money at a micro-finance bank he founded. (The Times of India)
• King & Spalding, a prominent Atlanta-based law firm, withdraws from litigation on behalf of the Defense of Marriage Act, and partner Paul Clement resigns in protest. (Reuters)
• Nearly 500 prisoners, many of them Afghan-based Islamic militants, escape from Kandahar's Sarposa prison. (The Globe and Mail) (AP via Yahoo! News)
• The United Nations publishes the full Reprt of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability In Sri Lanka which finds "credible allegations" which, if proven, indicate that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (UN News Centre) (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (The Australian)

• About 700 anti-nuclear activists hold a die-in on the border of France and Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and after the Fukushima I nuclear accidents in Japan. (The Telegraph)
• Haiti's election results are delayed "out of concern for transparency". (BBC)

• Nintendo announces its intention to launch the Wii 2 in a bid to increase its profits as sales of the Wii decline. (BBC) (Reuters via IOL)

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Syrian protests:
    • The Syrian human rights organisation Sawasiah claims that the Government of Syria has arrested 500 protesters since the crackdown began. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
    • UK, French and Italian officials call for sanctions against Syria. (BBC)
    • Syria sends more troops into suburbs of Damascus and sends tanks into Deraa. (Reuters)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: At least three people are killed by missiles at a port as Misrata is attacked by Muammar Gaddafi's forces. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Mauritanian protests: Hundreds of people demonstrating during a "day of rage" against the regime of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz are tear gassed by police, while others are arrested and opposition MPs deterred from joining the protests. (BBC)
  • 2011 Bahraini protests:
    • Hundreds of students gather outside the United Nations building in Tehran, Iran, to protest against government suppression of students in Bahrain. (Press TV)
    • Activists allege that medical workers have been arrested for treating anti-government protesters. (Al Jazeera)
  • 2011 Egyptian revolution: Former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly goes on trial charged with ordering the killing of unarmed protesters shot in the head and chest during the popular revolution against Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Guantanamo Bay files leak:
  • Newly released cables document an alleged al-Qaeda "assassin" working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) while suspected of bombing Christian churches and a hotel in Pakistan. (BBC) (PA via The Independent)
  • A study, carried out by a retired army brigadier general and a Physicians for Human Rights expert, finds United States Department of Defense physicians and psychologists concealed evidence of deliberate harm and torture at the prison camp; the Department of Defense does not respond. (AFP via Montreal Gazette)
  • The rector of Lyon's grand mosque expresses outrage over a leaked document which asserts that The Pentagon believes the mosque is used by Al Qaeda. (AFP via Google News)
  • An international poll finds that a majority of people believe that Julian Assange is not a criminal. (Reuters)

• U.S. television personality Katie Couric announces that she will no longer host the CBS Evening News at the end of June. (USA Today)
• BBC television personality Andrew Marr admits to having taken out a high court superinjunction after Private Eye launches a challenge, though Marr states he "did not come into journalism to go around gagging journalists". (The Guardian)
• The Russian capital Moscow is to allow its first gay pride rally in May. (AFP via Google News)

• Management and unions confirm another France Télécom worker has committed suicide. (BBC)
• French dairy group Groupe Lactalis launches a 3.4 billion euro bid for Italian dairy group Parmalat. (BBC)
• Greece's budget deficit for 2010 is 10.5% of gross domestic product, significantly higher than expected. (Wall Street Journal)

• Ukraine commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. (AP via Houston Chronicle) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos calls for national unity after floods kill 91 people. (CNN)
• Thousands of residents in the US town of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, are evacuated as the Black River overflows its banks. (AP)
• Authorities in Ecuador evacuate nearby residents as the Tungurahua erupts. (CNN)

• In Kars, Turkey, near the Armenian border, a statue devoted to reconciliation with Armenia is demolished. (BBC)
• President of France Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi meet to discuss what to do about migrants from North Africa who want to join relatives, with reports that the Schengen Agreement is to be amended so the two can deal with the issue. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Iranian first vice president Mohammad-Reza Rahimi meets with Japanese ambassador to Iran Kinichi Kumano, with Rahimi expressing sympathy in relation to the recent earthquake and tsunami and asking for stronger ties between the countries. (Press TV)
• Officials from China and the United States agree to engage in dialogue over their respective economies. (BBC)
• Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Martti Ahtisaari and Gro Harlem Brundtland head to North Korea. (BBC) (RTÉ) (Al Jazeera)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Preparations for a 15-boat, 1,500-person flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip take place. (AP via Google News)
  • Ahmet Davutoğlu of Turkey warns Israel not to repeat its "flotilla mistake". (Ynetnews)
  • Foreign minister Uri Rosenthal writes a letter to the Dutch parliament, urging Dutch NGOs not to join the flotilla. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

• U.S. president Barack Obama is criticised by supporters of imprisoned Welsh-born U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning for interfering in any future trial after Obama is caught on camera accusing Manning of breaking the law. (AFP via Google News) (MSNBC)
• An Indian court orders Suresh Kalmadi, the chief organiser of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to remain in custody while corruption charges against him are investigated. (Straits Times)

• Japanese anti-nuclear protests following the Fukushima I nuclear accidents: Hundreds of farmers protest against Japan's atomic crisis, outside the TEPCO head office in Tokyo. (AFP via Google News)
• Belgium reaches one year without a government. (BBC) (China Daily) (News24)
• Germany's plagiarism scandal widens, engulfing the European Parliament's vice president Silvana Koch-Mehrin accused of plagiarizing 25 per cent of her doctoral thesis; she refuses to comment. (The Independent)
• American politics:
  • Rep. Ron Paul announces that he will again be seeking the Republican nomination for President of the United States. (National Journal)
  • New Jersey's Secretary of State rejects former Olympic medallist Carl Lewis's bid to run for the state Senate due to eligibility requirements. (BBC)
• Voters in Nigeria go to the polls for state governor elections. (CNN)
• Counting begins in elections for the 24th Seanad in Ireland. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (Irish Independent)

• The deadline to buy tickets for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England is extended due to a last-minute computer crash. (The Telegraph)

• Sony's PlayStation Network remains offline after a worldwide security breach obtains millions of users' personal information. (PlayStation Blog)

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Yemeni protests: Yemeni security forces kill at least 12 people and wound more than 100 others with bullets in Sana'a and elsewhere as protests against the Ali Abdullah Saleh regime continue. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (Reuters via France24)
  • 2011 Bahraini protests: Students rally across Iran to protest against the silent response of the United Nations to the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations by the Bahraini government (with the assistance of Saudi Arabia). (Press TV)
  • 2011 Syrian protests: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom summon Syrian ambassadors to condemn the government's recent violent crackdown on people protesting against the Bashar al-Assad regime. (BBC)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: A team from the United Nations (UN) arrives in Tripoli to investigate the Libyan government's crackdown on people protesting. (BBC)
• Natural gas supplies to Jordan and Israel are hit by an explosion in the Arab Gas Pipeline in the town of Arish in North Sinai near Egypt's border with Israel with an armed group believed responsible. (BBC) (AP via AM1150) (Haaretz)
• Troops from Thailand and Cambodia exchange gunfire for the sixth straight day as the death toll from the conflict during the period reaches fourteen. (BBC)
• BP discovers a German naval mine from World War II near pipelines in the North Sea near Peterhead, Scotland with removal of the bomb likely to lead to the temporary closure of 16 oil fields and a consequent rise in the price of oil. (The Guardian)
• Ivory Coast militia leader Ibrahim Coulibaly is killed in fighting with the forces of new President Alassane Ouattara. (BBC)

• Nearly half a million people gather in the Indian town of Puttaparthi for the funeral of religious leader Sathya Sai Baba. (BBC)
• Alejandro Chaskielberg is announced as the Sony world photographer of the year (L'Iris D'Or) after spending two years capturing islanders living on the Paraná Delta in Argentina. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Der Spiegel)

• Julian Assange confirms the presence of Indian names in the Swiss bank data list about to be made public and that the names come from "the U.S., Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia — from all over" including "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates — from both sides of the Atlantic". (The Hindu)
• In an unprecedented question and answer meeting with reporters, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke expects less economic growth for 2011 as the economy has been weaker in recent months than he had thought it would be. (BBC)
• Standard & Poor's cuts Japan's debt outlook to negative. (Bloomberg)
• The Australian dollar reaches new 29-year highs against the US dollar due to higher than expected inflation figures sparking predictions of higher interest rates. (ABC News)
• US company Johnson & Johnson agrees to buy Synthes for $21.3 billion in cash and stock. (Bloomberg)
• President of France Nicolas Sarkozy endorses Mario Draghi to become next President of the European Central Bank, to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet. (Business Week)

• Emperor of Japan Akihito and Empress Michiko visit areas worst-affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (AFP via News Limited)
• A train overturns on the Alishan Forest Railway near the town of Alishan in Taiwan resulting in at least five deaths and forty injuries. (CBC News)
• Southeast US storms
  • Two tornadoes hit Tuscaloosa County in the US state of Alabama causing extensive damage, with the main strongest wedge tornado crossing over the state of Alabama and affecting the Gadsden Metropolitan Area. (Birmingham News)
  • Extreme storms in Alabama cause the temporary closure of three Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear reactors and knocking out eleven high-voltage power lines. (Reuters)
  • The Downtown Tuscaloosa tornado passes over the University of Alabama campus close to the Bryant-Denny Stadium.(Times Daily) (The State) (WAFF)
  • At least 54 people have died in the storms of Tuesday and Wednesday with 40 people dead in Alabama, five in Mississippi and one in Arkansas. (Montgomery News) (BBC) (Reuters via Yahoo News) (CNN) (AFP via Google News) (Fox News)
  • Storms cause numerous power outages in Alabama; more than 176,000 in Birmingham, Alabama are left without electricity. (CBS42)
  • At least 9 people are killed in Mississippi by the outbreak. (Clarion Ledger)
  • Tornado watches affect areas from Northern Georgia to Upstate New York. (ABC 40) (News Channel 7)
  • A local National Weather Service building is evacuated as a tornado passes over its radar site and it temporarily switches operations to Mobile in the same state of Alabama.
  • Reports of gas leaks from Birmingham, Alabama. (Al.com)

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructs his inner cabinet to continue diplomatic efforts to thwart an upcoming aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz)
  • Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah sign a unity deal, calling for the foundation of a single government in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank, presidential and legislative elections in a year, and the release of prisoners. (Ynetnews), (Palestine News Network)
• The Premier of China Wen Jiabao starts a four day tour of South East Asia to discuss economic issues. (Bloomberg)

• Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers, says U.S. president Barack Obama has "given a virtual directed verdict" of guilty in the case of imprisoned Welsh-born U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning after Obama is caught on camera accusing Manning of breaking the law. (Huffington Post)

• Lobsang Sangay is elected as the Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration, replacing the 5th Samdhong Rinpoche. (AP)
• The Singapore's ruling party People Action Party was not returned to government on Nomination Day, 82 of 87 seats will be contested in the coming election. (Channel News Asia)
• In response to persistent accusations by potential Republican primary candidate Donald Trump and others, President of the United States Barack Obama releases his long-form birth certificate, certifying his birth in the state of Hawaii. (Fox News)
• Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada appoints US Congressman Dean Heller to replace Senator John Ensign. (BBC)

• Duncan Fletcher is appointed as the coach of the India national cricket team. (ESPN)

• Sony's PlayStation Network remains offline after a worldwide security breach obtains 77 million of users' personal information, making this the largest breach of personal information in history. (PlayStation.com)

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Bahraini protests:
    • Bahraini forces fire live rounds at civilians in Sitra as part of its crackdown on protests against the regime, assisted by Saudi Arabia. Video footage emerges showing the use of poison gas against civilians. (Press TV)
    • A Bahraini military court passes its first verdicts on Bahrain's uprising, sentencing four protesters to death and three to life imprisonment for their part in a pro-democracy rally last month. (The Hindu) (The Globe and Mail) (Al Jazeera) (The Daily Telegraph) (Newsday) (Los Angeles Times) (BBC)
    • The King of Saudi Arabia cancels his trip to Bahrain over fears that the people of Bahrain may become irritated by his presence after he assisted in the regime's violent crackdown. (Tehran Times)
    • Protests get underway outside Buckingham Palace in London against Bahrain's "torture service" official Sheikh Khalifa Bin Ali al-Khalifa's presence for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. (The Guardian)
    • The UK's Oxford Aviation Academy suspends 7 trainee airline pilots after the Bahraini regime orders that they be sent home immediately for participating in a peaceful demonstration in London against their government's attacks on civilians. (The Guardian)
    • The dispute over the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix, postponed in February as it coincided with the protests, takes another twist when Bernie Ecclestone proposes an extension to the 1 May deadline for a final decision concerning its happening. (The Daily Telegraph) (The Globe and Mail)
  • 2011 Syrian uprising:
    • More than 200 members of Syria's ruling Ba'ath Party resign over President Bashar al-Assad's repression of protesters. (The Telegraph)
    • Syrian ambassador to the United Kingdom Dr Sami Khiyami's invitation to tomorrow's wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton is withdrawn after British officials deem it "inappropriate" for him to attend as a crackdown on dissent continues. Khiyami describes it as all "a bit embarrassing". (BBC)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: A NATO airstrike kills at least 11 people rising up against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the besieged Libyan port of Misrata. (BBC)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests: Thousands of people demonstrate in unity nationwide in condemnation of a violent government crackdown that killed at least 13 civilians in Sanaa. (Al Jazeera)
• Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, after visiting North Korea, calls on the U.S. and South Korea to stop starving the North Koreans and accuses the U.S. and South Korea of violating the human rights of the North Korean people. Carter also says Kim Jong-il is willing to hold unconditional talks with South Korea, though current U.S. officials dismiss the visit of their former president to North Korea as "strictly private". (BBC)
• At least 15 people are killed and at least 20 others are injured after a bomb tears through the Argana cafe in Marrakesh's main Djemaa el-Fna square. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• At least 6 people are killed and at least 15 others are injured in a suicide attack in Baladruz, Iraq. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• At least 2 people are killed when a bomb explodes on a Pakistan Navy bus taking employees to work in Karachi. (AP via MSNBC)
• Protesters riot in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, after the arrest of the opposition leader, Kizza Besigye for the fourth time in two weeks. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Thailand announces that it will send more troops to its border with Cambodia after a seventh day of fighting near the disputed Preah Vihear Temple that has killed 15 people. (Reuters) (AP via Yahoo News)
• U.S. president Barack Obama nominates General David Petraeus, current head of the war on Afghanistan, as his new CIA chief, and names outgoing CIA chief Leon Panetta as head of The Pentagon. (BBC)
• U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart vows increased sales of weapons, including rifles and shotguns. (BBC) (CNN)

• India chooses two European fighters for a key $11 billion military contract, ignoring lobbying from United States president Barack Obama, with United States Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer saying he is "deeply disappointed". Roemer resigns from his post. (BBC)
• Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir vows not to recognise South Sudan if it tries to claim oil-producing Abyei. (BBC)
• Japan's industrial output declined by a record level of 15.3% in March due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (BBC News)
• Panasonic Corporation will announce cuts to 40,000 jobs according to reports. (Reuters)
• Banks in Côte d'Ivoire reopen after ten weeks, leading to thousands of people queuing. (BBC)
• Exelon Corp., the top nuclear power concern in the United States, announces a deal to buy

Constellation Energy Group in a stock swap valued at $7.9 billion. (Reuters)

• Renowned Swiss climber Erhard Loretan is killed after falling off a mountain in the Swiss Alps on his 52nd birthday. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• 2011 Super Outbreak:
  • Seven US states declare a state of emergency following heavy storms including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma. (AFP via News Limited) (New York Daily News)
  • The death toll from the storms reaches 290 with 194 dead in Alabama. (New York Times) (ABC News)

• Israeli officials say they will refuse to deal with the Palestinian unity government composed of Fatah and Hamas because Hamas has carried out bombings and rocket attacks against Israel for years and does not recognise its right to exist.(The Jerusalem Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• The World Health Organisation reports that chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are the leading cause of death in the world causing more than 36 million deaths in 2008. (BBC News)
• The skeleton of a girl thought to have been stabbed to death by Roman soldiers is discovered in Kent, England, UK. (BBC)

• Foxtel and the Seven Network agree to pay $1.253 billion over five years to broadcast Australian Football League matches. (AAP via News Limited)
• The US National Football League 2011 draft starts in Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Sports Illustrated)

• 2011 Syrian uprising:
  • A "Day of Rage" is set to get underway in Syria as the popular uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime continues. (BBC)
  • Security forces shut off Daraa's water supply and electricity, and begin confiscating food, in an effort to starve the people of the city. (News24) (Al Jazeera)
  • At least 62 people are killed as scores of people die in the "Day of Rage". (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
  • The United Nations Human Rights Council condemns Syria for using deadly force against peaceful protesters and calls for an investigation into the killing of civilians and other alleged crimes; China, Russia and Pakistan vote against measures as "meddling in Syria's internal affairs".(The Jerusalem Post)
• 2011 Yemeni protests:
  • 100,000 people march through central Sanaa in one of the largest protests yet to have taken place against the Saleh regime, with protesters demanding that he resign immediately rather than wait for the phased handover of power he has orchestrated. (Al Jazeera)
• Protests in Bahrain, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia:
  • Thousands march across Bahrain, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in defiance of yesterday's death sentences handed down to anti-government protesters by the ruling Bahraini regime, with people in Lahore (Pakistan) carrying symbolic coffins in solidarity. (Al Jazeera)
• 2011 Libyan civil war in Tunisia:
  • Muammar Gaddafi brings the 2011 Libyan civil war over the border into Tunisia, prompting complaints from the Tunisian foreign ministry. (BBC) (PA via Google News)
  • NATO reports it has intercepted Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the act of laying mines in Misrata as Tunisia successfully captures some of the troops who have brought the Libyan civil war onto its territory. (BBC)
• 2011 Moroccan protests:
  • People gather to demonstrate against terrorism in Marrakesh. (Al Jazeera)
• Riots take place in the Ugandan capital Kampala after opposition leader Kizza Besigye is attacked, leaving two people dead and dozens injured. (AFP via Google News) (Reuters)

• The Lisa Aschan-directed Swedish film She Monkeys wins best narrative feature and the Alma Har'el-directed Israeli film Bombay Beach wins best documentary prize at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. (BBC)
• The Vatican brings Pope John Paul II's coffin out from below St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in preparation for his beatification. (BBC)
• The wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton takes place in Westminster Abbey; Middleton becomes HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. Police make at least 18 arrests along the wedding route in London. (The New York Times) (Al Jazeera) (Daily Mirror) (BBC) (Sky News)

• Air India pilots continue a strike for a third successive day with 120 flights cancelled. (Hindustan Times)
• Unemployment figures in Spain increase to a 14-year high; nearly 5,000,000 people are unemployed. (BBC)
• Demand for Samsung Electronics products plummets again, with the company only managing net profits of $2.6 billion for the first three months of 2011. (BBC)

• At least 43 people are killed and others are missing after a minibus of mourners falls from a ferry on the River Nile. (BBC)
• The death toll for the 2011 Super Outbreak in the United States reaches 300. (Fox Alabama)

• Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh calls on the PLO to withdraw its recognition of Israel’s right to exist in response to Israel’s opposition to the reconciliation deal between his movement and Fatah. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Egypt's interim foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi vows to permanently open the country's Rafah Border Crossing with the Gaza Strip, branding the Mubarak regime's support for the previous blockade and assisting of Israel in implementing it as "disgraceful". (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• 22,000 residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa file suit demanding the closure of the Kadena United States Airforce base at night and demand compensation from the Government of Japan. (Japan Times)

• Police report violence in an early morning protest against controversial retailer Tesco. (BBC) (Jack FM) (Avon and Somerset Constabulary)
• Veteran former French right-wing interior minister Charles Pasqua has his conviction for illegally selling weapons to Angola quashed, while jail terms for Israeli-Russian businessman Arkady Gaydamak and French magnate Pierre Falcone are cut. (BBC)
• Australian Defence Force Academy sex scandal: 2 cadets are charged with misusing an electronic communications service and an indecent act after the secret filming of a woman engaging in sexual intercourse is broadcast on the internet. (BBC)
• Ombudsman of the Philippines Merceditas Gutierrez resigns. Politicians previously voted to impeach her. (BBC)
• Three people are shot dead and another three injured following a siege in the South Australian city of Adelaide in the suburb of Hectorville. (ABC News Australia)
• A ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court in the United States could lead to 30 prisoners serving life sentences for murder being freed early, if a parole board considers them to be capable of rehabilitation. (Oregon Live)

• Take-off of the Space Shuttle Endeavour for its final mission is postponed due to technical problems. (BBC)

• The French Football Federation (FFF) announces an internal inquiry over allegations of a secret racial quota targeting blacks and Arabs and supported by its own officials. (BBC News)

• Disney Junior's Royal Wedding Week: A Modern Fairytale with Imagination Movers, Enchanted, Aladdin and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

• 2011 Syrian protests:
  • The Syrian army continues its assault on the city of Deraa using tanks and snipers. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Libyan Civil War:
  • Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, says on state television that he is prepared to enter a ceasefire in the Libyan Civil War but it must apply to both sides. Muammar Gaddafi has made such claims before but each time he failed to uphold one. (Al Jazeera)
  • Gaddafi's government attempts to block deliveries to Misrata by using naval mines, which are in the process of being removed by NATO. (BBC)
  • Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, is killed in a NATO airstrike, according to the Libyan government, along with three of the leaders' grandchildren. (Al Jazeera), (BBC), (New York Times)
  • Gaddafi has supplied Viagra to his forces to encourage them to commit mass rape, Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has alleged. (The Hindu)
• Thai and Cambodian troops exchange gunfire near the Ta Krabei temple in Oddar Meanchey Province marking the ninth straight day of border clashes. (Xinhua) (AFP via Google News)
• Moroccan interior minister Taieb Cherkaoui says the bomb detonated in Marrakech was set off remotely. (Angola Press)

• A study carried out by the Danish Booksellers Association reveals almost one third of Danes over the age of 14 read at least one book annually written in the English language. (The Copenhagen Post)
• The official wedding photos for the Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton by Hugo Bernand are published online. (Official Royal Wedding)

• The recent US tornado outbreak becomes the second deadliest single day tornado event in US history with at least 340 people dead. (CNN)

• South Korea announces plans to hold two frontline artillery drills on Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island near North Korea. (The Australian)

• Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, imprisoned by the United States on charges of disclosing government information to the general public, is found competent to stand trial by a "panel of experts", despite having earlier been thought of as a "suicide risk" and having his clothes removed. (The Hindu)
• 6 major U.S. tobacco companies, accused of delivering an "unreasonably dangerous" product, defeat a lawsuit taken by 37 hospitals in the U.S. state of Missouri. The hospitals were looking for financial assistance with the treatment of illnesses caused by smoking. (BBC) (Bloomberg / The Irish Times)

• Ministers in Uganda disagree over the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. (Daily Nation)
• Current U.S. officials and former president Jimmy Carter disagree over allegations that the U.S. is deliberately keeping food aid from North Korea despite severe food shortages among people there. (BBC)

• The French Football Federation's national technical director Francois Blaquart is suspended in the wake of the trainee racial quota scandal targeting blacks and Arabs. (BBC News)