Portal:Current events/2010 April 1

Current events of April 1, 2010 (2010-04-01) (Thursday)

• The Indian government initiates The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged between 6 and 14 years, making education a fundamental right for millions of children. (The Hindu) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The Times)
• Middle East:
  • Israeli warplanes launch "the most serious air strikes in Gaza in over a year"—at least 13 overnight air strikes on the Gaza Strip, in locations which include Gaza, Khan Yunis and Rafah. (BBC)
  • Palestinians and Lebanese protest the arrest of Abbas Zaki, former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in Lebanon. Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir asks that he be released immediately. (The Daily Star Lebanon)
  • No injuries occur and no damage is caused after a Qassam explodes in an open area of Ashkelon. (Ynetnews)
• Catholic Church:
  • Pope Benedict XVI neglects to mention the child sexual abuse scandal at Holy Thursday mass in the Vatican City. (Al Jazeera)
  • Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols says he "understands arguments for condoms", contradicting Roman Catholic Church teaching on "the divine gift of life". (Reuters)
• Sudanese elections:
  • Southern Sudan's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) announces its decision to withdraw its presidential candidate, Yasir Arman, from elections. (Al Jazeera)
  • Most other opposition parties join them. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Star)
• Almost 25,000 homes remain powerless after part of Northern Ireland's electricity network is knocked out. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• Guinea-Bissau's chief of staff and Prime Minister Carlos Domingos Gomes Júnior are "seized" as national radio broadcasts are replaced by military music. (BBC) (France24) (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
• India launches its new 2011 biometric census, the largest census in the world. (The Times of India) (BBC) (The Guardian) (France24) (Bangkok Post)
• President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev pays an unexpected visit to Dagestan, the day after the deaths of 12 people occur there in a double suicide attack. (BBC) (The Sydney Moning Herald) (France24)
• Missing four-year-old Paulette Gebara Farah, whose disappearance from her home in Huixquilucan, Edomex, achieved major publicity in Mexico, is found dead under a mattress in her bedroom. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Melbourne Age)
• Dozens of prisoners escape/are wounded after an explosion occurs at a prison in Daleh. (BBC) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (The Daily Telegraph) (Reuters)
• A landmark ruling at the Court of Appeal allows science writer Simon Singh to rely on the defence of fair comment in a libel action taken by the British Chiropractic Association over a 2008 article in The Guardian newspaper. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Times)
• Justice Victoria Sharp blocks a rail work stoppage by signallers over pay cuts and working conditions, which would have been Britain's first national rail strike in 16 years. (Reuters)
• The Nigerian government asks that criminal charges against Nuhu Ribadu be withdrawn. (BBC)
• 12 people are wounded in a seven-vehicle pile-up on the M6 motorway near Rugby in Warwickshire, England. (BBC)
• South Warwickshire Tourism Ltd (Shakespeare Country), which promoted Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwick and Kenilworth, ceases to trade. (BBC)
• Machu Picchu reopens with the help of actress Susan Sarandon. (BBC) (Channel 4 News) (The Guardian)
• Academy Award winning actor Anna Paquin's unexpected public acknowledgement of her bisexuality in a video causes the anti-discrimination Give a Damn campaign website she is promoting to crash. (Reuters) (The Daily Telegraph) (The New Zealand Herald) (RTÉ) (The Vancouver Sun)
• Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson are inducted into the hall of fame at New York's Apollo Theater. (BBC)
• Members of the Christian militia group Hutaree plead not guilty to a court in Michigan, United States, to claims of plotting to kill American police officers. (CNN)