Portal:Current events/2011 April 7

Current events of April 7, 2011 (2011-04-07) (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Anti drug-related violence protests inspired by poet and journalist Javier Sicilia occur in more than 20 Mexican cities, with protesters chanting "No more blood!" and calling on President Felipe Calderón, whom they blame for making it worse, to resign. Meanwhile, 59 corpses are located by police in Tamaulipas investigating bus passenger abductions. (BBC)
• NATO kills at least 13 Libyan rebels and injures many more in an air raid near Ajdabiya after firing on NATO planes. (BBC)
• A man bursts into a school with a gun and promotes a massacre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 8 people are dead. (Folha de São Paulo)

Arts and culture

• China's foreign ministry confirms police are investigating artist and government critic Ai Weiwei, who disappeared at 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)

Business and economy

• 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)
• The Australian dollar reaches a 28-year high against the United States dollar due to strong employment figues for March. (The Australian)

Disasters

• Officials give no hope for the missing migrants of yesterday's fatal boat disaster off Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• 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. (BBC) (The Independent) (The Daily Telegraph)
• 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)

Sport

• 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)