Portal:Current events/2011 April 1

April 1, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

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)

Arts and culture

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

Business and economics

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)

Disasters

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)

International relations

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

Law and crime

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)

Politics and elections

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)

Science

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

Sport

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)