Portal:Current events/2012 April 23

Current events of April 23, 2012 (2012-04-23) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• At least two people are killed and hundreds of others injured in clashes between police and protestors during a nationwide strike in Bangladesh, which was triggered by the unexplained disappearance of opposition politician Ilyas Ali. (Al Jazeera)
• Iran's oil ministry and its national oil company suffer a malware attack by a computer virus. (BBC)
• Arab Spring:
  • Bahraini uprising: Bahrain's highest appeals court postpones for a week the final verdict in the case of imprisoned hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 other democracy activists. (BBC)
  • Syrian uprising: Syrian regime forces kill at least 33 people with shells and gunfire in the city of Hama. (BBC)
  • The Egyptian government does not grant licenses to eight U.S. civil society groups, including the Carter Center. (BBC)

Arts and culture

• A festival of William Shakespeare's 37 plays performed polyglotically, from Swahili to sign language, begins as part of the World Shakespeare Festival on the anniversary of the Bard of Avon's birth. (BBC)
• Brazilian actor Tiago Klimeck dies at the age of 27 after accidentally hanging himself while playing Judas in an Easter Passion play performed in Itararé, São Paulo. (BBC)

International relations

• White House lawyers launch an internal investigation into the role its advance staff may have played in U.S. Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, though no evidence has been found to implicate anyone in the scandal. (BBC)
• Kazakhstan issues an official ‘thank you’ to Sacha Baron Cohen for his comedy character Borat despite an initial ban. (Daily Mail)
• The European Union suspends most trade sanctions against Myanmar for a year but leaves an arms embargo in place. (AFP via Google News)
• North Korea threatens to reduce South Korea to "ashes" after the failed North Korean rocket launch. (Toronto Star)
• In accordance with a request from the South Korean government, China stops the deportation of North Korean defectors who escape to China. (Daily Yomiuri)

Law and crime

• Former Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde is found not guilty of negligence over the island's 2008 economic meltdown. He is to face no punishment and his legal expenses are to be paid for. (BBC)
• The sister of MI6 officer Gareth Williams found dead in his flat tells his inquest that he had been a "scrupulous risk-assessor" and only let "vetted" people into his home. (BBC)
• Sky News email hacking
  • The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom launches an investigation into the hacking of private email accounts by Sky News. (BBC)
  • The Ofcom announcement comes on the same day that the news channel's boss John Ryley appears before the Leveson Inquiry where he says the company broke the law by hacking emails. (BBC)
• City officials in Florida refuse to allow Bill Lee, the police chief who did not arrest George Zimmerman after he shot and killed unarmed black child Trayvon Martin, to resign. George Zimmerman - now facing a murder charge - is released on bail and taken to a secret location. (BBC)
• The trial begins in North Carolina of former U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, concerning the use of illegal campaign donations to cover up an affair with a mistress. (Reuters)
• Around 45 people are detained across China in a poison drug capsule scandal. (Straits Times)
• Three men appear in court in the town of Newry in Northern Ireland to face charges of threatening to kill, INLA membership and blackmail. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte tenders his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix, paving the way for early elections.(BBC)(NOS)
• Burma's parliament opens without the party of Aung San Suu Kyi who boycotted the legislature over a disagreement on the wording of the oath of office. (Reuters), (CNN)
• Voters in the Canadian province of Alberta go to the polls for a general election with a close race expected between the incumbent Progressive Conservatives and the Wildrose Party. (CBC)
• President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez confirms he is still alive. (BBC)

Science

• Scientists record what they believe to be the first adult white orca in the wild off the coast of Kamchatka, Russia. (BBC)

Sport

• The home and email addresses of the 38,000 entrants to the London Marathon are published on the website of the organisers. (BBC)
• Rangers owner Craig Whyte is banned for life from any involvement in Scottish football. (BBC)