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Miguel Díaz-Canel

Miguel Díaz-Canel (pictured) succeeds Raúl Castro as President of Cuba.
In horse racing, Tiger Roll wins the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in the United Kingdom.
The United States, United Kingdom and France strike multiple government targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma.
At least 257 people are killed as an Algerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashes in Algeria.

April 22, 2018 (Sunday)

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April 21, 2018 (Saturday)

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Arts and culture

Nabi Tajima, the world's oldest person, dies at age 117 in southern Japan. (USA Today)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2018 Gaza border protests
- Ambassador to the United Nations for Palestine Riyad Mansour says diplomats will ask the UN to probe the violence. (The Washington Post)
Syrian Civil War
- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons takes samples from the site of a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria. (The Independent)
- Rebels in Qalamoun begin to evacuate after agreeing to surrender the region to Syria's government. (al-Jazeera)
- Sweden hosts the United Nations Security Council in Backåkra where the Syrian conflict is discussed by diplomats at a rare meeting outside the UN's New York headquarters. (BBC News)
An International Committee of the Red Cross aid worker is shot dead in Taizz Governorate, Yemen. The United Nations condemns the attack. (Relief Web)

Business and economy

German manufacturer Bavaria Yachtbau is expected to collapse into administration. (Yachting Monthly)
Irish firm Smyths Toys agrees to buy 93 Toys R Us stores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland plus four related online shops. (WOWK TV)

International relations

Japan–North Korea relations
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe praises North Korea's statement that it would suspend nuclear and missile tests, but he also states the results must lead to verifiable denuclearization. (Reuters)
Libya–Tunisia relations
- Tunisia reopens its embassy in Tripoli, Libya. The embassy has been closed since the kidnap of ten staff in 2015. (The Libyan Express)
Hamas says Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh, shot dead on his way to a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, today, was an important member. Hamas does not ascribe responsibility for the killing but the victim's relatives allege Israeli involvement. (WOWK TV)

Law and crime

Terrorism in Australia
- Police in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, charge a man with several crimes under the Terrorism High Risk Offenders Act. (The Guardian)
Ten people are killed in Nicaragua as anti-government protests over pension reforms enter their fourth day. (BBC News)
Police in Mahikeng, Northwest Province, South Africa, fire rubber bullets as protestors against corruption and public service provision riot. President Cyril Ramaphosa leaves a Commonwealth summit in London to attend the scene. (The Guardian)
Indian lawmakers approve capital punishment for men who rape children under the age of 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signs the measure. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
- Mitt Romney says that he won't commit to supporting Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. (The Hill)
Presidency of Donald Trump
- Donald Trump is considering a posthumous pardon for Jack Johnson. (The Washington Post)
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones announces his plans to step down this autumn. (BBC News)

Sports

2017–18 Milwaukee Bucks season
- The Milwaukee Bucks announces Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be a part owner of the franchise. (Bleacher Report)
2018 NBA Playoffs
- The New Orleans Pelicans became the first No. 6 seed (or lower) to sweep its first-round series since the NBA switched from its best-of-five format in 2003 after their 131–123 game 4 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Anthony Davis averaged 47 points and Jrue Holiday 41 points during the win. (USA Today) (UPRX)

April 20, 2018 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- ISIL agrees to hand over control of Yarmouk Camp in southern Damascus to the Syrian Army in return for safe passage to ISIL-held territory in the Syrian Desert, bringing the predominantly Palestinian refugee district under government control for the first time since 2012. (The Washington Post)
International military intervention against ISIL
- Iraq conducts a series of air strikes against an ISIL target in Syria. (Yahoo! News)
2018 Gaza border protests
- Palestinians riot along the Israel-Gaza border fence, burning tyres and flying flaming kites across the border to set Israeli fields ablaze; Israel Defence Forces soldiers respond with tear gas and live fire, killing four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, according to the Hamas run-health ministry. (Haaretz) (The Times of Israel)
- One petrol bomb-carrying kite is flown over the border adorned with a Swastika. (The Times of Israel)
First Liberian Civil War
- Liberian warlord Mohammed "Jungle Jabbah" Jabbateh is sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United States for immigration offences. Jabbateh lied to authorities about his role in the Liberian Civil War. (BBC)
Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry passes through the English Channel, and is shadowed by Royal Navy coastal defence ship HMS St Albans. (The New York Post)

Arts and culture

2018 Gaza border protests
- Actress Natalie Portman, who was born in Jerusalem, pulls out of the upcoming Genesis Prize (worth 1 million USD) ceremony in Israel over "recent events in Israel". The Genesis Prize Foundation says it is worried the event will become politicised. (CBS News)
Expo 2020
- Tajikistan announces that it will participate in the Expo 2020 in Dubai. (Trend)
Deaths in 2018
- Swedish musician Avicii dies in Oman at the age of 28. (BBC)

Business and economy

Economy of the United States
- Wells Fargo bank is fined US$1 billion by the United States government for mishandling of mortgages and automobile loans. Wells Fargo is also ordered to reimburse customers who were overcharged. (CNN)
- All Bon-Ton department stores are expected to close by August. At the time of announcement, the company operated 256 stores under its own name and the Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's and Younkers nameplates. (Pymnts.com) (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

Around 40 people are injured after two passenger trains collide in Salzburg, Austria. (Reuters)
Around 10,000 people are evacuated from central Berlin, Germany, while bomb disposal experts defuse a 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) World War II–era British bomb at a construction site. (BBC)
Mount Iō in northern Japan erupts for the first time in 250 years, together with nearby Mount Kirishima (USA Today)(Click Lancashire)
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- The United States Federal Aviation Administration issues an emergency Airworthiness Directive for CFM56-7B jet engines. The EAD expands on previous orders requiring ultrasonic testing to search for metal fatigue in fan blades. It mandates testing on engines that have reached 30,000+ flights, believed to cover 352 US engines and 681 engines worldwide. (The Aviation Herald) (The Aviation Herald)

Health

A British man reported last month to be suffering what doctors called the "worst-ever" super-gonorrhoea is said by Public Health England to have been cured. (BBC)

International relations

2017–18 North Korea crisis
- North Korea leader Kim Jong-un announces that North Korea will suspend its missile and nuclear tests and has agreed to shut down its nuclear test sites. (Military) (NBC News)

Law and crime

Offenders executed in the United States in 2018
- Alabama executes 83-year-old Walter Moody via lethal injection, who assassinated United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit judge Robert Smith Vance on December 16, 1989. Moody is the oldest prisoner to be executed in the US since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. (BBC)
Cybercrime
- The Central Criminal Court in London jails Kane Gamble, 18, for two years for unlawfully accessing CIA, FBI and United States Department of Justice databases and phone and email accounts of senior US intelligence officials. (BBC)
Politics of Zimbabwe
- The Parliament of Zimbabwe summons ex-President Robert Mugabe over an alleged theft of diamonds. (BBC)
Basque conflict
- The Basque separatist terrorist group ETA apologises to "every victim" of its actions. The ETA killed more than 800 people in its 40-year history, committing terrorists attacks throughout Spain. (BBC)
Crime in Poland
- A court in Radom, Poland, hands a six-month suspended prison term and a 10,000 zloty fine to a Russian pilot who caused a security scare during Pope Francis's 2016 visit for World Youth Day. The Russian had flown from the Czech Republic to compete in an international aerobatics competition and unknowingly violated a no-fly zone imposed for the papal visit. After failing to contact the aircraft, local authorities scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it. (Radio Poland)
- Polish Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro announces plans for a change to national self defence law to allow people to use more force than their attacks, and orders prosecutors to abandon proceedings against a businessman who shot at a getaway car containing fleeing robbers. (Radio Poland)
The U.S. Department of Justice announces it intends to appeal yesterday's ruling that an unnamed detained ISIL suspect in the custody of U.S. troops in Iraq cannot be transferred to an unnamed foreign nation. The man has dual U.S.-Saudi Arabian citizenship. (CNN)
Inn Din massacre
- A Myanmar police captain testifies in court that he and his colleagues were ordered by their superiors to entrap two Reuters journalists, who were arrested on 12 December 2017 for "possessing state secrets" under a colonial-era law. The journalists had been working on a report documenting the massacre at Inn Din. (Reuters) (Voice of America)
An Iraqi judge hands a death sentence to an ISIL member who acted as a judge deciding on marriages in Mosul. (Kurdistan 24)

Politics and elections

Democratic National Committee cyber attacks
- The Democratic National Committee file a lawsuit against Russia, the Donald Trump administration, and WikiLeaks alleging that the former conspired to interfere in the 2016 United States elections. (The Washington Post)
Brexit negotiations
- The UK Audit Office rejects a Treasury estimate of the cost of leaving the European Union that was repeated by Prime Minister Theresa May. Rather than the official £35–39 billion estimate, the watchdog says that figure misleadingly included £7.2 billion earmarked directly for private hands and did not include up to £3 billion in budget contributions and £2.9 billion in European Development Fund payments. (FXstreet)
2018 United States gun violence protests
- On the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, thousands of students across the United States walk out of school to protest against school shootings. (NBC News) (People.com)

Science and technology

Discoveries of exoplanets
- A study has been revealed that WASP-104b, a Hot Jupiter exoplanet, has been discovered as one of the darkest exoplanets ever seen. (New Scientist)

April 19, 2018 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Iraqi Air Force F-16 jets attack an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria near the city of Hajin in coordination with the Syrian Armed Forces. (Reuters)
War in Donbass
- Ukrainian ecology minister Ostap Semerak warns of a major nuclear disaster if pro-Russia separatists go forward with a plan to flood a mine where a small nuclear weapon was tested in the 1970s. Semerak appeals for international assistance to prevent the flooding. (The Irish Times)
Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a recruiter for the September 11 attacks, is arrested in Syria. (NBC News)

Arts and culture

Prosecutors in Minnesota say nobody will be charged over the death of Prince, who accidentally overdosed on counterfeit fentanyl pills. (BBC)
Yom Ha'atzmaut
- Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its existence as a Jewish state. (CBC)

Disasters and accidents

Shoreham Airshow crash
- Jet pilot Andy Hill, accused of eleven counts of manslaughter over a 2015 crash at Shoreham Airshow in England, makes an initial Magistrates' Court appearance. He indicates he will deny the charges and the case is transferred to Crown Court. (BBC)
Erupting volcanoes
- Mount Kirishima in Kyushu, Japan, erupts. It is the first time it has erupted since 1768. (Click Lancashire)
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board declares metal fatigue caused a fan blade failure that killed a passenger on April 16, the same issue behind a similar accident on another Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration announces mandatory ultrasonic inspections on fan blades fitted to CFM56-7B engines of which around 8,000 are flying worldwide. (BBC)
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee releases a preliminary report detailing the circumstances of a collision between two passenger planes on a runway at Kuala Namu International Airport last year. (The Aviation Herald)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea states that North Korea has expressed a desire to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula without attaching preconditions such as withdrawing US troops. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Murder in English law
- A woman goes on trial in England accused of murdering a man who was voluntarily euthanised in Belgium after she allegedly attacked him with acid. Prosecutors say medical evidence indicates "he could not bear to live in that condition." (BBC)
The High Court in Glasgow jails corrupt juror Catherine Leahy for six years in the first case of its kind in Scotland. (The Guardian)
Terrorism in Norway
- The police bomb group moved out to an apartment in Rosenhoff, Oslo, when informed that there might be explosives in the apartment. One person was found slightly injured. (Aftenposten)
Two deputies are shot dead at a Chinese restaurant in Trenton, Florida, in what appears to be a targeted killing. The gunman was found dead outside the restaurant. (CNN)
A court in Tajikistan sentenced a 71-year old woman to 12 years in prison after having links to the Islamic State group. (EurasiaNet)
A US federal judge rules the Department of Defence cannot transfer an unidentified ISIS suspect with US-Saudi dual citizenship to an unnamed foreign country. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
- Miguel Díaz-Canel is named the new President of Cuba. It is the first time in six decades that a Castro family member is not leading Cuba. (WTKR)
History of Swaziland
- Marking the country's 50th anniversary of independence, Swaziland's King Mswati III officially renames the country the Kingdom of eSwatini. (BBC)
Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
- Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Bob Corker opt not to commit to endorsing Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. (ABC News)
- South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham states that he will support Trump in the 2020 elections. (The Post and Courier)
Political appointments by Donald Trump
- The U.S. Senate votes 50–49 to confirm Jim Bridenstine as administrator of NASA. (CBS News)

Sports

2018 NFL season
- As expected, the regular-season schedule for the 2018 NFL season is released, with the defending champions Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Atlanta Falcons in the league's season opener on September 6. (Yahoo Sports)

April 18, 2018 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Terrorism in Israel
  - As Israel marks Memorial Day followed immediately by Independence Day a truck driver is arrested at a checkpoint at the Reihan Crossing in the West Bank suspected of being on his way to launch a terror attack. The truck's contents were marked as supplies for communities on the border but were actually explosives. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman orders the checkpoint closed. Henceforth only humanitarian cases will be allowed passage at Israel's discretion. (Israel National News) (Haaretz)
Syrian Civil War
- Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - It is revealed a recent airstrike mounted by Israel against an airbase in Syria targeted an Iranian Tor missile air defence system. (Haaretz)
A car bomb targeting a military official in Benghazi, Libya kills one and injures two. The official survives. (Reuters)
Terrorism in the United States
- Three men are convicted in Kansas of plotting a mosque bombing. (CNBC)
Terrorism in Egypt
- An Egyptian court jails three Muslim Brotherhood members for life and 36 others for ten years each for terror offences. Fourteen others are acquitted. (News24)
Eternal derby of Bulgarian football
- A bomb explodes at a football match between Bulgarian rivals Levski Sofia and CSKA at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, injuring two police officers, one seriously. It is the second time a match between the two has seen an explosion, with a similar incident killing a man in 2000. (ESPN UK)
Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- UK media regulator Ofcom launches investigations into RT over possible breaches of impartiality rules in its coverage of the poisoning. Ofcom warns producer TV Novosti it may be forced to cease UK broadcasting. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Cinema of Saudi Arabia
- A 35-year ban on movie theaters ends in Saudi Arabia with Marvel Studios' Black Panther being the first film to show. (CNN)

Business and economy

Economy of Iran
- Iran's central bank officially switches from using the U.S. dollar to the euro in its international transactions. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Shipwrecks in 2018
- Search and rescue operations end after a crewman missing after a fire broke out aboard drillship MV Geo Technical in the South China Sea yesterday is found dead on the vessel. A gas leak discovered today was hampering the efforts. (The Star) (The Maritime Executive)
2018 in Puerto Rico
- Puerto Rico experiences an island-wide blackout after an excavator accidentally downs a transmission line. (AP News)
An Iranian helicopter crashes into the Persian Gulf whilst evacuating an unwell oil worker. Two people die. (Trend)
Associated Aviation Flight 361
- Nigerian investigators release a final report finding the disaster occurred because of an unidentified engine malfunction which was mismanaged by the crew leading to a stall. The resulting crash killed fifteen. (The Aviation Herald)
Saratov Airlines Flight 703
- Russian investigators say the flight crew received indications of a failure in the heating for the pitot-static system, which measures parameters including airspeed. The crew received mismatching airspeed information prior to the crash near Moscow. All 71 on board died. (The Aviation Herald)
A bus and a truck collide near Winterthur, Switzerland, injuring 15. (ABC News)

International relations

Tajikistan–Uzbekistan relations
- Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agree to hold military drills for the first time. (Trend)
Iran and weapons of mass destruction
- Iran reveals several new missiles on Islamic Republic of Iran Army Day, including the new air missile defense system Kamin-2. (Tasmin News Agency)

Law and crime

Criminal transmission of HIV in the United Kingdom
- A Crown Court in England jails Daryll Rowe for life with a minimum of 12 years for deliberately infecting five men with HIV and attempting to infect five more. He is the first person convicted of deliberate HIV transmission in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Basque conflict
- Basque separatist and terrorist group ETA announces its dissolution in May. (EFE)

Politics and elections

Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
- Cuban president Raúl Castro prepares to step down as Miguel Díaz-Canel is elected as his successor. This marks the first time since the Cuban Revolution that the country is not led by a member of the Castro family. (Washington Post)
Protests against Donald Trump
- Pittsburgh Police prepares large riot gears for a potential protest if Donald Trump fires Robert Mueller. (Washington Post)

Science and technology

NASA's TESS exoplanet space telescope, whose launch was initially delayed, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket. The first stage of the rocket successfully landed on SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (CNN) (Space)
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory states that Kīlauea is showing unusually high activity and that a new vent could form. (Big Island Now)
Stratolaunch announce plans to test fly the world's largest plane this year. (Engadget)

Sports

2018 Gaza border protests
- Reports emerge Palestinian cyclist Alaa Al-Daly, 21, had his leg amputated after being shot by an Israeli sniper on the first day of the protests and as a result can no longer compete in the upcoming Asian Games. (Reuters)

April 17, 2018 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration are considering replacing the U.S. military forces in Syria with a regional Arab force. (Haaretz)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Memorial Day
  - Israel holds services remembering 23,646 Israeli soldiers and 3,134 civilians killed in the conflict. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a Foreign Ministry ceremony commemorating the nation's sixteen diplomats killed in service, states security services are prepared to foil possible attacks on diplomats by Iran. (The Jerusalem Post)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
  - Egypt invites rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to meet in Cairo in a bid to halt violent protests at the Israeli-Gazan border. (i24 News)
The names of 3,607 employees of Unit 731, a Japanese military medical experimentation unit associated with war crimes during World War II, are released. Prosecutors in the United States had kept their identities secret following the war in exchange for access to data gleaned from the project. (Newsweek)
Terrorism in Spain
- Eight people go on trial in Navarra, Spain, accused of terrorism after an alleged attack on two Civil Guards in a controversial case with the prosecution seeking a total 375 years imprisonment for the defendants. The defence claims the incident was nothing more than a bar brawl and Amnesty International describes the charges as "inappropriate". (The Local)
A grenade explodes in Moyale, Ethiopia killing three people and injuring dozens. (Africa News)
Officials announce the arrests in Iraq of two men suspected of plotting terror attacks for Islamic State in Australia. (ABC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraq sentences seven foreign women for links to Islamic State. Three Azerbaijanis and one Kergyz receive death sentences while two Russians and a French women receive life sentences. (Iraqi News)

Disasters and accidents

Shipwrecks in 2018
- Disasters in Indonesia
  - Oil exploration ship MV Ocean Geos catches fire after an explosion on board off Kuala Baram, Indonesia. Of the crew, 37 are evacuated including two injured and one more remains missing. Four firefighting tugs are in attendance. (The New Straits Times) (Offshore Support Journal Online)
- Tanker ships MT Crystal Sunrise and MT Astro Saturn collide off Singapore, causing damage to both vessels and a butane leak. (Channel News Asia)
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- A passenger jet suffers an uncontained engine failure during a flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Dallas Love Field in Dallas, Texas. One passenger is killed. The aircraft diverts to Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (BBC)
Disasters in Indonesia
- A bridge linking Babat, Lamongan, and Widang, Tuban, in East Java, Indonesia, collapses. Several vehicles fall into the Bengawan Solo River, killing at least two truckers. (The Sunday Times)

Environment

The European Commission rules Poland's logging operations in the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are a violation of international law. (The Independent)

International relations

2018 inter-Korean summit, North Korea–South Korea relations
- North Korea and South Korea announce that they are planning to officially end the Korean War by writing a peace agreement. An armistice agreement was reached, ending armed conflict, in 1953. U.S. President Donald Trump called the decision to end the war a blessing. (Business Insider), (CBN)
2018 North Korea–United States summit, North Korea–United States relations
- United States officials state that Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo met with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. (WBIR-TV)

Law and crime

Terrorism in Europe
- The European Commission announces plans to force tech companies worldwide that provide services within the European Union to supply data on their users in counterterror investigations. (The Guardian)
2018 Berlin anti-semitic attack
- Two Israeli men wearing kippahs are attacked in Berlin, Germany. (BBC)
8,500 prisoners are granted amnesty in Myanmar by President Win Myint. (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

Politics of Armenia
- Amid anti-government protests, Armenia's National Assembly swears in former President Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister. The opposition call the move a "power grab". (BBC)
Former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush dies at age 92. (Reuters)

Science and technology

In Los Angeles, SpaceX announced that they will build a massive rocket named BFR capable of sending humans to Mars. (PC Magazine)
New research suggests the Almahata Sitta meteorites are evidence of a lost additional planet in the solar system. (Science Mag)

Sports

2018 Stanley Cup playoffs
- In hockey, the Las Vegas Golden Knights became the first NHL franchise to complete a 4-game sweep in the postseason during their inaugural season after their victory over the Los Angeles Kings. (ESPN)

April 16, 2018 (Monday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

Terrorism in Israel
- Petah Tikva resident Zohar Zuaretz is indicted on counterterror charges for far right social media posts in which he spoke of killing Arabs. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman declares the Iliya Institute, a Jerusalem community centre, to be a terror organisation operating on behalf of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. (The Jerusalem Post)
Terrorism in Malaysia
- Malaysia announces the arrest of six alleged Islamic State members accused of plotting to abduct and murder police and assault places of worship. Authorities appeal for information on four more suspects. (Channel News Asia)
Syrian Civil War
- Russia denies interfering with the site of a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, and says a nine-member Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons team currently waiting in Damascus will be allowed to visit on Wednesday. (BBC)
- Syrian state media SANA reports that the Syrian Air Defense Force has intercepted several missiles fired at Shayrat Airbase in the Homs Governorate. The U.S. denies any involvement. (Haaretz)
2018 Gaza border protests
- Israel announces sanctions on the owners of fourteen bus companies, and their families, in response to the firms transporting Palestinian protestors to the Gaza-Israel border. (The Washington Post)

Arts and culture

2018 Pulitzer Prize
- The annual Pulitzer Prizes, which celebrate US journalism, are awarded. The New York Times wins the most with three. Pieces on Donald Trump and the #MeToo movement feature prominently. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

Grenfell Tower fire
- A leaked draft report by fire investigators BRS Global for the Metropolitan Police reveals new details of mistakes in the construction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower in London. As well as flammable cladding the report finds errors in window and cavity installation. It concludes the fire would have not spread beyond a single flat and all 71 victims would have survived had refurbishment not been performed, and that victims may also have survived had they sought refuge behind fire doors protecting waste chute rooms on each floor. (The Evening Standard) (The Independent) (The Evening Standard)
Disasters in Indonesia
- A warehouse in Cirebon, Indonesia, collapses onto a neighbouring arts centre where teenagers were preparing for a dance show. At least seven people die, six of them children. (The Straits Times)
- The Indonesia People's Representative Council convenes a meeting to discuss the ongoing oil spill in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan. (Tempo)
Shipping accidents in 2018
- An initial report on a collision between container ships MV Tolten and MV Hamburg Bay near Karachi, Pakistan, that caused millions of rupees in damage and lost cargo last month suggests errors by MV Toltens captain caused the collision and better tug provision by Karachi Port would have prevented it. (Geo)
- Firefighters reopen the sealed Korean fishing ship FV Dong Won 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand, in a bid to finally extinguish the fire that broke out on April 9. (NZCity.co.nz)
Railway accidents in 2018
- Four elephants are killed after being hit by a freight train near a Bagadihi Forest Range area in Jharsuguda district in the Indian state of Odisha. (The Tribune Chandigarh)

Environment

An international team researching a plastic-consuming bacterium discovered in 2016 at a Japanese landfill site announce the accidental synthesis of an artificial enzyme that breaks down plastics more efficiently than the bacterium. The team suggest the molecule could be used for environmentally sound plastics disposal. (The Guardian)

International relations

2018 inter-Korean summit
- South Korea is expected to open a press center and online platform in preparations for the summit with North Korea. (The Korean Herald)
- The summit is expected to set the tone for the North Korea–United States summit later this year. (Yonhap News Agency)

Law and crime

Crime in India
- Eight people, including a juvenile and a caretaker for a local temple, go on trial in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, accused of abducting an eight-year-old girl, keeping her captive, sexually abusing her, and murdering her in a high-profile case that has already been the subject of nationwide protests and pretrial Supreme Court proceedings. (The Times of India)
Former President of Andalusia and ex-Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Manuel Chaves González declares before the court as a key figure in the ERE corruption scandal. (El País)
A judge in Ragusa, Sicily, Italy, orders the release of a Proactiva Open Arms migrant search and rescue ship detained in Pozzallo since arriving there on March 18 carrying over 200 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. Catania prosecutors requested the Spanish ship's detention alleging involvement in illegal immigration after Proactiva refused to hand the migrants over to Libya. (A.N.S.A.)
Police clash with KKE protestors in Athens, Greece, firing tear gas as the crowd uses angle grinders in an attempt to topple a statue of former U.S. President Harry Truman in response to the United States' airstrikes in Syria. Three protestors are injured. (eKathimerini)
South Carolina authorities announce that a riot yesterday at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, Lee County, killed seven inmates and wounded seventeen others. (The Guardian)
Terrorism in Turkey, Turkey–United States relations
- U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson goes on trial in Turkey facing espionage and terrorism charges that carry a maximum prison term of 35 years. (ABC News)
List of journalists killed in Russia
- Russian investigative journalist Maxim Borodin falls from a window in Yekaterinburg and dies. Local officials say the death is non-suspicious but Novy Dens chief editor and international monitor OSCE both say he may have been murdered. (BBC)
The Holocaust
- German prosecutors charge an unidentified 94-year-old ex-Auschwitz guard with aiding and abetting 13,335 murders when he was nineteen. (BBC)

Science and technology

Explorers program
- SpaceX's scheduled launch of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is delayed until April 18. TESS is designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method and is 400 times more powerful than the Kepler space observatory. (BBC)
China's People's Liberation Army says the nation's J-10C fighter jets have entered combat service. (Xinhua)
Bombardier announces an increase in range for the Global 7000 business aircraft to 7,700 nautical miles, surpassing the Gulfstream G650 as the longest-range private jet. (The Montreal Gazette)
Archaeologists announce the discovery of a treasure haul potentially linked to 10th Century Danish King Harald Bluetooth in Rügen, Germany. The initial finds were made by amateur treasure hunters in January and the total haul is the largest of its type. (BBC)

Sports

Desiree "Desi" Linden becomes the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years. For the men's division, Yuki Kawauchi of Japan became the first Japanese person to win since 1987. (USA Today)

More April 2018 events...

Time: 10:14 UTC|Day: 22 April