Portal:Current events/2011 April 28

Current events of April 28, 2011 (2011-04-28) (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Bahraini protests:
    • Bahraini forces fire live rounds at civilians in Sitra as part of its crackdown on protests against the regime, assisted by Saudi Arabia. Video footage emerges showing the use of poison gas against civilians. (Press TV)
    • A Bahraini military court passes its first verdicts on Bahrain's uprising, sentencing four protesters to death and three to life imprisonment for their part in a pro-democracy rally last month. (The Hindu) (The Globe and Mail) (Al Jazeera) (The Daily Telegraph) (Newsday) (Los Angeles Times) (BBC)
    • The King of Saudi Arabia cancels his trip to Bahrain over fears that the people of Bahrain may become irritated by his presence after he assisted in the regime's violent crackdown. (Tehran Times)
    • Protests get underway outside Buckingham Palace in London against Bahrain's "torture service" official Sheikh Khalifa Bin Ali al-Khalifa's presence for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. (The Guardian)
    • The UK's Oxford Aviation Academy suspends 7 trainee airline pilots after the Bahraini regime orders that they be sent home immediately for participating in a peaceful demonstration in London against their government's attacks on civilians. (The Guardian)
    • The dispute over the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix, postponed in February as it coincided with the protests, takes another twist when Bernie Ecclestone proposes an extension to the 1 May deadline for a final decision concerning its happening. (The Daily Telegraph) (The Globe and Mail)
  • 2011 Syrian uprising:
    • More than 200 members of Syria's ruling Ba'ath Party resign over President Bashar al-Assad's repression of protesters. (The Telegraph)
    • Syrian ambassador to the United Kingdom Dr Sami Khiyami's invitation to tomorrow's wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton is withdrawn after British officials deem it "inappropriate" for him to attend as a crackdown on dissent continues. Khiyami describes it as all "a bit embarrassing". (BBC)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war: A NATO airstrike kills at least 11 people rising up against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the besieged Libyan port of Misrata. (BBC)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests: Thousands of people demonstrate in unity nationwide in condemnation of a violent government crackdown that killed at least 13 civilians in Sanaa. (Al Jazeera)
• Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, after visiting North Korea, calls on the U.S. and South Korea to stop starving the North Koreans and accuses the U.S. and South Korea of violating the human rights of the North Korean people. Carter also says Kim Jong-il is willing to hold unconditional talks with South Korea, though current U.S. officials dismiss the visit of their former president to North Korea as "strictly private". (BBC)
• At least 15 people are killed and at least 20 others are injured after a bomb tears through the Argana cafe in Marrakesh's main Djemaa el-Fna square. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• At least 6 people are killed and at least 15 others are injured in a suicide attack in Baladruz, Iraq. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• At least 2 people are killed when a bomb explodes on a Pakistan Navy bus taking employees to work in Karachi. (AP via MSNBC)
• Protesters riot in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, after the arrest of the opposition leader, Kizza Besigye for the fourth time in two weeks. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Thailand announces that it will send more troops to its border with Cambodia after a seventh day of fighting near the disputed Preah Vihear Temple that has killed 15 people. (Reuters) (AP via Yahoo News)
• U.S. president Barack Obama nominates General David Petraeus, current head of the war on Afghanistan, as his new CIA chief, and names outgoing CIA chief Leon Panetta as head of The Pentagon. (BBC)
• U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart vows increased sales of weapons, including rifles and shotguns. (BBC) (CNN)

Business and economy

• India chooses two European fighters for a key $11 billion military contract, ignoring lobbying from United States president Barack Obama, with United States Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer saying he is "deeply disappointed". Roemer resigns from his post. (BBC)
• Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir vows not to recognise South Sudan if it tries to claim oil-producing Abyei. (BBC)
• Japan's industrial output declined by a record level of 15.3% in March due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. (BBC News)
• Panasonic Corporation will announce cuts to 40,000 jobs according to reports. (Reuters)
• Banks in Côte d'Ivoire reopen after ten weeks, leading to thousands of people queuing. (BBC)
• Exelon Corp., the top nuclear power concern in the United States, announces a deal to buy

Constellation Energy Group in a stock swap valued at $7.9 billion. (Reuters)

Disasters

• Renowned Swiss climber Erhard Loretan is killed after falling off a mountain in the Swiss Alps on his 52nd birthday. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• 2011 Super Outbreak:
  • Seven US states declare a state of emergency following heavy storms including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma. (AFP via News Limited) (New York Daily News)
  • The death toll from the storms reaches 290 with 194 dead in Alabama. (New York Times) (ABC News)

International relations

• Israeli officials say they will refuse to deal with the Palestinian unity government composed of Fatah and Hamas because Hamas has carried out bombings and rocket attacks against Israel for years and does not recognise its right to exist.(The Jerusalem Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

Science

• The World Health Organisation reports that chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are the leading cause of death in the world causing more than 36 million deaths in 2008. (BBC News)
• The skeleton of a girl thought to have been stabbed to death by Roman soldiers is discovered in Kent, England, UK. (BBC)

Sport

• Foxtel and the Seven Network agree to pay $1.253 billion over five years to broadcast Australian Football League matches. (AAP via News Limited)
• The US National Football League 2011 draft starts in Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Sports Illustrated)