Portal:Current events/April 2009

The 72-year-old American soap opera Guiding Light will broadcast its final episode on September 18. (Reuters)
The United States and Russia begin Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. (The Australian)
Local government in England undergoes structural changes. (BBC)
A Computer virus called Conficker was spread through millions of computers, getting onto their computers and destroying files, and sharing information. This was supposed to be an April Fools' Day Joke.
Ukraine will hold a presidential election on October 25. (AFP via Google News)
At least eight people are killed when a Eurocopter AS332 ditches into the North Sea. (AFP via Google News)
Five thousand people protest in London as the G-20 begins its summit. (BBC)
Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman says that the Annapolis Conference "has no validity." (BBC)
New South Wales, Australia, declares its flooded Mid North Coast a disaster area. (ABC News Australia)
Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (AFP via Google News)
The United States' World War II motor ship City of Rayville is located near Australia. (The Age)
Sweden's Parliament legalizes same-sex marriage. (AFP via Google News)
A bomb damages a statue of Vladimir Lenin near Finlyandsky Rail Terminal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Moscow Times)

April 2, 2009 (Thursday)

Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace will cut 3,000 jobs. (AP via Washington Post)
United States Federal Judge John D. Bates rules that enemy combatants incarcerated at the U.S. Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan, have rights to legal trials. (BBC)
The Group of 20 announces a US$1-trillion agreement to combat the current financial crisis. (BBC)
Reinsurer Swiss Re will cut 1,000 jobs. (Sky News)
Lewis Hamilton of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is disqualified from the 2009 Australian Grand Prix for 'deliberately misleading' the International Automobile Federation. (BBC) (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing an Internet leak of the upcoming film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. (BBC)
Mexico's Federal Investigations Agency arrests alleged drug trafficker Vicente Carrillo Leyva in Mexico City. (BBC)
The South African National Congress condemns the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu's criticism of the party. (BBC)
Bangladesh's government outlaws begging in order to eliminate it by 2014. (BBC)

April 3, 2009 (Friday)

The United States economy lost 663,000 jobs in March, raising the unemployment rate to 8.5%. (New York Times)
Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is inaugurated as Prime Minister. (CNN)
French police arrest 300 protesters as a NATO summit begins in Strasbourg. (Sky News)
Four soldiers die as Thailand's Army and Cambodia's Army exchange gunfire near the Preah Vihear Temple. (CNN)
The U.S. state of Iowa's Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage. (KCCI)
Approximately 40 people riot in Clondalkin, near West Dublin, Ireland. (Evening Herald)
Fourteen people die and 26 are injured during a shooting at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York. (CNN)
Scottish footballers Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor receive lifetime bans from the Scottish Football Association and are transfer-listed by Rangers Football Club. (BBC) (The Guardian)

April 4, 2009 (Saturday)

The Llaima volcano in Chile begins emitting lava and ash, prompting evacuations and landslide warnings. (Sky News Australia)
Three police officers are killed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. (CNN)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development blacklists Costa Rica, Malaysia and the Philippines as non-cooperative tax havens. (BBC)
A U.S. drone aircraft's missile kills 13 people in North Waziristan, Pakistan. (ABC News Australia)
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen will become NATO's Secretary General on August 1. (Reuters)
Six Frontier Corpsmen are killed during a suicide attack in Islamabad, Pakistan. (GEO TV)
Mon Mome wins the 2009 Grand National in Aintree, England. (BBC)
The Balochistan Liberation United Front releases United Nations official John Solecki from captivity in Quetta, Pakistan. (BBC)

April 5, 2009 (Sunday)

The Communist Party wins an absolute majority in Moldova's parliamentary election. (AFP via Google News)
North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command report that North Korea's Bright Star-2 communications satellite did not reach Earth's orbit. (CNN)
U.S. President Barack Obama announces his plan for worldwide nuclear disarmament. (AFP via Google News)
The second round of Macedonia's presidential election takes place. (BBC)

April 6, 2009 (Monday)

Convicted murderer Annika Östberg is transferred to Sweden from California's Institution for Women. (The Local)
Six car bombs kill at least 34 people and injure 139 others in Baghdad, Iraq. (AFP via News Limited)
A "significant explosive event" occurs at the Mount Redoubt volcano in Alaska. (KTUU)
At least 207 people are killed and 1,500 injured during a 6.3-magnitude earthquake near L'Aquila, Italy. (CNN)
Afghanistan's government will review a recently approved version of sharia law that legalizes spousal rape. (CNN)
Gjorge Ivanov of VMRO–DPMNE wins Macedonia's presidential election. (BBC)
Somali pirates hijack five ships from the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Germany, France, and Yemen. (CNN) (BBC)
Indonesia's National Police shoot nine demonstrators at a pre-election protest in Nabire, West Papua. (ABC)

April 7, 2009 (Tuesday)

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announces an emergency budget. (RTÉ) (Irish Times)
The Israel Police kill a Palestinian terrorist in East Jerusalem as he rams them with his tractor. (Al Jazeera)
United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan overturns the conviction of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. (CNN)
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is convicted of violating human rights and imprisoned until 2034. (Washington Post)
Malaysia holds by-elections in Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang, and Batang Ai. (BBC)
Demonstrators in Chişinău protest the Communist Party's absolute majority in Moldova's parliamentary election. (BBC)
Two people are killed and two injured during a shooting in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. (BBC)
Twenty-four people are killed as a Fokker F27 airliner crashes in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. (Sky News)
French police raid the Basque Homeland and Freedom's "bomb factory" in Grenoble, Isère. (BBC)
Australia's government announces a A$43-billion investment for the National Broadband Network. (BBC)
The General Assembly legalizes same-sex marriage in Vermont, United States. (Burlington Free Press)

April 8, 2009 (Wednesday)

Thousands of people in Pyongyang, North Korea, celebrate the “successful” launch of the Bright Star-2 communications satellite into Earth's orbit. (BBC)
Chinese and Russian cyber-spies allegedly infiltrate the United States' electrical grid. (AP) (Wall Street Journal)
Police in Chişinău reclaim Moldova's Parliament from protesters of the Communist Party's absolute majority in the country's legislative election. (BBC)
Thirty thousand National United Front demonstrators assemble at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Chinese President Hu Jintao meet in Beijing. (AFP)
One person is killed and four are injured in a shooting in Temecula, California, United States. (Sky News)
Somali pirates hijack the Danish container ship MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean. (BBC)
A rogue French Foreign Legionnaire kills four people in Chad. (BBC)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development removes Costa Rica, Malaysia, and the Philippines from its blacklist of non-cooperative tax havens. (BBC)
The United Kingdom Independent Police Complaints Commission announces an inquest into Ian Tomlinson's death. (The Guardian)

April 9, 2009 (Thursday)

Shia Islamists under cleric Muqtada al-Sadr protest in Baghdad, Iraq, on the anniversary of its capture by the United States Armed Forces in 2003. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
Algeria's presidential election takes place. (VoA) (BBC)
Indonesia's legislative election takes place. (New York Times)
Riots occur after Baloch National Movement President Ghulam Mohammed Baloch is discovered dead near Turbat, Pakistan. (BBC)
Kim Jong-il appears publicly for the first time since August 2008 for reelection as North Korea's Great Leader. (Irish Times) (BBC)
Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling resigns as patron of Scotland's Multiple Sclerosis Society. (BBC)
Forty-six foreign nationals depart Belfast, Northern Ireland, after riots during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. (BBC)
Demonstrators assemble in Tbilisi, Georgia, to demand the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. (Sky News)
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency allegedly decommissions its black sites worldwide. (BBC)
Bishop Harold Miller of the Church of Ireland advises a boycott of television on Good Friday. (BBC)

April 10, 2009 (Friday)

Cape Fear Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, and New Frontier Bank in Greeley, Colorado, are shut down. (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post)
At least 27 tornadoes kill six people throughout the Southern United States. (CNN)
The Fourth East Asia Summit begins in Pattaya, Thailand. (Xinhua)
China imposes pay limits for executive officers of state-owned financial institutions. (Xinhua)
Japan strengthens its economic sanctions against North Korea, following the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2. (CNN)
Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo abrogates the Constitution and dismisses the Court of Appeal. (New Zealand Stuff)
Mexico City closes freshwater supplies to 5,000,000 people for 36 hours to combat shortages. (BBC)
Japan announces a US$150-billion economic stimulus package. (BBC)
Three people are shot at OAED Vocational College near Athens, Greece. (BBC)

April 11, 2009 (Saturday)

Anti-government protests cancel the Fourth East Asia Summit in Pattaya, Thailand. (BBC)
Abdelaziz Bouteflika is reelected as President of Algeria. (AP via Google News)
A gunman kills one person and injures three others in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (BBC)
The French Navy rescues four hostages and kills two Somali pirates on the hijacked yacht Tanit in the Gulf of Aden. (BBC)

April 12, 2009 (Sunday)

Thai political crisis:
- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declares a state of emergency in Bangkok and its surrounding areas. (RadioFree Europe)
- Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urges the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship to revolt. (CNN)
Sri Lanka's Armed Forces temporarily suspend their offensive against the Tamil Tigers to allow civilians to find refuge. (Al Jazeera)
Pope Benedict XVI says that only reconciliation can resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. (MSNBC)
Ángel Cabrera wins the PGA Tour's 2009 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, United States. (Yahoo)
Captain Richard Phillips of the MV Maersk Alabama, who was abducted by Somali pirates, is rescued. (CNN)

April 13, 2009 (Monday)

A fire destroys a homeless hostel and kills at least 22 people in Kamień Pomorski, Poland. (BBC)
The Taliban's Students' Movement imposes sharia law in Swat, Pakistan. (Reuters)
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says that anti-government protests in Bangkok are "under control". (BBC)
Mass media in Fiji protest against government censorship. (Al Jazeera)
China's government publishes a National Human Rights Action Plan. (Xinhua)
An unmanned Palestinian fishing vessel explodes near an Israeli Navy patrol in the Gaza Strip. (Reuters)
United States Representative Donald M. Payne comes under mortar fire at Aden Adde International Airport in Somalia. (Telegraph)
Protests against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili continue in Tbilisi. (RIA Novosti) (AFP)
At least four Lebanese Ground Forces soldiers are killed near Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley. (Los Angeles Times)
The U.S. federal government will rescind travel and gift restrictions to Cuba. (Miami Herald)
The United Nations Security Council condemns North Korea's launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2. (Sky News)
The world's longest webcomic, Homestuck, begins.

April 14, 2009 (Tuesday)

North Korea will depart the six-party talks and resume its nuclear program. (BBC)
French fishing vessels institute blockades at Boulogne-sur-Mer and Dunkirk to protest the Common Fisheries Policy. (BBC)
Somali pirates hijack the merchant vessels Irene of Greece and Sea Horse of Lebanon. (Sky News)
The Camel Reproduction Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, announces the birth of Injaz, the first cloned camel. (Telegraph)

April 15, 2009 (Wednesday)

China launches a second satellite as part of its Compass global navigation system. (Xinhua)
Swiss investment bank UBS AG will cut 8,700 jobs. (Sky News)
The Pitcairn Islands abolish alcohol prohibition. (RNZI)
The French Navy captures 11 Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (BBC)
The United States' consumer price index records its first year-on-year deflation since 1955. (Times Online)
The Tax Day Tea Party protests against higher taxes and out-of-control government spending began rallying across the United States. (WSJ)

April 16, 2009 (Thursday)

Sweden's National Museum of Science and Technology publicly displays a confiscated Pirate Bay server. (The Local)
China's economy grows by 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, the lowest increase since 1999. (Xinhua)
The Naxalite movement kills 17 people as India's general election begins. (Times Online)
A landslide in Kyrgyzstan kills at least 16 people. (BBC)
Bolivian police kill three people - Hungarian Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, Irishman Michael Dwyer, and Romanian Magyarosi Arpak - and arrest two others over an alleged plot to assassinate President Evo Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera. (RTÉ) (BBC)

April 17, 2009 (Friday)

An airplane crash kills 11 people in Papua, Indonesia. (UPI)
American Sterling Bank in Sugar Creek, Missouri, is closed. (MarketWatch)
The Bangladesh Police arrest 31 suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir members for planning terrorism. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
The Irish political party Fianna Fáil departs the Alliance for Europe of the Nations and joins the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. (EurActiv)
Two earthquakes kill 22 people in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. (Sky News)
Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, and Carl Lundström of The Pirate Bay are found guilty of copyright infringement and imprisoned until 2010. (New Zealand Herald)
People's Alliance for Democracy leader Sondhi Limthongkul is injured in an apparent assassination attempt in Bangkok, Thailand. (Los Angeles Times)
A recount in Moldova's parliamentary election confirms an "emphatic win" by the Communist Party. (Russia Today)
The trial of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasāb resumes. (Al Jazeera)
Serbian President Boris Tadić visits Kosovo. (Deutsche Welle)
The Czech Republic invites Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko to a European Union summit in May. (RIA Novosti)
Botswana will reduce its output of diamonds by more than 50% in 2009. (AFP)
Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina issues an arrest warrant for former President Marc Ravalomanana. (News 24)
South Africa's Army enters KwaZulu-Natal province to prevent violence during the upcoming general election. (BBC)
Canada restores citizenship to foreigners in an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1977. (Wall Street Journal)
The Fifth Summit of the Americas begins in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Barbados Advocate)

April 18, 2009 (Saturday)

France's National Police arrest ETA military leader Jurdan Martitegi in Montauriol. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
Canada's HMCS Winnipeg and the United States' USS Halyburton thwart Somali pirates' attack on a Norwegian oil tanker. (MSN)
Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi is charged with espionage and imprisoned in Iran until 2017. (BBC)
An explosion at a warehouse kills at least 18 people in Hunan Province, China. (BBC)
The Abu Sayyaf Group releases Swiss Red Cross worker Andreas Notter from captivity in the Philippines. (Reuters)
The Netherlands' Korps Commandotroepen rescue 20 Yemeni hostages from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (BBC)

April 19, 2009 (Sunday)

Eight corrections officers are killed in an ambush during a prisoner transfer in Nayarit, Mexico. (AP via Google)
United States President Barack Obama announces that Central Intelligence Agency personnel who employed enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects will not be prosecuted. (BBC)
The Fifth Summit of the Americas ends in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Canadian Press)
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta releases British hostage Robin Barry Hughes. (CNN)

April 20, 2009 (Monday)

The United States commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes are announced. (New York Times)
Oracle Corporation purchases Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion. (MarketWatch)
India's Space Research Organization launches its RISAT-2 reconnaissance satellite. (CNN-IBN)
The National Unity Party wins Northern Cyprus's legislative election. (BBC)
The hijacker of CanJet Flight 918 surrenders and releases his six hostages. (BBC) (Sky News)
Durban Review Conference:
- The United Nations World Conference against Racism begins in Geneva, Switzerland. (Telegraph)
- A protester throws an object at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and yells, "Racist, racist!" (BBC)
- Several delegations exit during an anti-Israel speech by President Ahmadinejad. (Reuters) (Telegraph)
China's government discovers 3,850 kilometres (2,390 mi) more of the Great Wall of China. (BBC)

April 21, 2009 (Tuesday)

Yahoo! will cut between 600 and 700 jobs. (AP via Forbes)
Twelve navies from the Americas begin annual UNITAS Gold exercises near Florida, United States. (Miami Herald)
The World Digital Library launches at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France. (AFP via Google News)
The Wall Street Journal reports that cyber-spies have hacked the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter Program. (Reuters)
The United Kingdom's Retail Prices Index records negative inflation for the first time since 1960. (BBC)
Twenty-four people are killed during combat between the Mungiki criminal organization and citizens of Karatina in Kenya. (BBC)
The smallest confirmed extrasolar planet, Gliese 581 e, is discovered. (MSNBC)

April 22, 2009 (Wednesday)

The United Kingdom's new government budget will increase borrowing and tax high-income earners to 50%. (Washington Post)
South Africa's general election begins. (Reuters)
The Naxalite movement releases 500 hostages from a hijacked train in Latehar, India. (Sky News)
Argentina claims 1,700,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi) of the World Ocean. (BBC)
Japan reports its first annual trade deficit since 1981. (BBC)

April 23, 2009 (Thursday)

General Motors will temporarily close 13 factories in the United States and Mexico. (AP via Miami Herald)
The Taliban's Students' Movement captures Buner District in Pakistan. (WSJ)
Judge Tomas Norström of The Pirate Bay's trial is revealed to be a member of the same copyright protection organizations as several entertainment industry representatives. (TT via The Local)
India's general election begins its second of five phases. (BBC)
The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the world economy will not recover until 2010. (CNN)
Prime Minister of Lesotho Pakalitha Mosisili survives an apparent assassination attempt. (BBC)
Two suicide attacks near Baqubah and in Baghdad, Iraq, kill at least 87 people. (CNN)
Iraq's government calculates that more than 110,000 Iraqis have died since the Iraq War began in 2003. (AP)

April 24, 2009 (Friday)

Swine influenza kills at least 68 people and infects at least 1,000 more in Mexico. (CNN)
A suicide attack kills at least 60 people and injures 125 more in Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters)
Two American Current TV journalists will be tried on criminal charges in North Korea. (Sky News)
Northern Mariana Islands Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Villagomez is convicted of fraud, wire fraud, and bribery. (Saipan Tribune)
Democrat Scott Murphy wins New York's 20th congressional district special election. (New York Times)
American Southern Bank in Kennesaw, Georgia, is closed. (MarketWatch)
The bovine genome is sequenced. (Science)

April 25, 2009 (Saturday)

Mexico's government declares a state of emergency to combat the outbreak of swine influenza. (Reuters)
Ethiopia arrests 35 people in connection with Berhanu Nega's plan to overthrow the government. (BBC via ABC News Australia)
The African National Congress loses its supermajority in South Africa's National Assembly. (BBC)
North Korea begins to reprocess fuel rods at its Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center. (BBC)
Iceland's legislative election occurs. (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
Somali pirates hijack Germany's MV Patriot and release a Greek ship. (Reuters) (AP)
University of Georgia Professor George Zinkhan allegedly kills three people in Athens, Georgia, United States. (AJC) (The Times)

April 26, 2009 (Sunday)

Eleven Justice and Equality Movement members are sentenced to death for attacking Khartoum, Sudan, in 2008. (BBC)
The United States declares a public health emergency over the outbreak of swine influenza. (New York Times)
Incumbent President Rafael Correa claims victory in Ecuador's general election. (CNN)
The cruise ship MSC Melody thwarts an attack by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (AP via Los Angeles Times)

April 27, 2009 (Monday)

A low-flying Boeing VC-25, Air Force One, causes momentary panic in New York City, New York, United States. (New York Times)
Mexico reports 149 deaths from the outbreak of swine influenza. (BBC)
General Motors announces that its Pontiac brand will be eliminated by 2010. (AP via Google News)
Japan's NEC Corporation and Renesas Technology announce their intentions to merge. (AP via Forbes)
Yemen's military rescues four oil tankers from Somali pirates. (BBC)
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake strikes near Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico. (Sky News)
The People's Armed Forces invade Madagascar's constitutional court. (BBC)
A police officer suffers a mental breakdown and kills 3 people in Moscow, Russia. (BBC) (RTÉ)

April 28, 2009 (Tuesday)

The first transgenic, fluorescent dogs are cloned in South Korea. (AP via Google News)
United States Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switches from the Republican to the Democratic Party. (CNN)
Sri Lanka's government denies Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt a visa. (Reuters)
A 3.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Ulverston, Cumbria, England. (Sky News)
The Russian destroyer Admiral Panteleyev detains 29 suspected Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (UPI)

April 29, 2009 (Wednesday)

The United States economy contracts by 6.1% in the first fiscal quarter of 2009. (AP via New York Times)
Swine influenza outbreak:
- The United States suffers its first death. (USA Today)
- Mexico reports 159 deaths and 2,500 suspected cases. (Sky News)
- The World Health Organization raises its Pandemic Alert Level to five. (BBC)
India's government locks down Srinagar, Kashmir, to prevent anti-election protests. (AFP via Google News)
Australia announces the deployment of 450 additional soldiers to the Afghanistan War. (AAP via News Limited)
Pakistan:
- The Armed Forces kill more than 50 Taliban militants while capturing Daggar, Buner Valley. (Reuters)
- At least 23 people are killed as riots erupt in North Karachi. (Daily Times)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Solomon Islands is officially opened. (BBC)

President of the United States Barack Obama delivers his 3rd primetime news conference on his 100th day in office

April 30, 2009 (Thursday)