Portal:Current events/2010 April 18

April 18, 2010 (Sunday)

The Dow Live Earth Run for Water started on April 18th. The host cities are: Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Chicago, Hong Kong, Jimbaran, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, Minneapolis, New York, Lisboa, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Singapore City, Stockholm, Toronto and Washington, D.C.. (The Independent) (Live Earth)
The Tehran International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, 2010 concludes.
- President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran wants "peace, progress and security for all", asks "supporters and creators" of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict to "allow the regional nations and the Palestinians to settle things" themselves and calls on "alien troops" to leave the region. (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
- United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says in a secret memo to the White House that the United States would be unable to cope with a nuclear threat from Iran. (The Guardian) (CBS News) (Daily Star - Lebanon) (The Times)
Air travel disruption after the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull:
- Thousands of European flights do not occur for a fourth straight day. (BBC)
- The volcano disrupts the state funeral of Lech Kaczyński, President of Poland, and his wife Maria, killed in a plane crash with 94 others near Smolensk. (BBC) (CBC) (RTÉ) (The Times)
- Dutch airline KLM announces it has carried out a test flight of 20 crew members and no passengers with "no problems" over closed down airspace. (CNN)
- British airspace extends it own closure to flights until at least 06:00 GMT on Monday. (Reuters)
- The Irish Aviation Authority extends its closure of Irish airspace until at least 13:00 GMT on Monday. (RTÉ)
- Israeli airlines estimate losses of millions of shekels in revenue. (Globes)
Benedict and child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Pope Benedict XVI concludes his visit to Malta. Reports suggest he is trying to avoid discussing the recent child sex abuse scandal, on his first trip since the scandal broke. (BBC)
- However, he does meet with some of those who survived abuse and expresses "shame and sorrow" for their suffering. (The New York Times) (CNN) (The Daily Telegraph) (Al Jazeera)
Independence Day in Zimbabwe:
- Zimbabwe marks 30 years of independence from British-backed minority white rule. (Al Jazeera)
- Residents celebrate with all-night parties, though civil rights group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) claim four of its members were denied bail after being accused of staging an illegal protest against power cuts and high electricity tariffs, an act they deny they did. (BBC) (Zimbabwe Telegraph)
- President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, in a speech at Harare's stadium, promises to continue his land seizure policy and transfer of control of foreign firms to locals as part of a black empowerment drive. (The Washington Post)
- Mugabe also asks that politically and racially driven violence in the country cease to be, the first time he has ever done this. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Al Jazeera)
President of China Hu Jintao visits survivors in the earthquake zone as the death toll climbs to more than 1,700 people. (BBC)
The semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament are moved from Bangalore to Mumbai following the discovery of further explosive devices after yesterday's bombing. (Al Jazeera)
Seven people are killed and twenty others are injured in a suicide car bomb attack on a police station in Kohat, one day after twin bomb attacks kill more than 40 people and wound at least 60 others at a camp for the displaced in the city. All the dead are civilians. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
Nigerian gunmen take two German men, from Port Harcourt and Lagos, in Abia State. (BBC) (France24) (IOL) (ABC News)
Three Italian aid workers, Matteo Dell'Aria, Marco Garatti and Matteo Pagani, accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate Governor of Helmand Gulab Mangal, are released after being found "not guilty". (Al Jazeera)
Increasing numbers of women from Saudi Arabia are running away from home, studies by the International Muslim Organization for Women and Family (IMOWF) in Jeddah say. (Arab News)
Bahrain gives Abdullah of Saudi Arabia the Ajrab sword of Imam Turki bin Abdullah kept by Bahrain for 140 years and confers on him the Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifah Medal during a ceremony at Al-Sakhir Palace. (Arab News) (Bahrain News Agency) (Gulf Daily News)
King Oyo, Rukidi IV of Toro, one of Uganda's last remaining kings and the world's youngest monarch, reaches the age of 18 at the end of a four-day ceremony and takes full control of his kingdom. (CNN) (Xinhua)
Former President of the United States George Washington owes $300,000 for overdue library books he borrowed from New York Society Library five months into his presidency and which he failed to return. (The Guardian) (New York Daily News)
69-year-old Spanish tenor opera star Plácido Domingo returns to the stage at Milan's Teatro alla Scala weeks after colorectal cancer surgery. (BBC)
A recently unearthed track by The Rolling Stones is released as a limited edition 7" single for Record Store Day. The first song recorded by Blur's original line-up since guitarist Graham Coxon quit in 2002 is also released for the same purpose. (BBC)