Portal:Current events/2016 April 16

April 16, 2016 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- According to a police chief, at least 40 Taliban fighters are killed after launching an offensive against Afghan security forces to seize the strategic northern city of Kunduz while four security force personnel are also killed. (Al Jazeera)
Somali Civil War (2009–present)
- AMISOM soldiers kill four Somali civilians in the town of Bulla Marer, southwest of Mogadishu. The AU Mission said scared soldiers opened fire when the car the civilians were driving failed to stop at a roadblock. (BBC)
Moro conflict
- Philippine officials report four Indonesian sailors were kidnapped last night off the Philippines' southernmost town of Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, near Malaysia's Sabah state. Seven gunmen in a blue speedboat attacked two Indonesian-flagged tugboats. Six other sailors, including one who was shot, were not taken by ISIL-linked Abu Sayyaf militants. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian government airstrikes, and rockets from Islamist insurgents, hit many neighborhoods in Aleppo. Fatalities are reported on both sides of the city. This continued fighting threatens the truce and peace talks being held in Geneva, Switzerland. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura says he will meet the government delegation Monday, and will sit down with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee later in the week. (Reuters) (AFP via Thanh Niên)
Ethiopia claims that members of South Sudan's Murle people have killed 140 people and abducted 39 children. (BBC)
German police report an apparent deliberate explosion at a Sikh temple in Essen while a wedding was being celebrated, has injured three people, one in serious condition. Police say there is no indication this was a terrorist incident. (AP)

Arts and culture

The United States Army approves 22 soldiers requests to become the service's first female infantry and armor unit officers. Thirteen women will enter the armor branch, and nine others will enter infantry as second lieutenants. (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kumamoto earthquakes
- A second earthquake hits southern Japan with a magnitude of 7.1 killing at least 32 people with the death toll from both earthquakes rising to 42. The new quake traps even more people. In Kumamoto a landslide occurs as well as a bridge collapse. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (AP) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- A new aftershock with a magnitude of 5.4 hits southern Kyushu island. A Japanese spokesman says 1,500 people have been injured, 80 seriously, since Thursday. (AP) (USA Today)
- Japan's Mount Aso in the Kumamoto Prefecture erupts sending ash about 100 meters (300 feet) into the air. The Japan Meteorological Agency kept its alert level at 2 on a scale of 5 for Aso following the eruption. It is unclear if the eruption is related to Saturday’s Kumamoto quake. (The Japan Times)
- Saturday's earthquake forces Sony to close its plant in the Kumamoto Prefecture. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan also stop work at several plants in the region. (UPI)
A helicopter crashes near Baltimore–Washington International Airport in Baltimore, Maryland. However, no fatalities are reported. (Reuters via Euronews)
Five people are dead and five are in hospital after taking ecstasy at an Argentine version of the Time Warp Festival featuring electronic music acts. (Reuters via Yahoo!)
The death toll rises to seven from Thursday's building collapse in the Canary Islands' southern coastal town of Los Cristianos on the island of Tenerife. (AP)
2016 Ecuador earthquake
- A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes off the coast of Ecuador, near the town of Muisne. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issues a tsunami alert for coastal areas of Ecuador and Colombia. At least 42 people are reported dead with deaths reported in the cities of Manta, Guayaquil and Portoviejo. (BNO News) (USGS) (Reuters via NBC News) (AP via Fox News)
- A state of emergency is declared in six provinces. (BBC)
- Later, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announces the threat has largely passed. The United States Geological Survey reports the 7.8 magnitude quake was preceded, 11 minutes earlier, by a 4.8 earthquake. Production at the 110,000 barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery is suspended as a precautionary measure. (The Straits Times)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Pope Francis arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos. Francis is expected to visit the Moria detention facility, where he will have lunch with some of the 3,060 men, women, and children there. (The Washington Post)
- Pope Francis offers refuge to a dozen Syrian Muslims, three families with six children, who faced deportation from Lesbos. The refugees accompanied the Pope on his return trip to Rome. (The Guardian)
Iran–European Union relations
- EU Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini holds the highest-level talks between the EU and Iran in decades to mark a new phase in relations between the two. Both sides are keen to focus on trade, energy and the environment as possible areas of cooperation. (BBC)
The United States announces that it will transfer nine Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to Saudi Arabia. (CNN) (AP)
Russia–United States relations, Cold War II
- A United States Air Force Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted and threatened by a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Thursday (April 14), according to the United States European Command (EUCOM). (Fox News)

Law and crime

General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexico's Secretary of National Defence, apologises for an incident in which two soldiers and a policewoman torture a woman. (AFP via France 24)

Politics and elections

Iraq's Parliament cancels its third session in a week to discuss political reforms as some MPs dispute the legitimacy of speaker Salim al-Jabouri to chair the meeting. Also, protesters gathered in the streets of Baghdad to protest the growing political deadlock in the country. (Al Jazeera)
Macedonian parliamentary election, 2016
- As protesters continue to take to the streets of Skopje, Macedonia, lawmakers confirmed that a snap election will take place on June 5 despite the protesters being angry at President Gjorge Ivanov’s decision to halt investigations into more than 50 public figures, including top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. Zoran Zaev, the main opposition leader, vowed to boycott the election. (The Guardian)
Veteran President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso is sworn in for another term after a contentious election. (AFP via Daily Mail)