Portal:Current_events/2013_April_4 Knowpia

April 4, 2013 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
- An airstrike conducted by NATO kills at least five people in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni. (BBC)
War in North-West Pakistan:
- The Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for a grenade attack on a vehicle which killed four security officers and wounded seven others in Karachi. (Al Jazeera)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- A Palestinian, Naji Balbisi, dies from injuries he suffered during a clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, a day after his cousin, Amer al-Najjar, died in the clashes after they tried to firebomb a checkpoint. (CNN) (The Times of Israel)
Central African Republic conflict (2012–present):
- South Africa's President Jacob Zuma announces full withdrawal from the Central African Republic after criticism over death of 13 soldiers during the fall of the government there. (Al Jazeera)
- Uganda's military orders army units hunting for Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic to return to their bases, following political instability in the CAR. Meanwhile the United States has offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to his capture. (The Wall Street Journal) (BBC)

Arts and culture

American Pulitzer Prize-winning film reviewer Roger Ebert dies at the age of 70 following a battle with cancer which initially cost him his voice. (NPR) (Chicago Sun-Times)

Business and economy

Mining giant Rio Tinto, continuing a program of asset divestment, asks Macquarie Group to find a buyer for its interest in the Australian Northparkes copper and gold mine. (The Wall Street Journal)
Ex-CEO of Enron Jeffrey Skilling is in talks with federal prosecutors to discuss a reduction in his sentence. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

2013 Thane building collapse: At least 46 people are killed when an illegally constructed building collapses in Mumbra, a suburb of Thane, India. (BBC) (AP via CBS News) (CNN)
2013 Argentina floods: The death toll of the floods in Argentina reaches 59, with more than 1500 displaced. (AFP via Google News)
One of the Grozny-City Towers, the tallest building in Chechnya, Russia, is damaged in a large fire. (RIA Novosti)
The death toll from the recently discovered H7N9 bird flu rises to six. China begin slaughtering birds in hopes of containing the disease. (The Washington Post)

Health and environment

A group of American scientists at Washington University announce in a study published in the journal Neuron that they have identified a number of genetic markers that are associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. (BBC)

International relations

2013 Korean crisis:
- South Korean sources say a North Korean medium range missile has been moved to the eastern coast and that it may be ready for testing or for attacking Japan or Guam. (CNN)
- The United States announces that it is moving an advanced missile defence system to the Pacific island of Guam in response to North Korean threats. (BBC)
- South Korea Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin says the country is ready for possible military action, as the Kaesong industrial complex blockade enters its second day. (Al Jazeera)
- The United States announces its intent to cool down its rhetoric towards North Korea. (CNN)
Egypt intercepts a Togolese flagged ship carrying a large arsenal of weapons. It is believed the ship was headed to Iran. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

The Greater Manchester Police becomes the first force in the United Kingdom to record attacks on members of subcultures, such as goths and emos, as hate crime. (BBC)
Mick Philpott is sentenced to life imprisonment and his wife and a family friend, Paul Mosley, are sentenced to 17 years for the Allenton house fire manslaughter of their six children. (Sky News)
A man goes on a rampage with an axe, killing nine people in Chhattisgarh state in central India. (BBC)
Former navy chief of Guinea-Bissau and suspected drug kingpin, Bubo Na Tchuto, is arrested in a United States-led sting operation off the coast of West Africa. (Reuters)
In Jackson, Mississippi, Jeremy Powell, 23, a suspect in the stabbing death of a 20-year-old male, and Eric Smith, a Jackson Police Department homicide detective, who had been conducting the police interview with Powell, are found dead in a 3rd floor room of the department, according to Jackson Police Chief Rebecca Coleman. (AP via NBC News)

Politics and elections

Thousands of demonstrators rally in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, in support of local leaders' bid to adopt a separatist flag as the staunchly Islamic province's official emblem. (AFP via Channel NewsAsia)

Science and technology

The Hubble Space Telescope observes the most distant supernova on record. (Space.com)
Scientists unveil a 3D printer which creates material very similar to human tissue. (Los Angeles Times)
A new species of giant tarantula, Poecilotheria rajaei, is discovered in Sri Lanka. (New York Daily News)

Sport

The first legs of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals are held in Europe. Fernando Torres scores twice and helps Chelsea to a 3–1 defeat of Rubin Kazan. (BBC)
Commonwealth Games Minister Jann Stuckey unveils the logo and a countdown clock for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, at an official launch ceremony. (AFP via Channel NewsAsia)
In association football, former England and current Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson is sidelined after developing a pulmonary embolism. (AFP via Channel NewsAsia)
Pac-12 Coordinator of Men’s Basketball Officiating Ed T. Rush resigns amid controversy over comments he made about Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller. (The Miami Herald)^{[permanent dead link]}
In college basketball, Miami's Jim Larrañaga is named Coach of the Year by the Associated Press. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Summary