Portal:Current events/2010 April 21

April 21, 2010 (Wednesday)

Juan Antonio Samaranch, the 7th president of the International Olympic Committee (1980 - 2001), dies at the age of 89. (BBC) (CNN) (ESPN)
52 civilians are killed and 55 others are wounded in renewed tribal clashes in Sudan's South Darfur state. (Kazinform) (China Dialy) (China.org)
A Rovos Rail luxury tourist train derails near Pretoria, South Africa, killing at least two people – a pregnant woman and her baby whose birth occurred during the derailment – and injuring at least 25 others. (BBC) (Mail & Guardian) (News24)
Poland announces the date of its presidential election — June 20 — to elect plane crash victim Lech Kaczyński's successor. (Al Jazeera)
Pope Benedict XVI makes an explicit promise that the Roman Catholic Church will take action against child sexual abuse by priests. (BBC) (News24) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
GetEQUAL activists shout at President of the United States Barack Obama while he is speaking, expressing their annoyance over the slow progress of repealing the ban on open homosexuality in the country's armed forces. (The Daily Telegraph)
The Nigerian military exhumes seven fresh corpses from shallow graves near Jos in the latest round of apparent revenge killings. (BBC)
Bosnian police fired tear gas and water at war veterans in Sarajevo, during a protest against proposed state benefit cuts. (Al Jazeera)
The Asadho human rights group says the Democratic Republic of the Congo's army killed at least 11 civilians at the airport in Mbandaka this month. (BBC)
500 Greenpeace environmentalists protest against the awarding of a tender for the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric project by dumping tonnes of manure at the National Electric Energy Agency's (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica, ANEEL) offices in Brasilia. (Al Jazeera)
More than a dozen suspects are indicted in the Philippines in connection with last year's Maguindanao massacre. (Taiwan News) (Al Jazeera)
South Korea claims it has uncovered a North Korean plot to assassinate the most senior official to defect from the North to the South, Hwang Jang-yop. (BBC) (Korea Times) (Al Jazeera)
Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is arrested on charges such as collaboration with a terrorist organisation and genocide denial. (BBC)
Viktor Yanukovych and Dmitry Medvedev agree to extend the lease between Kiev and Moscow that allows Russia's Black Sea Fleet to be stationed in Ukraine in return for cheaper gas until 2042. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
2010 Yushu earthquake: China holds a national day of mourning for the victims. Public entertainment activities are cancelled, all Chinese flags around the world flew at half-staff. (AP via Google News)
Nicolas Sarkozy speaks out against the niqāb, telling a cabinet meeting it "hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society", as his government moves to outlaw the garment. (Al Jazeera)
The U.S. Obama administration charges that Sudan’s recent election was plagued by "serious irregularities" and says the United States is committed to ensuring that a 2011 Sudanese referendum on southern independence would be conducted fairly. (The New York Times)
Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger launch a joint command centre in Tamanrasset to counter al-Qaeda, according to the Algerian defence ministry. (Al Jazeera)
The British government announces that British airports will reopen and passenger flights will resume, but officials caution that it will take time for flight schedules to return to normal after the six-day shutdown caused by volcanic ash from the 2010 eruptions of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. (USA Today) (Chicago Tribune)
Police in Himachal Pradesh arrest Paramhamsa Nityananda, a Hindu holy man who faces charges of obscenity after he fondles two women in bed on television. (BBC) (iAfrica) (Indian Express) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Syria becomes the first Arab state to implement a ban on smoking in public places. (BBC) (The Miami Herald)^{[permanent dead link]}
U.S. pop singer Kelly Clarkson is criticised by anti-smoking groups in Indonesia and the United States for promoting cigarettes at an upcoming concert in Jakarta. (BBC)
Five men accused of conspiring to extort £4.25 million for the safe return of Madonna of the Yarnwinder, an oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci, are cleared. (BBC) (The Times)
Cirque du Soleil announces it will stage a live tour featuring the works of Michael Jackson. (BBC) (Financial Times) (The Guardian) (Los Angeles Times) (Xinhua)
The man who attacked Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher on stage at the 2008 Virgin Festival in Toronto is put under house arrest for 12 months. (BBC) (Billboard) (CBC) (Digital Spy) (The Globe and Mail) (Toronto Star)