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Worldwide current events
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Topics in the news

Supermassive black hole M87*

The Event Horizon Telescope releases the first direct image of a black hole, the supermassive black hole M87* (pictured).
In basketball, the Virginia Cavaliers defeat the Texas Tech Red Raiders to win the NCAA Division I Men's Championship.
In rowing, the women's and men's crews of Cambridge defeat Oxford in their respective Boat Races.
In Iran, widespread flooding since late March kills at least 70 people.
Zuzana Čaputová is elected president of Slovakia, becoming the country's first female president and its youngest.

April 10, 2019 (Wednesday)

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Law and crime

The United States federal government charges 24 in a Medicare fraud scheme involving the billing of Medicare for nearly $1.2 billion in unnecessary back braces and other medical braces pitched via telemarketing through durable medical equipment companies. (NPR)

Politics and elections

2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- After the Organization of American States accepts an envoy from the government of President of the Venezuelan National Assembly Juan Guaidó as ambassador, United States Vice President Mike Pence asks for the United Nations to expel and replace the Nicolás Maduro-appointed Venezuelan envoy in its own chamber. (Bloomberg)
- The International Monetary Fund denies Venezuela access to its money as there is no majority of member states recognizing either Maduro or Guaidó, describing the situation as "political chaos" and asking for debate between its members on the nation. (Bloomberg)

Science and technology

Scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope project release the first ever photograph of the event horizon of a black hole, that of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 galaxy, taken using a network of eight radio telescopes around the world. (CNN)

April 9, 2019 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya offensive
- The UN cancels a planned Libyan National Conference that was due to take place later in April for negotiations between different political factions to organise new elections due to the ongoing fighting in Tripoli. (The Guardian)
Sinai insurgency
- A 15-year-old suicide bomber attacks a market in Sheikh Zuweid, Egypt, killing four policemen and three civilians, and injuring 27 others. (Xinhua)
2018–19 Sudanese protests
- Heavy gunfire is reported in the Sudanese capital Khartoum as Rapid Support Forces loyal to President Omar al-Bashir attempted to break-up an anti-government protest outside the military's headquarters, killing at least 14 people, including five Sudanese soldiers who defected to the opposition. (Sky News)

Business and economy

Debenhams, one of the largest department stores in the United Kingdom which employs 25,000 people, collapses into administration. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

A Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35 Lightning II jet disappears from radar while on a training mission over the Pacific Ocean. Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya subsequently grounds Japan's fleet of F-35s. (CBS News)

Law and crime

2019 college admissions bribery scandal
- 16 people are indicted on new charges in the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal, one day after it was announced that 13 of the defendants charged in the case would plead guilty for conspiracy. (The Boston Globe) (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

2019 Israeli legislative election
- Israelis go to the polls to elect the new members of the Knesset (Israel's parliament) and a new Prime Minister. (Reuters)
2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- The Organization of American States votes 18 to 9, with six abstentions, to accept Gustavo Tarre Briceño as the ambassador from Venezuela. Tarre is the envoy from Juan Guaidó's government; Nicolás Maduro's Foreign Ministry calls Tarre a "political usurper". (Washington Post)

April 8, 2019 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya offensive
- Forces loyal to the Government of National Accord retake Tripoli International Airport from the Libyan National Army. (Anadolu Agency)
- One of the vice chairmen of the GNA Presidential Council, Ali Faraj Qatrani, defects to the Tobruk-based government. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
- A warplane loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, reported to be a MiG-23, strikes Mitiga International Airport, the only functional airport in Tripoli. A LNA spokesman says civilian planes were not targeted in the air raid. (The Guardian)
War in Afghanistan
- A roadside bomb kills three U.S. troops and one civilian contractor near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. (BBC)

Arts and culture

The Nation's editor Katrina vanden Heuvel announces that she will step down as editor after 24 years, on June 15, 2019. The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. (The New York Times)

Law and crime

Nationwide protests against animal cruelty take place in Australia. In the city of Melbourne, protesters blocked a major intersection for four hours before it was dispatched by police; several people were arrested. (News.com.au)
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom releases a white paper proposing to set up an independent regulatory body which would require Internet companies to remove content and block websites considered harmful. (BBC)
2019 college admissions bribery scandal
- American actress Felicity Huffman and 13 other defendants involved in a conspiracy regarding admission to prestigious colleges have agreed to plead guilty in the matter, prosecutors say. The 14 individuals are among 50 people accused of engaging in schemes that involved cheating on college entrance exams and paying $25 million in bribes to secure their children admission to well-known colleges. (WKZO)
U.S. district judge Richard Seeborg halts the Trump administration’s policy of sending some asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases are pending in the United States. The national injunction will take effect Friday. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the designation of the entirety of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), marking the first time that the United States has designated a part of another government as a terrorist organization. (United States Department of State) (United States Department of State₂) (White House)
Trump administration dismissals and resignations
- U.S. President Donald Trump terminates the employment of Randolph Alles, the Director of the United States Secret Service. (CNN)
2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Eric Swalwell 2020 presidential campaign
- U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell from California announces he is running for the Democratic Party's nomination to be President of the United States in the 2020 presidential election. (Fox News)

Science and technology

David Saint-Jacques becomes the fourth Canadian astronaut to take part in a spacewalk and the first in 12 years as he begins a roughly seven-hour mission. (The Hamilton Spectator) (CBC.ca)
List of gravitational wave observations
- LIGO and Virgo detect a gravitational wave from a galaxy 6 billion light-years away in the direction of Cassiopeia, with further details being released on April 10. (newscientist.com)

April 7, 2019 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya offensive
- The Government of National Accord in Tripoli formally announces the start of a counteroffensive to reclaim all parts of the capital held by the Libyan National Army. (Al Jazeera)
- The United States Africa Command evacuates a contingent of U.S. troops from Libya due to the unrest. India also withdraws a contingent of peacekeepers from Tripoli. (The Guardian)
- Libyan Air Force jets loyal to Khalifa Haftar strike GNA positions in Tripoli for first time since the offensive began, including four airstrikes near the Bab al-Azizia military barracks. (Reuters) (Voice of America)
- Russia blocks a United Nations Security Council statement calling on Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to immediately halt the Libyan National Army's offensive on Tripoli, because it wants the UN statement to also apply to pro-GNA forces, including Islamist militias from Misrata. (South China Morning Post)
Two female suicide bombers attack a crowd on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing three civilians and injuring 33 others. (The Guardian.ng)

Disasters and accidents

A major power outage occurs in Sudan, leaving almost the entire country without electricity amid ongoing anti-government protests. (Africanews)

Politics and elections

2019 Andorran parliamentary election
- Andorrans head to the polls to elect the new members of the General Council that will choose the new Prime Minister. The ruling party, Democrats for Andorra, loses the majority in the chamber. (La Vanguardia)
Political appointments by Donald Trump, List of Trump administration dismissals and resignations
- U.S. President Donald Trump announces that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is leaving the administration. Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan will serve in her stead until a new secretary is confirmed by Congress. (The Washington Post)

April 6, 2019 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya offensive
- Militias loyal to the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord launch a counterattack on Libyan National Army troops in the southern outskirts of Tripoli. (The Washington Post)
- Libyan National Army Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar declares a no-fly zone for military aircraft over western Libya, after LNA forces were targeted by airstrikes from GNA warplanes that took off from Misrata Airport. (Al Arabiya)

Business and economy

South Korea's Hyundai Motor reaches an agreement with Tencent to partner on research and development of self-driving cars. Hyundai plans to roll such cars out commercially by 2030. (Reuters)

Law and crime

European migrant crisis
- Greek riot police clash with hundreds of migrants near the Diavata refugee camp, attempting to enter North Macedonia, after rumours were circulated on social media that the border would be open. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

2019 Maldivian parliamentary election
- Voters are called to the polls to elect the new members of the People's Majlis. Preliminary results give the victory to Maldivian Democratic Party, led by former President Mohamed Nasheed. (The Washington Post) (BBC)

April 5, 2019 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya Offensive
- Libyan National Army troops reach the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli, securing a key military checkpoint known as "Bridge 27". (AFP)
- The LNA captures several more towns in the Tripoli District, including Qasr bin Ghashir, Wadi Rabie and Suq al-Khamis, as well as the town of ‘Aziziya in the Jafara District, to the west of Tripoli. (Reuters) (The Economist)
- LNA forces say they have seized control of Tripoli International Airport. (Reuters)
- The United States, United Kingdom, France, and Italy issue a joint statement calling on Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to end the offensive. (Euronews)

Disasters and accidents

Boeing 737 MAX groundings, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
- The CEO for Boeing, Dennis Muilenburg, apologizes for the loss of lives in the two 737 MAX accidents, recognizing the role that the MCAS system played in the disasters. (Washington Post)

Health and environment

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the source of E. coli O103, that has infected 72 people in five states, has not been identified. Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer in Seattle, notes this O103 outbreak is by far the largest in recent memory. (The Washington Post via MSN.com)

Law and crime

Julian Assange's asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy, INA Papers
- A high-level source within the government of Ecuador tells WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within "hours to days" and that Ecuador's government already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest. On April 2, 2019, Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno accused WikiLeaks of leaking the INA Papers. The INA Papers are a set of documents published in February 2019 which uncover the operations of INA Investment Corp, an offshore tax haven created by the brother of President Moreno. The trove of emails, phone communications and expense receipts are said to link the president and his family to a series of corrupt and criminal dealings, including money laundering and offshore accounts. The leak has sparked a parliamentary investigation into President Moreno for corruption. (WikiLeaks) (Al-Jazeera)
A 29-year-old man is charged with five counts of attempted murder after stabbing five people in "random attacks", including four people in a 10-hour period on March 30, in Edmonton, London. (BBC)
An inquest finds that Jennifer and Sarah Hart intentionally killed themselves. In 2018, a vehicle with the couple and their six adopted children drove off a cliff in California, killing all of them. (MSN.com)

Science and technology

A small 5-200 kilometer planetesimal, with a similar mineral composition to Earth, is found orbiting in the debris disk of a white dwarf star. This discovery is among the first of its kind and expected to provide insight into the future of our own planetary system. (Astronomy.com)
JAXA space probe Hayabusa2 successfully fires a bullet at Apollo asteroid 162173 Ryugu, forming a crater which will be used to collect underground samples. (AP)

April 4, 2019 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Libyan Civil War (2014–present), 2019 Western Libya Offensive
- Libyan National Army forces continue to advance on the Libyan capital Tripoli, capturing the city of Gharyan, with only light resistance reported. General Khalifa Haftar has ordered the LNA to seize control of Tripoli, prompting the Tripoli-based Presidential Council to declare a general mobilization. (The Guardian) (Middle East Monitor)

Art and culture

Belarusian authorities begin demolishing crosses with bulldozers at the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic-era mass grave site Kurapaty on the outskirts of Minsk, where at least 30,000 people were executed by the NKVD's secret police in the 1930s and 1940s. The bulldozing is widely condemned in Belarus. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Boeing 737 MAX groundings, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
- The Ethiopian government releases a preliminary report on the investigation into the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. (CNN)
A rapidly spreading wildfire in Gangwon Province, South Korea, kills two people, injures 11 others, and forces the evacuation of thousands of civilians. (The Washington Post)

Law and crime

Aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, Internet censorship in Australia
- The Australian Parliament passes a law which makes it illegal for Internet platforms and service providers to host videos of "abhorrent violent conduct" without "expeditiously" removing them. (The Guardian)
Cannabis in Guam
- Governor Lou Leon Guerrero signs a bill into law, legalizing the recreational use of cannabis. (The Hill)