Portal:Current events/2010 April 20

April 20, 2010 (Tuesday)

Air travel disruption after the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull:
- Another plume threatens to cause further disruptions. (Los Angeles Times)
- Half of all scheduled European flights are expected to go ahead, though airspace remains closed in many countries, including Ireland, Norway and Poland. Denmark accepts no landings. (BBC)
- Planes return to the air in France, Germany and Italy. (CNN) (ABC News)
- Ryanair cancels all of its flights between Ireland and the United Kingdom until 13:00 on Friday 23 April and all Northern European flights — Ireland, UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Baltic States and North Italy — until 13:00 on Thursday 22 April. (Irish Examiner)
- The Irish Aviation Authority closes Cork Airport and Dublin Airport until at least 22:00, opens Shannon Airport for limited services. (Irish Independent) (The Wall Street Journal)
- All United Kingdom airports reopen at 10:00pm BST, with the first planes landing at London Heathrow (BBC)
Iraq:
- Two inspection teams from Iraq's ministry of human rights enter a "secret prison" in Baghdad where "serious legal violations" are said to have occurred. (Al Jazeera)
- The United States and Iraq kill an al-Qaeda leader, Ahmed al-Obeidi, in Nineveh. (BBC) (CBC) (The News International)
The Transocean-owned oil rig Deepwater Horizon explodes, leaking about 4,900,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. At least seven people were injured and over a dozen were missing at sea. (MSNBC)
Bishop of Augsburg Walter Mixa apologises and asks for forgiveness for his physical abuse of children in the 1970s and 1980s. (BBC)
82-year-old General Reynaldo Bignone, former military ruler of Argentina, is imprisoned for 25 years for abductions and tortures committed between 1978 and 1979. (BBC) (Houston Chronicle) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A New York businessman, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari is sentenced to 10 years in prison for funneling money to a terrorism training camp in Afghanistan. (London Evening Standard)
Dozens of people gather in central Cairo in a rare protest against the use of force on pro-democracy demonstrations which "pose a threat to the national security". (Al Jazeera)
Omar al-Bashir's ruling party agrees to accept the results of the recent general election in Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
Palestinian officials say they will oppose new Israeli orders on deporting Palestinians from the West Bank. (BBC)
The Yushu earthquake death toll rises to 2,046. (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera)
Lorena Ochoa, the world's number one golfer for the past three years, announces her retirement from the sport at the age of 28. (Brisbane Times) (The Globe and Mail) (Latin American Herald Tribune) (The New York Times)
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announces the ousted President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who is wanted by his successors in connection with the recent unrest, is in Minsk. (BBC) (VOA) (Al Jazeera)
The United Kingdom is accused of complicity in torture in Afghanistan as peace campaigner Maya Evans seeks a judicial review of the government's role in the extraordinary rendition of suspects. (The Independent)
Deputy Mayor of Kandahar Azizollah Yarmal, Afghanistan is shot dead while praying at a mosque. (BBC)
Repeat polls for Sri Lanka's April parliamentary election are held in Nawalapitiya and Trincomalee where ballots were annulled due to violence. (BBC) (People's Daily Online) (The Washington Post)
President of the United States Barack Obama speaks of the "unbreakable bonds" and "special relationship" between his country and Israel on the 62nd anniversary of Israel's birth. (Sky News) (The Jerusalem Post)
The United States Supreme Court, in ruling on United States v. Stevens, strikes down a law outlawing videos that depict animal cruelty. (Washington Post)
Two Canadian men are accused of committing an act of "flag desecration" in La Quinta, California, United States for allegedly replacing an American flag with a Canadian flag following Canada's ice hockey victory at the 2010 Winter Olympics. (CBC)
Two prisoners are killed and several others are injured during an attempted jail break in Kaduna, Nigeria. (BBC)
Two high-ranking officers are suspended from Rwanda's military and arrested; Maj-Gen Charles Muhire is accused of corruption and misuse of office, whilst Lt-Gen Karenzi Karake is accused of immoral conduct. (BBC)
An Indonesian court upholds a 1965 blasphemy law which permits punishment for people or organisations that "distort" the orthodoxies of six officially recognised religions — Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism — and is criticized as a blow to permitting religious freedom. (AFP) (New York Times) (Al Jazeera)
Speaking in Tehran, Iranian Islamic cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi blames promiscuous women for causing earthquakes. (BBC) (news.com.au) (Fox News) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The International Court of Justice in The Hague rules that Uruguay should have informed Argentina about its plans to build two paper mills on the banks of the River Uruguay, although it allows the one mill which was built to continue operating. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Production of the 23rd James Bond film is put on indefinite hiatus due to uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM. (businessweek)
The shortlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction is announced. (BBC)
Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa are named as being involved in the France national football team's sex scandal. Franck Ribéry admits sexual relations with an underage prostitute. (The Guardian)
Former International Olympic Committee (IOC) president (1980 - 2001) and honorary life president Juan Antonio Samaranch is in a "very critical" condition in Quiron Hospital, Barcelona, after suffering a heart attack. (BBC) (CNN) (The Daily Telegraph) (Herald Sun) (RTÉ)