Portal:Current events/2010 April 22

April 22, 2010 (Thursday)

2010 Explosion on Deepwater Horizon drilling rig:
- Transocean oil platform Deepwater Horizon sinks into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana after an explosion two days earlier that injured 7, with 11 still missing. (Fox News)
- The wreck is estimated to be leaking 8,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and may leak up to 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel depending on how much burned in the explosion and ensuing fire. (CNN)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- Ahmad Sabah, a Palestinian with a Gaza ID card, claims the new Israeli military order on deportations is behind his release to Gaza instead of the West Bank where he lived before his detainment in 2001. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Two rockets are fired into Jordanian territory: one explodes near Aqaba and damages a warehouse, the other falls into the Red Sea. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (France24) (RTÉ)
Pope Benedict XVI and the child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church:
- The Pope accepts the resignation of Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty. (RTÉ) (BBC) (Irish Independent) (New York Daily News) (The New Zealand Herald)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
- Bishop of Augsburg Walter Mixa offers his resignation after admitting his abuse of children to "avert further damage to the Church and allow a new start". (Al Jazeera) (The Irish Times) (Times Online)
- A man who says he was abused by American paedophile priest Father Lawrence Murphy sues the Pope and the Vatican in a federal court in the United States. (BBC)
Pro-Daniel Ortega protesters in Nicaragua injure three opposition politicians while blockading parliament to prevent the overturning of a presidential decree. (Al Jazeera)
The Flemish Liberals and Democrats leave the Government of Belgium following a dispute over the dissolution of the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. (VRT)
Several grenades explode in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, killing at least one person and injuring at least 75 others. (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (BBC News)
NATO foreign ministers agree to launch a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Bosnia and Herzegovina. (BBC) (Reuters)
Acting President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan signs the country's 4.6 trillion naira budget for 2010 into law. (Reuters)
Minas Gerais, one of Brazil's biggest states, bans the sale of the Toyota Corolla over safety fears. (BBC)
Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka requests his freedom from "illegal detention" in his first speech in parliament. (Al Jazeera)
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in Zimbabwe; Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai objects, labelling Mr Ahmadinejad a "war-monger, a trampler of human rights [and] an executioner". (BBC) (Reuters)
A Utrecht court acquits the Dutch arm of the Arab European League of hate crime charges relating to the publication of a cartoon questioning the Holocaust. The publication was intended to highlight double standards after MP Geert Wilders was not put on trial for distributing cartoons of Muhammad. (BBC)
Rwanda president Paul Kagame's rival Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is released one day after her arrest on charges of terrorism and genocide denial but banned from leaving Kigali and ordered to report to authorities twice a month. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Huang Guangyu, founder of GOME Electrical Appliances and formerly China's richest man, goes on trial for bribery in Beijing. (Al Jazeera)
A court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo overturns death sentences granted to Norwegians Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Independent) (News24) (Reuters Africa)
The Euro falls to near year-low levels amid concerns about Greece's debt crisis. (Bloomberg)
Indian police investigate potential attacks on shopping centres in New Delhi. (Al Jazeera)
President of the United States Barack Obama calls on Wall Street to join him in his efforts to reform the financial sector in a visit to Manhattan. (CNN)
The Melbourne Storm are stripped of their 2007 and 2009 National Rugby League titles after being found to have cheated the salary cap. (BBC)
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honours The Killers for "their impact in shaping American music". (BBC) (Contact Music) (CBC)
An episode of the American television series South Park is censored after a threat of fatwā from a New York-based group over the depiction of Muhammad in a bear costume. (The Guardian) (CBS News) (BBC)
The St. Louis Rams select Sam Bradford with the first pick of the 2010 NFL Draft (Sporting News)