Portal:Current events/2010 April 23

April 23, 2010 (Friday)

80 people die after drinking illegal home-made banana gin (waragi) laced with methanol in Kabale, Uganda (BBC) (News24) (TMC)
Dozens of people are killed and more than 100 others are wounded by a series of bomb explosions in Baghdad, mostly near Shia mosques around the time of Jumu'ah (BBC) (The Guardian) (Reuters)
Seven people, including six police officers and a civilian, are killed and two other officers are injured in a shoot-out with suspected gang hitmen in Ciudad Juárez. (BBC) (CNN) (The New York Times)
Two supporters of defeated independent state candidate Angelina Teny are killed by police and four others are injured during post-election protests in Bentiu. (BBC) (Reuters)
In a major transfer of power in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, Zhang Chunxian replaces Wang Lequan as the region's Party Committee Secretary; Wang has served in the post since 1994. (AP) (Xinhua)
Red Shirt leader Veera Musikapong agrees to end the protests in Bangkok if the government agrees to dissolve parliament and hold elections within 90 days. (The Guardian)
Greece activates the €45 billion aid package it was offered by Europe earlier in the month to combat the country's debt crisis. (Washington Post)
A Spanish hospital claims to have performed the world's "first full-face transplant". (AP)
Response to child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Bishop of Bruges since 1984 Roger Joseph Vangheluwe admits sexually abusing a boy and resigns with immediate effect. (BBC) (news.com.au) (Al Jazeera)
- A guest visit by Colombian Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos to a prominent Catholic church in Washington, D.C. is canceled after the decision to invite the controversial Cardinal was criticized by survivors of child abuse. (The Irish Times)
The Boy Scouts of America are ordered to pay $18.5 million in damages following the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy. (The New York Times) (ABC News) (Miami Herald)^{[permanent dead link]} (CNN)
Keflavík International Airport, Iceland's largest airport, is shut down due to volcanic ash. (news.com.au) (Reuters India) (IceNews) (Al Jazeera)
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu resists calls from the United States to stop construction in Jerusalem; the United Nations claims Israel's blockade of Gaza prevents it from educating thousands of Palestinian children. (BBC) (MSNBC)
A car bomb explodes outside a police station in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. (BBC) (CNN) (The Guardian) (People's Daily Online)
North Korea seizes five properties owned by South Korea in Kŭmgangsan. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Al Jazeera)
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opens a trade fair in Bulawayo on his tour of Zimbabwe as the country's President Robert Mugabe back's Iran's "just cause" for developing nuclear energy. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Times of India) (Al Jazeera)
Police issue a French Muslim woman with a fine of €22 for wearing a burqa while driving in Nantes, causing controversy and threatening her husband's status. (BBC) (Expatica France) (news.com.au) (iAfrica)
A Frenchman and his Algerian driver are kidnapped by armed men in Niger. (BBC) (France24) (Arab News) (News24)
China requests that Tibetan monks leave Qinghai where an earthquake struck on 14 April. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
A total of 2.89 million new jobs were created in China's urban areas during the first three months this year, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) (China.org)
Arizona governor Jan Brewer signs the state's controversial immigrant detention bill into law. Supporters say it will take 'the handcuffs' off police; opponents say it will violate people's civil rights. (The Washington Post)
The 2009 ascent of Kangchenjunga by Korean climber Oh Eun-sun, aiming to be the first woman to climb the 14 highest peaks on Earth, is declared "disputed" by Himalayan climbing records arbiter, Elizabeth Hawle. (BBC)