Portal:Current events/2010 April 7

April 7, 2010 (Wednesday)

James Hansen wins the Sophie Prize. (350.org) (Reuters) (The Independent)
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announces that the number of LGBT characters on scripted programs in the United States has doubled since 2005. (CNN)
2010 Kyrgyzstan riots:
- President Kurmanbek Bakiyev reportedly flees the country, as the government steps down and protestors overrun the parliament building. The opposition announces the formation of a new provisional government headed by Roza Otunbayeva. (Russia Today) (Al Jazeera)
- President Kurmanbek Bakiyev makes a last-ditch attempt to quell the riots by imposing a curfew as six people reportedly die. (RIA Novosti)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (BBC)
- Protesters seize the state television channel building in the capital, Bishkek. Kyrgyz opposition representatives and human rights activists appear on the TV channel KTR which resumes broadcasting after one hour. (RIA Novosti) (Kyrgyz National Informational Agency)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
- Interior Minister Moldomussa Kongantiyev is reported to have been killed after being taken hostage by opposition protesters inside an interior department building in the northern city of Talas. (Xinhua)
July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike WikiLeaks video controversy:
- Fox News alleges "many who have viewed the video" WikiLeaks released recently showing American forces killing civilians in a July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike have accused the website of "selectively editing" (by slowing down selected parts of it) after a report by The Pentagon was released claiming that several of those killed did have weapons. (Fox News)
- Families of the victims request that those responsible be taken to court as two young children who were injured ask why their dead father was targeted when he tried to bring an injured man to hospital. (Al Jazeera)
Conjoined twins:
- The conjoined twins recently born in Gaza less than two weeks ago are reported as being in a critical condition in Saudi Arabia where surgery is taking place to separate them. (Arab News)
- The conjoined twins from Cork, Ireland, born four months ago, undergo separation surgery in London. (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (Irish Independent) (The Daily Telegraph)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- Campaigning organisations call for the lifting of an Israeli media ban on the "security case", the case of a 23-year-old former soldier who leaked details of extra-judicial killings of Palestinians. (BBC)
- Saudi cleric Sheik Mohammed al-Areefi cancels a visit to Jerusalem due to public anger at Israeli policy. (Saudi Gazette) (Arab News) (Ha'aetz)
- An 18-year-old dies and six others escape with their lives in Rafah, Gaza, after the collapse of two tunnels used to smuggle goods through Egypt and around Egypt's and Israel's blockade. (Arab News)
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fires the director of his bureau, Rafik Husseini, who was involved in ‘Fatahgate’ sex scandal. (The Jerusalem Post) (CNN)
- Human Rights Watch tells Hamas to stop executions in Gaza after Hamas courts sentence 16 people to death in 2009 and this year, including eight convicted of alleged “treason”. (The Jerusalem Post)
Human Rights Watch requests that the Government of Peru investigate the deaths of six civilians after police opened fire on a mining demonstration last Sunday. At least 30 others were injured. (BBC)
Brazil is hit by a second day of heavy rain. (Al Jazeera)
At least six people die and at least twelve others are injured after a boat sinks in Lake Kivu while carrying people to commemorations to mark the 16th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. (BBC)
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Sumatra, Indonesia. (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
Blacktown District Soccer Football Association's CEO says he will ignore a FIFA ruling to ban the hijab even if it is enforced by Football Federation Australia after the Iran girls' football team is disqualified from the Youth Olympic Games by FIFA for their view on the hijab. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva, declares a state of emergency after widespread anti-government protests and shortly after demonstrators stormed the country's parliament. (CNN)
Amnesty International’s Secretary-General sparks a furor by saying that “jihad in self-defense” is not “antithetical” to human rights. (The Jerusalem Post)
Sixteen countries attend a two-day conference organised by the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo to discuss the retrieval of old items which were pillaged by other nations, such as the Rosetta Stone (held by the British Museum, London) and Queen Nefertitti's bust (held by the Neues Museum, Berlin). (BBC) (France24)
A starving Grey Seal claiming to be from London Zoo is found in Skerries, Ireland. The Irish Seal Sanctuary asks the UK and Europe for help identifying it. (RTÉ) (BBC)
Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, describes Israel as the "main threat to peace" in the Middle East. (BBC)
FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi is widely hailed as the best footballer in the world after scoring four goals for the first time in his career in one UEFA Champions League game, including his fourth hat-trick of 2010. (BBC) (The New York Times) (AFP) (BusinessWorld)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
Tennis player Martina Navratilova announces she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
Shanghai mayor Han Zheng, leading a delegation with a presence from some 50 companies, visits Taiwan for investment talks. (Focus Taiwan)
Norway experiences its first Catholic child abuse scandal as it becomes known that a bishop, Georg Müller, was forced to resign in 2009 because of sexual abuse of an altar boy in the early 1990s. (The New York Times) (CNN)