Portal:Current events/2012 May 4
May 4, 2012 (Friday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- At least one person is killed and at least 373 others are wounded when armed forces fire water cannon, tear gas and rocks on demonstrators near Egypt's defence ministry in Cairo. (Al Jazeera)
- Official figures indicate that at least 144 people were injured at an Armenian government campaign event in Yerevan's central square after an explosion during a political rally. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- At least eleven people are killed in a suicide bombing attack in a crowded market in Pakistan's Bajaur Agency. (Xinhua), (Reuters via MSNBC)
- Mexican Drug War
- 23 bodies—14 of them decapitated and 9 of them hanged from a bridge—are found in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo; those killed were reportedly members of the Gulf Cartel who were killed by Los Zetas, a rival cartel. (Yahoo! News)
- Three journalists are killed and their bodies dumped in plastic bags in a canal in Boca del Río in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where the rival criminal groups of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel are fighting for territorial control. (The Huffington Post) (Houston Chronicle)
Arts and culture
- Adam Yauch, founding member of the influential hip hop group the Beastie Boys, dies aged 47. (BBC)
Health
- A new study published in The Lancet finds that up to 90 per cent of school-leavers in Asia's major cities are suffering from myopia, or short-sightedness and that 10 to 20 per cent have high myopia, which can lead to blindness. (Al Jazeera)
International relations
- Chinese official Beijing Daily describes dissident Chen Guangcheng as a "tool and a pawn of American politicians". (Reuters via MSNBC)
Law and crime
- Former media mogul Conrad Black is released from prison in Miami after being locked up for just over three years for defrauding investors. (BBC)
- Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong's largest real estate developer, advises the markets that former chairman Walter Kwok was arrested for corruption and released on bail. (Reuters)
- The UK government is to launch a consultation process on introducing measures requiring internet users to opt in if they wish to view adult content. (BBC)
- The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, starts at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete sacks six ministers amid allegations of government corruption. (BBC)
- Voters in Iran go to the polls for the second round of legislative elections. (Reuters)
- Boris Johnson is reelected as the Mayor of London for a second term. (Politico)
- The Labour Party make significant gains in local elections throughout the United Kingdom. (BBC)