Portal:Current events/2018 April 11
April 11, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- The Royal Saudi Air Defense intercepts a ballistic missile fired from Yemen over the Saudi capital Riyadh that caused panic among residents. Houthis say they fired several Burkan-2 missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia, including Saudi Aramco oil facilities. Separately, Saudi Air Defenses shoot down two Houthi-operated Qasef-1 drones near the border. (Reuters) (Middle East Eye)
- 2018 Gaza border protests
- The Israeli Defence Forces say a bomb exploded near one of their construction vehicles near the Gazan border. In response, the IDF launches attacks on Hamas positions within the Gaza Strip. (The Times of Israel)
- The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre states 80% of the deceased Palestinians, including journalist Yasir Murtaja, are terrorists. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Tamer Abu Daqqa, a resident of Khan Younis, Gaza, claims he is the man shown on an unauthorised video taken by an Israeli soldier being shot by a sniper through the border fence. Daqqa rejects Israeli claims he was a ringleader of violence and says he was assisting wounded Palestinians. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman bars 110 Palestinians from entering Israel to attend a joint Israeli-Palestinian Remembrance Day ceremony in Tel Aviv. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Terrorism in Spain
- Spain's Audiencia Nacional sentences ten Islamic extremists to between eight and twelve years in prison for a plot to launch attacks against Barcelona landmarks and behead a hostage on camera. The cell was convicted yesterday. (El País)
- Terrorism in the United Arab Emirates
- The Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court jails two Egyptians and a Saudi for fifteen years each and fines them for promoting terrorist ideologies online. The court orders them deported after release, their computer equipment seized, and their social media presences deleted. (Gulf News)
- Terrorism in Canada
- Lawyers representing Ayanle Hassan Ali, accused of three attempted murders in a 2016 Toronto knife attack on Canadian soldiers, say he should be acquitted entirely of allegations the charges had a terrorist motive and found not criminally responsible for the underlying offences on the grounds of his mental health. (CBC.ca)
- Mexican Drug War
- Fourteen people are killed in 36 hours in Cancún, Mexico, in the worst spate of violence in the city since 2004. (The Daily Mail)
- The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals partly overturns the acquittal of Serb radical nationalist Vojislav Šešelj and finds him guilty of crimes against humanity during the Yugoslav Wars. He is not detained as he served more than eleven years in the court's custody, and takes to Twitter to declare himself "proud of my war crimes" and "ready to repeat them". (Bloomberg) (The Irish Times)
- Terrorism in Iraq
- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi attends the funeral of bodyguard Brigadier General Sherif Ismail el-Morshedy, killed in action in Nineveh against Saraya al-Salam. (Iraqi News)
Disasters and accidents
- Shipwrecks in 2018
- The fire onboard South Korean ship FV Don Wong 701 in the Port of Timaru, New Zealand, enters its third day. At least four vessels – MV Searuby, MV San Granit, MV Longview Logger and MV Jeppesen Maersk – are delayed from arriving. (Stuff) (Stuff)
- 2018 Algerian Air Force Il-76 crash
- An Ilyushin Il-76 military plane crashes shortly after take-off from Boufarik Military Airport in Algeria, killing all 257 passengers on board. (BBC) (sbs.com)
- 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
- Poland releases a new report on the disaster, which killed 96 including then-President Lech Kaczyński, rejecting previous findings and claiming instead air traffic controllers in Smolensk, Russia, gave the jet erroneous information prior to two explosions destroying the jet in midair. (Radio Poland)
- Humboldt Broncos bus crash
- The athletic therapist for the Humboldt Broncos, Dayna Brons, dies from injuries sustained in the crash, raising the death toll to 16. (Sportsnet.ca)
- Saskatchewan politicians seek a redesign of the intersection where the crash occurred, which was also previously the scene of a six-death crash in 1997. (Sportsnet.ca)
- The family of a man killed in California when his Tesla Model X crashed with the Autopilot engaged says they intend to sue the carmaker. His wife further says he had complained of flaws in the vehicle's behaviour and predicted his death in a collision with the barrier his car ultimately hit. (Electrek)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- The death toll from a fireworks factory explosion in Vellore, India, rises to four. (The Times of India)
- The death toll from a Malawi cholera epidemic reaches 30. (Reuters)
- Synthetic cannabis containing rat poison kills three and injures over 100 across the United States according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (USA Today)
Health and environment
- Climate change in New Zealand
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern bans future offshore oil and gas exploration in New Zealand, leaving existing permits untouched. (The New Zealand Herald)
- A survey commissioned by Water New Zealand reveals sanitary sewer overflows increased by 379% across the nation in 2017. (The New Zealand Herald)
International relations
- South Korea–United States relations
- South Korea national security adviser Chung Eui-yong visits Washington, D.C. and meets with his U.S. counterpart John R. Bolton. (Yonhap News Agency)
- The European Union says it is optimistic a two-year dispute with Poland's ruling Law and Justice over proposed judicial reforms will be resolved by mid May. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has been engaged in talks on the issue with the European Commission. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act
- U.S. President Donald Trump officially signs the anti-human trafficking act into law. (The Washington Post)
- Elmira Medynska, the partner of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, tells his inquest at the Central Criminal Court in London he seemed nervous and had been unwell prior to his death. The inquest is attempting to determine if Perepilichnyy had been murdered. (BBC)
- South Korean politician Ahn Hee-jung is indicted on accusations he repeatedly raped his aide Kim Ji-eun, who previously accused him publicly of sexual abuse. (Gulf News)
- Former President of Andalusia and ex-Minister of Health and Labour José Antonio Griñán declares before the court as a key in the ERE corruption scandal. (El Mundo)
Politics and elections
- Azerbaijani presidential election, 2018
- Millions of Azerbaijanis vote in the presidential elections. President Ilham Aliyev receives 86% of the vote and is re-elected for another seven-year term. (The Washington Post)
- 2017–18 United States political sexual scandals
- A special investigatory committee from the Missouri House of Representatives releases a report on Governor Eric Greitens's alleged invasion of privacy and sexual misconduct. (Chicago Tribune), (FOX2Now)
- Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, announces that he will not seek re-election to his seat from Wisconsin's 1st congressional district in the November mid-term election. Ryan has been Speaker since October 2015. (The Washington Post)