Portal:Current events/2021 April 18

April 18, 2021 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Northern Chad offensive
- Rebel forces of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad advance to the capital, N'Djamena, as incumbent President Idriss Déby takes a lead in the April 11 election and is expected to extend his mandate. Yesterday, the U.S. and British governments ordered some diplomatic staff to leave Chad amidst the unrest. (Reuters)
2021 Niger attacks
- At least 19 civilians are killed and two are wounded when armed men raid a village in the Tillabéri Region. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

2021 Toukh train accident
- A train derailment in Toukh, Qalyubiyya, Egypt, leaves at least 11 people dead and another 98 injured. (Al Arabiya English)
2021 Table Mountain fire
- Mostert's Mill in Cape Town, South Africa, is destroyed by a fire that spread from Table Mountain. (Newzroom Afrika via Twitter) (BBC News)
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes the Bushehr Province in southern Iran. (Reuters via MSN)
A crash in the Eastern Cape of South Africa kills seven people when their vehicle collides with head on with a bus. (eNCA)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India reports a record 261,500 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 14.78 million. (Hindustan Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Israel
    - Israel lifts its outdoor mask mandate and fully reopens schools as the number of COVID-19 cases reduces and the majority of the population is vaccinated. However, masks must still be worn in indoor public spaces. (The Times of Israel)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Mongolia
    - Mongolia reports a record 1,340 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 21,995. (AKIPress)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Pakistan reports 149 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which is the highest single-day total this year. (Tribune)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - Thailand reports a record 1,767 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 42,352. The nationwide death toll also surpasses 100. (Bangkok Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
  - Turkey reports a record 318 deaths in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 35,926. (AP)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Vanuatu
  - Vanuatu halts outbound travel out of its main island of Efate following the confirmation of a COVID-19 case. Prime Minister Bob Loughman confirms that a Filipino fisherman whose body washed ashore last week near the capital of Port Vila had died of the disease. (RNZ)

Law and crime

The daughter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny calls on Russian authorities to allow doctors to check on her father, a day after doctors warned he could "die within days" from cardiac arrest or kidney failure. Navalny has been on a hunger strike since March in protest of prison medical conditions. (Reuters) (BBC News)

Politics and elections

2021 Cape Verdean parliamentary election
- Voters in Cape Verde go to the polls to elect new members of the National Assembly. (Africanews)

Sports

The Super League
- In a major move, six Premier League teams: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as several European clubs such as FC Barcelona and Juventus, agree to join The Super League, an annual club competition for the "elite teams" of Europe. UEFA and FIFA condemn the announcement, saying that they will not recognize the competition, and that players who take part in the competition will be banned from all other football competitions, including representing their national side at the FIFA World Cup. (BBC News)