Portal:Current events/2011 April 9

Current events of April 9, 2011 (2011-04-09) (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks 2011 Libyan civil war: Fighting continues between government and rebels in Brega and Ajdabiya in Libya. (Al Jazeera) 2010-2011 Ivorian crisis/Second Ivorian Civil War: Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo regain ground in Abidjan. (Reuters) The Egyptian Army initiates a fatal crackdown in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on people protesting that ousted president Hosni Mubarak be prosecuted for corruption. (BBC) Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Over 120 rockets are fired into southern Israel this weekend, wounding 5 people. The Iron Dome missile system intercepts 10 rockets. (Jerusalem Post) Israeli air strikes kill 12 in Gaza, according to doctors. (BBC) Israel promises to carry out more air strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to the recent mortar and rocket attacks. (The Sydney Morning Herald) Basque conflict: Despite a ceasefire, ETA shoot a French policeman in Valliere, Limousin. Two more shooting incidents follow the first one. (Typically Spanish) Arts and culture U.S movie director Sidney Lumet dies in Manhattan.(Reuters via TV New Zealand) Disaster A tornado hits in Iowa's Monona County in the midwestern United States. (Omaha World-Herald) Law and crime Australian police are condemned for their failure to treat the 2007 death of an Aboriginal boy found weighted with rocks in a waterhole as anything other than an accident in Borroloola, Northern Territory. (The Sydney Morning Herald) A shooting spree in a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands leaves seven dead, including the perpetrator. (NOS) Women's groups protest outside the Oireachtas after police are filmed discussing raping women after their arrest. (The Guardian) The Police Service of Northern Ireland says that a "sophisticated and substantial" 500lb bomb left in a van under the main Belfast to Dublin road near Newry had the potential to cause huge loss of life and devastation, and may have been destined for a town centre. (BBC) Australian army sex scandal: Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, describes a broadcast of a young cadet engaging in sexual intercourse at the Australian Defence Force Academy as an "abhorrent" but "isolated" incident. (The Sydney Morning Herald) More army members speak out about other incidents of sexual abuse. (The Sydney Morning Herald) Politics and elections Ismael Omar Guelleh is re-elected as President of Djibouti. (Manilla Bulletin) Icelanders vote in a referendum on a renegotiated compensation deal with Britain and the Netherlands over the collapsed Icesave bank. (The Sydney Morning Herald) Nigerians vote in parliamentary elections. (BBC) 72-year-old Indian social activist Anna Hazare is to end a four-day hunger strike after the government agrees to his wishes for tougher anti-corruption laws which have gained widespread public support. (BBC)