Portal:Current events/2012 April 4

April 4, 2012 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2012 South Sudan–Sudan border conflict: The Sudan People's Liberation Army says it shot down a Sudanese MiG-29 jet fighter in South Sudan's Unity state. (CNN)
A suicide bomber kills at least 12 people and injures many more in Afghanistan's Faryab province. (AFP via The Telegraph)
A suicide bomber detonates an explosion in Somalia's national theatre in Mogadishu while a ceremony is taking place, killing at least ten people, including the presidents of the Somali Olympic Committee and the Somali Football Federation. (AP via Winnipeg Free Press) (BBC) (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution)^{[permanent dead link]}

Arts and culture

German Nobel laureate Günter Grass's poem, that accuses Israel of plotting to "wipe out" Iran, generates controversy. (AFP via Google)

Disasters

As many as 50,000 homes in northern England are hit by a power blackout after heavy winds, snow and ice bring down electricity cables. (BBC)

International relations

The first deployment of US Marines arrives in the Australian city of Darwin, Northern Territory. (BBC)
The 20th ASEAN Summit meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, calls for sanctions to be lifted against Myanmar or Burma following recent by-elections. (Today Online)^{[permanent dead link]}

Law and crime

France arrests ten suspected militant Islamists following 13 people arrested last week. (CNN)
Former New Orleans Police Department officers are sentenced to decades in jail for shooting civilians after Hurricane Katrina, and a subsequent coverup. (AP via Washington Post)
A Venezuelan state legislator Juan Carlos Figarella dies after being shot in an apparent robbery on Monday. (AP via Washington Post)

Politics and elections