Portal:Current events/2018 April 19

April 19, 2018 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Iraqi Air Force F-16 jets attack an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria near the city of Hajin in coordination with the Syrian Armed Forces. (Reuters)
War in Donbass
- Ukrainian ecology minister Ostap Semerak warns of a major nuclear disaster if pro-Russia separatists go forward with a plan to flood a mine where a small nuclear weapon was tested in the 1970s. Semerak appeals for international assistance to prevent the flooding. (The Irish Times)
Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a recruiter for the September 11 attacks, is arrested in Syria. (NBC News)

Arts and culture

Prosecutors in Minnesota say nobody will be charged over the death of Prince, who accidentally overdosed on counterfeit fentanyl pills. (BBC News)
Yom Ha'atzmaut
- Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its existence as a Jewish state. (CBC)

Disasters and accidents

Shoreham Airshow crash
- Jet pilot Andy Hill, accused of eleven counts of manslaughter over a 2015 crash at Shoreham Airshow in England, makes an initial Magistrates' Court appearance. He indicates he will deny the charges and the case is transferred to Crown Court. (BBC News)
- Mount Kirishima in Kyushu, Japan, erupts. It is the first time it has erupted since 1768. (Click Lancashire)
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board declares metal fatigue caused a fan blade failure that killed a passenger on April 16, the same issue behind a similar accident on another Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration announces mandatory ultrasonic inspections on fan blades fitted to CFM56-7B engines of which around 8,000 are flying worldwide. (BBC News)
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee releases a preliminary report detailing the circumstances of a collision between two passenger planes on a runway at Kuala Namu International Airport last year. (The Aviation Herald)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea states that North Korea has expressed a desire to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula without attaching preconditions such as withdrawing US troops. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Murder in English law
- A woman goes on trial in England accused of murdering a man who was voluntarily euthanised in Belgium after she allegedly attacked him with acid. Prosecutors say medical evidence indicates "he could not bear to live in that condition." (BBC News)
The High Court in Glasgow jails corrupt juror Catherine Leahy for six years in the first case of its kind in Scotland. (The Guardian)
Terrorism in Norway
- The police bomb group moved out to an apartment in Rosenhoff, Oslo, when informed that there might be explosives in the apartment. One person was found slightly injured. (Aftenposten)
Two deputies are shot dead at a Chinese restaurant in Trenton, Florida, in what appears to be a targeted killing. The gunman was found dead outside the restaurant. (CNN)
A court in Tajikistan sentenced a 71-year old woman to 12 years in prison after having links to the Islamic State group. (EurasiaNet)
A US federal judge rules the Department of Defence cannot transfer an unidentified ISIS suspect with US-Saudi dual citizenship to an unnamed foreign country. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
- Miguel Díaz-Canel is named the new President of Cuba. It is the first time in six decades that a Castro family member is not leading Cuba. (WTKR)
History of Swaziland
- Marking the country's 50th anniversary of independence, Swaziland's King Mswati III officially renames the country the Kingdom of eSwatini. (BBC News)
Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
- Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Bob Corker opt not to commit to endorsing Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. (ABC News)
- South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham states that he will support Trump in the 2020 elections. (The Post and Courier)
Political appointments by Donald Trump
- The U.S. Senate votes 50–49 to confirm Jim Bridenstine as administrator of NASA. (CBS News)

Sports

2018 NFL season
- As expected, the regular-season schedule for the 2018 NFL season is released, with the defending champions Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Atlanta Falcons in the league's season opener on September 6. (Yahoo! Sports)