April 11, 2012 (Wednesday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- 2012 South Sudan–Sudan border conflict:
- Sudan says that after a battle South Sudan controls Heglig, its largest oil field. (BBC)
- A bomb on a bus kills at least two people in the Philippines town of Carmen in Cotabato Province. (AP)
Disasters
- Indonesian earthquakes:
- An earthquake occurs off the coast of Aceh in Indonesia with a preliminary magnitude of 8.6 and a tsunami warning issued. There are five indirect fatalities. (NineMSN)
- An 8.2 magnitude aftershock occurs soon after. (News Limited)
- Two US service personnel and another two are injured in a helicopter crash in Morocco. (Reuters)
- Nine miners are rescued from a collapsed copper mine in southern Peru. (AFP via Herald Sun)
International relations
- Vessels from the Philippine Navy and Chinese maritime surveillance are at a standoff after the Philippines attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen in the South China Sea. (AP)
Law and crime
- A looter who started a fire at a House of Reeves store during last year's riots in London is jailed for eleven and a half years. (BBC)
- A Florida special prosecutor charges George Zimmerman with murder in the second degree in relation to the death of Trayvon Martin. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Voters in South Korea go to the polls for a legislative election with the governing Saenuri Party retaining control of the National Assembly of South Korea. (CNN) (Voice of America)
- Kim Jong Un is named as the First Secretary of the North Korean Workers Party with his late father Kim Jong Il declared as its "eternal" General Secretary. (AP via Yahoo News)
- First President of Algeria Ahmed Ben Bella dies at the age of 95. (The Guardian)
- Lucas Papademos resigns as the Prime Minister of Greece, calling an election for May 6. (AFP via The Australian)