Justice Victoria Sharp blocks a rail work stoppage by signallers over pay cuts and working conditions, which would have been Britain's first national rail strike in 16 years. (Reuters)
Rescue teams attempting to reach 153 miners trapped in a flooded coal pit in Shanxi report "signs of life", including "tapping", "banging" and "shouts", as relatives allege an official cover-up of the incident. (BBC)(The Guardian)
At least 10 Indian security personnel are killed and three injured when Maoist guerrillas blow up a police bus in Orissa's Koraput district. (Times of India)
Iran invites 60 countries to a two-day nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran on April 17–18, entitled "Nuclear energy for everyone, nuclear arms for no one". China says it will attend the conference which invites "the world to disarm and prevent proliferation". (Al Jazeera)
Teenager from the Gaza Strip who was alleged to have been killed by IDF soldiers last week, released from an Egyptian prison, after infiltrating the Egyptian border through an underground tunnel and saying that he and several Palestinian teenagers who were with him were tortured by Egyptian soldiers while in prison. (The Jerusalem Post)
The Israeli military criticises its own soldiers for killing four young Palestinian demonstrators near Nablus in the West Bank in March, with the Commander describing the killings as "an unnecessary operational occurrence with dire consequences". (BBC News)(Arab News)
Israel's Nahalat Shimon settler group presents an eviction warrant to two further Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, bringing the current total number of Palestinian houses facing eviction in that neighbourhood to eight. (Arab News)
Israeli troops arrest for an unrevealed reason three Palestinian civilians in Beit Ommer village and later move them to a military detention centre, as the Israeli military also ransacks homes in Nablus and Hebron. (The Muslim News)
Egypt allows a rare opening of the Rafah border to permit the first-known Palestinian conjoined twins, their family and a medical team to travel to the National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for separation surgery 10 days after their birth. Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is to pay for the surgery. (Haaretz)
Prime Minister of TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking about 100,000 Armenian illegal immigrants currently living in Turkey, says "I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their country because they are not my citizens. I don't have to keep them in my country". (Ethiopian Review)
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev reportedly flees the country, as the government steps down and protestors overrun the parliament building. The opposition announces the formation of a new provisional government headed by Roza Otunbayeva. (Russia Today)(Al Jazeera)
Interior Minister Moldomussa Kongantiyev is reported to have been killed after being taken hostage by opposition protesters inside an interior department building in the northern city of Talas. (Xinhua)
Fox News alleges "many who have viewed the video" WikiLeaks released recently showing American forces killing civilians in a July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike have accused the website of "selectively editing" (by slowing down selected parts of it) after a report by The Pentagon was released claiming that several of those killed did have weapons. (Fox News)
Families of the victims request that those responsible be taken to court as two young children who were injured ask why their dead father was targeted when he tried to bring an injured man to hospital. (Al Jazeera)
The conjoined twins recently born in Gaza less than two weeks ago are reported as being in a critical condition in Saudi Arabia where surgery is taking place to separate them. (Arab News)
Campaigning organisations call for the lifting of an Israeli media ban on the "security case", the case of a 23-year-old former soldier who leaked details of extra-judicial killings of Palestinians. (BBC)
An 18-year-old dies and six others escape with their lives in Rafah, Gaza, after the collapse of two tunnels used to smuggle goods through Egypt and around Egypt's and Israel's blockade. (Arab News)
Human Rights Watch tells Hamas to stop executions in Gaza after Hamas courts sentence 16 people to death in 2009 and this year, including eight convicted of alleged “treason”. (The Jerusalem Post)
Human Rights Watch requests that the Government of Peru investigate the deaths of six civilians after police opened fire on a mining demonstration last Sunday. At least 30 others were injured. (BBC)
At least six people die and at least twelve others are injured after a boat sinks in Lake Kivu while carrying people to commemorations to mark the 16th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. (BBC)
PresidentKurmanbek Bakiyev escapes Bishkek, purportedly to a southern region of the country through Osh. He refuses to resign, but admits he's lost control of the Kyrgyz military. (BBC)
14 people die of dengue fever in Dominican Republic. 2,000 cases of dengue fever have been registered. A total of 52 died of the disease last year. (Xinhua)
Lech Wałęsa calls it "the second disaster after Katyn ... They wanted to cut off our head there, and here the flower of our nation has also perished". (The New York Times)
Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski says "Nothing like this has ever happened in Poland". (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Russia and Lithuania prepare for an official day of mourning for the death of Poland's President Kaczyński and other persons on board. (RIAN; Russian)(Delfi)
A blast injures at least 19 people outside a prison in Ilam. (Al Jazeera)
A spokesman for Pope Benedict XVI claims allegations that he deliberately delayed the punishment of a paedophile priest have been "taken out of context". (BBC)(RTÉ)
Iran announces its decision to file a formal complaint with the United Nations against the United States, citing Barack Obama's threat to use a "nuclear attack" against it as a "threat to global peace and security". (Al Jazeera)
Iraq's election seeks a recount in five provinces after up to 750,000 votes are "tainted by fraud". (Reuters)
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) asks China to pressure Israel to have its nuclear sites inspected during the forthcoming international nuclear conference, saying "world silence on the issue of the Israeli nuclear capabilities is creating tension in the region, especially with the relentless international focus on Iran and North Korea". (Brunei News)
Analysts predict the 2011 bankruptcy of one of the world's largest economies, Japan, with a public debt figure larger than any other industrialised nation. (Press TV)(AFP)(The Economist)
The centre-right Hungarian Civic Union (Fidesz) wins all 119 individual seats in the first round of Hungary's parliamentary elections. Their total of 206 seats gives them an outright majority in the National Assembly, with 121 seats still in play in the second round on April 25.
His funeral and burial and that of his wife who died with him are to take place on Saturday. (CNN)
The search for body parts continues at the crash site, with only 14 corpses easily identified by relatives and 20 others by forensic experts, with DNA testing necessary to identify the rest of the corpses. (RIA Novosti)
Poland's acting President is to review travel rules for military officials after the late President and all his army generals die in one plane crash. (BBC)
Western experts mull the causes of the plane crash. (RIA Novosti)
U.S. President Barack Obama opens the summit of 47 countries, the purpose of which is to discuss nuclear security, in particular how to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of potential terrorists. (CCTV)
The Labour party launches its manifesto, which states that it will halve the budget deficit within four years through a mixture of spending restraint and tax increases, mainly for the higher paid, that failing police forces will be taken over by successful ones, that every primary-school child who needs it will get one-to-one tuition and that there will be no switch to the euro without a referendum. (Guardian)
SNP leader Alex Salmond urges the Scots to vote for an "alternative vision of the future" as he launched the party's election campaign. The Scottish first minister attacks Labour and the Tories for cuts which he said posed a danger to public services. (BBC)
Welsh Assembly Government ministers are accused of "abuse of position" by announcing £17.5 miles in tourism grants during the general election campaign. Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne says Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones and Environment Minister Jane Davidson must "face questions". (BBC)
The Vatican has handled damaging child abuse cases in an “exemplary” manner, according to the editor-in-chief of Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore RomanoGiovanni Maria Vian, who also hails Benedict as a “great communicator”. (National Post)
Children were allegedly "sadistically tormented and also sexually abused" at a Catholic monastery in Ettal, Bavaria. (Reuters)
Benedict's security is increased for his visit to Malta after the island's population of sexually abused announce plans to protest at his handling of the scandal. (The Daily Telegraph)
The Copenhagen Conference was destroyed from the start by the leak of the "Danish draft" negotiating text to The Guardian, the Indian environment minister said this weekend in a warning that the breakdown of international trust would continue to undermine climate talks this year. (The Guardian)
President of the United StatesBarack Obama opening the biggest international meeting hosted by the US since 1945, greets leaders from nearly 50 countries. World leaders at the summit hear dire warnings of the danger of nuclear material falling into the wrong hands. (BBC News)
The Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, says that his government thwarted an attempt to sell highly enriched uranium on the black market last month. (The Guardian)
A huge glacier breaks off and plunges into a lake in Peru sparking a 23-metre high tsunami wave that destroyed a nearby town. The massive chunk of ice - around the size of four football pitches - tumbled into the '513 lake' in the Andes near Carhuaz, around 200 miles north of Lima. (Sky News)(The Peruvian Times)
Israel tells all of its citizens visiting the Sinai Peninsula to leave immediately after Israeli intelligence warns that a terror cell may be planning to kidnap an Israeli national and bring him to Gaza. (Yahoo! News)(The Telegraph)
Israeli soldiers kill four heavily-armed Islamic Jihad gunmen sent to attack Israeli forces and believed to be planting explosives along the security fence with Gaza. (JTA)
The body of Poland's First Lady, Maria Kaczyńska, is flown to Warsaw to lie in state alongside that of her husband, President Lech Kaczyński. Poland has seen an outpouring of grief since the couple and scores of other senior Polish officials died in a plane crash in western Russia on Saturday. (BBC News)(Xinhua)
At least 73 civilians were killed when an army jet bombed a remote village in Pakistan's tribal region of Khyber, a local official has told the BBC. (BBC News)
Conservative leader David Cameron launches his party's election manifesto, which he says is a "plan to change Britain for the better". He said the "optimistic" plan would bring a "new kind of government" with less state and more "people power". (BBC News)
The UK Independence Party says they will not campaign against election candidates from other parties who are "committed" Eurosceptics, and Plaid Cymru have also launched their manifesto in Cardiff with a pledge to protect the vulnerable and front-line services. (BBC News)
An American Boeing 767 passenger jet makes an emergency landing in Iceland after reports of chemical fumes in the cabin. A spokesman for Keflavik airport outside Reykjavík says several crew members on the American Airlines flight had complained of dizziness. (BBC News)
Japanese car maker Toyota faces further safety concerns after Consumer Reports issues a recommendation not to buy the Lexus GX 460 four-wheel drive because of fears that the car could roll over. (BBC News)
The Australian authorities say a Chinese bulk carrier which ran aground off Queensland has caused widespread damage to the famed Great Barrier Reef. The cleanup is likely to be the biggest operation ever undertaken there. (BBC News)
A mentally ill man goes on a stabbing rampage outside a primary school in southern China, killing two and wounding five. (The Telegraph)
Former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, cross-examines the first prosecution witness at the resumption of his war crimes trial at The Hague. (BBC News)
Twitter sells advertising on its site for the first time. Advertisers will be able to buy "Promoted Tweets" that will appear on Twitter's search results pages. (BBC News)
Spanish police say they have seized more than 800kg (1,760lbs) of cocaine from a lorry disguised as an official backup vehicle for the Dakar rally. (BBC News)
It is reported that U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday will unveil a "bold and daring" new space mission to send astronauts to Mars months after he controversially scrapped a project to return to the Moon. (The Telegraph)
Neil Armstrong and other former astronauts release harsh criticism of the president's recent cuts to NASA.(Fox News)
Controversy arises over the decision to bury Polish President Lech Kaczyński in Wawel Cathedral in Kraków—a place reserved for Poland's kings and heroes. Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in protest, and thousands have joined an internet campaign objecting to the plan. (BBC News)
The Liberal Democrats send out a "four step" manifesto plan to "hardwire fairness into British society". Leader Nick Clegg says his policies, including raising the state pension and a tax cut for low and middle earners, combined "hope and credibility". (BBC News)
The Vatican seeks to "clarify" remarks made by a senior cardinal, who linked homosexuality with paedophilia in the abuse scandal facing the Church. (BBC News)
For the first time in decades, researchers report a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980. (The New York Times)
Apple delays the international launch of its iPad computer for a month, blaming "surprisingly strong US demand" that has outstripped its ability to produce them. (The Guardian)
Israel's Communications Ministry imposes a blanket ban on the iPad and will confiscate them from anyone carrying them into the country. (Ha'aretz)(PC World)
Ireland opens its air space and transatlantic flights resume from Dublin Airport. A small section off the south coast remains closed. (RTÉ)
Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, cancels all flights to and from Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France, northern Germany, Poland and the Baltic states until 12:00 GMT on Monday: CEO Michael O'Leary calls the situation "unprecedented". (Reuters)(Barcelona Reporter)(Irish Independent)
The BBC reports that share prices have fallen in many European airlines as a result of the grounding of many jets. (BBC)
The World Health Organisation does not know what effects the ash could have on human beings, but they have advised Europeans to stay indoors, if possible. (BBC)
The death toll from the earthquake in China which occurred on Wednesday has risen to 1144, officials have announced. Another 417 people are reported to be unaccounted for. (BBC)
Two Palestinian vehicles in a West Bank village are torched by settlers protesting against Israel's temporary construction freeze in the West Bank. (Ha'aretz)
Victims of the recent severe storm in India angered by slow government response attack officials and raid an aid storage facility. (AFP)
Gary Jackson, former president of the US private security firm, Blackwater Worldwide (Xe ServicesLLC), and four other former workers are indicted on federal weapons charges. (BBC)
France accuses Iran of shunning nuclear dialogue, while the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton branded Iran the number one challenge today for world security. (AFP)
The volcanic ash cloud above Europe causes a third day of disruption to air travel, leaving millions of passengers stranded unable to reach their destinations. Officials warn that airspace could remain shut for several more days. (BBC)
Health authorities warn people to stay inside if they smell a sulphurous smell, as it could pose a risk to people with breathing difficulties. (The Guardian)
Benedict flies to Malta to commemorate the 1,950th anniversary of the shipwreck of Saint Paul on the island, his first overseas visit since the latest round of child sex abuse claims. (The Observer)(The New York Times)
President of MaltaGeorge Abela mentions an abuse trial involving three Catholic clergy in his speech to mark Benedict's coming, saying "justice had both to be done and seen to be done". Benedict makes no direct reference. (BBC)
Two oil tankers collide and burst into flames, killing at least five people and wounding several more, in southwest Nigeria. Three large freight trucks along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway also ignite. (AFP)
Internal e-mails reveal Porter Goss, a former head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), agreed with a decision to destroy hundreds of tapes purportedly showing agents waterboarding two al-Qaeda suspects being held in Thailand in 2002 over fears that public release of the tapes would be "devastating". (Al Jazeera)
Toyota is to recall 600,000 Sienna minivans in the US over fears of corrosion. "In the worst case, the carrier cable may fail and the spare tyre could become separated from the vehicle" a statement from the company read. (BBC)
Stages 1 and 2 of Circle MRT line began operations, with all 11 stations along the Stage 1 and 2 of the MRT line from Dhoby Ghaut to Tai Seng being opened at the same time operated by SMRT Trains Ltd.
Pope Benedict XVI concludes his visit to Malta. Reports suggest he is trying to avoid discussing the recent child sex abuse scandal, on his first trip since the scandal broke. (BBC)
Zimbabwe marks 30 years of independence from British-backed minority white rule. (Al Jazeera)
Residents celebrate with all-night parties, though civil rights group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) claim four of its members were denied bail after being accused of staging an illegal protest against power cuts and high electricity tariffs, an act they deny they did. (BBC)(Zimbabwe Telegraph)
Mugabe also asks that politically and racially driven violence in the country cease to be, the first time he has ever done this. (The Sydney Morning Herald)(Al Jazeera)
President of China Hu Jintao visits survivors in the earthquake zone as the death toll climbs to more than 1,700 people. (BBC)
The semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament are moved from Bangalore to Mumbai following the discovery of further explosive devices after yesterday's bombing. (Al Jazeera)
Seven people are killed and twenty others are injured in a suicide car bomb attack on a police station in Kohat, one day after twin bomb attacks kill more than 40 people and wound at least 60 others at a camp for the displaced in the city. All the dead are civilians. (BBC)(Al Jazeera)(CNN)
Three Italian aid workers, Matteo Dell'Aria, Marco Garatti and Matteo Pagani, accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate Governor of HelmandGulab Mangal, are released after being found "not guilty". (Al Jazeera)
King Oyo, Rukidi IV of Toro, one of Uganda's last remaining kings and the world's youngest monarch, reaches the age of 18 at the end of a four-day ceremony and takes full control of his kingdom. (CNN)(Xinhua)
Several hundred people armed with sticks and stones clashed with ethnic Russians and Meskhetian Turk landowners in the village of Maevka, before moving toward the capital Bishkek and demanding talks with officials. Alertnet
Jalal-Abad: Approximately 1,000 people gather in the southwestern town's main square, denouncing the interim government and chanting pro-Bakiev slogans. Rallies also take place in neighboring Osh and Batken provinces. RFE-RL
Derviş Eroğlu, head of a party opposed to reunification of Cyprus, wins leadership elections in the Turkish Cypriot north but pledges talks with Greek Cypriots. (Al Jazeera)
Israeli police raid the Tel Aviv apartment of Anat Kamm, a journalist who had been put under house arrest after leaking classified documents, claiming she was visited by a family member who had not been approved by the courts. (Ha'aretz)
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) criticises European governments, questions their leadership and asks them to reevaluate their decision-making process in the wake of the disaster. (RTT News)
Half of all scheduled European flights are expected to go ahead, though airspace remains closed in many countries, including Ireland, Norway and Poland. Denmark accepts no landings. (BBC)
Ryanair cancels all of its flights between Ireland and the United Kingdom until 13:00 on Friday 23 April and all Northern European flights — Ireland, UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Baltic States and North Italy — until 13:00 on Thursday 22 April. (Irish Examiner)
Two inspection teams from Iraq's ministry of human rights enter a "secret prison" in Baghdad where "serious legal violations" are said to have occurred. (Al Jazeera)
The Transocean-owned oil rig Deepwater Horizon explodes, leaking about 4,900,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. At least seven people were injured and over a dozen were missing at sea. (MSNBC)
Dozens of people gather in central Cairo in a rare protest against the use of force on pro-democracy demonstrations which "pose a threat to the national security". (Al Jazeera)
Two prisoners are killed and several others are injured during an attempted jail break in Kaduna, Nigeria. (BBC)
Two high-ranking officers are suspended from Rwanda's military and arrested; Maj-Gen Charles Muhire is accused of corruption and misuse of office, whilst Lt-Gen Karenzi Karake is accused of immoral conduct. (BBC)
2010 Yushu earthquake: China holds a national day of mourning for the victims. Public entertainment activities are cancelled, all Chinese flags around the world flew at half-staff. (AP via Google News)
Nicolas Sarkozy speaks out against the niqāb, telling a cabinet meeting it "hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society", as his government moves to outlaw the garment. (Al Jazeera)
The wreck is estimated to be leaking 8,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and may leak up to 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel depending on how much burned in the explosion and ensuing fire. (CNN)
Ahmad Sabah, a Palestinian with a Gaza ID card, claims the new Israeli military order on deportations is behind his release to Gaza instead of the West Bank where he lived before his detainment in 2001. (BBC)(Al Jazeera)
Pro-Daniel Ortega protesters in Nicaragua injure three opposition politicians while blockading parliament to prevent the overturning of a presidential decree. (Al Jazeera)
A Utrecht court acquits the Dutch arm of the Arab European League of hate crime charges relating to the publication of a cartoon questioning the Holocaust. The publication was intended to highlight double standards after MP Geert Wilders was not put on trial for distributing cartoons of Muhammad. (BBC)
Seven people, including six police officers and a civilian, are killed and two other officers are injured in a shoot-out with suspected gang hitmen in Ciudad Juárez. (BBC)(CNN)(The New York Times)
Arizona governor Jan Brewer signs the state's controversial immigrant detention bill into law. Supporters say it will take 'the handcuffs' off police; opponents say it will violate people's civil rights. (The Washington Post)
In separate events, 29 people are killed in a suicide attack on a prison van, six NATO oil tankers are torched, and the Pakistan Army attacked Taliban fighters. (Arab News)
A retired priest says he was ignored when he spoke out about Belgium's longest-serving bishop having sexually abused a boy years before his admission and immediate resignation yesterday. (CBC)
Tens of thousands of people rally and lay flowers at a monument in Yerevan to the victims on the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. (Al Jazeera)
An inquiry is launched as at least 80 schoolgirls in different Kunduz schools are poisoned this week; the Taliban, opposed to female education, denies any knowledge. (BBC)(Japan Today)(Reuters)
In elections marred by boycotts and fraud allegations, Omar al-Bashir is re-elected president of Sudan despite facing war crimes charges and an international arrest warrant. (USA Today)
Haiti drops kidnapping charges against U.S. missionaries detained for trying to take children out of the country after the January earthquake. (USA Today)
The Metropolitan Police in London publish a long suppressed report on the 1979 death of Blair Peach which concludes that a police officer was probably responsible for his killing. (BBC)(Report)
Israeli soldiers open fire on protesters who approached the Israeli border from Gaza, killing a 20-year-old Palestinian man. The Israeli military says the demonstrators were throwing stones at soldiers and setting fires. (Haaretz)(New York Times)(Al Jazeera)(Press TV)
