Portal:Current events/2011 April 12

Current events of April 12, 2011 (2011-04-12) (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks 2011 Libyan civil war: Muammar Gaddafi's forces attack the eastern front line and shell the city of Misrata. (MSNBC) Arts and culture Almost all of 169 Chinese Christians detained on Sunday, after they tried to hold an outdoor prayer session, are released; the unofficial Chinese church vows to hold more services. (MSN Malaysia News) (BBC) Disasters Fukushima I nuclear accidents The Government of Japan raises the crisis level of the accidents to level 7, the highest level on the international scale and equivalent to the Chernobyl disaster. (NHK), (Reuters) Workers at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant fight a fire following another aftershock. (Reuters via Yahoo! News) The state of emergency in New Zealand following the 2011 Canterbury earthquake is extended for another week. (TV New Zealand) International relations Israeli-Palestinian conflict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mulls withdrawing IDF forces from parts of the West Bank and handing over full security control to the Palestinian Authority to demonstrate an Israeli diplomatic initiative that would block a possible "diplomatic tsunami" that could follow international recognition of a Palestinian state. (Haaretz) Pakistan seeks CIA reduction in the country by 25%-40% (BBC) Law and crime Los Angeles County prosecuters lodge four felony charges against a man suspected of bombing a Chabad house in the US suburb of Santa Monica, California. (LA Fox) Politics Police in Swaziland arrest any person in a group ahead of planned pro-democracy protests in the country. (BBC) (News24 South Africa) Former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is taken to hospital after suffering heart problems while being interrogated about alleged corruption and violence against protestors. (BBC), (AP via Fox News) Former Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty announces that he will be seeking the 2012 Republican nomination for President of the United States. (CNN) Leaders of Canada's major political parties hold an English language debate for the Canadian federal election. (BBC) The Senate of the US state of North Carolina pardons former Governor William Woods Holden who was impeached in 1871 because of his suspension of habeas corpus in the process of battling the Ku Klux Klan terror campaign. (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Sport Australian rugby league coach Wayne Bennett agrees to coach the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League in the next four seasons starting in 2012. (NRL)