Portal:Current events/2012 April 8

Current events of April 8, 2012 (2012-04-08) (Sunday)

Armed conflict and attacks Syrian uprising: At least 40 people are reported killed across Syria ahead of the Tuesday deadline for Syrian armed forces to withdraw from cities, as part of a peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan. (CNN) In his annual Easter message from the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI calls particularly for "an end to the bloodshed" in Syria. (CNN) Afghanistan and the United States reach an agreement giving the Government of Afghanistan more control over night raids. (Wall Street Journal) A car bomb explodes in the Nigerian city of Kaduna killing dozens of people. (AP via Google News) (via Herald-Sun) Arts and culture The Internal Affairs Minister of Israel declares German poet and former Waffen-SS soldier Günter Grass, recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature, a persona non grata in a row over his poem "What Must Be Said". (Haaretz) (The Times of Israel) (The Jerusalem Post) Disasters Rescuers search for possible survivors of the 2012 Siachen Glacier avalanche that hit a Pakistani Army base and has buried up to 135 people, near the disputed Siachen Glacier. (AAP via SBS) International relations The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari arrives in India on the first visit by a Pakistani President in seven years. (BBC) Law and crime U.S. police arrest two men suspected in carrying out a shooting attack in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that happened the day before, leaving three people dead and two injured. The shootings are being investigated as a hate crime. (CNN) Politics Voters in South Ossetia go to the polls for the second round of a presidential election with ex-KGB officer Leonid Tibilov elected. (AFP via Google News) (Reuters via Euronews) The President of Mali Amadou Toumani Toure resigns as part of a deal with coup leaders. (BBC) Sport American golfer Bubba Watson wins the US Masters defeating Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in a playoff. (The Age)