News Timeline: April 2013

 

April 1 — Middle East: SYRIA

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Syria in March, making it the bloodiest month since the uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime started two years ago. (April 10): One of the Syrian opposition groups fighting the Assad regime, the al-Nusra Front, announces its merger with al-Qaeda in Iraq. The jihadist Al-Nusra group is on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The news about the merger raises concerns whether the arms provided for the anti-Assad opposition end up with terrorist groups.

April 4 — East Asia: NORTH KOREA

North Korea continues to make war threats and moves its mid-range missiles to its east coast. In response, the United States moves missile defense shields to Guam. (April 8): North Korea withdraws its workers from the joint North-South Korean Kaesong industrial park, where more than 50,000 North Koreans find employment. (April 18): North Korea offers talks to reduce tensions, but only after the United Nations lifts sanctions against the country and the United States and South Korea end their joint military exercises.

April 15 — Latin America: VENEZUELA

Venezuelan Interim President Nicolas Maduro narrowly wins presidential elections, defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. Hundreds of both government and opposition supporters take to the streets. As president, Maduro faces many challenges governing this deeply divided country, some of them being high inflation and soaring crime rates.

April 15 — Africa/International Organizations: CHAD/MALI/UNITED NATIONS

Chad is withdrawing its troops from Mali, saying it does not want to get involved in a guerilla-type of war with the Mali Islamic insurgents. The troops from Chad, France and other African countries regained Mali’s northern territory from the rebels, but the insurgents that withdrew into the Sahara Desert continue attacks. Chad, however, offers to contribute 11,000 troops for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali. (April 25): The United Nations approves a 12,600-strong UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA for Mali.

April 18 — Europe: SERBIA/KOSOVO

Brokered by the European Union, Serbia and its breakaway-province, Kosovo, reach an agreement aimed at normalizing relations between the two entities. According to the deal, Serbia recognizes Kosovo’s legal authority over its Serbian minority, but the Kosovo Serbs get their own police and justice representatives within the Kosovo courts. The agreement also gives the green light for the European Union to start accession negotiations with Serbia. Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia still does not recognize it as an independent state.

April 18 — North America: UNITED STATES

Two bombs placed in pressure cookers and hidden in two backpacks explode at the finishing line of the Boston marathon killing three people and injuring dozens. Two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens and Islamic extremists who lived in the United States since the early 1990s, are responsible for the bombings.

April 18 — South Asia: PAKISTAN

A court in Pakistan orders the arrest of former President General Pervez Musharraf for his controversial decision of dismissing judges, including the chief justice, and putting them under house arrest after imposing emergency rule in 2007. He has also been disqualified from contesting the upcoming election and faces other criminal charges, including treason, and threats of assassination by the Taliban. The interim government puts Musharraf under house arrest.

April 20 — Europe: ITALY

The Italian parliament reelects President Giorgio Napolitano for an unprecedented second seven-year term after five rounds of votes failed to produce his successor. Eighty-seven-year old Napolitano is seen as a stabilizing force in Italian politics. (April 28): A new Italian government is sworn in, with Enrico Letta as prime minister. He has formed a grand coalition that includes his Democratic Party (PD), Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL), and Mario Monti’s centrist Civic Choice party.

April 24 — South Asia: BANGLADESH

More than 500 people die and several thousands are injured in the collapse of a clothing factory building in Bangladesh. The disaster brings to spotlight appalling working conditions in the country’s factories and sparks massive protests calling for better salaries and improvements of working conditions.

April 30 – North America: UNITED STATES

United States President Barack Obama promises a new push to close the controversial detention and interrogation facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba that has been in operation for 11 years. During his presidential campaign in 2008, Obama promised to close the prison within a year. The new focus on the facility comes amid a hunger strike by more than a 100 detainees out of the 166 detainees still remaining in the prison. They are protesting their indefinite detention