Portal:Current events/2012 April 21

• Arab Spring:
  • Bahraini uprising:
    • Demonstrators against the regime flood a main highway in a march stretching for miles as Bahrain's rulers struggle to contain opposition anger ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. (The Daily Telegraph)
    • Police fire tear gas at demonstrators outside the capital Manama ahead of the Grand Prix. (RTE)
    • Salah Abbas Habib is beaten to death by police supporting the Bahraini regime. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
    • The regime stifles coverage of demonstrations against its rule by denying entry to journalists from news organisations including Sky, which holds the UK TV rights to air the controversial Formula 1 Grand Prix, as well as CNN, Reuters and the Financial Times. (The Guardian)
    • The Bahraini regime presses ahead with its plans to use the Formula 1 Grand Prix as a symbol of national unity. (The Irish Times)
    • FIA president Jean Todt dismisses concerns about the reputation of Formula 1 following week-long damaging headlines and calls for a boycott over its support of the regime. (Daily Mail)
  • Syrian uprising: The United Nations Security Council votes to send 300 more observers to Syria. (The Guardian)
  • Three people are killed during a flare of fresh fighting in the Libyan desert town of Kufra overnight. (France 24)

• Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, west of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, injuring at least 117, with 56 serious injuries. (BBC) (Channel Asia News)

• Japan agrees to write off more than US$3.7 billion of debt owed by Burma and to resume development aid. (BBC)
• The U.S. Secret Service dismisses three more employees over the prostitution scandal involving U.S. agents at last weekend's 6th Summit of the Americas in Colombia. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• Rangers in Kenya shoot dead five poachers in a clash in the Great Rift Valley. (IOL)

• The Rutte cabinet, the minority cabinet of the Netherlands, collapses after partner Party for Freedom suspends its support. (NOS)

• Four new species of freshwater crab –bright purple in colour– are found in the Philippines. (Bangkok Post)

• In Major League Baseball, Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox pitches a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners. It is the 21st perfect game in MLB history and the third in team history. (MLB.com)