Portal:Current events/2012 April 24

• Arab Spring:
  • Bahraini uprising: After demanding the cancellation of the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix, the end of the crackdown on dissent, and the release of her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja on hunger strike in prison for the past 76 days, Zainab al-Khawaja is arrested by regime forces. (BBC)
  • Syrian uprising: Three people are injured in a car bombing in central Damascus, blamed by the regime-backed state television on an "armed terrorist group". The opposition say around sixty people were killed nationwide yesterday. (Al Jazeera)

• Fitch Ratings upgrades Ford Motor Co., returning its stock to investment grade status. (Reuters)

• The Pentagon is to set up the Defense Clandestine Service is intended to focus on the challenges posed to U.S. interests by countries such as Iran, North Korea and China. (The Guardian)
• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to make legal under Israeli law three settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, to "formalise the status" of Bruchin and Rechelim, in the north, and Sansana, near Hebron in the south. The Palestinian Authority criticises the decision. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• South Sudan:
  • Salva Kiir, the President of South Sudan, visits the People's Republic of China seeking assistance to build an oil pipeline. (AP via ABC News)
  • Kiir claims that the attacks by Sudan on his country amount to a declaration of war. (AP via KSL)
  • The United Nations reports that there have been at least 16 civilian deaths in South Sudan and 34 people injured. (AP via Huffington Post)
  • Security officials in Sudan arrest three Catholic aid workers and close down the office of Caritas in South Darfur as the three were traveling to South Sudan. (Catholic Radio Network)
• Leon Panetta, the United States Secretary of Defense, warns North Korea against further provocations against South Korea. (AP via The Washington Post)

• News International phone hacking scandal:
  • Appearing before the Leveson Inquiry, James Murdoch tells the hearing that News International's corporate systems failed to pick up on legal issues posed by its news gathering techniques. (BBC) (The Irish Times)
  • British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband calls for Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt to resign after evidence at the hearing appears to show his support for News Corporation's bid to take control of BSkyB. (BBC)
  • Emails appear to show Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was prepared to lobby Jeremy Hunt in support of the BSkyB takeover in return for support for the Scottish National Party from The Scottish Sun. (The Scotsman) (BBC)
• Imprisoned U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning's defence insist his case was mishandled by American prosecutors and must now be thrown out. (Al Jazeera)
• Ireland's police watchdog rules that there are no grounds for any criminal case against any of five officers involved in the 31 March 2011 incident known as the “rape tape” controversy, resulting from the inadvertent video recording of a sergeant in a patrol car joking about the rape of two women. (Irish Examiner) (The Journal)
• British police arrest five people in the English town of Luton on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. (BBC)
• A 33-year-old Fairview Heights, Illinois man who had been ordered to stay away from an army recruiting office there is accused of the attempted firebombing of the Robert A. Young Federal Building in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. (STL Today)

• United States Republican presidential primaries, 2012:
  • Voters in five US states go to the polls, with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney projected to win in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. (ABC News) (NBC Politics) (The Guardian)
  • A spokesman for Newt Gingrich announces he will remain in the primary until the convention, despite having been placed behind in opinion polling. (ABC News)
• Pennsylvania 2012 primary elections
  • U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pennsylvania) is defeated in the redrawn 12th congressional district Democratic primary by U.S. Rep. Mark Critz. (Beaver County Times)
  • U.S. Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pennsylvania) is defeated in the redrawn 17th congressional district Democratic primary by Matt Cartwright. (Washington Post)

• In the UEFA Champions League semi-final, Chelsea pull off a remarkable comeback against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou, coming back from two goals down despite having captain John Terry sent off, central defender Gary Cahill injured in the opening minutes and Didier Drogba's concession of a penalty to Lionel Messi which hits the crossbar. Chelsea are left without the suspended quartet of Terry, Ramires, Branislav Ivanović and Raul Meireles for the final at the Allianz Arena. (BBC) (The Guardian) (RTE)
• An arrest warrant is issued for Premier League footballer Steven Pienaar after he failed to appear in court to answer speeding charges. (BBC)