Portal:Current events/2018 April 18

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Terrorism in Israel
    • As Israel marks Memorial Day followed immediately by Independence Day a truck driver is arrested at a checkpoint at the Reihan Crossing in the West Bank suspected of being on his way to launch a terror attack. The truck's contents were marked as supplies for communities on the border but were actually explosives. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman orders the checkpoint closed. Henceforth only humanitarian cases will be allowed passage at Israel's discretion. (Israel National News) (Haaretz)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War
    • It is revealed a recent airstrike mounted by Israel against an airbase in Syria targeted an Iranian Tor missile air defence system. (Haaretz)
• Libyan Crisis (2011–present)
  • A car bomb targeting a military official in Benghazi, Libya kills one and injures two. The official survives. (Reuters)
• Terrorism in the United States
  • Three men are convicted in Kansas of plotting a mosque bombing. (CNBC)
• Terrorism in Egypt
  • An Egyptian court jails three Muslim Brotherhood members for life and 36 others for ten years each for terror offences. Fourteen others are acquitted. (News24)
• Eternal derby of Bulgarian football
  • A bomb explodes at a football match between Bulgarian rivals Levski Sofia and CSKA at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, injuring two police officers, one seriously. It is the second time a match between the two has seen an explosion, with a similar incident killing a man in 2000. (ESPN UK)
• Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
  • UK media regulator Ofcom launches investigations into RT over possible breaches of impartiality rules in its coverage of the poisoning. Ofcom warns producer TV Novosti it may be forced to cease UK broadcasting. (Reuters)

• Cinema of Saudi Arabia
  • A 35-year ban on movie theaters ends in Saudi Arabia with Marvel Studios' Black Panther being the first film to show. (CNN)

• Economy of Iran
  • Iran's central bank officially switches from using the U.S. dollar to the euro in its international transactions. (Reuters)

• Shipwrecks in 2018
  • Search and rescue operations end after a crewman missing after a fire broke out aboard drillship MV Geo Technical in the South China Sea yesterday is found dead on the vessel. A gas leak discovered today was hampering the efforts. (The Star) (The Maritime Executive)
• 2018 in Puerto Rico
  • Puerto Rico experiences an island-wide blackout after an excavator accidentally downs a transmission line. (AP News)
• Accidents involving helicopters
  • An Iranian helicopter crashes into the Persian Gulf whilst evacuating an unwell oil worker. Two people die. (Trend)
• Associated Aviation Flight 361
  • Nigerian investigators release a final report finding the disaster occurred because of an unidentified engine malfunction which was mismanaged by the crew leading to a stall. The resulting crash killed fifteen. (The Aviation Herald)
• Saratov Airlines Flight 703
  • Russian investigators say the flight crew received indications of a failure in the heating for the pitot-static system, which measures parameters including airspeed. The crew received mismatching airspeed information prior to the crash near Moscow. All 71 on board died. (The Aviation Herald)
• A bus and a truck collide near Winterthur, Switzerland, injuring 15. (ABC News)

• Tajikistan–Uzbekistan relations
  • Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agree to hold military drills for the first time. (Trend)
• Iran and weapons of mass destruction
  • Iran reveals several new missiles on Islamic Republic of Iran Army Day, including the new air missile defense system Kamin-2. (Tasmin News Agency)

• Criminal transmission of HIV in the United Kingdom
  • A Crown Court in England jails Daryll Rowe for life with a minimum of 12 years for deliberately infecting five men with HIV and attempting to infect five more. He is the first person convicted of deliberate HIV transmission in the United Kingdom. (BBC News)
• Basque conflict
  • Basque separatist group ETA announces its dissolution in May. (EFE)

• Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
  • Cuban president Raúl Castro prepares to step down as Miguel Díaz-Canel is elected as his successor. This marks the first time since the Cuban Revolution that the country is not led by a member of the Castro family. (Washington Post)
• Protests against Donald Trump
  • Pittsburgh Police prepares large riot gears for a potential protest if Donald Trump fires Robert Mueller. (Washington Post)
• Protests in Nicaragua against Daniel Ortega
  • Initially sparked by proposed social security reforms, culminated in demands for president Daniel Ortega to step down and a government crackdown. (The Guardian).

• 2018 in spaceflight
  • NASA's TESS exoplanet space telescope, whose launch was initially delayed, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket. The first stage of the rocket successfully landed on SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (CNN) (Space)
• The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory states that Kīlauea is showing unusually high activity and that a new vent could form. (Big Island Now)
• Stratolaunch announce plans to test fly the world's largest plane this year. (Engadget)

• 2018 Gaza border protests
  • Reports emerge Palestinian cyclist Alaa Al-Daly, 21, had his leg amputated after being shot by an Israeli sniper on the first day of the protests and as a result can no longer compete in the upcoming Asian Games. (Reuters)