April 1, 2012, Season 2 Premiere Game of Thrones
April 1, 2012,
April 1, 2012,
April 1, 2012, The 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards are held in the US city of Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Eli Young Band winning song of the year for "Crazy Girl" and Taylor Swift winning Entertainer of the Year. (AP via Access Atlanta)
April 1, 2012, The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt nominates chairman Khairat El-Shater as a candidate for the presidential elections in May 2012. (BBC)
April 2, 2012, Release of Killing Joke album 2012
April 2, 2012, Release of Nicki Minaj album Roman Reloaded
April 2, 2012,
April 2, 2012, On the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina, Argentina threatens action against United States and United Kingdom banks, while UK Prime Minister David Cameron calls Argentina's 1982 invasion "a profound wrong". (Al Jazeera)
April 2, 2012,
April 2, 2012,
April 2, 2012, The Colombian leftist group FARC releases its last remaining police and military captives. (BBC)
April 2, 2012, The three widows and two daughters of Osama bin Laden are convicted of illegally living in Pakistan and sentenced to 45 days in jail and fined $114 each. (BBC)
April 2, 2012, A mass shooting at Oikos University at Oakland, California leaves at least 7 people dead and three injured, according to a police spokesperson. (CNN)
April 2, 2012, The data from the 1940 United States Census are released including information on 132 million people. (Washington Post)
April 3, 2012,
April 3, 2012,
April 3, 2012,
April 3, 2012, Tornadoes impact the Dallas, Texas area. (Yahoo)
April 3, 2012, The latest ASEAN summit begins in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. (Channel News Asia)
April 4, 2012, Release of Titanic 3D
April 4, 2012,
April 4, 2012,
April 4, 2012,
April 4, 2012,
April 5, 2012, Series Premiere of Scandal
April 5, 2012,
April 5, 2012,
April 5, 2012, Sky News admits illegally hacking emails belonging to members of the public on two separate occasions. (BBC)
April 5, 2012, 2010–2012 Greek protests: Riot police and protesters clash in Athens, hours after a 77-year-old pensioner's suicide outside parliament. (BBC)
April 5, 2012, International internet group Anonymous protests censorship by targeting Chinese websites, including government bureaus in several Chinese cities. (Al Jazeera)
April 5, 2012, Russian businessman Victor Bout is sentenced to 25 years in prison for smuggling weapons to the Colombian FARC guerilla movement. (RT)
April 6, 2012, Release of American Reunion
April 6, 2012, Thomas Kinkade, one of the most popular painters in the United States, dies in Los Gatos, California. (San Jose Mercury)
April 6, 2012, A ban on the display of tobacco products by retailers comes into force in England. Lawmakers hope it will lead to a reduction in the number of young people taking up smoking. (BBC)
April 6, 2012, A United States Navy FA-18 Hornet crashes into an apartment complex in the US city of Virginia Beach, Virginia with minimal injuries and no fatalities. (WAVY-TV)
April 7, 2012,
April 7, 2012, An avalanche buries about 130 Pakistani Army soldiers near the Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas near the border with India. (MSNBC)
April 8, 2012, Season 2 Premiere of The Borgias
April 8, 2012, Season 3 Premiere of Nurse Jackie
April 8, 2012,
April 8, 2012, American golfer Bubba Watson wins the US Masters defeating Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in a playoff. (The Age)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 8, 2012, Afghanistan and the United States reach an agreement giving the Government of Afghanistan more control over night raids. (Wall Street Journal)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 9, 2012,
April 9, 2012,German Health Minister Daniel Bahr tells Die Welt that the Israeli government's declaration of Günter Grass as persona non grata in reaction to his poem "What Must Be Said" is "exaggerated". Meanwhile, a sculpture celebrating freedom of speech in Göttingen is daubed in red paint telling the recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature to "shut your mouth". (Haaretz)
April 9, 2012,The Lion King becomes the all-time highest grossing show on Broadway, overtaking The Phantom of the Opera. (Wall Street Journal)
April 9, 2012, Facebook buys photo sharing application Instagram for $1 billion. (USA Today)
April 9, 2012, North Korea positions a rocket for a launch later in the week, drawing protests from the Western World, South Korea and Japan, all of which suspect the rocket may be a ballistic missile test. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
April 10, 2012,
April 10, 2012, American politician Rick Santorum suspends his candidacy for the Republican nomination, increasing the likelihood that Mitt Romney will be the nominee. (CBS News)
April 10, 2012,
April 10, 2012, American technology company Apple Inc. says that the company is worth more than US$600 billion dollars, making it the largest by market capitalization in the world. (Google News via AP)
April 10, 2012, A United Nations backed deadline for withdrawal of Syrian army troops and weapons passes, with no end to the violence. (BBC)
April 10, 2012, North Korean rocket: North Korean space officials advise that all preparations have been completed for the launch. (AP via USA Today)
April 10, 2012, A second psychiatric evaluation finds that Anders Behring Breivik is sane enough to face trial for the 2011 Norway attacks and serve a prison sentence if convicted. (BBC)
April 10, 2012, The attorneys for George Zimmerman, the main person of interest in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, say that they quit representing Zimmerman due to them losing contact with him. (CNN)
April 11, 2012, Indonesian earthquakes: An earthquake occurs off the coast of Aceh in Indonesia with a preliminary magnitude of 8.6 and a tsunami warning issued. There are five indirect fatalities. (NineMSN)
-An 8.2 magnitude aftershock occurs soon after. (News Limited)
April 11, 2012, A Florida special prosecutor charges George Zimmerman with murder in the second degree in relation to the death of Trayvon Martin. (CNN)
April 11, 2012,
April 11, 2012, Kim Jong Un is named as the First Secretary of the North Korean Workers Party with his late father Kim Jong Il declared as its "eternal" General Secretary. (AP via Yahoo News)
April 12, 2012,
April 12, 2012, North Korea's efforts to launch a long range rocket ends in apparent failure with the rocket breaking up soon after launch. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
-North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is given two posts in the Workers Party of North Korea previously held by his father Kim Jong-Il, including chairman of the party's Central Military Commission and a standing member of the Politburo. (BBC)
April 12, 2012, A ceasefire to military operations in the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising comes into effect. (AFP via Melbourne Herald-Sun)
April 12, 2012, The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford and the Vatican Library announce they will make 1.5 million pages of ancient texts available on the Internet. (Vatican Radio)
April 13, 2012, Release of Lookout
April 13, 2012, Release of Cabin in the Woods
April 13, 2012, Release of The Three Stooges
April 15, 2012, Events and ceremonies are held around the world marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. (The Observer)
April 15, 2012, Russian Orthodox patriarch Kirill says the church is stronger than its critics after a series of scandals. (AFP)
April 15, 2012, The U.S. Secret Service announces it has put 11 agents on leave while it investigates alleged "inappropriate conduct" in Cartagena, Colombia, before the 6th Summit of the Americas there attended by U.S. President Barack Obama. It emerges that five soldiers are also facing investigation. (Associated Press via The Guardian)
April 15, 2012, In his first public speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calls for a push towards "final victory" at a ceremony in Kim Il-sung Square in the capital Pyongyang. (Al Jazeera)
April 16, 2012,
April 16, 2012, The Sex Pistols' song "God Save the Queen", which was banned by the BBC, is to be re-released 35 years after its debut, in time for June's Diamond Jubilee. (BBC)
April 16, 2012, Jim Yong Kim is selected as President of the World Bank. (Al Jazeera)
April 16, 2012, Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner submits a bill that would nationalise 51% of YPF to Congress. (The Guardian)
April 16, 2012, A 6.7-magnitude earthquake, at a depth of 23 mi (37 km), rocks Valparaíso, Chile. (CNN)
April 16, 2012, The U.S. military's top officer Martin Dempsey speaks of being "embarrassed" and tells a Pentagon news conference "we let the boss down" in relation to allegations that United States Secret Service agents habitually associated with prostitutes in Colombia. Pentagon spokesman George E. Little tells reporters that the number of military staff involved could be more than the five originally reported. (BBC)
April 16, 2012, The trial of confessed perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, starts in Oslo, Norway. (CNN)
April 16, 2012, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, the heir to the Dutch throne, buys a villa for €4.5 million beside the Greek town of Kranidi near a home owned by Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin. (BBC)
April 16, 2012,
April 17, 2012, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announces that Hezbollah are willing to mediate between the Syrian government and the opposition, in his first interview with the West in six years, in the first episode of a new interview show The World Tomorrow, hosted by Julian Assange. (CNN)
April 17, 2012, The St Cuthbert Gospel, the oldest intact European book, is to stay on UK territory due to the £9 million raised for purchase by the British Library. (BBC)
April 17, 2012, Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics both agree to settlement talks over pending smartphone related patent litigation. These talks have come about at the urging of U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh. (Reuters)
April 17, 2012, Senior U.S. officials admit for the first time that the Secret Service prostitution scandal during the 6th Summit of the Americas involved as many as 20 women, 11 American agents and some military personnel. (BBC)
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012, War in Afghanistan: Senior U.S. officials condemn graphic photos depicting their troops posing with the mangled corpses of suspected Afghan suicide bombers on at least two separate occasions months apart. The Los Angeles Times defends its publication of the photos after being warned against the move by the U.S. military. (Al Jazeera)
April 18, 2012, American television personality and producer Dick Clark dies of a heart attack at the age of 82. (ABC)
April 18, 2012, Cuba, blocked amid intense pressure from left-wing countries by the U.S. from attending the 7th Summit of the Americas, hails a Latin American and Caribbean "rebellion" against U.S. dominance at last weekend's 6th Summit of the Americas in Colombia, with U.S. President Barack Obama forced to use his "imperial veto" to stop the summit calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against it. (BBC)
April 18, 2012, North Korea rejects criticism from countries on the United Nations Security Council regarding its failed rocket launch, and breaks off an agreement that would see it halt testing of nuclear weapons in exchange for food aid. (AFP)
April 18, 2012, Pat Summitt resigns as head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team. (New York Times)
April 19, 2012,
April 19, 2012, India test launches its long-range Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile. (Times of India)
April 19, 2012, South Korea deploys new cruise missiles capable of destroying targets such as missile and nuclear bases anywhere in North Korea. (AFP)
April 19, 2012, Syrian uprising: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Syria has failed in its obligation to pull its troops out of urban areas, according to a peace plan. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, Two papers on Alan Turing's theory of code-breaking are released to the UK's National Archives after 70 years. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, Irish comedian Dylan Moran becomes the first professional English-speaking comedian ever to perform in Russia. The routine references Russia's new law banning "homosexual propaganda" and jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, The Band singer and drummer Levon Helm dies of throat cancer at the age of 71. (The New York Times)
April 19, 2012, An agent at the centre of the U.S. prostitution scandal in Colombia denied one of his escorts $770 from an agreed fee of $800, according to The New York Times, thus prompting the row that revealed the scandal to the public. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, says he planned to behead former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and post the footage on the internet. (The Guardian)
April 19, 2012, A report comissioned by the Irish Department of Health finds significant increase in narcolepsy among individuals given the GlaxoSmithKline developed swine flu vaccine Pandemrix compared to those who did not receive the vaccine. (The Irish Times)
April 19, 2012, In golf, 13 year-old Chinese Guan Tian-lang becomes the youngest player to compete on the PGA European Tour when he bogeys at the Volvo China Open. (BBC)
April 20, 2012, Release of Think Like a Man
April 20, 2012, Release of Chimpanzee
April 20, 2012, Release of The Lucky One
April 20, 2012,
April 20, 2012,
April 20, 2012,
April 20, 2012,
April 21, 2012,
April 21, 2012,
April 21, 2012,
April 21, 2012, The United States investigates dozens of its troops in Afghanistan in relation to use and distribution of heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011 as the U.S. military struggles to watch its far-flung troops and monitor for substance abuse. (AP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
April 21, 2012, 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)
April 21, 2012, Four new species of freshwater crab –bright purple in colour– are found in the Philippines. (Bangkok Post)
April 21, 2012, 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)
April 22, 2012,
April 22, 2012,
April 22, 2012, Bahraini uprising: Renewed protests against the regime break out overnight with police firing tear gas and stun grenades at civilians. Chants of "Down with Hamad," calling for the King of Bahrain to be ousted from power, are reported by witnesses. (RTE)
April 22, 2012, U.S. and Afghan negotiators finalise an agreement concerning the continuing U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdraws its troops at the end of 2014. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, A festival of William Shakespeare's 37 plays performed polyglotically, from Swahili to sign language, begins as part of the World Shakespeare Festival on the anniversary of the Bard of Avon's birth. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, Brazilian actor Tiago Klimeck dies at the age of 27 after accidentally hanging himself while playing Judas in an Easter Passion play performed in Itararé, São Paulo. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, White House lawyers launch an internal investigation into the role its advance staff may have played in the U.S. Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, though no evidence has been found to implicate anyone in the scandal. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, Kazakhstan issues an official ‘thank you’ to Sacha Baron Cohen for his comedy character Borat Sagdiyev despite an initial ban. (Daily Mail)
April 23, 2012, North Korea threatens to reduce South Korea to "ashes" after the failed North Korean rocket launch. (Toronto Star)
April 23, 2012, In accordance with a request from the South Korean government, China stops the deportation of North Korean defectors who escape to China. (Daily Yomiuri)
April 23, 2012, Sky News email hacking: The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom launches an investigation into the hacking of private email accounts by Sky News. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, Officials in Florida refuse to allow Bill Lee, the police chief who did not arrest George Zimmerman after he shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, to resign. George Zimmerman, now facing a murder charge, is released on bail and taken to a secret location. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, The North Carolina trial of former U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, concerning the use of illegal campaign donations to cover up an affair with a mistress, begins. (Reuters)
April 23, 2012, Scientists record what they believe to be the first adult white orca in the wild off the coast of Kamchatka, Russia. (BBC)
April 24, 2012, Release of Jack White album Blunderbuss
April 24, 2012,
April 24, 2012,
April 24, 2012, Fitch Ratings upgrades Ford Motor Co., returning its stock to investment grade status. (Reuters)
April 24, 2012, 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)
April 24, 2012, 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)
April 24, 2012, Leon Panetta, the United States Secretary of Defense, warns North Korea against further provocations against South Korea. (AP via The Washington Post)
April 24, 2012, 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)
April 24, 2012, Imprisoned U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning's defence insist his case was mishandled by American prosecutors and must now be thrown out. (Al Jazeera)
April 24, 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)
April 25, 2012,
April 25, 2012,
April 25, 2012,
April 25, 2012, A judge on the Cook County Circuit Court rules that the Amazon tax levied on Internet businesses by the US state of Illinois is unconstitutional. (Chicago Tribune)
April 25, 2012, News International phone hacking scandal:
-Adam Smith, a special adviser to Jeremy Hunt, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, resigns over his role in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation's attempt to take over satellite broadcaster BSkyB. (AP via Seattle Times)
-Rupert Murdoch gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry, claiming former British Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown "declared war" on his organisation after The Sun newspaper came out in support of the Conservatives in 2009, an allegation denied by Brown. (BBC)
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012, The Argentine Senate passes with an overwhelming majority a bill submitted by president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to nationalise 51% of YPF. (Reuters)
April 26, 2012, In the midst of the ongoing trial against Anders Behring Breivik for his actions on July 22, 2011, more than 40,000 people gather on Youngstorget in Oslo to show support for all those affected. (TV2).
April 26, 2012, In a second day of evidence, Rupert Murdoch tells the Leveson Inquiry there was a "cover-up" at the News of the World, but that it was kept hidden from him. (BBC)
April 26, 2012, In American football, the National Football League draft commences in New York City's Radio City Music Hall, with quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III the first two players chosen. (Wall Street Journal)
April 27, 2012, Release of The Raven
April 27, 2012, Release of The 5 Year Engagement
April 27, 2012, Release of The Pirates: Band of Misfits
April 27, 2012, Release of Safe
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012, Former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's wives and children are deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. (Al-Jazeera)
April 28, 2012,
April 28, 2012,
April 28, 2012, One person dies and more than 110 are injured when a tent collapses at a restaurant near Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. (CNN)
April 28, 2012, Blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng – who fled from house arrest – reportedly takes refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing. (Al Jazeera)
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012, Seven people are killed, including three children, when a vehicle they were in flipped over on the Bronx River Parkway in The Bronx, New York City. (CNN)
April 29, 2012, The final deadline (no more extensions) for the total destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles under the international Chemical Weapons Convention is reached. (RIA Novosti)
April 30, 2012, Release of Marylin Manson album Born Villian
April 30, 2012, One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in New York City, overtaking the Empire State Building. The finished building will stand at 1,776 feet (541 m). (CBS News)
April 30, 2012,
April 30, 2012,
April 1, 2012,
April 1, 2012,
April 1, 2012, The 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards are held in the US city of Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Eli Young Band winning song of the year for "Crazy Girl" and Taylor Swift winning Entertainer of the Year. (AP via Access Atlanta)
April 1, 2012, The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt nominates chairman Khairat El-Shater as a candidate for the presidential elections in May 2012. (BBC)
April 2, 2012, Release of Killing Joke album 2012
April 2, 2012, Release of Nicki Minaj album Roman Reloaded
April 2, 2012,
April 2, 2012, On the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina, Argentina threatens action against United States and United Kingdom banks, while UK Prime Minister David Cameron calls Argentina's 1982 invasion "a profound wrong". (Al Jazeera)
April 2, 2012,
April 2, 2012,
April 2, 2012, The Colombian leftist group FARC releases its last remaining police and military captives. (BBC)
April 2, 2012, The three widows and two daughters of Osama bin Laden are convicted of illegally living in Pakistan and sentenced to 45 days in jail and fined $114 each. (BBC)
April 2, 2012, A mass shooting at Oikos University at Oakland, California leaves at least 7 people dead and three injured, according to a police spokesperson. (CNN)
April 2, 2012, The data from the 1940 United States Census are released including information on 132 million people. (Washington Post)
April 3, 2012,
April 3, 2012,
April 3, 2012,
April 3, 2012, Tornadoes impact the Dallas, Texas area. (Yahoo)
April 3, 2012, The latest ASEAN summit begins in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. (Channel News Asia)
April 4, 2012, Release of Titanic 3D
April 4, 2012,
April 4, 2012,
April 4, 2012,
April 4, 2012,
April 5, 2012, Series Premiere of Scandal
April 5, 2012,
April 5, 2012,
April 5, 2012, Sky News admits illegally hacking emails belonging to members of the public on two separate occasions. (BBC)
April 5, 2012, 2010–2012 Greek protests: Riot police and protesters clash in Athens, hours after a 77-year-old pensioner's suicide outside parliament. (BBC)
April 5, 2012, International internet group Anonymous protests censorship by targeting Chinese websites, including government bureaus in several Chinese cities. (Al Jazeera)
April 5, 2012, Russian businessman Victor Bout is sentenced to 25 years in prison for smuggling weapons to the Colombian FARC guerilla movement. (RT)
April 6, 2012, Release of American Reunion
April 6, 2012, Thomas Kinkade, one of the most popular painters in the United States, dies in Los Gatos, California. (San Jose Mercury)
April 6, 2012, A ban on the display of tobacco products by retailers comes into force in England. Lawmakers hope it will lead to a reduction in the number of young people taking up smoking. (BBC)
April 6, 2012, A United States Navy FA-18 Hornet crashes into an apartment complex in the US city of Virginia Beach, Virginia with minimal injuries and no fatalities. (WAVY-TV)
April 7, 2012,
April 7, 2012, An avalanche buries about 130 Pakistani Army soldiers near the Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas near the border with India. (MSNBC)
April 8, 2012, Season 2 Premiere of The Borgias
April 8, 2012, Season 3 Premiere of Nurse Jackie
April 8, 2012,
April 8, 2012, American golfer Bubba Watson wins the US Masters defeating Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa in a playoff. (The Age)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 8, 2012, Afghanistan and the United States reach an agreement giving the Government of Afghanistan more control over night raids. (Wall Street Journal)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 8, 2012, 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)
April 9, 2012,
April 9, 2012,German Health Minister Daniel Bahr tells Die Welt that the Israeli government's declaration of Günter Grass as persona non grata in reaction to his poem "What Must Be Said" is "exaggerated". Meanwhile, a sculpture celebrating freedom of speech in Göttingen is daubed in red paint telling the recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature to "shut your mouth". (Haaretz)
April 9, 2012,The Lion King becomes the all-time highest grossing show on Broadway, overtaking The Phantom of the Opera. (Wall Street Journal)
April 9, 2012, Facebook buys photo sharing application Instagram for $1 billion. (USA Today)
April 9, 2012, North Korea positions a rocket for a launch later in the week, drawing protests from the Western World, South Korea and Japan, all of which suspect the rocket may be a ballistic missile test. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
April 10, 2012,
April 10, 2012, American politician Rick Santorum suspends his candidacy for the Republican nomination, increasing the likelihood that Mitt Romney will be the nominee. (CBS News)
April 10, 2012,
April 10, 2012, American technology company Apple Inc. says that the company is worth more than US$600 billion dollars, making it the largest by market capitalization in the world. (Google News via AP)
April 10, 2012, A United Nations backed deadline for withdrawal of Syrian army troops and weapons passes, with no end to the violence. (BBC)
April 10, 2012, North Korean rocket: North Korean space officials advise that all preparations have been completed for the launch. (AP via USA Today)
April 10, 2012, A second psychiatric evaluation finds that Anders Behring Breivik is sane enough to face trial for the 2011 Norway attacks and serve a prison sentence if convicted. (BBC)
April 10, 2012, The attorneys for George Zimmerman, the main person of interest in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, say that they quit representing Zimmerman due to them losing contact with him. (CNN)
April 11, 2012, Indonesian earthquakes: An earthquake occurs off the coast of Aceh in Indonesia with a preliminary magnitude of 8.6 and a tsunami warning issued. There are five indirect fatalities. (NineMSN)
-An 8.2 magnitude aftershock occurs soon after. (News Limited)
April 11, 2012, A Florida special prosecutor charges George Zimmerman with murder in the second degree in relation to the death of Trayvon Martin. (CNN)
April 11, 2012,
April 11, 2012, Kim Jong Un is named as the First Secretary of the North Korean Workers Party with his late father Kim Jong Il declared as its "eternal" General Secretary. (AP via Yahoo News)
April 12, 2012,
April 12, 2012, North Korea's efforts to launch a long range rocket ends in apparent failure with the rocket breaking up soon after launch. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
-North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is given two posts in the Workers Party of North Korea previously held by his father Kim Jong-Il, including chairman of the party's Central Military Commission and a standing member of the Politburo. (BBC)
April 12, 2012, A ceasefire to military operations in the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising comes into effect. (AFP via Melbourne Herald-Sun)
April 12, 2012, The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford and the Vatican Library announce they will make 1.5 million pages of ancient texts available on the Internet. (Vatican Radio)
April 13, 2012, Release of Lookout
April 13, 2012, Release of Cabin in the Woods
April 13, 2012, Release of The Three Stooges
April 13, 2012, North Korea's efforts to launch a long range rocket ends in apparent failure with the rocket breaking up soon after launch. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
April 13, 2012,Joe Vitt is named as the interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints for the 2012 season to replace Sean Payton, who was suspended earlier in the year for his role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. (Yahoo! Sports)
April 13, 2012, Tom Benson, owner of the Saints, agrees to buy the New Orleans Hornets from the National Basketball Association for an estimated $338 million. (Yahoo! Sports)
April 13, 2012,
April 14, 2012, Tornadoes touch down in the southern central Great Plains of the United States, with hail falling in Oklahoma. (CNN)
April 14, 2012, Iran and world powers, including the United States, Russia, and China, begin talks about Iran's nuclear program. (New York Times)
April 15, 2012, Events and ceremonies are held around the world marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. (The Observer)
April 15, 2012, Russian Orthodox patriarch Kirill says the church is stronger than its critics after a series of scandals. (AFP)
April 15, 2012, The U.S. Secret Service announces it has put 11 agents on leave while it investigates alleged "inappropriate conduct" in Cartagena, Colombia, before the 6th Summit of the Americas there attended by U.S. President Barack Obama. It emerges that five soldiers are also facing investigation. (Associated Press via The Guardian)
April 15, 2012, In his first public speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calls for a push towards "final victory" at a ceremony in Kim Il-sung Square in the capital Pyongyang. (Al Jazeera)
April 16, 2012,
April 16, 2012, The Sex Pistols' song "God Save the Queen", which was banned by the BBC, is to be re-released 35 years after its debut, in time for June's Diamond Jubilee. (BBC)
April 16, 2012, Jim Yong Kim is selected as President of the World Bank. (Al Jazeera)
April 16, 2012, Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner submits a bill that would nationalise 51% of YPF to Congress. (The Guardian)
April 16, 2012, A 6.7-magnitude earthquake, at a depth of 23 mi (37 km), rocks Valparaíso, Chile. (CNN)
April 16, 2012, The U.S. military's top officer Martin Dempsey speaks of being "embarrassed" and tells a Pentagon news conference "we let the boss down" in relation to allegations that United States Secret Service agents habitually associated with prostitutes in Colombia. Pentagon spokesman George E. Little tells reporters that the number of military staff involved could be more than the five originally reported. (BBC)
April 16, 2012, The trial of confessed perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, starts in Oslo, Norway. (CNN)
April 16, 2012, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, the heir to the Dutch throne, buys a villa for €4.5 million beside the Greek town of Kranidi near a home owned by Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin. (BBC)
April 16, 2012,
April 17, 2012, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announces that Hezbollah are willing to mediate between the Syrian government and the opposition, in his first interview with the West in six years, in the first episode of a new interview show The World Tomorrow, hosted by Julian Assange. (CNN)
April 17, 2012, The St Cuthbert Gospel, the oldest intact European book, is to stay on UK territory due to the £9 million raised for purchase by the British Library. (BBC)
April 17, 2012, Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics both agree to settlement talks over pending smartphone related patent litigation. These talks have come about at the urging of U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh. (Reuters)
April 17, 2012, Senior U.S. officials admit for the first time that the Secret Service prostitution scandal during the 6th Summit of the Americas involved as many as 20 women, 11 American agents and some military personnel. (BBC)
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012,
April 18, 2012, War in Afghanistan: Senior U.S. officials condemn graphic photos depicting their troops posing with the mangled corpses of suspected Afghan suicide bombers on at least two separate occasions months apart. The Los Angeles Times defends its publication of the photos after being warned against the move by the U.S. military. (Al Jazeera)
April 18, 2012, American television personality and producer Dick Clark dies of a heart attack at the age of 82. (ABC)
April 18, 2012, Cuba, blocked amid intense pressure from left-wing countries by the U.S. from attending the 7th Summit of the Americas, hails a Latin American and Caribbean "rebellion" against U.S. dominance at last weekend's 6th Summit of the Americas in Colombia, with U.S. President Barack Obama forced to use his "imperial veto" to stop the summit calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against it. (BBC)
April 18, 2012, North Korea rejects criticism from countries on the United Nations Security Council regarding its failed rocket launch, and breaks off an agreement that would see it halt testing of nuclear weapons in exchange for food aid. (AFP)
April 18, 2012, Pat Summitt resigns as head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team. (New York Times)
April 19, 2012,
April 19, 2012, India test launches its long-range Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile. (Times of India)
April 19, 2012, South Korea deploys new cruise missiles capable of destroying targets such as missile and nuclear bases anywhere in North Korea. (AFP)
April 19, 2012, Syrian uprising: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Syria has failed in its obligation to pull its troops out of urban areas, according to a peace plan. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, Two papers on Alan Turing's theory of code-breaking are released to the UK's National Archives after 70 years. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, Irish comedian Dylan Moran becomes the first professional English-speaking comedian ever to perform in Russia. The routine references Russia's new law banning "homosexual propaganda" and jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, The Band singer and drummer Levon Helm dies of throat cancer at the age of 71. (The New York Times)
April 19, 2012, An agent at the centre of the U.S. prostitution scandal in Colombia denied one of his escorts $770 from an agreed fee of $800, according to The New York Times, thus prompting the row that revealed the scandal to the public. (BBC)
April 19, 2012, Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, says he planned to behead former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and post the footage on the internet. (The Guardian)
April 19, 2012, A report comissioned by the Irish Department of Health finds significant increase in narcolepsy among individuals given the GlaxoSmithKline developed swine flu vaccine Pandemrix compared to those who did not receive the vaccine. (The Irish Times)
April 19, 2012, In golf, 13 year-old Chinese Guan Tian-lang becomes the youngest player to compete on the PGA European Tour when he bogeys at the Volvo China Open. (BBC)
April 20, 2012, Release of Think Like a Man
April 20, 2012, Release of Chimpanzee
April 20, 2012, Release of The Lucky One
April 20, 2012,
April 20, 2012,
April 20, 2012,
April 20, 2012,
April 21, 2012,
April 21, 2012,
April 21, 2012,
April 21, 2012, The United States investigates dozens of its troops in Afghanistan in relation to use and distribution of heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011 as the U.S. military struggles to watch its far-flung troops and monitor for substance abuse. (AP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
April 21, 2012, 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)
April 21, 2012, Four new species of freshwater crab –bright purple in colour– are found in the Philippines. (Bangkok Post)
April 21, 2012, 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)
April 22, 2012,
April 22, 2012,
April 22, 2012, Bahraini uprising: Renewed protests against the regime break out overnight with police firing tear gas and stun grenades at civilians. Chants of "Down with Hamad," calling for the King of Bahrain to be ousted from power, are reported by witnesses. (RTE)
April 22, 2012, U.S. and Afghan negotiators finalise an agreement concerning the continuing U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdraws its troops at the end of 2014. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, A festival of William Shakespeare's 37 plays performed polyglotically, from Swahili to sign language, begins as part of the World Shakespeare Festival on the anniversary of the Bard of Avon's birth. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, Brazilian actor Tiago Klimeck dies at the age of 27 after accidentally hanging himself while playing Judas in an Easter Passion play performed in Itararé, São Paulo. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, White House lawyers launch an internal investigation into the role its advance staff may have played in the U.S. Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, though no evidence has been found to implicate anyone in the scandal. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, Kazakhstan issues an official ‘thank you’ to Sacha Baron Cohen for his comedy character Borat Sagdiyev despite an initial ban. (Daily Mail)
April 23, 2012, North Korea threatens to reduce South Korea to "ashes" after the failed North Korean rocket launch. (Toronto Star)
April 23, 2012, In accordance with a request from the South Korean government, China stops the deportation of North Korean defectors who escape to China. (Daily Yomiuri)
April 23, 2012, Sky News email hacking: The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom launches an investigation into the hacking of private email accounts by Sky News. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, Officials in Florida refuse to allow Bill Lee, the police chief who did not arrest George Zimmerman after he shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, to resign. George Zimmerman, now facing a murder charge, is released on bail and taken to a secret location. (BBC)
April 23, 2012, The North Carolina trial of former U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, concerning the use of illegal campaign donations to cover up an affair with a mistress, begins. (Reuters)
April 23, 2012, Scientists record what they believe to be the first adult white orca in the wild off the coast of Kamchatka, Russia. (BBC)
April 24, 2012, Release of Jack White album Blunderbuss
April 24, 2012,
April 24, 2012,
April 24, 2012, Fitch Ratings upgrades Ford Motor Co., returning its stock to investment grade status. (Reuters)
April 24, 2012, 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)
April 24, 2012, 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)
April 24, 2012, Leon Panetta, the United States Secretary of Defense, warns North Korea against further provocations against South Korea. (AP via The Washington Post)
April 24, 2012, 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)
April 24, 2012, Imprisoned U.S. serviceman Bradley Manning's defence insist his case was mishandled by American prosecutors and must now be thrown out. (Al Jazeera)
April 24, 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)
April 25, 2012,
April 25, 2012,
April 25, 2012,
April 25, 2012, A judge on the Cook County Circuit Court rules that the Amazon tax levied on Internet businesses by the US state of Illinois is unconstitutional. (Chicago Tribune)
April 25, 2012, News International phone hacking scandal:
-Adam Smith, a special adviser to Jeremy Hunt, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, resigns over his role in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation's attempt to take over satellite broadcaster BSkyB. (AP via Seattle Times)
-Rupert Murdoch gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry, claiming former British Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown "declared war" on his organisation after The Sun newspaper came out in support of the Conservatives in 2009, an allegation denied by Brown. (BBC)
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012,
April 26, 2012, The Argentine Senate passes with an overwhelming majority a bill submitted by president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to nationalise 51% of YPF. (Reuters)
April 26, 2012, In the midst of the ongoing trial against Anders Behring Breivik for his actions on July 22, 2011, more than 40,000 people gather on Youngstorget in Oslo to show support for all those affected. (TV2).
April 26, 2012, In a second day of evidence, Rupert Murdoch tells the Leveson Inquiry there was a "cover-up" at the News of the World, but that it was kept hidden from him. (BBC)
April 26, 2012, In American football, the National Football League draft commences in New York City's Radio City Music Hall, with quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III the first two players chosen. (Wall Street Journal)
April 27, 2012, Release of The Raven
April 27, 2012, Release of The 5 Year Engagement
April 27, 2012, Release of The Pirates: Band of Misfits
April 27, 2012, Release of Safe
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012,
April 27, 2012, Former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's wives and children are deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. (Al-Jazeera)
April 28, 2012,
April 28, 2012,
April 28, 2012, One person dies and more than 110 are injured when a tent collapses at a restaurant near Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. (CNN)
April 28, 2012, Blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng – who fled from house arrest – reportedly takes refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing. (Al Jazeera)
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012,
April 29, 2012, Seven people are killed, including three children, when a vehicle they were in flipped over on the Bronx River Parkway in The Bronx, New York City. (CNN)
April 29, 2012, The final deadline (no more extensions) for the total destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles under the international Chemical Weapons Convention is reached. (RIA Novosti)
April 30, 2012, Release of Marylin Manson album Born Villian
April 30, 2012, One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in New York City, overtaking the Empire State Building. The finished building will stand at 1,776 feet (541 m). (CBS News)
April 30, 2012,
April 30, 2012,
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