April 20, 2017 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2017 shooting of Paris police officers
- One policeman has been killed and another has been critically injured after a man opened fire at police officers at the Champs-Élysées in central Paris. The gunman was killed while attempting to escape, and a bystander has been injured. ISIL claims responsibility for the attack although the claim is doubted. The President of France Francois Hollande says that all leads indicate that the attack was of a "terrorist nature". (ABC News America via Yahoo!) (BBC) (The New York Times) (Le Parisien)
Business and economy
- General Motors halts production in Venezuela after the government seizes its plants. (CNN)
- American high-speed electronic trading company Virtu Financial agrees to buy its rival KCG Holdings for $1.4 billion. (Reuters)
- The United Kingdom government agrees to sell the UK Green Investment Bank to a group led chiefly by Australian financial firm Macquarie Group for $3 billion, in a deal criticized as not securing the future of the bank. (Reuters)
- Tesla Motors announces the recall of 50,000 Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X cars for a "brake issue". (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Capital punishment in the United States
- Arkansas executes Ledell Lee, the first inmate executed in the state since 2005. (Fox News)
- Australian nationality law
- The Supreme Court of Russia labels Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremists", effectively banning the religion. (The Independent)
- The Government of India revokes the Public Health Foundation of India's registration, allegedly for foreign-funded lobbying practices. (Times of India)
- A ten-year-old boy from Florida with autism is arrested at school, and spends the night in a juvenile facility. Unknown to the family, the boy had an outstanding warrant for his arrest after kicking and scratching one of his educators. The Autism Society of America is looking into legal options. (The Washington Post)
- Terrorism in the United States
- ISIL supporter, Terrence J. McNeil, of Akron, Ohio, pleads guilty to five counts of soliciting to commit criminal violence and communicating interstate threats in calls to kill U.S. military personnel. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August and faces up to 20 years in prison. (The Washington Post)
Politics and elections
- French presidential election, 2017
- New polls show François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon neck and neck behind the frontrunners Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen ahead of the upcoming first round of the election. (Reuters)
- Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announces he is backing Emmanuel Macron in the election. (Reuters)
- Iranian presidential election, 2017
- Guardian Council announces names of six final candidates. Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, chairman of Astan Quds Razavi Ebrahim Raisi and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is among the list. More than 1,600 nominees were disqualified, including all 137 female candidates and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (The Guardian) (Reuters)
- United Kingdom general election, 2017
- Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, positions himself as an "anti-establishment" candidate as he vows to end the "rigged" system. (BBC)
- Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Bongbong Marcos asks the Philippine Supreme Court to dismiss a counter-protest by current vice president Leni Robredo regarding her narrow victory in last year's national elections. (Rappler)
- Georgia's 6th congressional district special election, 2017
- Both Paul Ryan and Tom Perez plan to campaign for the local candidates Karen Handel and Jon Ossoff respectively. (The Hill) (CNN)
- 2014–17 Venezuelan protests
- Venezuelans continue their march against President Nicolás Maduro with thousands flocking into the streets of Caracas for a second day. (The Miami Herald) (The Guardian)
Science and technology
- China launches its first cargo spacecraft, the Tianzhou 1, carried by a Long March 7 rocket. (Xinhuanet)