April 19, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- Iraqi Air Force F-16 jets attack an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria near the city of Hajin in coordination with the Syrian Armed Forces. (Reuters)
- War in Donbass
- Ukrainian ecology minister Ostap Semerak warns of a major nuclear disaster if pro-Russia separatists go forward with a plan to flood a mine where a small nuclear weapon was tested in the 1970s. Semerak appeals for international assistance to prevent the flooding. (The Irish Times)
- Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a recruiter for the September 11 attacks, is arrested in Syria. (NBC News)
Arts and culture
- Prosecutors in Minnesota say nobody will be charged over the death of Prince, who accidentally overdosed on counterfeit fentanyl pills. (BBC News)
- Yom Ha'atzmaut
Disasters and accidents
- Shoreham Airshow crash
- Jet pilot Andy Hill, accused of eleven counts of manslaughter over a 2015 crash at Shoreham Airshow in England, makes an initial Magistrates' Court appearance. He indicates he will deny the charges and the case is transferred to Crown Court. (BBC News)
- Mount Kirishima in Kyushu, Japan, erupts. It is the first time it has erupted since 1768. (Click Lancashire)
- Southwest Airlines Flight 1380
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board declares metal fatigue caused a fan blade failure that killed a passenger on April 16, the same issue behind a similar accident on another Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration announces mandatory ultrasonic inspections on fan blades fitted to CFM56-7B engines of which around 8,000 are flying worldwide. (BBC News)
- Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee releases a preliminary report detailing the circumstances of a collision between two passenger planes on a runway at Kuala Namu International Airport last year. (The Aviation Herald)
International relations
- North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea states that North Korea has expressed a desire to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula without attaching preconditions such as withdrawing US troops. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Murder in English law
- A woman goes on trial in England accused of murdering a man who was voluntarily euthanised in Belgium after she allegedly attacked him with acid. Prosecutors say medical evidence indicates "he could not bear to live in that condition." (BBC News)
- The High Court in Glasgow jails corrupt juror Catherine Leahy for six years in the first case of its kind in Scotland. (The Guardian)
- Terrorism in Norway
- The police bomb group moved out to an apartment in Rosenhoff, Oslo, when informed that there might be explosives in the apartment. One person was found slightly injured. (Aftenposten)
- Two deputies are shot dead at a Chinese restaurant in Trenton, Florida, in what appears to be a targeted killing. The gunman was found dead outside the restaurant. (CNN)
- A court in Tajikistan sentenced a 71-year old woman to 12 years in prison after having links to the Islamic State group. (EurasiaNet)
- A US federal judge rules the Department of Defence cannot transfer an unidentified ISIS suspect with US-Saudi dual citizenship to an unnamed foreign country. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Cuban parliamentary election, 2018
- Miguel Díaz-Canel is named the new President of Cuba. It is the first time in six decades that a Castro family member is not leading Cuba. (WTKR)
- History of Swaziland
- Marking the country's 50th anniversary of independence, Swaziland's King Mswati III officially renames the country the Kingdom of eSwatini. (BBC News)
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020
- Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Bob Corker opt not to commit to endorsing Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. (ABC News)
- South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham states that he will support Trump in the 2020 elections. (The Post and Courier)
- Political appointments by Donald Trump
- The U.S. Senate votes 50–49 to confirm Jim Bridenstine as administrator of NASA. (CBS News)
Sports
- 2018 NFL season
- As expected, the regular-season schedule for the 2018 NFL season is released, with the defending champions Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Atlanta Falcons in the league's season opener on September 6. (Yahoo! Sports)