Portal:Current events/2021 April 28

April 28, 2021 (Wednesday)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis accepts the resignations of Ecuadorian Bishop Julio Parrilla Díaz and Monsignor Gerardo Miguel Nieves Loja of the Diocese of Riobamba after reports of poor governance, financial mismanagement and moral failings. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

Riga hostel fire
- Eight people are killed and nine others wounded in a fire at an illegal hostel in Riga, Latvia. (BBC News)
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam, part of Meghalaya, and part of Bangladesh, causing damage to houses and buildings. Two people die from heart attacks, while ten others are wounded by the earthquake itself. (The Hindu)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
    - Cambodia reports a record 698 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide number of cases to 11,761. (Khmer Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - COVID-19 vaccination in India
      - India begins a COVID-19 vaccine registration for those over the age of 18. (The Hindu)
    - India surpasses 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 after a record 3,293 deaths are reported in the past 24 hours, subsequently becoming the fourth country to do so. The country also reports a new global record of 360,960 new cases, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 17.9 million. (NBC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Pakistan reports a record 201 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 17,530. (Tribune)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
    - COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines
      - President Rodrigo Duterte approves the extension of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine in the Greater Manila Area until May 14. (ABS-CBN News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Albania
    - Albania surpasses 10,000 seniors who have received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (TV Klan)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
    - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announces an easing of the country's lockdown restrictions after a decrease in the number of new cases, which will allow shopping malls and museums to reopen on May 4, hotels to reopen on May 8, and restaurants and cafés to serve people on outdoor terraces beginning on May 15. (The First News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
    - Turkey signs an agreement to purchase 50 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. (Daily Sabah)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Tunisia
    - Tunisian authorities announce that they will impose a mandatory quarantine on all travelers for a week beginning on May 3 and continue to suspend schools until May 16 in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Al-Arabiya)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
    - COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa
      - South Africa resumes its use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to healthcare workers after a pause of more than two weeks, following the drug authority decision that the vaccine is safe. (AP)

Law and crime

Trump–Ukraine scandal
- Federal investigators raid the home of Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer of former President Donald Trump, for suspected illegal lobbying of the federal government on behalf of Ukrainian officials. (The New York Times)
Mass shootings in the United States
- A gunman kills two of his family members and two responding sheriff's deputies during a 13-hour standoff in Boone, North Carolina. The perpetrator later commits suicide at the scene. (AP)
LNU Lightning Complex fires
- A man from Vallejo, California, is arrested and charged for intentionally setting the Markley Fire, which killed two people and eventually merged with the Hennessey Fire as part of the LNU Lightning Complex, one of the largest wildfires in California's history. Authorities say the suspect set the fire in order to cover up the murder of a woman found near Lake Berryessa, which he had already been arrested and charged for in September 2020. (NBC News)
Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot
- Federal prosecutors lay out additional charges for three men suspected of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The new charges, which include conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, relate to an alleged related plot by the men to detonate explosives at a bridge in order to slow down responding law enforcement. (CNN) (Detroit Free-Press)
Four people are killed and another is wounded during a mass stabbing at a hospital in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany. The perpetrator, identified as a female hospital's employee, is arrested. The victims are all patients. (Reuters)
Two children are killed and 16 more are wounded during a mass stabbing attack at a kindergarten in Beiliu, Guangxi, China. The attacker has been arrested. (BBC News)
Five former members of the Italian far-left group Red Brigades, the co-founder of Lotta Continua, and another far-left militant are arrested in Paris, France. (Ansa)
The Spanish postal service intercepts a letter with bullets enclosed that was mailed to former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. (El Periódico)

Politics and elections

2021 Northern Ireland riots
- Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster announces her resignation after losing the support of her Democratic Unionist Party in the aftermath of the riots. (UrduPoint)