Somalia reports its first death from COVID-19 as the cases reach 12. (Reuters)
The Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, pardons 599 prisoners, including 336 foreigners. (Reuters)
Michigan's death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 1,000. The state has 1,076 deaths and 21,504 cases as of this date. Governor Gretchen Whitmer also extends the state's stay-at-home order, which was set to expire on April 13, until April 30, and adds several new social distancing restrictions. (MLive.com) (MLive.com 2)
The Robert Koch Institute reports 4,974 new confirmed cases and 246 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing Germany's death toll to 2,107 and 108,202 cases. This marks the largest daily increase of deaths for Germany. (Reuters)
Belgium reports 1,684 new confirmed cases and 494 more deaths from COVID-19, its highest daily death toll to date, bringing the country's death toll to 3,019 and 26,667 total cases. (Anadolu Agency)
The Republic of Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar extends stay-at-home coronavirus restrictions until May 5. (Reuters)
The Robert Koch Institute reports 5,323 new confirmed cases and 266 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing Germany's death toll to 2,373 with 113,525 total cases. (Reuters)
Yemen reports its first confirmed case of COVID-19, a patient in the Hadhramaut Governorate. (Gulf News)
A village near the mostly abandoned town of Poliske is evacuated, as forest fires continue to spread inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. (Euronews)
Anak Krakatoa, part of the Krakatoa complex in Indonesia's Sunda Strait, erupts. (Channel 9)
Paul McCartney's handwritten copy of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is sold in a virtual auction for US$910,000, almost six times its estimated value. (CNN)
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Libya condemns the cut-off of water supply to the capital Tripoli, after an armed group seized a Great Man-Made River control station. The armed group is reportedly using the water cut-off, affecting two million people, to secure the release of detained family members. (Al Jazeera)
With 20,071 deaths, the United States' death toll from COVID-19 passes that of Italy and becomes the country with the highest number of known COVID-19 deaths in the world. (CNBC)
Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron dies from COVID-19 at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. (U.S. News & World Report)
The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has reached 19,889 people. Italy has the second highest number of deaths in the world, after the United States. (Corriere della Sera)
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 is reported on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba. (Mas Noticia)
The Philippines reports 220 new confirmed cases and 50 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing the country's death toll to 297 with 4,648 total cases. (Reuters)
2019–20 Western Libya offensive GNA forces recapture the city of Sabratha, and the nearby town of Sorman in the Zawiya District, while seizing armored vehicles and weapons belonging to the Libyan National Army. (Anadolu Agency) The Libyan National Army confirms one of its Mi-35 helicopters has been shot down near Misrata, killing three crew members onboard. (Al Masdar News)
GNA forces recapture the city of Sabratha, and the nearby town of Sorman in the Zawiya District, while seizing armored vehicles and weapons belonging to the Libyan National Army. (Anadolu Agency)
The Libyan National Army confirms one of its Mi-35 helicopters has been shot down near Misrata, killing three crew members onboard. (Al Masdar News)
China appoints Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps general secretary Sun Jinlong as the new Communist Party Secretary of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. (Reuters)
Jordan bans public worship at mosques during Ramadan, and will not allow evening prayers, as a precaution to fight the virus. (Reuters)
The ghost city of Pripyat was left unscathed by the fire while several abandoned villages burnt to the ground. (Forbes)
A 36-year-old man is arrested for attempting to firebomb a Jewish assisted living facility in Longmeadow, Massachusetts on April 3. His arrest is part of a larger investigation into a white supremacist group suspected of plotting mass killings online. He is charged with two counts of attempted arson, but is released the next day. (HuffPost) (WWLP)
France reports 1,438 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing the country's death toll to 17,167 with 133,470 total cases. The latest figures include deaths from COVID-19 in care homes over the three-day Easter weekend. (Reuters)
Spain evacuates its troops from Mali after several soldiers become infected with COVID-19. The troops were part of the European Union's EUTM Mali training mission. (The Olive Press)
Thae Yong-ho becomes the first ever North Korean defector to be elected to a constituency seat, representing Seoul's Gangnam District in the National Assembly. (The Korea Times)
The French Ministry of Armed Forces reports 668 sailors, more than a third of the crew of its flagship aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, have tested positive for COVID-19. (France 24)
The leader of the main opposition United Future Party, Hwang Kyo-ahn resigns from his post after his party's defeat. (The Korea Times)
The ruling Democratic Party and its affiliate Together Citizens' Party are projected to win 180 seats, a record high for any political parties in South Korean history. (Yonhap News Agency)
Eswatini reports the country's first death from COVID-19, as total cases rise to 17. (National Post)
The COVID-19 critical care NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham is opened inside the National Exhibition Centre in Solihull, England. It can treat up to 4,000 COVID-19 patients. (BBC News)
The Robert Koch Institute reports 2,866 new confirmed cases and 315 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing Germany's death toll to 3,569 and 130,450 total cases. (Reuters)
Abu Sayyaf militants ambush and kill 11 Philippine Army troops and wound 14 others in the southern Sulu Province, according to general officer Cirilito Sobejana. (The Straits Times)
Norway–Russia relations The Russian Foreign Ministry files a complaint to its Norwegian counterpart over a Russian fishing trawler's detainment by the Norwegian Coast Guard near Svalbard earlier this month. (Reuters)
The Kurdish-controlled area of Syria confirms the first death from COVID-19 in Qamishli; that of a 53-year-old man who tested positive postmortem. (Reuters)
The Russian Foreign Ministry files a complaint to its Norwegian counterpart over a Russian fishing trawler's detainment by the Norwegian Coast Guard near Svalbard earlier this month. (Reuters)
Forty-four suspected Boko Haram members are found dead, apparently due to poisoning, inside a prison in N'Djamena, Chad. (The Guardian)
Hundreds of garment workers march in Chittagong, Bangladesh, demanding factory owners pay them last month's wages following delays. (Reuters)
Iran parades disinfection vehicles, mobile hospitals, and other medical equipment to mark Army Day as their death toll rose to 4,598. (Reuters)
Taiwan quarantines 700 Navy sailors after three cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on board a vessel that recently returned from the island nation of Palau. (Reuters)
Vice-convener of Sham's organization, Figo Chan, is also arrested Saturday afternoon by Hong Kong police. (Hong Kong Free Press)
Censorship in Turkey Turkey blocks access to the websites of Saudi Press Agency and Emirates News Agency in response to Saudi Arabia blocking access to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency a few days ago. (Al Jazeera)
China–Vietnam relations, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns China's decision yesterday to establish administrative districts in the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands, saying it violates Vietnam's sovereignty. (Reuters)
Gunmen raid multiple villages in Nigeria's Katsina State, killing at least 47 people, according to police. (Reuters)
The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns China's decision yesterday to establish administrative districts in the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands, saying it violates Vietnam's sovereignty. (Reuters)
Turkey blocks access to the websites of Saudi Press Agency and Emirates News Agency in response to Saudi Arabia blocking access to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency a few days ago. (Al Jazeera)
Unrest breaks out in Paris, Berlin, and in Vladikavkaz as people oppose lockdowns. (The Guardian) (Sky News)
Israel is expected to commemorate its Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony without public gatherings. (Haaretz)
Saudi Arabia announces the Great Mosque of Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the two holiest mosques in Islam, will remain closed throughout Ramadan this year. (Reuters)
A 56-year-old urologist becomes the first Russian doctor to die from COVID-19 at a hospital in Moscow. (The Moscow Times)
A man kills his wife, brother and seven others in Baakline, Lebanon, in the country's worst mass shooting in years, before being arrested. It is suspected they were honor killings. (Reuters)
Kiribatians head to the polls to elect members of the House of Assembly in the second round of voting. (RNZ)
Russia reports 5,642 new confirmed cases and 51 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing Russia's death toll to 456 and 52,763 total cases. (TASS)
The death toll in last Sunday's killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, rises to at least 23, including the perpetrator. (CBC News)
Fifty crew members on the cruise ship Costa Atlantica test positive for COVID-19 after it docks in Nagasaki, Japan. (Reuters)
Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia King Salman issues a royal decree, declaring that people will no longer be executed for crimes they were convicted of when they were minors. (Reuters)
King Salman issues a royal decree, declaring that people will no longer be executed for crimes they were convicted of when they were minors. (Reuters)
King Salman issues an order to partially lift the curfew in all regions of the country except Mecca, where a 24-hour curfew continues. Saudi authorities report 16,299 infections and 136 deaths nationwide. (Al Jazeera)
The number of worldwide cases of COVID-19 surpasses three million. The United States accounts for more than a third of the total cases. (Reuters)
A fast radio burst is detected from the Magnetar SGR 1935+2154, the first ever detected inside the Milky Way, and the first to be linked to a known source. (Astronomer's Telegram)
A prison riot at the Lurigancho jail over demands for better sanitary measures and COVID-19 medical care in San Juan de Lurigancho, Peru, leaves nine inmates dead, according to the National Penitentiary Institute. (Reuters)
Colombia formalizes its membership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), becoming the 37th nation in the organization. (OECD)
(52768) 1998 OR2, a near-Earth asteroid that is 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) wide, makes a close approach of 0.042 AU (6.3 million km; 16 LD) to Earth. It will not approach closer than this until 2079. (Sky News)
A Canadian CH-148 Cyclone helicopter vanishes while flying over the Ionian Sea during a NATO mission. One body is recovered, while the five other persons on board remain missing. (BBC News) (The Straits Times)
A suicide bombing in Char Asiab, Kabul Province, kills three civilians and injures 15. No group has claimed responsibility yet. (Reuters)
Officials in Yemen report the country's first deaths from COVID-19 in the port city of Aden. (BBC News)
Tajikistan reports its first confirmed cases of COVID-19. Five people have tested positive for the virus in the capital Dushanbe, and 10 others in the northern Sughd Region, according to the state-run news agency Khovar. (Al Jazeera)
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reports that leader Kim Jong-un attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a fertilizer plant today, in his first official appearance since his disappearance from public focus last month. (Reuters)
A previously undetected Apollo group asteroid 2020 JJ passes 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometres) away from Earth. It is the closest near-Earth object since 2019 UN13. (CNET)
New Zealand reports no new cases of COVID-19 for the first day in almost two months. (The Guardian)
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó denies any involvement with the Silvercorp USA operation. Jordan Goudreau claims his company signed a contract with Guaidó to remove Nicolás Maduro from power by force, but says he has only been paid "a tiny share of the amount agreed upon." (AP via Toledo Blade)
A massive fire breaks out at the 48-storey residential skyscraper Abbco Tower in Al Nahda, Sharjah, UAE. At least 12 people are injured. (Gulf News)
At least two miners are killed in a mine collapse in Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia. The mayor of the county's administrative centre says scores of others are unaccounted for and feared dead. (Reuters)
Gunmen kill three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members near the Kurdish-majority city of Divandarreh, in the Kurdistan Province, while "several counterrevolutionaries" are reportedly killed in the fighting, according to Iranian media. (RFERL)
