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Malia Obama: US president’s daughter to go to Harvard –
US President Barack Obama’s eldest daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in 2017, after taking a year off following her high school graduation, the White House says. “Malia will take a gap year before beginning school,” a White House statement said. The 17-year-old will be following in the footsteps of her parents, both of whom went to Harvard Law School. Her choice of university has been a subject of much speculation. Malia is the eldest of the Obamas’ two daughters. She and her sister Sasha, 15, attend the Sidwell Friends, a prestigious local private school. [BBC]

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Turkey–ISIL conflict, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
  • 2016 Gaziantep bombing
    • A blast hits a police station in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep leaving one officer dead and 13 injured. (BBC) (CNN)
    • Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is suspected to be behind attack. (Reuters)
• Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • Three Turkish soldiers are killed and 14 others wounded in an armed attack by Kurdish militants during a military operation in the town of Nusaybin, Turkey. (Reuters)
• Yemeni Civil War
  • Houthi rebels capture the Umaliqa military base in ‘Amran Governorate, endangering a shaky ceasefire. (Reuters)
• Iraqi Civil War
  • Two car bombs kill at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in Samawa, Iraq. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)
• Moro conflict
  • Abu Sayyaf militants release 10 Indonesians the group had kidnapped from their tugboat and barge on March 28. (Jakarta Globe)

Business and economics

• Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc., the second- and third-largest oilfield service firms, announce the cancellation of their $28 billion merger which has faced opposition from U.S. and European antitrust regulators. Halliburton will reportedly have to pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion termination fee if the deal is called off. (Bloomberg) (Reuters), (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)

Disasters and accidents

• The historic Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava in New York City is almost completely destroyed in a massive four-alarm fire. (ABC)
• In the United States, 14 of 175 cars of a CSX freight train derail in northeastern Washington, D.C., near a city subway station. There were three leaks; one, sodium hydroxide, is a hazardous material. All leaks, and a nearby gas line that was ruptured, are contained. Officials are unable to say when cleanup will be completed nor when train service will be restored. There were no injuries reported, and there was no residential evacuation. Amtrak and a Baltimore-Washington commuter rail service also use the line. (WRC-TV) (Daily Mail) (The Washington Post)
• Kenya flooding
  • Kenyan authorities say the death toll from Friday’s collapsed eight-story residential building in Nairobi has risen to 20, with 73 people missing. Rescuers continue searching for survivors. The building had been declared unfit for human habitation by the country’s National Construction Authority, but remained standing. Note: the building was originally reported as six stories; flooding had sunk the ground and first floors. (AP)
• In Punjab, Pakistan, the death toll has risen from 13 to 33 for people who has eaten sweets, accidentally tainted with insecticide. The mass poisoning occurred in April. (Daily Times)

International relations

• Libyan Civil War
  • An oil tanker, sent from Eastern Libya by a rival to the internationally recognized Government of National Accord, returns with its cargo to the refinery at Zawiya in western Libya. The United Nationsblacklisted the shipment on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
• Cuba-United States relations, United States–Cuban thaw
  • The first cruise ship in more than a half-century bound for Havana from the United States leaves Miami, Florida, at about 4:24 p.m. EDT. Carnival Cruise Line’s 704-passenger Adonia was able to set sail for the northern Caribbean country after Cuba, on April 22, loosened its policy banning Cuban-born people from traveling to the country by sea. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Philippine general election, 2016 CPP–NPA–NDF rebellion
  • Jose Maria Sison, who is the leader of the guerrilla Communist Party of the Philippines, says that the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte is “good for national unity.” (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Thousands are set for May Day demonstrations across the United States for immigrant and worker rights, and for civility in presidential campaign rhetoric. Organizers and authorities in California are urging participants to remain calm, given the violence this week connected with Presidential campaign protests. (AP via The Washington Post) (KPCC)
• 2015–16 Iraqi protests
  • Protesters demanding political reform leave Baghdad’s Green Zone after camping for 24 hours in the heavily fortified government district. These activists, followers of Shi’ite Muslim cleric Muqtadā al-Ṣadr, support Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s anti-corruption proposals to replace party-affiliated ministers with technocrats. A grid-locked parliament has been unable to act on these changes. (Reuters)
• Puerto Rican government-debt crisis
  • Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla says the Commonwealth will default on a $422 million bond payment due Monday. García Padilla says debt payments have been suspended in order to pay for essential services for the 3.5 million American citizens. Congress has been unable to pass a debt restructuring bill for Puerto Rico. (AP via CBS News) (Bloomberg)
• Freedom of the press
  • Egyptian police raid the headquarters of the journalists’ association in Cairo, and arrest two journalists with the opposition website Bawabet Yanayer, editor Amr Badr and reporter Mahmud el-Sakka, for alleged incitement to protest in violation of the law. (Daily Mail) (Reuters)

Sports

• 2015–16 A-League
  • Adelaide United win their first A-League championship beating the Western Sydney Wanderers 3–1 in the Grand Final at the Adelaide Oval. (Daily Telegraph)

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