Top News Stories –

Ecuador earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills dozens –
A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Ecuador has killed at least 77 people and injured more than 500, Vice-President Jorge Glas says. The quake, Ecuador’s largest since 1979, hit at 18:58 on Saturday (23:58 GMT) near the northern town of Muisne. Widespread severe damage is reported, with a bridge destroyed as far south as Guayaquil about 300km (190 miles) away. President Rafael Correa, who is flying back from a trip to Italy, has decreed a state of emergency. He said: “This is a very painful test. I ask the country to be calm and united… Let’s be strong; we will overcome this.” He added: “Roads and hospitals can be rebuilt; you cannot recover lost lives. That’s what hurts the most.” [BBC]

Army approves 22 women as infantry, armor officers –
The Army approved requests from 22 women to become the first female infantry and armor unit officers, opening leadership and ground combat positions previously only available to men. The Army said throughout the coming weeks 13 women will enter the armor branch and nine others will enter infantry as second lieutenants. They will be the first females to serve in the traditionally all-male front-line combat branches since the U.S. Department of Defense opened all combat roles in the U.S. Armed Forces to women. [UPI]

Prince rushed to hospital after emergency plane landing –
Prince has been rushed to hospital after his plane made an emergency landing.According to TMZ, the singer’s private jet was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Illinois.It happened just hours after he’d performed on stage in Atlanta. Prince was immediately taken from the plane in an ambulance and treated at a nearby hospital.He was released after a few hours. [BBC]
Prince in 2008

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Stephen Hawking’s Starshot, explained

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • According to a police chief, at least 40 Taliban fighters are killed after launching an offensive against Afghan security forces to seize the strategic northern city of Kunduz while four security force personnel are also killed. (Al Jazeera)
• War in Somalia (2009–present)
  • AMISOM soldiers kill four Somali civilians in the town of Bulla Marer, southwest of Mogadishu. The AU Mission said scared soldiers opened fire when the car the civilians were driving failed to stop at a roadblock. (BBC)
• Moro conflict
  • Philippine officials report four Indonesian sailors were kidnapped last night off the Philippines’ southernmost town of Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, near Malaysia’s Sabah state. Seven gunmen in a blue speedboatattacked two Indonesian-flagged tugboats. Six other sailors, including one who was shot, were not taken by ISIL-linked Abu Sayyaf militants. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Syrian government airstrikes, and rockets from Islamist insurgents, hit many neighborhoods in Aleppo. Fatalities are reported on both sides of the city. This continued fighting threatens the truce and peace talks being held in Geneva, Switzerland. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura says he will meet the government delegation Monday, and will sit down with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee later in the week. (Reuters) (AFP via Thanh Niên)
• Ethiopia claims that members of South Sudan‘s Murle people have killed 140 people and abducted 39 children. (BBC)
• German police report an apparent deliberate explosion at a Sikh temple in Essen while a wedding was being celebrated, has injured three people, one in serious condition. Police say there is no indication this was a terrorist incident. (AP)

Arts and culture

• The United States Army approves 22 soldiers requests to become the service’s first female infantry and armor unit officers. Thirteen women will enter the armor branch, and nine others will enter infantry assecond lieutenants. (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes
  • A second earthquake hits southern Japan with a magnitude of 7.1 killing at least 32 people with the death toll from both earthquakes rising to 42. The new quake traps even more people. In Kumamoto a landslide occurs as well as a bridge collapse. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (AP) (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • A new aftershock with a magnitude of 5.4 hits southern Kyushu island. A Japanese spokesman says 1,500 people have been injured, 80 seriously, since Thursday. (AP) (USA Today)
  • Japan‘s Mount Aso in the Kumamoto Prefecture erupts sending ash about 100 meters (300 feet) into the air. The Japan Meteorological Agency kept its alert level at 2 on a scale of 5 for Aso following the eruption. It is unclear if the eruption is related to Saturday’s Kumamoto quake. (The Japan Times)
  • Saturday’s earthquake forces Sony to close its plant in the Kumamoto Prefecture. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan also stop work at several plants in the region. (UPI)
• A helicopter crashes near Baltimore–Washington International Airport in Baltimore, Maryland. However, no fatalities are reported. (Reuters via Euronews)
• Five people are dead and five are in hospital after taking ecstasy at an Argentine version of the Time Warp Festival featuring electronic music acts. (Reuters via Yahoo!)
• The death toll rises to seven from Thursday’s building collapse in the Canary Islands’ southern coastal town of Los Cristianos on the island of Tenerife. (AP)
• 2016 Ecuador earthquake
  • A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes off the coast of Ecuador, near the town of Muisne. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issues a tsunami alert for coastal areas of Ecuador and Colombia. At least 42 people are reported dead with deaths reported in the cities of Manta, Guayaquil and Portoviejo. (BNO News), (USGS) (Reuters via NBC News), (AP via Fox News)
  • A state of emergency is declared in six provinces. (BBC)
  • Later, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announces the threat has largely passed. The United States Geological Survey reports the 7.8 magnitude quake was preceded, 11 minutes earlier, by a 4.8 earthquake. Production at the 110,000 barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery is suspended as a precautionary measure. (The Straits Times)

International relations

• European migrant crisis
  • Pope Francis arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos. Francis is expected to visit the Moria detention facility, where he will have lunch with some of the 3,060 men, women, and children there. (The Washington Post)
  • Pope Francis offers refuge to a dozen Syrian Muslims, three families with six children, who faced deportation from Lesbos. The refugees accompanied the Pope on his return trip to Rome. (The Guardian)
• Iran–European Union relations
  • EU Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini holds the highest-level talks between the EU and Iran in decades to mark a new phase in relations between the two. Both sides are keen to focus on trade, energy and the environment as possible areas of cooperation. (BBC)
• The United States announces that it will transfer nine Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to Saudi Arabia. (CNN) (AP)
• Russia–United States relations, Cold War II
  • A United States Air Force Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted and threatened by a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Thursday (April 14), according to the United States European Command (EUCOM). (Fox News)

Law and crime

• General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexico‘s Secretary of National Defence, apologises for an incident in which two soldiers and a policewoman torture a woman. (AFP via France 24)

Politics and elections

• Iraq’s Parliament cancels its third session in a week to discuss political reforms as some MPs dispute the legitimacy of speaker Salim al-Jabouri to chair the meeting. Also, protesters gathered in the streets ofBaghdad to protest the growing political deadlock in the country. (Al Jazeera)
• Macedonian parliamentary election, 2016
  • As protesters continue to take to the streets of Skopje, Macedonia, lawmakers confirmed that a snap election will take place on June 5 despite the protesters being angry at President Gjorge Ivanov’sdecision to halt investigations into more than 50 public figures, including top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. Zoran Zaev, the main opposition leader, vowed to boycott the election. (The Guardian)
• Veteran President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso is sworn in for another term after a contentious election. (AFP via Daily Mail)

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