Top News Stories –

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall marry –
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has married actress-model Jerry Hall in London. Mr Murdoch, whose News UK company publishes The Times and The Sun newspapers, and Miss Hall married in a civil ceremony at Spencer House. It is Mr Murdoch’s fourth marriage and the first for Miss Hall, 59, after her 1992 Bali wedding to Sir Mick Jagger was later deemed legally void. Australian-born Mr Murdoch, 84, who now has US nationality, tweeted he was “the luckiest and happiest man in world”. [BBC]
Rupert Murdoch
Jerry Hall

Union J say they have axed George Shelley: ‘One member is not bigger than the band’ –
George Shelley has parted ways from Union J – with his former band mates saying they kicked him out. Josh Cuthbert, JJ Hamblett and Jaymi Hamsley told The Sun that the I’m A Celebrity runner-up refused to commit to the pop group after returning from the jungle in December. But a spokesman for George said it was a “mutual decision” – and called the other Union J members “simply jealous”. The boy band apparently gave him a final ultimatum by email, as the situation had become “heart-breaking”. [MSN]
George Shelley

Royal Australian Navy facing calls to apologise after speeding warship damages boats in New Zealand –
A speeding Australian warship is being blamed for damage caused to boats and a fish farm inside a tranquil New Zealand waterway. HMAS Warramunga has been conducting advanced navigation training in New Zealand for Australian and Kiwi navy students. Last week, locals in the picturesque Marlborough Sounds said they spotted the Anzac Class frigate speeding through their sheltered harbour. Paul Keating from local advocacy group Guardian of the Sounds said several boats and a walkway were damaged. “Twelve people rang the harbour master that day to lay complaints and one of them was, I believe, from the salmon farm,” he said. “Maritime hoonery would be a good way to describe [it]. “We haven’t been given any reason why they chose to drive into the bays and then do very sharp turns.” [ABC Australia]

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • A Libyan spokesperson says two Italian hostages are freed by local fighters from Islamic State custody in Sabratha, Libya. He also confirms that two other Italian hostages were recently killed during local forces clashes with IS militants. (AP via ABC News)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • Gunmen storm a retirement home in Yemen, run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns. (NY Times)
• Dissident Irish Republican campaign (1998–present)
  • A bomb explodes under a vehicle in Belfast injuring a prison officer; Dissident republicans have claimed responsibility. (Belfast Telegraph)
• PKK rebellion (2015–present)
  • Two Turkish police officers die and 14 others are injured following a car bomb attack on a police station in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syria–Turkey border. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are blamed for the attack. (BBC)
• Syrian Civil War
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian rebels have seized control of the al-Tanf border crossing on the Iraq–Syria border from ISIL militants. The rebel fighters who took the crossing reportedly entered Syria through Jordan. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Electricity is gradually being restored across Syria from a nationwide blackout that began early Thursday afternoon. Syria’s Electricity Ministry says the electrical grid is expected to return to normal capacity by midnight. There is no immediate word on the cause. (WireUpdate.com)
• Five people, including an 18-month-old baby, are missing from an Indonesian ferryboat traveling from Bali to East Java that sank in the Bali Strait; 76 people have been rescued. (Jakarta Globe)

International relations

• South China Sea disputes
  • The U.S. Navy dispatches a carrier strike group containing the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS John C. Stennis to the South China Sea. (Washington Post)
• Japan–United States relations, Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe agrees to suspend work to expand the U.S. military base on Okinawa Island. Abe says his government will follow the court recommendation and settle several lawsuits over landfill work carried out to prepare for new runways. (Bloomberg)
• France–Germany relations
  • Germany wants France to shut down the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant near its border as soon as possible following media reports the April 9, 2014, incident was more serious than reported. (AP via ABC News) (Deutsche Welle)
• European migrant crisis
  • The European Commission proposes an end-of-year target date for lifting internal border checks and restoring the 26-nation, passport-free Schengen Area. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

• Brazilian police raid the home of ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in relation to the Petrobras scandal. Lula is brought in for questioning. (BBC)
• Media freedom in Turkey
  • A Turkish court places the influential Zaman newspaper under state control. Zaman is closely linked to the Gülen movement of influential U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, a former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (BBC)
• The United States Supreme Court, with only Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting, blocks implementation of a Louisiana law that could have forced all but one of the state’s abortion clinics to close, and restores an earlier judicial ban on enforcing the 2014 law. Last week, a federal appeals court said the law could be enforced. (Los Angeles Times) (AFP via GlobalPost)

Politics and elections

• Samoan general election, 2016
  • Voters in Samoa go to the polls for a general election. (Radio New Zealand)
• Serbian parliamentary election, 2016
  • Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, at the request of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, dissolves Serbia‘s parliament and calls for early elections to take place on April 24. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
  • Ben Carson suspends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination. The expected announcement was made during a speech at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). (NBC News)
• United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016
  • The British Chambers of Commerce suspends Director-General John Longworth for announcing his personal views on Brexit. The BCC, whose members are split on this issue, will not campaign for either side. (BBC)

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