Portal:Current events/2017 April 28
April 28, 2017 (Friday)
Disasters and accidents
- A 6.8 earthquake strikes off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines triggering tsunami warnings. (The Telegraph)
International relations
- Western Sahara conflict
- The United Nations Security Council extends the MINURSO mission for another year and attempts to restart Western Sahara peace process negotiations after both sides retracted their military from a standoff position in Guerguerat, near the border with Mauritania. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2011 Helmand Province incident
- Sergeant Alexander Blackman, also known as Marine A, a Royal Marine who shot dead a wounded Taliban insurgent in 2011 during Operation Herrick, is released from HM Prison Erlestoke after serving more than three years of a seven-year sentence. (BBC)
- Richard Vallières, convicted of stealing 3,000 tonnes of maple syrup from a Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers warehouse in 2012, is sentenced to eight years in prison and fined $9.4 million, adjustable to fourteen years on non-payment of the fine. (CBC)
Politics and elections
- Albanian presidential election, 2017
- Ilir Meta is elected the new President of Albania, winning 87 votes out of 140 members of the Assembly. (Top Channel) (ABC News)
- Accession of Montenegro to NATO
- The Parliament of Montenegro votes 46–0 to ratify Montenegro's membership of NATO, while opposition politicians boycott the vote and hold protests. (AP via ABC News)
- Iranian presidential election, 2017
- The first six-man televised debate is held, which focused mostly on social issues. (PressTV) (Radio Free Europe)
- French presidential election, 2017
- Jean-François Jalkh, who replaced current presidential finalist Marine Le Pen as leader of the National Front, steps down from this role after three days following the reemergence of his comments questioning the logistics of Holocaust extermination camps, and is replaced by Steeve Briois. (Bloomberg)
- A general strike is held in Brazil, the first one in twenty years. (Los Angeles Times)
- Georgia's 6th congressional district special election, 2017
- In a meeting for the NRA, U.S. president Donald Trump criticizes Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff. (Politico)