Armed conflicts and attacks
An attacker throws a grenade and fires shots outside a sports hall in the small town of Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo, just hours before Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was due to hold an election rally there. "A hand grenade exploded outside the sports hall but there are no injuries," Besim Hoti, a Kosovo police commander in the area, told Reuters. (Reuters)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
Azerbaijan calls a unilateral ceasefire in its fight with ethnic Armenians one day after 30 soldiers died. The Associated Press reports rebel forces reject Azerbaijan's claims, saying they see no sign the government has stopped fighting. (AP) (BBC) (NPR)
Syrian Civil War
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports the al-Nusra Front's spokesperson Abu Firas al-Suri was among 20 militants killed in a suspected Russian airstrike on a village near the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria. (Reuters)
Battle of al-Qaryatayn (March–April 2016)
The Syrian Army retakes control of al-Qaryatayn, Homs Governorate, after driving out ISIL militants. (Reuters)
Moro attacks on Sabah, Moro Conflict
Four Sarawakian Malaysians are kidnapped off the coast of Sabah by suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (The New York Times)
Military intervention against ISIL, Iraq Civil War
The United States military reports a drone attack killed ISIL rocket expert Jasim Khadijah. The unmanned airstrike also killed other IS militants and destroyed at least one makeshift drone. Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer, is believed responsible for the March attack that killed a U.S. Marine in northern Iraq. (UPI) (Daily Mail)
Business and economics
The Health Information Trust Alliance, a nonprofit industry group, warns that hospitals in the United States must prepare for more ransomware attacks. A review late last year of some 30 mid-sized U.S. hospitals found 52 percent were infected with malicious software. This week, an attack on MedStar Health forced the largest healthcare provider in the Washington, D.C. area, to shut down much of its computer network. (Reuters)
Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
Two weeks after the deadly suicide bombings, Brussels Zaventem International Airport will reopen today with three symbolic flights to Faro, Athens, and Turin. On Thursday, the airport had said it was "technically ready" to resume partial services, but the opening was held up because police unions threatened to strike unless additional security checks were introduced. (AsiaOne) (The Jewish Press)
Panama Papers
A leak of 11.5 million documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca reveals details of shell companies used by 12 current or former world leaders including President of Russia Vladimir Putin whose aides allegedly shuffled billions of dollars. (ABC News via 9MSN)
The documents, 2.6 terabytes of information, were obtained more than a year ago from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Journalists from more than 80 countries have been working with this data. The documents expose holdings of 12 current and former world leaders, and 128 more politicians and public officials worldwide. The national leaders named include Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, and Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. (The Guardian)(USA Today)