Portal:Current events/2017 April 17

April 17, 2017 (Monday)

Business and economics

American pipeline operator Williams Partners has agreed to sell an olefins plant in Louisiana to Canadian chemical company Nova Chemicals for $2.1 billion. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from flooding in the Philippine province of Cebu rises to nine with ten missing. (GMA Network)
Ten people have died, five are injured and four missing after a bus plunges into a river in China's Guizhou province. (AP via Ynetnews)
A small Swiss-owned plane crashes in the Portuguese village of Tires, west of Lisbon, killing at least five people. (BBC)
Five people drowned while eleven are still missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Rumphi District on Lake Malawi. (BBC)
A United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes on a golf course in Leonardtown, Maryland. At least one crew member is injured and taken to hospital. (Fox News)
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake strikes 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. No immediate report of damages or injuries; no tsunami warning has been issued. (The New Daily) (USGS)
A BP Alaskan North Slope oil well near Deadhorse Airport, that was leaking oil and natural gas since it was discovered on Friday, is successfully plugged, according to private and government reports. (AP via ABC News)

International relations

China–Nepal relations
- In a move likely to cause concern in India, China and Nepal commenced last Sunday the first ever combined military exercises, focusing on counter-terror operations. (South China Morning Post)
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol threatens to test missiles on a "weekly" basis, as United States Vice President Mike Pence warns the DPRK that the United States' "era of strategic patience" with the country was over. (BBC)

Law and crime

Shooting of Robert Godwin
- The search for the suspect in the killing of an elderly man in Cleveland, whose murder was posted to Facebook, expands beyond Ohio, with the FBI urging residents in Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania to be on alert for the suspect. (Fox News)
A Brazilian federal judge orders Petrobras to suspend the sale to Norway's Statoil of its stake in an offshore prospect, in response to the National Federation of Oil Workers petition there should have been an open bidding process for this transaction. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes says he will not be a candidate in next year's presidential election regardless of Congress's action on a constitutional amendment that would allow second terms. Cartes adds his decision was informed by Pope Francis's call for peace and dialogue in Paraguay following protests against this change that turned violent two weeks ago. (Reuters) (Vatican Radio)
Yes California
- The bid for California independence ends. (Business Insider)
Palestinian prisoners of Israel
- Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails — activists say up to 1,500 are participating — begin an open-ended hunger strike to protest poor conditions and the Israeli policy of detention without trial. (Reuters)
Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Bongbong Marcos pays ₱36 million, half of the required amount to hold a recount against Philippine vice president Leni Robredo. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)