A team of U.S. naval officers freed Capt. Richard Phillips, a U.S. citizen,
from Somali pirates in a dramatic mission on Easter Sunday. The pirates, who currently
hold more than 200 hostages in the Gulf of Aden, had held Phillips ransom for
four days in an 18-foot liferaft. U.S. snipers killed at least three
Somalis in the maritime conflict.
On Sunday, Moldova's highest court ordered a recount of the ballots from the
country's presidential election, held last week, at the request of President
Vladimir Voronin. The election sparked a protest by communist dissidents; some
protests continue.
An aide to British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown quit when emails from Labour Party operatives libeling Tory
leaders David Cameron and George Osborne became public. Brown has said he will not
apologize.
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor won the
Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in architecture.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contacted Mahmoud Abbas, president of
the Palestinian Authority, for the first time. Netanyahu told Abbas he hopes to
resume talks.
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said both that he would not stop the development of nuclear materials and that he
is open to six-nation talks.
The U.S.
State Department said George Mitchell, special envoy to the Middle East, will travel to
Israel this week for the third time to meet with Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Four
Lebanese soldiers were killed
in an ambush while on patrol duty in the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The United States Treasury Department directed General Motors, the ailing Detroit carmaker,
currently surviving on emergency government loans, to prepare to file for
bankruptcy.
Leftist Shining Path rebels killed 13 troops
in Peru, in a central cocaine-producing area.
Argentinian
Angel Cabrera won the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, on Sunday, after a play-off.
The goverment of China released an unprecedented "human rights action plan," the first of its kind, promising the right to a fair trial, more protections for the imprisoned, and the right to question government decisions.
Protests in Thailand forced the government to cancel the 16-nation ASEAN talks
on economic recovery and declare a state of emergency. The "red shirt"
protesters call for the reinstation of the former prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006 and currently faces an arrest warrant for
corruption.
The U.N. Security Council plans to vote on Monday to santion North
Korea for attempting to launch a rocket last month.
On Sunday, the Sri Lankan government called for a two-day pause to fighting
with the Tamil Tiger separatist group. The pause is intended to allow 100,000
ethnic Tamils, often used by the Tigers as human shields, to move to safer
areas.
In Zimbabwe,
the power-sharing government of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said it would not reinstate
the country's currency for at least a year. Hyperinflation has left the currency
virtually worthless.
Protests broke out across Antananarivo, the capital
of Madagascar, when U.N.-sponsored talks aiming to end the
political crisis in the country broke down. President Andry Rajoelina was
installed during a military take-over last month; former president Marc Ravalomanana hopes to regain power.
The kidnappers of
two western aid workers in Sudan threatened to kill the
women unless France retries the "Zoe's Ark" humanitarian workers accused of
abducting children in Chad.
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