Ford announces that their current chief executive officer, Alan Mulally, will be retiring in July, and that their chief operating officer Mark Fields will be taking his place. (BBC News)
A 24-hour ceasefire deal is reached in Syria's city of Homs allowing rebels to withdraw from their last stronghold in the central city. (BBC News)(Reuters)
Attacks by suicide bombers on a security checkpoint and a civilian bus in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as well as a separate bombing near a courthouse in Cairo killed at least four people. (The Washington Post)
The Armed Forces of Ukraine launch a military operation against separatists in the city of Sloviansk with claims of many deaths and two Ukrainian Army helicopters downed. In the port city of Odesa, violent clashes kill at least 42 people, as pro-Ukrainians set the pro-Russian headquarters on fire. (CNN)(BBC News)(Express)
Disasters and accidents
A landslide strikes the town of Hobo Barik in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province with at least 350 people dead and over 2000 people missing. (USA Today)(AP)
Helen, the eldest daughter of Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) murder victim Jean McConville, is prepared to name the people responsible for her mother's death, saying she no longer fears reprisals by republicans. (RTÉ News)
Pro-Russian activists attack the police headquarters in Odesa, forcing the release of several people held over deadly violence two days before. (BBC News)
Neighbouring Ukraine and breakaway Transnistria, Moldova places its borders on alert as the unrest continues. (AP)
Arts and culture
Russian media reveals that President Vladimir Putin secretly signed a decree (No. 279) honoring more than 300 journalists for their "objective coverage" of Crimea's seizure from Ukraine. (Reuters)
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov rules out any fresh talks in Geneva to defuse the crisis unless pro-Russian groups are also involved. (BBC News)
Thirty young men join the ranks of the Swiss Guards today, taking an oath of allegiance to Pope Francis and promising to serve the Church by protecting him and his successors. Present at the guards' swearing-in are a number of Vatican dignitaries, the new Swiss ambassador to the Holy See, Pierre-Yves Fux, and Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who is the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. (Catholic News Agency)
Pro-Russian militants recapture the city hall of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol hours after the Ukrainian government forces took control of the building from the militants. (BBC News)
Five pro-Russian militants are killed and fifteen more are captured during clashes with the Ukrainian military in the outskirts of the southern city of Mariupol. (CNN)
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Ukraine's presidential election on May 25 is a step "in the right direction", calling on anti-Kyiv protesters to postpone a May 11 federalization referendum. Putin also added qualifying conditions.(BBC News)
An alleged American FBI agent is arrested in Pakistan for carrying ammunition while trying to board a flight, which is in violation of their anti-terror laws. (BBC News)
Fifteen football supporters are killed in Kinshasa in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into the stand by police officers attempting to defuse a hostile incident. (Radio Okapi)
Galindo Mellado Cruz, one of the founding members of the Mexican drug cartelLos Zetas, and four other armed men are killed in a shootout with Mexican security forces after they raided Cruz's hideout in the city of Reynosa. (BBC News)
A Facebook page called "My Stealthy Freedom", in which women across Iran are posting photos of themselves without the hijab, has garnered more than 130,000 likes, a week after it was created. (The Guardian)(BBC News)
Business and economy
The European Central Bank has watered down standards for an ongoing review of Europe's banks, waiving deadlines and some data requests, according to a Reuters report based on "sources familiar with the process." (Reuters)
The ninth and final phase of the election concludes in India, with an all time high voter turnout of 66.64%. Final results will be declared on May 16. (Times Of India)
Valery Bolotov, a leader of the separatist movement in the eastern city of Luhansk, is wounded in an assassination attempt by an unknown assailant. (CNN)
The body of 26-year-old French photojournalist Camille Lepage was found in the Bouar region. The French presidency released a statement saying she was "murdered" and announced that a team of investigators will be dispatched to the scene. (Time)(The Guardian)
Thousands of Vietnamese workers stage anti-China protests in front of factories with Chinese names over Beijing's decision to locate an oil rig in waters of the South China Sea also claimed by Hanoi. (Voice of America
At least three people are killed and 15 injured as a result of violent clashes between two religious communities in the Indian city of Hyderabad. (Biharprabha News)
Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yıldız raises the death toll from the disaster to at least 274, with 120 people still trapped in the mine and 80 miners injured, four seriously. (AP)
A car bomb explodes near the Turkish border, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens of others. (CNN)
Two Palestinians are reportedly killed by Israeli soldiers at demonstrations near a prison where Palestinian militants are held, the Palestinians were throwing stones and waving flags. (Reuters)(The Times of Israel)
Several demonstrations, some of them violent, take place in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and Diyarbakir in response to the disaster, with police responding to many of the protests with force. (BBC News)
The official death toll for the disaster rises to 282, with up to 150 miners still missing. (BBC News)
An oil pipe in Los Angeles breaks, spilling an estimated 10,000 gallons of oil in the streets. (BBC News)
Fifteen crew members of the MV Sewol are charged over the sinking of the MV Sewol off the coast of South Korea with four people including the captain charged with homicide. (AP via New Zealand Herald)
An eight month pregnant Christian woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, is sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy in Sudan in a case that has drawn widespread international condemnation. (NBC News)
Officials call off rescue operations as 54 dead bodies recovered with an unknown number of people missing in a ferry disaster in the Meghna River of Bangladesh.(Biharprabha News)
Law and crime
A pregnant Sudanese woman Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag is set to receive 100 lashes for being married to a Christian man and is sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christianity causing international outrage. (CNN)
Officials in North Korea report the collapse of a 23-story block of flats that is believed to have killed multiple residents, in a rare public apology. (Al Jazeera)
Three female children, ages 2 months to 3 years, are stabbed to death at a home in Torrance, California, U.S. The children's mother is arrested and charged with murder. (CNN)
eBay forces its users to change their passwords after a database containing encrypted user passwords and other non-financial data is compromised by a cyber-attack. (BBC News)
The death toll has risen to six as anti-China riots continue in Vietnam over oil rich islands in the South China Sea. China has sent ships to evacuate 3000 citizens from Vietnam. (Reuters)
Six Iranians that were arrested have been released in Tehran after releasing a fan video set to Pharrell Williams' "Happy", sparking outcries over the internet. (CNN)
Egyptian security forces claim to have killed Shadi el-Menei, the leader of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, and three other senior members in overnight fighting. (Sky News)
A Hubei court finds Chinese tycoon Liu Han, the former head of the conglomerate Hanlong Group, guilty of "organising and leading mafia-style crime and murder" and "obtain[ing] financial gains via illegal activities", sentencing him to death. (BBC News)
Voters in the European Union go to the polls for a multi-day European Parliamentary election. Voters in Latvia, Malta, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic vote today. (Sofia Globe)
Voters in Colombia go to the polls for the first round in the presidential election. Opposition candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga wins a plurality of votes and will face the incumbent Juan Manuel Santos in the second round. (Reuters)
Voters in Ukraine go to the polls for the first round of voting in the presidential election amidst ongoing violence in the east of the country with exit polls indicating that businessman Petro Poroshenko is headed for victory. (Sydney Morning Herald)(Washington Post)
Voters go to the polls to elect the members of the federal and regional parliaments, simultaneously with the European election. The country faces protracted negotiations on forming a federal government as Flemish nationalist N-VA wins in Flanders while the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Di Rupo remains the largest in Wallonia.(The Conversation)(AP via the Republic)
Jimmie Johnson wins the 2014 Coca-Cola 600, ending the longest winless stretch to begin a NASCAR Sprint Cup season he has ever had, while Kurt Busch's attempt to be the second driver ever to complete both the 600 and the Indianapolis 500 in the same day is ended by an engine failure. (ESPN)
The Ukrainian Air Force conducts airstrikes on Donetsk International Airport while paratroopers drop in to fight pro-Russian separatists. (Irish Times)
Air Marshal Alex Barde, the Nigeria head of defense, tells protesters in Abuja that the military knows where the 300 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram are but are reluctant to rescue them due to the fear of having them killed. (AP)
At least seven people have been killed and twenty injured following a fire in a bus terminal north of Seoul in the South Korean city of Goyang. (Yonhap)
At least 26 people are dead and 10 missing since Wednesday as storms hit southern and central China. (ABC News Australia)
The president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, says that the ECB is conscious of the dangers of too low a level of inflation and it has the weapons necessary to get back to the target rate. (Reuters)
A Pakistani woman is stoned to death with bricks outside a courthouse by family members including her father, two brothers, and ex-fiancé for marrying a man she loved against the family's wishes. (The Jerusalem Post via Reuters)
Voting in Egypt continues for an unscheduled third day due to concerns about low turnout. Official results show former military chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi headed for a massive victory with 92% of the vote. (BBC News)(BBC News²)(AP)
Pro-Russian group Vostok Battalion seize control of the headquarters of the Donetsk Peoples Republic in a coup d'état, plunging the rebels into chaos. (Telegraph)
Economy Minister Axel Kicillof of Argentina reaches an agreement with the Paris Club of creditor nations on debt repayment totaling $9.7 billion including interest, over the next five years. (Reuters)
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau reports that they have finished searching an area where pings were heard in April and have discounted it as the final resting place for the plane. (Reuters)
An oil tanker is listing off the coast of Japan's Hyogo prefecture after an explosion and subsequent fire. Seven of the eight crew on board have been rescued while the captain is missing. (AFP via Global Post)
Opposition candidate Peter Mutharika is declared the winner of the disputed presidential election. (BBC News)
Sport
In basketball, the NBA announces that it has approved the US$2 billion bid of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for the Los Angeles Clippers. The sale must still be approved by the league's owners, and banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA. The sale price far exceeds the previous NBA record of $550 million paid for the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this year. (ESPN)
Taliban insurgents from Afghanistan attack a Pakistani border post in the Bajurtribal area, resulting in the deaths of 14 militants and one soldier. (Voice of America)
