1st April - Living wage
The UK government set a new national living wage of £7.20 per hour for workers over 25, a 50p increase on the previous minimum. The previous minimum wage of £6.70 per hour for 21-24-year-olds, and £5.30 for 18-21-year-olds will still apply. The increase was cautiously welcomed by campaigners, but some experts have warned that companies are already cutting back on in-work benefits in response to increased staff costs.
3rd April - Jihadist app
An app launched by the Afghan Taliban, which offered users access to propaganda in the Pashto language, was removed from the Google Play store several days after going live. The app was interpreted by experts as an attempt to mimic the digital success of the so-called Islamic State.
4th April - Not-so smart gun
A US senator has called for an investigation into the ‘Ideal Conceal’, a new handgun created by a company in Minnesota that can be disguised as a smartphone. Chuck Schumer said that the weapon, marketed at $395 (£279), could pose a major security and criminal threat.
6th April - Secular activist killed
Nazimuddin Samad, a Bangladeshi law student who had written anti-religious messages on Facebook, was murdered in Dhaka. Samad had been included on a list of atheist bloggers published by a radical Islamist group last year. In 2015, four outspoken atheists were murdered in Bangladesh.
7th April - Netherlands referendum
A Dutch referendum on whether the EU should pursue closer ties with Ukraine delivered an overwhelming ‘no’ vote, which was interpreted as a snub to the union. However, turnout was only 32 per cent. The EU has signed a cooperation treaty with Kiev, but it must be ratified by every member state.
10th April - Ukraine PM resigns
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was elected Prime Minister of Ukraine on a wave of anti-Russian sentiment, has stepped down, after a political and economic crisis led to his party’s approval rating collapsing to 2 per cent. Volodymyr Grosman, the speaker of parliament, replaces him.
12th April - Suicide epidemic
The Canadian parliament held an emergency session to discuss a surge in suicide attempts by teenagers in the indigenous Attawapiskat First Nation community in Northern Ontario. That weekend, 11 people tried to kill themselves; a further 28 attempted suicide in March.
13th April- China LGBT ruling
A judge in the Chinese city of Changsha dismissed a case brought by gay couple against a local civil affairs bureau that had refused to grant them a marriage certificate. The case was seen as an opportunity to open a discussion about LGBT rights in China, which remains socially conservative.
16th April - Ecuador earthquake
More than 650 people were killed after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit northern Ecuador. Thousands of people were forced into makeshift shelters, after the earthquake destroyed buildings in the coastal towns of Manta, Portoviejo and Pedernales.
17th April - Migrant tragedy
Up to 500 people are thought to have died when a boat carrying migrants sank in the Mediterranean, refugee agencies said, just under a year after 850 people drowned in a single incident in the same stretch of water. Around 1,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in 2016.
20th April - Genocide vote
The House of Commons voted to officially declare that the treatment of Christian and Yazidi minorities by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria amounts to genocide, and to refer the issue to the UN Security Council. The government’s position is that it is not the UK’s responsibility to make such a judgement.
21st April - Special relationship
US president Barack Obama arrived in the UK for an official visit to discuss the countries’ mutual response to the threat of the so-called Islamic State. Obama was also drawn into the debate around the UK’s membership of the European Union, after warning it would undermine Britain’s stability.
24th April -Far right victory
Norbert Hofer, a candidate for the anti- immigration, populist Freedom Party, won the first round of Austria’s presidential elections in a landslide. Hofer, who is known for carrying a pistol for ‘self-defence’, has promised to use the largely ceremonial role of president to disrupt national politics.
26th April - Doctors strike
Junior doctors staged an unprecedented two-day walk-out in protest at a new contract that the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has insisted he will impose despite overwhelming opposition from the profession. Doctors say the new working conditions, which redefine weekends as ‘core hours’ will endanger patients.
