April 7, 2017 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- 2017 Shayrat missile strike
- The United States launches 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles aimed at the Ash Sha'irat air base in Homs Governorate in response to the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons in its attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun. The Government of Syria claims the attack killed six soldiers and nine civilians, including four children. (NBC News) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- Russia suspends a pact with the United States to coordinate operations in Syrian airspace. (The New York Times)
- 2017 Shayrat missile strike
- 2017 Westminster attack
- The death toll rises to five after a woman who fell into the River Thames dies in hospital. (News.com.au)
- 2017 Stockholm truck attack
- Somali Civil War (2009–present)
- Mortar rounds are fired in a neighborhood in Wadajir District, Somalia, killing three civilians. Al-Shabaab is suspected of being behind the attack. (Reuters)
- South Thailand insurgency
- A wave of small-scale terrorist attacks, including tire burning and the bombing of the electric grid, hits the Thai provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, and Songkhla in response to the new Constitution of Thailand. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Baez, Journey, Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, and Yes are the six acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (New York Post)
Business and economics
- Hyundai (Sonata and Santa Fe) and Kia (Optima, Sorento, and Sportage) are recalling 1.5 million cars, over 1.3 million in United States and 170,000 in South Korea, over an engine defect. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Six people are killed and two are missing after the Jhelum River in Kashmir overflows following heavy rain and snowfall. (Reuters)
- Twenty people have died and more than a dozen missing after a ferry capsizes in Myanmar's Irrawaddy River delta. (AP via The Telegraph)
Law and crime
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security withdraws its order that Twitter unmask a user whose tweets are critical of President Donald Trump following the company's court filing to block the order on constitutional grounds. (The Washington Post) (CBS News)
International relations
- China–Norway relations
- Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg meets with Premier of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang in Beijing to announce the end of a diplomatic freeze between the countries and the resumption of free trade negotiations between China and Norway. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- The Maldives Police Service arrests the country's opposition leader, Qasim Ibrahim, after his party's failed bid to impeach the Speaker of the People's Majlis. (Reuters)
- Neil Gorsuch is confirmed as the 113th justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by a 54–45 vote in the United States Senate after invocation of the "nuclear option". (The New York Times)
- The governor of the State of Alabama, Robert Bentley, wins a court victory halting impeachment proceedings that were set to begin Monday to determine whether he should remain in office after it was discovered that he had a romantic relationship with a staffer. (AP)
- President Joseph Kabila appoints Bruno Tshibala of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress as the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kabila's earlier announcement of his decision to appoint a new prime minister prompted Samy Badibanga to resign from the role after less than five months in office. (Al Jazeera)
- Over 50,000 people participate in the ongoing Democratic Alliance protests in South Africa against President Jacob Zuma. (Sowetan Live) (NewsTalk)
Science and technology
- Artifacts from Triquet Island, south-west of Hunter Island in British Columbia, are found to date back 14,000 years, marking the discovery of the oldest village in North America. (CTV News)
Sports
- In basketball, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder ensures that he will average a triple-double for the 2016–17 NBA season in the Thunder's game against the Phoenix Suns. He becomes only the second NBA player to average a triple-double over a season, after Oscar Robertson with the Cincinnati Royals (now known as the Sacramento Kings) in 1961–62. (ESPN)
- NCAA Division I conference realignment
- Wichita State University will leave the Missouri Valley Conference after the 2016–17 school year to join the American Athletic Conference. The Shockers will become the first full but non-football member of The American since the 2013 split of its predecessor, the original Big East Conference. (ESPN)