Current events of 8 April 2009 (2009-04-08) (Wednesday) edit history watch

Thousands of people in Pyongyang, North Korea, celebrate the “successful” launch of the Bright Star-2 communications satellite into Earth's orbit. (BBC) Chinese and Russian cyber-spies allegedly infiltrate the United States' electrical grid. (AP) (Wall Street Journal) Police in Chişinău reclaim Moldova's Parliament from protesters of the Communist Party's absolute majority in the country's legislative election. (BBC) Thirty thousand National United Front demonstrators assemble at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Chinese President Hu Jintao meet in Beijing. (AFP) One person is killed and four are injured in a shooting in Temecula, California, United States. (Sky News) Somali pirates hijack the Danish container ship MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean. (BBC) A rogue French Foreign Legionnaire kills four people in Chad. (BBC) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development removes Costa Rica, Malaysia, and the Philippines from its blacklist of non-cooperative tax havens. (BBC) The United Kingdom Independent Police Complaints Commission announces an inquest into Ian Tomlinson's death. (The Guardian)