Portal:Current events/2010 March 28

March 28, 2010 (Sunday)

The BBC reports it has found evidence of a massacre which occurred in Democratic Republic of Congo last December in which at least 321 people, including children, were killed. Human Rights Watch calls it "one of the worst massacres carried out by the LRA". (BBC)
Catholic Church child sexual abuse scandal:
- At a Palm Sunday mass in Saint Peter's Square, Rome, Pope Benedict XVI tells tens of thousands of people about the recent "petty gossip" he has been subjected to, thought to mean the child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, though he fails to directly mention the scandal. (BBC) (The Observer) (National Post)
- Controversial Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady confirms the departure of one of his parish priests due to new information regarding "child safeguarding issues". (RTÉ) (BBC) (Reuters) (The Irish Times)
Middle East:
- Israel announces its plan to seal off the West Bank from midnight tonight until midnight on 6 April during the Passover holiday. (Ha'aretz)
- Chief Justice of Palestine Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Al-Tamimi appeals for Palestinian citizens to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in response to posters showing the Jewish Temple plastered on Jerusalem bus routes. (Saba News Agency) (The Jerusalem Post)
- The 22nd Arab League (AL) Summit ends with Arab leaders agreeing that all attempts by Israel to change occupied Jerusalem and its "demographic, humanitarian and historic situation" are invalid and cannot be accepted, while appealing to the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, European Union and UNESCO, to save East Jerusalem and preserve the threatened Al-Aqsa Mosque. (Xinhua)
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu states that his "policy of retaliation is forceful and decisive" and alleges that "Hamas and the other terror organizations need to know that they are the ones that are responsible for their own actions". (Ha'aretz) (Reuters Africa)
- Netanyahu condemns the anonymous remarks in the Israeli press that US President Barack Obama is a “tragedy” for Israel as unacceptable. (The Jerusalem Post) (The New York Times) (Ynetnews)
- President of Israel Shimon Peres says Netanyahu's administration is going too far with its building plans in East Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz)
U.S. President Barack Obama, in his first visit to Afghanistan as commander in chief, meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and speaks to American troops deployed there. (Washington Post)
One male is killed and two other people are injured in the Patissia area of the Greek capital Athens after a bomb explodes outside a public building. It is the first fatal bombing in Greece for many years. (Reuters) (RTÉ) (BBC) (Sky News) (The Daily Telegraph) (Al Jazeera)
At least 152 coal miners are trapped after a pit floods in Shanxi, while 109 others escape. (BBC) (China Daily)
6 die and 33 are injured in five co-ordinated bombings targeting militia leader Sheikh Turki Hamad Mikhlif in Qaim, Iraq. (BBC) (Xinhua) (RTÉ) (Washington Post) (France24) (The New York Times)
2 journalists are shot dead, in the northeastern region of Olancho in Honduras. (Xinhua) (People) (The Associated Press)
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva meets with leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship on live television to help bring about an end to the political crisis in the country. (CNN) (Thai News Agency) (The Daily Telegraph)
A Chinese dissident lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, who has been missing for over a year, says he is "free" and wanting to spend time away from media attention. (Al Jazeera) (AP) (BBC)
Italians test Silvio Berlusconi in regional elections. (BBC)
First step in Russian time zone reform comes into force. The number of time zones drops from 11 to 9, eliminating Samara Time and Kamchatka Time. (RT) (The Moscow Times) (Reuters) (AP)
America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducts raids in southeastern Michigan in an investigation involving members of Hutaree, a Christian-oriented militia group. (AnnArbor.com) (WDIV) (AP)
24 is cancelled. (BBC)