Portal:Current events/2011 March 23

March 23, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflict and attacks

2011 Syrian protests
- Syrian forces kill at least four people at the Omari Mosque in the southern Syrian city of Deraa following days of protest against the Ba'ath Party. (Reuters) (BBC)
- The government fires the governor of Daraa province. (CNN)
2011 Libyan civil war
- Kuwait and Jordan provide logistics, and Turkey adds five ships and a submarine to the military intervention in Libya. (hurrieyet)) (DAWN)(France24)
- Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi continue to attack the cities of Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zintan despite the western intervention. (The Guardian)
- Air Vice Marshal Greg Bagwell of the British Royal Air Force claims that the Libyan Air Force "no longer exists as a fighting force". (CBS News)
2011 Yemeni protests
- The President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh offers to stand down by the end of the year and warns of a "civil war" as 2011 Yemeni protests continue. (Al-Jazeera)(CNN)
- The Parliament of Yemen passes emergency laws giving broader powers of arrest to the Government. (The Guardian)
Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip fire ten mortars at the Eshkol, Sha'ar Hanegev region, and Grad rockets at the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beersheba; one person is injured in Beersheba. (Haaretz) (The Jerusalem Post) (The Australian)
An explosive device which was placed in a suitcase on the sidewalk exploded next to bus number 74 near the Jerusalem International Convention Center complex. A woman is killed in the explosion and at least 50 people are injured. (Haaretz) (Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)(The Australian)

Arts and culture

English-American actress Elizabeth Taylor dies at the age of 79 in Los Angeles. (E Online)

Business and economy

The Chinese yuan reaches a record level against the US dollar. (BBC)
A U.S. federal court judge dismisses part of a lawsuit brought by Lions Gate Entertainment against its shareholder, Carl Icahn, holding that Icahn had met certain statutory disclosure requirements. (Reuters)

Disasters

The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan instructs the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture Yūhei Satō to advise residents to avoid eating leafy vegetables, due to the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. (Kyodo News)
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Waterworks says levels of radioactive iodine in city tap water are two times the recommended limit for infants. (NZ Stuff)

International relations

Roberto Maroni, the Italian Minister of the Interior, flies to Tunis to discuss stopping the flow of Tunisian immigrants to the small island of Lampedusa following the Tunisian Revolution. (BBC)

Law and crime

An Egyptian committee set up to investigate violence during demonstrations that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak has charged him and the interior minister with the intentional murder of protesters. (The Jerusalem Post)
Moriarty Tribunal:
- The Moriarty Tribunal, which yesterday found former government minister Michael Lowry guilty "beyond doubt" of assisting billionaire businessman Denis O'Brien in gaining a mobile phone license for Esat Digifone, in actions judged "disgraceful and insidious" by the tribunal, is referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). (RTÉ)
- Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin asks that Michael Lowry resign over his part in what he calls "the greatest corporate scandal in the history of the State". (Inside Ireland)
- Former Denis O'Brien employee and journalist Sarah Carey's "significant leaking" of tribunal information is judged by the tribunal to have been "irresponsible" and "not remotely justified". (The Irish Times)
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refuses to allow same-sex marriages to resume in the US state of California while it considers the constitutionality of Proposition 8. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Politics and elections

Thousands of people gather in Canberra, Australia to protest the introduction of a carbon tax, Prime Minister Julia Gillard met the Australian Youth Climate Coalition which is pushing for a price on emissions, while climate change mitigation activists including the Australian Council of Trade Unions delivered a petition to Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet signed by about 10,000 "working Australians" urging the government to take action. (AAP via Adelaide Now) (The Australian) (Sydney Morning Herald) (Daily Telegraph)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers the 2011 United Kingdom budget. (The Daily Telegraph)
The Israeli Knesset passes a new law which requires the state to fine local authorities and other state-funded bodies for denying Israel as Jewish, democratic state or supporting racism, armed resistance against Israel, or desecrating the state flag or national symbols, including holding events marking Nakba Day.(BBC)(Ynet)(The Jerusalem Post)
The Liberal Party of Canada announces it will introduce a motion to the Canadian House of Commons that calls on MPs to support a committee report finding the Conservative government in contempt of Parliament. The finding was in response to the government allegedly not supplying sufficient information on costs of crime bills, purchasing F-35 fighter jets for the Canadian Forces, and corporate tax cuts. (CBC)
The Prime Minister of Portugal José Sócrates resigns after the parliament rejects austerity measures. (AP via The Star), (Reuters)
Spain bans the new Basque nationalist political party Sortu.(Wall Street Journal)