Portal:Current events/March 2012

• Syria:
  • Syrian rebels leave the neighborhood of Bab Amr, Homs following a bloody 26 day bombardment. (Reuters via MSNBC) (Reuters)
  • The United Nations Security Council demands access to Syria for its humanitarian chief Valerie Amos. (BBC)
• Clashes break out and tear gas is fired by security forces in northern Azerbaijan after protesters torch the home of a local governor. (Daily Times of Pakistan)
• A bomb explodes on a Turkish police bus in Istanbul injuring three people. (AFP via Dawn)
• Two members of the NATO International Security Assistance Force are killed in southern Afghanistan, one of whom is believed to be a member of the Afghan Army. (AP via Google News)

• Unemployment in the Euro zone rises to 10.7 per cent, the highest level in its history. (Reuters)
• Brazil announces the continuation of a "currency war" with the European Union and the United States with the extension of a financial transaction tax on foreign borrowings. (Financial Times)

• Australian floods:
  • Heavy rains in the Australian state of New South Wales leads to evacuations or warnings in the towns of Cooma, Goulburn, Queanbeyan and near the town of Kiama. (The Australian) (ABC News Australia) (Daily Telegraph)
  • The Warragamba Dam, the primary water source for the city of Sydney, is expected to overflow within 24 hours causing nearby areas to flood as well as the Nepean River. (News Limited)
  • Hundreds of people in the northern part of the state of Victoria, with the town of Tallygaroopna the worst affected. (Stock and Land)
  • Heavy flooding is also reported in the region of the capital city Canberra with the Old Cotter River dam going under for the first time in a hundred years. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• The stricken liner Costa Allegra arrives at the Seychelles after losing power three days ago due to an engine room fire. (BBC)

• Vietnam claims that the People's Republic of China has assaulted Vietnamese fishermen in disputed waters in the South China Sea. (AP via CBS News)
• Americans working for non-government organisations who had been facing trial in Egypt are allowed to leave. (New York Times)
• European Union summit:
  • European Union leaders meet to discuss Europe's economic problems and to reappoint Herman Van Rompuy as the President of the European Council. (Reuters via the Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Serbia becomes a candidate for membership of the EU. (New York Times)

• The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for the Sudanese defence minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein. (Al Jazeera)
• Indian police arrest three alleged members of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Delhi who are claimed to have been planning a major terrorist attack. (NDTV)
• T.J. Lane, perpetrator of the 2012 Chardon High School shooting, is charged with three counts of aggravated murder. (CNN)
• Martin O'Malley, the Governor of the US state of Maryland, signs a law legalizing gay marriage in that state. (Los Angeles Times)

• New research concludes that the Earth's oceans may be growing more acidic at a faster rate than any time in the past 300 million years. (MSNBC)(Reuters)

• The Red Cross is denied access to the Baba Amr district of Homs following its capture by the Syrian Army despite having been granted permission earlier to provide relief to 4,000 residents. (Sky News) (The New York Times)
• At least 33 people die in a clash between the Pakistan Army and militants in Tirah Valley in the Bara area of Khyber. (Reuters)
• The Russian Army kills two militants in the village of Mutsalaul in Dagestan's Khasavyurt district. (RIA Novosti)
• The US space agency NASA claims that it was hacked 13 times last year compromising security. (New York Times)
• The Washington Post reports that a US military report into the accidental burning of Qurans at Bagram airfield in Afghanistan that led to widespread protests has found that five US service personnel were involved. (Washington Post)

• 25 of the 27 members of the European Union sign a new "fiscal compact", the exceptions being the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. (BBC)
• Nestlé and Danone are said to be bidding for the infant nutrition business that Pfizer is about to put up for sale. (Reuters)
• Moody's Investor Services cuts Greece's credit rating to C claiming that there is a still a significant risk of default despite the Eurozone bailout. (BBC)

• Anglican Church officials in Christchurch, New Zealand, announce that the 131-year-old landmark ChristChurch Cathedral will need to be demolished, having suffered severe damage from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and its aftershocks. (The Press Christchurch)
• Australian floods:
  • Residents in the New South Wales town of Bega evacuate as the Australian flood crisis continues to worsen. (Bloomberg)
  • Warragamba Dam, Sydney's main dam, reaches its capacity, leading to the evacuation of residents in southwestern Sydney and flooding of major roads at Windsor and Richmond. (News Limited)
• Tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2012
  • Tornados hit the midwestern and southern United States two days after the 2012 Leap Day tornado outbreak. (BBC) (MSNBC) (USA Today)
  • Widespread damage is reported in southern Indiana with the towns of Marysville, Indiana and Henryville, Indiana worst affected. (USA Today) (CNN) (The New York Times)
  • Steve Beshear, the Governor of Kentucky, declares a state of emergency due to widespread damage. (Courier-Journal) (AP via Google)
  • At least 27 people are killed in the tornado outbreaks, including 15 from Indiana and 11 from Kentucky. (CNN)
• Around 30 people are injured and six of them taken to hospital when a stand collapses in Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, during a concert with Avicii. (Aftonbladet)

• The Indian Intelligence Bureau launches an inquiry into whether the office of Defence Minister A. K. Antony had been bugged. (NDTV)
• The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein, Sudan's Defence Minister, on war crimes charges in connection to Darfur. (Al Jazeera)
• BP and plaintiffs reach an agreement over compensation for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP via ABC News America)

• Iranian elections:
  • Voters in Iran head to the polls to elect Members of the Parliament. (PressTv)
  • Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar says that the results will be announced in less than 72 hours. (Al Jazeera)
• The Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard announces a Cabinet reshuffle with Bob Carr, a former Premier of New South Wales, appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs to replace Kevin Rudd. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Thousands of people in south-eastern Nigeria attend the funeral of former Biafran secessionist leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who died in London last year. (BBC)
• Libyans protest outside a courthouse building in Benghazi calling for it to reopen rather than be used as a militia headquarters. (Reuters)

• Meta-analysis of 42 previous studies concludes chocolate may be good for the heart. (Reuters)

• In baseball, North America's Major League Baseball expands its playoffs to ten teams. (ESPN)
• In American football, the National Football League finds that the New Orleans Saints paid bounties for injuries on opposition players including Kurt Warner and Brett Favre. (AP via WVEC)

• Syria:
  • The United Nations demands that Syria allow in humanitarian aid after a Red Cross relief mission was denied access to Homs yesterday. (AFP via The Australian)
  • A suicide bomber kills at least two people and injures several others in the town of Deraa. (Reuters)
• At least three people are killed in a bombing that targeted a Republican Guard building in Badya, Yemen. (Al Jazeera)
• The Aquabats! Super Show! is on The Hub

• Australians living in the north-western Sydney suburbs of Richmond, Pitt Town and Grono Point are evacuated as the Nepean-Hawkesbury River system floods after Warragamba Dam overflows. (News Limited)
• The death toll from a tornado outbreak in the US reaches at least 36, with casualties reported in Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia and Ohio. (BBC) (Reuters) (CNN)
• Two trains crash in the small Polish town of Szczekociny near Zawiercie, with 13 people killed and up to 50 people injured. (BBC) (AP via Google) (Reuters via MSNBC)
• 50 people are killed and 27 injured in eastern Guinea after a lorry they were travelling in crashed. (AFP via Google)

• Egypt appoints new judges for the trial of 43 non-government organisation workers including six Americans who left earlier in the week. (Washington Post)
• The criminal case associated with the wreck of the Costa Concordia starts in Italy. (New York Times)

• Residents of Wukan in southern China that staged a revolt against officials hold council elections. (BBC) (China Daily)
• Early returns in the Iranian legislative election show the conservative opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doing well. (The Guardian)
• Authorities in Tajikistan close access to Facebook and sites with material critical of President Emomali Rakhmon. (RIA Novosti)
• Republican voters in the US state of Washington go to the polls for caucuses, with Mitt Romney winning. (MSNBC) (AP via Houston Chronicle)

• The People's Republic of China announces plans to increase defense spending by 11.2 per cent in 2012. (Reuters via Yahoo News)

• The cleanup continues in the US after tornadoes that claimed at least 39 lives. (BBC)
• A man dies in floodwaters near the Australian town of Araluen, New South Wales, with the hospital in the town of Numurkah, Victoria, being evacuated. (Herald Sun)
• A report finds that 160 children from the Chinese town of Dongtang in Guangdong Province's Renhua County are suffering from lead poisoning. (Reuters)
• The death toll from the train crash in Poland rises to 16. (New York Times)
• 2012 Brazzaville arms dump blasts: A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, with at least 250 people dead. (Reuters), (BBC)
• A truck accident in Guinea kills at least 50 people and injures 20, according to Agence France Presse. (BBC)

• A hunt is underway for a thief who stole the heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. (The Guardian)
• Paul McBride QC, Scotland's most senior lawyer, is found dead in a hotel room while on a visit to Pakistan. (BBC)

• Voters in Russia go to the polls for a presidential election with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claiming victory despite allegations of voter fraud. (Radio Free Europe) (AP via Fox News)
• Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland and Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, criticises government plans to allow Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom. (BBC)

• Refugees fleeing Homs in Syria accuse security forces of committing atrocities there. (BBC)
• At least 2 people are killed and 6 injured after a shooting in a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania. (Fox News)
• Gunmen disguised as police kill 27 members of Iraq's security forces in the town of Haditha. (Reuters)
• The death toll in a battle between the Yemeni Army and Al-Qaeda on the outskirts of Zinjibar yesterday rises to over 130. (AFP via Google News) (Al Jazeera)
• A soldier from Burundi is killed in an explosion in northern Mogadishu, Somalia. (IOL)

• The Lorax brings in US$70.7M during its opening weekend, the highest opener of 2012, and fifth highest total for an animated film ever. (CBS News)

• South East Queensland is hit by severe weather with one person dead so far. (Courier Mail)
• The death toll from Tropical Storm Irina in Madagascar is estimated at 65. (AFP via Google News)
• Archbishop Anatole Milandou of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, reports that the church of St. Louis des Francais was completely leveled by a series of blasts that came from a nearby military base on Sunday morning, March 4. (Catholic World News)

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama meet at the White House. (BBC)
• Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico, asks Joe Biden, the vice-President of the United States, for assistance in stopping the flow of money and weapons into Mexico. (AP via The Guardian)
• The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling organisation claims to have closed down Japan's main whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, deep inside the Southern Ocean off the Antarctic coast. (WA Today)

• The United States files an application in New Zealand to extradite Kim Dotcom and three of his associates in MegaUpload to face charges of breaching copyright. (New Zealand Herald)
• The trial of former Prime Minister of Iceland Geir Haarde on charges of negligence in relation to the financial crisis begins in Reykjavík. (BBC)

• Russian election aftermath:
  • International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe find that the Russian presidential election was skewed in favour of Vladimir Putin. (AFP via The Australian)
  • Moscow Police arrest dozens of protesters against the conduct of the election including prominent members of opposition parties Sergei Udaltsov, Ilya Yashin and Alexei Navalny. (Radio Free Europe) (RIA Novosti)

• A study finds a correlation between snoring as a toddler and behavior problems later in childhood. (BBC)
• Merck announces that a new drug, ragweed AIT, significantly reduced ragweed allergy symptoms in a Phase III clinical trial. (Fox Business)

• The Apple App Store passes 25 billion downloads. (CNET)

• A South Korean panel identifies the 95 Koreans who died in the US bombing of Tokyo during World War II. (Yonhap)
• At least 39 people are killed across Syria, while the Red Cross states that it is still unable to deliver aid to the besieged Bab Amr neighborhood of Homs. (CNN)
• A gunman kills the headmaster of the Episcopal School of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and then kills himself. (CNN)

• Robert B. Sherman, half of the American songwriting duo the Sherman Brothers, dies at the age of 86. (The Daily Telegraph)

• Lehman Brothers emerges from bankruptcy protection. (BBC)
• Turkish Airlines begins a service to Somalia, the first regular service to the capital Mogadishu except regional East African flights to operate in twenty years. (The Guardian)

• Approximately 9,000 residents of the Australian town of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, are evacuated as the Murrumbidgee River nears record levels threatening the town's levee. (Herald Sun) (SBS)
• A 5.2 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Philippines near Masbate City on the island of Masbate causing some injuries. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Human Rights Watch claims that the Government of Japan has been too slow in providing health care to survivors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. (Alertnet)

• A Saudi Arabian diplomat is killed in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. (Times of India)
• Iran states that it will allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to its Parchin military complex. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• French President Nicolas Sarkozy announces his plan to cut immigration to France by half. (BBC)
• The European Commission is involved in controversy over a video promoting EU enlargement that is perceived as racist. (BBC)

• Businessman Allen Stanford is convicted of running a US$7 billion Ponzi scheme. (New York Times)
• Retired British businessman Christopher Tappin is denied bail in the US state of Texas as he faces arms dealing charges. (The Guardian)
• Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission says that it will lodge criminal charges against Olympus Corporation as well as former advisers and executives over an accounting fraud. (Reuters)
• Law enforcement agencies in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland arrest alleged senior members of the computer hacking group Lulz Sec, including a member of the FBI. (Fox News) (The Guardian)

• Cyrenaican bid for semi-autonomy:
  • Cyrenaica, the eastern Libyan region, announces a bid for semi-autonomy. (Al Jazeera)
  • Ahmed al-Senussi, a relative of Libya's former king Idris, is announced as the leader of the Cyrenaica Transitional Council. (Reuters)
• Super Tuesday:
  • Voters in 10 US states go to the polls for Super Tuesday. (Washington Times)
  • Newt Gingrich is projected as the winner of the Georgia primary. (Los Angeles Times)
  • Mitt Romney is projected as the winner of primaries in Virginia, Massachusetts, Ohio and Vermont as well as the Idaho and Alaska caucuses. (Chicago Tribune) (Los Angeles Times) (Washington Post) (Chicago Tribune) (AP via Washington Post)
  • Rick Santorum is projected as the winner of the Oklahoma and Tennessee primaries and North Dakota caucuses. (Reuters via Fox Business News) (Washington Post) (CNN)
• Veteran Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich is defeated in a Democrat primary in the 9th district by incumbent Marcia C. Kaptur after he was affected by redistricting - Samuel Wurzelbacher aka Joe the Plumber wins the Republican Party primary. (Politico) (AP via Google)
• Incumbent Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt is defeated in the Republican primary in the 2nd district by Brad Wenstrup. (Washington Post)

• Indian elections:
  • Counting begins in state elections in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa. (Wall Street Journal)
  • The regional Samajwadi Party leads in the count in Uttar Pradesh. (BBC)
• Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistan Taliban, removes his deputy commander Maulvi Faqir Mohammed in a sign of a growing power struggle. (BBC)
• The United States Congress votes to restore higher tariffs against the People's Republic of China and other nations that allegedly subsidize exports to the United States. (AP)
• The Parliament of New South Wales officially appoints Bob Carr as a member of the Australian Senate filling a casual vacancy left by the resignation of Mark Arbib. (ABC News Australia)

• Chris Cairns, former New Zealand cricket team captain, begins a UK High Court action for libel damages over an accusation on Twitter that he was involved in match-fixing. (BBC)

• Insurgency in the North Caucasus: Five policemen are killed in a female suicide bombing by the widow of a killed Islamic militant in Dagestan, Russia. (The Telegraph)
• Six British Army soldiers are missing presumed killed in Afghanistan. (AP via Washington Post)
• Valerie Amos, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, visits the Baba Amr district in the Syrian city of Homs. (BBC)

• The death toll from a series of avalanches in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province rises to 50. (AP via SFGate)
• The Australian town of Yenda, New South Wales, is flooded as floodwaters move through the Murray–Darling Basin. (Daily Telegraph)

• Swedish media report that the country has been helping Saudi Arabia plan the construction of a weapons factory. (Al Jazeera)

• China describes Tibetan monks that have self-immolated as "criminals" and accuses the Dalai Lama of supporting the acts. (The Hindu)
• Libyan leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil says he will "defend national unity" after Cyrenaica, the eastern region of the country, declared it would become semi-autonomous. (Al Jazeera)
• Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and his wife, Stockholm county council chair Filippa Reinfeldt, separate after two decades of marriage. (Washington Post) (CBS News) (The Local)

• The biggest solar flare in five years that occurred on March 6 nears Earth with the capacity to disrupt power grids, GPS systems and airline flights. (AP via USA Today)
• Physicists from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report data suggesting the elusive hypothesized Higgs boson ("God particle") may have been detected. (New York Times)

• 2011–2012 Syrian uprising:
  • Abdo Hussameddin, the Syrian deputy oil minister, announces that he is resigning and joining the Opposition. (BBC)
  • Syrian dissidents reject a call by Kofi Annan to stop fighting and seek peace talks. (Reuters)
• Police in Dublin remove the Occupy Dame Street camp during an overnight raid. (The Irish Times) (RTE)
• British Prime Minister David Cameron announces that two engineers – Briton Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara – who were abducted by Islamic extremists in Nigeria in May 2011 were killed during a rescue attempt by British and Nigerian forces. (BBC)

• Greece secures a debt-restructuring deal with private lenders. (New York Times)
• Inflation levels in China fall substantially. (CNNMoney)
• Spanx inventor Sara Blakely becomes the youngest self-made female billionaire on Forbes' list. (Forbes)
• Toyota recalls 700,000 cars over safety concerns. (The Guardian)

• Evacuation orders are issued for the Australian towns of Griffith and Forbes due to floods moving west through the Murray–Darling basin. (Bloomberg)

• A gunman kills one person and injures seven others before himself being shot dead at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (CNN)
• Former Los Angeles Police Department detective Stephanie Lazarus is found guilty of a high profile 1986 murder. (NPR)

• The first full map of the debris field of the remains of the RMS Titanic is announced. (Wall Street Journal)
• A study suggests that donor stem cells may prevent organ rejection in imperfectly matched transplant cases. (Los Angeles Times)

• Arab Spring:
  • Tens of thousands of people in Bahrain join an anti-government protest outside the capital Manama. (BBC)
  • 31 people are killed in anti-government clashes with security forces in Syria. (Reuters)
• Secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees Zohair al-Qaisi, a senior PRC member and two additional Palestinian militants are assassinated during a targeted killing carried out by Israeli forces in Gaza. (Reuters) (BBC)
• A Thai worker in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council in Israel is injured by shrapnel of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. The Iron Dome mobile air defence system intercepts various rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at Ashdod. (Ynetnews)
• Italian President Giorgio Napolitano calls on the British government to explain why it did not inform Italy about an attempt to rescue hostages Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara until after the operation had been carried out. (BBC)

• Simin Daneshvar, Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer and translator dies at the age of 90. (Tabnak)
• The British Film Institute announces the rediscovery of the world's oldest Charles Dickens film, dating from 1901 and featuring a depiction of a character from Bleak House. (The Guardian)
• Officials announce the opening of Pottermore this coming April. (The Guardian)

• A bankruptcy court appointed examiner, Susheel Kirpalani, issues a detailed report highly critical of the pre-bankruptcy restructuring of Dynegy Inc at the expense of bondholders and for the benefit of Carl Icahn and other shareholders. (Dealbook)

• Oxfam warns of a major food crisis in West Africa unless immediate action is taken. (Al Jazeera)
• One person is killed and 20 injured in a hotel fire in Bangkok, Thailand. (Channel News Asia)

• China returns 31 North Korean refugees to North Korea, according to activists. (Bangkok Post)

• Chinese politician Bo Xilai speaks out for the first time since his aide attempted to defect at the American consulate. (New York Times)
• Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji's military government, says a new constitution will be ready by February 2013. (AFP)
• Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina Ken Ard resigns and pleads guilty to criminal charges related to handling of campaign funds. (New York Times)
• Indigenous protesters commence a cross-country march in Ecuador against mining concessions. (AFP)

• Arab Spring:
  • Syrian uprising: At least 45 women and children are killed and burned in Homs after the United Nations visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss the uprising. (CNN)
• March 2012 Gaza-Israel clashes: At least 130 rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza, and 12 Palestinians militants are killed as part of the latest escalation in violence in the region. (Ynetnews) (AP)
• Clashes take place in Somalia, where Al-Shabaab ambush Ethiopian troops. (BBC)
• Air raids in Bayda kill 10 Al-Qaeda militants. (BBC)
• Four people are killed and dozens injured in a grenade attack in Nairobi, Kenya (BBC)

• French comics artist Jean Giraud, also known as Mœbius, the creator of Blueberry and a range of influential science-fiction comics, dies at age 73. (Europe1)

• A fire in Peru destroys half a million textbooks and other education materials. (BBC)

• The leftist opposition party Smer-Social Democracy wins a clear majority in the Slovakian parliamentary election. (AP)
• U.S. Republican presidential caucuses:
  • Mitt Romney wins the caucuses in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands and Wyoming. (Washington Post) (National Journal) (USA Today)
  • Rick Santorum wins the caucus in Kansas. (Wall Street Journal)
• New protests erupt in Russia, after last week's election of Vladimir Putin as President for a third term. (BBC)
• Hundreds of nude cyclists take to the street in Lima, Peru to protest unsafe road conditions. (BBC)

• Frank Sherwood Rowland, the winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for warning about the depletion of the ozone layer, dies in the US state of California. (AP via Yahoo News)

• Canadian cross skier Nick Zoricic dies, at the age of 29, after a crash during a race in Grindelwald, Switzerland. (BBC)
• The Egyptian Football Association agrees to cancel the 2011-12 Egyptian Premier League season following the Port Said Stadium disaster. (BBC)

• A US soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar. (BBC)
• Inter-ethnic violence is reported in the Macedonian cities of Skopje and Tetovo overnight. (Al Jazeera Balkans)

• Slovakia's Krásna Hôrka castle is heavily damaged in a fire. (BBC)

• The Government of Pakistan bans the Islamist group Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaat. (BBC)

• Around 100 people are killed in ethnic clashes and cattle raids in South Sudan. (BBC)
• Gaza-Israel clashes continue as Palestinian militants fire more Qassam rockets into Israel overnight. 2 people are killed, including a militant, and 25 are injured during Israeli Air Force strikes on the Gaza Strip. (Al-Arabiya) (Reuters via the Chicago Tribune) (Jerusalem Post)
• At least 45 people including children are killed in a massacre by the Syrian army in Homs, amongst an ongoing uprising. (CNN)
• The bodies of 70 ethnic Somali and Oromo people are discovered near the Yemeni-Saudi Arabian border. (IRIN)

• The People's Republic of China records its highest trade deficit in over a decade, indicating a slowing economy. (Reuters)
• India's Kingfisher Airlines cancels at least 40 flights due to pilots not turning up for work due to unpaid salaries. (Times of India)

• A new section of high-speed railway that had undergone test runs collapses near Qianjiang, China. (New York Times)
• Over 45 people are trapped by avalanches in the remote Afghan villages of Poshan and Ghadoor in Nuristan province. (AP via Wall Street Journal)

• United States Census Bureau has estimated the world population up to 7 billion people. (USCB)
• Afghanistan:
  • The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel arrives in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit to Bundeswehr troops. (Deutsche Welle)
  • The Taliban vows revenge for yesterday's massacre carried out by a United States Army soldier, in which 16 people were killed, 9 of them children. (AFP via NDTV)
  • The Pentagon rejects a demand by the National Assembly of Afghanistan that the soldier responsible be publicly tried. (ABC News)
• Belgium asks the International Court of Justice to order Senegal to put former Chadian President Hissène Habré on trial or to extradite him on charges of torture and crimes against humanity. (IOL)
• A scuffle breaks out at the United Nations Human Rights Council after a North Korean diplomat said a U.N. report on the human rights situation in the country had been "fabricated". (Zee News India)

• Robbers kill at least 9 people and injure 14 in a jewelry heist in East Baghdad, Iraq. (AP via Washington Post)
• The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that a 22 year sentence given to Ahmed Ressam for attempting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots was too light. (Reuters)
• The loose-knit group of hackers known as Anonymous launch a second attack on the Vatican website. The vice director of the Holy See's Press Office, Father Ciro Benedettini, says the initial March 7 attack was not successful, failing in its attempt to bring the site down. (Catholic News Agency)

• Sri Lanka orders media outlets to get prior approval before sending mobile phone alerts about the military or police. (Straits Times)
• Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Dhaka, Bangladesh, demanding the government step down and hold elections. (Al Jazeera)

• In American football, the NCAA imposes a penalty on the North Carolina Tar Heels football of loss of post-season play for next season and loss of scholarships for code violations. (USA Today)

• Syrian uprising: The Syrian army attacks rebels in northern Syria; dozens of people in the city of Idlib are reported killed with heavy shelling in areas around Idlib and around Homs; rebels kill at least 10 troops in an ambush in the same area (New York Times) (CBS) (Jerusalem Post)
• 19 people are shot dead in an attack on a bus in southwest Ethiopia. (News 24)
• According to the Nigerian military, the group Boko Haram has killed 1200 people since the end of 2009. (La Repubblica)
• Israeli-Palestinian clashes subside as a truce between Israel and Palestinians militants in the Gaza Strip comes into effect. (BBC)(CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
• Afghanistan:
  • Students in Afghanistan hold protests in response to the Kandahar massacre by a member of the United States Army. (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia)
  • Taliban militants open fire on an Afghan government delegation visiting one of the two villages where the massacre occurred. (AP and CBS News)

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest encyclopedia still in print in the English language, announces that it will no longer be producing printed versions but continuing online editions. (Reuters via Yahoo 7 Australia)
• Interviews Before Execution, a Chinese television talk show that interviews death row inmates shortly before they are executed, is reportedly cancelled as a result of a BBC documentary on the programme which has attracted international attention. (MSNBC) (The Independent)

• The United States, Japan, and the European Union file a case against China at the WTO regarding export restrictions on rare earth metals. (BBC)
• Auto manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover announces plans to hire an additional 1,000 workers in its car plant in Halewood on Merseyside, England. (BBC)
• Most of the largest financial institutions in the United States pass a Federal Reserve System stress test although Citigroup, MetLife, Ally Financial and SunTrust do not. (Reuters)

• At least 30 people are dead and dozens missing after the MV Shariatpur 1 ferry carrying 200 people collides with an oil tanker. It capsizes on the Meghna River in Bangladesh's Munshiganj District near the capital Dhaka. (AP via Brisbane Times) (BBC) (The Telegraph) (AP via Newsday)
• At least 28 Belgians are killed in a bus crash in a motorway tunnel near the town of Sierre in the Swiss canton of Valais. (BBC) (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

• Argentina's Supreme Court rules that abortions following rape are not punishable. (Buenos Aires Herald) (Inquirer)
• Pedro Pimentel Rios, a participant in the Dos Erres massacre of the Guatemalan civil war, is sentenced to 6,060 years in prison. (BBC)
• British police arrest six people on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to phone hacking in the media including Rebekah Brooks, a former top executive of News International. (AP via Washington Post) (The Telegraph) (Washington Post)

• Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr is sworn in as a member of the Senate of Australia, replacing Mark Arbib, representing New South Wales.(Daily Telegraph)
• Republican Party presidential primaries:
  • Voters in the US states of Alabama and Mississippi head to the polls for primaries with Rick Santorum winning in both states. (CNN) (USA Today)
  • Voters in the state of Hawaii and the territory of American Samoa go to the polls for caucuses with Mitt Romney winning both. (Fox News) (Radio New Zealand) (AP via Google)

• A research study conducted by Harvard Medical School shows that red meat increases the risk of death and has other negative health implications. (BBC)

• In basketball, the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament gets underway with first round games in Dayton (NY Daily News)
• In sled dog racing, Dallas Seavey becomes the youngest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race run in the US state of Alaska. (SB Nation)

• 2011-2012 Syrian uprising:
  • The Syrian Army captures the former rebel held city of Idlib. (CNN)
  • Amnesty International releases a report detailing wide scale abuse and torture of prisoners held by the Syrian government. (CBS)
• Afghanistan:
  • Leon Panetta, the United States Secretary of Defense, arrives in Afghanistan to attempt to placate anger over the Kandahar massacre. (CNN)
  • The soldier allegedly responsible is removed from Afghanistan to Kuwait. (Voice of America)
• More than 10,000 Peruvian illegal gold miners clash with police in an attempt to gain control over the regional capital Puerto Maldonado. (AP via Google News)

• The United Kingdom towns of Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph are awarded city status to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. (BBC)

• Unemployment in the United Kingdom reaches 2.67 million, the most people since 1995. (Office for National Statistics)

• Tropical Cyclone Lua heads towards Western Australia's Pilbara region. (Bloomberg via Business Week)
• The death toll from the sinking of a ferry in Bangladesh rises to 110 with at least 61 others missing. (AP)
• A magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs off the coast of Japan causing a small tsunami that hits the coast of Aomori prefecture on the island of Hokkaido. (AFP via News Limited)
• The Belgian parents of children killed in a bus crash yesterday travel to Switzerland to identify the bodies. (Reuters)

• Authorities in Azerbaijan arrest 22 people for allegedly spying for Iran's Revolutionary Guards. (BBC)
• The President of the United States Barack Obama and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron meet at the White House in Washington D.C. to discuss Afghanistan, Syria, the global economy and Iran. (Voice of America)

• The International Criminal Court in the Hague delivers a verdict of guilty in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on war crimes charges. (BBC) (Reuters)
• The BBC claims that a "sophisticated cyber-attack" against its online service has been linked to efforts to disrupt its Persian Service by Iran. (BBC)
• An American jury finds Virginia Tech guilty of negligence for delaying a campus warning about the massacre of 33 students in 2007. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

• Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly starts questioning the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his handling of the economy. (Ynet News)

• Dereck Chisora loses his British Boxing Board of Control license indefinitely following a clash with fellow boxer David Haye after his bout with World Boxing Council champion Vitali Klitschko in February. (AP via Fox Sports) (BBC)
• In basketball, Mike D'Antoni resigns as the coach of the New York Knicks. (New York Post)

• Ethiopian forces launch attacks on three militant camps inside Eritrea. (BBC)
• 2011-2012 Syrian uprising:
  • Turkish intelligence reports claim that approximately 20,000 Syrian soldiers have deserted from the government forces in less than a month. (Bloomberg)
  • Turkey threatens to launch a military incursion into northern Syria to protect fleeing refugees. (The Telegraph)
  • The United Nations will send experts on a government-led humanitarian mission. (Al Jazeera)
  • Thousands of Syrians take part in a pro-government rally in the capital Damascus. (The New York Times)
• Two French soldiers are killed and one injured in a drive-by shooting in southern France. (CBC)
• 2012 insurgency in northern Mali: 195,000 people flee their homes amid violence in northern Mali between government troops and Tuareg rebels. (IOL)

• The death toll from the sinking of a ferry in Bangladesh on Tuesday rises to 116 with more people missing. (AP via Yahoo News)
• Five Norwegian soldiers are presumed dead in an aircraft accident in northern Sweden. (The Local)
• One New Zealand tourist is dead and another missing after a family of six is swept away in a flash flood of the Vaisigano River in the Samoan capital Apia. (New Zealand Herald)
• Government documents reveal then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher was told a senior Merseyside police officer blamed "drunken Liverpool fans" for causing the Hillsborough disaster. Police have since been found to blame. (BBC)

• A Ugandan LGBT rights group files a lawsuit against U.S. minister Scott Lively in connection with his alleged involvement in a campaign to persecute gay people in Uganda. (BBC)
• A free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea comes into effect. (Yonhap)
• The Government of Papua New Guinea reacts angrily after the new Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr threatens the imposition of sanctions if elections are delayed. (Sydney Morning Herald)

• Morocco is to amend a law allowing rapists to marry their victims. (Reuters)
• Former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich arrives at a US federal prison in Colorado to begin a 14 year sentence on corruption charges. (Reuters)

• The Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key announces a cut of 2000 positions in the public service. (TV New Zealand)
• Bo Xilai is replaced as the Communist Party boss in the city of Chongqing by 3rd Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang as a result of an ideological dispute. (Wall Street Journal)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says the Dalai Lama is responsible for ongoing self-immolations by Tibetan monks. (Times of India)
• The Welsh political party Plaid Cymru elects Leanne Wood as its new leader. (BBC)
• Chilean police use water cannon and tear gas to break up a march by thousands of students in the capital Santiago. (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution)
• More than 100 students are arrested at a protest in the Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec. (Vancouver Sun)
• The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez returns home after three weeks in Cuba for cancer surgery. (AP via Washington Post)

• In association football, Esteghlal wins the Hazfi Cup, beating Shahin Bushehr in the final. (PressTV)

• 2011–2012 Syrian uprising: Protests referred to by activists as "The Friday for International Military Intervention" spread from the northern city of Aleppo to the central regions of Hama and Homs, and southern province of Daraa. (Al Jazeera)
• Afghanistan:
  • At least ten people, including a woman and two children, are killed after a Turkish NATO helicopter crashes into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul. (AFP via News Limited) (Al-Arabiya) (Al Jazeera)
  • United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is identified as the suspect in the Kandahar massacre. (New York Times)

• American actor George Clooney is arrested at a protest outside the Embassy of Sudan in Washington, D.C. together with Nick Clooney, Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous and several congressmen. (E Online) (BBC)
• U.S. sportswear company Nike, Inc. controversially gives its new Saint Patrick's Day runner the name "The Black and Tan", prompting comparisons from concerned netizens with the controversial British paramilitary unit, which was known as the Black and Tans. (The Irish Times)
• Dr. Rowan Williams announces his intention to retire as Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of the year. Having headed the Anglican Church since 2003, he will subsequently take up the role as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• The Commission of Inquiry into the 2010–11 Queensland floods hands down its report with engineers at the Wivenhoe Dam outside Brisbane to be referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission. (ABC News Australia) (News Limited)
• A tropical cyclone warning is issued for Western Australia's Pilbara and Kimberly regions as Cyclone Lua approaches at Category 3 strength. (TV New Zealand)
• Belgium holds a day of national mourning in memory of the victims of the Sierre bus collision in Switzerland earlier this week. (BBC)

• David Petraeus, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is honored with the Grand Cross with swords in the Order of Orange-Nassau in The Hague for his service as a four-star general in Iraq and Afghanistan. (NOS)

• Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi is found guilty of a hate crime and invasion of privacy for his role in the suicide of Tyler Clementi. (BBC)

• Nicolae Timofti becomes the fourth President of Moldova, after nearly 3 years without an elected head of state and political stalemate in the country. (AP via The Seattle Times)

• North Korea announces plans to launch a new satellite in honour of regime founder Kim Il-Sung's birthday in April. (WTOP) (Al Jazeera)

• Sachin Tendulkar of India becomes the first cricketer to score 100 international centuries in an Asia Cup match against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. (AFP via Herald-Sun)

• Syria:
  • At least two bombings are reported of government facilities in the Syrian capital Damascus with several police and civilians reported dead. (Ninemsn) (BBC) (CNN)
  • Saudi Arabia is sending weapons to rebels in Syria, according to a top Arab diplomat. (Times of India)
• A Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in southwest China, in the latest in a series of similar incidents where nearly 30 monks have now self-immolated. (Times of India) (Straits Times)

• Pope Benedict XVI launches an internal investigation into leaks of confidential documents alleging corruption, financial mismanagement and power struggles among senior church officials. (AP)
• Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, the leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, dies of cancer at the age of 88. (BBC)

• Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua is upgraded to a Category 4 cyclone as it hits the town of Pardoo on the northwest coast of Western Australia. (The Australian)

• Burma signs an agreement with the International Labour Organization to end forced labour by 2015. (Bangkok Post)
• China expresses concern at North Korea's intention to launch a satellite next month to mark the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth. (Al Jazeera)

• Mauritania's state information agency announces that Abdullah Senussi, Muammar Gaddafi's former intelligence chief, has been arrested at the airport in Nouakchott upon arrival from Morocco. (AP) (CNN)
• Belarus executes Vladislav Kovalev, one of the men convicted of the 2011 Minsk Metro bombing. (Russia Today)
• London's Metropolitan Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the British Houses of Parliament on Friday evening. (BBC)
• Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk, convicted of accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews during The Holocaust, dies at the age of 91. (BBC)
• Venezuelan police shoot dead the daughter of a Chilean diplomat at a police checkpoint at the city of Maracaibo after the vehicle she was travelling in refused to stop - 11 police officers are under investigation. (AP via San Francisco Chronicle)

• Chinese leaders urge officials and residents in Chongqing to support the change of leadership in the city, after former chief Bo Xilai was removed. (Taipei Times)
• Leaders of the African Union meet in Benin to discuss a resolution of the leadership crisis after deadlocked elections in January. (IOL)
• Voters in East Timor go to the polls for a presidential election with incumbent President Jose Ramos-Horta standing against 11 other candidates. (AFP via France 24)
• Julian Assange announces plans to run for the Senate of Australia despite being under house arrest in the United Kingdom. (News Limited)
• Personal documents released from the papers of Margaret Thatcher show the former British Prime Minister held a private meeting with Rupert Murdoch at Chequers weeks before his purchase of Times Newspapers in 1981. (BBC)

• Association football:
  • Fabrice Muamba collapses on live television in the 41st minute of the FA Cup quarter-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers. The match is abandoned, and Muamba is rushed to a London hospital in critical condition after being resuscitated for several minutes on the pitch. (The Guardian) (BBC) (Sky)
  • Andrea Pirlo of Italian side Juventus dedicates his team's Serie A win to Muamba. (IBN)
• Wales win against France in rugby union's Six Nations Championship, achieving the Grand Slam for the 11th time.

• Three people are killed in a shooting incident in the city of Don Benito, Spain. (RTVE)
• Canadians riot with firefighters and police in London, Ontario. (BBC)
• Pakistani villagers find 13 bodies with bullet wounds in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near Afghanistan as security forces step up an offensive. (Reuters)
• British journalists Gareth Montgomery-Johnson and Nicholas Davies-Jones, detained last month in Libya after being accused of entering the country illegally, have been released the country's Interior Ministry confirms. (BBC)
• Detachment 88 of the Indonesian National Police kills five people suspected of planning terrorist operations on the island of Bali. (AAP and Sydney Morning Herald)

• Two gunmen shoot dead an American working at a language school in the Yemeni city of Taez for spreading Christianity. (AFP via Al-Jazeera)
• Two hospital nurses are arrested in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo in connection with the suspicious death of dozens of patients over several years at two hospitals. (MSNBC)
• A Superleague Greece match between Athens football clubs Olympiacos and Panathinaikos is abandoned after fans set fire to parts of the Athens Olympic Stadium. (ESPN)
• A tourist in Downtown Baltimore, Maryland is beaten, robbed, and stripped by a group of African-Americans. (CNN)

• Voters in Guinea-Bissau go to the polls for a presidential election following the death of President Malam Bacai Sanhá in January. (BBC)
• Joachim Gauck is elected President of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal Assembly. (Reuters)
• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012
  • Voters in the US territory of Puerto Rico go to the polls for the Republican primary with Mitt Romney winning all of the delegates. (Fox News) (AFP via The Australian) (AP via Boston Globe)
• Authorities in Cuba detain dissident Berta Soler and dozens of her supporters ahead of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI. (AP via Washington Post)
• The King of Tonga George Tupou V dies in Hong Kong at the age of 63. He is succeeded by his younger brother, ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho. (New Zealand Herald)
• Dinesh Trivedi resigns as India's Minister for Railways following a negative response to fare increases. (Reuters via CNBC)

• Association football:
  • Ali Daei, Iran's football legend and the world's all-time leading goalscorer, is rushed to hospital following a serious car accident. (GOAL)
  • Fabrice Muamba is "critically ill" in the intensive-care unit of a London hospital after going into cardiac arrest on live television in the 41st minute of the FA Cup quarter-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane last night. Bolton's Premier League game at Aston Villa on Tuesday night is postponed. (BBC)
    • A consultant cardiologist from Hammersmith Hospital tells ITN it is "very much in doubt" that Fabrice could resume his professional career. (CNN)
  • Howard Webb is removed from his fourth official duties at Molineux after advice from a psychologist. (Daily Mail)
  • Portuguese footballer Filipe Morais is "heavily concussed" in hospital after being involved in a car crash. (BBC)
  • Kilmarnock win the Scottish League Cup for the first time in the club's history defeating the favourites Celtic 1-0. (AFP via Google)
  • Celtic are linked to a move to The Football League. (ESPN)
• In motor sports, British driver Jenson Button of McLaren wins the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2012 Formula One season. (Reuters via Yahoo 7)

• Syrian uprising:
  • At least 30 people are reported killed in fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces in the Damascus neighborhood of al-Mazzeh. (CNN)
  • Russian anti-terror troops reportedly enter Syria. (Fox News)
  • Confidential documents that surfaced provide a look into the regime's strategy to suppress the anti-government protests. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
• Bahraini uprising: Bahraini opposition groups prepare to talk to the ruling monarchy as the government continues to crackdown on protests across the nation. (Al Jazeera)
• Indonesian police kill five men suspected of planning robberies in order to fund terrorism. (BBC)
• A rabbi and his two children, along with the daughter of the school principal, are killed by an attacker at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. (BBC) (The Washington Post) (The Times of Israel)

• The Somali National Theatre reopens in Mogadishu more than two decades after it was closed amid civil war. (BBC)

• Public sector workers in the German states of Lower Saxony and Bremen begin a 24-hour strike as part of pay negotiations. (DW)
• Wendy's becomes the second best selling hamburger chain in the USA, overtaking Burger King. (CNN)
• The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rules against a First Amendment free speech challenge to a regulation by the Food and Drug Administration requiring that tobacco companies put graphic images on their cigarette packaging. The imagery is designed to discourage smoking. (Reuters)

• A gravel ship sinks off the coast of Taiwan with six crew members dead and two missing. (AP via Greenfields Reporter)
• Six tourists are buried in an avalanche in Kaafjord, Norway, leaving four dead and one missing. (BBC)

• The International Atomic Energy Agency receives an invitation from North Korea to visit. (Al Jazeera)
• The European Union threatens trade sanctions against Iceland and the Faroe Isles over a disagreement about fishing rights. (RTE)

• Swiss Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet resigns from the international war crimes tribunal in Cambodia. (BBC)
• A man is arrested following a break-in at the home of the Irish minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, in Dublin. (BBC)
• An Interpol arrest warrant is issued for Michael Misick, former Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands on corruption charges. (Miami Herald)

• Demonstrations occur against Maldivian President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, accused of taking power in a coup, as he attempts to open parliament for the second time this month. (Al Jazeera)
• The President of East Timor José Ramos-Horta concedes defeat in the East Timorese presidential election with Taur Matan Ruak and Francisco Guterres likely to contest a runoff in April. (AP via Newsday)
• Tonga is in mourning following the death of King George Tupou V. (BBC)

• Doctors monitoring the condition of Fabrice Muamba report that he has regained movement in his arms and legs, and his heart is now beating again without the aid of medication. (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian) (CNN) (Daily Mail) (Daily Mirror) (PA via The Guardian)
• Fans and police clash and damage the Olympic Stadium in Athens two hours ahead of a match between Panathenians and Piraeus. (CNN)
• Gaelic football and Aussie rules icon Jim Stynes dies at the age of 45. (Melbourne Age) (RTE) (The Australian)

• Human Rights Watch raises claims of serious human rights abuses in a clash between Myanmar Armed Forces and the Kachin Independence Army in a dispute in Kachin State that has displaced approximately 75,000 people. (Reuters)
• At least 50 are killed and more than 240 injured in a wave of terror attacks across 10 cities in Iraq. (CNN) (AFP via The Australian)
• Militants attack Somalia's presidential palace in Mogadishu for the second night running. (Reuters)

• John Carter records one of the biggest losses in cinema history, forcing Disney to take a $200 million writedown. (New York Times) (BBC)
• Jamie Waylett is convicted of participating in violent disorder and handling stolen goods, but cleared of intent to destroy or damage property during last year's riots throughout England. Waylett is jailed for two years. (BBC)

• India's official poverty rate falls to an all-time record low of 29.8% for the 2009-2010 survey. (BBC)
• The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejects two patents held by Prometheus Laboratories, a unit of Nestlé S.A., continuing a trend in recent years toward a narrowing of the grounds of patentability. (Reuters)

• A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes near the border of the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. (AP via Newsday)
• Record breaking rainfall hits northern New Zealand. (New Zealand Herald)
• A train crash in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh leaves 15 people dead after the train collided with a vehicle. (BBC)

• A Pakistani parliamentary committee calls for an end to NATO drone strikes and an apology for an air strike in November 2011 that killed 24 Pakistani Army soldiers. (Dawn)

• Ross Mirkarimi, the head of the Sheriff's Department in the US city of San Francisco is put on probation for three years for false imprisonment of his wife on New Year's Eve 2011. (Los Angeles Times via Boston Herald)

• Media reports in the People's Republic of China claim that former Chongqing Communist Party boss Bo Xilai interfered in a police investigation into a family member before he was dismissed. (AP via Washington Post)
• Voters in the US state of Illinois go to the polls for the Republican primary with Mitt Romney projected as the winner.(National Journal) (Fox News)
• For the United States, Pope Benedict XVI appoints new bishops for the dioceses of Baltimore, Maryland; Rockford, Illinois; and Tallahassee-Pensacola, Florida. (Catholic News Agency)

• Syrian uprising:
  • Syrian security forces continued to bombard a neighborhood in a neighborhood of Homs and at least 79 people were reported killed across Syria, including 42 in Homs. (CNN)
  • The United Nations Security Council adopts a statement supporting Kofi Annan's plan for ending violence in Syria. (Al Jazeera)
  • United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns the Syrian government and President Bashar al-Assad to follow the United Nations peace plan "or face increasing pressure and isolation".(BBC) (CNN)
• Rebelling government troops in Mali storm the state broadcaster in the capital Bamako. (Al Jazeera)
• The annual report of the Jerusalem-based B'Tselem organisation states that in 2011, 105 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip, 37 of whom are listed as non-combatants, and that Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli civilians, among them a couple and three of their children murdered in their home. (Al Jazeera)(Ynet)
• Iraq is terrorised by unconfirmed reports of extremists crushing the skulls of emos with blocks of cement. (BBC)
• A car bomb explodes in central Mogadishu, Somalia, injuring two people. (Al Jazeera)
• French police engage in a shootout with Mohammed Merah, a suspect in recent shootings in Toulouse, with the suspect allegedly linked to al-Qa'ida. (France 24) (Al Jazeera) (AFP via The Australian) (Reuters via MSNBC)
• Nigerian Army soldiers kill nine gunmen suspected of belonging to the Boko Haram Islamist group after they attack a police station and a bank. (Bloomberg)

• The Greek parliament votes in favour of an international bailout deal. (AP via MSN)

• Five former members of right-wing Guatemalan paramilitaries are sentenced to a total of 7,710 years in jail for their role in the 1982 Plan de Sánchez massacre. (BBC) (AFP via France 24)

• Burma invites observers from ASEAN, the European Union and the United States to monitor next week's series of by-elections. (The Daily Telegraph)
• George Osborne delivers the 2012 British budget cutting the top rate of income tax. (The Guardian) (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Nick Smith resigns as New Zealand's Minister for the Environment, Minister for Climate Change Issues and Minister for Local Government due to improper conduct. (AP via Washington Post)

• New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton is suspended for a year without pay while former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is banned indefinitely from the National Football League for their role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. (ESPN)

• Midi-Pyrénées shootings suspected perpetrator Mohammed Merah dies and three French policemen are injured as a siege ends outside Merah's Toulouse flat. (BBC)
• Mali coup d'état during the insurgency in northern Mali:
  • Soldiers storm the palace of the President Amadou Toumani Touré with heavy gunfire reported in Bamako as part of a coup d'état. (Reuters)
  • Captain Amadou Sanogo, the President of the newly formed National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), declares an immediate curfew. (Reuters)
• Syrian uprising:
  • Syrian armed forces continue to shell the city of Hama and at least 59 civilians are reported killed across Syria, in Idlib, Homs, Hama, Daraa, Lattakia, Aleppo and Damascus. (CNN)
  • Russian officials will meet with U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to discuss his efforts to mediate a cease-fire in Syria and with a Syrian opposition delegation in the next few days. (The Washington Post)
• 12 people are killed in an operation against PKK rebels in southeastern Turkey. (AFP)
• Several thousands of students in Montreal, Canada protest against proposed post-secondary education tuition hikes. (CBC News)

• The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office says that Whitney Houston's official cause of death was drowning as a result of cocaine use. (CNN)

• Ireland officially falls back into recession. (BBC)
• Portuguese trade unions hold a 24-hour strike in protest of austerity measures. (AFP via Google News)
• In the United States, about 350,000 people filed for unemployment benefits, hitting a four-year low, according to the United States Labor Department. (CNN)

• A massive fire raging on Mount Kenya devours thousands of hectares of ancient forests and threatens wildlife. (Al Jazeera)
• A large fire sweeps through Hatibagan market, one of the oldest in the Indian city of Calcutta, destroying most of the buildings. (BBC)
• More bodies are dug out of the wreck of the Costa Concordia. (Al Jazeera)
• MCR breaks up

• The United Nations Human Rights Council urges Sri Lanka to "credibly investigate" possible war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan Civil War. (Economic Times of India) (Daily Times of Pakistan)
• South Sudan invites Sudan to discuss outstanding issues next month between the two countries that nearly resulted in a war. (IOL)
• The United Nations appoints a special rapporteur to investigate the situation in Tibet, after hunger strikes occurred outside the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City. (CBC) (AFP)

• The parents of an unarmed black teen boy killed by gunshot wound in a suburb of Orlando in the U.S. state of Florida address a mass rally in New York to call for justice. (BBC)
• A court hears that two British men shot dead in the U.S. state of Florida last April were found with their shirts off and trousers round their thighs. (BBC)
• Malcolm Naden, Australia's most wanted man, is captured after seven years on the run near the town of Gloucester in the state of New South Wales and will face murder charges today. (News Limited) (Al Jazeera)

• After 15 years, the Mahon Tribunal into political corruption in Ireland concludes with findings against high-profile politicians, including two former Taoisigh. (BBC) (Financial Times) (RTÉ)
• A draft report by government auditors estimates India lost $210 billion by selling coalfields too cheaply. Opposition politicians denounce the government for "looting the country". (BBC) (The Times of India) (Al Jazeera)
• In Montreal the biggest protest in Quebec's history sets out against the government's tuition hikes and for free access to post-secondary education, with more than 200 000 people marching in the streets ("Huffington Post")

• The Financial Services Committee of the United States House of Representatives receives a memo quoting Edith O'Brien, the treasurer of defunct broker MF Global, to the effect that Jon S. Corzine was personally ordering the transfer of customers' money to a brokerage account with JP Morgan Chase last October. (Bloomberg)

• Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Mexico and is greeted by thousands in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, and is also greeted by President Felipe Calderón. (BBC)
• During his pastoral visit in Mexico the Pope Benedict XVI is expected to address the problem of drug trafficking and the associated violence. (Catholic World News), (National Catholic Reporter), (Time)
• The African Union suspends Mali's membership following a coup earlier in the week. (The Guardian via the Irish Times)

• In a statement by Pope Benedict XVI he says that Communism does not work for Cuba and that he is ready to help the island find new ways to move forward in a peaceful manner. (Reuters)

• U.S. President Barack Obama nominates current President of Dartmouth College Jim Yong Kim to be head of the World Bank.(Los Angeles Times)

• 15 Kurdish militants, all women, are killed by Turkish security forces in south-eastern Bitlis Province. The women were members of the PKK. (BBC)
• 30 people are killed across Syria as Syrian Army tanks storm the town of Saraqeb and are met by resistance from Syrian Army defectors. (Ynet News)
• The African Union deploys a 5,000-strong force in the hope of catching or killing warlord Joseph Kony. (BBC)

• Six children and two adults are killed in a house fire in Charleston, West Virginia, United States.(USA Today)
• A small piece of Kosmos 2251 satellite debris from the 2009 satellite collision safely passes by the International Space Station, allowing the six Expedition 30 crew members on board the orbiting complex to exit their Soyuz spacecraft and resume normal activities. (NASA Television)

• Following the 2012 Mali coup d'état, Canada and Denmark suspends aid to Mali. (CBC News)(CPH Post)

• At least one person is killed and 18 injured after clashes in Port Said between Egyptian security forces after the Al-Masry Club is banned for two seasons from the Egyptian Premier League following the Port Said Stadium disaster. (Al Jazeera)
• China announces phase-out practice of taking and selling organs from executed prisoners. (MSNBC)(New York Times)(Wall Street Journal)

• Voters in the Australian state of Queensland go to the polls for a state election, with the Liberal National Party led by Campbell Newman winning government in a landslide. (Brisbane Courier-Mail) (Brisbane Times)
• Voters in the US state of Louisiana go to the polls for the Louisiana Republican primary with Rick Santorum winning. (Fox News), (BBC)
• The Sunday Times releases a video showing British Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas allegedly offering undercover reporters access to UK Prime Minister David Cameron for £250,000. (BBC) (Sky News)
• Former United States Vice President Dick Cheney receives a heart transplant from an unknown donor. (CBC)
• Thomas Mulcair wins the election to replace Jack Layton as leader of Canada's New Democratic Party. He becomes the Leader of the Official Opposition. (CBC)

• Syrian uprising:
  • At least 48 people are reported killed across Syria as US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan hold talks about a process for transitioning to a "legitimate government". (CNN)
  • Syrian armed forces continue to bombard the city of Homs, and rebels attack a military base near the capital Damascus. (The Bangkok Post) (News24)
• 2012 insurgency in northern Mali: Tuareg insurgents close in on multiple northern towns where they say they will apply Islamic sharia law. (News 24)
• A roadside bomb in southern Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, detonates on a joint Afghan-NATO convoy killing six Afghan police, one U.S. soldier, and one translator. (CNN)

• Kandahar massacre: The United States pays the Afghanistan government $50,000 for every person murdered during the Kandahar massacre. (Wall Street Journal)
• Kofi Annan and a special UN peace envoy meet with President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev to discuss adopting a harder stance on Syria and Bashar al-Assad. (BBC)
• Barack Obama, the President of the United States, begins a three day visit to South Korea amidst rising tension in North Asia about proposed missile tests by North Korea. (BBC)

• French prosecutors charge the brother of the gunman Mohammed Merah with complicity in the murders and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism with regards to the killings of three French paratroopers, a rabbi and three children in Toulouse. (CNN)
• A student is shot dead on the Mississippi State University campus in the United States, prompting school-wide alerts. Three suspects escape in a blue Ford Crown Victoria. (Jackson Clarion Ledger)

• Peter Cruddas resigns as treasurer of Britain's Conservative Party after he was filmed selling access to Prime Minister David Cameron for £250,000. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• New Zealand changes two road rules regarding priority at intersections, including reversing the drive-on-the-left nation's unique rule that gave right-turning traffic priority over left-turning traffic. (TV New Zealand)
• Leung Chun-ying is projected as the winner of the election to be Chief Executive of Hong Kong. (Bloomberg)
• Voters in Senegal go to the polls for a runoff in the presidential election with reports indicating that challenger Macky Sall has defeated incumbent Abdoulaye Wade. (CNN) (Voice of America)

• In golf, Tiger Woods wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament in Orlando, his first US PGA Tour victory since 2009. (AP via Silicon Vally Mercury)

• An Afghan police officer shoots and kills two British military personnel before being gunned down. (AP via Google News)
• A Tibetan protester self-immolates during a protest in the Indian capital New Delhi, ahead of a visit by the Chinese president Hu Jintao. (Times of India)
• Colombian forces kill 32 FARC rebels in the latest government offensive. (Al Jazeera)
• Somali pirates hijack an Iranian-owned cargo ship with 23 crew in waters off the Maldives - the first hijacking in such territory. (AFP via Google News)
• Syria responds to a peace plan proposed by envoy Kofi Annan to end the violence in the country. (IOL)

• Oil is discovered in Kenya by London based Tullow Oil. (BBC)

• One person is killed and several homes destroyed in a wildfire outbreak in Jefferson County, Colorado. (AP via Google)
• One person is killed, three people declared missing, and three people rescued after a sailboat sinks off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. (CBC)

• A Tibetan activist sets himself on fire at a demonstration in India's capital New Delhi ahead of a visit by the President of China Hu Jintao later in the week. (AP via ABC News America)
• Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Cuba to begin his three day visit to the country. (Reuters)
• As he arrives in Cuba to begin a three day visit there, Pope Benedict XVI offers a prescription for change. (Catholic World News)
• The United States and China agree to co-ordinate their responses if a proposed North Korean rocket launch commences. (BBC)

• Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, is placed under formal investigation in France over alleged involvement in a prostitution ring. (BBC)
• The BBC's Panorama alleges that a company owned by News Corporation recruited a pay-TV "pirate" to hack a rival's secret codes then post the details online. (BBC)

• Campbell Newman is sworn in as the new Premier of the Australian state of Queensland following a landslide victory in Saturday's election. (The Courier-Mail)
• Macky Sall, former Prime Minister under Abdoulaye Wade's administration, is elected President of Senegal. (BBC)
• In the wake of the Cash for Access scandal British Prime Minister, David Cameron publishes details of Conservative Party donors who have had dinner with him at 10 Downing Street. (BBC)
• Fuel tanker drivers belonging to the Unite union in the United Kingdom vote overwhelmingly to take strike action in a dispute over terms and conditions. (BBC)

• Canadian filmmaker and adventurer James Cameron becomes the first person in fifty years to visit the Challenger Deep, the deepest point on earth in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger. (BBC)

• Six South African rugby players from the Motherwell Rugby Club are feared dead after being swept out to sea from Port Elizabeth. (BBC)

• A landmine explosion in Maharashtra, India, allegedly by Maoist insurgents, kills 15 policemen and injures 13 others. (Toronto Star)
• Two smugglers, allegedly including an Israeli-Arab, are killed in an exchange of fire with Israel Defense Forces troops and Egyptian Border Guards. (Ynetnews) (Haaretz)
• Several people are arrested in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, as alleged suicide bombings are foiled. (BBC)
• 2011–2012 Libyan factional fighting:
  • At least 50 people are killed in two days of tribal clashes in southern Libya. (AP)
  • The National Transitional Council admits that it faces a national crisis amid an escalation of violence and militia rule. (The Scotsman)

• Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook arrives in China for talks with government officials to clear up problems in the firm's biggest growth market, including the contested iPad trademark and treatment of local labor. (Reuters)
• The United States Department of Justice says that it will not invoke antitrust laws to stop the merger of Humana with Arcadian Management Services, two important health insurance companies. (Reuters)

• The President of Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir cancels planned meetings with the government of South Sudan following border clashes yesterday. (Reuters)
• World leaders meet at a summit in Seoul, South Korea, to discuss nuclear security. (Reuters)
• During a personal meeting, Pope Benedict XVI asks Cuban President Raúl Castro to recognize Good Friday as a holiday in the country over its importance for the Catholic calendar. (Catholic News Agency)

• Al Jazeera announces that it has decided not to broadcast video footage of the 2012 Midi-Pyrénées shootings that had been filmed by the gunman with a camera strapped to his body. (The Irish Times)

• The funeral of former King of Tonga George Tupou V is held in Nukuʻalofa with thousands of mourners lining the street. (BBC)
• Allegations surface over Bo Xilai's extrajudicial measures used to extract confessions during the Chongqing gang trials. (The New York Times)

• In baseball, a consortium led by American basketball star Magic Johnson wins an auction process for ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Wall Street Journal)
• In rugby league, three-time World Club Champions Bradford Bulls announce that they needed to raise £1 million to stay in business. (BBC News)

• 2012 Sabha conflict:
  • Renewed clashes in Sabha, Libya, raise the death toll to 50. (Reuters)
  • Issa Abdel Majid Mansur, the head of the Tubu tribe in Libya, announces the possibility of separatist activities. (Al Arabiya)
• 2012 South Sudan–Sudan border conflict: South Sudan's troops pull out of Sudan's oil-producing Heglig area, easing tensions after two days of clashes between the neighbours threatened to escalate a simmering conflict. (Reuters)
• 2011–2012 Syrian uprising: Syrian forces attack the central town of Qalaat al-Madiq as Arab League ministers meet in Baghdad. (SAPA via IOL) (BBC)

• Pope Benedict XVI calls for greater openness in Cuba during a speech in Revolution Square, Havana. (Los Angeles Times)

• The Government of Fiji seizes a controlling interest in subsidiary Air Pacific from the Australian airline Qantas. Qantas remains in control of its equity in the airline. (Channel News Asia)
• The Mega Millions jackpot in the United States hits a record $500 million dollars, a world record in lottery history. (CNN)

• The United States suspends planned food aid to North Korea, after the latter plans to launch a rocket next month. (Times of India)

• 2012 Malian coup d'état: Coup leaders in Mali unveil a new constitution. (Al Jazeera)
• Annastacia Palaszczuk becomes the Opposition Leader of the Queensland Australian Labor Party, following the party's landslide defeat in last Saturday's election. (Brisbane Times)
• Detained Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng is allowed a visit from family, for the first time in two years. (Reuters)

• The death is announced of award-winning poet, essayist and public intellectual Adrienne Rich, credited with bringing the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse. (The Guardian)

• Workers in Spain commence a general strike over government austerity measures. (BBC)
• Queues form at petrol stations across the United Kingdom after government ministers urged motorists to top up their fuel tanks ahead of a possible strike by fuel tanker drivers. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Smart phone pioneer Research in Motion announces major shake-ups in executive ranks and a strategic review in its earnings report. (Reuters)

• At least 13 people are killed at the San Pedro Sula prison in Honduras. (BBC)

• The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa meet in New Delhi, India, for the 2012 BRICS summit. (Reuters)

• Two Italians set themselves on fire in Bologna and Verona. (BBC) (IOL) (Indian Express)
• Police in Ankara fire tear gas and water cannons on thousands of demonstrators. (Al Jazeera)
• Hana Shalabi ends her 43-day hunger strike and is exiled to the Gaza Strip. (BBC)

• Sten Tolgfors resigns as Swedish Minister of Defence due to allegations that he knew about plans to assist Saudi Arabia in building a weapons plant. (Reuters)
• Iranian-born Israeli politician Shaul Mofaz is elected as leader of the Kadima party and Israel's leader of opposition. (Haaretz)
• George Galloway of the Respect Party wins the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of Bradford West in a by-election. (BBC)

• The UK government says that viaspan, a solution used to preserve some donor organs, could be contaminated with bacteria after routine tests detected Bacillus cereus in the solution used to test the sterility of viaspan. (BBC)

• Stuart Lancaster is named permanent England rugby union head coach after signing a four-year contract. (BBC)

• Arab Spring:
  • Syrian uprising:
    • The Syrian government says that the revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has ended, but it will still keep soldiers inside cities, "for security". (Fox News) (Reuters)
    • At least 45 people are killed. (Naharnet)
• Pakistan:
  • A United States drone attack kills two alleged militants in the Pakistani town of Miran Shah in North Waziristan. (AP via Google News)
• Gunmen kill Zain-ul-Abdeen, a leader of the ethnic Pashtun Awami National Party, in Karachi. (IRNA)
• Land Day 2012:
  • A 20-year-old Palestinian is killed and 13 others are wounded by IDF gunfire as they try to breach the Gaza border fence in order to infiltrate into Israel near the Erez crossing.(BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Ynet)
  • Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians protesters protest peacefully in the Crusader-built Beaufort Castle in Southern Lebanon.(Ynet)

• Amnesty International urges the release of imprisoned Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja "immediately and unconditionally". (BBC)

• Australian artist Tim Storrier wins the 2012 Archibald Prize for a self-portrait The historic wayfarer (after Bosch). (The Daily Telegraph)

• The Spanish government cuts 27 billion euros from the country's budget as part of one of the toughest austerity drives in its history. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• VISA and MasterCard warn banks across the United States about a "massive" breach of security with more than ten million credit card numbers potentially compromised. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Mega Millions jackpot in the United States is up to $640 million, becoming the world's largest lottery jackpot. (CBS News)

• Huanglongbing or citrus greening, a disease which has killed millions of citrus trees in Brazil and Florida, is discovered in a residential section of Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. (Washington Post)

• Malaysia expels 173 Indonesian workers for various legal violations. (Jakarta Post)

• London's Metropolitan Police is embroiled in a racism scandal after a black man used his mobile phone to record police officers subjecting him to a tirade of abuse in which he was told: "The problem with you is you will always be a nigger". (The Guardian)
• Indian police introduce a curfew in the city of Sangareddi in Andhra Pradesh due to an outbreak of communal violence. (Times of India)
• French police arrest 19 suspected Islamists in dawn raids. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Leonid Shebarshin, the former head of the KGB's foreign intelligence branch, apparently shoots himself dead. (BBC)
• Nine top officials are jailed for their role in the near-bankruptcy of one of Vietnam's largest state-owned companies. (BBC)

• Ousted Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai is reportedly confined to his house in Beijing as he undergoes investigations from Chinese authorities. (The New York Times)
• Naoki Tanaka, Japan's Minister of Defense, issues orders to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it falls towards Japanese territory. (AFP via News Limited) (Al Jazeera)
• Bradford West by-election: Respect Party candidate George Galloway tours the City of Bradford on an open-top bus in celebration of his shock victory over Labour, a result which has been described as the "Bradford Spring". (The Guardian)

• Stiliyan Petrov, the team captain of Aston Villa Football Club, is diagnosed with acute leukaemia. (BBC)

• 2012 insurgency in northern Mali: Tuareg rebels attack the northern Malian town of Gao, a day after taking the provincial capital Kidal. (Al Jazeera)
• Peter O'Neill, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, orders troops to the resource rich Hela Province following ongoing disruption by illegal miners. (AAP via NineMSN)
• At least eight people are killed after three explosions in Thailand's Yala Province. (BBC)
• Around 30 people are killed in clashes between the army and suspected Al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen. (The Himalayan Times)

• The spire of the Shard London Bridge is put in place making the completion of the United Kingdom's and European Union's tallest building a step closer. (BBC)
• The United States' two acting unions, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, agree to merge forming the SAG-AFTRA. (AP via Google)

• In the Republic of Ireland government figures indicate less than half of the country's households have paid the household charge by today's deadline as thousands of people march on the governing Fine Gael party's annual conference at the Convention Centre Dublin. (CBS News) (The Journal) (The Irish Times) (BBC)
• Turkey reduces its purchases of Iranian oil by 20%. (Financial Times)

• Floods in Fiji cause at least two deaths and the evacuation of thousands of residents. (AAP via News Limited)

• Chinese police arrest six people and shut down 16 websites for allegedly spreading rumours that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing. (BBC)

• The Indonesian People's Representative Council vetoes plans to increase the price of fuel by thirty per cent this weekend. (AP via Google News)
• Former broadcast journalist Mike Nesbitt is elected leader of Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party. (BBC)

• In horseracing, Monterosso wins the Dubai World Cup. (BBC)