Portal:Current events
Topics in the news
- The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russian president Vladimir Putin (pictured) and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for the abduction of children from Ukraine.
- At the Academy Awards, Everything Everywhere All at Once wins seven awards, including Best Picture.
- Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to re-establish diplomatic relations, seven years after they were severed.
- Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank both collapse over the span of three days, becoming the second- and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history.
March 19, 2023
(Sunday)
Disasters and accidents
- At least 19 people are killed and 25 others are injured when their bus falls into a ditch in Madaripur District, Bangladesh. (WION)
March 18, 2023
(Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks on civilians in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian forces shell Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, with cluster munitions, killing at least two civilians and injuring five others. (Ukrinform)
- Attacks on civilians in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Disasters and accidents
- 2023 Guayas earthquake
- A 6.8 earthquake strikes the Ecuadorian province of Guayas, damaging buildings and killing at least sixteen people, including one in neighboring Peru. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Shah Cheragh attack
- A court in Iran sentences two men to death over the October 2022 mass shooting at the Shah Cheragh mosque in Shiraz, which killed 15 people. (Al Arabiya)
March 17, 2023
(Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Slovakia announces that it will donate its MiG-29 fighter jets, and supply part of its Kub air-defense system to Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Islamic State–Taliban conflict
- The Taliban kill several Islamic State – Khorasan Province insurgents and seize weapons and ammunitions during raids at hideouts in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province. (Xinhua)
Disasters and accidents
- 2023 Turkish floods
- Fourteen people are killed and at least 12 others are injured by a roof collapse at a cold storage warehouse in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India. (Metro)
- Ten people are killed and three others are injured by a house fire in Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)
International relations
- Enlargement of NATO
- Finland–Turkey relations
- Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces that Turkey will begin the process of ratifying Finland's membership of NATO without Sweden, which Turkey accuses of supporting the PKK. (Yle)
- Finland–Hungary relations
- Hungary announces that a vote on Finland's membership application will take place on March 27. Fidesz parlimentary group leader Máté Kocsis says that Sweden's application will be considered at a later date. (AFP via Barron's)
- Finland–Turkey relations
Law and crime
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, presidential commissioner for children's rights, for alleged war crimes involving the abduction and forced adoption of children from Ukraine. (AP)
Politics and elections
- Vladimir Putin dismisses the Governor of Smolensk Oblast Alexey Ostrovsky. Vasily Anokhin is appointed as his successor. (Novaya Gazeta Europe)
Science and technology
- Censorship of TikTok, Internet censorship in New Zealand
- New Zealand bans the use of Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok on all government devices. (The Guardian)
March 16, 2023
(Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Poland announces that it will deliver four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, becoming the first NATO member state to send warplanes to Ukraine. (Sky News)
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Two militants including Islamic Jihad and Hamas commanders and two civilians are killed and five others are injured during a raid by Israeli security forces in the Jenin refugee camp, in the West Bank. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera)
- Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Eight militants and two civilian children are killed during a military operation by the Pakistan Army in Zinghara, South Waziristan. (Xinhua)
- Libyan Crisis
- The Libyan National Army says that it has found about two and a half tonnes of uranium ore contained in ten drums, near the border with Chad, that was reported missing by the International Atomic Energy Agency. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2022–23 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Cyclone Freddy
- The death toll from Cyclone Freddy increases to over 300, with most of the deaths occurring in Malawi. (Al Jazeera)
- Cyclone Freddy
Law and crime
- Two police officers are killed by a 16-year-old gunman while responding to a domestic dispute call at an apartment complex in Inglewood, Edmonton, Canada. The perpetrator kills himself after seriously wounding his mother. (CBC News)
- Over 220 Brazilian National Guardsmen are deployed to the northeastern states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba after riots caused by imprisoned gang members result in three deaths and class cancellations in both states. (AP)
Politics and elections
- 2023 French pension reform strikes
- French President Emmanuel Macron invokes a Constitutional amendment allowing him to circumvent the National Assembly in order to pass a controversial reform bill raising the retirement age in the country from 62 to 64, without the bill going to a vote. (The New York Times)
- The Moldovan parliament approves a law that formally declares the country's official language as Romanian. (Reuters)
Science and technology
- Censorship of TikTok, Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
- The British government bans the use of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok on all government devices, citing security concerns. (Sky News)
March 15, 2023
(Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A man accused of being the perpetrator of an explosion at the Megiddo Junction which injured a civilian two days ago is shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. The man is believed to have crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)
Disasters and accidents
- 2022–23 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Twenty-one people are killed by a coal mine explosion in Sutatausa, Cundinamarca, Colombia. (El País)
- 2023 Turkish floods
- Twelve people in Şanlıurfa and two in Adıyaman, Turkey, are killed by floods caused by heavy rain. (BBC News)
March 14, 2023
(Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russia–United States relations
- 2023 Black Sea drone incident
- Russian Air Force Su-27 fighter jets "intercept and hit" a United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, with the collision damaging the drone's propeller and causing the United States to crash the drone into international waters. (The Washington Post) (Reuters)
- 2023 Black Sea drone incident
- Somali Civil War
- At least five people are killed and 11 others are injured, including Gedo governor Ahmed Bulle Gared, when a suicide car bomber drives into a guest house in Bardera, Jubaland, Somalia. (AFP via Barron's)
Business and economy
- 2021–2023 inflation surge
- Meta Platforms announces plans to cut 10,000 more jobs across its workforce, citing "higher interest rates in the United States, global geopolitical instability and increased regulation" as the reason for the layoffs. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2023 Serasan landslide
- The death toll from the landslide in Serasan, Indonesia, increases to 50 people. (CNN Indonesia)
Law and crime
- 2023 Pakistani protests
- Protests occur in Pakistan over the possible arrest of PTI chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan. (livemint)
- Lithuania's Seimas votes to recognize Russian paramilitary force Wagner Group as a terrorist organization, citing the group's "numerous crimes" in Ukraine, including the killing and torturing of civilians. (RFE/RL)
- Ecuadorian lawmakers unanimously vote to declassify documents in continuing efforts to impeach President Guillermo Lasso for corruption. (Reuters)
International relations
- China–Honduras relations, Foreign relations of Taiwan
- President Xiomara Castro announces that Honduras will stop recognizing Taiwan and will start recognizing the People's Republic of China as the sole Chinese state. (AP)
- Ecuador withdraws its ambassador from Argentina in protest at the latter sheltering Ecuadorian politician María de los Ángeles Duarte since 2020, refusing to give information of her whereabouts. Hours later, Argentina also withdraws its ambassador from Ecuador, escalating diplomatic tensions between the two nations. (Infobae)
Science and technology
- Timeline of artificial intelligence
- OpenAI launches GPT-4, the next generation large language model for artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The new model can respond to images, and has the ability to process up to 25,000 words. (BBC News)
March 13, 2023
(Monday)
Disasters and accidents
- 2022–23 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Cyclone Freddy
- Cyclone Freddy kills at least 99 people in Malawi, including 85 people in Blantyre. It is the longest-lived tropical cyclone on record, according to the WMO, having formed on February 4. (The Guardian)
- Cyclone Freddy
- Thirty-four people are killed after a boat carrying migrants from Madagascar to the island of Mayotte sinks. (Arab News)
- One person is killed and three others are injured by an apparent gas explosion in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. (BBC News)
Law and crime
- 2023 Amqui truck attack
- Two people are killed and nine others are injured when a truck strikes a group of pedestrians in Amqui, Quebec, Canada. (CBS News)
Politics and elections
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