Portal:Current events/March 2019

• Amazon announces plans to open dozens of proprietary grocery stores in several major U.S. cities. (The Wall Street Journal), (Fortune)

• A bus overturns on the Qom–Tehran Highway in Iran, killing eight people (including the driver) and injuring more than thirty others. Officials claim the driver fell asleep. (France 24)
• A Russian cargo ship collides with a motorway bridge in the city of Busan, South Korea. The captain is reported to be drunk. (The Guardian)
• A leaking oil pipeline explodes in Bayelsa, Nigeria; a stampede follows. Over 50 are reported missing. (The Guardian)
• A BMW collides with two oncoming minibuses between Fouriesburg and Bethlehem in Free State, South Africa, killing thirteen and injuring eight. (Eyewitness News)

• Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
  • Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque tells the United Nations Security Council that his country will no longer accept Rohingya refugees fleeing violence across the border in Rakhine State, and accuses Myanmar of "hollow promises" regarding repatriation. (BBC News)
• North Korea–Vietnam relations
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong-un begins an official visit to Vietnam, three days after arriving in the country for a nuclear summit with U.S. President Donald Trump that ended in deadlock. (The Straits Times)
• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • The Trump administration announced Friday it is revoking the visas of 49 Maduro-aligned officials and their families and sanctioning several top military and security officials, part of a major U.S. campaign to push contested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power. (Fox News)

• 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Washington Governor Jay Inslee announces he will join the Democratic Party primaries in 2020 and cites fighting climate change as a reason. (Time), (The New York Times)

• 2019 India–Pakistan standoff
  • Indian and Pakistani soldiers target each other’s posts and villages in Kashmir, killing at least six civilians and two Pakistani troops. (Associated Press)
• Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War
  • Douma chemical attack
    • The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons's Fact-Finding Mission in Syria issues its report regarding the April 7, 2018 chemical attack in Douma. It reveals that there is conclusive evidence that proves a toxic chemical containing molecular chlorine was used in the attack. However, it did not assign blame for the attack. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition blame each other for the attack. (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons)

• South Korea–United States relations
  • The United States and South Korea announce that their annual large-scale exercises, commonly known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, will end and will be re-configured into smaller exercises. The joint exercises will be done on a small unit level and may include virtual training similar to the 2018 exercises. (CNN)

• Through a royal decree, King Salman of Saudi Arabia revokes the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's son, who works in the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The announcement comes after the United States government offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the identification or location of him. Interpol has issued an Interpol notice for him after United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on him which includes assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. He remains at large. (CBS News), (Interpol), (United Nations Security Council)
• Tashonty Toney, son of a police officer, was arrested for vehicular homicide, vehicular negligent injury, hit-and-run and reckless operation of a motor vehicle after he veered into a bike line near a Mardi Gras parade route in New Orleans. He accidentally killed 2 and injured 7 cyclists while drunk and drugged. (fox8live) (Advocate)

• 2019 Algerian presidential election
  • Tens of thousands of Algerians take to streets to protest President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid to seek re-election in 2019 presidential election in what is Algeria's biggest anti-government protests since the 2011 protests. 183 people have been injured. (Reuters)
• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • Colombia's Immigration Authority states that 567 Venezuelan soldiers have defected to Colombia from Nicolás Maduro's government since February 23, 2019. They were members of Venezuela's Armed Forces and Venezuela's National Police. (Business Insider), (CNN Spanish)

• 2019 in spaceflight
  • SpaceX launches the first Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission, with the first stage of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle making a successful landing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. (The New York Times)

• Tornado outbreak of March 3, 2019
  • At least 23 people are confirmed dead, many are injured, and 10,000 customers are without electricity after several tornadoes strike Lee County in southeast Alabama. (Fox News) (BBC News)
• After heavy snowfall, avalanches close Interstate 70 and three Copper Mountain passes in Summit County, Colorado. (KCNC-TV)

• 2019 Estonian parliamentary election
  • Jüri Ratas, incumbent Prime Minister of Estonia, and his party gets second place in the election, while opposition leader Kaja Kallas's Estonian Reform Party gets the largest number of votes, and the right-wing Conservative People's Party doubles in seats. (BBC News)
• 2019 Italian Democratic Party leadership election
  • Governor of Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, wins the leadership election by a landslide, defeating Maurizio Martina and Roberto Giachetti, and becoming the new Secretary of the Democratic Party. (The Guardian)
• National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States
  • Senator Rand Paul is expected to vote against Donald Trump’s national emergency. (The Hill)

• 2019 in spaceflight
  • SpaceX's unmanned spacecraft Dragon 2 successfully docks with the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time. (BBC News) (NASA Spaceflight)

• 2019 in tennis, 2019 Roger Federer tennis season, Open Era tennis records – men's singles
  • Roger Federer wins the 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships, his 100th ATP singles title overall, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6–4, 6–4, in the final. Federer became the second male tennis player in the Open Era after Jimmy Connors to win 100 ATP singles titles. (ATP Tour)

• Pope Francis announces the Vatican's historical archives of Pope Pius XII's pontificate (1939–1958) will be accessible to scholars next year, effective 2 March 2020. (Vatican News) (BBC News)

• A helicopter crashes in Central Island National Park, Kenya, killing four American tourists and their Kenyan pilot. (BBC News)
• A 4.6 magnitude earthquake is felt in central Alberta just before 6 a.m. The epicentre was determined to be just south of Red Deer, and is believed to be the result of tectonic activity east of the Rocky Mountains. No structural damage or injuries are reported, and it is unlikely to cause aftershocks. (Global News)

• Germany says it will amend the German nationality law to strip dual nationals of their citizenship who have fought for foreign militant groups, such as ISIL. (The Local)
• Cuba–United States relations
  • The Trump administration announces it will allow lawsuits by U.S. citizens against dozens of Cuban companies and other entities concerning property confiscated by the Cuban government. A spokesperson says Cuba's support for Venezuela's incumbent president, Nicolás Maduro, was taken into consideration when the decision was made. (Reuters)
• United States Special Counsel investigation
  • Newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr announces he will not recuse himself from the special counsel's investigation, per the advice of the Justice Department's ethics officials. (Reuters)

• 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announces he is running for the Democratic Party's nomination to be President of the United States in the 2020 presidential election. (CNBC)
• Cabinet of Donald Trump
  • The United States Department of Justice announces that former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has resigned from the Department, with his final day in the department having been March 2. He had remained in the Department as a senior counselor to the Associate Attorney General after his stint as acting Attorney General. (AP)
• Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal, Rupert Murdoch's political activities in the United States
  • The New Yorker reports that Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch prevented the release of a story about hush money which Donald Trump paid to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election because Murdoch wanted Trump to win the election. (The New Yorker)
• Canadian Treasury Board President Jane Philpott resigns having lost confidence in the government's handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. (BBC News)
• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • Venezuelan National Assembly-declared interim President Juan Guaidó defies Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's threats and returns to Venezuela where he is received by tens of thousands of people in Caracas. (Associated Press)

• USB4, Thunderbolt 3, 2019 in science
  • Intel makes Thunderbolt 3 open and royalty-free and gives the specification to USB Implementers Forum, while USB Promoter Group announces the USB4 specification that is based on Thunderbolt 3. USB4 supports 40 Gbps transfer rates and enables the use of multiple data and display protocols simultaneously. (Intel) (USB Promoter Group) (Ars Technica)
• The World Wide Web Consortium announces that WebAuthn, a standard for password-free logins on the web, is now an official web standard. (VentureBeat)

• Packages containing suspected improvised explosive devices are found near Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, and London Waterloo station in London, England. (BBC News)

• Japanese architect Arata Isozaki is announced as the winner of the 2019 Pritzker Prize. (BBC News)

• Management of HIV/AIDS
  • An HIV-positive man, identified as "the London patient", is the second known adult worldwide cleared of the HIV virus after a bone marrow transplant from an HIV-resistant donor. He has been in remission from HIV for 18 months and is no longer taking HIV drugs. (BBC News) (The Washington Post) (The Irish Times) (Nature)
• The US Food and Drug Administration approves Janssen Pharmaceutica's esketamine for treatment-resistant depression. The drug is the chemical cousin of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic and recreational drug, and the first major new depression treatment to be approved by the FDA in more than 30 years. (CNN) (TechCrunch)

• United States' Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb announces his resignation "in the next month". (CNN)
• 2019 Guatemalan general election
  • Semilla announces Jonathan Menkos Zeissig as running mate of Thelma Aldana. Aldana will be proclaimed presidential candidate on March 10. (La Hora)

• 2018–19 UEFA Champions League
  • Underdog AFC Ajax defeats defending champions Real Madrid 4–1, and advances to quarter-finals on aggregate 5–3, marking the end of Real Madrid's European dominance. (Goal.com)

• The flooding of the Citarum River, Indonesia, causes at least two deaths. (The Jakarta Post)

• Weinstein effect
  • Celebrity chef Mario Batali gives up his stake in his restaurants more than a year after being accused of sexual misconduct. (The Guardian)
• Alex Trebek, host of the American syndicated game show Jeopardy! since 1984, announces that he has been diagnosed with terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He plans to continue hosting during his treatment. (CNN)

• The United States Commerce Department reports the country's 2018 trade deficit was $621 billion (£472.5 bn), the highest since 2008. (BBC News)
• Economy of the United States
  • Production ends at General Motors' Lordstown Assembly complex in Lordstown, Ohio, United States. (CNN)
  • Dollar Tree announces it will close 390 Family Dollar stores, and rebrand a further 200 Family Dollar stores as Dollar Tree. (CNBC)

• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Corruption in Venezuela, Censorship in Venezuela
  • Venezuelan journalist Alí Domínguez, who disappeared a week ago, dies from injuries of beating and torture. (El Universal), (Fox News)
• China–United States trade war
  • Huawei sues the U.S. Government to challenge the constitutionality of Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act which prohibits U.S. executive government agencies from procuring telecommunications equipment from two Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE. (CNBC)

• 2018–19 UEFA Champions League
  • Manchester United defeats Paris Saint-Germain 3–1 in Paris, overcoming a 2–0 home-leg deficit to advance to the quarter-finals with a 3–3 win on away goals. United becomes the first side in the history of the Champions League or European Cup to overcome a first-leg home deficit of 2–0 or greater in a knockout tie. (BBC Sport)

• Crisis in Venezuela
  • A major power blackout leaves most of Venezuela without electricity, including the capital Caracas. At least 18 of Venezuela's 23 states have reported blackouts. Venezuelan news website El Pitazo blames failures at Simón Bolívar hydroelectric plant; state TV blames anti-government saboteurs. (The Guardian)

• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • American journalist at WPLG, Cody Weddle, is released from Venezuela after being detained early Wednesday. (CBS News) (Fox News)
• Trials of Paul Manafort
  • Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is sentenced to 47 months in federal prison for eight counts including tax fraud and bank fraud. (CBS News)
• Buffalo Billion
  • Joe Percoco, former aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, is denied bail and is expected to start his six-year prison term for bribery. (New York Post) (New York Daily News)

• Crisis in Venezuela
  • 2019 Venezuelan blackout
    • A nationwide power blackout enters its second day in Venezuela. Information Minister Jorge Rodríguez and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López claim the country appears to be the victim of a cyberattack intended to "derail the whole system". Venezuelan National Assembly-declared Acting President Juan Guaidó stated that "state corruption and mismanagement (...) have left the electrical grid in shambles". (AP) (Forbes)
• A truck overturns on a highway in Chiapas, Mexico, killing 25 Central American migrants who were hiding inside. (Reuters)

• Shoreham Airshow crash
  • Pilot Andy Hill is acquitted of eleven counts of manslaughter arising from the 2015 accident, in which a jet flown by Hill struck a road in Shoreham, England. (The Guardian)
• Chelsea Manning is jailed for refusing to answer questions from a federal grand jury in Virginia looking into the release of documents to WikiLeaks. (NBC News)
• Actor Jussie Smollett is indicted on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false hate crime police report in January in Chicago. (Yahoo! News)

• Politics of Finland
  • The entire coalition government of Finland resigns after a failure to deliver on healthcare reform, a month ahead of the country's general election. The coalition, made up of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's Centre Party, the conservative National Coalition Party and the Eurosceptic Blue Reform Party, were unable to agree on a package that would have slowed healthcare spending over the next decade. The government will be interim until April elections. (Reuters)

• Internal conflict in Myanmar
  • Rakhine insurgents of the Arakan Army attack a police post in a village in Rakhine State, killing nine policemen. All of the victims were local recruits from the village. (Reuters)

• Japanese supercentenarian Kane Tanaka is officially recognized as the world's oldest living person at 116 years and 67 days old. (The Guardian)

• 2019 Colombia DC-3 crash
  • A DC-3 operated by Laser Aereo crashes in Colombia en route from San José del Guaviare, killing all 14 aboard. (Reuters) (El Espectador)
• Crisis in Venezuela
  • 2019 Venezuelan blackout
    • Whilst a nationwide power blackout continues, Acting President Juan Guaidó calls for protests in the capital of Venezuela. (Reuters) (Time)
    • With a fire causing new damage to a power plant in Bolívar State, President Nicolás Maduro states the power outages are "caused by U.S.-backed sabotage"; Guaidó says the outages are due to Maduro government "corruption and mismanagement". (MSN) (SFGate)
• A Japanese high-speed boat collides with a "marine creature" while carrying 121 passengers; 87 passengers are injured and 5 airlifted by helicopter to the hospital. (CNN)
• 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The floods from the predecessor of Cyclone Idai cause 23 deaths and 11 missing in southern Malawi. (The Maravi Post)
• Around 40 fishermen are rescued by the United States Coast Guard after an ice sheet breaks away on Lake Erie. (NBC) (The Washington Post)

• Salamanca nightclub shooting
  • A mass shooting at a nightclub in Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico, kills at least 15 people and leaves another seven people wounded. (Reuters)

• Tunisian health minister Abderraouf Cherif resigns following the deaths of 11 newborn babies since Thursday at a hospital in the capital Tunis. Evidence suggests all 11 died from septic shock. Tunisia's public healthcare had been considered one of the best in North Africa, but it has operated less smoothly since the 2011 revolution. (BBC News)
• Prime Minister of Peru Cesar Villanueva resigns after falling approval ratings. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)

• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
  • An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 149 passengers and eight crew members onboard crashes en route to Nairobi, Kenya, killing all 157 persons on board. (BBC News)

• 2019 Guatemalan general election
  • Guatemalan political party Semilla proclaims Thelma Aldana as presidential candidate and Jonathan Menkos as vice presidential candidate. (El Periódico de Guatemala)
• Internet censorship in Russia
  • Thousands of Russians take to the streets in Moscow, Voronezh, and Khabarovsk to protest internet restrictions. (Reuters)

• Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, International military intervention against ISIL
  • US-backed Syrian forces resume their offensive on the final enclave controlled by ISIL in Syria at Baghuz. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

• Economy of Turkey
  • The Turkish economy enters a recession for the first time since 2009 after the currency and debt crisis of 2018. (BBC News) (Bloomberg)
• The United Kingdom announces it will abolish the Financial Reporting Council, which regulates the nation's accounting industry, after it was criticised by an independent review following the collapse of several large organisations. It is to be replaced by the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority featuring increased powers and new leaders. (Sky News)

• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
  • Shares of Boeing lose roughly 9 percent after one of its best-selling planes, the Boeing 737 MAX jet, saw its second deadly crash in less than five months. (CNBC)
  • China and Indonesia ground 737-8 MAX aircraft across their nations in response to the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 disasters; airlines elsewhere including Ethiopian Airlines voluntarily ground their own 737 MAX jets. (The Independent)
• HMS Argyll rescues a 27-strong crew from a burning container vessel 150 miles off the coast of France. (BBC News)

• Iran–Iraq relations
  • Iranian President Hassan Rouhani begins his first official visit to Iraq to boost bilateral ties and trade amid re-instated U.S. sanctions on Iran. (BBC News)
• U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham visits the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, saying he will start an effort to recognize the Golan as part of the State of Israel. (The Times of Israel)

• Mixed martial artist Conor McGregor is arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, on charges of robbery and criminal mischief. (LowKick MMA)

• Crisis in Venezuela
  • 2019 Venezuelan blackout
    • Partially-recognized Venezuelan Acting President Juan Guaidó says the country has "truly collapsed already", while accusing the Nicolás Maduro-led government of murdering 17 people during the ongoing nationwide power blackout. (CNN)
• 2019 Algerian protests
  • Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says he will postpone the country's elections next month, and will not seek a fifth term in office. (Al Jazeera)
  • Prime Minister of Algeria Ahmed Ouyahia resigns after Bouteflika's speech. He is replaced by Noureddine Bedoui. (Jeune Afrique)
• Actor and former Minister of Culture Salvador del Solar is appointed new Prime Minister of Peru. (El País)

• Boeing 737 MAX groundings
  • The European Union, Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Turkey ground all Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets. This means 40% of the global fleet is now grounded, with Indonesia, China and several airlines grounding their aircraft yesterday. Boeing states they will issue a software update for the model within weeks. (The Guardian) (BNO) (AFP)
• The sinking of the Grande America causes a 2,200 tonnes (4,900,000 lb) oil spill in the Bay of Biscay, France. (FreightWaves) (The Independent)

• United States–Venezuela relations, Crisis in Venezuela
  • The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the U.S. will be withdrawing all remaining diplomatic staff from Venezuela. The withdrawal follows televised remarks from Nicolás Maduro calling colectivos (paramilitary groups) to active resistance, and alleging that U.S. President Donald Trump masterminded the ongoing nationwide power blackout as part of a "demonic plot" to oust him, by crippling the country's electricity sector with an "electromagnetic attack". (The Guardian) (Infobae)
• In an annual report, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service warns that Russia will "very likely" try to intervene in European parliamentary elections this May to undermine unity within the European Union "by sowing disorder and disbelief" within and between the 28 European Union member states. (Sky News)

• 2019 college admissions bribery scandal
  • A college admission scheme across the United States results in the indictment of over 50 people including athletic coaches, CEOs, and two Hollywood actresses, accused of using bribery and fraud in order to cheat their children into universities such as Yale and Stanford. (CNN) (Reuters)
• Catholic Church sexual abuse cases
  • Cardinal George Pell, the most senior official of the Catholic Church to be convicted of sexual abuse to date, is sentenced to six years in prison for the sexual assault of two children in the late 1990s. (CNN)
• Capital punishment in California
  • It is reported that California Governor Gavin Newsom will sign an executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty for all 737 inmates on California's death row, ensuring that no executions will take place while he is governor. (Los Angeles Daily News)
• Crisis in Venezuela, Censorship in Venezuela
  • Prominent Venezuelan journalist Luis Carlos Díaz is released after being taken by SEBIN, the national intelligence service, on Monday; he has been ordered not to speak of his time in detention or publish anything. (The Guardian)

• 2019 Micronesian parliamentary election
  • President Peter M. Christian is defeated for re-election to his at-large seat in Congress by David Panuelo. (Pacific Islands Times)
• Brexit negotiations
  • The UK's parliament rejects Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal by 149 votes. A vote for leaving the European Union without a deal is scheduled for the thirteenth of March. If Parliament rejects the decision to leave with no deal, the UK could request its withdrawal from the EU be postponed with the unanimous consent of the other 27 member states. (The New York Times)

• Syrian Civil War
  • The SOHR reports that Syrian government shelling and Russian air strikes occur in several areas in Idlib province, in the first such raids since a September truce deal, killing at least 15 civilians including eight children and wounding around 60. (TRT World) (Al Jazeera)

• 2019 Lagos school collapse
  • A building in Lagos, Nigeria, collapses, killing ten people and leaving more than 100 others trapped under the rubble. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• Boeing 737 MAX groundings
  • Canada and the United States ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft and ban the jet from their airspace until further notice. It is now effectively grounded worldwide, with no operators remaining unaffected by grounding orders. (CBC) (BBC News) (CNN)
• An avalanche on Ben Nevis kills two French nationals and a Swiss national. A fourth climber is injured and is receiving treatment at a hospital in Glasgow. (BBC News)

• At least 111 schools in Malaysia are shut down following the treatment of 200 children, staff, and others being poisoned. Authorities suspect that a chemical dump in the southern state of Johor is responsible for the sudden illnesses. (Reuters) (CNBC)

• Killing of Susanna Feldmann
  • Ali Bashar confesses in court in Germany to killing teenager Susanna Feldmann. Bashar is a failed asylum seeker from Iraq. The case prompted national debate and a pledge by Angela Merkel to call for improvements to the deportation system in Germany. Counterterror police traveled to Iraq in order to return him to Germany, as he had already been deported when he was identified in connection to the murder; Iraq has no extradition treaty with Germany. (BBC News)
• Assassination of Marielle Franco
  • Two former military police officers are arrested in Brazil for the murders of Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes. One of the suspects was arrested at home, in a Rio de Janeiro gated community where President Jair Bolsonaro also resides. Franco was born in a Rio favela and became a politician and activist against violence in the slums, which are often controlled by paramilitary groups. Her assassination prompted widespread protests. (The Guardian)
• Suzano school shooting
  • Two men, aged 17 and 25 years, attack a school in the Brazilian city of Suzano, São Paulo, with a revolver and a knife, killing eight and wounding 23 people, among students and staff. The two shooters committed suicide after the attack. Police have found a crossbow, Molotov cocktails and a "suitcase with wires" at the scene. (G1)
• Trials of Paul Manafort
  • Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is sentenced to 3½ years for money-laundering and obstruction of justice. (The New York Times)
  • Minutes after Manafort is sentenced in federal court, New York state prosecutors announce 16 criminal charges against him related to mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. (CNBC)
• Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who won the Sakharov Prize in 2012, is sentenced to 38 years in prison for her defence of women who had been arrested after removing their hijabs. (The New York Times)
• Frank Cali, the reputed head of the Gambino crime family, is shot dead by an unknown assailant outside his home in Todt Hill, Staten Island, New York City. It is the first targeted killing of a mob boss in New York City since Paul Castellano was assassinated in 1985. (BBC News)
• Mexican authorities announce a national search operation is underway after revealing masked gunmen with a list of names stormed a bus on March 7 as it was traveling along a highway that connects the town of San Fernando with the city of Reynosa. The perpetrators kidnapped 19 people and they have not been seen since. (KTLA)

• Brexit negotiations
  • The UK's parliament votes against a no-deal Brexit. This greatly increases the chance of a delayed Brexit, to be voted on Thursday, as well as opening the door to the possibility of a second referendum. (CBC)

• A team of physicists at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, assisted by colleagues in Switzerland and the United States, successfully returns the state of a quantum computer a fraction of a second into the past. (Phys.org) (The Independent)

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
  • Peter Kaiser wins the 2019, 1000-mile Iditarod, arriving in Nome in 9 days, 12 hours and 39 minutes. (Reuters)

• 2019 Tel Aviv rocket strike
  • Two rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip at Tel Aviv, Israel; neither rocket was intercepted by the IDF's Iron Dome system. (The New York Times) (IDF Spokesperson)

• USS Devastator is damaged by fire while at a Bahrain dock. (Task & Purpose)

• Bloody Sunday
  • Prosecutors in Northern Ireland charge a former British Army soldier with murdering two people during the mass shooting in Derry during the Troubles in 1972, following a contemporary police investigation. The man, known only as Soldier F, is also charged with three attempted murders. It is also announced that no other charges against either soldiers or civilians will be brought due to insufficient evidence. Soldiers shot 28 unarmed protestors, killing 13. (BBC News)
• 2019 college admissions bribery scandal
  • Eight universities are sued by two Stanford University students in regards to the college admissions bribery scandal. (ABC News)
• Caracas drone attack
  • A CNN reporter alleges an unnamed source has provided new video details about the August 2018 drone explosion in Caracas, claiming that it was part of a plot to kill Nicolás Maduro. (CNN)

• 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Beto O'Rourke 2020 presidential campaign
    • Former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke from Texas announces he is running for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 election. (BBC News)
• Brexit negotiations
  • The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes 412 to 202 to seek a delay to Brexit of three months if UK Prime Minister Theresa May's deal can be passed at a third attempt next week, else significantly longer. The delay, which means the UK will no longer leave the European Union on March 29, will have to be unanimously approved by all other 27 EU member states. (BBC News)
• National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States
  • The U.S. Senate votes 59–41 to cancel President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund the wall along the Mexico–United States border. Trump plans to veto the decision. (The New York Times)

• Christchurch mosque shootings, Terrorism in New Zealand
  • At least 50 people are killed and dozens others are injured during two attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. (NBC News)
  • Four people—three men and one woman—are arrested in connection to the shootings, according to New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush. It is later learned that one of them was an armed citizen trying to help police and was released. (Sky News)
  • A gunman involved in the shootings of at least one of the two mosques is identified as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian man. (Associated Press)
• 2019 Tel Aviv rocket strike
  • In response to a possible accidental launching of two rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Tel Aviv the day before, Israel launches hundreds of counter strikes directed at the town of Khan Yunis. (The New York Times) (Associated Press)

• School strike for climate
  • Hundreds of thousands of students protest worldwide for climate change mitigation. (ANSA) (Archynewsy.com) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Keystone pipeline expansion
  • A U.S. appeals court denies TransCanada's request to lift an injunction preventing pre-construction work on the Keystone XL expansion from beginning. The company claims this will delay the project by a year. (CBC)

• United States and the International Criminal Court, United States war crimes, War crimes in Afghanistan
  • United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo bars the entry of International Criminal Court investigators into the United States as part of the ICC's investigation into possible war crimes committed by the United States military in Afghanistan. (Associated Press)
• North Korea and weapons of mass destruction, North Korea–United States relations
  • North Korea has reportedly threatened to suspend negotiations with the United States regarding nuclear weaponry, as well as resume related missile testing. (The New York Times)

• Volkswagen emissions scandal
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges in a court filing that Volkswagen has "perpetrated a massive fraud" and repeatedly lied to U.S. investors in connection with diesel emissions. (CNBC)

• 2019 Algerian protests
  • The 2019 Algerian protests, the largest protests since the Algerian Civil War, have led the government to cancel the Presidential elections, to replace the Prime Minister, and to promise Abdelaziz Bouteflika would not run for re-election. (The Washington Post)
• National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States
  • U.S. President Donald Trump issues his first ever veto after Congress attempts to block his emergency declaration to fund construction of the wall along the Mexico–United States border. (The New York Times)
• Lawmakers in Mexico's lower chamber of Congress approve a constitutional reform that would allow for recall referendums to cut short the six-year presidential term limit; the measure still needs the approval of the Senate and the state legislatures. (Reuters)

• A fire at a refugee camp in Nigeria kills eight and leaves 15,000 homeless. The residents are people displaced by ongoing conflict with Boko Haram. (Reuters)
• 2019 Midwestern U.S. floods
  • Flooding over large portions of Nebraska leave one dead and two missing with over 900 people using emergency shelters. Many roads and highways in the state are also closed. (USA Today)

• Terrorism in Ireland, Terrorism in the United Kingdom
  • The village of Derrylin, close to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is sealed off after a suspicious object is found. The object is later determined to be “nothing untoward”. (Irish Times)
• Colombia's migration authority detains and expels an alleged spy working for Cuba's Intelligence Directorate. (El Tiempo)

• Yellow vests movement
  • Protests against French President Emmanuel Macron enter a fourth month in Paris. Tear gas is fired at protestors throwing stones at riot police in front of the Arc de Triomphe, news stands are torched at the Champs-Élysées, and a branch of Banque Tarneaud is burned. More than 80 arrests are made. Businesses around the Champs-Élysées are looted. (Reuters)
• Trial of Catalonia independence leaders, Catalan independentism
  • Thousands of demonstrators protest in Madrid against the trial of Catalan independence leaders and the ongoing detention of some of them. Local police say around 18,000 protestors were involved; organisers claim almost 120,000. (BBC News)

• 2019 Jayapura flood and landslide
  • At least 73 people have been killed in flash floods in the province of Papua, Indonesia. (BBC News)
• President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi suggests the death toll of Cyclone Idai could reach over one thousand. The current official toll stands at 84. (BBC News)

• 2019 Slovak presidential election
  • Progressive Slovakia candidate Zuzana Čaputová, who ran on an anti-corruption campaign against the backdrop of Ján Kuciak's murder, wins the first round of Slovakia's presidential election with 40.5% of the vote while the ruling Direction – Social Democracy Party's candidate Maroš Šefčovič receives 18.6% of the vote. As no candidate reached 50%+1 votes in the first round, Čaputová and Šefčovič will take part in a second round on March 30, 2019. The ruling Direction – Social Democracy Party suffers its worst result since its founding in 1999. (Reuters) (The Guardian) (BBC News) (Slovakia's Election Commission)
• 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Kirsten Gillibrand 2020 presidential campaign
    • U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York formally announces she is officially running for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 election. (The New York Times)

• 2019 Utrecht shooting
  • A man opens fire in a tram in the city of Utrecht, Netherlands, killing three people and wounding nine others, before fleeing. Terrorism is suspected by authorities. A 37-year-old Turkish man is arrested. (Fox News)
• Christchurch mosque shootings, Internet censorship in Australia
  • Telstra blocks access to several websites in Australia for hosting footage of the recent mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, which were livestreamed on Facebook, including LiveLeak, 4chan, 8chan, Voat and the blog Zero Hedge. Optus and Vodafone took similar actions but did not list which sites had been blocked. (9news)

• Kamchatka superbolide
  • NASA reports that it has detected a huge meteor explosion in Earth's atmosphere on December 18, 2018, above Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The explosion went largely unnoticed due to its location. The explosion, which was ten times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, was the second largest of its kind in 30 years. (BBC News)

• Syrian Civil War, International military intervention against ISIL, Battle of Baghuz Fawqani
  • Syrian Democratic Forces declares progress in Syria after an ISIL camp on the outskirts of Baghuz is captured. (NPR) (Fox News)

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Sage Therapeutics' Zulresso, also known as allopregnanolone or brexanolone, for treatment of postpartum depression. It is the first drug approved to specifically target the disease, which is the most common complication of childbirth. (STAT News) (US FDA)

• North Korea–South Korea relations
  • North Korea and South Korea express interest in jointly hosting the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. (Reuters UK) (Yonhap News Agency)

• The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, announces his resignation after 29 years in office. (Reuters)
• 2019 Guatemalan general election
  • A judge issues an arrest warrant against presidential candidate Thelma Aldana; however, as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal registered Aldana as a presidential candidate, she enjoys immunity and can not be arrested. (Arab News)

• The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awards this year's Abel Prize to Karen Uhlenbeck for "her pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems." Uhlenbeck is the first woman to win this prize. (The New York Times via MSN.com)

• Acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney
  • The Walt Disney Company completes its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets (with the exception of the business, broadcasting network, news, and sports assets owned by the newly-formed Fox Corporation). (The Hollywood Reporter)
• European Union competition law
  • European Union regulators fine Google €1.49 billion for bundling Google Custom Search with its AdSense program which the regulators find as illegal under EU antitrust rules. (Ars Technica)

• The European People's Party votes to suspend Hungary's ruling Fidesz party citing its anti-immigration stance, and personal attacks on Jean-Claude Juncker and George Soros. Hungarian Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán had threatened to pull out of the EPP if it was suspended. (BBC News)

• Politics of Kazakhstan
  • The second President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is sworn into office, after the resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev. (The National)
  • Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is renamed Nursultan, after the former President. (BBC News)
• Brexit negotiations
  • UK Prime Minister Theresa May formally writes a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk requesting for a delay of Brexit until June 30. (The Guardian)

• Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels finalize a record-breaking 12-year, $430 million contract, the largest in the history of Major League Baseball. (Sporting News)

• War in Afghanistan
  • Six people are killed and 23 others injured in three bomb explosions during Nowruz celebration in Kabul, Afghanistan. (BBC News)

• 2019 Mosul ferry sinking
  • At least 103 people are killed when a Tigris River ferry, carrying families celebrating the Nowruz new year holiday, sinks near the Iraqi city of Mosul. (Al Jazeera)
• 2019 Yancheng chemical plant explosion
  • A fire and explosion at a chemical plant that makes fertilizer in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China, kills 47 people and injures 640 others. (BBC News)

• Israel–United States relations
  • U.S. President Donald Trump announces his intentions to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a move welcomed by Israel. (CNN)
  • Syria has not publicly responded to President Trump's decision. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, declares this action irrelevant and illegal. (The Times of Israel) (Ynet)
• North Korea–United States relations, China–United States relations
  • The United States sanctions two Chinese shipping companies suspected of helping North Korea evade sanctions. These are the first actions targeting Pyongyang since last month's Hanoi Summit ended without agreement. (Time)

• Operation Car Wash
  • Former President of Brazil Michel Temer is arrested as part of an investigation into corruption. Former Governor of Rio de Janeiro Moreira Franco is also arrested. (BBC News)
• October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts
  • Cesar Sayoc pleads guilty to 65 felony counts, including using weapons of mass destruction, in last year's attempted mail bomb domestic terrorist attacks. (CNN)
• Burning Sun scandal
  • Korean pop star Jung Joon-young is arrested over allegations that he shared sexually explicit videos of women filmed without their knowledge or consent. (CNN)

• Brexit negotiations
  • The European Union confirms that UK Prime Minister Theresa May's requested short extension date of 30 June is too late due to pending EU elections. After lengthy discussions, EU leaders agree that if the Prime Minister's deal is passed next week a short extension until 22 May is available to pass the necessary legislation. If that deal is not passed, the UK is given until 12 April to define whether it will participate in EU elections. (The Guardian) (The Guardian₂)
• Gun laws in New Zealand
  • New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces a ban of all military-style semi-automatic weapons, assault rifles and high-capacity magazines following the Christchurch mosque shootings. An amnesty is in effect for people who return their guns. (CNN)
• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • Venezuela's intelligence unit, the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), detains attorney Roberto Marrero, Juan Guaidó's chief of staff. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio says this is "a significant escalation of repression and could signal the beginning of efforts to arrest Guaidó himself". (Haaretz), (Infobae)

• Ichiro Suzuki retires from baseball after 28 years following the Seattle Mariners/Oakland Athletics game in the Tokyo Dome. (ESPN)

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • In the town of Dangdala, Chad, 23 National Army soldiers are killed in an overnight attack by Boko Haram militants. (Reuters)

• Global investment management company BlackRock says that it is buying eFront, the leading provider of management software for alternative investments, for $1.3 billion in cash. (MarketWatch)

• Two buses collide head-on in a village near Kintampo, Ghana, killing at least 50 people. Almost all casualties are a result of a fire on one of the buses. (BBC News) (GhanaWeb)
• 2018–19 Australian region cyclone season
  • Thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes as two potentially devastating cyclones are expected to hit the country this weekend. Cyclone Trevor will make landfall in the north near Numbulwar and Borroloola, while Cyclone Veronica, a Category 4 storm, will strike Pilbara on Australia's west coast. (BBC News)
• 2019 Yancheng chemical plant explosion
  • Officials report the death toll is now 62 from Thursday's chemical plant explosion in Chenjiagang Industrial Park in northeastern Jiangsu Province, with 94 others seriously injured and 28 people still missing. (BBC News) (The Straits Times)

• North Korea–United States relations, China–United States relations
  • U.S. President Donald Trump removes sanctions targeting North Korea that were imposed Thursday by the Treasury Department on two Chinese companies. (Fox News)
• The Inter-American Development Bank, Latin America’s largest development lender, cancels its scheduled annual 48-country meeting next week following China's refusal to allow a representative of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó to attend what would have been the first IADB meeting held in China. (Reuters)

• Zaoyang car attack
  • A man is shot dead in the city of Zaoyang, China, after ramming his vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians, killing at least six and injuring seven others. (MSN)
• Special Counsel investigation, Links between Trump associates and Russian officials
  • Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivers a report on his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 elections to Attorney General William Barr, who is expected to summarize the findings for congressional lawmakers in the coming days. (CBS News) (ABC News) (NBC News) (CNN)

• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • More than 24 hours after the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) detain attorney Roberto Marrero—Juan Guaidó's chief of staff—there has been no contact with him and lawmakers are denied access to him at El Helicoide. (Tal Cual Digital)
  • Just hours after Marrero's detention, the United States Department of the Treasury responds by placing sanctions on BANDES, the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank and four of its subsidiaries. (France 24))
• 2019 Algerian protests
  • Hundreds of thousands of Algerians again rally, this week in heavy rain and cold weather, against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika demanding his immediate resignation. Bouteflika is fighting for his political survival in the face of unrelenting protests and the desertion of long-time allies. (Reuters)

• The English Football League is to deduct Birmingham City F.C. nine points for breaching profitability and sustainability rules. Birmingham City are the first club to be deducted points since the EFL introduced its new profitability and sustainability regulations in 2016. (BBC Sport)

• Syrian Civil War
  • Battle of Baghuz Fawqani
    • The Syrian Democratic Forces announce the capture of the last territory held by ISIL in Syria. (DW)
• Northern Mali conflict
  • March 2019 attacks against Fulani herders
    • At least 160 Fulani herdsmen are killed in an attack on the villages of Ogossagou and Welingara by Dogon militia in Mali. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War
  • In Mogadishu, Somalia, at least five militants set off a car bomb and raid a government building, killing at least five people. Al-Shabaab claim responsibility for the attack. (The New York Times) (The Washington Post)

• The Wall Street Journal reports that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, released from prison in February after serving 12 years for fraud and insider trading following Enron's 2001 collapse, is planning a return to the energy business, helming a "digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects". (The Wall Street Journal).

• Rescuers scramble to rescue about 1,300 passengers and crew from the cruise ship Viking Sky adrift off the coast of Norway. (CNN)

• China–Italy relations
  • Italy signs $2.8 billion in deals with the Belt and Road Initiative. (Reuters)

• Opposition to Brexit in the United Kingdom
  • Approximately one million Britons assemble for the People's Vote March in London, United Kingdom advocating for an additional referendum on Brexit. (BBC News) (The Guardian)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • A United States airstrike in Afghanistan early Saturday kills 10 children and 3 adults. The family was displaced because of the conflict according to early findings by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. (Reuters)

• The 2019 Global Teacher Prize and its $1 million (£760,000) purse is awarded to Brother Peter Tabichi, a Franciscan science teacher from rural Kenya. Tabichi gives away 80 percent of his salary to support poorer pupils at the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village, Nakuru. (BBC News)

• Stoneman Douglas High School massacre aftermath
  • More than 60 school, county, city, child services and law enforcement officials, as well as mental health specialists, teachers and parents, hold an emergency meeting after the suicide of a second Stoneman Douglas survivor. Florida's emergency chief is requesting the state Legislature provide more mental health resources for the community. Coral Springs, Florida, police reported that, Saturday night, a current sophomore killed himself. Last week, Sydney Aiello, a 19-year-old graduate who had recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, took her own life. (The Guardian) (Miami Herald)

• Russia–Venezuela relations
  • Two Russian military planes, an Ilyushin Il-62 and an Antonov An-124, land at Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas, Venezuela, carrying senior Defence Ministry official Vasily Tonkoshkurov, a large amount of equipment and about 100 troops. Russia, which three months earlier held joint military exercises on Venezuelan soil, condemned other countries for backing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó against embattled President Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters) (BBC News)
• Status of Jerusalem
  • In Washington, D.C., the leaders of Romania and Honduras announce they will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, following the lead of the United States. (Fox News)

• 2019 Thai general election
  • Voters in Thailand head to the polls to elect all 500 members of the House of Representatives. This is the first parliamentary election held in the country since the invalidation of the 2014 Thai general election and the ensuing 2014 Thai coup d'état. (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
• 2019 Comorian presidential election
  • Voters in the Comoros head to the polls to elect a new President. (BBC News)
• Mueller special counsel investigation
  • Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections does not find that any US officials or Trump campaign members knowingly conspired with the government of Russia. Mueller drew no conclusions about whether Trump illegally obstructed justice. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
  • Attorney General William Barr releases the "principal conclusions" of Mueller's investigation in a four-page public letter to the Congress's Judiciary Committee leadership. (Fox News) (The Washington Post) (William Barr letter to congress via The Washington Post)
• Thousands of teachers gather in the capital of Rabat, Morocco to protest working conditions and wages. (BBC News) (France 24)

• Gaza–Israel conflict
  • Seven people are moderately injured after a rocket attack destroys a home in Mishmeret, Israel. The Israel Defense Forces claim that Hamas is responsible for any attack from Gaza. (BBC News)
  • As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cuts his four-day trip to the United States short after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
  • In retaliation Israeli Air Force jets strike multiple targets in the Gaza Strip, including the office of senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh, and Hamas' military intelligence headquarters in Gaza City. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

• 2019 Iran floods
  • Flash flooding in the southern provinces of Iran kills at least 19 people and injures more than 100. The majority of the deaths occurred in the city of Shiraz. (BBC News)

• Bayer and Johnson & Johnson announce that they have reached a $775 million agreement to settle approximately 25,000 outstanding litigation cases, which claim that their drug Xarelto caused severe and sometimes fatal bleeding episodes. Bayer and Johnson & Johnson had successfully defended the safety of the drug in all six prior cases that went to trial. (The New York Times)

• United States recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel, Israel–United States relations, Syria–United States relations
  • U.S. President Donald Trump signs a proclamation formally recognising the disputed Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory. (Al Jazeera)
  • Syria's Foreign Affairs Ministry condemns Trump's move as a "flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Syria". (Xinhuanet)
• Greek–Turkish relations
  • Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras says Turkish fighter jets threatened his helicopter, in Greek airspace, heading to the Aegean island of Agathonisi, near Turkey's coastline, for Greek Independence Day which celebrates the country's 1821 uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Turkish security forces rejected the accusation, insisting the jets were carrying out a routine mission. (BBC News)

• A judge rules that former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr has completed his prison sentence. (CBC) (Vancouver Courier)
• Attorney Michael Avenatti is arrested and charged with extortion, embezzlement and bank fraud. (CNBC)

• Iran–Israel proxy conflict, Gaza–Israel conflict, Iran and state-sponsored terrorism
  • According to Israel Today, a senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that Iran's rulers ordered the rocket attack on Mishmeret in central Israel on March 25, 2019, which injured seven Israelis. The rocket attack was carried out by Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, which is heavily financed by Iran. The Hamas official said that Hamas's goal was to hurt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chances of getting reelected in the April 9 elections. (The Jerusalem Post) (Israel National News)
• Yemeni Civil War
  • An airstrike carried out in north-west Yemen kills seven and injures eight others at a hospital. The airstrike occurred early when patients and staff members were arriving. (BBC News) (The Washington Post)

• The all-female board of Women Church World, a monthly supplement in the L'Osservatore Romano (the Vatican City daily newspaper), resign citing a campaign to discredit them and put them "under the direct control of men". (BBC News)

• U.S.-owned company Uber buys Dubai-based ride-sharing company Careem for $3.1 billion in order to further solidify its Middle Eastern presence. (CNBC) (CNN)
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tells a judge in New York that she has the power to decide whether the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, violated the terms of his settlement with the SEC without holding a hearing, because there are no open issues of material fact. (SEC)

• 2019 Jayapura flood and landslide
  • The death toll of the floods and landslide in Jayapura, Indonesia, rise to 113. At least 94 others are still missing. (CNN)
• 2019 Iran floods
  • The death toll from a flash flood in Iran rises to 21. (CBS News)

• Health officials in Rockland County, New York, declare a state of emergency due to an ongoing measles outbreak. The county is prohibiting unvaccinated children under the age of 18 from public areas for 30 days. (Ars Technica)

• The Lima Group condemns the presence of Russian military planes in Venezuela as a "provocation threatening peace and security in the region." (France24)

• Foreign relations of North Korea
  • The Spanish Audiencia Nacional reveals that an attack on the North Korean embassy in Madrid on February 22 was led by a Mexican citizen residing in the United States who later offered the FBI data stolen during the incident. (Associated Press) (Euro news) (The New York Times)
• Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
  • The European Parliament approves two revisions to the controversial Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. One resolution includes new requirements aimed at making companies pay licensing fees to publications such as newspapers whose work gets aggregated by online services. The second revision makes online platforms such as Google, Facebook and YouTube liable for the content posted on their services, meaning that all content providers must get permission from rights holders before uploading copyrighted material of any kind. (The Guardian)
• All charges against American actor Jussie Smollett for allegedly filing a false police report are dropped. (CNN)
• Purdue Pharma reaches a $270 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. state of Oklahoma that claimed the pharmaceutical company's opioids contributed to the deaths of thousands of people as part of the opioid epidemic. (The Washington Post)

• 2019 Algerian protests
  • Algeria's Chief of Staff of the People's National Army Ahmed Gaid Salah, the highest-ranked military official in the country, gives a televised address, calling on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign or be declared "unfit to serve" by the People's National Assembly. (BBC News)
• Green New Deal
  • The United States Senate blocks the Green New Deal, a progressive climate change resolution aiming to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. It has faced criticism from conservatives, as well as some Democrats, who found the resolution too broad and unspecific. (The Hill)
• U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a House appropriations subcommittee about this year's DoED budget request. The committee heavily criticized Secretary DeVos for the proposed budget cuts. (Yahoo! News)

• Mixed martial artist Conor McGregor announces his retirement from the sport on Twitter. The New York Times reports that McGregor was arrested in January for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Ireland. According to the New York Times, he was released and is under investigation by authorities. (MMA Fighting) (New York Post)

• Cathay Pacific announces the acquisition of low-cost carrier HK Express for US$628 million (HK$4.93 billion). (BBC News) (South China Morning Post)

• European migrant crisis
  • The European Union says it is suspending Operation Sophia ship patrols. Instead, the operation will rely on air missions and close coordination with Libya. The EU also announces the mandate for Operation Sophia, which was scheduled to expire March 31, 2019, will be extended for six months. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
  • More than 100 migrants hijack a merchant vessel that rescued them off Libya's coast, ordering the crew to head towards Malta. Malta's military said the ship would not be allowed into its waters. (BBC News)

• Aftermath of the Charlottesville car attack
  • James Alex Fields, who drove his car into a crowd of protestors at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, killing one person and injuring 28 others, pleads guilty to 29 federal hate crimes. He will be sentenced on July 3, 2019. (NBC)
• Aftermath of the kidnapping of Jayme Closs
  • Jake Patterson pleads guilty to the kidnapping of teenager Jayme Closs and the murder of her parents last year. (New York Post)
• Medicaid expansion
  • Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocks Kentucky from implementing Medicaid work requirements and Arkansas from continuing its program, stating the program's approval by the Department of Health and Human Services "... is arbitrary and capricious because it did not address ... how the project would implicate the 'core' objective of Medicaid, the provision of medical coverage to the needy". (NPR)
• Former Argentine President Carlos Menem is sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison for the sale of a government ground. His government's Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo was also sentenced to 3 years and 6 months. In addition, both were disqualified from holding public office for life. As Menem is currently a National Senator and has immunity, he will not comply with his sentence yet. (CNN in Spanish)

• Brexit negotiations
  • The UK parliament holds "indicative votes" on eight options regarding Brexit in an attempt to find an approach which can command a majority. None of the options are passed at this stage; however, a further round of voting is planned for Monday. (CBC) (The Guardian) (The Guardian)
  • UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces that she will resign before the next phase of Brexit negotiations, if her deal were to be passed. (The Guardian)
• 2019 Guatemalan general election
  • The Supreme Electoral Tribunal dismisses six nullity proceedings against the presidential candidacy of Thelma Aldana. However, it accepts two processes and requests the Supreme Court of Justice, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Comptroller General of Accounts to present a report on their legal situation. It was also reported that after resolving these processes this week, it will proceed to issue the credential that grants immunity to the candidate. (Prensa Libre)
  • The Supreme Electoral Tribunal acts legally before the Constitutional Court to appeal the permission granted to the presidential candidate Zury Ríos to participate in the elections despite having constitutional impediment. (Prensa Libre)
  • Director of the Registry of Citizens of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal Leopoldo Guerra denounces pressures and threats by far-right groups not to register Thelma Aldana as a presidential candidate and request precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. (Prensa Libre)

• Somali Civil War
  • At least 11 people are killed following an explosion in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Al Jazeera)
• European migrant crisis
  • The Maltese Navy seizes control of commercial tanker Elhiblu 1, which was hijacked by migrants off the coast of Libya yesterday. The tanker is now docked in the Maltese capital, Valletta. (BBC News)

• WOW air, an Icelandic low-cost airline, ceases operations. (Icelandic Transport Authority) (CBC)

• At least 18 people have died after a truck struck a crowd gathered at a road accident in western Guatemala. The group had apparently gathered on the road to inspect a person who had been killed in a separate crash when the vehicle ploughed into them. The estimates of those dead were later revised by officials. (Sky News) (Reuters) (BBC News)
• A fire breaks out in Dhaka, Bangladesh, at a 22-story tower, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 70 others. (BBC News)

• The Supreme Court of the United States rejects a request by gun rights activists to grant a temporary stay on the Trump administration's ban on bump stock attachments that allow semi-automatic firearms to be fired rapidly. The policy took effect Tuesday after a similar bid to delay implementation was rejected. (Reuters)
• Judge John D. Bates of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, in a case filed by 11 states, strikes down the Trump administration rule broadly re-defining an Association Health Plan employer to include self-employed individuals with no employees because it violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010. (The New York Times via msn.com)

• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • Venezuelan state comptroller Elvis Amoroso announces that opposition leader Juan Guaidó is barred from holding public office for 15 years because of irregularities in his financial records. Guaidó, the National Assembly President, says he will continue his campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro. (CBS News)

• In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, those infected by cholera jump to 139 confirmed cases in Mozambique. (The Washington Post) (CBS News)

• Same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands
  • Cayman Islands legalises same-sex marriage after a judge rules that a law defining marriage as a relationship between a man and woman is unconstitutional. (The Independent)

• Brexit negotiations
  • UK Prime Minister Theresa May suffers another defeat of 286–344 on her Withdrawal Agreement. European Council President Donald Tusk schedules an emergency summit on April 10, two days before Brexit is scheduled to happen. (CNN)
• 2019 Algerian protests
  • Algerians protest in the capital of Algiers against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in an effort to make him resign. It is estimated that tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands attended. (The New York Times) (BBC News) (Channel NewsAsia)

• War in Afghanistan
  • First Vice President of Afghanistan Abdul Rashid Dostum survives an assassination attempt on his convoy while traveling to the Jowzjan Province in Afghanistan. The attack killed one bodyguard and injured two others. (Reuters) (The Jerusalem Post)

• Pope Francis and Moroccan King Mohammed VI call for the protection of Jerusalem's multi-religious character, saying the city's sacred sites must be accessible to worshipers of all faiths. (Reuters)
• Brunei defends its decision, despite global criticism, to implement laws that can punish homosexuality, adultery and rape with the death penalty, including by stoning, and theft with amputation, as of Wednesday, April 3, 2019. (Reuters)
• Pope Francis says the plight of migrants was "a wound that cries out to heaven". He added, "The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families". (Reuters)

• Flash floods kill at least 32 people in western Afghanistan, destroying homes and sweeping through makeshift shelters that housed displaced families. (Reuters)
• 2019 Midwestern U.S. floods
  • This month, at least 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of U.S. farmland were flooded from the early March blizzard storm that affected nine major grain-producing states, according to Israel Cleantech Ventures' Gro Intelligence. (Reuters)
• Earthquakes in 2019
  • A 5.3 magnitude earthquake strikes northwest of Athens, Greece, near the seaside town of Itea at 1046 GMT. (The Washington Post)
  • A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits Papua New Guinea's New Britain island, east of Kandrian at 1120 GMT. (Reuters)

• Northern Triangle of Central America
  • President Donald Trump directs the United States Department of State to cease aid for El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. This apparently reverses the regional compact agreement Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen signed on Wednesday with these countries and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's congressional testimony of the same day. (The Hill) (Reuters) (ABC News) (CNN)
• Tunisian authorities acknowledge they are detaining Tunisian national Moncef Kartas, a UN Libyan arms embargo monitor who has diplomatic immunity. Tunisia says Mr. Kartas had traveled in a private capacity on his Tunisian passport. The United Nations has called for his release and for Tunisia to clarify the reason for his arrest. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

• Terrorism in Egypt
  • Thirty men are sentenced in Egypt for planning an attack on a church in Alexandria, with eighteen men receiving life sentences and twelve men receiving between ten to fifteen years in prison. (The New York Times)
• Offshore oil and gas in the United States, Arctic Refuge drilling controversy
  • Federal Judge Sharon L. Gleason for the District of Alaska rules that President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic coast exceeds presidential power because it requires congressional action. (BBC News) (The New York Times)

• 2019 Slovak presidential election
  • Slovak citizens vote for a new president, with front runner Zuzana Čaputová facing Maroš Šefčovič. (BBC News)
• 2018 Gaza border protests, Gaza–Israel conflict
  • On the one year anniversary of the Gaza border protests, tens of thousands of Palestinians gather on the border to commemorate the weekly gatherings. Four Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 300 injured according to Palestinian health officials. (BBC News) (Sky News)
• Algerian protests
  • Algerian Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaid Salah renews his call for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, be declared unfit for office. He also told opponents not to seek to undermine the military. (Reuters)

• A plant explosion in the Jiangsu province of China kills seven and injures five others. The explosion is the second deadliest in the month after the 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion. (Reuters)
• Severe thunderstorms in Nepal leave at least 25 people dead while more than 400 others are injured. (ABC News) (The Guardian)

• Cross-Strait relations
  • Taiwan condemns China after two PLAAF fighter jets pass the maritime line on the Taiwan Strait. Though there was no immediate response from China, the move comes after a week when the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard sent ships through the Strait. (Reuters) (Channel NewsAsia) (The Japan Times)
• United States recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel
  • During the 30th Arab League summit held in Tunisia, leaders condemn the United States' claim that the Golan Heights belong to Israel, and stated the establishment of a Palestinian state is essential for stability. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (The Washington Post)

• Fourteen suspected communist rebels are killed in the Philippines. However, human rights groups dispute the claims by police forces stating those killed were farmers. (The Bangkok Post) (Channel NewsAsia)
• Three teenage migrants who partook in the hijacking of Elhiblu 1 are charged in Malta. (The New York Times)
• American rapper Nipsey Hussle is shot and killed outside a Los Angeles clothing store. Two other people with him were also shot and wounded. (Global News)

• 2019 Ukrainian presidential election
  • Voters in Ukraine go to the polls today in the first round of the presidential election. President Petro Poroshenko is seeking re-election, with comedian Volodymyr Zelensky and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko the primary challengers. All three have expressed largely pro-European views. Former Vice Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko is the front-runner among the pro-Russian candidates. A total of 39 candidates are on the ballot, increasing the probability no candidate will win more than 50 percent of the votes. If so, the top two will meet in a second round on 21 April. (BBC News)
• 2019 Slovak presidential election
  • Anti-corruption candidate Zuzana Čaputová of the Progressive Slovakia party wins the second round of Slovakia's presidential election, defeating the governing party candidate Maroš Šefčovič, 58 percent versus 42%. She will be the country's first female head of state. (BBC News)
• 2019 Turkish local elections
  • Voters head to the polls in Turkey to vote on metropolitan and district municipal mayors along with provincial and municipal councillors. The election is believed to be contested on challenging the current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera)

• Elvis Luciano of the Toronto Blue Jays becomes the first person born in the 2000s to play in a Major League Baseball game. (MLB.com)