03.31.2023 friday

Friday,  March 31st, 2023 

A grand jury in Manhattan, New York City, indicts former U.S. President Donald Trump regarding a hush payment he made while he was a candidate in 2016. (NBC News) 

Brazil and China sign an agreement to trade in their own currencies, ceasing the usage of the United States dollar as an intermediary. (The Straits Times) 

Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter at The Wall Street Journal, is arrested in Yekaterinburg by Russia’s Federal Security Service under charges of espionage. (RFE/RL) 

The Turkish Parliament unanimously votes to accept Finland’s NATO application, becoming the last member to do so. (Al Jazeera) 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reshuffles the government’s cabinet amid an increase in prices and shortages of food due to the severe economic situation the country, which was worsened by the recent earthquake. (AP via The Washington Post) 

Pirates kidnap some crew members of a Danish-owned ship which they later abandon near São Tomé and Príncipe. (Al Arabiya) 

The Storm Prediction Center issues a high risk convective outlook, the first high risk issued in over two years, ahead of an expected severe weather outbreak across the Mississippi River valley in the United States. (Storm Prediction Center) 

A large tornado causes major damage to the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolitan area, killing at least three people and injuring 24 others. (KTHV-TV) 

One person is killed and 28 others are injured when a tornado causes the roof of a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, to collapse during a concert. (WIFR-TV) 

Thirty-six people are killed and 17 others are injured when a stepwell collapses during prayers at a Hindu temple in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. (The Guardian) 

Four people are killed by avalanches in Northern Norway. (AFP via Barron’s) 

More than a dozen people are injured in separate incidents after two trains derail during a storm in Switzerland(AP) 

Italy’s Data Protection Authority blocks ChatGPT for allegedly breaching data protection rules and failing to verify that its users are at least 13 years old. (Reuters) 

Thursday, March 30th, 2023 

The Scottish Parliament votes to elect Scottish National Party leader Humza Yousaf as First Minister of Scotland, becoming the first non-white and first Muslim to hold the position since it was created in 1999. (STV) 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rules that the United States violated its 1955 friendship treaty with Iran when it allowed its domestic courts to freeze assets held by Iranian companies, but said that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the US$1.75 billion worth of frozen assets held by the Central Bank of Iran. Both countries claimed victory in the ruling. (Reuters) 

The Vatican officially repudiates the discovery doctrine, writing that the 15th-century papal bulls which promoted it were “manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities”. (Al Jazeera) 

Lawmakers from the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria walkout from the lower house of Austria’s parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a protest against the violation of Austria’s national principle of neutrality. (Al Jazeera) 

The Lahore High Court rules that Pakistan’s sedition law is unconstitutional, on the grounds that it violates free speech. (Al Jazeera) 

 

Thursday, March 30th, 2023 

The U.S. Senate passes a bill to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) that allowed the past wars in Iraq, with a bipartisan majority of 66–30 votes. (Reuters) 

Ukrainian air defences shoot down a Russian Air Force Su-24M jet with a surface-to-air missile near Bakhmut. (Ukrinform) 

Two Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters collide mid-air over Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Up to 9 people may have been killed. (BBC) 

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan announces that he has named his son Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan as the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince. City Football Group owner Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is also appointed as Vice President. (Al Jazeera) 

ELN rebels launch homemade mortar shells at a military base in El Carmen, Norte de Santander, Colombia, killing nine soldiers and injuring nine others. (ABC News) 

Chile detects its first case of H5N1 bird flu in a 53-year-old man. (Reuters) 

Two people are shot dead in “targeted attacks” in Bluntisham and Sutton-in-the-Isle, Cambridgeshire. Three suspects are later arrested by Cambridgeshire Constabulary on suspicion of murder. (BBC News) 

New Zealand confirms its first-ever case of rabies in humans in the country. The patient, who was in hospital since early March, died from the disease, though authorities dismissed any further risks to the population. (News24) 

FIFA strips Indonesia of hosting this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup tournament after the Governor of Bali I Wayan Koster refused to host the Israel national under-19 football team. (The Guardian) 

In basketball, the Sacramento Kings make the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending their 17-year playoff drought, the longest in NBA history. (USA Today) 

The End

03.29.2023 wednesday

Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 

The Scottish Parliament votes to elect Scottish National Party leader Humza Yousaf as First Minister of Scotland, becoming the first non-white and first Muslim to hold the position since it was created in 1999. (STV) 

The Iraqi Parliament passes 206–12 a series of amendments reducing the electoral districts in each governorate to one, ahead of local elections in November. Voting blocs and independent members who boycotted the vote claim the amendments make it more difficult for the opposition to get elected. (Al Jazeera) 

President Bashar al-Assad reshuffles the government’s cabinet amidst rising prices and shortages of food, due to the harsh economic situation of the country, worsened by February’s earthquake. (AP via The Washington Post) 

Fazil Mustafa, an opposition member of Azerbaijan’s National Assembly, is shot multiple times outside his home in Baku by unknown assailants in an assassination attempt. Mustafa’s condition is described as satisfactory, and his life is not reported to be in danger. (News.az) 

Myanmar’s ruling military junta dissolves the National League for Democracy, the political party of former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. (NHK) 

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announces that the Media Industry Development Authority will repeal a controversial 2010 law which strictly controlled media. (RNZ) 

Adnan Syed’s murder conviction is reinstated by Maryland’s appeal court, less than six months after Baltimore prosecutors presented new evidence in the 1999 fatal strangulation of Hae Min Lee. (Reuters) 

Tuesday,  March 28th 2023 

Scientists discover lunar water samples in tiny glass beads from the Moon in studies published by the Nature Geoscience journal. (ABC News) 

Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou becomes the first Taiwanese leader to visit mainland China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, meeting with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office deputy chair Chen Yuanfeng in Shanghai. Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party criticized this visit as “endorsing” China’s position on Taiwan. (Al Jazeera) 

Central and South American detainees at a migrant center in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, deliberately set fire to their mattresses, killing 38 people and injuring 28 others. (AP) 

Two people are killed during a stabbing attack at a Isma’ilism Shia religious centre in Lisbon, Portugal. The perpetrator is shot in the leg and arrested. (BBC News) 

Philippines president Bongbong Marcos announces that the country will cut ties with the International Criminal Court due to the ICC’s refusal to suspend its investigation on alleged crimes committed by the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte during the war on drugs in the country. (Bloomberg) 

Monday,  March 27th, 2023 

A train transporting hazardous materials derails near Wyndmere, North Dakota, United States, with 31 out of 70 train cars damaged. (KARE-TV) 

Honduran President Xiomara Castro orders Taiwanese diplomats to vacate the country’s embassy in Tegucigalpa within 30 days, one day after the country established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. (Reuters) 

The National Assembly of Hungary votes 182–6 to approve Finland’s accession to NATO, leaving Turkey as the last remaining NATO member to approve Finland’s membership in the military alliance. (France 24) 

Health and Social Care Secretary Humza Yousaf is elected as the new leader of the separatist Scottish National Party, defeating Finance Secretary Kate Forbes with 52.1% of the vote. (BBC News) 

The Iraqi Parliament passes a series of amendments reducing the electoral districts in each governorate to one, ahead of local elections in November. Voting blocs and independent members who boycotted the vote claim the amendments make it more difficult for the opposition to get elected. (Al Jazeera) 

The world’s first rocket made by extensive 3D printingTerran 1, makes its first launch but fails to reach orbit. (NYT) 

The einstein problem is solved by a single shape that tiles a plane without repeating(Science News) (New Scientist) 

Asteroid 2023 DZ2 makes a close pass between the Earth and the Moon. (BBC) 

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, says that more than 5,000 prisoners have been pardoned following the completion of their contracts in Ukraine. (Reuters) 

The head of the Blagodarnensky District in Stavropol Krai, Russia announces the death of Dmitry Lissitzky, commander of the 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment who gained infamy in the 2014 Battle of Ilovaisk. Ukraine claims he was killed in battle while pro-Russian sources claim he committed suicide. (Novaya Gazeta Europe) 

France bans the use of Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and other apps on government employees’ phones due to concerns relating to insufficient data security measures. (AP News) 

A Russian missile strike on Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast kills at least two civilians and injures 29 others. (The Wall Street Journal) 

Six people are killed and several others injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera) 

Burkina Faso suspends France 24 broadcasts after the news agency aired an interview with the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb earlier this month. The Burkinabé government accused France 24 of being a “mouthpiece for terrorists” and “hate speech”, which the agency denied as “unfounded”. (Reuters) 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces a pause on his government’s controversial judicial reform bill until April 30, the opening of the Knesset’s summer session. (USA Today) 

At least seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed in a shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. (CNN) 

World Athletics bans trans women who have gone through male puberty from competing in female events. (BBC Sport) 

The End