Friday,  March 3rd, 2023 

A court in Minsk, Belarus, sentences human rights activist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison on charges of “financing actions violating public order” and smuggling. (AP) 

A court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, sentences opposition figure Kem Sokha to 27 years in prison on charges of “collusion with foreigners” and treason. (The Guardian) 

Seventeen people are killed and fifty others are injured in a fire at a fuel storage station in Koja, Jakarta, Indonesia. (Reuters) 

Sixteen people are killed when a pipeline explodes in Emohua, Rivers State, Nigeria. (AP) 

One person is killed in Yazoo County, Mississippi, United States, and more than 310,000 people are left without power across five states due to a system of storms affecting the area. (CNN) 

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023 

Russia accuses a Ukrainian sabotage group of attacking the villages of Lyubechane and Sushany in Bryansk Oblast and taking hostages. However, Ukraine accuses Russia of staging a false “provocation”. (Reuters) 

A Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhia kills three civilians and injures at least four others, according to Ukrainian police. (Reuters) 

Twenty people are injured by severe turbulence on a Condor flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Mauritius. (AP) 

Israel criticizes the government of Brazil for allowing two Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro and urges Brazil to send the warships away calling it a “dangerous and regretful development”. (Reuters) 

The National Assembly of Vietnam elects Võ Văn Thưởng as the country’s new president, succeeding Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. (Nikkei Asia) 

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Wednesday, March 1st, 2023 

A two-year investigation by seven U.S. intelligence agencies concludes it is “very unlikely” that Russia or another country was responsible for the “Havana syndrome” that affected U.S. diplomats and spies. Instead, “medical, environmental and social factors can explain” many symptoms. (AP) (Reuters) 

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă unveils an AI-run “honorary advisor” named Ion, which will synthesize submissions by Romanians relating to their “opinions and desires”. Ciucă says that this makes Romania the first country in the world to have an AI government advisor. (Politico.eu) 

The Finnish Parliament votes 184–7 to formally approve the country’s accession to NATO, and to adopt the military alliance’s founding documents. Only Hungary and Turkey are yet to approve Finland’s membership. (Euractiv) 

Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigns in response to last night’s train wreck in Tempi that killed about 40 people. (ABC News) 

Thousands of users of Twitter worldwide report issues on using the platform including the inability to view new posts on their main timelines. (Wall Street Journal) 

Tuesday,  February , 28^th 2023 

An Israeli-American man is killed in a drive-by shooting on a highway in Jericho, in the West Bank. (Al Jazeera) 

The Taliban kill the leader of operations and intelligence of Islamic State – Khorasan Province during a raid in Kabul. (The Express Tribune) 

Grocery inflation in the United Kingdom reaches a record high of 17.1%, according to market research group Kantar Worldpanel, amid high levels of inflation, supply chain issues and high energy costs impacting the economy. (Sky News) 

A passenger train and a freight train collide in Tempi, Larissa, Thessaly, Greece, killing 36 people and injuring more than 100 others. (BNO News) 

Finland began constructing a border barrier on the Finland–Russia border due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. (BBC News) 

Opposition parties call for a rerun of this year’s presidential election after the Independent National Electoral Commission projected Bola Tinubu of the incumbent All Progressives Congress to be the next president, claiming voting irregularities and electoral violence. (BBC News) 

Lori Lightfoot loses her re-election bid as Mayor of Chicago, becoming the first one-term mayor in 40 years. (BBC) 

Canada bans social media platform TikTok from all government-issued devices, citing “an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security” from the Chinese-owned app. (BBC News) 

Monday,  February 27th, 2023 

M23 rebels seize the town of Rubaya and the Rubaya coltan mines in North Kivu, DRC, after government forces withdraw from the area. (Anadolu Agency) 

One person is killed and 69 others are injured by a magnitude 5.6 aftershock in Yeşilyurt, Malatya, Turkey. (Al Jazeera) 

The United Kingdom and European Union agree a deal on post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, following high-level talks between UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in London. (Reuters) 

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry visits Syria and Turkey for the first time in a decade following strained relations with both countries. (AFP via France 24) 

The End