Easter, March 31st, 2024 

Harvard University removes the binding of human skin from the 19th-century book Des destinées de l’âme by Arsène Houssaye, which has been kept in its library since 1934. (BBC News) 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree for a larger than normal spring conscription campaign surpassing the previous ones, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service. (CNBC) 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree for a larger than normal spring conscription campaign surpassing the previous ones, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service.  (Reuters) 

The Telegraph reports Russia has captured approximately 195 square miles (510 km²) and is taking around 1,000 casualties per day since the start of the Second Russian winter campaign in October 2023. (The Telegraph) 

The New York Times reports that private records for millions of AT&T customers have been affected by a data breach and leaked onto the dark web. (The New York Times) 

In Guayaquil, eight people are killed and at least ten others are injured by armed gangs. (NOS) 

Canada deploys 70 members of its armed forces to Jamaica to train peacekeepers for a future intervention in Haiti. (CBC) 

Bulgaria and Romania join the Schengen Area, opening up travel by air and sea without border checks, with Austria vetoing free travel by land over fears of non-EU citizens getting easier access to the union. (France 24) 

Extreme drought in southern Africa leaves some 20 million facing hunger. (The Independent)

Saturday, March 30th, 2024 

Three UN observers and a translator are injured by a shell in southern Lebanon. (Reuters) 

At least seven people are killed and 30 others are injured in a car blast in Azaz, Syria, near the Turkish border. (Reuters) 

Japanese officials search a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory after five deaths possibly linked to its dietary supplements. (Reuters) 

Over 150 people are evacuated after a man holds four people hostage in a nightclub in Ede, Gelderland, Netherlands, for six hours and threatens to blow himself up. Police arrest the man at the scene. (BBC News) 

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte says that she will not resign following accusations of illicit enrichment after her residence was raided by police. (Reuters) 

Friday,  March 29th, 2024 

North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui says that North Korea will not hold any talks with Japan on any issue, including the issue of Japanese abductees in North Korea. This follows an announcement by Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in which he stated his desire to meet with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un “without any preconditions”. (Reuters) 

Russia vetoes the continued monitoring of United Nations sanctions on the North Korean nuclear weapons program. (AP) 

Polish President Andrzej Duda signs a law suspending the country’s participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. (TVP World) 

Pouria Zeraati, an Iranian dissident journalist working for IITV, is injured in a stabbing in London. He is currently hospitalized in stable condition. (BBC News) 

An Israeli airstrike targeting Aleppo International Airport in Syria kills 38 Syrian soldiers, seven Hezbollah fighters and seven Iran-backed militiamen. The incident marks the deadliest Israeli attack on Syria since 2021. (SOHR) 

The End

Thursday, March 28th, 2024 

A federal court in the United States sentences Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion in a cryptocurrency fraud. (Reuters) 

The Kachin Independence Army captures the town of Lweje and its nearby border crossings in Kachin State, Myanmar, after junta forces abandoned their posts and fled across the border into China. (Irrawaddy) 

Slovakia’s Slovenské elektrárne shuts down operations at its Vojany Power Station, the last coal-fired power plant in the country. (Euronews) 

Cyclone Gamane makes landfall in Madagascar, killing at least eleven people and causing widespread flooding, according to local officials. (AP) 

A bus carrying Christian pilgrims from Botswana crashes in Limpopo, South Africa, killing 45 people. (Reuters) 

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 crashes into the Black Sea off Sevastopol, Crimea. The pilot is reported to have safely ejected. (Reuters) 

The International Court of Justice, in a unanimous decision, orders Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip unimpeded, warning that famine is already occurring. (Reuters) (The Guardian) 

The Czech information service reveals that Russia paid hundreds of thousands of euros through its “Voice of Europe” website to European politicians in order to influence European elections. (Parool) 

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 

Four people are killed and seven others are injured during a stabbing spree in Rockford, Illinois, United States. (AP) 

The Thai House of Representatives approves a bill to legalize same-sex marriage by a vote of 400–10, with five abstentions. (AP via MSN News) 

A Special Investigative committee of the Seimas releases its findings, accusing President Gitanas Nausėda of receiving illegal support from the head of the State Security Department and for recruiting members of the Belarusian and Russian security services for his election campaign. Nauseda rejects the findings, accusing them of being politically motivated. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Belarusian Service) 

Myriam Spiteri Debono is unanimously elected by the Maltese Parliament as the next President of Malta. (Times of Malta) 

The End Sunday 

The End Thursday 

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 

One person is killed, and sixteen others, including four children, are injured by Russian guided bomb strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Reuters) 

Vol. 4 – 1972

If there is anything unique about the human animal it is that it has the ability to grow knowledge at an accelerating rate while being chronically incapable of learning from experience. Science and technology are cumulative, whereas ethics and politics deal with recurring dilemmas. Whatever they are called, torture and slavery are universal evils; but these evils cannot be consigned to the past like redundant theories in science. They return under different names: torture as enhanced interrogation techniques, slavery as human trafficking. Any reduction in universal evils is an advance in civilization. But, unlike scientific knowledge, the restraints of civilized life cannot be stored on a computer disc. They are habits of behavior, which once broken are hard to mend. Civilization is natural for humans, but so is barbarism.

– John Gray

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 

The UN Security Council passes a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held by Hamas, with the United States abstaining. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancels a planned visit to the U.S. in response to the abstention. (Reuters) 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces while campaigning that his Vice Presidential pick will be attorney Nicole Shanahan. (NBC News) 

At least five people are killed and 20 more injured after a double-decker FlixBus overturns and falls in the roadside near Leipzig, Germany. (NOS) 

A court in Tunisia sentences four people to death and two others to life in prison for the 2013 murder of politician Chokri Belaid. (Al Jazeera) 

Tuesday,  March 26th, 2024 

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, collapses after the container ship Dali strikes a bridge column, causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below. (CBS News) 

President Joe Biden says that the federal government will pay for the full cost of rebuilding the bridge. (WMAR-TV) 

The US Supreme Court announces that it will hear oral arguments on whether to restrict access to mifepristone, a commonly-used abortion pill. (BBC News) 

The United Kingdom’s High Court of Justice grants WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a stay of extradition to the United States, and demands that the US not consider the death penalty against Assange if he is sent to the US to face espionage charges. (AP) 

The Israeli Air Force bombs Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, killing an Iranian Quds Force officer and 15 other militants. (AP) 

A suicide bomber attacks a bus in Shangla District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing five Chinese workers and their Pakistani driver. (AP) 

Israeli warplanes launch airstrikes against Hezbollah targets near the towns of Ras Baalbek and Hermel in Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon, killing at least three Hezbollah members. (Reuters) 

Former Kyrgyzstan deputy Raimbek Matraimov is detained in Baku, Azerbaijan, and is extradited to Kyrgyzstan. (AKIPress) 

Two Chinese nationals are arrested by the Indian Police near the India–Nepal border after they were intercepted entering the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh illegally. (India Today) 

Monday,  March 25th, 2024 

An investigation by Humo magazine and the website Apache [nl] reveals that Belgian Vlaams Belang politician Filip Dewinter worked as a “senior political advisor” for China for several years. (NOS) 

Seven Chadian soldiers conducting a patrol near Lake Chad are killed in an IED bombing. Chadian president Mahamat Déby accuses jihadist group Boko Haram of being behind the attack. (AP) 

Seventeen people are killed and another is injured when a passenger van collides with a dump truck and catches fire in Antipas, Cotabato, Philippines. (AFP via Barron’s) 

Puerto Rico declares an epidemic of dengue fever following an increase in cases. (AP) 

The End

Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 

The Russian Army states that it has seized the town of Ivanivske, in Donetsk Oblast. (Barron’s) 

Russian authorities report that 11 suspects, including the four assailants from yesterday’s terrorist attack, have been arrested. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. The death toll has risen to at least 133 people. (Reuters) 

Primary elections are held for the Republican Party and the Democratic Party in Louisiana and the Democratic Party in Missouri. (AP) 

Friday,  March 22nd, 2024 

Crocus City Hall attack At least 62 people are killed and more than 140 others are injured in a mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow Oblast, Russia, with the building subsequently catching on fire following an explosion. The perpetrators remain at large after escaping in a vehicle. (Baza) (Meduza) (Baza 2) (Reuters) 

The Russian government states in a press conference that the invasion of Ukraine is now a “war” and is no longer a “special military operation“, the official term used for the war by the Russian government. In another press conference later in the day, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov tells reporters that although the invasion is a de facto war, the Russian government is not currently planning to change the invasion’s de jure status as a “special military operation”. (Reuters) 

The Islamic State group claims responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its official Amaq News Agency. (CNN) 

The Freedom of Russia Legion claims that the Russian government committed the attack. (Ukrainska Pravda) 

Russia launches dozens of ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities for a second consecutive day with reports of power outages in Kharkiv after critical infrastructure was damaged. At least eight missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia are reported, while a “critical infrastructure object” is damaged in Vinnytsia. More than a million people are left without power across Ukraine due to the strikes, with five people killed and dozens more reportedly injured. (BBC News) 

The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in Zaporizhzhia is hit by a missile causing extensive damage and a large fire. A trolleybus initially reported as carrying civilians was destroyed in the attack, later confirmed to have been empty apart from the driver who was killed. Shelling also damages one of the two power lines connected to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. (The Guardian) 

The Russian government claims that the Ukrainian government committed the attack. This was denied by the Ukrainian government who instead claim that the attack was a false flag attack by the Russian government designed to provoke public opinion in Russia against Ukraine and allow the Russian Army to mobilize more troops in its invasion of Ukraine. (Anadolu Agency) 

At least 23 Nigerien soldiers are killed, 17 are injured, and 34 others are missing after an ambush in Teguey [de], Tillabéri Region, Niger, by unknown jihadists. The Nigerien junta states that 30 jihadists were also killed. (Sahara Reporters) 

The Philippines announces that Abu Sayyaf has been “fully dismantled”, bringing an end to the decades-long jihadist insurgency. Twenty members of the group remain in Sulu and Basilan provinces, and negotiations are ongoing for their surrender. (Atlas News) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) 

Fourteen people are rescued from kidnappers by Nigerian forces and local vigilante groups in Katsina State, Nigeria. (Channels TV) 

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes Bawean, East Java, Indonesia, causing severe damage. (Detik) 

The German Bundesrat approves a partial legalization of cannabis in Germany, which is expected to come into effect on April 1. (DW) 

Prominent Haitian gang leader Ti Greg, who escaped from prison earlier this month, is shot dead by police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Sky News) 

Catherine, Princess of Wales announces that she was diagnosed with cancer following recent abdominal surgery and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. (BBC News) 

The End