Monday,  March 17th, 2025 

German automaker Audi announces it will cut 7,500 jobs in the country due to slowing electric vehicle demand. (DW) 

Environmental investigators determine that the February 2025 failure of a tailings dam owned by a Chinese copper mining company dumped 50 million liters of highly toxic waste into the Kafue River basin, killing ecosystems up to 100 km (62 mi) downstream and impacting the water supply, fishing activities, and irrigation of 60% of Zambia‘s population. (The Independent) 

Two massacres of Alawite Syrians kill fifty-seven people. The number of civilians reportedly killed in coastal Syria primarily by sectarian executions from Syrian government-associated forces since March 6 increases to 1,557. (SOHR) 

According to Syria’s state media, clashes occur at the Lebanon–Syria border, after the Syrian transitional government accused Hezbollah militants of kidnapping three soldiers into Lebanon and subsequently killing them. (AP) 

The M23 rebels announce they will withdraw from peace talks that was due to occur with the Congolese government tomorrow due to sanctions imposed on the group by the European Union earlier today. (DW) 

A drone strike in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, injures one person and causes a fire at an energy facility, according to Astrakhan Oblast governor Igor Babushkin. (Reuters) 

A drone strike in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia injures one person and causes a fire at an unspecified energy facility, according to Igor Babushkin. (Reuters) 

The U.S. launches airstrikes on targets in Al Hudaydah and the Al Jawf Governorate. Tens of thousands of people attend a rally against the U.S. attacks on Yemen in the capital city Sanaa.  (France24) 

Twelve people, including popular Honduran musician Aurelio Martinez, are killed and five others are rescued when an Aerolínea Lanhsa Jetstream 41 crashes into the Caribbean Sea shortly after takeoff from Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport in Roatán, Bay Islands Department, Honduras. (CBS News) 

Three people are killed when a Extra EA-400 plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Samedan Airport near La Punt Chamues-ch, Grisons, Switzerland. (The Times Of India) 

Seven migrant bodies are recovered after a boat capsizes off the coast of Cyprus. (Reuters) 

A tourist dies on the stairs of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, causing a temporary closure of the monument. (O Globo) 

Rwanda expels the Belgian ambassador, after Belgium accused Rwanda of supporting M23 rebels in their campaign in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Belgium expels the Rwandan ambassador in return. The two countries sever diplomatic relations with one another, with Rwanda accusing Belgium of sustaining neocolonialism.  (BBC News) 

Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas vows for the European Union to lift sanctions against Syria to restore diplomatic ties between them, acknowledging the present massacres of Alawite civilians as showing Syria’s need for stability. Germany pledges €300 million in aid towards stabilizing Syria and its humanitarian situation. (Politico) 

The European Union pledges €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) to Syria for aid, while the United Kingdom pledges an additional £160 million (€190.3 million). (DW) 

A court in Georgia sentences former president Mikheil Saakashvili to four and a half years in prison for illegally entering the country in 2021. (BBC News) 

Lithuanian prosecutors accuse Russia’s military intelligence of orchestrating an arson attack on an IKEA store in Vilnius in May of last year. (Reuters) 

Police shoot and kill a man after he threw objects at police cars and attacked officers with a knife in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. (DW) 

Sunday, March 16th, 2025 

The Trump administration deports more than 200 alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to El Salvador, citing the Alien Enemies Act. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele says they will be transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center for at least a year. The previous day, a judge had ordered the Trump administration to stop deportations using this law. (NPR) (BBC) 

U.S. President Donald Trump says Tren de Aragua is “conducting irregular warfare” against the US and orders its members to be deported under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Following a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocks this order. (BBC) 

The death toll from the tornadoes across several states in the U.S. increases to 40. (ABC News) 

The Wilhelmina Tower in Valkenburg, Netherlands, built in 1906 and designated a Rijksmonument, collapses. (NOS) 

The Houthi health ministry announces that the death toll from yesterday’s strikes by the U.S. in Yemen rose to 53, with 98 injured. (BBC) 

The Houthis claim that they targeted USS Harry S. Truman with 18 rockets and drones. No damage has been reported. (Al Jazeera Arabic) 

Eleven people are killed and 21 more are injured in a suicide bombing targeting a Frontier Corps convoy on a highway in Nushki, Balochistan, Pakistan. The Balochistan Liberation Army claims responsibility, claiming they killed 90 security personnel. (India Today)  

At least 59 people are killed and more than 152 others are injured after a fire breaks out in a nightclub during a concert in Kočani, North Macedonia. (Al Jazeera) 

At least 16 people are killed and 18 others are injured when an unexploded ordnance from the Syrian civil war explodes and causes a building to collapse in Latakia, Latakia Governorate, Syria. (DW) 

United States President Donald Trump signs an executive order shutting down multiple state-funded broadcasters, including Voice of America, Radio y Televisión Martí and Alhurra, and ceasing grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. (Reuters) 

Saturday, March 15th, 2025 

The death toll from the tornado outbreak in the United States rises to 34 people. (ABC News) 

At least 27 people are killed and 30 others are injured in an airstrike by the Tatmadaw in Let Pan Hla near Mandalay, Myanmar. (CTV News) 

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces visa restrictions against former and current Thai officials who were involved in deporting of at least 40 Uyghur men who were seeking asylum back to China, despite concerns that they could face persecution. (Nikkei Asia) 

U.S. President Donald Trump orders a series of airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, killing at least 31 people and wounding 101 more. U.S. Central Command announces that the strikes are the beginning of a large-scale operation in Yemen. (The Guardian) 

Israeli airstrikes kill at least nine Palestinians, including several journalists, and injures several others in Beit Lahia, North Gaza Governorate, Gaza. (UPI) 

UNICEF reports that 1 in 3 children in North Gaza are malnourished due to the Israeli blockade stopping all humanitarian aid, describing the situation as “catastrophic”. (Al Jazeera) 

A police officer is killed and six others are injured when an improvised explosive device strikes an Anti-Terrorism Force vehicle on patrol in Kirani, Balochistan, Pakistan. (Asian News International) 

The bodies of eleven people, including women and children, are discovered at the bottom of a well in Khartoum, Sudan. The Sudanese government accuses the Rapid Support Forces of being behind the deaths. (AP) 

Seven people are killed, sixteen others are injured, and at least thirty people are missing after an elevated section under construction of the Dao Khanong Expressway Bridge [th] collapses onto a section of the Chaloem Maha Nakhon Expressway in Bangkok, Thailand. (The Star) 

Hundreds of people attend a protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposals of acquiring Greenland for the United States. (DW) 

A large crowd of people gathers on the streets of Belgrade, Serbia to protest against President Aleksandar Vučić and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. The Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated the number of protestors at 107,000, although the independent media give a much higher number. The protest is said to be the largest at least since the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in 2000. (DW) 

Indonesian lawmakers meet at a Central Jakarta luxury hotel instead of the legislature amidst budget cuts, allegedly to secretly discuss on military law revisions that would bring back dwifungsi, a doctrine allowing military personnel to hold civilian positions. Civil activists try to stop the meeting but are hindered by hotel security. (Kompas)

Friday,  March 14th, 2025 

A total lunar eclipse occurs in the morning hours, visible throughout the Western Hemisphere at night. It is the first total lunar eclipse to occur since November 2022. (Space.com) 

U.S. President Donald Trump publicly asks Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of “thousands of Ukrainian soldiers” said to be surrounded in Kursk Oblast. (ABC News) 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declares South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool persona non grata for his criticism of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. (Al Jazeera) 

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration permanently restricts helicopter activity over the Helicopter Route near the site of the Potomac River mid-air collision. (AP) 

Huawei lobbyists are banned from entering the European Parliament and its subsidiaries during an investigation on corruption in the European Parliament. (Euronews) 

Three people are indirectly killed by storms as a regional risk for an outbreak of severe weather is outlined by the Storm Prediction Center over much of the United States. A rare high risk convective outlook is issued for tomorrow over the Deep South. (Storm Prediction Center) 

Severe winds and dry conditions in the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas cause a series of wildfires, forcing evacuations and leaving thousands without power. (The New York Times) 

Hamas says that it has agreed to resume ceasefire talks and release American Israeli hostage Edan Alexander following a proposal from U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. (The Hill) 

Iraq announces that the deputy head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, was killed in the Al Anbar Governorate during a joint operation between Iraqi security forces and the United States. (Reuters)

Four people, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam district chief Maulana Abdullah Nadeem, are injured in a bombing at the Maulana Abdul Aziz Mosque mosque in South Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Indian Express) 

A failure at a central power plant cuts electricity in Cuba, leaving over ten million people without power. (CNN) 

At least two people are killed and one other is injured in a landslide at a salt mine in Karak District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Aaj News) 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announces that the European Union will invest €4.7 billion (US$5 billion) in aid and development projects in South Africa after the United States ended most of its USAID programs. (Reuters) 

Mark Carney is sworn in as the 24th Prime Minister of Canada. (CBC News) 

At least two people are killed and one other is injured in a landslide at a salt mine in Karak District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Aaj News) 

The End