March 2010

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March 2010 was the third month of that common year. It began on a Monday and ended after 31 days on a Wednesday.

International holidays

(See Holidays and observances, on sidebar at right, below)

Portal:Current events

This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from March 2010.

March 1, 2010 (Monday)

Sony blames recent malfunctions of older PS3 "fat" models on an internal clock glitch. (BBC)
An aeroplane carrying aid materials for the 2010 Chile earthquake crashes killing at least six people. (ABC)
In response to the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Dubai's police chief states that travelers suspected of being Israeli will not be allowed into the United Arab Emirates even if they arrive with passports issued by other countries. (AP), (The Jerusalem Post)
Xynthia:
- President of France Nicolas Sarkozy gives €3 million to areas devastated by France's worst storm for over a decade, calling the storm a "national disaster". (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (RTÉ)
- Current death tolls: France (50), Germany (5), Spain (3), Portugal (1), Belgium (1) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Floodwaters in Les Cayes and surrounding areas responsible for the deaths of 8 Haitians recede. (Al Jazeera)
Georgia and Russia re-open their only usable land border crossing, located on the Caucasus Mountains, for traffic and trade for the first time in four years. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV) (Toronto Sun) (Xinhua)
Spain requests an explanation from Venezuela concerning allegations that it helped terrorist groups Euskadi Ta Askatasuna and FARC plot to kill Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and other Colombian personalities in Spanish soil. (BBC) (Houston Chronicle) (Sky News)
Goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilalé, shot in the Togo national football team attack prior to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, is to return to France after emergency surgery in Johannesburg. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (Reuters South Africa)
63-year-old former President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ejup Ganić is detained at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the UK to escape charges of war crimes. (BBC) (RTÉ) (Radio Srbija) (Al Jazeera) (The New York Times)
The Palestinian cabinet moves its weekly meeting from Ramallah to Hebron in a symbolic protest at the decision by Israel to add Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem to its list of national heritage sites. (Voice of America)
The trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić resumes in The Hague. (CNN) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New Zealand Herald) (RTÉ)
17 Nigerian police officers are arrested in connection with the deaths of Boko Haram members in 2009. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
Convicted member of ETA Iñaki de Juana Chaos is to be extradited from Northern Ireland to Spain where he is scheduled to face further charges. (RTÉ) (BBC)
Toyota president Akio Toyoda apologies to his Chinese customers in Earth's largest auto mart. (BBC) (Financial Times)
Two of three Sikhs kidnapped in Khyber Agency on the Afghan border in January are recovered by Pakistan's security forces. The decapitated corpse of the other was found last week. (Reuters India)
Robert Mugabe's indiginisation law begins, with 51 per cent of each company being given to black Zimbabweans. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Voice of America)
A petition featuring 450,000 international names in opposition of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill is given to the speaker of parliament, Edward Ssekandi, by an Anglican priest and an HIV/AIDS activist. (BBC) (Voice of America)
Over 5,000 people, including a pregnant woman and TV weatherman Grant Denyer, strip naked and are photographed at the Sydney Opera House during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, double the number which had been expected. (BBC) (news.com.au) (CBC) (Reuters)

March 2, 2010 (Tuesday)

Assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh:
- Police in Dubai order an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Mossad in connection with the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Carrickmacross town council in Ireland votes to remove a guestbook page which had been signed by Israeli ambassador to Ireland Zion Evrony in protest at the alleged use of Irish passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. (Al Jazeera) (France24) (Press TV)
Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, accused of helping plan the 1994 genocide, is arrested in France. (BBC) (France 24)
More than a dozen Chinese newspapers publish a rare joint editorial calling for the end of the hukou system of household registration. (AP) (China Daily) (BBC)
The government of the People's Republic of China announces a 10-year program under which clean energy will account for 15 percent of the total consumption mix by 2020. (China Daily)
In the United Kingdom, BBC Director General Mark Thompson confirms plans to close BBC 6 Music and the BBC Asian Network as part of a cost-cutting drive. The proposals will also see BBC Radio 7 rebranded as BBC Radio 4 Extra and cutbacks to the BBC website. (Guardian) (Telegraph) (The Times) (BBC)
A landslide in the Bududa District of Uganda results in at least 100 deaths. (BBC News) (New Vision)
Murder of James Bulger: Jon Venables, one of Britain's most notorious child murderers, is returned to prison after breaching the conditions of his release. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New Zealand Herald) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (CNN)
Irish Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen is hospitalised after the escalation of a recent chronic back complaint, disrupting some of his work, including a visit to the United States. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Irish Examiner) (Newstalk)

March 3, 2010 (Wednesday)

Gay people may now receive communion across the diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch after nationwide protests following an incident last Sunday. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
An Israeli raid on the West Bank is aborted after a soldier posts the following secret details on Facebook: "On Wednesday we are cleaning Qatanna, and on Thursday, God willing, going home". (RTÉ) (RIA Novosti) (USA Today) (Ha'aretz) (Reuters)
Aftermath of the 2010 Chile earthquake:
- The Chilean Navy admits failure to prevent deaths in the tsunami triggered by the recent earthquake. (Al Jazeera)
- Residents in Concepción are critical of the government's response, with one saying: "I did not support General Augusto Pinochet, but right now we could use a Pinochet". (The Independent)
- President Michelle Bachelet says Chile is not short of food and fuel as the official death toll now stands at 799. (BBC)
Leonid Tyagachyov, head of Russia's Olympic Committee, resigns after the nation's worst performance in the history of the Winter Olympic Games at the 2010 event in Vancouver. (BBC) (The Washington Post) (Bangkok Post) (The New York Times)
A fake Swedish pilot is detained in an Amsterdam cockpit in the process of taking off for Turkey in a jet with 101 passengers. (BBC) (The News International) (Reuters) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Age)
One German and one Italian man are killed and at least 6 are injured near Marseille in a collision between a 26-foot wave and the Greek-Cypriot cruise ship Louise Majesty which was travelling with 2,000 passengers from Barcelona to Genoa. (Al Jazeera) (USA Today) (Herald Sun) (Irish Independent)
President of Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua does not attend a cabinet meeting in Abuja after his arrival home from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan chairs instead. (Al Jazeera)
Spain says Venezuela has said it will assist an investigation into allegations of support for ETA. (BBC)
5 police officials in Chiniot, Punjab, are detained after footage of them whipping people in their custody are broadcast across national television channels. (BBC) (The News International)
7 suspected weapons traffickers to Iran (2 Iranians, 5 Italians) are detained in Italy with the help of Swiss police. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The Times) (The Daily Telegraph) (France24)
Multiple suicide bombings, including one at a hospital, kill at least 33 and wound more than 50 people in Baqouba, Iraq. (CNN) (The Hindu) (Al Jazeera)
Three are killed in Indian Navy air show crash in Hyderabad, India. (The Hindu) (BBC) (CNN)
In the elections in the Netherlands, voters choose new municipal councils for 394 municipalities. (Nederland Kiest) (NOS)
A BBC investigation claims millions of dollars in Western aid donated to the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia was stolen by rebels who used it to purchase weapons. (BBC)
The Hurt Locker:
- Nicolas Chartier, producer of The Hurt Locker, is banned from the 82nd Academy Awards after an e-mail is found to be a violation of rules. (BBC) (The Guardian) (CNN)
- An American army bomb disposal expert sues for multi-millions the makers of The Hurt Locker. (ABC News)
14 killed, 39 wounded in a gunbattle in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital city. (Stuff) (Hurriyet)

March 4, 2010 (Thursday)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says he does not mind the nomination of the former Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei in the next presidential election as long as it is under the framework of existing constitution. (Gulf NEWS)
Forty-one scientists publish a paper in Science affirming that the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the large-scale mass extinction of dinosaurs and other lifeforms on Earth ~65.5 million years ago, was caused by an asteroid impact. (Science), (Science)
A Mexico City law allowing same-sex marriages takes effect. (CNN)
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives accepts a resolution describing the Armenian Genocide as "genocide", prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador and threatening Turkey–United States relations. (BBC)
Thousands of passengers are stuck in ice in the Baltic Sea. (BBC) (The Age) (CNN)
Dozens of tourists are airlifted to safety following flash floods at the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. (BBC)
2010 Uganda landslide:
- Uganda buries its dead from Monday night's mudslide which destroyed three villages near Bududa. (BBC)
- More than 50 schoolchildren are missing after elders instructed them to seek shelter in a hospital hit by mud. (The Scotsman)
Four German Islamists are imprisoned after being convicted of planning "a second 11 September 2001". (BBC)
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits Taiwan, injuring 12 and disrupting communications and rail services. (AP) (China Daily) (Taiwan News) (Focus Taiwan)
At least 63 people die after a stampede at a Hindu temple in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. (YahooNews) (Xinhua) (Hurriyet)
At least 14 people are killed in Baghdad on the first day of voting in Iraq's parliamentary elections. (BBC)
A Cairo court orders the retrial of Hisham Talaat Moustafa and Muhsin Sukkari who were sentenced to death for killing Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai in 2008. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian) (The Los Angeles Times) (Houston Chronicle)
The Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders becomes the largest political party in Almere and the second largest in The Hague. (BBC)
The brother of Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams, detained under a European arrest warrant, is released on bail after surrendering to the Garda Síochána in Ireland. (BBC) (RTÉ)
The family of kidnapped boy Sahil Saeed ask that he be returned home safely. (BBC) (Bangkok Post) (Sky News)
Footballer Thierry Henry is booed by his own fans each time he touches the ball in his first game for France since his handball controversy against Ireland last November, with his own manager expressing doubt about his recent performances for the first time. (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (CNN) (The Daily Telegraph)
Burt Reynolds undergoes quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery. (BBC) (Ireland Online) (CNN) (CBC)

March 5, 2010 (Friday)

Baidu shares have risen 34% since rival Google said on Jan 12 it may shut down its business in China. Baidu has risen 34 percent and Google has lost 8.5 percent. (China Daily)
Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, writing in the International Herald Tribune, says Israel's blockade of Gaza is "inhumane and unacceptable" and calls on the European Union and other countries to request that it be ended following his visit there last week. (Ha'aretz) (RTÉ)
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurs in the ocean off Sumatra with the possibility of a tsunami. (CNN)
HIH Princess Toshi of Japan is excused from school due to excessive bullying from classmates. (BBC) (Japan Today) (Miami Herald) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times)
Joe Glenton, a British soldier who went AWOL in 2007 and became a figurehead of the anti-war movement, is demoted and sent to jail in Colchester. (BBC) (CNN) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown gives evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times)
Fiji imprisons eight men for an assassination attempt on Commodore Frank Bainimarama in 2007. (BBC) (The Washington Post) (Bangkok Post) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
15 Israeli police are "lightly hurt" and several dozen Palestinians are injured and three are arrested after Friday prayers on the Temple Mount and a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites.(Ha'aretz)
At least 16 people are wounded in two grenade attacks in Kigali, one near the city's genocide memorial. A third explosion elsewhere kills at least one person. (BBC) (Reuters)
Pakistan army kills 30 Taliban militants near Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province. (Global Security)
A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of Shi'ite Muslims in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 12 people. (Global Security)

March 6, 2010 (Saturday)

Micheál Martin briefs his fellow EU Foreign Ministers on his visit to Gaza at a meeting in Córdoba, Spain. (RTÉ)
Washington, D.C. is to become the first American city to hand out free female condoms in the battle against HIV/AIDS. (The Washington Post) (BBC) (Boston Globe)
There are riots in Brussels. (Sky News)
Nigeria's and Al-Merreikh's Endurance Idahor dies during a football match in Sudan with the referee ending the match as a result. (BBC) (The Times of India) (The New York Times)
Ingushetian President Yunus-bek Yevkurov confirms the death of Alexander Tikhomirov/Said Buryatsky. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Star)
Taliban commander Faqir Mohammed is reportedly killed in a drone strike in Pakistan. (BBC)
Iraqi parliamentary election, 2010:
- Iraqis living in Iran vote. (Al Jazeera)
- A car bomb which explodes in Najaf results in the deaths of at least three people one day before elections. (Al Jazeera)
The Chilean Navy removes Commander Mariano Rojas, head of the oceanography service, from his post following his failure to warn of the tsunami which followed the 2010 Chile earthquake. (The Daily Telegraph) (The New Zealand Herald) (RTÉ) (The Times)
Hosni Mubarak:
- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak temporarily hands over power, due to surgery on his gallbladder. (AFP) (Washington Post)
- Gallbladder surgery on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is said to have been successful at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany. (Al Jazeera)
At least 11 Philippine soldiers are killed in an ambush by communist rebels in Mansalay, Mindoro. (Philippine Inquirer) (Al Jazeera)
Iceland holds a referendum about compensating the United Kingdom and the Netherlands after the collapse of the Icesave bank, with a 95% "no" vote recorded. (BBC)(CNN) (IceNews)
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates reviews allegations of misconduct in Afghanistan by the private military company formerly known as Blackwater, Xe Services LLC. (BBC)

March 7, 2010 (Sunday)

Hundreds of Christian villagers are hacked to death with machetes by Muslim herders in Dogo-Nahawa, Nigeria. (Reuters) (BBC) (The Washington Post)
Tens of thousands demonstrate against an abortion bill in several Spanish cities. (BBC) (The Mercury)
Melbourne, Australia experiences flooding after a once-in-a-century thunderstorm of marble-sized hailstones which tears the roof from a railway station and leads to the postponement of sports fixtures. A state of emergency is declared in Queensland.(Sky News) (The Times)
Voters in Iraq take part in parliamentary elections and a referendum on the Status of Forces Agreement. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Voters in Switzerland take part in a referendum on whether to provide lawyers for non-human animals and other issues. (Swissinfo) (Deutsche Welle)
Five Pakistani police officials are suspended due to their negligence in the kidnapping of British Pakistani boy Sahil Saeed. (Sky News)
Three people are killed falling from high-rise flats in Glasgow. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Sky News) (The Times)

March 8, 2010 (Monday)

The corpse of former President of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos, which had been stolen in December 2009, is found at a cemetery in Nicosia. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (Miami Herald)
Irish Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen resigns from politics after seeking medical advice. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
New York politician Eric Massa resigns after admitting to sexual harassment. (The Times)
A strong earthquake in Turkey kills dozens. (BBC)
Female poet Simin Behbahani says the government of Iran has issued her with a "travel ban" after confiscating her passport at Tehran International Airport as she was about to travel to France. (BBC)
Interpol issues "red notices" for 16 more individuals in connection with the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, bringing to 27 the number of people wanted for the assassination. (Ha'aretz) (Ynetnews) (RTÉ) (Reuters India)
The French Navy, supported by European Union aircraft and vessels, seizes 35 suspected pirates in 4 mother ships and 6 little boats off the coast of Somalia in the EU's most successful mission. (BBC)
German Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger says the Vatican has built a "wall of silence" in response to the country's child sexual abuse controversy of recent months. (BBC)
Nine people go on trial charged with terrorism and links to al-Qaeda in Belgium. (The New York Times) (euronews) (Al Jazeera) (France24)
Middle East:
- Israel announces the construction of 112 new Jewish homes for the occupied West Bank territory despite the freeze on new settlements initiated in November 2009. (RTÉ)
- Quartet on the Middle East representative Tony Blair meets leader of the Arab League Amr Moussa and concludes there is "no hope" for Palestinians without an independent state. (Arabnews)
A Pakistani Taliban car bomb attack on a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) building in Lahore kills at least 11, wounds 60. (BBC)
12 people — 10 civilian passengers and 2 policemen — die in two separate roadside bombs in Badghis Province, Afghanistan. (BBC) (Reuters)
Parliament approves President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's budget for 2010/11. (Reuters)
Togolese police fire tear gas at street protesters who dispute Faure Gnassingbé's presidential election triumph. (BBC)
French police shoot tear gas at protesters at oil company Total S.A.'s headquarters in Paris. (Al Jazeera)
Members of Parliament from Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan refuse a body scan in the USA, and return home. (Dawn)
President of East Timor José Ramos-Horta begins his two-day first official state visit to Ireland by meeting Taoiseach Brian Cowen, urging the country to continue providing economic support as a priority nation and receiving an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Philippines News)
Chilean looters return £1.3 million ($2million) of stolen goods, according to the government. (The Daily Telegraph)
New research based on a previous study indicates climate may be responsible for Scotland having more and Africa having fewer people with red hair. (The Daily Telegraph)
Tibet Governor Padma Choling announces to the National People's Congress that China will decide Tenzin Gyatso's reincarnation as Dalai Lama. (The Daily Telegraph)
Plans by the Scottish Maritime Museum (SMM) to scrap City of Adelaide/HMS Carrick, one of the world's oldest clippers built in Sunderland in 1864, are postponed in the hope that enough money can be raised to send her to Australia. (BBC)

March 9, 2010 (Tuesday)

The United States Department of State issues an apology for Department spokesman P.J. Crowley's personal comments, which described Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi's comments on the minaret controversy in Switzerland as "lots of words, not necessarily a lot of sense". (BBC)
Roman Catholic child sexual abuse investigation: The Dutch Catholic Church apologises and the country's religious leaders request an independent inquiry. A monastery head in Salzburg admits abuse of a boy more than four decades ago. The brother of Pope Benedict XVI admits physically disciplining students at a school in Germany before corporal punishment was banned in 1980. (BBC)
Prince Ernst August of Hanover, husband of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, is fined €200,000 by a court in Hildesheim for assaulting a hotelier on Lamu Island in 2000. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (IOL) (ABC News)
The first witnesses appear before the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (RNZI) (Solomon Times)
A Uyghur man is sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for spying on a Uyghur community in Sweden and passing information to China. (Malaysia Star) (Press Trust of India) (BBC)
Seven people are arrested in Ireland — five in Waterford and two in Cork — over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish artist Lars Vilks. (RTÉ) (BBC) (CNN)
186 members of the 245-seat Rajya Sabha of the Sansad in India vote in favour of a bill giving one third of available seats in the national parliament and state legislatures to women. One member votes against, several parties boycott the vote and seven MPs are suspended after expressing their disagreement. (BBC) (Times of India) (CNN)
The Northern Ireland Assembly votes — 88 votes in favour to 17 Ulster Unionist Party against — in favour of the devolution of justice. (BBC) (RTÉ)
Israel grants permission to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton to visit Gaza after denying permission to other international politicians. (RTÉ)
Israel approves the construction of 1,600 new houses, a central park and other facilities near the Orthodox Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz) (BBC) (The Irish Times)
The Christian Association of Nigeria says the Nigerian Army ignored warnings before the recent massacre of civilians near Jos. (BBC) (Afrik.com)
Following several decades of "official denial", Japan confirms it permitted nuclear-armed United States vessels to pass through its ports using its Cold War "secret treaties". (BBC) (The New York Times) (The Washington Post) (People's Daily Online) (Japan Today)
A national strike by taxi drivers causes disruption across Ireland, stopping work at the country's three main airports, closing Dublin's O'Connell Street completely and blocking other streets as the High Court orders protesters to leave their sit-in at Commission for Taxi Regulation headquarters. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Ireland Online)
The first use of a biocontrol agent against a weed in the European Union is approved — the Japanese insect Aphalara itadori will be released at trial sites in England to combat invasive Japanese knotweed. (BBC)
Burma's military junta announces the first law relating to the 2010 general election, concerning the election commission. (Bangkok Post) (The Times) (Al Jazeera)
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrives in Canberra for his "symbolic" three-day visit to Australia. (ABC News) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Australian) (The Age)
First President of Rwanda Dominique Mbonyumutwa's son objects to the removal of his father's corpse from the Democracy Stadium in Gitarama, saying it defies a court ruling. (BBC)
Dublin's Tallaght Hospital blames "systemic and process failures" for more than 57,000 X-rays taken between 2005 and 2009 not being reviewed by medical professionals and admits at least two patients received incorrect treatment, one of whom has since died and the other who is receiving cancer treatment. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Ireland Online)
Sir Nicholas Winton and Denis Avey are presented with the new British Hero of the Holocaust medal by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (Daily Telegraph)
Pink Floyd take legal action against EMI. (BBC) (Boston Globe) (ABC News)

March 10, 2010 (Wednesday)

Interreligious riots in Jos, Nigeria:
- Nigerian soldiers open fire on a crowd after curfew in Jos, killing two people, days after Muslim-Christian riots in the area left more than 200 dead including dozens of children (The Hindu)
- Nigeria charges with murder 49 of the 200 people it has arrested so far following the recent massacre of civilians near Jos. (BBC)
Britain, France and the EU support U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's condemnation of Israeli expansion of settlements in occupied territory. (BBC)
Burma's newly announced second law relating to the 2010 general election bars anyone with a criminal conviction from participating in a political party, effectively barring Aung San Suu Kyi. (Al Jazeera) (Straits Times) (CNN)
Three men are detained in relation to the theft of the corpse of former Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos. (BBC)
Australia and Indonesia sign an agreement to combat people smuggling. (news.com.au)
Dulmatin, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings, is confirmed dead in a police raid in Pamulang, Jakarta, by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a state visit in Australia. (ANTARA News) (CNN) (BBC)
Aid worker Alicia Gamez, captured in Mauritania in 2009 by a group affiliated with Al Qaeda and taken to Mali, is released. (BBC) (IOL) (Houston Chronicle) (CNN)
Boris Berezovsky is awarded £150,000 in England's High Court and wins his libel case in relation to the 2006 poisoning to death of Alexander Litvinenko. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (Sky News)
A man wrongly accused of being child murderer Jon Venables goes into hiding after becoming the target of a hate campaign on the internet. (The Daily Telegraph)
The birth of a live elephant at Taronga Zoo is hailed as a "miracle" that will "completely rewrite the elephant birth textbooks" after he was thought to have died inside his mother's womb. (BBC)
Forbes magazine publishes its 2010 list of billionaires, replacing Bill Gates with Carlos Slim as the world's wealthiest person. (Forbes)

March 11, 2010 (Thursday)

The Kyzyl-Agash dam in Kazakhstan bursts, killing at least 35.(AFP)
Two children are prevented by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver from enrolling in a Catholic school in Boulder, Colorado, United States because their parents are lesbians. (The Straits Times)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) intervenes when Mississippi bans same-sex relationships and cancels its prom (leavers' dinner) due to the desire of a female student to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo, while one of her teachers tells her "she had to remember where she was". (BBC) (CNN)
Israeli authorities plan thousands more homes in settlements in East Jerusalem since Palestinian leaders terminated talks earlier this week due to this issue. (The Guardian)
Israel apologises for the timing of the announcement during a visit by the Vice President of the United States, calling it a "grave error", a "mistake" and a "failure" and promising it would not happen again. (Gulfnews)
British freelance journalist Paul Martin, the first Western journalist to be arrested by Hamas, is released but deported after no evidence is found to convict him of a crime in court. (The Times) (CBC)
More than 30,000 Greek workers stage their third general strike against the government. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (RTÉ)
Hundreds of angry women dressed in black march though the streets of Abuja and Jos following the recent massacre in Nigeria. (BBC)
More than 20 civilians die during the second day of conflict between Somali government troops and opposition forces in Mogadishu. (Al Jazeera)
The Gambia arrests people, including former fisheries minister Antouman Saho, without telling them why. (BBC)
Former President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ejup Ganić is released on bail on "stringent" conditions by the British High Court. (Al Jazeera)
As Sebastián Piñera is inaugurated as the new President of Chile, a new earthquake —6.9 and 6.7 magnitude—strike 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Pichilemu. (BBC) (MercoPress)
Afghanistan: Five civilians, including four children, die in an explosion, while two construction contractors, including one from South Africa, are shot dead. (Reuters)
Turkey recalls its ambassador to Sweden and cancels the Turkey - Sweden summit planned for March 17 after the Riksdag votes in favour of calling the Armenian Genocide a genocide. (Armenian Weekly) (Deutsche Welle) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (RTÉ) (Reuters)
Sahil Saeed is "found" in Pakistan. (The Daily Telegraph)
Ivory Coast and Chelsea F.C. striker Didier Drogba is named African Footballer of the Year. (BBC)
The Duke of Edinburgh, on a trip to Exeter, Devon with Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, asks a female sea cadet if she works at a strip club before concluding that it is "probably too cold for that anyway". (The Daily Telegraph) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Pink Floyd win their court battle with EMI, paving the way for individual tracks of their music to be removed from online music services. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)

March 12, 2010 (Friday)

The 2010 Indian Premier League starts under "heavy security" in DY Patil Stadium Navi Mumbai. (BBC) (The Guardian)
Madagascar's disaster officials say at least 14 people have died and 32,000 have been affected by Tropical Storm Hubert. (Miami Herald) (AJC)
Nine suicide bombing attacks on the Pakistani military kill more than 350 people in Lahore. (ABC News)
Middle East:
- Israel fires its first missiles into Gaza this month injuring several civilians, following a rocket attack on a kibbutz in southern Israel which causes damage but no injuries.(The Jerusalem Post) (The Australian) (Ynetnews)
- Israeli courts charge two Israeli soldiers for allegedly using a 9-year-old Palestinian as a human shield (considered a war crime) in Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza in January 2009 after the United Nations intervenes. (The Jerusalem Post) (Ha'aretz) (BBC) (France24) (The New Zealand Herald)
- The United Nations tells Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, with Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes saying it is inappropriate for Israel to link this act to the imprisonment of a soldier. (The Hindu) (BBC)
- Israel seals off the West Bank until midnight on Saturday, fearing repeats of riots which injured dozens of young Palestinians due to Israel preventing Palestinians under the age of 50 and without Israeli identity cards from attending their Jumu'ah (Friday prayers) at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. (The Daily Telegraph)
- The Palestinian worshipers prevented from attending Al-Aqsa Mosque are fired on by police tear gas and bullets after they pray in the streets of the old city of East Jerusalem. (Xinhua)
- In the villages of Deir Nizam, Bel'ien and Ne'lien near Ramallah in the West Bank and Gaza Strip hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli peace activists protest against Israel's decision to build a wall and expand Jewish settlements, while several of them are injured by Israeli tear gas and bullets. (Xinhua)
Pope Benedict XVI is "distraught" by news alleged of child sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses in Germany, according to Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, as the church also faces paedophilia scandals in Ireland, Austria, and the Netherlands, while Pope Benedict defends clerical celibacy, calling it a symbol of "full devotion" and of "giving oneself to God and to others." (BBC) (AFP) (The New York Times) (RAINews24) (CNN)
Karl Rove appears on British television to promote waterboarding and speaks of his pride that "we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists", saying these techniques were "appropriate". (BBC) (The Hindu) (RTÉ) (The Guardian)
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) alleges the Egyptian interior ministry manipulated the legal system to target blogger Wael Abbas who posted videos of police corruption and abuse online and has been jailed for six months for "providing a telecommunications service to the public without permission". (BBC)
Irish authorities release three of the seven Muslims they detained over an alleged plot to murder Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Vilks says he has not been put off the idea of visiting Ireland by the threat. (BBC) (RTÉ) (Irish Independent)
Mayor Abdurisaq Mohamed Nor instructs residents to leave the war zones of Mogadishu after at least 50 of them are killed in three days of violence. (BBC)
Security is increased in Bangkok, Thailand, ahead of anti-government protesters by the "red shirts" over the coming days. (Thai News Agency) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
The United Nations Special Rapporteur to Burma Tomas Quintana calls for investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against Burmese civilians. (AFP) (DailyIndia.com)
Darfur peace talks are threatened by new violence as Sudanese army steps up military operations against a major Darfur rebel faction. (Voice of America)
Russia signs a nuclear reactor deal with India which will see it build 16 nuclear reactors in India. (BBC)
Taoiseach Brian Cowen departs for the United States ahead of his Saint Patrick's Day engagements with President Barack Obama. (RTÉ) (ABC News) (The Washington Post) (The Irish Times)
Eleven rare Siberian tigers—of which only an estimated 300 remain in the wild—die of malnutrition after living in little cages and eating chicken bones at the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo in Liaoning. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times)
American photographer Jill Sonsteby from Jacksonville, Florida captures a zebra putting its head inside the mouth of a hippopotamus and surviving at Zürich Zoologischer Garten. (BBC)
Margaret Thatcher, in a rare moment of publicity since her withdrawal from public life, puts her weight and "heavy heart" behind a campaign by Combat Stress for the mental health of ex-servicemen in Afghanistan and Iraq. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Sahil Saeed's father returns to the United Kingdom from Pakistan to work with police there on his son's case. (Sky News)
The award-winning hardcore porn director Anna Arrowsmith is selected as a Liberal Democrat candidate for Gravesham in Kent to fight the 2010 general election. (Sky News) (Mirror) (BBC) (The Times) (The Guardian) (Mail Online) (Belfast Telegraph) (Argus) (New Kerala)

March 13, 2010 (Saturday)

The shortest living person, He Pingping, dies in Rome due to unknown complications at the age of 21. (BBC)
Catholic sex abuse cases:
- Archbishop of Armagh and Primacy of Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady admits for the first time that he represented the Church when two teenagers abused by Father Brendan Smyth were forced to sign an oath of silence. (RTÉ)
- Pope Benedict XVI's former archdiocese of Munich-Freising (1977–1982) reveals he transferred a suspected paedophile priest to a job that allowed him to continue abusing children. (The New Zealand Herald) (Wall Street Journal)
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu launches an inquiry into how plans for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem were announced.(Al Jazeera)
Eli Ohren turned 17
The Georgian television station Imedi sparks panic throughout Georgia by broadcasting a fake news item about a supposed invasion of Russian troops and the murder of President Mikheil Saakashvili. (RIA Novosti)
New Zealander Peter Bethune, a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who captained the Ady Gil when it crashed with the MV Shonan Maru 2 and sank, encounters coastguards, police and protesters as he arrives on the Japanese mainland. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Fighting in Somalia's capital Mogadishu has killed 60 people since March 10. (Reuters)
Afghanistan:
- A remotely operated bomb killed 6 people traveling in southern Afghanistan in Tirin Kot, the capital of Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. (CNN) (CBS) (AP)
- At least 30 people have been killed in a series of suspected suicide bombings in the Afghan city of Kandahar, officials say. (BBC)
At least 6 people, including three security personnel, die and more than 16 others are wounded after a suicide bomber tries to enter a government building, is stopped by police and detonates himself in Swat, Pakistan. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Reuters)
Association Mutual Aid and Solidarity AF447 seeks equal compensation for Air France Flight 447's French famiiles after Brazilian judge Mauro Nicolau Junior awards NZ$1.6 million for dead state prosecutor Marcelle Valpacos Fonseca; French insurer Axa will appeal. (The New Zealand Herald) (Reuters)
Peruvian President Alan García orders funding for a tsunami-warning system. (The New Zealand Herald)
Taoiseach Brian Cowen begins his state visit to the United States in Chicago, announcing to the world his scheme that will allow senior citizen tourists aged 66 and above to travel free on Iarnród Éireann in the Republic of Ireland. (RTÉ) (Chicago Sun-Times) (The Times of India)
Sport:
- Michael Schumacher makes his return to Formula One at the age of 41. (The Times) (The Daily Telegraph) (CNN) (The Hindu) (Miami Herald)
- Australia beat Germany 2-1 to win the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup for field hockey in New Delhi. (Indian Express)
450,000 are left without power in the Northeastern United States as high winds topple power lines and trees. A crane collapses at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, injuring one. (New York Times) (Press of Atlantic City)
U.S. President Barack Obama proposes sweeping changes to education law which would rework the No Child Left Behind program. (New York Times)

March 14, 2010 (Sunday)

A massive power outage occurs in parts of Chile, including Santiago, with ONEMI working to restore service. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Santiago Times)
David Beckham tears his Achilles tendon in a match for A.C. Milan. He is ruled out for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. (The Times) (The New York Times) (Houston Chronicle) (CNN)
National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship protesters in red march through Bangkok, Thailand, demonstrating against the government. (The Times) (Sky News) (The Washington Post) (CBC) (Xinhua)
Archbishop of Armagh and Primacy of Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady refuses calls by sex abuse victims such as Colm O'Gorman to resign and defends representing the Church when two teenagers abused by Father Brendan Smyth were forced to sign an oath of silence. (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (BBC) (The Sunday Times)
Israeli military forces seize a senior Hamas official after raiding Ramallah. (Reuters) (Hindustan Times) (ABC News)
Two French Triangle workers who were kidnapped in Birao, Central African Republic last November are released in Darfur. (BBC)
Two people are killed and 30 injured when an avalanche hits a snowmobile competition in British Columbia, Western Canada. (Vancouver Sun) (Globe and Mail) (CBC)
Drug-related violence kills 24 people in Mexico in 24 hours, 13 of them in the city of Acapulco. (Times) (BBC) (CNEWS) (MSNBC) (Jakarta Post) (Reuters)
Spaniard Fernando Alonso wins the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Formula One race; Brazilian Felipe Massa comes in second. (The New York Times')
Colombian legislative election, 2010: Over 2500 candidates can be chosen for 102 Senate seats and 166 Chamber of Representatives seats, as well as 5 Colombian representatives to the Andean Parliament (organ of the Andean Community of Nations) and a people's initiative in the Caribbean Region. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Primaries elections for the presidential candidate (for the upcoming presidential election) from Green Party (3 candidates) and Conservative Party (5 candidates) also take place. (Direct Democracy)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lands in Israel at the start of his Middle East tour of Palestine and Jordan before his visit to Iran. (BBC)
Earthquakes:
- A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits central Japan with no reports of damage or casualties. (MSNBC.com)
- A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits the eastern islands of Indonesia; no immediate reports of casualties. (AP) (Reuters)

March 15, 2010 (Monday)

Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, did not claim that relations between the two countries face their worst crisis in 38 years. (BBC News)
- After hundreds of photographs and movies are declassified by the Israel Defense Forces, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center publishes a report showing Hamas using children as human shields as well as operating out of mosques and hospitals in the recent Gaza War.(The Jerusalem Post)
David Beckham flies to Finland to have surgery for a torn Achilles tendon, after the injury thwarts his attempt to become the first English footballer to play at four editions of the FIFA World Cup. (The Scotsman)
United States Senator Christopher Dodd submits a draft of a bill that would reform financial regulation, mostly in accord with the proposals of President Barack Obama's administration. (Reuters)

March 16, 2010 (Tuesday)

Ancient tombs of Uganda's Bugandan kings, a World Heritage Site, are burnt down by unknown causes. (New Vision) (Xinhua)
Nauru President Marcus Stephen dissolves Parliament, paving the way for an early general election, originally scheduled for 2011. (Radio New Zealand International)
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady is accused of using the "Nuremberg defence" and is told to resign by politicians, including Martin McGuinness, over his representation of the Church when two teenagers abused by Father Brendan Smyth were forced to sign an oath of silence. (Ireland Online) (CNN) (The Times)
A man who used to teach at a Roman Catholic religious order's schools in Spain is arrested in Chile on suspicion of sexually abusing children. (CNN)
The military trial of Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka, charged with participating in politics while in uniform, is adjourned at the end of day one. (BBC) (The Guardian) (CBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times)
Thai redshirts spill blood at the gates of the government in their third day of protests. (BBC) (The Times) (The Guardian)
France sends military aid to Wallis and Futuna, which suffered extensive damage from Cyclone Tomas. (Ocean Flash)
French national railway SNCF, as part of a rapid response training, causes a media scare by mistakenly placing a statement on its website stating that more than 100 people died in a train explosion in Mâcon, Burgundy. (BBC) (San Francisco Chronicle) (The Times) (The Daily Telegraph)
NASA researchers in Antarctica discover cold-water Lysianassidae, shrimp-like amphipods, living in the water beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. (The Christian Science Monitor)
Michael Jackson's estate signs history's largest recording deal with Sony Music. (BBC) (Sky News) (The Guardian) (The Times)
Sahil Saeed is located alive and well in a field in Pakistan after being deposited at a school. (BBC) (Sky News) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times)
The Pakistan Olympic Association postpones its national games in Peshawar due to security concerns. (BBC) (Reuters)
A French gendarme is killed by ETA terrorist members near Paris, in the first murder of a French police officer by ETA. (BBC)

March 17, 2010 (Wednesday)

Protests in Thailand by the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship continue, with supporters throwing their own blood outside the house of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. (Thai News Agency) (Al Jazeera)
A French police officer dies in a shootout with Basque nationalist group ETA in Paris, the first French officer to do so. (CNN)
30 members of the "Ladies in White" opposition movement in Cuba are arrested at a demonstration in the capital Havana. (AFP) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Seven Chinese fisherman kidnapped off Cameroon's disputed Bakassi peninsula are released. (CCTV) (BBC)
Nigeria's acting president Goodluck Jonathan dissolves the country's cabinet. (The Punch) (BBC) (Xinhua)
Saint Patrick's Day
- President of the United States Barack Obama meets Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the White House in Washington, D.C., United States. (BBC) (RTÉ) (Irish Independent) (The Daily Telegraph)
- Vice President of the United States Joe Biden makes an error when he suggests that Cowen's mother is dead. (The Daily Telegraph) (Evening Herald) (Fox News) (The Times)
- More than half a million people fill the streets of Dublin for the parade there. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (RTÉ)
President of the United States Barack Obama announces that the United States will pursue aggressive sanctions to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon that could potentially spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (Reuters)
An investigation is launched into how a Wal-Mart shop in New Jersey, United States announced "Attention Wal-Mart customers: All black people leave the store now". (The Daily Telegraph)
American television officials issue an apology following the broadcast of two hours of pornography on two children's channels. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (The Times of India)

March 18, 2010 (Thursday)

Dennis Klerks 18 years Kerkrade
The Sudanese government signs a ceasefire deal with a small Darfur rebel group, Liberation and Justice Movement. (Al Jazeera)
Nigeria recalls its ambassador to Libya after Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi suggests the country be partitioned into two separate Christian and Muslim nations. (BBC) (Modern Ghana) (Al Jazeera)
Proposed international trade bans on polar bears and bluefin tuna are rejected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (Reuters) (Global Times) (BBC)
Former Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Sean FitzPatrick is arrested and has his home searched under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at his home in Greystones, County Wicklow. (RTÉ) (The Times) (Sky News) (France24) (The New York Times)
Current Bishop of Derry Séamus Hegarty is named as one of those involved in a "secret deal" in the case of a woman who says she was sexually abused for ten years from the age of eight. (The Belfast Telegraph) (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (BBC) (The Times)
An official report released after five years of research by the Dresden Historians' Commission states a reduced figure of as many as 25,000 people died in the 1945 bombing of Dresden. (BBC) (USA Today) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo is to be extradited to the U.S. following a ruling by a Guatemalan criminal court. (BBC)
A Thai farm worker in Israel is killed by a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of Gaza, according to the Israeli military. (The New York Times) (Al Jazeera)
Turkey arrests around 20 people as it investigates an alleged attempted coup d'état. (The Guardian)
Charges occur in The Gambia's attempted coup d'état to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh. (BBC)
Released kidnapped child Sahil Saeed returns home to Manchester in England. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
French photographer Sophie Ristelhueber wins the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. (BBC)

March 19, 2010 (Friday)

Former Iranian Vice-President Hossein Marashi is jailed after being accused of spreading propaganda. (BBC) (TIME) (FOX News) (MSNBC)
NASA announces that "It is nearly certain that a new record 12-month global temperature will be set in 2010", in a new draft paper based on GISS temperature analysis. (Climate Progress)
Dutch officials object to "ridiculous" and "out of the realm of fiction" claims by retired American general John J. Sheehan, a former NATO commander, that the use of gay soldiers in 1995 meant Dutch forces were "under-strength" and "poorly led" when attempting to protect Bosnian civilians in Srebrenica. (Al Jazeera) (CBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
A hoax stating that at least 200 people have died in a mining accident in Bo, Sierra Leone, makes headlines around the world. (The Washington Post) (Reuters)
At least 13 people die during clashes in Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh declares an end to his country's six-year war against the Houthis. (Al Jazeera)
Catholic sex abuse cases:
- Pope Benedict XVI signs his letter to Irish Catholics, sent as his first official documented response to the issue of child sex abuse and due to be published by the Vatican on Saturday and read at Sunday Mass. (The Irish Times) (CBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Christian Science Monitor) (CNN)
- Catholic child sex abuse cases reach "tsunami" levels in Germany. (CBC)
- An 82-year-old Brazilian Catholic priest from Arapiraca is defrocked after being filmed on camera engaging in sexual activity with a male teenage altar attendant. The activity was filmed by an alleged abuse survivor and broadcast on a news channel this week. (AHN) (CNN) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
China's State Commission of Disaster Relief says severe drought has affected 51 million Chinese and left more than 16 million people and 11 million livestock with drinking-water shortages. (Xinhua)
Middle East:
- Complaints are raised against a Saudi Arabian writer for allegedly describing a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad as "barbaric" during a program presented by Nadeen Al-Badr on Al-Hurra Channel. (Arabian Business News) (Arab News)
- Israel launches airstrikes against a smuggling tunnel and metal foundry in Gaza, in response to a rocket attack which killed a Thai worker in Israel. Palestinians in Hebron protest by throwing rocks at Israeli Security Forces, who respond by firing tear gas. (Russia Today) (The New York Times)
- At least 12 people are wounded after Israel fires at least five missiles onto an airport near Rafah in Gaza in response to earlier rocket attacks. (Ha'aretz)
- The Quartet on the Middle East condemns Israel for announcing plans for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem and also calls on Israel to "freeze all settlements in Palestinian territories". (BBC) (The Hindu)
- The Israeli Air Force bombs another target in Gaza during the night, though declines to mention where this is. (Xinhua)
- Thousands of people protest outside a United Nations building in Beirut against Israeli practices in Jerusalem. (Press TV) (The Daily Star)
- Israel sends a letter of complaint to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council regarding the rocket attack from Gaza. (The Daily Telegraph)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says radio station the Voice of America (VOA) is promoting "destabilising propaganda" that is inciting genocide in his country. (BBC) (News24.com) (TheStar.com.my)
Egyptian mosques pray for President Hosni Mubarak—who is ill and whose health is taboo—as images of his recovery in Germany are broadcast on television screens, boosting stock markets. (BBC)
Switzerland ceases to deport asylum seekers in response to the death of a Nigerian man at Zürich Airport as he was being forcefully deported. Nigeria condemns the occurrence. (BBC) (THISDAY) (The Scotsman) (Taiwan News) (The New Zealand Herald)
South African police fire water cannon at 2,000 students protesting at the release of hip-hop performer Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye, accused of killing four school pupils. (BBC)
President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak names Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed al-Tayeb as head of Al-Azhar University. (Al Jazeera)
A judge in the United States rejects a $657.5 million deal for 10,000 people involved in the aftermath of 9/11. (BBC) (Miami Herald) (The New York Times)
FIFA dismisses the bid of Indonesia for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after the country failed to provide "guarantees". (BBC) (San Francisco Chronicle) (CBC)
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) breaks its own record. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
Amnesty International asks Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to intervene in the case of a Lebanese man sentenced to death for "sorcery". (CNN)
An investigation is urged into the assassination of Colombian human rights activist Johnny Hurtado. (BBC)
Colombian journalist, radio reporter and El Pulso magazine editor Clodomiro Castilla is shot to death while reading a book at his Montería home. (The Washington Post) (Press Trust of India) (Latin American Herald Tribune)

March 20, 2010 (Saturday)

A series of severe sandstorms hit north China, affecting the regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and the provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei. (China Daily)
Death of Girija Prasad Koirala:
- Former Prime Minister and Acting Head of State of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala, "the elder statesman of South Asia" who brought down the King, dies in Kathmandu at the age of 86. (Press TV) (The Times of India) (Xinhua) (Arab News) (ABC) (BBC)
- The government declares a national day of mourning for his funeral. (The Washington Post)
Child sex abuse in the Catholic Church:
- The Pope's special pastoral letter to Irish Catholics on the issue of child sex abuse within the Church is published by the Vatican but fails to impress some survivors organisations. (RTÉ) (BBC) (CBC) (CNN)
- The Swiss Catholic Church investigates its own sex allegations, including some said to have occurred since 2001. (Reuters)
Middle East:
- A Palestinian teenager is killed, and another wounded by Israeli Security Forces. According to Israeli authorities, a mob of Palestinians were holding a "violent, illegal riot", and were approaching an Israeli settlement in a "threatening matter", and were dispersed by tear gas and rubber bullets. Israel promises an investigation into the incident. (Yahoo! News)
- Major politicians in the United States urge in a letter addressed to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to resolve tensions with Israel "quietly, in trust and confidence, as befits longstanding strategic allies". (The Jerusalem Post)
- Four people are charged with spying for Israel in Lebanon and admit being recruited by Mossad; two of them flee to Israel; Israel does not comment. (Ynetnews) (The Jerusalem Post) (Press Trust of India)
Unidentified gunmen assassinate Sheikh Daud Ali Hasan, a senior commander of the Al-Shabab militant group in the southern city of Kismayo, Somalia. (Reuters) (African Press Agency)
Thousands of Russians demonstrate across the country against the policies of the government of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. (Al Jazeera) (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
A severe sandstorm affecting northern parts of China hits the capital Beijing, with health authorities urging people to stay inside. (China Daily) (BBC) (Bernama)
Cabin crew at British Airways begin a three-day strike. (BBC) (The Times) (The Guardian)
67 people are arrested and several people are injured during a clash between members of the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism in the town centre of Bolton, UK. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Times)
A Western Saharan human rights campaigner alleges abuse by Moroccan police after being interviewed by the BBC for their Tropic of Cancer programme. (BBC)
Hundreds of thousands of people attend a rally in support of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome ahead of this month's elections. (France24) (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
A teenager is arrested in New Jersey, United States in connection with the recent Wal-Mart announcement telling "all blacks" to leave the shop. (CNN) (CBS News) (The New York Times)
David Bowie and Sir Elton John are among those to publicly mourn the death of Lesley Duncan, who also appeared on albums by Pink Floyd and Dusty Springfield. (BBC) (The Scotsman)
In international rugby union, France achieve the Grand Slam—their first since 2004—to win the 2010 Six Nations Championship. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Times) (The Globe and Mail)

March 21, 2010 (Sunday)

French President Sarkozy's UMP party is heavily defeated in regional elections. (BBC)
Tens of thousands of people gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States to support President Barack Obama in his bid to overhaul the country's immigration laws. (CNN)
A new earthquake in Haiti kills two in Cap-Haïtien. (Ynet)
Middle East:
- Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon enters Gaza with the message "we (the United Nations) stand with you (Palestine)", criticises Israel's actions and speaks of his distress at the "unacceptable, unsustainable conditions" endured by Palestinians and the lack of reconstruction of damaged buildings. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Times) (UN)
- A friendly football match to take place in the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium in al-Ram, near Jerusalem between the Egyptian Olympic football team and the Palestine national football team is postponed due to an issue with the Egyptian team obtaining Israeli visas. (The Observer)
- Muslims in Pakistan protest against the claimed "demolition" of their sacred sites by Israel. (The Palestine Telegraph)
- Four Palestinians, including two youths, are killed by Israeli forces in two separate incidents in Nablus; Israeli and Palestinian sources disagree on the circumstances of the shooting. (Reuters) (CNN) (Ha'aretz)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to bow to international pressure, saying "As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is like building in Tel Aviv". (BBC)
- Mauritania formally severs diplomatic ties with Israel, saying the relationship has "completely and definitely" run its course over the Gaza situation. (Ha'aretz)
Afghanistan:
- At least ten people die and seven are injured in a suicide bomb attack in Geresh, Helmand Province. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Hindu) (The Washington Post)
- A roadside bomb kills two others in Khost Province. (Reuters)
Child sex abuse in the Catholic Church:
- It is alleged that the Pope (then a German archbishop) ignored advice from a psychiatrist in 1979 stating Father Peter "Hulli" Hullermann was "untreatable" and "must never be allowed to work with children again". (The Sunday Times)
- The Pope is asked why he hasn't apologised to those affected by sex abuse in Australia after yesterday's publication of his 13-page apology to Irish Catholics. (ABC News)
- Musician and prominent abuse campaigner Sinéad O'Connor dismisses the Pope's letter as a "a study in the art of lying". (Sunday Independent)
- The Pope's letter is read to Massgoers and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady is applauded following the revelation of his representation of the Church when two teenagers abused by Father Brendan Smyth were forced to sign an oath of silence. (The Irish Times)
- A man confronts Bishop of Kerry Dr Bill Murphy on the pulpit in the middle of the Gospel at St Mary's Cathedral, Killarney before the Pope's letter can be read and is seized by members of the congregation, while protesters walkout during Mass at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. (The Irish Times)
The corpses of two archbishops are stolen from a cemetery in Nicosia. (BBC) (Reuters) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (ABC News)
Soham murderer Ian Huntley is hospitalised after his throat is slashed in his County Durham prison. (Sky News) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (RTÉ) (Irish Independent)
A volcano erupts at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. (RUV, Iceland) (BBC) (Herald Sun) (RTÉ)
South Africans mark the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. (BBC) (The Washington Post) (The Guardian)
Plastiki, a boat constructed from 12,000 plastic bottles, sets sail on a three-month voyage from San Francisco through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to Sydney. (BBC)
Pune and Kochi are announced as the two new franchises in the Indian Premier League, having spent the equivalent of US$700 million between them. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Press Trust of India) (The Hindu)

March 22, 2010 (Monday)

A Pakistani Christian dies after being burned alive for refusing a conversion to Islam. (Asia News)
United States health care reform
- The United States House of Representatives passes the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. (CNN) (Sky News) (BBC)
Google stops censoring its search results in China, redirecting users to its Hong Kong site. (BBC) (Bangkok Post) (Radio Television Hong Kong) (China Daily)
The Rio Tinto Group bribery trial opens in China. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Child sex abuse in the Catholic Church:
- Polls in Germany, particularly Bavaria, indicate the church's credibility has decreased and government data indicates people are leaving the church. (The Wall Street Journal)
- The Pope's letter to Irish Catholics is met with a negative response, with further calls for him to force controversial Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady out if he maintains his refusal to resign. (The New York Times) (The Sunday Business Post) (The Independent)
- The Pope is criticised again after failing to mention his apology to Irish Catholics during his weekly Vatican address. (The Daily Telegraph) (The Globe and Mail)
Middle East:
- Israeli warplanes bomb a smuggling tunnel east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in an early morning raid close to the Egyptian border in response to a Palestinian rocket attack which landed in an open area south of the city of Ashkelon, causing no damage or casualties. (Xinhua)
Kirsty Sword Gusmão, wife of East Timor's Prime Minister, backed by head of East Timor's child protection agency Carmen da Cruz, demands Australian woman Lala Noronha return to Dili 15 Timorese teenagers she has in Malaysia. However, the youths have stated that they do not want to go back. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

March 23, 2010 (Tuesday)

A fire tears through a combined residential and office building in Calcutta, India, killing 24 people, including two who leapt to their deaths. (Sky) (LBS)
United States issues new warnings of Al-Qaeda threat to attack ships off coast of Yemen (Yahoo News)
5,000 people at a rally in the town of Kotli in Pakistan-administered Kashmir vow to wage a holy war to "liberate" the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir from India on 70th anniversary of resolution to seek independence separately from India (Reuters India)
Middle East:
- Five people are injured by shell fragments resulting from Israeli air raids on a building in the Gaza Strip, in response to ten rockets fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip since Thursday. (Haaretz) (Al Jazeera)
- An Israeli soldier (tank crew member) dies due to "friendly fire" aimed at three people thought to be infiltrating a border fence, who turned out to be Palestinian civilians crossing the border in search of employment. (euronews) (BBC) (The New York Times)
- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tells a lobby group in Washington, D.C., United States, that "Jerusalem is not a settlement" and that Israel has a "right" to build there. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera)
- The United Kingdom announces it is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of twelve cloned British passports in the assassination of senior Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (BBC) (Haaretz) (Voice of America) (Al Jazeera)
- British MP George Galloway announces the foundation of the first annual University of Palestine in Lebanon. (The Daily Star)
Irish cabinet reshuffle:
- Taoiseach Brian Cowen reshuffles his cabinet. (RTÉ) (BBC) (TV3) (The Irish Times)
- Cowen also re-assigns responsibilities between government departments and changes the titles of some departments. (The Irish Times)
- Tony Killeen is appointed Minister for Defence following Willie O'Dea's resignation last month. (The Clare Herald) (The Clare People) (Limerick Leader)
- An extra ministerial role is given to the Green Party, a member of the government coalition. (Taiwan News)
- Brian Lenihan, Jr. retains his role as Minister for Finance in spite of recent health problems. (Reuters)
- The Opposition reacts negatively to the changes, calling it "a game of musical chairs". (The Press Association) (Irish Examiner)
Nigerian cabinet reshuffle: Acting President Goodluck Jonathan picks new ministers after firing all members of his cabinet last week. (BBC)
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir threatens to expel international observers for the first general elections in the country in 21 years, after they called for a delay to deal with "logistical" problems. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
Libya releases 214 Islamist inmates in what is described as "a historic event". (BBC)
88-year-old Heinrich Boere, a former member of the Nazi SS, is sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1944 murder of three Dutch civilians after six decades of legal wrangling. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Times)
Four German pensioners aged 61 to 80 are found guilty of kidnapping their own financial adviser from his home and driving him 450km (280 miles) to southern Bavaria, with the ringleader and his accomplice being jailed. (BBC)
United States President Barack Obama signs the health care reform bill into law. (BBC) (New York Times) (IOL)
A man in Nanping, China, stabs and kills eight children, and wounds another five at an elementary school. (BBC) (The Times) (China Daily)
China says Google is "totally wrong" to stop censoring its search results. (China Daily) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
A Turkish ship is hijacked by Somali pirates more than 1,000 miles away from the coast of Somalia and closer to India. (BBC) (Xinhua) (AP)
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is shown on its maiden flight from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, California, United States. (Xinhua)
Burma's High Court refuses to accept a lawsuit by the National League for Democracy against the ruling State Peace and Development Council for what they allege are unfair and discriminatory election laws. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
Zimbabwe's finance minister Tendai Biti is involved in a car crash. (BBC)

March 24, 2010 (Wednesday)

United Kingdom Chancellor Alistair Darling presents his 2010 United Kingdom Budget to the House of Commons.(BBC)
Tiny South Talpatti Island off the coast of Bengal disappears, washed away thirty years after the mud flat island was created by delta currents, ending the Indian and Bangladeshi dispute over the territory. The Calcutta Institute raised fears over more islands, such as the Maldives, going under in the future. (BBC) (The Times of India) (Los Angeles Times) (Miami Herald)
The European Union calls for Iran to halt internet censorship and jamming of radio broadcasts. (Voice of America) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), says that monitoring Sudan's election next month would be like monitoring a vote in Hitler's Germany. (The Washington Post)
Middle East:
- More than 100 people with possible links to Al-Qaeda are arrested in Saudi Arabia for allegedly planning attacks on oil and security installations in the country. (Al Jazeera) (The Times)
- The United States requests clarifications on new Jewish housing in East Jerusalem after the Israeli Prime Minister meets the US President at the White House in Washington, D.C. (The Jerusalem Post) (The Daily Telegraph)
- Palestinians have condemned the latest plans for more Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, announced as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ended a US visit. (BBC)
Six people die and more than 30 people are injured after a car bomb explodes in the centre of the Colombian Pacific port city of Buenaventura. (BBC) (Toronto Sun) (CNN) (ABC News) (TVNZ) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
Portugal's credit rating is downgraded from AA to AA- by the Fitch Group due to fears over its high debt levels. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (CNN)
A Sharia court in Kaduna bans the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria from debating punishment amputations via Twitter. (BBC) (The Washington Post) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
An out-of-control train derailment in Norway kills three people and seriously injures several others. (BBC) (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
Scientists identify the Denisova hominin - a previously unknown type of ancient human through DNA analysis from a finger found in a cave in Siberia, Russia. (Nature) (BBC) (The New York Times)
Go Daddy, the largest domain name registration company in the world, announces it will cease registering websites in China after the Chinese government required customers to provide photographs and other identifying information before registering. (CNET) (Washington Post) (AP)
Indonesia bans a conference of Asian gay activists, saying it could prompt violent protests by conservative Muslim groups. (The New York Times) (Jakarta Post) (AsiaOne)
Pope Benedict XVI accepts the resignation of Bishop of Cloyne John Magee. (RTÉ) (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
American mathematician John Tate wins the Abel Prize for advancing "one of the most elaborate and sophisticated branches of modern mathematics" (The Hindu) (AP)
A landslide kills at least three, injures 11 in Indonesia's West Sumatra in Saok Laweh village. (The Hindu)
The online encyclopedia Wikipedia goes offline, with users encountering navigation error messages. (CNN) (The Daily Telegraph) (PC Magazine)
Students at the University of Ottawa protest and shut down right-wing pundit Ann Coulter's second stop on her trans-Canada tour. (CBC)
Craig David is named as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. (UN)

March 25, 2010 (Thursday)

A car bomb killed at least 6 people and wounded more than 40 others in a Colombia's Buenaventura city notorious for cocaine trafficking. (Pravda.ru)
Rustam Minnikhanov is sworn in as the second president of Tatarstan. (Radio Free Europe)
Pakistan's jet fighters pounds militants' hideouts in northwest Pakistan's Mamozai area, killing at least 48 people and injuring 32 others. (Xinhua)
A Gazan fisherman is critically wounded when the Israeli navy targets his fishing boat in an early morning attack. (The Muslim News)
The United States weakens proposed sanctions against Iran in a bid to win broader support on the UN Security Council as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismisses the impact of any new measures to stop Iran’s nuclear program. (The Christian Science Monitor)
Child sex abuse in the Catholic Church:
- Pope Benedict XVI is accused of failing to act in a case of the sexual abuse of 200 deaf boys. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera) (The Hindu)
- Bishop of Waterford and Lismore William Lee apologises for his two-year delay in failing to alert authorities to child sexual abuse allegations in his parish in the mid-1990s, describing as "seriously inadequate" his handling of the matter. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (BBC) (CNN)
- An editorial from the Vatican says the news media is acting "with the clear and ignoble intent of trying to strike Benedict and his closest collaborators at any cost". (L'Osservatore Romano) (The New York Times) (BBC News)
Hamas decides to execute Palestinians whom they have found guilty of “collaboration” with Israel despite protests by human rights and legal organizations, while criticizing those who have been firing rockets at Israel in the past few days. (The Jerusalem Post)
500 homes near the airport in Mogadishu are demolished by Somali troops. (BBC)
President of the United States Barack Obama requests that Cuba's leaders release all political prisoners, describing human rights there as "deeply disturbing". (Al Jazeera)
3 die in a medical helicopter crash in Tennessee, United States, with the helicopter that crashed being operated by Hospital Wing. (CNN)
U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates announces new rules that make it more difficult to expel gay service members. (The New York Times)
Munster Rugby fans in Ireland win a court case against the state allowing pubs to open for business on Good Friday, a day that normally sees all pubs in the country shut for religious reasons. (RTÉ) (BBC) (The Irish Times)
Independent News & Media sells its British titles to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev for £1. (Reuters) (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (The Guardian)
Dennis Hopper:
- The lawyer for Dennis Hopper admits for the first time that the actor is terminally ill and unable to undergo chemotherapy treatment for his prostate cancer. (BBC) (Montreal Gazette) (The Daily Telegraph)
- Hopper receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (USA Today)

26 March 2010 (Friday)

China surpassed the United States last year as the country with the most clean energy investment. China's clean energy investments were $34.6 billion, compared with U.S.A.'s $18.6 billion last year. The US still leads the world in installed renewable energy, with 52.2 gigawatts of wind energy, small hydroelectric, biomass and waste generating capacity, per a report by the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts, but has dropped below ten other countries, including Canada and Mexico in investments as a share of the national economy.(The China Post) (Business Times) (China Daily) (L.A. Times)
An explosion triggered a fire in a chemical plant in an east China city, leaving 3 dead, one seriously injured. The explosion occurred at 2:40 p.m. in Haiyi Specialty Chemicals Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province. (Sina)
Middle East:
- Israel refuses renewed calls to stop building homes in East Jerusalem, with a representative of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating in writing: "Israeli construction policy in Jerusalem has remained the same for 42 years and isn’t changing". (Arab News)
- Iran calls on Muslims around the world to act in protest of Israel's construction plans in East Jerusalem. (Press TV) (Ynetnews) (The Star) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Israeli incursion into Gaza: two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian militants are killed. (Yahoo! News) (The Jerusalem Post)
US President Obama and Russian President Medvedev finalize a new arms control treaty to further reduce the nuclear arsenals of each country still remaining since the Cold War. (The Jerusalem Post) (The New York Times) (The Hindu)
A prominent Indonesian cleric says Islamic law should take priority over laws passed by Parliament. (The Jakarta Post)
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is disappointed with Burma's military leaders for their lack of democratic progress in the run up to general elections in the country. (Al Jazeera) (Sydney Morning Herald) (Reuters)
Chinese police arrests a suspect for poisoning frozen dumplings for revenge. Those dumplings were exported to Japan and sickened 10 people in 2008. (Asahi Shimbun) (Xinhua)
11 people are killed in a highway accident on Interstate 65 in the U.S. state of Kentucky, near Munfordville. The wreck site is roughly 40 miles northwest of the city of Bowling Green, near Mammoth Cave National Park. (CNN) (MSNBC)
A challenge to Ireland's Romeo and Juliet law is rejected by the High Court. (RTÉ)
A South Korean Navy ship named the Cheonan, carrying more than 100 personnel sinks near the Northern Limit Line in waters off the country's west coast near North Korea. (Yonhap) (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Times of India) An international team of investigators attributes the attack to a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine. (The Times).
ITV drops police television series The Bill after 27 years. (The Guardian) (RTÉ)
The Times and The Sunday Times announce they are to charge £1 per day and £2 per week for online access from June 2010 and split into two websites from Times Online. (The Guardian) (Wall Street Journal) (RTÉ) (The New York Times)
Russia outlaws Mein Kampf due to its "extremist" content. (RIA Novosti) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (RTÉ) (The Hindu) (The New York Times)

March 27, 2010 (Saturday)

Earth Hour
- Approximately 4,000 cities around the world dimmed their building lights to commemorate Earth Hour. (MSNBC)
- Irish Green Party leader John Gormley is criticised for delivering a televised speech during his party's national convention which coincides with Earth Hour. (Irish Independent) (RTÉ) (Irish Examiner)

Middle East:
- Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers leave Gaza after an incursion near Khan Younis: two Gazans are killed and 12 wounded, including at least one civilian. (Jerusalem Post)
- Jerusalem is discussed at the two-day annual Arab summit in Sirte, with PNA officials calling for "a large Arab political support to the Palestinian people on all levels in order to be able to face the right-wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu which insists to elude from the peace process and keeps its aggressive actions against our people". (Xinhua)
More than 100 people are injured and one death is reported as the Bugandan king visits royal tombs which were recently destroyed by fire. (Arab News)
Two bombs killed 42 people and wounded 65 others in Iraq's mainly Sunni Diyala province, prior to the release of full preliminary results from the March 7 parliamentary election. (China Daily)
Three deaf men who allege they were sodomised and abused by priests as children appear on RAI Television to confront the diocese of Verona. (Arab News)
The European Union and Libya lift visa bans on each other. (BBC)
India test fires two short range missiles, the Dhanush and Prithvi II. (The Hindu) (Xinhua) (Straits Times)
President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is reported by Al Gomhuria to be returning home following his recent gallbladder surgery in Heidelberg. (Al Jazeera)
The South Korean government calls an emergency security meeting to investigate yesterday's ship sinking near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea as a rescue operation continues to retrieve 46 missing sailors. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Yonhap)
Thousands of soldiers participate in Burma's annual Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyidaw and are inspected by General Than Shwe who delivers a rare public address. (BBC) (IOL) (Bangkok Post)
Thai troops retreat after thousands of "red shirt" protesters demand fresh elections. (Bangkok Post) (Reuters)
In horse racing, Gloria de Campeao wins the Dubai World Cup. (BBC)

March 28, 2010 (Sunday)

The BBC reports it has found evidence of a massacre which occurred in Democratic Republic of Congo last December in which at least 321 people, including children, were killed. Human Rights Watch calls it "one of the worst massacres carried out by the LRA". (BBC)
Catholic Church child sexual abuse scandal:
- At a Palm Sunday mass in Saint Peter's Square, Rome, Pope Benedict XVI tells tens of thousands of people about the recent "petty gossip" he has been subjected to, thought to mean the child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, though he fails to directly mention the scandal. (BBC) (The Observer) (National Post)
- Controversial Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady confirms the departure of one of his parish priests due to new information regarding "child safeguarding issues". (RTÉ) (BBC) (Reuters) (The Irish Times)
Middle East:
- Israel announces its plan to seal off the West Bank from midnight tonight until midnight on 6 April during the Passover holiday. (Ha'aretz)
- Chief Justice of Palestine Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Al-Tamimi appeals for Palestinian citizens to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in response to posters showing the Jewish Temple plastered on Jerusalem bus routes. (Saba News Agency) (The Jerusalem Post)
- The 22nd Arab League (AL) Summit ends with Arab leaders agreeing that all attempts by Israel to change occupied Jerusalem and its "demographic, humanitarian and historic situation" are invalid and cannot be accepted, while appealing to the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, European Union and UNESCO, to save East Jerusalem and preserve the threatened Al-Aqsa Mosque. (Xinhua)
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu states that his "policy of retaliation is forceful and decisive" and alleges that "Hamas and the other terror organizations need to know that they are the ones that are responsible for their own actions". (Ha'aretz) (Reuters Africa)
- Netanyahu condemns the anonymous remarks in the Israeli press that US President Barack Obama is a “tragedy” for Israel as unacceptable. (The Jerusalem Post) (The New York Times) (Ynetnews)
- President of Israel Shimon Peres says Netanyahu's administration is going too far with its building plans in East Jerusalem. (Ha'aretz)
U.S. President Barack Obama, in his first visit to Afghanistan as commander in chief, meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and speaks to American troops deployed there. (Washington Post)
One male is killed and two other people are injured in the Patissia area of the Greek capital Athens after a bomb explodes outside a public building. It is the first fatal bombing in Greece for many years. (Reuters) (RTÉ) (BBC) (Sky News) (The Daily Telegraph) (Al Jazeera)
At least 152 coal miners are trapped after a pit floods in Shanxi, while 109 others escape. (BBC) (China Daily)
6 die and 33 are injured in five co-ordinated bombings targeting militia leader Sheikh Turki Hamad Mikhlif in Qaim, Iraq. (BBC) (Xinhua) (RTÉ) (Washington Post) (France24) (The New York Times)
2 journalists are shot dead, in the northeastern region of Olancho in Honduras. (Xinhua) (People) (The Associated Press)
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva meets with leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship on live television to help bring about an end to the political crisis in the country. (CNN) (Thai News Agency) (The Daily Telegraph)
A Chinese dissident lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, who has been missing for over a year, says he is "free" and wanting to spend time away from media attention. (Al Jazeera) (AP) (BBC)
Italians test Silvio Berlusconi in regional elections. (BBC)
First step in Russian time zone reform comes into force. The number of time zones drops from 11 to 9, eliminating Samara Time and Kamchatka Time. (RT) (The Moscow Times) (Reuters) (AP)
America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducts raids in southeastern Michigan in an investigation involving members of Hutaree, a Christian-oriented militia group. (AnnArbor.com) (WDIV) (AP)
24 is cancelled. (BBC)

March 29, 2010 (Monday)

15 people, including 2 journalists, are arrested by Israel during a police attack on a protest near Bethlehem. (The Muslim News)
Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, announces it will boycott the upcoming general elections in Burma. (BBC) (AP)
Suicide bombers detonate two bombs at Moscow Metro stations Lubyanka and Park Kultury, killing at least 36 with the death toll expected to rise. (RIA) (AP) (Russia Today) (RIAN)
The stern of the South Korean warship which exploded on Friday with 46 crewmen still missing is located and the military is expected to attempt a dive. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Yonhap)
Maule, Chile, is rattled by a 6.1 magnitude aftershock on Monday 08.43 a.m. AEDT (5:43 p.m. Sunday local time). (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Xinhua)
A Rio Tinto Group executive is jailed for 10 years in China. (RTÉ)
FARC releases into the jungle a soldier it kidnapped just under a year ago. (BBC)
Ireland's rail line between Galway and Limerick reopens for the first time in 34 years. (RTÉ)
More than 300 southern right whales, mostly young calves, have been discovered dead off Argentina's Patagonian coast in the last five years. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
In architecture, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, cofounders of the firm SANAA, win the 2010 Pritzker Prize. (BBC News)
Nine members of the Hutaree militia are arrested in the United States on allegations of a plot to kill policemen then to attack the funerals, in preparation for a war against all levels of American government. (CNN)
A patent on two human genes is struck down by a judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. (The New York Times) (Newsweek)

March 30, 2010 (Tuesday)

Colombian soldier Pablo Emilio Moncayo is released after 12 years in FARC captivity. (BBC)
Russia has a day of mourning following the train bombs in Moscow. (CBC) (RTÉ)
The Andaman Islands are rattled by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake. (USGS)
Two mortuary staff in Shandong are arrested after 21 baby corpses are found in a river. (China Daily) (news.com.au) (Sky News) (CNN)
The body of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is found by a team of Moroccan and French divers four days after his aircraft crashed into a lake in Morocco. (Al Jazeera)
The 2010 South American Games are officially closed, with Colombia winning the most gold medals and Brazil just a little over 10 medals behind.
Somali pirates hijack 8 Indian vessels abducting 120 sailors, biggest abduction count till date, off the coast of Kismayo. (The Times of India)
10 children, youths and young adults between the ages of 8 and 21 are gunned down, presumably by drug traffickers, in the northern Mexican state of Durango. (CNN)
Chinese police are hunting a man suspected of killing five members of a migrant family, including an 8-year-old girl, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (People's Daily)
Seán Quinn's Quinn Insurance goes into administration. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (The Guardian) (BBC)
Ten people were shot Tuesday night in what appears to be two drive-by shootings in southeast Washington D.C., with at least four killed. (Xinhua) (China Dialy) (CCTV) (CNN)
At least 31 militants were killed Tuesday during Pakistan Security Forces operation in the Orakzai tribal agency. Over 150 militants have been killed in the last six days. (People Dialy)

March 31, 2010 (Wednesday)

Algerian authorities arrest an Israeli spy found with a false Spanish passport under the 35-year-old pseudonym Alberto Vagilo. This was initially reported by some sources as the abduction of a Spanish citizen by an al-Qaeda-linked group. (Press TV)
Yemeni Minister of Justice Ghazi al-Aghbari and Palestinian ambassador to Yemen Bassem Al-Agha hold discussions on the issue of bilateral judicial cooperation. (Saba News Agency)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fire tear gas at around 200 Palestinians and their allies protesting outside the gates of Ofer Prison at the recent detainment of colleagues. (Ynetnews)
MPs state the UK government must ensure that military equipment sold to Israel is not used in the occupied territories. (BBC)
A bicycle-borne bomb kills at least 13 people and injures 45 others in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (CNN)
Twelve people, including two police officers, are killed in two blasts in the town of Kizlyar in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan. (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua) (TVNZ)
Serbia passes legislation that offers an apology for its role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War. (B92) (BBC)
Shahram Amiri, a scientist involved in Iran's nuclear program, defects to the United States and begins talking to the Central Intelligence Agency. (ABC News)
The trial of the lone surviving gunman involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Kasab, concludes. (NDTV) (BBC)
Google says thousands of internet users in Vietnam have been spied on with malicious software, appearing to target opponents of bauxite mining in the country. (BBC) (Reuters)
Foreign journalists based in China and Taiwan say their Yahoo email accounts have been hacked. (Times of India) (BBC) (Radio Taiwan International)
Lines of "green wall" are built along the desert district in Yanchi county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region to defend against desertification. (Sina)

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Ongoing events
Economics Automotive industry crisis Financial crisis Greek economic crisis European sovereign debt crisis Worldwide recession Medical West African meningitis outbreak HIV/AIDS in Africa Political Canadian anti-prorogation protests Colombian legislative elections Irish Catholic sexual abuse scandal Nigerian presidential power crisis Philippine presidential elections U.S. health care reform debate Scientific Expedition 23 Sport 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament 2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament Humanitarian Haiti earthquake response

Recent deaths
March 30: Jaime Escalante 30: David Mills 28: June Havoc 27: Dick Giordano 27: Peter Herbolzheimer 27: Vasily Smyslov 26: Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan 25: Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann 24: Robert Culp 24: Daphne Park 23: Midge Costanza 23: Alan King-Hamilton 23: Blanche Thebom 22: James W. Black 22: Valentina Tolkunova 21: Wolfgang Wagner 20: Harry Carpenter 20: Girija Prasad Koirala 20: Stewart Udall 18: Fess Parker

Ongoing conflicts
Africa / Middle East Darfur conflict Fourth Chadian Civil War Iraq War Israeli–Palestinian conflict Maghreb insurgency Niger Delta conflict South Yemen insurgency Somali Civil War Turkey–PKK conflict War in Afghanistan Asia Balochistan conflict Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir Insurgency in the Philippines Ethnic conflict in Nagaland Naxalite-Maoist insurgency South Thailand insurgency War in North-West Pakistan Americas Colombian Civil War Mexican Drug War Internal conflict in Peru

Elections
Recent: March 4: Togo, President 6: Iceland, Debt repayment referendum 7: Iraq, Parliament 7: Switzerland, Referendum 14: Colombia, Parliament Upcoming: April 8: Sri Lanka, Parliament 11: Hungary, Parliament (1^st Round) 11–13: Sudan, General 18: Northern Cyprus, President 24: Nauru, Parliament 25: Austria, President 25: Central African Republic, General 25: Hungary, Parliament (2^nd Round)

Trials
Recently concluded Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Italy: Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito Peru: Alberto Fujimori United Arab Emirates: Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan United States: William J. Jefferson, Sheila Dixon United Kingdom: Peter Chapman Ongoing Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Tribunal China: Organized crime in Chongqing France: Church of Scientology, Air France Flight 4590 Germany: Heinrich Boere, John Demjanjuk Iraq: Supreme Criminal Tribunal Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim Netherlands: Thomas Lubanga (ICC), Radovan Karadžić (ICTY), Geert Wilders Palau: Tommy Remengesau Russia: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev Sierra Leone: Charles Taylor (SCFSL) Singapore: Tak Boleh Tahan Thailand: Thaksin Shinawatra United States: Jena Six, Joseph Bruno, David Headley Upcoming Sudan: Lubna al-Hussein United States: Viktor Bout, Noshir Gowadia, Allen Stanford

Holidays and observances
Ongoing February 15 - April 3: Great Lent (Eastern Christianity) February 17 - April 3: Lent (Western Christianity) March 29 evening - April 6: Passover (Judaism) March 30 evening - May 18: Omer (Judaism) March 2010 Current 31: Holy Wednesday (Western Christianity) 31: Pohnpei Culture Day (Federated States of Micronesia) 31: Freedom Day (Malta) 31: Thomas Mundy Peterson Day (New Jersey) 31: César Chávez Day (United States) 31: Transfer Day (US Virgin Islands) April 2010 Upcoming 1: April Fools' Day

References

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March 2010

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