Portal:Current events/2021 March 17

March 17, 2021 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Mali War
- At least 33 soldiers are killed and 14 others wounded in an attack on a military post in Gao, Mali. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan
    - Kazakhstan suspends talks with AstraZeneca for purchasing its vaccine amidst claims of severe side-effects in many countries. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Palestine
    - The Palestinian National Authority receives 61,440 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which arrived in Ramallah. 37,440 of the doses are the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the 24,000 others are the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. (The Times of Israel)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan
    - Uzbekistan receives its first consignment consisting of 660,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and distributed through COVAX initiative. (AKI Press)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
    - The Government of Poland announces a new national lockdown, which will close all cultural venues and all non-essential shops for three weeks from March 20 as COVID-19 cases are on the rise. (Politico.eu)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine
    - Ukraine reports a record 289 new deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thus bringing the nationwide death toll to 28,986. (UNIAN)
John Magufuli, President of Tanzania is reported to have died of heart problems in Dar es Sallam. Opposition politicians had earlier reported rumors that he was being treated out-of-country for COVID. (BBC News)

International relations

The International Atomic Energy Agency reveals that, in breach of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, Iran has restarted enriching uranium at its underground Natanz facility with a third set of advanced nuclear centrifuges. (Reuters)
UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay is expected to be reelected as head of the body after no other candidates are nominated. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Same-sex marriage in Japan
- The Sapporo district court rules that prohibiting same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

Politics of Tanzania
- President of Tanzania John Magufuli dies of heart complications, suspected to stem from COVID-19 infection. Vice President Samia Suluhu, who was Tanzania's first woman VP, becomes Tanzania's first woman president. (Al Jazeera)