Portal:Current events/2020 March 4

March 4, 2020 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Disasters and accidents

United States tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2020
- The National Weather Service reports 11 tornadoes touched down resulting in 25 confirmed deaths. Eighteen people remain unaccounted for. (CNN)
- 140 buildings were destroyed with thousands damaged. 44,000 people are without electric power. (WAFF)
Mount Merapi in Java, Indonesia erupts, forcing the airport in Surakarta to close. (BBC News)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- Wallis and Futuna turns away a German cruise ship due to fears of coronavirus, and says that it is studying the possibility of denying another ship entry. (RNZ)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    - Italy says all schools and universities will close from March 5 through March 15 to stop the spread of the virus, as the country confirms a total of 3,090 cases and 107 COVID-19-related deaths. (CNBC) (The Guardian)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - Spain reports its second death in Basque Country, an 82-year-old man, as infected toll rises to more than 210. (El Mundo)
  - Hungary confirms first two COVID-19 cases. (Reuters)
  - Slovenia confirms its first case of COVID-19. The patient had recently travelled home from Morocco, passing through Italy on the way, and is now in isolation at the Ljubljana University Medical Centre. (Reuters)
The first in-person use of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tool is conducted, intended to reverse a genetic mutation causing Leber congenital amaurosis, a form of inherited blindness. (The Guardian)

International relations

Canada–Iran relations, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752
- Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne urges Iran to allow access to the flight recorders of the Ukrainian passenger plane that was shot down in January. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Egypt executes top Ansar al-Sharia militant Hisham al-Ashmawy, a former special forces officer who was convicted over several high-profile attacks, the country's military spokesman said. (Reuters)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bans the use of electroshock devices for aversive conditioning on patients with mental disorders. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Massachusetts, the last U.S. institution that still uses electroshock devices to punish patients, say they will challenge the federal ban in court. (AP)

Politics and elections

2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- After a poor performance on Super Tuesday, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg suspends his presidential campaign and endorses former Vice President Joe Biden. (Fox News) (Reuters)
Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro
- Avoiding questions about lower-than-expected GDP growth in his first year as President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro invites an impersonator to the restricted press section around the Planalto Palace to answer the questions in his stead. The comedian also distributed bananas (in reference to the name given in Brazil to the bras d'honneur) to the attending journalists. (Estado de S. Paulo)
Government of Ukraine
- Oleksiy Honcharuk and his government are voted out by the Verkhovna Rada after less than six months in office. President Volodymyr Zelensky proposes Denys Shmygal as Prime Minister. (The Guardian)