Portal:Current events/2016 March 31

March 31, 2016 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015–2016 wave of violence in Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israeli security forces arrest 16 Palestinian suspects on the West Bank. (Jerusalem Post)
War in Somalia
- A suicide bomber in Somalia’s Puntland region detonates while hugging Saeed Ali, the treasurer of Galkayo, killing him and several police officers guarding him. Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab claims responsibility. (International Business Times) (Reuters)
PKK rebellion, Turkey–ISIL conflict
- A car bomb, targeting an armored vehicle transporting police personnel, explodes close to a bus terminal in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır, Turkey, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 27 more people, including 13 officers, according to a joint statement by Turkish officials and the police. The attack comes one day before Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's scheduled visit to the city. There has been no claim of responsibility. CNN points out both Kurdish rebels and ISIL militants have claimed similar recent incidents. (Al Jazeera) (CNN) (AP) (Arab News)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports a drone attack, “most likely operated by the US-led coalition,” kills Abu al-Hija, a high-ranking Tunisian ISIL commander, near the Islamic State's de facto Syrian capital Raqqa. (Al Arabiya)

Business and economics

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission files an anti-trust suit against Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and several other drug companies for using pay-for-delay settlements to block consumers’ access to lower-cost generic versions of pain medications, Opana ER and Lidoderm. (StreetInsider.com)
A consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance Group announces it will walk away from its $14 billion takeover bid for Starwood Hotels. This restores Marriott International as the highest bidder ($13.6 billion). (CNBC) (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kolkata overpass collapse
- At least 21 people are killed, 70 injured and up to 150 people are feared trapped after a half-built overpass collapses in the Indian city of Kolkata. (Indian Express) (NBC News)

International relations

2016 Nuclear Security Summit
- More than 50 heads of state as well as representatives from international organizations attend the annual Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., with the notable exception of Russia, which declined to attend. The main agenda of the two-day gathering is the discussion of North Korea and the threat it poses with its nuclear weapons and the possibility of ISIS extremists getting a nuclear weapon. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Law and crime

Yugoslav Wars
- Former Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and nationalist politician, Vojislav Šešelj, is acquitted of all nine charges of committing atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia during the early 1990s by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. (The Guardian)
A U.S. official announces that The Pentagon plans to transfer about a dozen inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to at least two countries that have agreed to take them, in the latest move in Barack Obama’s final push to close the facility. The official declined to name the countries ready to take them in. (The Guardian)
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
- A Malaysian court dismisses Malaysia Airlines's bid to throw out a lawsuit filed by relatives of three people who went missing on Flight 370. The company argued that the disappearance of MH370 on March 8, 2014, occurred before the company came into existence as Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) on September 1, 2015, and therefore has no liability to relatives. The court ruled MAB's liability would be determined in a trial. (UPI) (Malay Mail)
A 37-year-old Virginia State Police trooper taking part in a police training mission is killed by a gunman inside the Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Virginia. Two officers standing nearby return fire and fatally strike the suspect. Two civilian women are injured. (WTVR) (NBC News)

Politics and elections

Vietnam elects Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân chairwoman of the National Assembly. Ngân, who won 95.5 percent of the votes, is the first woman to lead Vietnam's legislature. In January, she was re-elected to the powerful Politburo at the Communist Party Congress. (AP)
The Constitutional Court of South Africa delivered a unanimous judgement that President Jacob Zuma and the National Assembly failed to uphold the country's constitution by ignoring the findings of the Public Protector regarding public expenditure on Zuma's private homestead. (Daily Maverick)
2016 United States presidential election, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- Pennsylvania's Supreme Court upholds the previous court ruling that dismissed the case against Ted Cruz which challenged his eligibility to appear on the state's GOP primary ballot, and serve as president. (ABC News)
- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida forcibly reject, as has the White House, candidate Donald Trump's suggestion that the U.S. military be withdrawn from Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons replacing them. A small minority in South Korea, such as the think tank Sejong Institute, agree with Trump on this issue, but this is not mainstream policy. (CNN) (Vox Media)
  - Another Trump statement, "South Korea is a money machine but they pay us peanuts," is greeted with "howls of inaccuracy" from the South Korean Foreign Ministry and the White House. U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert says "Seoul pays for 55% of all non-personnel costs." (CNN)
Venezuela's National Assembly, responding to last month's Central Bank of Venezuela report that the country experienced a 180.9 percent inflation increase in 2015, passes legislation, The Law of Bonds for Food and Medicine for Retirees and Pensioners, that could make it easier for pensioners and retirees to pay for food and medicine. The approved bill has been forwarded for President Nicolás Maduro's signature. (UPI)
Italy's Minister of Economic Development, Federica Guidi, resigns amid allegations that she passed along confidential information to her boyfriend that helped his business interests. (AP via Fox News)
Brazil protests
- Brazil's Supreme Court voted 8-2 to take over the corruption investigation of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Silva alleges Judge Sérgio Moro unfairly targets him. The court also overruled Moro's decision to release the recording of Silva's call with President Dilma Rousseff, since it is the only court that can authorize a wiretap on presidential conversations. The full court is still to rule on the injunction that prevents Silva from taking office as the President's Chief of Staff. (AP via ABC news) (Reuters)
- Today, thousands of demonstrators gathered in more than 20 states in support of Silva and Rousseff. (Reuters²) (AP via ABC news)
- Brazil sports minister George Hilton resigns and will be replaced on an interim basis by Ricardo Leyser, a senior official in the ministry. Leyser, 45, has worked in the sports ministry since 2003, and has been heavily involved with the Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21, 2016. (The Rio Times) (insidethegames)

Science and technology

Astronomers' study reveals the surface of exoplanet 55 Cancri e has a 2500°C liquid face, constantly facing its star 55 Cancri, while the other side is relatively colder and solid. (Discovery via ABC News)

Sport

Five U.S. women’s national soccer team players file federal wage discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). In the filing, the players cite 2015 USSF figures which show they were paid nearly four times less than men’s players despite generating nearly $20 million more revenue. A U.S. Soccer statement says, "... we are disappointed about this action." (The Washington Post) (ESPN)