Portal:Current events/2018 March 21
March 21, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Houthis claim to have shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 jet over Sa'da province, Yemen. (Sputnik News)
- Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian government and rebel forces reach an agreement to allow 7,500 people to evacuate from rebel-held Harasta, Eastern Ghouta. (al-Jazeera)
- Boko Haram insurgency, Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping
- Boko Haram releases most of the 110 Nigerian schoolgirls it had kidnapped in February 2018, and warns against sending them back to school. (The Globe and Mail)
Disasters and accidents
- Accidents and incidents involving helicopters
- A Eurocopter 120 helicopter carrying five people crashes into the sea near Hardy Reef off the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia. Two people are killed. (The Guardian)
- Aftermath of the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash
- The Crown Prosecution Service charges pilot Andrew Hill with 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of endangering an aircraft over an accident at Shoreham Airshow in England. (The Telegraph)
- Metro Hotel Dublin fire
- A fire breaks out in the upper floors of a hotel and apartment block building in Ballymun, Ireland, near Dublin Airport. The fire affects the top seven floors of the building and two floors of apartments, without casualties. (RTE) (The Irish Times)
- History of autonomous cars
- Police release onboard video from an autonomous Uber car that fatally struck a pedestrian crossing the road in Tempe, Arizona. (BBC)
International relations
- Israel–Syria relations
- Israel admits for the first time that it carried out an airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, on 6 September 2007. The strike allegedly killed ten North Korean workers. (Reuters)
- Austria–Israel relations
- Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl recalls diplomat Jürgen-Michael Kleppich from Israel after he is photographed wearing a t-shirt with slogans linked to Nazism. (The Local)
- Economy of the African Union
- The leaders of 44 African Union states sign an agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, to create the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). (BBC)
- Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- Russia holds a briefing on the case for all foreign diplomats in Moscow, where it accuses the United Kingdom of "withholding evidence." (The Guardian)
- Poland in the European Union
- Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz accuses the European Union of "double standards" and of suffering "a deficit of democracy". Poland and the European Commission are engaged in disputes over migrant quotas and proposed reform of Poland's judiciary. (al-Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Censorship in Singapore
- The Singaporean Parliament approves the Public Order and Safety (Special Powers) Act, which makes it a crime to take pictures and relay information during terror attacks. (Channel News Asia)
- Austin serial bombings
- Mark Anthony Conditt, the main suspect in the serial bombings, dies after detonating a bomb in his vehicle while being pursued by Austin police officers. The police chief warns residents that while they believe the bomber is deceased, he may have sent more packages before his death. (CNN)
- Crime in the United Kingdom
- James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State, Nigeria, launches a bid to overturn his guilty pleas on corruption charges in the UK alleging police corruption. (Africa News)
- Alleged Libyan influence in the 2007 French elections
- Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy is preliminarily charged with illegal funding of his 2007 presidential campaign, passive corruption and receiving money from Libyan embezzlement. (Voice of America)
- Aftermath of the 2017 Parsons Green bombing
- The Independent claims the Metropolitan Police misidentified material in convicted bomber Ahmad Hassan's possession as not related to ISIS when in fact it was produced by the group. The newspaper says it has submitted evidence to the Central Criminal Court that could affect Hassan's sentence. (The Independent)
- Police in the Philippines fatally shoot 13 suspected drug dealers in Bulacan. (France 24)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Myanmar
- Myanmar President Htin Kyaw resigns due to ill health. Vice-President Myint Swe, a former general, will become acting president until a new president is chosen. (CNN) (U.S. News & World Report) (BBC)
- Jackfruit becomes official state fruit of Kerala.
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Catalan activist Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol, imprisoned accused of sedition, drops his bid to lead the Catalan government. (BBC)
- Jordi Turull i Negre, ex-member of the dismissed regional government, who was imprisoned amid sedition and under investigation due to his connection in a corruption scandal involving CiU, is named candidate by the President of Catalan Parliament in an investiture for Thursday, March 22. (El Mundo)
- Resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
- Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns amid a vote buying scandal. (BBC)
- Antiguan general election, 2018
- Voters in Antigua and Barbuda go to the polls, with Barbudan residents having to travel to Antigua in order to participate. (The Telegraph)
- Politics of Kosovo
- In Kosovo, opposition lawmakers set off tear gas to prevent the ratification of a border treaty with neighboring Montenegro. (CNN)
Science and technology
- Discoveries of exoplanets
- Fifteen new exoplanets are discovered. Three of them, larger than Earth, are also discovered around the dwarf star K2-155. Furthermore, a 3D climate simulation was created to find out if K2-155d has water. (Health Thoroughfare) (ScienceDaily)
- 2018 in spaceflight
- Three people (two American, one Russian) launch successfully from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz MS-08 to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 55. (NASA)