Portal:Current events/2010 March 19

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)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (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)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (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)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (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)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (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)