Portal:Current events/2010 March 22

March 22, 2010 (Monday)

A Pakistani Christian dies after being burned alive for refusing a conversion to Islam. (Asia News)
United States health care reform
- The United States House of Representatives passes the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. (CNN) (Sky News) (BBC)
Google stops censoring its search results in China, redirecting users to its Hong Kong site. (BBC) (Bangkok Post) (Radio Television Hong Kong) (China Daily)
The Rio Tinto Group bribery trial opens in China. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Child sex abuse in the Catholic Church:
- Polls in Germany, particularly Bavaria, indicate the church's credibility has decreased and government data indicates people are leaving the church. (The Wall Street Journal)
- The Pope's letter to Irish Catholics is met with a negative response, with further calls for him to force controversial Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady out if he maintains his refusal to resign. (The New York Times) (The Sunday Business Post) (The Independent)
- The Pope is criticised again after failing to mention his apology to Irish Catholics during his weekly Vatican address. (The Daily Telegraph) (The Globe and Mail)
Middle East:
- Israeli warplanes bomb a smuggling tunnel east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in an early morning raid close to the Egyptian border in response to a Palestinian rocket attack which landed in an open area south of the city of Ashkelon, causing no damage or casualties. (Xinhua)
Kirsty Sword Gusmão, wife of East Timor's Prime Minister, backed by head of East Timor's child protection agency Carmen da Cruz, demands Australian woman Lala Noronha return to Dili 15 Timorese teenagers she has in Malaysia. However, the youths have stated that they do not want to go back. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Perth, Western Australia suffers worst severe thunderstorm in many years, resulting in a 'disastrous' amounts of insurabce claims.