Portal:Current events/2011 March 17

March 17, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflict and attacks

United States bombing of civilians in Pakistan:
- At least 40 people, most believed to be civilians, are killed near Miranshah after United States drones bomb Pakistan in the deadliest such attack by the United States since 2006. Tribesmen describe a "massacre" as tribal people, elders, local traders and members of the tribal police are killed. (BBC) (The Nation)
- The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani condemns the U.S. drone attack on civilians in Pakistan, criticising events which saw elders "carelessly and callously targeted with complete disregard to human life [...] in complete violation of human rights". (The News International) (DAWN) (AP via Google News) (BBC)
Thousands of opposition supporters rally in Yerevan, Armenia, demanding the resignation of the government. (Channel News Asia) (Armenia News)
Hundreds of people protest in western China after the self-immolation of a Tibetan monk in Aba, Sichuan. (BBC)
Arab Spring
- Libyan Civil War:
  - The International Committee of the Red Cross withdraws from the rebel held city of Benghazi, Libya, fearing an attack from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. (BBC)
  - The Libyan military says it will cease fighting on Sunday in order for the rebels to give themselves in. (Al Arabiya)
  - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi claims that Nicolas Sarkozy received funding from Libya ahead of the 2007 French presidential election. (BBC)
  - The United Nations Security Council after the failure of Libyan authorities to comply with its "1970 resolution" of 26 February 2011, adopts "Resolution 1973" (UN Security Council resolutions 1970 & 1973) that imposes a No-fly zone over Libya (The Guardian), (CNN), enforcing the arms embargo, freezing Libya's assets, and banning travel of Libyan officials involved in recruiting mercenaries, by "All means necessary" an addition that bypasses the UNSCR 1970's military intervention prevention and imposes a "no-fly zone", initially rejected on UNSCR 1970.
- 2011 Bahraini protests:
  - The United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay condemns the "shocking" use of force against protesters. (BBC). While UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon spoke by telephone with Bahrain’s King Hamad ibn Isa al Khalifa, expressing his deepest concern over reports of excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the country’s police and security forces against unarmed civilians, including medical personnel. (UN News Centre)
  - Leaders of the opposition are arrested. (Al Jazeera) (ABC Radio Australia)
  - Bangladeshi expatriates report being forced to take part in pro-government demonstrations. (BBC)
- Yemen arrests human rights activist Tawakel Karman. (The Guardian)
Dozens of people are killed in nationwide violence in Côte d'Ivoire, as fears of a civil war grow. (AFP via Google News), (BBC)

Arts and culture

Saint Patrick's Day parades and events take place internationally. (USA Today) (The Irish Times) (euronews) (CBS News)
The U.S. government involves itself in a row over the 3200-year-old death mask of nineteenth dynasty noblewoman Ka-Nefer-Nefer, thought to have been stolen. (BBC)
Gennady Yanin, the director of the Russian Bolshoi ballet troupe, resigns and is replaced by Yan Godovsky. Russian media wonders if erotic photos which appeared on the internet, allegedly of him, were part of a smear campaign. (BBC)
It is announced that Doctor Dee, a stage show based on the life of John Dee written by and starring Damon Albarn, is to have its premiere at the Manchester International Festival in July. (BBC)

Business and economics

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is sued for nepotism over the $675 million purchase of his daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch's, Shine Limited and providing a seat for her on the board. (BBC)
The New York Times newspaper announces it is to start charging people who access content on its website. (BBC)

Disasters

Prince William of Wales visits Christchurch, New Zealand, to inspect relief efforts for the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Fukushima I nuclear accidents:
- Helicopters drop water on the stricken Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant to cool overheated fuel rods inside the core. (AP via Google News)
- Radiation detectors trigger alarms at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as radiation enters the United States. (CBS News)
- Power is restored to the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. (BBC) (Voice of America)
- A cable is laid to reactor 2 by engineers. (BBC)
- International response to Japan's nuclear crisis:
  - The United States authorises the first evacuation of Americans from Japan. (MSNBC)
  - President Hugo Chávez backtracks on plans to develop nuclear power in Venezuela saying he has noted the ongoing crisis in Japan and that the use of nuclear energy is "something extremely risky and dangerous for the whole world". (BBC)
  - Chancellor Angela Merkel announces a "measured exit" from nuclear power for Germany as it can no longer be "business as usual" following events in Japan. (BBC)
  - China suspends new nuclear plans due to events in Japan. (BBC)

International relations

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is challenged by MP Ann Clwyd over the treatment of Bradley Manning, a former Welsh schoolboy reported to be imprisoned in solitary confinement and stripped naked by the United States. (Wales Online)
Officials suggest Haiti's first democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to return there tomorrow after seven years exile in South Africa. The U.S. expresses concern at this development, fearing Aristide could "destabalise" Haiti. (BBC)
Taoiseach Enda Kenny visits President of the United States Barack Obama at the White House for the annual Saint Patrick's Day festivities. Obama announces he is to visit Ireland in May and is excited at the prospect of visiting the home of his great, great, great, great, great, grandfather in Moneygall. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (Sky News) (AP via Chicago Tribune) (BBC)
Malaysia seizes "suspected nuclear parts" in a Chinese ship bound for Iran. (Kyodo)

Law and crime

A court in Burma denies bail to the chief of the Myanmar Times newspaper, charged with violating immigration law. (Straits Times) (Journal of Turkish Weekly)^{[permanent dead link]}
Asylum seekers stage another riot at the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre burning parts of the Australian government facility. (ABC News Australia)

Politics and elections

The ninth congress of the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party opens in Vientiane, Laos, where policy is set for the next five years. (The Straits Times) (Lao News Agency)

Science

At a two-day council meeting of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris, Europe comes to an agreement to extend its operations at the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020. (BBC)
NASA's MESSENGER space probe becomes the first space craft ever to enter into orbit around Mercury. (Space via MSNBC), (BBC)