Portal:Current events/2019 March 4
March 4, 2019 (Monday)
Arts and culture
- Pope Francis announces the Vatican's historical archives of Pope Pius XII's pontificate (1939–1958) will be accessible to scholars next year, effective 2 March 2020. (Vatican News) (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- A helicopter crashes in Central Island National Park, Kenya, killing four American tourists and their Kenyan pilot. (BBC News)
- A 4.6 magnitude earthquake is felt in central Alberta just before 6 a.m. The epicentre was determined to be just south of Red Deer, and is believed to be the result of tectonic activity east of the Rocky Mountains. No structural damage or injuries are reported, and it is unlikely to cause aftershocks. (Global News)
Law and crime
- Germany says it will amend the German nationality law to strip dual nationals of their citizenship who have fought for foreign militant groups, such as ISIL. (The Local)
- Cuba–United States relations
- The Trump administration announces it will allow lawsuits by U.S. citizens against dozens of Cuban companies and other entities concerning property confiscated by the Cuban government. A spokesperson says Cuba's support for Venezuela's incumbent president, Nicolás Maduro, was taken into consideration when the decision was made. (Reuters)
- United States Special Counsel investigation
- Newly confirmed Attorney General William Barr announces he will not recuse himself from the special counsel's investigation, per the advice of the Justice Department's ethics officials. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announces he is running for the Democratic Party's nomination to be President of the United States in the 2020 presidential election. (CNBC)
- Cabinet of Donald Trump
- The United States Department of Justice announces that former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has resigned from the Department, with his final day in the department having been March 2. He had remained in the Department as a senior counselor to the Associate Attorney General after his stint as acting Attorney General. (AP)
- Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal, Rupert Murdoch's political activities in the United States
- The New Yorker reports that Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch prevented the release of a story about hush money which Donald Trump paid to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election because Murdoch wanted Trump to win the election. (The New Yorker)
- Canadian Treasury Board President Jane Philpott resigns having lost confidence in the government's handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. (BBC News)
- 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- Venezuelan National Assembly-declared interim President Juan Guaidó defies Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's threats and returns to Venezuela where he is received by tens of thousands of people in Caracas. (Associated Press)
Science and technology
- USB4, Thunderbolt 3, 2019 in science
- Intel makes Thunderbolt 3 open and royalty-free and gives the specification to USB Implementers Forum, while USB Promoter Group announces the USB4 specification that is based on Thunderbolt 3. USB4 supports 40 Gbps transfer rates and enables the use of multiple data and display protocols simultaneously. (Intel) (USB Promoter Group) (Ars Technica)
- The World Wide Web Consortium announces that WebAuthn, a standard for password-free logins on the web, is now an official web standard. (VentureBeat)