The United States Army's elite Delta Force captures their first suspected ISIL operative during a raid in northern Iraq. The detainee is being interrogated by the U.S. and is expected to be turned over to Iraqi officials in the coming days. (CNN)
At least 18 people are killed and 16 others injured in a multi-vehicle accident involving a bus near Nahdah in northwestern Oman. Six of the dead were from Oman, four from Saudi Arabia, two from Pakistan, and one from Yemen. Five others are unidentified. (AP via ABC News)
The Peruvian Army is deployed on the country's northern and southern coasts to help cope with El Niño-related floods that have killed at least two people and left thousands homeless. (Euronews)
Filipino fishermen say China has deployed up to five ships around the disputed Quirino Atoll, also known as Jackson Atoll, in the South China Sea, preventing them from accessing traditional fishing grounds. (Reuters via Channel NewsAsia)
Ukraine bans government officials from publicly criticizing the work of state institutions and their colleagues, after damaging disclosures last month that highlighted slow progress in fighting corruption. (Reuters)
One Chinese national is killed and three others injured in a possible militant attack on a Chinese-invested company in Laos, the official Xinhua News Agency reports. (Reuters)
Jordan says an overnight raid on an ISIL cell in the city of Irbid has left seven militants and one security officer dead, with five others injured. Those killed were planning to blow up civilian and military targets in the country, according to the General Intelligence Directorate (GID). (BBC)
The European Union launches a new aid program worth an initial 700 million euros (US$760 million) to address the growing refugee crisis in Greece. EU Humanitarian Aid CommissionerChristos Stylianides says the so-called Emergency Assistance Instrument will be used to help migrants trapped in Greece and, if needed, in other countries on the migration route front lines. Approval by a majority of EU members is required. The next EU meeting is scheduled for Monday. (The New York Times)(Reuters)(Kathimerini)
A nationwide power outage hits Syria. The Syrian government says shortly before the power outage, militants had hit part of a power-generating station with rockets in the city of Hama, though it hasn't said whether this damage was linked to the nationwide outage. Also, it isn't clear how many people are affected by the power outage as many cities outside of the government's control already weren't being served by the government-run power grid. (CNN)
At least 31 people are killed in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe, when a bus, with a blown front tire, switches lanes and slams into an oncoming public transport minibus. (AP via Fox News)
A riot at a prison in Guyana's capital Georgetown leaves at least 16 people dead. The riot began when inmates angered by a search that led to the confiscation of mobile phones set fires in one part of the prison. (Reuters)
Voting begins for the second stage of New Zealand's flag referendum with the current flag going up against the design chosen on the first stage of the referendum. Voting will end on March 23 with polling showing the current flag is favoured to win. (BBC)(CNN)
A Libyan spokesperson says two Italianhostages are freed by local fighters from Islamic State custody in Sabratha, Libya. He also confirms that two other Italian hostages were recently killed during local forces clashes with IS militants. (AP via ABC News)
Gunmen storm a retirement home in Yemen, run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns. (The New York Times)
The British Chambers of Commerce suspends Director-General John Longworth for announcing his personal views on Brexit. The BCC, whose members are split on this issue, will not campaign for either side. (BBC)
Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani is sentenced to death for corruption. Zanjani was arrested in December 2013 after accusations that he withheld billions in oil revenue channelled through his companies. He denies the allegations. (BBC)
Voters in Benin go to the polls for the first round of voting in a presidential election with 33 candidates vying to replace current PresidentThomas Yayi Boni. (Bloomberg)
The EU plans to boost aid to Greece and declare the route north through the Balkans closed. Presently, about 13,000 people are stranded at the Greece-Macedonia border. (BBC)(Kathimerini)
Amnesty International takes on the EU for using Turkey as a buffer to police Europe’s borders. Deputy Director Gauri van Gulik says Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees and must fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement. (AP via The Washington Post)
Israeli reports indicate Mr. Netanyahu cancelled because he had not been offered a meeting with Mr. Obama. The White House, which states it had not been directly informed of this change of plans, insists Mr. Netanyahu had turned down a chance to meet with the president. (The New York Times)
Former mayor of the Pitcairn IslandsMike Warren is found guilty of downloading more than 1000 images and videos of child abuse and child pornography while working in child protection and is sentenced to 20 months in prison. (The Guardian)
American sportscaster Erin Andrews is awarded $55 million damages after a stranger, in 2008, secretly recorded her in the nude through a hotel door peephole, and posted the video on the Internet. (New York Daily News)
A Pew Research Center survey of Jewish and non-Jewish Israelis, via face-to-face interviews from October 2014 through May 2015, finds deep divisions in Israeli society – not only between Israeli Jews and the country’s Arab citizen minority, but also among the religious subgroups that make up Israeli Jewry. An overwhelming majority (98%) of Israeli Jews agree all Jews should have the right to move to Israel and receive immediate citizenship. Close to half (48 percent) support the expulsion or transfer of Arabs from Israel, yet most secular Jews disagree (58%) with this, as do 54 percent of those in the center politically (more so from the left). Meanwhile, Israeli Arabs, currently about one-in-five of the country's adults, generally do not think Israel can be a Jewish state and a democracy at the same time. Fewer Arabs (down 24 points) think a peaceful, two-state solution is possible, from 74% in 2013 to 50% now. Both groups are skeptical of the peace process: Israeli Arabs question the sincerity of the Israeli government in seeking a peace agreement, while Israeli Jews are equally skeptical about the sincerity of Palestinian leaders. (Pew is a non-partisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C.) (Pew Research Center)
An Istanbul court places the Cihan News Agency under state control. The seizure of the Fethullah Gülen-linked news agency comes just days after the Turkish government seized control of the opposition Zaman newspaper. (Reuters)
U.S. special forces, landing in two helicopters, stage an overnight raid on the al-Shabaab-controlled town of Awdhegele in Somalia's Lower Shebelle region. Al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheik Abduasiz Abu Musab, confirmed the raid saying "The helicopters landed outside town and the ground forces entered, there was heavy fighting and they were forced to flee"."They were masked and spoke foreign languages which our fighters could not understand," Abu Musab told Reuters. "We do not know who they were but we foiled them." (AFP via Yahoo! News)(Reuters)
Macedonia says it will no longer let any migrants through its southern border with Greece, effectively blocking the Balkan route for migrants. The decision came after Slovenia barred access to migrants transiting the country. There are around 13,000 migrants now stranded at the Macedonia-Greece border. (BBC)
The Parliament of Egypt drafts a law which will ban women from wearing full-face veils such as the niqāb and burqa in public places and government institutions. The move comes after Cairo University recently banned nurses and doctors from wearing veils in medical schools and in teaching hospitals, arguing the ban would "protect patients' rights and interests". (The Independent)
Peru's electoral court bans two leading candidates – Julio Guzman and César Acuña Peralta – from participating in next month's election due to breaches of electoral law. (BBC)
Two days of heavy rain in the American state of Louisiana has caused at least three deaths and caused more than a thousand people to evacuate their homes. (Fox News)
The Algerian Army kills three suspected Islamist militants near the eastern city of El Oued and seizes a large quantity of weapons, including six anti-aircraft missiles. (Reuters)
American veterans’ nonprofit charity The Wounded Warrior Project board of directors removes chief executive officer Steven Nardizzi and chief operation officer Al Giordano after an independent investigation confirms earlier news reports about lavish spending on employee perks, high overhead, and other perceived malfeasance. (The New York Times)
The delegation from Saudi Arabia departed from the meeting of the Arab League, offended by remarks of the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, an indication of increasing tension among Arab states. (Reuters)
AstronautScott Kelly announces his retirement from NASA effective April 1. Kelly holds the record for the American who has spent the most time in space. (NASA)
Airstrikes on the Al-Qaeda-held Al-Mansoura district in the port city of Aden, kill at least 17 militants and injure 20 civilians, according to local medics and a Yemeni security official. (Reuters)
Reuters reports, on the basis of unnamed sources "familiar with the matter," that Energy Transfer Equity, a private equity concern, is in talks to sell Sunoco, a deal which would be valued at more than $2 billion. (Reuters)
A protestor attempts to storm the stage as Donald Trump was talking at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, causing Secret Service agents to jump on the stage and form a wall around the presidential candidate amid the chaos. The suspect was identified as Thomas Dimassimo, 32, and was charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic, according to Chief Mike Etter of the Dayton Police Department. Dimassimo is a Black Lives Matter activist. (NBC News)
Thousands of people take to the streets of Warsaw and other cities in Poland in protest against the government after it refused to publish the Constitutional Court's ruling that the government cannot change how the court works. (BBC)
Six people have been killed in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, with two Mississippi fishermen missing, in this week's flooding in the America's Deep South. More than 24 inches of rain has fallen in some of the hardest-hit areas with more rain today that is expected to lead to additional flooding later this week. (Fox News)(UPI)
The field of 68 teams for the NCAA Tournament is announced. Kansas is the top overall seed, with North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia rounding out the #1 seeds. In a minor controversy, the entire bracket is leaked during the selection show, several minutes before the South and West Regions are officially announced. (ESPN)(ESPN²)
Russian PresidentVladimir Putin orders Defence MinisterSergey Shoygu to start the withdrawal of Russian Armed Forces from Syria, saying during a meeting with Shoygu, "I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow.” (RT)(BBC)
Siam Commercial Bank reports eight people were killed and seven others injured in the basement of its Bangkok, Thailand, headquarters during an upgrade of the building's fire safety system Sunday evening. It appears that workers mistakenly activated a system that released pyrogen, a chemical that deprives a fire of oxygen. (AP)(BBC)
Belgian security forces hunt gunmen linked to the November 2015 Paris attacks following a raid on a house in Brussels which left four officers wounded and one suspect dead after an exchange of gunfire. Roads have been blocked off in the Belgian capital's southern suburb of Forest as one or more gunmen remain at large. (The Independent)(Irish Times)
Linn Energy, an oil-and-gas producer with about $10 billion in debt, says a bankruptcy filing may be unavoidable. The company was founded in 2003 and had its initial public offering in 2006. (Reuters)
The entire Washington D.C. Metro system will shut down for 29 hours beginning at midnight Wednesday for an emergency investigation after an electric cable caught fire on Monday. (The Washington Post)(NBC4 Washington)
The European Union suspends direct financial aid to Burundi after concluding that the Burundian authorities had not done enough to find a political solution to the ongoing conflict occurring in the country. (The Guardian)
Argentina's coastguard says it has sunk a Chinese fishing trawler that was operating illegally within its territorial waters. The coastguard says it rescued four of the trawler's crew while others who abandoned ship were picked up by another Chinese vessel shadowing the pursuit. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
The Ferguson, Missouri, city council, after last month voting to change the terms of the agreement, reverses course and unanimously (6-0) agrees to accept a U.S. Justice Department overhaul of its troubled police force and municipal courts. This avoided a likely expensive legal battle with the federal government which had filed suit against the city following last month's vote. (CNN)
The Washington Metro, a commuter rail system which transports nearly 1 million passengers across the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area per day, shuts down to allow for an emergency inspection of 600 electrical cables, following two fires occurring over the past 14 months. Officials say the system is scheduled to resume service by the following morning, though individual Metro lines or stations could remain closed indefinitely if problems are identified. (The Washington Post)(The Washington Times)(CBS News)
Cuban officials announce they have detected the first case of the Zika virus transmitted inside the country: a 21-year-old Havana woman who had not traveled abroad. Cuba has reported a handful of travel-associated Zika cases, all believed imported from Venezuela. (Medical Xpress)(Outbreak News Today)
The delegation of the government of Syria rules out starting any direct talks with the opposition delegation as U.N. sponsored peace talks enter a third day in Geneva. (BBC)
Kurdish officials say they plan to declare a federal region in northern Syria after being excluded from peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the 5-year-old conflict. The move will combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas into a federal system in what is set to alarm neighboring Turkey. (USA Today)
Authorities in Turkey arrest three academics on charges of "terrorist propaganda" after they called for an end to security operations in the country's Kurdish-majority southeast. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
The U.S. military disciplines more than a dozen personnel for mistakes that led to the bombing of a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital that killed 42 people in Afghanistan last October. No criminal charges are pending. The partially redacted investigation report is expected to be made public shortly. (AP)
Donald Trump announces he will skip the Fox News GOP presidential debate between the three remaining candidates on March 21, saying he thinks "we had enough of debates." (Newsmax)
Ohio Governor John Kasich says he will also skip the debate if Donald Trump follows through on his vow not to attend. (The Hill)
In the Missouri Primary, media outlets have held off calling yesterday's races due to the extremely close results. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton lead in their party's vote, but by just two-tenths of 1 percent ahead of Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders, respectively. Missouri law states a recount may be requested if the margin is less than half a percentage point. Either Cruz or Sanders or both can request a recount. These results are unofficial, until they’re certified by the Missouri Secretary of State, which reportedly could take up to four weeks. Trump leads by about 1,700 votes and Clinton's edge is about 1,500. The state also needs to count the remaining absentee and provisional ballots; the deadline for overseas ballots is noon Friday. (The Hill)(CNN)
Protests erupt outside the presidential palace in Brasília, and on São Paulo's main Avenue Paulista. on news of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's appointment as President Rousseff's chief of staff. Federal Judge Sérgio Moro says taped conversations between the two show Lula and Rousseff, apparently, trying to influence the investigation. (Reuters)
Science and technology
Scientists release a small flock of pigeons, dubbed "The Pigeon Air Patrol", carrying tiny backpacks to monitor London's air quality during a period of moderate to high pollution. The backpacks contain sensors used to measure nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels. (Engadget)(The Guardian)
Sport
The PGA of America announces it is discontinuing the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, a special postseason event among the year's winners of the four major championships of regular men's golf. This year, it was set to be held at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, California. The 2015 event was cancelled after the PGA decided to move the exhibition contest from the same Trump Club, and they couldn't find a replacement course golf course with suitable dates. (AP)(PGA)(ESPN)
The People's Republic of China expresses its opposition to unilateral sanctions against North Korea in the wake of the imposition of new sanctions by the United States on the country in response to its recent nuclear and rocket tests. (Reuters)
Kurdish parties in northern Syria declare the establishment of a federal system in areas they control. Turkey and the United States had warned this risks further destabilizing the already war-ravaged country. The move was criticized by the government of Syria. (BBC)(The Washington Post)
A Brazilian federal judge blocks the appointment of Lula as chief of staff, arguing that the appointment would derail a federal judicial investigation against him. The government said it would appeal against the decision. (BBC)
A group of about 40 rabbis is planning to boycott Trump’s speech Monday at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) because of the candidate's behavior and rhetoric on the campaign trail. Organizers of the push to boycott the speech said they are worried that Trump could gain legitimacy through the event. An AIPAC spokesperson declined to comment. (The Washington Post)
Bernie Sanders concedes the Missouriprimary to Hillary Clinton, who led by 1,531 votes, 0.2 percent of those counted. Sanders says he will not ask for a recount, an option he had because the result is under the state's requirement, 0.5 percent — one-half of one percent. The Republican contest is too close to call as Donald Trump leads Ted Cruz by a similar 0.2 percent. (AP via MSN.com)
European Union leaders offer Turkey a detailed package of cash and incentives to agree that all migrants attempting to cross the Aegean Sea by raft or boat would be sent back to Turkey which, in effect, becomes the region's migrant holding center. A number of stumbling blocks remain, such as raising the amount of aid from 3 billion euros to at least 6 billion euros; reducing the "72 arduous conditions" the Turks must meet to implement visa-free travel for Turkish citizens; Europe agrees to accelerate talks with Ankara on its EU bid; etc. Human Rights Watch protests the proposed fast-track collective expulsions that fail to take individual circumstances into account and breach peoples' right to seek asylum. (The Washington Post)(Journal of Turkish Weekly)
European Union and Turkish officials agree on how to handle the flood of refugees. The deal, to return irregular migrants to Turkey, includes acceleration of the country's long-stalled bid for membership in the union; billions of euros in extra aid, 3 billion euros now, another 3 billion by 2018; and, visa-free travel for Turks once the country satisfies the EU criteria. Europe will be taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) strongly condemns the deal as "ugly and illegal." The agreement is set to go into effect Sunday, March 20, 2016. (CNN)(Middle East Eye)(Reuters)
Health and medicine
Swiss research, published in the medical journal The Lancet, found that paracetamol -- sold as Tylenol and as a generic, acetaminophen, in the United States -- was not effective at reducing pain or improving movement in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee or hip. The analysis examined 74 randomly-selected trials published between 1980 and 2015 with 58,556 patients who had osteoarthritis. The study did find the prescription drug diclofenac, sold in the U.S. as Cataflam or Voltaren, is the most effective NSAID available. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Tylenol, disagree with the study's conclusions. (CBS News)(The Lancet)
Jia Jia, a columnist for China'sTencent media company is reported missing after not being heard from since Tuesday, when he was on his way to Hong Kong. He was last heard from when he tried to warn a friend about publishing an anonymous letter calling for China's paramount leaderXi Jinping's resignation. (BBC)
A Florida jury awards Hulk Hogan $115m after the gossip news website Gawker published a sex tape of the retired professional wrestler. Mr Hogan's legal team argued that the New York City-based website violated his privacy and that the video wasn't newsworthy. (BBC)
Apple says it will bring two key personnel to a hearing next week, subjecting them to government cross-examination regarding the issues raised by its locked iPhone: its Chief Privacy Engineer and its Global Law Enforcement Officer. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
Former PresidentPervez Musharraf travels to Dubai for medical treatment of his back and leg, before moving on to either the U.S. or U.K. for additional treatment, spokesperson Aasia Ishaque said. Musharraf, 72, will return to Pakistan to face all pending legal cases. Earlier this week, Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif’s government implemented the Supreme Court ruling, and lifted the 2013 ban that barred Musharraf from international trips. (Bloomberg)
Brazil's lower house of Congress, which yesterday overwhelmingly approved (433-1) a 65-member investigatory, presidential impeachment committee, was in session today -- unusual since lawmakers are generally away from the capital on Fridays. The charge alleges President Rousseff broke budget rules to boost public spending in the run-up to her re-election in 2014. The president has 10 lower house sessions to present her defense. Friday's session means that clock has started and she now has nine sessions. (Reuters)(Reuters via Swiss Broadcasting Corporation)
Supporters of the governing Workers’ Party took to the streets, in a sense answering the massive anti-government gatherings since Sunday, in all of Brazil’s 26 states. Organizations from both sides of the protests have called for people opposed to the Workers’ Party to stay home Friday to avoid a repeat of Thursday's clashes. (The Washington Post)(Fox News Latino)
At least 13 Egyptian policemen are killed after a security checkpoint in the city of Arish, North Sinai Governorate, came under attack by militants. Ambulances were reportedly subjected to heavy gunfire as they attempted to reach the wounded. The Islamic State's Sinai branch claimed responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)
Flydubai Boeing 737-800 Flight FZ981, en route from Dubai for about four hours, crashes during landing in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 on board. It appears the jet crashed in poor visibility, some 50–100 meters left of the runway, during the second approach. Rostov-on-Don Airport will remain closed until at least 9:00 am Moscow time. (RT')(Airways News)(Reuters)
Nine Cuban migrants die and 18 others are rescued by the Royal Caribbean'sBrilliance of the Seas cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico, 130 miles west of Marco Island, Florida. The group had been sailing for 22 days in a 30-foot long "rustic" boat. The survivors were severely dehydrated and in poor condition. Those who had died were buried at sea. The cruise ship is taking the migrants to its next stop, the Mexican island of Cozumel. (AP via Portland Press Herald)
International relations
Former United Nations official and head of the UN mission for the Ebola outbreakAnthony Banbury accuses the UN of “colossal mismanagement,” saying it had failed to uphold the principles for which it was established. He cited the organization's “Orwellian admonitions and Carrollian logic” of the UN bureaucracy and minimal accountability regarding the widespread rape and sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers. (The Guardian)
A survey conducted by Datafolha shows a majority of Brazilians now favor the impeachment or resignation of PresidentDilma Rousseff. The poll showed 68 percent of respondents favor Rousseff's impeachment by Congress, while 65 percent think the president should resign. The president's approval ratings have been hammered by Brazil's worst recession in decades and its biggest ever corruption probe. (Reuters)
Two dozen protesters park their cars in the middle of Shea Boulevard, and block the main road to the Phoenix suburb of Fountain Hills, Arizona, where Donald Trump's campaign rally with former Arizona GovernorJan Brewer, and controversial sheriffJoe Arpaio was held. For hours, traffic was backed up for miles. The road was eventually cleared. Three protesters were arrested and two cars were towed from the boulevard. (AP)(CNN)(KPHO-TV)
Before the President's arrival, Cuban authorities arrest more than 50 Ladies in Whitehuman rights activists. The group marches after every Sunday Mass at a church in the Miramarsuburb of Havana, and usually get arrested and detained for hours or days. They had hoped President Obama's visit would change that routine. (USA Today)(Havana Times)
Voting is underway in today's parliamentary election in the former Soviet republic. PresidentNursultan Nazarbayev'sNur Otan party is expected to win easily, and retain control of the 107-seat Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament. The recent crackdown on political activists and media dims chances this election will be the first judged free and fair by Western observers. (AP via Sioux City Journal)(Townhall.com)
A run-off election begins in Niger with current PresidentMahamadou Issoufou highly favored to win as his main opponent Hama Amadou, who was earlier jailed, was flown out of the country for medical reasons. (Reuters)
A referendum is underway in Senegal where voters will vote on whether or not to reduce presidential term limits from seven to five years. Senegal's referendum also calls for a strengthened National Assembly, better representation for Senegalese abroad, greater rights for the opposition and participation of independent candidates in elections among the 15 changes. (The Daily Star)
A rerun of Zanzibar's presidential election takes place amid an opposition boycott. The election originally occurred at the same time as Tanzania's general election in 2015 but was annulled because of supposed fraud. (Daily Nation)
Gunmen attack a European Union military training operation housed in a converted hotel in the Mali capital, Bamako. There are no casualties among the mission personnel. One suspect is killed and two are arrested. No group has claimed responsibility. (Reuters)
A Catalan official says the 13 exchange students killed in Sunday's accident were 19-to-25-year-old women, seven from Italy, two Germans, an Austrian, a woman from France, a Romanian and an Uzbek. Twenty-four people are being treated in hospital with one student in critical condition, and six people, including the driver, in serious condition. Reports from officials indicate the driver lost control of the coach and crashed to the other side before running into an oncoming car. The bus driver, who passed alcohol and drug tests, is being investigated for possible negligent homicide as police seek to determine the cause of the crash. (AP via The Washington Post)(AFP via Yahoo! News)
At a 55-minute joint press conference, following their two-hour closed-door meeting, United States PresidentBarack Obama and Cuban PresidentRaúl Castro agreed this “new day” of openness between the two countries benefits the entire hemisphere as well. Each acknowledged more needs to be done. Obama said he spoke frankly about human rights, free expression, and democracy; Castro said the U.S. needs to remove the military base at Guantanamo Bay, and completely end the U.S. embargo. Obama's experience gave him an advantage when journalists delved into sensitive areas. (The Washington Post)(The New York Times)
New Zealand Prime MinisterJohn Key settles a defamation case with freelance cameraman Bradley Ambrose, acknowledging comments he made about the man caused him professional and personal harm. (AP)
Myanmar's new parliament, in its first legislative act, votes (611-3) to eliminate 15 government ministries. President-elect Htin Kyaw says by eliminating the ministers' salaries, the nation will save $4 million over five years. No civil servants will lose their jobs. (AP)
German tax authorities are investigating Citigroup over its use of a "dividend stripping" strategy, which allowed both the buyer and seller of a stock to claim the tax credits. (Reuters)
A court in southern Russia finds Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko guilty of being complicit in the killing of two Russian journalists, killing civilians and illegal border crossing and is sentenced to 22 years in prison and a fine of 30,000 rubles. Savchenko denies all the charges and the Ukrainian government said that they would continue to press for her release. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
A federal judge postpones Tuesday's hearing at the government's request. The FBI says a third party demonstrated a way to access Syed Rizwan Farook'siPhone. Melanie Newman, U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman, says officials are cautiously optimistic a test of this method will allow access to the phone without compromising the data. (NPR)(ABC News)
Brazil PresidentDilma Rousseff says she will not resign under any circumstances because she hadn't committed a crime, and equated a bid to impeach her to a coup d'état against democratic rule. A congressional impeachment committee has started hearings. Rousseff could be suspended if the Chamber of Deputies approves the motion to impeach. The president urged the Supreme Court to remain impartial in this political crisis. (Reuters)(Yahoo! News)
Sport
Indian Wells (California) CEO and tennis tournament director Raymond Moore resigns following reactions of outrage, including by top-ranked Serena Williams and retired legend Martina Navratilova, to his comment that top-level women's players rode "on the coattails of the men" and were "very, very lucky" to have equal prize money. This is the event's second controversy involving female players. Serena and her sister Venus boycotted the tournament (also known as the BNP Paribas Open) until 2015 following verbal abuse directed toward the sisters in the 2001 open. (Reuters)(AFP via The Economic Times)(Time)
Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw says two brothers of Belgian nationality, Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui, were responsible for yesterday's suicide bombings. Khalid bombed the subway station while Ibrahim bombed the airport, he added. A third suspect, who died at the airport, is identified as Najim Laachraoui, says De Standaard. A fourth suspect seen in the airport photo, who left a massive bomb at the airport that did not detonate, is unidentified and still at large. (UPI)(Los Angeles Times)(De Standaard)
Van Leeuw says 31 people died and 271 are injured in the bombings. (UPI)
Referring to the Brussels bombings, Poland abandons a pledge to shelter Syrian migrants under a European Union relocation agreement. (Reuters)
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, announce they are withdrawing from the so-called hotspots on the Greek islands because of the new EU-Turkey deal. UNHCR's Melissa Fleming says, "Under the new provisions, these sites (hotspots) have now become detention facilities." MSF's Marie Elisabeth Ingres says, “We will not allow our assistance to be instrumentalized (sic) for a mass expulsion operation, and we refuse to be part of a system that has no regard for the humanitarian or protection needs of asylum seekers and migrants.” (Vox Media)(New Europe)
Voters in Senegal approve a series of constitutional reforms, which include a reduction of presidential terms from seven to five years, with 63 percent of the vote. (BBC)
The early results for Tuesday's GOP caucus in American Samoa -- nine uncommitted. The Democratic caucus was held on March 1, 2016, with Hillary Clinton getting eight delegates and Bernie Sanders three. (caffeinatedthoughts.com)(The Green Papers)
Lebanese daily newspaper As-Safir ("The Ambassador" in Arabic) is to cease print and online operations after over 40 years, citing falling revenues and Lebanon's political environment and sectarian problems as reasons for its closure. The newspaper has close ties to Hezbollah. (Reuters)
In Toronto, Jian Ghomeshi is acquitted on all charges of sexual assault and choking. The judge found the claimants had "lied, had been manipulative and hid pertinent information" from the court and this created reasonable doubt. Protests against due process emerged immediately afterwards. (National Post)
In New York, an appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit trying to keep Ted Cruz off the ballot in the U.S. Presidential contest on the ground of his Canadian birth. (Reuters)
Amnesty International urges Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party make release of political prisoners, and rescinding laws that made incarceration possible, a top priority when they take office next Friday, April 1, 2016. Amnesty International adds it knows of almost 100 political prisoners still behind bars, with hundreds of others in detention. AI's Jasmine Heiss says, "The incoming government must take bold steps to show that human rights abuses are a problem of the past.” (AP via The Washington Post)(USA Tday)(Amnesty International)
The Nigerian Army claims to have rescued more than 800 hostages from Boko Haram while performing a "clearance operation" in the Northeastern part of Nigeria with fighting killing 22 insurgents. (Al Jazeera)
The body of Ukrainian lawyer Yurij Grabovsky, who defended two ex-Russian soldiers charged in Eastern Ukraine with terrorism and waging an aggressive war against the country, is found on the grounds of a former farming collective in Zhashkiv, Ukraine. Grabovsky went missing from Kiev on March 9. Information from one of two men being held in this case led police to the remains. (Reuters)(Jurist)
Twelve Portuguese nationals, who were residents of Fribourg, Switzerland, are killed in a head-on collision between their minibus and a truck, on a highway 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of Paris, France. The only survivor from the bus is the driver; the two Italian occupants of the truck are slightly injured. (Post-Bulletin)
Netflix acknowledges it's been slowing its video transmission on wireless mobile carriers around the world, including Verizon and AT&T, for five years to "protect consumers from exceeding mobile data caps." Last week, these carriers were accused of this. The company told The Wall Street Journal that T-Mobile or Sprint users weren't affected because, "historically those two companies have had more consumer-friendly policies." In May, Netflix plans to shift some of that control to viewers themselves. (PC Magazine)
British rock band The Rolling Stones performs in Havana, Cuba, playing an open-air free concert in the country, in what has been called a "historic moment." Western music used to be banned in Cuba as being "ideologically divergent." (The Guardian)
Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro announces the film, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, will not be screened at the 2016 Festival as previously announced. “Grace [Hightower] and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined," Mr. De Niro said. "... (our) Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community ... do not believe (this film) contributes to or furthers the discussion (about autism) I hoped for," the actor/producer said. (USA Today)
Reuters reports, based on an unnamed "person familiar with the situation," that Microsoft executives are lining up financing for a possible acquisition of troubled dotcom pioneer Yahoo. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
All four on board are killed when a medical services helicopter, transporting a patient from a car accident, crashes in a wooded area in Coffee County, Alabama. The helicopter pilot, a nurse, a medic, and the patient were killed. (Reuters)
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's military chief, pledges to work with the new civilian government that takes over the Southeast Asian country next week, after 54 years of direct or indirect rule by the military. (AP)
According to a new poll, two-thirds of Venezuelans think PresidentNicolás Maduro should end his presidency this year or be removed via a recall referendum amid a worsening economic crisis. In the event of a referendum, 52.1 percent of Venezuelans would vote to remove him from office, up from 44.5 percent in January, according to the poll. (Reuters)
Police in Brussels, Belgium, forcibly break up an apparent far-right demonstration with water cannons after they joined a crowd of people paying tribute to the victims of the bombings. The demonstrators claim to have marched against terrorism but police intervened when the demonstrators confronted Muslim women and made Nazi salutes. (Euronews)(BBC)
Taliban fighters fire explosives at Afghanistan'sParliament while it is in session. Members of Parliament said no one was wounded while a Taliban spokesperson claims it caused heavy casualties. (Al Jazeera)
At least 115 Al-Shabaab militants are killed and a further 110 are captured following heavy fighting with pro-government forces in the Galmudug region of Somalia, according to the regional government. There has been no independent confirmation of this claim. (BBC)
Belgian prosecutors release Faycal C., a man charged in connection with last week's deadly Brussels bombings. The prosecutor's office says the evidence which led to his arrest has not been backed up by the ongoing investigation. (Reuters)
Alaska Airlines cancels 41 flights to and from six cities across the state, Barrow, Bethel, Fairbanks, Kotzebue, Nome, and Prudhoe Bay, due to Pavlof's "massive ash cloud." The carrier announces flights will remain grounded pending Tuesday's assessment of flying conditions. (KTUU-TV)
A Saudi coalition says it's traded 109 Yemeni prisoners for nine captive Saudis. (AP)
Law and crime
A three-year-old girl is decapitated in an apparently random killing by a man with a cleaver in Taipei, Taiwan. The man was arrested shortly afterwards. (The Guardian)
Police lift the lockdown. An armed man was shot by police, is in police custody, and is undergoing surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. A female bystander suffers what appears to be a minor injury. (The Washington Post)
New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo signs an order banning all non-essential travel to North Carolina, i.e., travel not necessary for the enforcement of New York state law, public health, and/or safety, following the state's passage of a law blocking local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances. (CBS News)
Belgium officials lower the official death toll from 35 to 32, with nearly 100 still hospitalized. (UPI)
BrusselsZaventem International Airport CEO Arnaud Feist says the airport will reopen at less than a quarter capacity Wednesday, as ongoing tests determine which flights can resume. It could take months for the airport to return to full capacity, Feist added. (UPI)
New research, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, finds women who have endometriosis, the abnormal growth of uterine tissue outside the uterus, may face a 60 percent higher risk of developing heart disease than women without the disorder. The potential risk was especially high for women 40 or younger. At least 10 percent of women of reproductive age suffer from endometriosis (endo) says Dr. Stacey Missmer of Brigham and Women's Hospital, who co-authored the study. (UPI)(NBC News)
A hijacked EgyptAir flight lands in Cyprus. All hostages have been released, and the hijacker has no evident ties to any terrorist organizations. (The Guardian)
Dozens of chief executive officers of major U.S. technology, biotech, and financial companies urge North Carolina to repeal a new state law forcing transgender people to use rest-rooms and changing-rooms according to the gender on their birth-certificate. (AP via WBT)
The NC Values Coalition, which worked to get Charlotte's nondiscrimination ordinance overturned by the state legislature, says hundreds of North Carolina businesses support the new state law, though fear retaliation if they make that support public. The coalition did list 17 businesses willing to be identified as supporting the new law. (AP)
In a move designed to head off a 4–4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court directs lawyers for the Obama administration, and for the religious groups who challenge it, to submit written briefs on a possible remedy to the case: whether coverage could be provided through the group's insurance companies without any actual notice to the government. A 4–4 decision would not set a national precedent, and would let stand the preceding decision in each case. In these seven cases, the appeals court in six upheld the government mandate. (NBC News)
The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the country's largest party, decides unanimously to leave President Rousseff's governing coalition. While Rousseff will remain in office, it's likely she could be impeached in a matter of months, which would make Vice PresidentMichel Temer president. (Reuters)
Chief of staff Jaques Wagner says President Rousseff will announce a new governing coalition before the end of the week. The President has an opportunity to form a new coalition for her remaining two years and nine months in office, Wagner added. (Reuters²)
The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a United States foreign aid agency, pulls $472m of funding for a Tanzanian electricity project after concluding that the election held in Zanzibar "was neither inclusive nor representative". Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, held a rerun of its election that was boycotted by the opposition after it was previously annulled because of supposed fraud. (BBC)
Candidate Donald Trump says he will no longer honor his pledge to support the eventual Republican Party pick for president because, "I have been treated very unfairly." (AP)(Fox News)
Two police officers are killed and four others are wounded in the western Venezuelan city of San Cristóbal after they were run over by a bus driven by young men protesting a hike in public transport fares, according to government officials and Reuters witnesses. (Reuters)
Thailand and neighbouring countries suffer from the worst drought in decades as an El Niño-induced water shortage reduces reservoirs to critical levels. (Al Jazeera)
At least nine people are injured in severe storms that spawned multiple tornado touchdowns in northeastern Oklahoma and sections of the Southwestern United States. One patient is in critical condition; the others suffered serious injuries, according to the Emergency Medical Services Authority. Parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas are also impacted. A flash flood watch has been issued through Thursday evening. Two (2) to 4 inches of rain is expected, with perhaps 6 inches in some locations. (AP)
Health and medicine
A new study by researchers at McGill University and the University of California, Los Angeles, finds that each additional month a woman has paid maternity leave is associated with decreased infant mortality by more than 10 percent. Researchers noted that paid maternity leave reduces stress because of the guarantee of income and job security, increases the chances for breastfeeding and other infant care, and allows a mother to seek more medical attention for herself. (UPI)(PLOS Medicine)
The United States Food and Drug Administration announces it has relaxed its official requirements regarding the use of the abortion drug Mifeprex (RU-486). The current guidelines were based on 1990s medical evidence. Changes include reducing the number of physician visits required by abortion-seeking women, reducing drug dosage, and allowing women to take the drug for three weeks longer -- now a total of 70 days. (UPI)
Mexico City, facing the capital's worst air-quality crisis in over a decade, issues a temporary order that all cars remain idle one day a week. Today, authorities report a pollution index of 108 (bad) after low readings during Holy Week. Vehicles will also be forced from the roads one Saturday a month. The measure will begin next Tuesday, April 5, and run until Thursday, June 30, 2016. Starting July 1, improved technology will be in place at smog-check centers where all vehicles must be tested every six months. (AP via Fox News)
International relations
The Wallenberg family files an application to formally declare Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg (born in 1912) to be dead. Wallenberg saved the lives of thousands of Jews in World War II only to disappear at the hands of the Soviet forces. (Times of Israel)
The Ukrainian parliament votes to ban all Russian films released after January 1, 2014, saying the move is aimed at improving “national security"; more than 430 Russian films and TV series fall under the new measures. Last month, the State Committee in Television and Radio-broadcasting in Ukraine removed 15 Russian TV channels from being broadcast in Ukraine. (RT)
A Bangladesh Court issues an arrest warrant, the second one so far, for former Prime MinisterKhaleda Zia and 27 opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party members over political violence, mostly petrol-bomb attacks, that occurred during anti-government protests last year that killed at least 120 people. (Al Jazeera)
A Larnaca, Cyprus, court orders that 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa, who was arrested by Cypriot police yesterday, remain in local police custody for eight days to assist Cyprus's own investigation. Mustafa faces charges of hijacking, illegal possession of explosives, kidnapping, and threats to commit violence. It's unclear if Mustafa had any explosives; the bomb belt he wore was fake, and officials are waiting for testing results on unidentified liquids found among his possessions. (AP via The Daily Courier)
The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), which organizes some 16,500 border patrol agents, endorses Donald Trump for President of the United States, NBPC's first-ever endorsement in a presidential election. (CNN)
The opposition controlled National Assembly of Venezuela passes an amnesty bill that could potentially free over 70 opposition leaders and activists jailed during protests last year, including prominent leader Leopoldo López. (BBC)
The opposition plans to generate a recall referendum that would ask voters if President Maduro should be removed from office. The Constitution states a recall referendum can be held once the president has served half of his six-year term (Maduro became President on April 19, 2013) and at least 20 percent of registered voters sign the petition. (UPI²)
A car bomb, targeting an armored vehicle transporting police personnel, explodes close to a bus terminal in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır, Turkey, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 27 more people, including 13 officers, according to a joint statement by Turkish officials and the police. The attack comes one day before Turkish Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoğlu's scheduled visit to the city. There has been no claim of responsibility. CNN points out both Kurdish rebels and ISIL militants have claimed similar recent incidents. (Al Jazeera)(CNN)(AP)(Arab News)
More than 50 heads of state as well as representatives from international organizations attend the annual Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., with the notable exception of Russia, which declined to attend. The main agenda of the two-day gathering is the discussion of North Korea and the threat it poses with its nuclear weapons and the possibility of ISIS extremists getting a nuclear weapon. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
A U.S. official announces that The Pentagon plans to transfer about a dozen inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to at least two countries that have agreed to take them, in the latest move in Barack Obama’s final push to close the facility. The official declined to name the countries ready to take them in. (The Guardian)
A Malaysian court dismisses Malaysia Airlines's bid to throw out a lawsuit filed by relatives of three people who went missing on Flight 370. The company argued that the disappearance of MH370 on March 8, 2014, occurred before the company came into existence as Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) on September 1, 2015, and therefore has no liability to relatives. The court ruled MAB's liability would be determined in a trial. (UPI)(Malay Mail)
Venezuela's National Assembly, responding to last month's Central Bank of Venezuela report that the country experienced a 180.9 percent inflation increase in 2015, passes legislation, The Law of Bonds for Food and Medicine for Retirees and Pensioners, that could make it easier for pensioners and retirees to pay for food and medicine. The approved bill has been forwarded for PresidentNicolás Maduro's signature. (UPI)
Today, thousands of demonstrators gathered in more than 20 states in support of Silva and Rousseff. (Reuters²)(AP via ABC news)
Brazil sports minister George Hilton resigns and will be replaced on an interim basis by Ricardo Leyser, a senior official in the ministry. Leyser, 45, has worked in the sports ministry since 2003, and has been heavily involved with the Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21, 2016. (The Rio Times)(insidethegames)
