Portal:Current events/2011 March 3

March 3, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Libyan civil war:
- The Dutch Ministry of Defense confirm that three Royal Netherlands Navy personnel are captured by armed men loyal to Muammar Gaddafi during an evacuation operation. "Intensive diplomatic negotiations" are going on between Dutch and Libyan authorities and relatives of the crew are being kept informed. (CNN)
- Reuters reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the President of the Arab League Amr Moussa have agreed to an offer by the President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez to mediate in the uprising. (Reuters via CNBC)
- Family members of Libyan dissidents raise concerns about kidnapping by the current regime. (ABC News Australia)
- The seaport of Brega is again bombed, though with no reported casualties. (BBC)
- Howard Davies, the director of the London School of Economics, resigns over allegations about the institution's links to the Libyan regime. (The Guardian), (BBC)
- Xinhua reports that 35,860 Chinese nationals have been evacuated from Libya in one of the largest overseas operations in Chinese military history. (Xinhua)
- The United States Air Force starts preparation of evacuation flights to get Egyptian refugees out of Libya following an order from US President Barack Obama. (AP via Washington Post)
- President Obama calls on Colonel Gaddafi to stand down and advises that the United States is looking at "full range" of military options. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Japanese jets scramble to react to Chinese military aircraft which flew close to the disputed Senkaku Islands. (BBC)
A bomb explodes at a People's Democratic Party rally in Suleja Nigeria killing at least three people. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
The suspect in a deadly attack on US airmen at Frankfurt Airport allegedly targeted US servicemen and had portrayed himself as an Islamist on the Internet according to German sources. (Stars and Stripes)
Ivory Coast security forces kill at least six women marching in support of Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan. (BBC)
A series of attacks in the Sudanese border town of Abyei kills more than 100 people in the past week. (Christian Science Monitor)

Business and economy

The United Nations says world food prices are at their highest for 20 years. (Al Jazeera) (Sify India)
News Corporation, the third largest media company in the world, gets approval to buy out British Sky Broadcasting, the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the United Kingdom, for $12.7 billion. (Business Week)(BBC)
WordPress.com, a leading weblog host, is subjected to a huge Distributed Denial of Service attack. (Techcrunch)
Airfares in the United States continue to rise due to increasing costs of jet fuel. (NBC Dallas Fort Worth)
Mazda recalls approximately 50,000 Mazda6 sedans after finding that a spider web could cause the fuel tank to crack and leak. (New York Times)

Disasters

New Zealand authorities state that they have given up finding survivors from the 2011 Canterbury earthquake with the final death toll expected to be approximately 240. (AP, Reuters, via MSNBC)
40 people die in northern India after two vehicles plunge into a deep gorge. (Rediff)

International relations

The President of Mexico Felipe Calderón travels to Washington, D.C., to meet with the President of the United States Barack Obama, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and other leading political figures. (CNN)
The United States reports that it has proof that Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent missing in Iran since 2007, is alive. (AP via Fresno Bee)

Law and crime

22 new charges are brought against Bradley Manning, including aiding the enemy, a capital offense. (BBC)
White supremacist David Lynch, the co-founder of the American Front, is killed in Sacramento County, California with police detaining a person in connection with the incident. (Los Angeles Times)
Target Corporation pays $22.5 million to settle claims of toxic waste dumping in the city of Los Angeles and elsewhere in the US state of California. (NBC Los Angeles)
A Needham, Massachusetts doctor and a nurse practitioner are indicted in connection with the death of six patients. (Boston Globe)

Politics and elections

Republicans submit a bill to the U.S. congress that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gasses as pollutants.(Reuters)
The Congress of New Caledonia elects a new collegial government with Harold Martin as President of New Caledonia. However, the new government collapses minutes after being formed. (RNZI)
P. J. Thomas, India's chief of anti-corruption, resigns over charges brought against him of corruption stemming from 1992. (BBC)
Ahmed Shafiq resigns as the Prime Minister of Egypt and is replaced by former transport minister Essam Sharaf. (Al-Jazeera)
2011 Wisconsin budget protests
- The Wisconsin Senate orders the arrest of 14 Democrat members who have been absent as part of the protests. (Wisconsin State Journal)
- Judge John Albert of the Dane County Circuit orders protestors to leave the Wisconsin Capitol Building. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), (AP via Huffington Post)
Harvard University welcomes the United States Reserve Officer Training Corps program back on campus following the lifting of the bans on gays in the military. (AP via ABC News America)
Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich announces plans to explore a bid for the Republican Party nomination in the 2012 US Presidential election. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Voters in the English constituency of Barnsley Central go to the polls for a by-election with Dan Jarvis of the Labour Party being elected with a strong swing in his favour. (BBC)
Fouad Mebazaa, the acting President of Tunisia, has called an election on July 24 to appoint a council to rewrite the constitution. (Reuters via Washington Post)

Science

The UK Government releases 35 formerly classified files related to sightings of unidentified flying objects. (Reuters)
The Daily Telegraph claims that German anaesthetist Joachim Boldt has conducted "fraudulent research" into drugs called colloids. (Daily Telegraph)

Sports

Police in the Australian state of New South Wales arrest former rugby league footballer John Elias and National Rugby League player agent Sam Ayoub in relation to a sports betting scandal allegedly involving current player Ryan Tandy of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. (Sydney Daily Telegraph), (Sydney Morning Hotel)
Manchester City Football Club defender and Ivory Coast international Kolo Touré is suspended after failing a drug test. (BBC)
Owners of National Football League franchises and the National Football League Players Association agree to extend talks on a new agreement by 24 hours in the hope that they can reach an agreement. (Washington Post)