Negotiators reach a preliminary deal on capping mobile phone intercarrier (wholesale) tariffs. Roaming charges on voice and data calls for consumers within the EU are expected to be terminated on June 15, 2017. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
According to a report released by Malegapuru William Makgoba, 94 mentally ill patients in South Africa died from starvation, dehydration and diarrhea between March and December 2016 because of a "reckless" government attempt to save money by transferring the patients from a specialized institution to care centres with "invalid licenses". (BBC)
Israel announces it will build an entirely new settlement in the West Bank for the first time in about twenty years. Many in the international community believe that such settlements are illegal but Israel disputes that. The settlement program is illegal under international law. (CNN)
The White House cautions Israel that building new settlements or expanding existing settlements in the West Bank, "... may not be helpful in achieving (peace)." (NBC News)(BBC)
Law and crime
Former HBOS manager Lynden Scourfield and other bankers and consultants are found guilty of corruption and abuse of power in stealing £245 million from the bank and small businesses in a loans scam, which was spent on personal luxuries. Scourfield was sentenced to 11 years in prison. (The Guardian)
The National Liberation Army releases former congressman Odin Sanchez, who had been held hostage by the rebel group since April 2016, paving the way for peace talks to begin between the rebels and the Colombian government next week in Ecuador. (BBC)
At least 47 ISIL militants have been killed by Turkish and U.S.-led bombing raids by fighter jets on the town of al-Bab in the last 24 hours, with the Turkish Armed Forces attacking 135 other ISIL targets in northern Syria. (Al Jazeera)
Activists say U.S.-led coalition aircraft has destroyed the main pipeline supplying the de facto ISIL capital Al-Raqqah with water. (The New York Times)
The United Nations and various humanitarian groups call on the international community to help prevent a possible famine in Somalia as rising food prices and drought have left over six million people at risk of starvation. (The Guardian)
Peruvian PresidentPedro Pablo Kuczynski's government creates a temporary visa for thousands of Venezuelans whose country is mired in a deep economic crisis. Visa holders will be able to study, work, and receive health services in Peru for a year. "This is part of our migratory policy that aims to build bridges not walls", says Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio. (Reuters)
A French Army soldier shoots and wounds a man armed with a knife who was trying to enter an underground shopping area near the Louvre in Paris. The museum was evacuated. (BBC)
A rebel commander is killed by a bomb in eastern Ukraine while three Ukrainian Army soldiers are killed in fighting. At least 33 people have been killed in fighting over the past week. (AP via News Limited)
The federal government notifies the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it will appeal Judge Robart's ruling that has halted enforcement of the executive order. The filing contained no legal arguments. (USA Today)
The cave squeaker (Arthroleptis troglodytes), a critically endangered species of frog, is located and captured for the first time since 1962. Scientists announce plans to breed. (The New York Times)
A report by Amnesty International states that between 5,000 and 13,000 people, most of them civilians, were hanged at the military-run Sednaya Prison near Damascus between September 2011 and December 2015. (BBC)
Multiple tornadoes tear through New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and other parts of southeastern Louisiana, injuring at least 20 people; no deaths have been reported. The severe weather also delivers heavy rain and hail in Mississippi and Alabama. (AP)(Reuters)
Six AfghanRed Cross workers are shot dead by suspected ISIL militants in the northern Jowzjan Province. Two other Red Cross workers are reportedly abducted. (BBC)
Unknown gunmen storm a hotel in Bosaso, leaving at least four guards and two militants dead. It is unclear who carried out the attack. An official blames Al-Shabaab, though the group denies having any involvement. (Al Jazeera)
The government of Prime Minister of RomaniaSorin Grindeanu survives a no-confidence motion over proposed decriminalisation of certain corruption offences, with 161 MPs voting in favor of the motion, short of the 232 votes needed for it to pass. (AP)(Al Jazeera)
Also that day, the Constitutional Court rejected two pleas made by PresidentIohannis and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy (CSM) that claimed an institutional conflict between the Parliament, respectively the CSM on one hand, and the Government on the other, in a move that surprised the critics of the PSD-led cabinet and the protesters. The next day it rejected the final plea made by the Ombudsman on reasons of inadmissibility. (The Romania Journal)
An airstrike hits a tunnel in the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, killing at least two people and injuring five more. It is unclear who launched the airstrike. (Al Jazeera)
Disasters and accidents
A fire at the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant in northwest France caused an explosion in a "non-nuclear" part of the station. One reactor was taken offline and five people were affected by fumes. The accident did not cause a radioactive leak. (Reuters)
The appeal of the Trump administration is denied as the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said it would not block a lower-court ruling that brought the president's executive order to a halt. (BBC)
Politics and elections
A high court in Kenya blocks a government bid to close the Dadaab refugee camp and repatriate over 260,000 Somali refugees back to Somalia. The government said it will appeal against the ruling. (BBC)
French police arrest three men and a 16-year-old girl found with bomb-making materials in a Montpellier flat. The female suspect had been spotted online saying she wanted to either leave for the Syria-Iraq conflict or mount an attack in France, and recorded a video in which she pledged allegiance to ISIL. (BBC)
In Hong Kong, over 16 were injured, and an incoherent man was charged with arson after an alleged firebomb attack on a rush hour Hong Kong metro commuter train. The man set fire to himself and others with a flammable liquid for an unspecified personal reason, but officials found no evidence of a terrorist motive. (Independent)
The European Union pledges to give the Gambia€225 million in aid to assist the country following the departure of former president Yahya Jammeh, whose 22 years of misrule left the country "virtually bankrupt". (The Guardian)
Aboard Air Force One, President Trump tells reporters he is considering issuing a revised policy banning citizens of certain countries traveling to the United States. (Reuters)
The Trump administration decides to not immediately appeal the Ninth Circuit's decision, which continues the travel ban suspension, to the Supreme Court. (CNN)
A judge in Peru issues an arrest warrant for former PresidentAlejandro Toledo for allegedly receiving US$20 million in bribes from Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company, in exchange for a contract deal to build a transoceanic highway between Brazil and the Peruvian coast. Toledo denies any wrongdoing. (The Guardian)
Abdulkadir Masharipov is charged with murder in relation to the shootings in Istanbul that killed 39 people and is remanded in custody. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has claimed responsibility for the shootings. (ABC)
Voters in Uttar Pradesh cast ballots in Phase 1 of the state's 2017 elections, with Phase 7, the final poll, to be held on 8 March. This will be an important test of India's November policy change that removed 86 percent of the cash then in circulation. (Reuters)
Violence erupts at a protest rally in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least four protesters and one police officer. Thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gathered in the capital to demand an overhaul of the country's electoral system. (Al Jazeera)
At least 34 people are killed after a tour bus, carrying mostly local elderly tourists, overturns on a freeway in Taipei, Taiwan. (Focus Taiwan)(BBC)
The U.S. Coast Guard continues to search for the missing F/V Destination, a Seattle-based fishing vessel operating near St. George, Alaska, with a six-member crew. The Coast Guard has discovered a debris field, but no sign of the crew. (KTUU-TV)
Cigna announces that it has terminated its merger with Anthem, a deal that was blocked by a U.S. federal judge last week. In addition, Cigna sues Anthem for the $1.85 billion reverse termination fee, and for more than $13 billion in additional damages. Anthem says Cigna has no right to terminate the merger, a deal which in January was extended to April 30, 2017. (Bloomberg)(CNBC)
Aetna and Humana terminate their proposed merger that had been blocked last month by a U.S. federal judge. Aetna announces it will pay Humana the $1 billion fee for calling off the agreement. (Forbes)(NPR)
Two separate bombings take place in Pakistan, killing at least seven people. A suicide bomber kills five people at the administrative headquarters in the Mohmand Agency tribal district while the other kills two people at a hospital in Peshawar. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claims responsibility for the first attack. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
At the Indigenous Peoples Forum in Rome, Italy, Pope Francis says that developmental needs have to be reconciled with the protection of the particular characteristics of indigenous peoples and their territories. This is taken by some as a reference to the Standing Rock Sioux and other groups opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Reuters)
At least 70 people are killed and more than 150 injured in suicide bombing at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine in Sehwan, Sindh, Pakistan; 50 of the injured are in critical condition, medical emergency has been declared in the hospitals of Hyderabad, Dadu and Jamshoro. (Dawn News)(The News)
The U.S. Justice Department tells the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it won't be seeking further action by the court since this executive order will soon be replaced by a different one. Justice added they expect the Ninth Circuit ruling will be vacated once the new executive order is issued. (NBC News)
Hundreds of restaurants and other businesses in U.S. cities close their doors after activists called on immigrants to stay home from work, avoid shopping or eating out, and skip classes Thursday for #ADayWithoutImmigrants, to protest the President's immigration reforms and highlight the immigrant community's contributions to the United States. (Reuters)(The Atlantic)(The Philadelphia Inquirer)(Los Angeles Times)
British-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever rejects a US$143 billion takeover from Kraft Heinz, saying the deal had no financial or strategic merit. Nevertheless, Kraft is still interested in finding agreement; it has until March 17 to make a final bid under UK takeover rules. (Reuters)
Severe storms in southern California prompt flash flood warnings over most of southern and central California, toppling trees and power lines, and delaying over 300 flights from Los Angeles International Airport. Since the largest El Nino of 1997-98 and 2009-10. (ABC)
At the Munich Security Conference, a truce between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army, per the Minsk Protocol, takes effect Monday. Pending a permanent political agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin orders that civil registration documents issued in separatist-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine be temporarily recognized. Ukrainian authorities say this violates provisions in the Minsk agreement. This is the third such agreement because the previous two in 2014 and 2015 were violated. Low-level fighting and artillery fire never fully stopped. (Al Jazeera)(CNN)
Law and crime
According to the United Nations, as many as 96 families have been displaced by criminal gangs who are filling the vacuum left by FARC rebels in Colombia after the latter signed a peace deal with the government last year. (BBC)
Iraq Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi says U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have launched an operation to regain control of western Mosul from ISIL militants. The United Nations says humanitarian agencies are setting up in these older sections of the city where, already, food and fuel supplies are dwindling, running water is scarce, and electricity in many neighborhoods is unreliable for the estimated 800,000 civilians. (CNN)(BBC)(UN-OCHA)
An overnight Pakistani counter-terrorism raid kills five members of the banned Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which has claimed responsibility for recent deadly terrorist attacks. Four militants escaped. (AP)
Business and economics
Kraft Heinz drops its bid to buy Unilever for US$143 billion. Unilever rejected the idea last Friday but Kraft Heinz still expressed interest in finding an agreement. (BBC)
Voters head to the polls to select the National Assembly and a new president with former vice-president Lenín Moreno facing off against former bank president Guillermo Lasso, and six other opposition candidates. There will be an April 2 runoff unless the leader receives 40 percent of the votes and is at least 10 percentage points ahead of the others. In addition, there's a tax haven referendum. (Reuters)
Two top level officials overseeing South Sudan's military courts resign from their posts, accusing the government of interfering in the court's moves to discipline soldiers accused of rape and murder. The resignations come less than a week after a military general and the Minister of Labour resigned in protest of President Salva Kiir Mayardit's alleged approval of atrocities against civilians not belonging to the Dinka group. (Al Jazeera)
The week-long 2017 Asian Winter Games open at Sapporo Dome in Japan with more than 2,000 athletes from 31 countries, including North Korea, participating. (AP)
Severe storms, from the weather system that hit Southern California Friday, reach southwest Texas injuring several people and damaging at least 100 homes with one confirmed tornado in San Antonio. Heavy rains continue today with flash floods likely as the storm moves to eastern Texas and southern Louisiana. (USA Today)(Weather Channel)
Malaysia recalls its ambassador from North Korea amid an ongoing dispute over the alleged assassination of Kim Jong-nam by North Korean agents in the country. (BBC)
A Montenegrin prosecutor accuses Russian authorities of being involved in the October 2016 coup plot in order to halt Montenegro's accession to NATO. Russian officials dismiss the allegations as "absurd." (The Guardian)
Multiple suicide bombers kill at least six people near a district court in Charsadda. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack. (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos resigns from his post as technology editor at Breitbart news, after controversy around his statements regarding underage sex. (BBC)
Flooding occurs across parts of Indonesia, including the capital Jakarta, due to torrential downpours over the last few days. Thousands of homes have been flooded and schools were forced to close. However, there are no reports of injuries yet. (Al Jazeera)
French National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen leaves before her scheduled meeting in Beirut with Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim religious leader, Grand Mufti Abdellatif Deryan, following her refusal to accept the offered headscarf to cover her hair. Le Pen's aides had been informed earlier about the traditional, religious need for a headscarf for this meeting. (Reuters)(Al Jazeera)
Following last month's manslaughter conviction, Israeli soldier Elor Azaria is sentenced to 18 months in prison by a military court for, during a violent incident, his deadly shooting of the wounded, unarmed, prone Palestinian Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, who had stabbed a soldier last March in Hebron. (CBS News)
A runoff presidential election, between former vice-president Lenín Moreno and former bank president Guillermo Lasso, is scheduled for Sunday, April 2 since no candidate gained at least 40 percent of the vote in Sunday's poll. With 95.3 percent of votes counted, Moreno received 39.21 percent of valid votes and Lasso had 28.34 percent. (Reuters)
A Houthi missile attack on a Yemeni military camp near the port city of Mocha kills Major General Ahmed Saif al-Yafei, Yemen's deputy chief of staff, and several others. (Reuters)
The Turkish government lifts the ban prohibiting female army officers from wearing a Hijab. The military is the last Turkish institution to end the ban. (BBC)
Israel denies entry to Omar Shakir, a researcher for Human Rights Watch and an American citizen, because the organization engages in so-called Palestinian propaganda. HRW's Sari Bashi said, "This Israeli government has been narrowing the space for democratic activity," by closing the country off to critics. Later, the Israel government would grant Mr. Shakir a tourist visa while considering HRW's appeal on the work visa. (CNN)(The New York Times)
German police shoot a man, who was trying to escape after apparently driving into a group of pedestrians in a central square in Heidelberg. A 73-year-old man was killed and two other people injured. Police do not believe terrorism is involved. (BBC)(Deutsche Welle)(Reuters)
In a second round of voting, Tom Perez is elected Chair of the DNC with 235 votes. Perez names Congressman Keith Ellison Deputy Party Chair. (NBC News)(The Washington Post)
Donald Trump announces he will not attend the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, following recent friction between his administration and various news organizations. (BBC News)
A Sabal Trail Transmission Pipeline protester who was seen firing a high powered rifle at the pipeline construction site in Florida was chased by police until his car crashed. The suspect was shot and killed by a deputy after he tried to engage police in a gunfight. (CBS News)
Millions of residents in the Chilean capital Santiago are left without access to running water after the Maipo River is contaminated by flooding and landslides. At least four people have died in the floods. (BBC)
16 people dead in northern India after a truck carrying villagers to church overturned on a mountain road. (DW)
Philip Bilden, nominee for Secretary of the Navy, withdraws his name from consideration. Mr. Bilden says his business interests created complications. (CNN)
At least four Palestinians are injured following Israeli air strikes in Gaza that were reportedly in response to rockets launched into southern Israel by Hamas. (RT)
Business and economics
The Hershey Company announces it will cut about 15 percent of its global workforce (~2,700 jobs) to return its international businesses to profitability as quickly as possible. The layoffs will have a greater impact on the international workforce. (CNN)
Disasters and accidents
A small plane crashes in a residential area of Riverside, California, killing at least three people, all of whom were passengers on the plane. No one on the ground was injured. (BBC)
Twelve people are injured, four critically, after an SUV hits the Gulf Shores High School Band during the Gulf Shores, Alabama, Mardi Gras parade. The vehicle, in the parade behind the band, accelerated when the 73-year-old driver's foot slipped off the brake pedal onto the gas. (RT)(CNN)(WPMI-TV)
About 330 people with alleged links to last year's coup attempt stand trial at a prison outside Ankara on charges of murder and attempting to overthrow the government, the largest trial to date. (Al Jazeera)
German police storm a refugee center in Hamburg after a knife-wielding man barricades himself in a room with a pregnant woman believed to be his partner. The man was injured before he was arrested. (RT)
Hundreds of right-wing activists gather to protest the court-ordered demolition of the Israeli settlement Ofra, which was built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. Israeli police are evacuating nine homes in the settlement, despite hunger strikes and people barricading themselves inside. (RT)
The Royal Thai Government has fired Police General Jumpol Manmai for "extremely evil" misconduct and political interests which threatened national security. (Reuters)
