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Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed (pictured) is convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. In the South Pacific, Cyclone Pam causes at least twenty-five deaths, with dozens more reported but unconfirmed. The first successful human penis transplant is announced by Stellenbosch University in South Africa. German architect Frei Otto wins the Pritzker Prize shortly before his death. Ten people, including French athletes Florence Arthaud, Camille Muffat and Alexis Vastine, are killed in a mid-air collision between two helicopters in Argentina. The Iraqi government reports that the pre-Islamic cities of Hatra and Nimrud have been destroyed by ISIL, who claimed they were blasphemous. Recent deaths: Terry Pratchett – Sam Simon

Current events of March 16, 2015 (2015-03-16) (Monday) Disasters and accidents Cyclone Pam The remnants of Cyclone Pam move down the east coast of New Zealand causing evacuations, heavy flooding, and power outages. (New Zealand Herald) The United Nations estimates that every school in Vanuatu has been destroyed or damaged by Cyclone Pam. The interim death toll has risen to 44. (ABC News Australia), (Reuters via Daily Mail) A bus runs off the road in northwestern Nepal killing at least seventeen people. (The Hindu) International relations The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, orders troops placed on full readiness in snap drills citing increased NATO exercises as the reason. (Bloomberg) Law and crime Italian police arrest four people while 51 others are under investigation for corruption associated with public works including a stretch of the high-speed rail line near Florence. (Daily Mail) An Egyptian court hands down a death sentence to Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and thirteen others. (BBC) Current events of March 15, 2015 (2015-03-15) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Libyan Civil War Fighting rages near the western Libyan city of Sirte between Islamic State affiliated militants and a local militia alliance. (BBC) The United States embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia close for Sunday and Monday due to heightened security concerns.(Fox News) Two suicide bombers belonging to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar blow themselves up in twin bomb attacks on two churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least fourteen people with 70 more injured. (The News Pakistan)(Al Jazeera) Disasters and accidents Cyclone Pam The government of the island nation of Vanuatu declares a state of emergency for Shefa Province containing the capital Port Vila as authorities struggle to assess the full impact of the category 5 storm. Once assessments of the damage have been done in other provinces, authorities are likely to widen the declared area in a state of emergency. (The Guardian), (ABC via Weatherzone) Enele Sopoaga, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, estimates that 45% of the population has been displaced by the cyclone. (Radio New Zealand) A car crash kills South African Minister of Public Service and Administration Collins Chabane. (News 24) Rainstorms hit northern India, resulting in fourteen deaths and widespread damage to crops. (Times of India) A fire breaks out in the bell tower of Moscow's Novodevichy Convent, established in 1524 and added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. (The Guardian) International relations Myanmar denies claims by the People's Republic of China that one of its aircraft crossed the Chinese border and dropped a bomb killing four people. (AP via ABC News America) Politics and elections The National Assembly of Venezuela grants President Nicolás Maduro the power to legislate by decree for nine months. (AP) Sports In basketball, the NCAA announces the field for the Men's Division I Tournament. Undefeated Kentucky is the top overall seed, with Duke, Villanova, and Wisconsin earning the other three #1 seeds. (ESPN) Weather The U.S. city of Boston sets an all time snow record, with 108.6 inches of snow for the season. (USA Today) Current events of March 14, 2015 (2015-03-14) (Saturday) Disasters and accidents The United Nations will send emergency aid to Vanuatu with at least four people officially dead and reports of dozens more dead after Cyclone Pam hit yesterday. (Reuters via Daily Mail)(AP) A bus crash in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina kills at least 51 people. (AFP via Yahoo! News), (Reuters via Daily Mail) International relations Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visits Sri Lanka's Jaffna District to hand over 27,000 homes to Tamil survivors of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (Al-Jazeera) After an armed band removed his personal security guards, the Vice President of Sierra Leone, Samuel Sam-Sumana, goes into hiding after applying for asylum at the United States embassy in Freetown. (AAP via SBS)(AP) Guyana rejects the latest objections raised by neighboring Venezuela over the granting to ExxonMobil Corp. of an oil and gas concession in Caribbean waters claimed by both nations. (Miami Herald) Law and crime The Los Angeles Police Department issues a warrant for the arrest of American Robert Durst regarding the murder of writer and confidant Susan Berman following the airing of a six-part documentary by HBO called The Jinx. He is later taken into custody in the city of New Orleans. (USA Today) Politics and elections The cancellation of several of Russian President Vladimir Putin's scheduled meetings leads to widespread social media speculations regarding the reason for his public absence. (The New York Times) Current events of March 13, 2015 (2015-03-13) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks A Myanmar air raid aimed at rebels on its border with China drops bombs on the Chinese city of Lincang killing four people. (AP via The New York Times) Business and economy Egypt Economic Development Conference Among the over 2,000 delegates from 112 different countries, U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, delivers a speech during the investment summit held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. (AP via ABC News) Disasters and accidents Cyclone Pam Cyclone Pam causes severe damage in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu with unconfirmed reports of over 40 deaths. (ABC News Australia) One South Korean Ministry of Public Safety and Security official dies and three are missing after a helicopter crash off the island of Gageodo. (Yonhap News) Chile declares a state of emergency and preliminary evacuation of 16,000 as a forest fire threatens the city of Valparaiso. (AFP via Yahoo! News) The Aung Takon passenger ferry sinks off the coast of Myanmar with 21 dead and 26 people missing. (Straits Times) A Serbian military Russian-made MI-17 transport helicopter crashes near Belgrade's international airport in foggy weather while evacuating a sick 5-day-old baby with life-threatening respiratory problems from the south of the country, killing all seven people on board. (AP) Health In regard to an operation that took place on December 11, 2014, today, a Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital surgical team from Cape Town, South Africa, reports the world's first successful penis transplant, an operation requiring reconnection of tiny blood vessels and nerves. (BBC) Law and crime Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny lodges a request to interrogate Julian Assange in his London refuge at the Ecuadorian consulate, saying that the reason for her change of mind is that the statute of limitations on several of the crimes of which Assange is suspected runs out in August 2015. (The Guardian) TeslaCrypt, a malicious computer virus, targets older games (including World of Warcraft) stopping their users from playing their favorite titles unless they pay a ransom. (BBC) Science and technology NASA reports that scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have found a salty ocean lurking beneath the surface of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede. (Scientific American) Current events of March 12, 2015 (2015-03-12) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks A U.S. drone strike in Somalia near the town of Bardhere kills the mastermind al-Shabab terrorist Adan Garar responsible for the September 2013 three-day seige Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, in which 67 people were killed by four gunmen. (AP) Business and economy The United Steelworkers union and Royal Dutch Shell negotiate a contract, pending union ratification, to end of a six-week strike that began February 1 that has affected twelve U.S. refineries. Previously, the strike had been cited as a reason for recent oil price increases. (AP) In New York City, U.S. district court judge Thomas Griesa expands the force of his existing remedial rulings in the ongoing litigation over the Argentine debt restructuring, blocking planned bond payments by Citigroup. The Citigroup processing of payments would violate a requirement that Argentina treat bondholders equally. (Reuters) Disasters and accidents 2014–15 South Pacific cyclone season Vanuatu prepares for Tropical Cyclone Pam which is predicted to reach Category 5 on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. (ABC Australia via Weatherzone) 2014–15 Australian region cyclone season Tropical Cyclone Olwyn intensifies with the potential to reach Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale before making landfall in Western Australia's Pilbara region on March 13. (Perth Now) The roof of a cement factory under construction collapses killing at least eight people and trapping dozens more in Mongla, Bangladesh. (BBC)(ABC) Law and crime Ferguson unrest An unknown gunman shoots two policemen in front of the Ferguson city police headquarters in the U.S. state of Missouri. (AP) US Treasury deputy inspector general for tax administration Timothy Camus testifies before the Senate Finance Committee that, since 2013, criminals pretending to be IRS tax agents contacted more than 366,000 people with harassing phone calls demanding payments and threatening prosecution and incarceration in the largest scam of its kind in the history of the agency. More than 3,000 people were duped out of a total of $15.5 million, with victims in almost every state. Federal investigators believe there is more than one group of perpetrators, including some overseas. Currently, two people in Florida have been arrested, accused of being part of a scam that involved people in call centers in India contacting U.S. taxpayers. Immigrants were the primary target early on. The callers can manipulate caller ID to make it look like they are calling from an IRS phone number. They might even know the last four digits of the taxpayer's Social Security number. (AP) US state of California Judge Thomas M. Goethals recuses the Orange County district attorney's office from the case of a convicted mass killer, 45-year-old former tugboat operator Scott Dekraai, who has already pleaded guilty to killing his ex-wife and seven others during the October 12, 2011 shooting rampage at a Seal Beach hair salon and turns over further prosecution of the case to the California attorney general's office after finding that sheriff's deputies had lied on the witness stand or withheld information about the misuse of jailhouse informants utilized to gather evidence for prosecutors. The ruling deals a blow to prosecutors' efforts to impose the death penalty. Defense attorneys also wanted the possibility of the death penalty thrown out but the judge refused. (AP) The anti-graft agency of the Communist Party of China (CCFDI) investigates former Urumqi party chief Li Zhi. He is the first official investigated from Xinjiang since the campaign began in 2013. (SCMP) Science and technology CERN's Large Hadron Collider, which went into shutdown for upgrades to increase beam energy, will resume operation later this month with the hope of creating more Higgs boson particles. (ZD Net) Sports FIFA expels Zimbabwe Football Association from qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for failing to pay former head coach José Claudinei arrears. (FIFA) Current events of March 11, 2015 (2015-03-11) (Wednesday) Disasters and accidents 2014–15 Australian region cyclone season Tropical Cyclone Nathan intensifies to a Category 2 system as it nears Cape York Peninsula in the north of the Australian state of Queensland. (The Australian) A search continues after an army helicopter crashed March 10 during a foggy night training exercise at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle leaving seven Marines and four United States Army soldiers missing. (AP via US News) A fire and partial collapse of the Admiral shopping complex in the Russian city of Kazan kills at least 17 people with 55 more injured. (Radio Free Europe) International relations The Government of Germany advises that Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend a May 9 World War II Victory Day Parade in Moscow but will visit shortly thereafter. (Radio Free Europe) Law and crime Assassination of Boris Nemtsov The Kremlin's Rights Council states that they believe that Zaur Dadayev, a former Chechen police officer, who confessed to being part of the murder of Boris Nemtsov did so after being tortured. (AFP via Yahoo! News) At least 15 armed assailants ambush two vans on a highway in Burgundy, France carrying millions of euros worth of jewels. It was the latest in a string of big jewel heists in France. (AP) A United States immigration appeals panel approves the deportation of former El Salvador Defence Minister Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova to potentially face human rights abuses charges in his homeland. (NBC News) Current events of March 10, 2015 (2015-03-10) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Sinai insurgency A suicide bomber kills one person and injures 24 in an attack on a police station in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. (AFP via Yahoo! News) Arts and culture The family of soul music singer Marvin Gaye wins a $7.3 million lawsuit for copyright infringement against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. holding that Thicke's hit "Blurred Lines" resembled Gaye's "Got to Give It Up". (Rolling Stone) Disasters and accidents A passenger train collides with a lorry on a level crossing at Dien Sanh, Vietnam leaving one person dead and several others injured. (Tuổi Trẻ News) Law and crime Police in New Zealand announce they are investigating threats to contaminate infant formula, after letters were sent to dairy cooperative Fonterra and farming lobby group Federated Farmers containing packages of infant formula laced with 1080 poison. (ABC News) The Wikimedia Foundation and eight other organisations file a lawsuit in the state of Maryland, US against the National Security Agency and the United States Department of Justice regarding the NSA's mass surveillance program. The Wikimedia Foundation is the owner and parent company of Wikipedia. (NBC News) The University of Oklahoma expels two students identified as ringleaders in the singing of a racist chant by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. (NBC News) Pakistan lifts a moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism, months after reinstating it. (RTT) More March 2015 events...

Time: 20:33 UTC  |  Day: 16 March  |   << March 2015 >> S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31    More March 2015 events... About this page • Suggest a headline News about Wikipedia  Ongoing events §Economic Financial crisis in Russia §Political Syrian and Iraqi civil wars Military intervention against ISIL Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger §Sports 2015 Cricket World Cup More details on ongoing conflicts below  Recent deaths §March 2015 15: Collins Chabane 15: Mike Porcaro 15: Xu Caihou 14: Valentin Rasputin 13: Daevid Allen 13: Irwin Hasen 13: Gretchen Kafoury 13: Ray Ritchie 13: Al Rosen 12: Willie Barrow 12: Michael Graves 12: Terry Pratchett 11: Richard Glatzer 11: Jimmy Greenspoon 11: Dell Williams 10: Windell Middlebrooks 10: Claude Sitton 10: Stuart Wagstaff 9: Florence Arthaud 9: David B. Frohnmayer 9: Gene Gene the Dancing Machine 9: James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead 9: Camille Muffat 9: Frei Otto 9: Alexis Vastine 8: Sam Simon 8: Lew Soloff 7: Derek Day 7: Brian Sutton-Smith 7: Ross Turnbull 6: Ram Sundar Das 5: Edward Egan 4: Terry Fearnley 4: Jam Sebastian 3: M. Stanton Evans 3: John Mockler 2: Bettina Graziani 2: Dave Mackay 2: Mal Peet 1: Deedee Corradini 1: Jeff McKnight 1: Minnie Miñoso 1: Daniel von Bargen 1: Chris Welp §February 2015 28: Alex Johnson 28: Yaşar Kemal 28: Anthony Mason 28: Thomas J. Stanley 27: Richard Bakalyan 27: Malcolm Boyd 27: Boris Nemtsov 27: Leonard Nimoy 26: Anthony R. Cucci 26: Monroe H. Freedman 26: Nadia Hilou 26: Avijit Roy 25: Eugenie Clark 25: Terry Gill 24: Rakhat Aliyev 24: Gérard Ducarouge 24: Donald Keough 24: Dori J. Maynard 23: Mirjana Puhar 23: Rana Bhagwandas 23: John Rowlands 23: R. C. Sakthi 22: Carmine Schiavone 21: Robert O. Marshall 21: Bruce Sinofsky 21: Sadeq Tabatabaei 21: Clark Terry 21: Daniel Topolski 20: Frank Prendergast 20: Henry Segerstrom 20: John C. Willke 19: Harold Johnson 19: Yutaka Katayama 19: Harris Wittels 18: Cass Ballenger 18: Mele Carroll 18: Claude Criquielion 18: Jerome Kersey 17: Richard Alan Enslen 17: George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie  Ongoing conflicts §Africa Algeria, Tunisia and Niger Maghreb insurgency Central African Republic Civil war Democratic Republic of Congo Kivu conflict ADF insurgency Katanga insurgency Ituri conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Eritrea and Ethiopia Second Afar insurgency Ethiopia Ogaden insurgency OLF insurgency Libya Civil war Mali Northern Mali conflict Nigeria and Cameroon Boko Haram Conflict in the Niger Delta Somalia Civil war South Sudan South Sudanese Civil War Sudan War in Darfur South Kordofan conflict Sudanese nomadic conflicts §Americas Colombian conflict Internal conflict in Peru Mexican War on Drugs §Asia Afghanistan War Taliban insurgency China Xinjiang conflict India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Insurgency in Northeast India India and Pakistan Kashmir conflict Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict Philippines Communist insurgency Moro insurgency Southeast Asia Internal conflict in Burma Papua conflict South Thailand insurgency §Europe Georgia Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Georgian–Ossetian conflict Chechen-Russian conflict North Caucasus insurgency War in Ingushetia Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Ukraine War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine §Middle East Arab–Israeli conflict Gaza–Israel conflict Israeli–Lebanese conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Egypt Sinai insurgency Iran Iran–PJAK conflict Iraqi civil war American-led intervention in Iraq Iranian intervention in Iraq Syrian Civil War American-led intervention in Syria Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Turkey Turkey-PKK conflict Yemeni crisis Houthi rebellion Al-Qaeda insurgency South Yemen insurgency  Elections §Recent: January–February 16: Saint Kitts and Nevis, National Assembly 18: Greece, President (1st round) 18: Lebanon, President (19th round) 22: Comoros, Assembly of the Union (2nd round) 28: Lesotho, National Assembly 1: Andorra, General Council 1: El Salvador, Legislative Assembly 1: Estonia, Parliament 1: Tajikistan, Assembly of Representatives 3: Micronesia, Congress 5: Pakistan, Senate 8: Switzerland, Referendum 11: Lebanon, President (20th round) §Upcoming: March 17: Israel, Knesset 19: Tuvalu, Parliament 21: Egypt, House of Representatives 28: Nigeria, President, House of Representatives, Senate 29: Uzbekistan, President 2: Lebanon, President (21st round) 2: Sudan, President, National Assembly  Trials §Recently concluded Australia: Brett Peter Cowan, Craig Thomson, Robert Hughes Brazil: Mensalão scandal Canada: Michael Thomas Rafferty, Luka Magnotta China: Liu Tienan, Li Daqiu, Bo Xilai Croatia: Ivo Sanader Egypt: Hosni Mubarak, Peter Greste Germany: Bernie Ecclestone, Uli Hoeness, Christian Wulff, Breno Borges Iran: Mohammad Reza Rahimi Israel: Hussam Qawasmeh Italy: Silvio Berlusconi Jordan: Abu Qatada Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim Russia: Leonid Khabarov, Vladimir Kvachkov, Pussy Riot South Africa: Shrien Dewani, Oscar Pistorius, Chris Mahlangu Turkey: Kenan Evren, Tahsin Şahinkaya United Kingdom: Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, Ali Dizaei, Antoni Imiela, Brian Regan, Donna Air, Ched Evans, Clayton McDonald, Titus Bramble, Dan Penteado, John Terry, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, Asil Nadir, Justin Lee Collins, Kweku Adoboli, Tony McCluskie, Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, Chris Huhne, Nicola Edgington, Vicky Pryce, Derek Rose, Mick Philpott, Mairead Philpott, Paul Mosley, Kevin Liverpool, Junior Bradshaw, Aggro Santos, Stuart Hazell, Mark Bridger, Andrew Lancel, Dale Cregan, Ray Wilkins, Michael Le Vell, Liam Adams, R v Grillo and Grillo, Ian Watkins, William Roache, Dave Lee Travis, Nicholas Jacobs, Nigel Evans, Max Clifford, Stuart Hall, Dappy, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Rolf Harris, Tulisa Contostavlos, Chris Denning, Ray Teret, Gary Glitter, Fred Talbot United States: Abu Hamza al-Masri, Michael Grimm, Bob McDonnell, Vilma Bautista, George Huguely, Allen Stanford, Roger Clemens, Jerry Sandusky, Jared Lee Loughner, Lauryn Hill, Kermit Gosnell, George Zimmerman, Chelsea Manning, Ariel Castro, Whitey Bulger, Robert Bales, Nidal Malik Hasan, Crystal Mangum International ECCC: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan ICC: Germain Katanga, Thomas Lubanga ICTY: Momčilo Perišić, Mladen Markač, Ante Gotovina SCFSL: Charles Taylor §Ongoing China: Ji Jianye, Ni Fake Egypt: Mohamed Morsi France: Dominique Strauss-Kahn Germany: Beate Zschäpe Iran: Babak Zanjani Philippines: Andal Ampatuan, Jr., Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Janet Lim-Napoles, Jovito Palparan, Joseph Scott Pemberton Russia: Alexei Navalny South Korea: MV Sewol crew members United Kingdom: Eddy Shah, Koo Stark United States: Jodi Arias International ICTY: Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladic §Upcoming Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Spain: Lionel Messi United Kingdom: Dane Bowers, Andy Coulson United States: Paul Anthony Ciancia, Javaris Crittenton, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Dylan Quick, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, James Eagan Holmes, Aaron Hernandez, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Anas al-Libi, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Rick Perry International ICC: Laurent Gbagbo

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