Portal:Current events
Topics in the news

- A wildfire (pictured) in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country in at least five decades.
- Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
- The United States imposes—and later partially delays—tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
- Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war
- Western Syria clashes
- March 2025 Western Syria clashes
- A Syrian war monitor reports that Syrian security forces executed 52 Alawite men in Latakia province after clashes broke out the day prior against the new Syrian regime. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
- March 2025 Western Syria clashes
- Western Syria clashes
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine deploys its Dassault Mirage 2000 jets against Russian forces for the first time, with the jets intercepting several Russian cruise missiles with air-to-air missiles. (BBC News) (Politico)
International relations
- Canada–Philippines relations
- Canada and the Philippines conclude negotiations on a visiting forces agreement. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Proposed secession of Republika Srpska
- Bosnian Serb police begin removing state police from their posts in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a move aimed at implementing separatist legislation signed into law by Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik. (Reuters)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war
- Western Syria clashes
- March 2025 Western Syria clashes
- At least 16 members of the security forces and 28 Assad loyalists are killed in a series of ambushes and shootouts in Latakia Governorate, Syria. (Al Arabiya) (France 24)
- March 2025 Western Syria clashes
- Four smuggling suspects are killed in clashes between Jordanian border forces and armed groups attempting to cross from Syria. (The New Arab)
- Save the Children says that landmines and unexploded ordnance in Syria have killed or injured at least 188 children since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. (Al Arabiya)
- Western Syria clashes
- Russo-Ukrainian war
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announces US$3.8 billion in national military funding for Ukraine in 2026, including $700 million in Dutch drone manufacturing. Norwegian and Polish leaders also announce increases in military aid for Ukraine. (ABC News)
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Rohingya genocide
- The United Nations World Food Programme announces that it will reduce the emergency food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from US$12.50 to $6 per person. (Al Jazeera)
- Somali civil war
- Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways temporarily suspend flights to Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, following security warnings from the United States embassy about potential terrorist attacks targeting the airport. (AeroTime) (Hiiraan Online)
Business and economy
- Second Trump tariffs
- 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- Following phone calls between United States President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump announces a pause on some tariffs on both Canada and Mexico until April 2. Sheinbaum states that Mexico will collaborate with the United States on migration and security issues, including controlling cross-border fentanyl smuggling. (ABC News) (DW) (CBC)
- 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- 2020s European re-armament
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announces that Spain will accelerate defense spending to 2% of its GDP in four years. (El Mundo)
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded exclusively with bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases. (CNBC)
Disasters and accidents
- 2025 Pocheon bombing
- Two South Korean Air Force KF-16 jets erroneously release eight MK82 bombs over home territory in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, striking a residential area and multiple homes, injuring at least 15 people, four of them seriously. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- According to a report in the academic journal Science, the population of the 554 recorded species of butterflies in the U.S. have declined by 22% since 2000. (NPR)
International relations
- France–Ukraine relations
- French defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu says France will continue sharing military intelligence to Ukraine regarding the Russian invasion. (AP)
- The United States withdraws from the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a program that helps emerging countries transition away from non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuels. (DW) (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Sudanese civil war
- The government of Sudan files a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice against the United Arab Emirates for its alleged support of the Rapid Support Forces and its complicity in genocide against the Masalit people in Darfur, Sudan. The UAE denies its involvement in Sudan and calls the lawsuit a "publicity stunt". (Middle East Eye) (Al Jazeera)
- The European Court of Justice fines Germany €34 million (US$36.7 million) for failing to implement a European Union law to protect whistleblowers by 2021. The Court also fines Czechia €2.3 million, Hungary €1.5 million, and Luxembourg and Estonia €500,000 each for the same reason. (DW)
- Six individuals, including retired general and far-right politician Radu Theodoru , are arrested on accusations of being involved in a Russian-backed coup d'état plot in Romania. (The Financial Times) (Politico)
Science and technology
- 2025 in spaceflight
- Starship flight test 8
- SpaceX launches its eighth test flight of the Starship launch vehicle from Starbase in Texas, United States. The first stage was caught by the launch tower despite Raptor engine failures during landing, but the second stage failed during its burn, mirroring the last flight test in January. (Reuters)
- Intuitive Machines' space probe IM-2 Athena lands on Mons Mouton near the lunar south pole after launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, U.S., on February 27. (BBC News)
- An Ariane 6 rocket launches French military satellite CSO-3 from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. It is the first commercial launch of the Ariane 6 expendable launch system. (AP)
- Starship flight test 8
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kryvyi Rih strikes
- A Russian missile strikes a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, killing four people and injuring seven others. (Reuters)
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe announces that the United States has suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- Kryvyi Rih strikes
- Gaza war
- 2025 Gaza war ceasefire
- The United States begins direct negotiations with Hamas over the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. President of the United States Donald Trump later threatens on Truth Social and X that the people of Gaza "are dead" unless they return the hostages "immediately". (Sky News) (Al Jazeera) (NBC News)
- 2025 Gaza war ceasefire
- South Sudanese Civil War
- 2025 Nasir clashes
- Security forces in South Sudan arrest Puot Kang Chol, a senior member of the parliamentary opposition, minister of petroleum and mining, and army general, as well as multiple other opposition-aligned military officers. South Sudanese soldiers also surround vice president Riek Machar's house overnight before later withdrawing. (Reuters) (BBC News)
- 2025 Nasir clashes
- Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus
- Russia's Federal Security Service says that it killed four Islamic State militants in Dagestan during a counterterrorism operation. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Second Trump tariffs
- 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- United States president Donald Trump announces a one-month temporary reprieve from tariffs for American automakers after receiving complaints from the Big Three: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. (NPR)
- 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- 2025 United States federal mass layoffs
- The United States Department of Veteran Affairs announces it will lay off over 80,000 jobs to comply with the Trump administration's plans under the Department of Government Efficiency. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024–25 Australian region cyclone season
- Tropical Cyclone Alfred
- Queensland Premier David Crisafulli announces the suspension of public transport services and the closure of 640 schools in South East Queensland, Australia, as Cyclone Alfred is expected to make landfall early Friday morning local time. (ABC News Australia)
- Tropical Cyclone Alfred
- 2025 Chugach Mountains avalanche
- Three skiers are suspected to be killed after an avalanche trapped them under more than 30 feet of snow in the Chugach Mountains, Alaska, United States. (CTV News) (USA Today)
- One person is killed and sixteen others are injured when a bridge collapses on the E42 highway in La Louvière, Hainaut Province, Belgium. (Reuters) (RTBF)
International relations
- Somalia–United States relations
- The U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu warns of imminent attack threats in Somalia, including at Aden Adde International Airport. Embassy personnel movements are suspended. (ABC News)
- Somali military officials confirm that the Trump administration has halted all funding for Somalia's Danab Brigade special forces and cut billions in USAID grants to the country. (Hiiraan Online)
- Russia–United States relations
- The United States Department of Defense denies previous media reports that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had ordered a halt to offensive cyber operations and information operations against Russia by U.S. Cyber Command. (The Hill)
Law and crime
- 2025 California wildfires
- January 2025 Southern California wildfires
- In the U.S., Los Angeles County files a lawsuit against Southern California Edison, the electric utility company servicing most of Southern California, and alleges that the company's power system started the Eaton Fire, seeking to recover costs and damages sustained from the fire that damaged over 9,400 buildings and killed 17 people. (AP)
- January 2025 Southern California wildfires
- Mexican drug war
- The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District Court of Vermont indicts and charges 25 Canadians for conspiracy to defraud elderly people in the United States out of US$21 million and charges five of those 25 with conspiracy to commit money laundering. (NPR)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Hezbollah–Israel conflict
- Israeli invasion of Lebanon
- An Israeli drone strike in Tyre, Lebanon, kills Haidar Hashem, the head of naval forces in Hezbollah's Radwan Force. (Times of Israel)
- Israeli invasion of Lebanon
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A Ukrainian drone strikes an oil pipeline in Rostov Oblast, Russia, setting the pipeline ablaze for several hours before being put out by firefighters. Russia also reports its air defence units repelled another drone attack near Novoshakhtinsk. (Reuters)
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2024–present Serbian anti-corruption protests
- Serbian National Assembly brawl
- At least three Serbian lawmakers are injured after flares and smoke bombs were thrown into the National Assembly. Ana Brnabić, the President of the National Assembly, described the attack as terrorism. (CTV News)
- Serbian National Assembly brawl
- Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Militants belonging to a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban storm a Pakistan Army compound in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, after two suicide bombers blow themselves up at the entrance, killing 12 civilians and wounding 30 others after nearby buildings collapsed. Six gunmen are also killed in the shootout. (Al Jazeera)
- New People's Army rebellion
- A Philippine Air Force FA-50PH fighter jet is reported missing during an overnight combat operation against insurgents in Bukidnon, Philippines. A search and rescue operation to locate the missing pilots is launched with both later being confirmed dead. (Reuters) (The Philippine Star)
- Red Sea crisis
- The Houthis claim to have shot down an American MQ-9 UAV, stating that it was conducting "hostile missions" over Al Hudaydah. The U.S. Air Force later confirms a loss of contact with the drone. (Al Arabiya)
Business and economy
- Second Trump tariffs
- 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports to the United States take effect, while an existing 10% tariff on all Chinese imports rises to 20% amid an ongoing trade war. (AP)
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that he will impose a reciprocal 25% tariff on American goods worth up to US$155 billion. (Canada.ca)
- China–United States trade war
- The Chinese Ministry of Finance announces 10–15% tariffs on a range of US food imports, set to start March 10. (Reuters)
- 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- 2025 Donald Trump speech to a joint session of Congress
- U.S. President Donald Trump announces the creation of the Office of Shipbuilding, as means to compete with China in the maritime transport industry. (The Wall Street Journal)
Disasters and accidents
- March 2025 North American blizzard
- A storm complex leaves over 400,000 people without power in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and brings severe weather to large portions of the Southern United States. (The New York Times)
- A light aircraft crashes into a garden in Plettenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, killing the pilot on board. (DW)
International relations
- Iran–Turkey relations
- Iran says Turkey's criticism of its foreign policy could lead to worsening ties after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Iran risks plunging the Middle East into "disorder". (Al Arabiya)
- Turkey summons Iran's chargés d'affaires in Ankara after Iran's foreign ministry summoned Turkey's ambassador. (Al Arabiya)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Micronesian parliamentary election
- Citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia vote to elect ten of the fourteen members of Congress. (Pacific Daily News)
Science and technology
- The roughly 3,500 km2 iceberg A23a, the world's largest, runs aground in shallow waters off the coast of South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean. (BBC News)
- Scientists from Colossal Biosciences create a new form of genetically modified woolly mice. (The Guardian)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- U.S. President Donald Trump pauses all U.S. military aid to Ukraine with immediate effect. (Bloomberg) (CNN)
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Insurgency in Balochistan
- A suicide bomber kills one person and wounds three others in Kalat, Balochistan, Pakistan. (AP News)
- Western DR Congo clashes
- The Congolese military announces that eight members of the Mobondo militia, including one of their leaders, were killed the previous day when an army patrol seized the group's headquarters in the Kwamouth Territory, Mai-Ndombe Province. (Radio Okapi)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024–25 Australian region cyclone season
- Cyclone warnings are issued to residents of Brisbane, South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales as Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to make landfall on Thursday or early Friday local time. (The Guardian Australia)
- A bus rolls down a ravine after colliding with a truck in southern Bolivia, killing at least 31 people and injuring 22 others. (Reuters)
- At least 80 people are trapped inside a supermarket in Güímar, Tenerife, and dozens of cars are swept away to sea and stuck in mud in Gran Canaria after torrential rain caused floods across the Canary Islands in Spain. (Canaria Weekly) (The Sun)
Law and crime
- 2025 Mannheim car incident
- A car drives into a crowd of people near a Carnival market in Mannheim, Germany, killing two people and injuring 25 others, including fifteen seriously. A man has been arrested. (Euronews) (DW)
- A 70-year-old Arab Israeli man is killed and three others are injured in a mass stabbing at a bus station in Haifa, Israel. The perpetrator, an Israeli-Druze from Shfar'am, is killed by civilians present at the attack. (Al Jazeera) (DW) (The Times of Israel)
Politics and elections
- The Holy See reports that Pope Francis has been diagnosed with "acute respiratory distress" as a result of bronchospasms and a build-up of bronchial mucus, after recovering from pneumonia and bronchitis several days ago. (VOA) (NPR)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Gaza war
- 2025 Gaza war ceasefire
- Israel agrees to a United States-led plan to extend the first phase of the ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, during which half of the 59 remaining hostages will be released. Hamas rejects the proposal, insisting that the deal proceed with phase two, which includes the release of all remaining living hostages, a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent end to the war. (The Times of Israel)
- 2025 Gaza war ceasefire
Arts and culture
- 97th Academy Awards
- The 97th Academy Awards take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, United States. Anora wins the most awards, taking five, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Mikey Madison. Adrien Brody wins Best Actor for The Brutalist. (Reuters)
- Anora director Sean Baker becomes the first person to win four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing) for a single film, also tying Walt Disney's record for most Academy Awards won in a single ceremony. (The Independent)
Disasters and accidents
- 2025 Southeastern United States wildfires
- Several wildfires erupt across South Carolina and North Carolina, United States, resulting in the evacuation of endangered towns, including several in the Myrtle Beach area. South Carolina governor Henry McMaster declares a state of emergency in response. (The New York Times) (NBC)
International relations
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Coalition of the willing (Russo-Ukrainian War)
- United Kingdom prime minister Keir Starmer announces after a meeting of European Union leaders in London that a "coalition of the willing" is working on a Ukraine peace plan that they will present to U.S. president Donald Trump. (Sky News)
- Russia–United States relations
- United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth orders a halt to offensive cyber operations and information operations against Russia by U.S. Cyber Command. (NBC News)
- Coalition of the willing (Russo-Ukrainian War)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Abkhazian presidential election
- Acting leader of Abkhazia Badra Gunba is elected President with 55% of the votes. Georgia rejects the election, as it claims Abkhazia as part of its territory. (Reuters)
Science and technology
- Firefly Aerospace successfully lands the Blue Ghost Mission 1 on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, delivering payloads to Mare Crisium with instruments to study lunar regoliths and the interactions between solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. (Space.com) (NASA)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War on terror
- War against the Islamic State
- Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
- Puntland counter-terrorism operations
- The Puntland Dervish Force captures an IS–Somalia base in Buqa Caleed, in the Cal Miskaad mountain range of Bari Region, Puntland, Somalia. (The Somali Digest) (Horseed Media)
- Puntland counter-terrorism operations
- Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
- United States Central Command says that it has carried out a precision airstrike in Syria, targeting and killing Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay, a senior military leader in Hurras al-Din. (Al Arabiya)
- War against the Islamic State
- Colombian conflict
- 2025 Catatumbo clashes
- Three men are found dead in a vehicle near the village of Orú in the Tibú municipality, Norte de Santander, Colombia, with one body dressed in a National Liberation Army (ELN) uniform. (El Heraldo de Colombia)
- After placing an ELN flag at the entrance of the municipality of Saravena, Arauca, the ELN detonate an improvised explosive device, targeting Colombian soldiers attempting to remove the flag. No casualties are reported. (El Heraldo de Colombia)
- 2025 Catatumbo clashes
- Gaza war
- 2025 Gaza war ceasefire
- Gaza Strip famine
- Israel blocks the entry of all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza as the first phase of the ceasefire ends. (AP)
- Kivu conflict
- Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
- Civil society groups in the Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, report that 23 people were killed and another 20 were taken hostage in raids by an Islamic State-affiliated faction of the Allied Democratic Forces militia over the past week. (Arab News)
- Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
- Kurdish–Turkish conflict
- Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency
- The Kurdistan Workers' Party announces a ceasefire with Turkey after forty years of conflict. (Al Jazeera)
- Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency
- Syrian civil war
- Druze–Syria clashes
- At least one person is killed and approximately nine others are wounded in the Druze-majority city of Jaramana, following armed confrontations between local residents and security forces affiliated with the transitional government. In response, the Suwayda Military Council declares a state of alert, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instruct the Israel Defense Forces to "prepare to defend" the city. (ANHA) (Times of Israel)
- Druze–Syria clashes
Arts and culture
- Brit Awards 2025
- At the 2025 Brit Awards, Charli XCX wins British Artist of the Year, while her album Brat wins British Album of the Year and her song "Guess" wins Song of the Year in collaboration with Billie Eilish. Ezra Collective wins Best British Group. (BBC News)
- A group of winter swimmers in Most, Czechia, set a new world record for the largest polar bear plunge with 2,461 participants. The previous record was 1,799 participants set in Mielno, Poland, in 2015. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- At least 37 people are killed and 30 others are injured when two passenger buses collide near Uyuni, Potosí department, Bolivia. (BBC News)
International relations
- United Kingdom–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with UK prime minister Keir Starmer in London, where they sign off on a British loan of GB£2.26 billion to buy military supplies for Ukraine. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Romanian presidential election
- 2024–2025 Romanian election annulment protests
- Tens of thousands of demonstrators hold a rally in Bucharest, Romania, in support of presidential candidate Călin Georgescu and demand that the second round of the annulled 2024 election is held instead of a new election. (AP)
- 2024–2025 Romanian election annulment protests
- Executive orders in the second presidency of Donald Trump
- United States President Donald Trump signs an executive order designating English as the country's official language. (The Guardian)
- Presidency of Yamandú Orsi
- Yamandú Orsi and Carolina Cosse are inaugurated as the president and vice president of Uruguay in Montevideo. (Reuters)
- Italian nun Raffaella Petrini is sworn is as President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, becoming the first woman to assume one of the highest political offices in the Vatican. She succeeds Spanish cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga. (RTVE)
Sports
- At their annual general meeting in Northern Ireland, the International Football Association Board approves a new rule stating that beginning the following season, if a goalkeeper holds the ball for more than eight seconds, the opposing team is awarded a corner kick. (BBC)