Major events in 2019 (3)

MARCH

March 1

-The U.S. administration announces the PKK terror group would remain on its Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list.

-An Indian pilot who became the face of escalating conflict in South Asia is handed over to Indian authorities by Pakistan at the Wagah border crossing.

March 2

-Heavy clashes between Pakistan and Indian forces are reported after Islamabad handed over a captured Indian pilot in a gesture meant to de-escalate tensions triggered in February.

-The son of Benyoucef Benkhedda, the first prime minister of Algeria after independence, dies in protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s planned bid for a fifth term, his brother confirms.

March 3

-A mosque in the Netherlands is attacked by members of Islamophobic German group, Pegida, that defaced the building with racist banners.

-The U.S. announces it is shuttering its consulate in Jerusalem and merging it with its embassy, effectively demoting the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians.

March 5

-While the Yellow Vest protests of in France have been ongoing for more than three months, one demonstrator is killed due to tear gas cannister and 368 others wounded.

- The U.S. State Department announces Washington might impose sanctions on Turkey if it buys the Russian advanced S-400 missile system.

- Turkey’s southeastern border gate with Syria reopens after an eight-year hiatus.

March 6

-U.S. President Donald Trump ends a requirement for American intelligence agencies to annually report the number of civilians believed to have been killed in intelligence operations airstrikes.

March 7

-As the 40th session of the Human Rights Council continue in Geneva, 36 countries including 26 EU members condemn the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and urge the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

March 8

-Pakistani airspace, which was shut down following reciprocal operations, reopens.

-Turkish gendarmerie forces seizes a painting attributed to Pablo Picasso in southeastern Diyarbakir province.

- Russian and Turkish naval forces hold a joint maneuver in the Black Sea.

March 9

-Casualties are reported in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, where YPG/PKK terrorists carried out a bomb attack.

-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says one of his country’s electric facilities was subjected to high-tech cyberattacks.

March 10

- An Ethiopian Airlines plane crashes near Kenya's capital; a state agency says none of the souls 157 aboard survives the accident.

- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints senior Fatah official Mohammad Shtayeh as new prime minister.

- President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrives in Algeria after receiving treatment in Geneva amid mass protests against his re-election bid.

March 12

-The British Parliament rejects a revised Brexit agreement the government struck with the European Union.

- Two Palestinian children are killed in a fire in the Gaza Strip.

- Almost 14,000 people die in the Syrian regime prison since March of 2011, while 128,000 others still remain in detention, U.K.-based Syrian Network for Human Rights says in a report.

March 13

- Istanbul’s rank jumps nine spots to 59, in the Global Financial Centres Index, according to the group’s latest ranking.

- Scientists in Japan “awakens” 28,000-year-old cells of an ancient woolly mammoth, taking them one step closer to bringing extinct animals back to life.

-The Syrian Human Rights Network says a 1,109 relief workers have been killed since the eruption of the civil war, and 872 killed by the Assad regime.

March 14

- The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate narrowly approves a resolution rescinding President Donald Trump’s border wall national emergency declaration, setting up a presidential showdown.

March 15

- Terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand targets Muslims praying in two mosques, leaves 51 dead and 49 wounded.

- The U.S. restricts visas for International Criminal Court personnel who investigate or prosecute crimes suspected of being committed by U.S. forces.

March 16

-A tropical cyclone leaves at least 65 people dead, 60 missing and hundreds injured in eastern Zimbabwe bordering Mozambique.

- Flooding and landslides in the eastern Papua state of Indonesia kill 104 people.

March 17

-More than 1 million people sign a petition to remove Australian Senator Fraser Anning from parliament after remarks following terror attacks at two mosques in New Zealand.

-Thousands of people in northern Kenya’s Turkana and Baringo county face starvation due to drought.

March 18

-The Chinese government reports it put 13,000 people in custody in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region since 2014.

March 19

-Venezuela gives U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.

-Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announces his resignation.

March 20

-The number killed in Afghanistan due to flooding in March climbs to 30, and 122,600 others are in dire need for humanitarian aid.

March 21

-Roughly 200,000 civilians are displaced from homes in Idlib and Hama over the last five months due to repeated violations of the Sochi Agreement by the Syrian regime.

-A ferryboat explodes in Mosul, Iraq, killing 103 people aboard.

March 22

-New Zealand broadcasts the Muslim call for prayer on national television and radio as a sign of solidarity with Muslim community after recent terror attacks in the country.

March 23

-154 members of the Fulani community are killed in an armed attack amid ethnic clashes clouding central Mali.

-Cyclone and heavy rain trigger flooding in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, killing more than 700 people.

-Kazakhstan renames the capital Nursultan, formerly Astana, to honor ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

March 25

-U.S. President Donald Trump signs decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights of Syria.

-Turkish Foreign Minister “strongly condemns” the U.S. move to view the Golan Heights under Israeli sovereignty.

March 26

-The death toll from an armed attack in Mali rises to 160.

March 27

-Fourteen members of the UN Security Council reject U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israeli sovereignty whereas Washington remains as the sole supporter of the political move.

-Historical artifacts and sites in Iran are damaged in floods that left 44 dead and 19 injured.

March 28

-The blockaded Gaza Strip sustains an estimated $2 million worth of damage as a result of the latest Israeli bombardments.

-World Meteorological Organization says natural disasters triggered by climate change have affected 62 million people worldwide in 2018.

March 29

-The government issues a travel warning for Canadians in the U.K. to “exercise a high degree of caution” because of large crowds of protesters taking to the streets after a third “no-deal” Brexit vote.

March 30

-Vice President of Afghanista Gen. Abdul Rasheed Dostum survives a Taliban assault on his convoy in northern Balkh province.

March 31

-Deadly storm in Nepal claims 35 lives and wounds 400 hundred.

-More than 6 million people sign a petition asking the British government to cancel Brexit.