Digest year-ender for international stories for month of March, 2018

Digest year-ender for international stories for month of March, 2018

Press Trust of India

Mar 1: Islamabad: Pakistan says it was ready for mediation between the Afghan government and the Taliban as it extended support to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's political process in the war-torn country. Mar 2: Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso): Armed men attacked the French embassy in Burkina Faso and the country's military headquarters today before being repelled in a battle that left dozens of dead or injured.

Mar 3: Seoul: North Korea today lambasted the US for attaching preconditions to any dialogue between the states, as Seoul prepares to send an envoy to Pyongyang to help open talks on easing the nuclear stand-off on the peninsula.

Mar 4: Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel today vowed to work with the Social Democrats for the "good of Germany", after the centre-left party agreed to join her new coalition, but the veteran leader will go into her fourth term with weaker cards than before.

Mar 5: Beijing: China announces an 8.1 per cent hike in its defence budget in 2018 to a whopping USD 175 billion, over three times higher than that of India, as an increasingly assertive Beijing focused on the modernisation and reach of the country's military, amidst simmering disputes with its neighbours. Mar 6: Douma (Syria): Heavy air strikes and clashes shook the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta today, as France and Britain called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the escalating violence.

Mar 7: Colombo: Fresh violence today erupted between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims in other areas of central Sri Lanka's riot-hit Kandy district, prompting authorities to extend a curfew till tomorrow.

Mar 8: Washington: President Donald Trump today said he would be "fair and flexible" toward "real friends" of the US while imposing punitive trade tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum as he indicated that Mexico, Canada, Australia and "others" could be exempt.

Mar 9: Washington: President Donald Trump imposes heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium which he said were necessary to boost the US industry suffering from "unfair" business practices, a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. Mar 10: Beijing: China's rubber-stamp legislature is all set to approve tomorrow constitutional changes abolishing a two-term limit for the president, paving the way for Xi Jinping to become the country's leader for life.

Mar 11: Tehran: A Turkish private jet flying from the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul carrying a group of young women crashed tonight in a mountainous region of Iran during a heavy rain, killing all 11 people on board, authorities said.

Mar 12: Kathmandu/Dhaka: A Bangladeshi passenger aircraft crashed and burst into flames today while landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) here, killing at least 50 people, in Nepal's worst aviation disaster in more than 25 years.

Mar 13: Washington: Beleaguered Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired today by US President Donald Trump, said he would delegate his responsibilities to his deputy and would step down by end of this month.

Mar 14: Lahore: A teenaged suicide bomber today blew himself up near the residence of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, killing nine people, including five policemen, police said.

Mar 15: Lahore: Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed today filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, challenging a notification of the interior ministry of Pakistan to ban his social welfare activities.

Mar 16: Astana: Moscow will expel British diplomats in response to London's move to kick out 23 Russian officials over the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.

Mar 17: Beijing: Xi Jinping re-elected as president for a second five-year tenure by China's rubber-stamp parliament, days after it scrapped the two-term rule for the presidency and allowed him to have a life-long tenure. Mar 18: Moscow: Vladimir Putin won Russia's presidential election today with almost 74 per cent of the vote, according to an official exit poll, with the opposition reporting ballot stuffing and other cases of alleged fraud.

Mar 19: Beijing: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang today unveiled his new Cabinet as part of the government's efforts to stabilise the world's second largest economy and appointed a missile expert as the defence minister amidst regional tensions with its neighbours over territorial disputes.

Mar 20: Beijing: China will not cede a "single inch" of its territory to others and is ready to wage a "bloody battle" to assume its due place in the world, a belligerent President Xi Jinping, now enjoying a life-long tenure, asserted today.

Mar 21: Kabul: An Islamic State suicide bomber struck on the road to a Shiite shrine in Afghanistan's capital today, killing at least 29 people as Afghans celebrated the Persian new year. (AP) Mar 22: Washington: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today apologised for a "major breach of trust" with its users and vowed to take steps to protect their data, as the social media giant faced heat by a massive scandal over data siphoned by a data mining firm with ties to the 2016 Trump campaign. Mar 23: Beijing: Don't be "penny wise and pound foolish" in pressing ahead with a trade war, China today warned America as it unveiled plans to impose higher tariffs on 128 US products worth about USD 3 billion, while keeping "powder dry" by sparing big-ticket items for a future date. Mar 24: Washington: After announcing a string of tough trade measures against China, US President Donald Trump has said that Beijing would no longer have a "free reign" like it had been having for many years, which resulted in a massive American trade deficit with it.

Mar 25: Dapchi (Nigeria): The schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram jihadist group in Dapchi, northeastern Nigeria, were reunited with their families today after spending nearly five weeks in captivity.

Mar 26: Washington: In a decision reminiscent of the Cold War era, the US today expelled 60 Russian diplomats, describing them as "intelligence officers" and ordered closure of the country's consulate in Seattle over the use of nerve agent allegedly by Moscow against a former Russian spy in the UK.

Mar 27: Beijing: Mercurial North Korean leader Kim Jong-un makes an unprecedented whirlwind trip to Beijing - his first foreign trip since he took over power in 2011 - and is reported to have held talks with the top Chinese leadership ahead of his planned summit with US President Donald Trump.

Mar 28: Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today reduced the responsibilities of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the backdrop of the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

Mar 29: Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today Moscow would expel 60 US diplomats and close its consulate in Saint Petersburg in a tit-for-tat expulsion over the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal.

Mar 30: Tokyo: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two leaders discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral ties.

Mar 31: London: The funeral of legendary British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was held today in a private ceremony attended by around 500 people comprising family, friends and colleagues, at a church near the Cambridge University college that was his academic home for more than 50 years.

(Source PTI)