Current events: 2024-03-22

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • March 2024 Ukraine missile strikes
      • Russia launches dozens of ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities for a second consecutive day with reports of power outages in Kharkiv after critical infrastructure was targeted. At least eight missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia are reported, while a "critical infrastructure object" is damaged in Vinnytsia. More than a million people are left without power across Ukraine due to the strikes, and five people are killed with dozens more reportedly injured. (BBC News) (U.S. News & World Report)
      • Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in Zaporizhzhia is hit with a missile causing extensive damage and a large fire. A trolleybus initially reported as carrying civilians was destroyed in the attack, later confirmed to have been empty apart from the driver who was killed. The shelling also damaged one of the two power lines connected to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. (The Guardian) (The Kyiv Independent)
  • The Russian government (through the Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov) states in a press conference that the invasion of Ukraine is now a "war" and no longer a "special military operation", the official term used for the war by the Russian government. In another press conference later that day, Peskov told media although the invasion is a war de facto, the Russian government does not yet plan to change its de jure status as a "special military operation". (NOS) (Reuters) (Meduza)
• 2024 Crocus City Hall attack
  • At least 62 people are killed and over 140 others are injured in a mass shooting in the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow Oblast, Russia; dozens more feared dead and injured, the building was on fire after an explosion. The perpetrators remain at large after escaping in a vehicle. (Baza) (Meduza) (Baza) (Reuters)
  • The Islamic State group claims responsibility for the attack via its official Amaq News Agency. (CNN)
• Moro conflict
  • The Philippines announces that Abu Sayyaf has been "fully dismantled", bringing an end to the decades-long jihadist insurgency. Twenty members of the group remain in Sulu and Basilan provinces, and negotiations are ongoing for their surrender. (Atlas News)
• Jihadist insurgency in Niger
  • At least 23 Nigerien soldiers are killed, 17 are injured and 34 others are missing after an ambush in {{ill|Teguey|de|Téguey}}, Tillabéri Region, Niger, by unknown jihadists. The Nigerien junta states that 30 jihadists were killed as well. (Sahara Reporters)
• Nigerian bandit conflict
  • Fourteen people are rescued from kidnappers by Nigerian forces and local vigilante groups in Katsina State. (Channels TV)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 East Java earthquakes
  • A magnitude 6.4 earthquake causes severe damage in Bawean, East Java, Indonesia. (Detik)

Law and crime

• Gang war in Haiti
  • Prominent Haitian gang leader Ti Greg, who escaped prison earlier this month, is shot dead by police. (Sky News)
• Cannabis in Germany
  • The German Bundesrat approves a partial legalization of cannabis in Germany, set to come into effect on 1 April. (DW)

Politics and elections

• Catherine, Princess of Wales announces she was diagnosed with cancer following recent abdominal surgery and is undergoing chemotherapy. (BBC News)

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