Portal:Current events/2015 March 16

March 16, 2015 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Libyan Civil War
- Islamic State kidnaps about 20 medical workers from the Ibn Sina Hospital in the Libyan city of Sirte. (CNN)

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)
Although he is currently still being held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Los Angeles prosecutors formally charge Robert Durst with the murder of his former friend Susan Berman covered in the HBO documentary miniseries The Jinx. (Variety)
Malaysian police arrest parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar for alleged sedition. Izzah is the daughter of former Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. (Straits Times)