Portal:Current events/2017 March 24

March 24, 2017 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Insurgency in the North Caucasus
- Six Chechen soldiers, along with six militants, are killed in a nighttime attack on a Russian National Guard base in Chechnya. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- Russian Special Envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov denies allegations by NATO Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti that Russia was "perhaps" supplying the Taliban. (BBC)
A suicide bomber blows himself up at a checkpoint at Shahjalal International Airport, Bangladesh, with no other casualties reported. (Reuters)
On Friday night a man begins to shoot in a Lille Metro station in Lille, France. Three people are injured, including being shot in the leg and neck. The gunman is not thought to be a terrorist, and is still on the run. (The Independent)

Disasters and accidents

Proactiva notes the finding of five corpses the Libyan coast; these were floating near two capsized boats which could each hold more than 100 people. (BBC)

International relations

France–Russia relations
- French National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin and afterwards urges that European Union sanctions on Russia be lifted. (BBC)

Law and crime

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is released from detention in Cairo. (AFP)
The Gambia's justice minister Abubacarr Tambadou states that the country will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission "within the next six months" to investigate allegations of abuse dating from the time of former President Yahya Jammeh. According to Tambadou, public hearings are scheduled to get underway by year's end. (BBC)
Imprisoned former Congolese warlord Germain Katanga is ordered by the International Criminal Court to pay reparations to some of his victims in the first such ruling by the court. (BBC)

Politics and elections

United States President Donald Trump approves the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. (CNN)
2017 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act replacement proposals
- The replacement plan for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is withdrawn after Republican leaders fail to gain enough support. The failure of the Trump administration to repeal the act means it will remain law in the United States. (BBC)
Gilmar Pisas is sworn in as Prime Minister of Curaçao. (The Curaçao Chronicle)

Science and technology

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet take a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station to prepare the vessel for new arrivals. (Space.com)