March 29, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2016 Berlin truck attack
- Terrorism in Israel
- The Central District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment with the Israeli Lod District Court against Abed al-Karim Adel Asi for the murder of a rabbi on February 5 and the Haifa District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against Malek Yusef Nahar Asadi for the March 4 attempted murder by ramming a car which injured four people. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Terrorism in the United States
- U.S. District judge George B. Daniels of the District Court for the Southern District of New York has rejected the government of Saudi Arabia’s request to throw out lawsuits claiming the nation helped plan the September 11 attacks. (The Independent)
Business and economy
- British automotive and aerospace engineering firm GKN (founded in 1759) is sold to British-based investment company Melrose Industries for £8.1 billion. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes off the coast of New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, at a depth of 35 km (22 mi). There are no reports of immediate damage. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43592321 (BBC)
- A boat capsizes in Nawabshah, Pakistan, killing eight people. (Geo News)
- A Línea Aérea Amaszonas passenger plane overruns the runway at Riberalta Airport after abandoning takeoff due to a bird strike and crashes into a ditch with no injuries. (The Aviation Herald)
- The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile completes its probe into the March 2016 near-miss between two commercial aircraft at Basel/Mulhouse Airport, concluding miscommunication between an air crew and air traffic control was to blame. One aircraft took off over the top of the other one. (The Aviation Herald)
International relations
- 2018 inter-Korean summit
- Authorities announce that the summit between the governments of North Korea and South Korea will take place on April 27, 2018. (USA Today)
- Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- The Putin administration closes the United States consulate in Saint Petersburg and expels 60 U.S. diplomats from Russia as a retaliatory measure to the closing of the Russian consulate in Seattle, Washington. (BBC)
- Poland in the European Union
- The Polish government announces a planned visit for April 9 from European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans. The government of Poland and the European Union are locked in a dispute over planned judicial reforms. (AFP News via Yahoo)
- American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- U.S. President Donald Trump, during a speech on his infrastructure plan in Richland County, Ohio, announces U.S. forces will be leaving Syria "very soon." (Politico) (White House Dossier)
Law and crime
- 2018 Valencia, Venezuela fire
- An attempted prison break and subsequent rioting and fires at a police station in Valencia, Carabobo State, Venezuela, results in at least 68 people dead. Two women who were visiting inmates are thought to be among the dead. Prosecutor General Tarek Saab says an investigation into what has happened would begin immediately. (BBC)
- A French animal rights activist is charged under counterterror legislation for praising the death of a butcher in a terror attack. (The Times of Israel)
- Extradition law in the United States
- U.S. Department of Justice immigration Judge Jose A. Sanchez in Boston, Massachusetts, approves an extradition request from the government of Guatemala for Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera, who is wanted for trial for war crimes. (WBUR News)
- Asylum in the United States
- Because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) routinely failed to notify screened immigrant asylum-seekers of the one-year deadline for filing an actual asylum application, Western Washington state chief federal district judge Ricardo S. Martinez orders DHS to give those who missed the deadline another year to file their application, and to modify the DHS asylum system to avoid future problems. (AP via The Washington Post)
- Weinstein effect
- A pair of women accuse The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi of sexually abusing them in the 1990s while they were minors. Kricfalusi, who was in his 40s at the time, admitted to Buzzfeed that he had an underage girlfriend during the years in question. (BuzzFeed)
- A car bomb kills five people and injures six others in Ajdabiya, Libya. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Egyptian presidential election, 2018
- State media reports preliminary indications incumbent President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has won 90% of the vote with a 41% turnout. (BBC)
- 2018 Kentucky Senate Bill 151
- Lawmakers at the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives pass a heavily disputed pension overhaul and forward it to Governor Matt Bevin for his signature. Several school districts will close on Friday due to teacher protests against the bill. (AP) (WYMT-TV) (The Courier-Journal)
Sports
- 2018 Major League Baseball season
- The 2018 Major League Baseball season begins. (Hollywood Life)