March 13, 2019 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- The SOHR reports that Syrian government shelling and Russian air strikes occur in several areas in Idlib province, in the first such raids since a September truce deal, killing at least 15 civilians including eight children and wounding around 60. (TRT World) (Al Jazeera)
Disasters and accidents
- 2019 Lagos school collapse
- A building in Lagos, Nigeria, collapses, killing ten people and leaving more than 100 others trapped under the rubble. (BBC News) (Reuters)
- Boeing 737 MAX groundings
- Canada and the United States ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft and ban the jet from their airspace until further notice. It is now effectively grounded worldwide, with no operators remaining unaffected by grounding orders. (CBC) (BBC News) (CNN)
- An avalanche on Ben Nevis kills two French nationals and a Swiss national. A fourth climber is injured and is receiving treatment at a hospital in Glasgow. (BBC News)
Health and environment
- At least 111 schools in Malaysia are shut down following the treatment of 200 children, staff, and others being poisoned. Authorities suspect that a chemical dump in the southern state of Johor is responsible for the sudden illnesses. (Reuters) (CNBC)
Law and crime
- Killing of Susanna Feldmann
- Ali Bashar confesses in court in Germany to killing teenager Susanna Feldmann. Bashar is a failed asylum seeker from Iraq. The case prompted national debate and a pledge by Angela Merkel to call for improvements to the deportation system in Germany. Counterterror police traveled to Iraq in order to return him to Germany, as he had already been deported when he was identified in connection to the murder; Iraq has no extradition treaty with Germany. (BBC News)
- Assassination of Marielle Franco
- Two former military police officers are arrested in Brazil for the murders of Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes. One of the suspects was arrested at home, in a Rio de Janeiro gated community where President Jair Bolsonaro also resides. Franco was born in a Rio favela and became a politician and activist against violence in the slums, which are often controlled by paramilitary groups. Her assassination prompted widespread protests. (The Guardian)
- Suzano school shooting
- Two men, aged 17 and 25 years, attack a school in the Brazilian city of Suzano, São Paulo, with a revolver and a knife, killing eight and wounding 23 people, among students and staff. The two shooters committed suicide after the attack. Police have found a crossbow, Molotov cocktails and a "suitcase with wires" at the scene. (G1)
- Trials of Paul Manafort
- Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is sentenced to 3½ years for money-laundering and obstruction of justice. (The New York Times)
- Minutes after Manafort is sentenced in federal court, New York state prosecutors announce 16 criminal charges against him related to mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. (CNBC)
- Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who won the Sakharov Prize in 2012, is sentenced to 38 years in prison for her defence of women who had been arrested after removing their hijabs. (The New York Times)
- Frank Cali, the reputed head of the Gambino crime family, is shot dead by an unknown assailant outside his home in Todt Hill, Staten Island, New York City. It is the first targeted killing of a mob boss in New York City since Paul Castellano was assassinated in 1985. (BBC News)
- Mexican authorities announce a national search operation is underway after revealing masked gunmen with a list of names stormed a bus on March 7 as it was traveling along a highway that connects the town of San Fernando with the city of Reynosa. The perpetrators kidnapped 19 people and they have not been seen since. (KTLA)
Politics and elections
- Brexit negotiations
- The UK's parliament votes against a no-deal Brexit. This greatly increases the chance of a delayed Brexit, to be voted on Thursday, as well as opening the door to the possibility of a second referendum. (CBC)
Science and technology
- A team of physicists at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, assisted by colleagues in Switzerland and the United States, successfully returns the state of a quantum computer a fraction of a second into the past. (Phys.org) (The Independent)
Sports
- Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
- Peter Kaiser wins the 2019, 1000-mile Iditarod, arriving in Nome in 9 days, 12 hours and 39 minutes. (Reuters)