RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/March 2024

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

March 2024[edit]

upneutraldown
8United StatesColorado. Andrew Wommack, after taking over Colorado's Woodland Park School District, is now trying to take over the city council.
upneutraldown
4United StatesMassachusetts. Harvard Universty removes the human skin binding from a book in its library.
upneutraldown
14European Union The European Parliament is 'looking into' claims that MEPs were paid to spread Russian propaganda.
upneutraldown
25United States You're not a real paytriot if you don't buy Trump's new MAGA bible..
upneutraldown
19United Kingdom Jeffrey Donaldson has resigned as leader and has been suspended from the DUP, over allegations of historical sexual abuse. The PSNI have earlier said a 61 year old man from County Down, is due at Newry Magistrates Court at the end of April.
upneutraldown
40ThailandGay Pride Flag.svg Thailand's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approves a bill to legalize gay marriage. The bill awaits Senate approval and royal assent.
upneutraldown
22Israel Israeli Supreme Court orders government to stop funding religious schools that defy military enlistment.
upneutraldown
21Croatia Abortion activists in Croatia reflect the growing backsliding of abortion rights in the country.
upneutraldown
19United StatesMinnesota. More woes for Mike Lindell, as the landlord for one of its warehouses has evicted his company MyPillow for non-payment of the rent totalling $217,000.
upneutraldown
36United States Sam Bankman-Fried is sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for defrauding customers and investors in his failed crypto exchange FTX
upneutraldown
25PalestineIsrael The UN Special Rapporteur has released a report concluding that “reasonable grounds to believe the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met”
upneutraldown
24BelgiumChina It has been revealed in an investigation that far-right Belgian politician Filip Dewinter has been literally kowtowing to China.
upneutraldown
16United States Joe Lieberman, former senator for Connecticut and Vice Presidential candidate for Al Gore, has died at the age of 82. Family says it was due to complications after a fall.
upneutraldown
6Norway Bad news for over Easter as Norway is suffering a shortage of eggs, with many supermarkets in major cities like Oslo and Bergen egg-less.
upneutraldown
29United StatesIsrael In retaliation for the US's abstention on a UN Security Council ceasefire measure, Israel has cancelled a planned diplomatic meeting concerning its plans for an offensive in Rafah. The US has urged Israel to cancel these plans since over a million refugees are sheltering in the region.
upneutraldown
24AustriaRussia The local Der Standard newspaper has revealed that police have been receiving a number of large gifts from the Russian embassy in Vienna.
upneutraldown
23United StatesMaryland. The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland was hit by a container ship and collapsed into the Patapsco River. A search and rescue operation is currently underway to locate any survivors.
upneutraldown
30United StatesCalifornia. A California judge tosses Musk's SLAPP suit against Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a hate speech watchdog
upneutraldown
33United Nations The UN votes on a ceasefire in Gaza with the United States abstaining from the vote and thus allowing it to pass
upneutraldown
15Malaysia Commonwealth Games Federation symbol (2019- Till Date).svg More likelihood that the international jamboree of the Commonwealth Games is dead, after a possible saviour in Malaysia, has said no.
upneutraldown
36PalestineIsrael Drone footage shows unarmed Palestinians being deliberately killed by IDF drone in Khan Younis.
upneutraldown
39Russia A large terrorist attack occurred inside of a Moscow music venue. The roof of the venue is ablaze and is currently collapsing from the explosives set off in the building. Update: 135 people died, over 150 were injured, and ISIS-K took responsibility for the attack.
upneutraldown
13United Kingdom In a shock to no one really, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, also has cancer.
upneutraldown
17United KingdomScotlandGay Pride Flag.svg Scottish Parliament staff have been banned from wearing rainbow lanyards or any other queer memorabilia in order to ensure "impartiality" and "minimise the risk of perceived bias".
upneutraldown
25United States Marjorie Taylor Greene has officially filed a motion to vacate Mike Johnson from the Speaker of the House's chair.
upneutraldown
14United Nations Russia and China block American proposal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN security council.
upneutraldown
8BelgiumEuropean Union A constitutional court has ruled that 16- & 17-year-old residents in Belgium must turn up to the polling booths in the upcoming European parliamentary elections, after the government expanded the suffrage to them.
upneutraldown
21United States The U.S. government is suing Apple for their monopoly on phones. The D.O.J. wants to restore competition and lower the prices that phones are sold at.
upneutraldown
14European UnionBosnia and Herzegovina EU begins membership negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
upneutraldown
12GermanyAustria Far-right Martin Sellner banned from Germany.
upneutraldown
23United StatesIllinois. A federal district court in Illinois has ruled that all residents, including undocumented migrants, have the “right to bear arms”.And some those on the right are going ape-shit.
upneutraldown
29United StatesMississippi. Two Rankin County, Mississippi sheriff's deputies received stiff sentences for the racially-motivated torture of two Black men. Four other deputies await sentencing
upneutraldown
25United StatesMississippi. Jackson, Mississippi police officer pleads guilty to forcing man to lick piss off his holding cell floor.
upneutraldown
10Ireland Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s first gay taoiseach (prime minister), has resigned both as taoiseach and leader of centre right Fine Gael party.
upneutraldown
15United StatesNew York. New York City mayor Eric AdamsWikipedia has been accused of sexual assault in a recent lawsuit.
upneutraldown
49United States The EPA finally bans chrysotile asbestos, the only form of asbestos that was still allowed.
upneutraldown
24Denmark Denmark plans to expand military conscription to also include women. Conscript service time will also be nearly tripled.
upneutraldown
36SwitzerlandAustria Austrian Neo-Nazi Martin Sellner was arrested by Swiss police while he was attempting to give a speech in Switzerland.
upneutraldown
36United KingdomTrans flag.svg A backbench MP's Private Member's Bill to tighten regulation on private medical personnel medically transitioning young people failed to be heard in Parliament
upneutraldown
20United States Speaker of the House Mike Johnson claims that aid packages to both Ukraine and Israel will separately be brought to a vote in the coming weeks. He indicates that House Republicans have given up their ultimatum for a border security bill to pass first before any aid to Ukraine. Marjorie Taylor Greene previously indicated she would trigger a motion to vacate Johnson's speakership if he brought Ukraine aid to a floor vote, so this could get interesting quickly.
upneutraldown
27United StatesTexas. PornHub has blocked access to its site in Texas as a response to an age verification law.
upneutraldown
25IndiaCanada India has blocked access to a CBC documentary about the death of Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whom Canada believes to have been assassinated by the Indian government in 2023.
upneutraldown
26AustraliaPalestineUnited Nations Australia has resumed its funding for UNRWA and has pledged to send more aid to the Gaza Strip.
upneutraldown
35Poland The Polish culture ministry is removing any subsidies for publications of a religious character, say that Poland is a secular state. Last year, such subsidies cost 3.7 million PLN (€860 000) and were mainly aimed at PiS-linked Catholic publications.
upneutraldown
34EstoniaGay Pride Flag.svg Blood donation by men who have sex with men is now equal in Estonia.
upneutraldown
24United StatesChina The House has passed a bill (that received overwhelming support from both Democrats and Republicans) that'd either force TikTok's owner, ByteDance, to sell the app, or have the app banned in the U.S.
upneutraldown
-10United StatesOklahoma. Nex Benedict's death has been ruled a suicide.
upneutraldown
13United States A former Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, has been found dead in a car park from an apparent suicide.
upneutraldown
43LiechtensteinGay Pride Flag.svg Parliament of Liechtenstein votes to legalise same-sex marriage.
upneutraldown
24Haiti Haiti's Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, is resigning due to the violence erupting in the country by gangs.
upneutraldown
26Netherlands Geert Wilders has said he is unlikely to be the next prime minister of the Netherlands due to a lack of support from possible coalition partners.
upneutraldown
8Poland Andrzej Duda said he would use his presidential veto to stop a bill that would allow over-the-counter sales of the morning after pill, saying it would be dangerous for children. He also says he would not support a public referendum on abortion, stating that "Abortion is deprivation of human life and if someone demands abortion they demand the right to kill".
upneutraldown
61the World UN report reveals that more children are surviving today than ever before, with the global under-5 mortality rate dropping by 51 per cent since 2000. Several low and lower-middle-income countries have outpaced this decline.
upneutraldown
14United KingdomTrans flag.svg Children will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics, NHS England has confirmed.
upneutraldown
32Vatican CityPoland The Vatican announces resignation of Polish bishop Andrzej Dziuba, due to “negligence in handling sexual abuse against minors”. The case against him by the public prosecutor is still ongoing.
upneutraldown
41RomaniaUnited Kingdom Romania has received an international arrest warrant from the UK for Andrew and Tristan Tate for allegations of sexual aggression. Lawyers revealed the reason they were arrested again came from Adin Ross revealing Andrew had told him they planned on fleeing Romania.
upneutraldown
50United StatesFlorida. Gay Pride Flag.svg A legal settlement on Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law has been reached. The settlement allows that sexual orientation and gender identity may be discussed in classrooms as long as it isn't part of the class's formal instruction. This allows, for instance, for Gay-Straight Alliances to exist in schools, for teachers to openly identify themselves as gay or transgender, and for books with LGBT+ themes to be stocked in school libraries.
upneutraldown
18United StatesWashington. At Seattle’s Boeing Field, real-time video offers a rare glimpse of America’s troubled deportation flights.
upneutraldown
11United Kingdom Tudor Crown (Heraldry).svg Three top press agencies; PA, AFP & Reuters, have withdrawn a press photo released by Kate, the Princess of Wales’ office for Mothering Sunday, as it appears to be badly photoshopped. This has led to huge speculation about the welfare of Prince William’s family.
upneutraldown
-17HungaryChina Police from China will jointly patrol the streets of Hungary, alongside Hungarian police, according to a new agreement between the two countries.
upneutraldown
34SwitzerlandRussiaUkraine Switzerland's parliament votes to transfer seized Russian assets to Ukraine as reparations.
upneutraldown
16United StatesPalestine US military ship is heading to Gaza to build a port to let more aid in. (Biden mentioned the plan to do so in his SOTU speech.)
upneutraldown
12United StatesMissouri. Trans flag.svg Bill proposed in Missouri would charge teachers with a felony and force them to register as sex offenders if they were supportive of a transgender student who was socially transitioning. It defines social transition as "name, pronouns, and gender expression, such as clothing or haircuts".
upneutraldown
22United States Alaska. Alaska's RCV voting system is under threat as Republicans have collected enough signatures to stick it on the November ballot for abolishment. The system which was introduced four years ago, and has led to the voting of moderates including PeltolaWikipedia and Murkowski over MAGA Republicans TshibakaWikipedia and Palin.
upneutraldown
34Icon science.svg Self-reproducing RNA created in a laboratory for the first time (RNA world)[1]
upneutraldown
44ArmeniaEuropean Union Armenia is eyeing EU membership Yerevan's Foreign Minister says that Armenians "do have European aspirations" and the idea of submitting a membership application to join the bloc is being internally discussed.
upneutraldown
50United StatesGreylien.png Pentagon report finds no evidence of alien visits, hidden spacecraft: Claims about secret government programs reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology are based on “circular reporting” and hearsay, investigators found.
upneutraldown
38United StatesArizona. Arizona will use $30 million in federal COVID relief funds to wipe out up to $2 billion in medical debt for the state's residents. This follows similar initiatives in other states, and should impact up to one million Arizonans.
upneutraldown
60SwedenNATO The Nato military alliance formally welcomes its 32nd member; Sweden, ending over 200 years of formal Swedish neutrality.
upneutraldown
16United Kingdom Scotland The UK's largest customer-owned financial institution the Nationwide Building Society has bid to take over the country's sixth largest bank Virgin Money. One interesting side note, once the take over is completed, it would be the first time a building society became an official banknote issuer, as the bank prints Clydesdale Scottish banknotes.
upneutraldown
33United States Strong wage growth gave Americans a $1,000 spending boost in 2023. When adjusted for inflation, wages have risen 0.8% over in 2023, according to the Treasury Department's recent research "The Purchasing Power of American Households." The growth is 0.2% percentage points higher than the average annual real wage growth in the 10 years before the pandemic.
upneutraldown
53Norway A Norwegian court has banned state funding for Jehovah's Witnesses.
upneutraldown
23United StatesJordanPalestineIsrael The US and Jordan have launched a continuing effort to airdrop humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip amid Israeli interference with land routes. Aid groups say airdrops can't keep up with the scale of the crisis, and the US and Jordan say they're exploring opening additional aid routes by sea.
upneutraldown
29United States Liberty University fined $14 million by the Department of Education for failing to inform its students about criminal incidents and dangerous situations such as gas leaks on campus. The university was also discouraging students from reporting crimes on campus.
upneutraldown
21United Kingdom TalkTV has said it's closing down its television channel and going online-only.
upneutraldown
15PalestineIsrael Euro-Med Monitor has confirmed Israel's "full involvement" in the Flour Massacre.
upneutraldown
38United NationsIsraelPalestine UN team says Hamas likely carried out sexual violence on 7 October attack.
upneutraldown
26Venezuela Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court ruled that an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed by Venezuelan security forces under dictator Nicolás Maduro's rule during a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2017 may proceed.
upneutraldown
35France France has voted overwhelmingly to make abortion a constitutional right.
upneutraldown
32Haiti Haiti declares state of emergency after prison break and gangs threaten takeover.
upneutraldown
42United Statesthe District of Columbia. Nikki Haley has won her first Republican primary, beating Trump in the DC.
upneutraldown
30Canada Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has died at age 84.
upneutraldown
29United States The biggest study of ‘greedflation’ yet looked at 1,300 corporations to find many of them were lying to you about inflation
upneutraldown
50India High growth and unprecedent decline in inequality have combined to eliminate extreme poverty in India, which represented 50% of the population 30 years ago. The country should now graduate to a higher poverty line, which would provide an opportunity to redefine existing social protection programs in order to give greater support to the genuine poor.
upneutraldown
37France France's Senate approves a bill to make abortion a constitutional right.
upneutraldown
5United States Elon Musk sues OpenAI. Musk essentially alleges that OpenAI breached contract as it reneged on a commitment to benefit humanity; he says they have turned into a "closed-source", de facto subsidiary of Microsoft and now pursue profit.
upneutraldown
32China How Xi's 'thought eradication' led to China's Uyghur genocide
upneutraldown
17RussiaNATO Putin warns risk of nuclear war if West sends troops to Ukraine, after Emmanuel Macron's proposals to send NATO troops to Ukraine.