Portal:Current events/2022 March 15

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Kyiv offensive
      • Battle of Kyiv
        • The Kyiv city government and Kyiv Oblast administration impose a 35-hour curfew starting at 20:00 local time (18:00 UTC). (Reuters)
      • Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova are killed, and war correspondent Benjamin Hall is injured, while covering the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Horenka, Kyiv Oblast. (The Guardian)
    • Eastern Ukraine offensive
      • Siege of Mariupol
        • Around 2,000 private cars have left Mariupol since a humanitarian corridor was imposed, with another 2,000 cars waiting to leave. (Deccan Herald)
        • Russian troops storm the Mariupol regional intensive care hospital and take around 400 people hostage. Local authorities confirm that the damaged hospital is now under Russian control. (BBC News)
    • Southern Ukraine offensive
      • The Russian Defence Ministry says that its forces have taken full control of Ukraine's Kherson Oblast and that they destroyed six Ukrainian Air Force jets, seven helicopters, and 13 UAVs in the last 24 hours. (The Nation)
      • Satellite images from Planet Labs appear to show multiple Russian helicopters burning at Kherson International Airport after Ukrainian forces said they struck the airport. This is the second major Ukrainian attack on the facility since it fell to Russian forces on 2 March. (The Drive) (CNN)
    • Ukrainian refugee crisis
      • The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that over three million people have now fled Ukraine since the invasion began. (The Independent)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Two Palestinians are shot and killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources. A man is also killed in the Bedouin town of Rahat in the Negev following clashes with members of the Border Police. (Al Jazeera) (The Jerusalem Post)

Arts and culture

• Burkinabè architect Diébédo Francis Kéré wins the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize, becoming the first African and black person to do so. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• Puerto Rican government-debt crisis
  • Puerto Rico exits out of bankruptcy after completing the largest public debt restructuring in U.S. history. (NBC News)
• U.S. President Joe Biden signs a $1.5 trillion budget bill, which includes $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine. (The Hill)
• The United Kingdom's Gambling Commission awards the next licence to run the National Lottery to Czech-owned lottery operator Allwyn Entertainment Ltd, replacing Camelot Group which has operated the lottery since it was started in 1994. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• University of the Southwest pick-up truck accident
  • Nine people die in a head-on collision between a pickup truck and a van carrying members of the University of the Southwest men's and women's golf teams in Andrews County, Texas, United States. Six students and a faculty member are killed in the team vehicle, with two other students airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas in critical condition. The driver of the pickup and its passenger also die. (ESPN)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
    • Brazil reports its first two cases of the Deltacron variant in the Northern states of Pará and Amapá. (The Brazilian Report)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
    • China reports a record 5,280 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. (The Straits Times) (NDTV)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia
    • Namibia drops its requirement of face mask and mandatory PCR COVID-19 test for vaccinated visitors as the number of cases falls. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tests positive for COVID-19. (NPR)

International relations

• Reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russia–Ukraine relations
    • The fourth round of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations resumes a day after talks were suspended for technical reasons. (The Quint) (CBS News)
    • Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak reaffirms that ceasefire negotiations are ongoing. (The Free Press Journal)
    • Podolyak says that talks between Ukraine and Russia are difficult but also says that there is "certainly room for compromise". Talks between both countries will continue tomorrow. (AP) (Reuters)
  • Ukraine–European Union relations
    • The prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic travel to Kyiv by train to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in order to demonstrate "unequivocal support" of the European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. (CNN)
  • International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
    • Russia–United States relations
      • Russia sanctions U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, CIA Director William Burns, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in response to United States sanctions on Russian officials. (Sky News)
    • Canada–Russia relations
      • Russia sanctions Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, General Wayne Eyre and most members of the Canadian parliament. All those sanctioned are banned from entering Russia. (CBC News)
    • Russia–Spain relations
      • Spanish police seize a superyacht at the Port of Barcelona which is owned by Russian oligarch Sergey Chemezov, after Chemezov was sanctioned by the European Union. (Reuters)
    • Belarus–United States relations
      • The United States imposes additional sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. (CNN)
  • Enlargement of NATO
    • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledges that Ukraine will not be able to join NATO. (The Independent)
  • Russia in the Council of Europe
    • Russia formally withdraws from the Council of Europe. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2022 Karnataka hijab row
  • In India, the Karnataka High Court upholds restrictions on the wearing of the hijab in its schools, with Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi saying in the court's judgement that the wearing of the hijab "does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith." (Reuters)
• 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Illia Kyva, a politician for the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life, is deprived of his MP status in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. A further four MPs quit the party. (Interfax Ukraine)
• 2022 Northeastern U.S. serial shooter
  • The DC Police Department arrest a suspected serial killer involved in the murders of two homeless men, and the attempted murder of three others in Washington, D.C. and New York City. (New York Post)

Politics and elections

• Reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • The United States Senate unanimously passes a bipartisan resolution declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, and calls for his investigation by the International Criminal Court. (Reuters)
• 2022 Turkmenistan presidential election
  • Serdar Berdimuhamedow is elected President of Turkmenistan, succeeding his father Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. (AP)

Science and technology

• Intel pledges €33 billion in investments in the European Union factories and research facilities, including €17 billion for building a chip-making plant in Magdeburg, Germany and €12 billion for upgrading the Irish plant; the company promises €80 billion over the next decade for the EU. (ZDNet)