Ten rockets hit the Al Asad Airbase hosting US-led coalition forces in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. No one is directly killed or wounded by the strikes, but an American civilian contractor dies of a heart attack during the impact.
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March 3, 2021 (Wednesday)
4.4 minutes to read
Armed conflicts and attacks
Thirty-eight protesters are shot dead and 30 more are wounded by the military and police as protests against the February 1 coup continue across the country. A meeting of ASEAN nations called for restraint of the security forces but failed to unanimously call for the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ten FARC dissidents are killed and three others are wounded when the Colombian Army bombs a base housing them in Calamar, Guaviare.
Following pressure from the international community, Ethiopia releases three reporters working for the BBC, AFP and Financial Times, alongside two local news reporter and two translators without charge. No reason was given for their arrest, and it is still unclear if four other journalists have been released.
The bodies of four Filipinos, an Austrian, and a Czech, all oil workers who were kidnapped and then murdered in Libya in 2015 by Islamic State terrorists, are found at a cemetery.
Suspected ADF militants kill 8 civilians during a shooting attack at a market in Mambelenga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. ADF attacks have increased, with more than 140 people killed by the group since the beginning of the year.
Businesses and economy
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivers the 2021 Spring budget to the House of Commons, announcing the government's tax and spending plans for the year ahead, as well as further COVID-19 support measures, including extending the furlough until the end of September and increasing the minimum wage beginning in April.
Disasters and accidents
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes central Greece and is felt in neighbouring countries. Most of the damage is reported in the Greek region of Thessaly.
Health and environment
Taiwan receives their first shipment of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative.
Denmark reports their first case of the Lineage P.1 variant first detected in Brazil in a person from the Capital Region.
The Government of Catalonia announces that 79,000 vaccinated persons were mistakenly recorded as COVID-19 cases.
Senegal receives 324,000 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative.
São Paulo governor João Doria announces that the entire state will revert to "red phase" restrictions, which means that all malls and non-essential businesses will be closed for two weeks beginning March 6 in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
China confirms an outbreak of African swine fever in Domestic pigs being illegally transported through Funing County in Yunnan province.
Rwanda receives their first shipment of 240,000 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative.
New Jersey reports their first two cases of Lineage P.1 variant in Hudson County and 34 cases of New York variant of SARS-CoV-2 in northeastern part of the state.
Sudan receives over 800,000 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative, becoming the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to receive it.
Law and crime
A pipe bomb explodes outside a COVID-19 test centre in Bovenkarspel, Netherlands, causing minor damage. No one is wounded in the explosion.
Alek Minassian is found guilty of murdering 10 people, and attempting to kill 16 more, in a vehicle-ramming attack.
Attorney-General, House Leader and Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter comes forward as the minister accused of raping a woman in 1988 who has since committed suicide, in an anonymous letter sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week. Porter denies the allegations and announces that he will be taking a mental health leave.
The United States Capitol Police announces that it has obtained intelligence on a "possible plot" by an identified militia group to breach the United States Capitol building on the following day, March 4, which has recently been the subject of QAnon conspiracy theories. In response to the intelligence, the United States House of Representatives announces that it has ended its work for the week.
France bans far-right Identitarian nationalist group Génération Identitaire. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says the movement incites "discrimination, hatred and violence".
German intelligence agency Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution formally places far-right oppositional party Alternative for Germany under surveillance, accusing it of aiming to subvert the constitution. It is the first time that a major political party has been placed under surveillance since the end of World War II.
Politics and elections
Freedom House, in its annual Freedom in the World report, downgrades India from "free" to "partially free". The report cites the rise in mob violence against Muslims, increased government interference in the judiciary, increased intimidation against journalists and activists, and the government's heavy-handed approach to COVID-19 lockdowns that left millions of migrants stranded as the main reasons for the downgrade.
Hungary's ruling party Fidesz withdraws from the conservative European Parliament bloc European People's Party (EPP), after the EPP changed its rules to allow it to expel a party's entire delegation. Fidesz's membership had been suspended since 2019 after it accused then-European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and philanthropist George Soros of conspiring to "flood" Europe with migrants during a national campaign.
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