current Events/2023 March 29

• Colombian conflict
  • ELN rebels launch homemade mortar shells at a military base in El Carmen, Norte de Santander, Colombia, killing nine soldiers and injuring nine others. (ABC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Sinking of MV Lady Mary Joy 3
  • Thirty-one people are killed and more than 200 others are rescued after a ferry catches fire near an island in Basilan, Philippines. At least seven are still missing. (AP)
• Four people are killed by a storm in Syria. (AP)

Health and environment

• 2020–2023 H5N1 outbreak
  • Chile detects its first case of H5N1 bird flu in a 53-year-old man. (Reuters)

International relations

• Brazil–China relations
  • Brazil and China sign an agreement to trade in their own currencies, ceasing the usage of the United States dollar as an intermediary. (The Straits Times)
• Burkina Faso–North Korea relations
  • Burkina Faso formally resumes diplomatic relations with North Korea after suspending them in 2017 over the country's nuclear weapons program. (Andolu Agency)

Law and crime

• Myanmar's ruling military junta dissolves the National League for Democracy, the political party of former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. (NHK)
• Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka announces that the Media Industry Development Authority will repeal a controversial 2010 law which strictly controlled media in the country. (RNZ)
• Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter at The Wall Street Journal, is arrested in Yekaterinburg by Russia's Federal Security Service under charges of espionage. (RFE/RL)

Politics and elections

• Repeal of the 2002 AUMF
  • The U.S. Senate passes a bill to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) that allowed the past wars in Iraq, with a bipartisan majority of 66–30 votes. (Reuters)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reshuffles the government's cabinet amid an increase in prices and shortages of food due to the severe economic situation the country, which was worsened by the recent earthquake. (AP via The Washington Post)
• UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan announces that he has named his son Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan as the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince. City Football Group owner Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is also appointed as Vice President. (Al Jazeera)

Sports

• 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup
  • FIFA strips Indonesia of hosting this year's FIFA U-20 World Cup tournament after the Governor of Bali I Wayan Koster refused to host the Israel national under-19 football team. (The Guardian)
• 2022–23 NBA season
  • In basketball, the Sacramento Kings make the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending their 17-year playoff drought, the longest in NBA history. (USA Today) (KTXL-TV)