March 3, 2015
(Tuesday)
Business and economy
- Norwegian Air Shuttle will ground all passengers in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden as the result of an industrial dispute. The action leaves 35,000 people stranded. (The local)
- The Royal Bank of Scotland will fire 14,000 staff as they retreat from geographic positions in US and Asian markets. (The Guardian)
- Target Corporation, a major U.S. retail chain, announces cuts that will mean the loss of thousands of jobs, part of a revival plan adopted by CEO Brian Cornell. (Target press release)
Disasters and accidents
- The Villarrica volcano explodes in southern Chile leading to the evacuation of 3,000 people. (Xinhua)
International relations
- Assassination of Boris Nemtsov
- Russian authorities refuse entry into Russia at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport to a Latvian lawmaker and vice-chair of the biggest bloc in the EU, Sandra Kalniete. Having received no reasonable explanation for the ban, she flies back to Brussels. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- Russia's authorities deny Poland's Senate speaker Bogdan Borusewicz entry into Russia for the funeral of slain Kremlin critic Nemtsov. (ABC News)
- North Korea lifts restrictions on entry into the country imposed ostensibly to stop the spread of the Ebola virus. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Former CIA director and U.S. Army officer David Petraeus pleads guilty in federal court to a charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information. (Reuters vis MSN)
- A Turkish court orders President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to pay 10,000 lira ($4,000) in compensation for the mental anguish caused to artist Mehmet Aksoy for having called his sculpture Monument to Humanity — meant to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia — a "monstrosity" in 2011. (Fox News)
- China detains Jing Chunhua, a senior official from Hebei province of China, for investigation by the Communist Party's anti-graft agency for violating party discipline and breaking the law. Jing is the second provincial-ranked official from Hebei province to undergo investigation since the wider anti-corruption campaign began in 2013. (CRI)
- Same-sex marriage in Slovenia
- Slovenia becomes the 11th EU member state and the first post-communist state to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption of children by same-sex couples, after a parliamentary vote of 51–28. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the United States Congress over the nuclear program of Iran. (BBC) (The New York Times)
- Myanmarese students on a march to Yangon to protest an academic bill defy a police order to disperse in Letpadan Township. (BBC)
- Norwegian Nobel Committee
- For the first time in its 114-year-old history, the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which awards the Nobel Peace Prize) replaces against his will its head, Thorbjørn Jagland. Kaci Kullmann Five succeeds Jagland who will still remain a member of the committee. (AFP via ABC)
Science and technology
- An archaeological expedition claims to have found the legendary White City in northeastern Honduras, with artifacts that range in dates from the 11th to 14th century. (National Geographic)