Portal:Current events/2016 March 24

Current events of March 24, 2016 (2016-03-24) (Thursday)

Business and economics Starboard Value LP, an activist hedge fund, begins a proxy contest to oust the entire board of directors of internet pioneer Yahoo. (Reuters) Lebanese daily newspaper As-Safir ("The Ambassador" in Arabic) is to cease print and online operations after over 40 years, citing falling revenues and Lebanon's political environment and sectarian problems as reasons for its closure. The newspaper has close ties to Hezbollah. (Reuters) Disasters and accidents Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Australian infrastructure and transport minister Darren Chester says in a statement that debris recovered this month in Mozambique was highly likely to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. (Reuters) Law and crime England international footballer Adam Johnson is sentenced to six years in prison for child grooming and child sexual activity. (BBC) Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia find former President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić guilty of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosnia during the Bosnian War and is sentenced to 40 years in prison. Karadžić is found to be "criminally responsible" for the Srebrenica massacre. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) (The Guardian) In Toronto, Jian Ghomeshi is aquitted on all charges of sexual assault and choking. The judge found the claimants had "lied, had been manipulative and hid pertinent information" from the court and this created reasonable doubt. Protests against due process emerged immediately afterwards. (National Post) In New York, an appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit trying to keep Ted Cruz off the ballot in the U.S. Presidential contest on the ground of his Canadian birth. (Reuters) Politics and elections Myanmar general election, 2015 Myanmar's parliament approves Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and 17 other nominees to positions in the incoming government's cabinet. Which ministry each will head was not announced. (Bloomberg) Amnesty International urges Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party make release of political prisoners, and rescinding laws that made incarceration possible, a top priority when they take office next Friday, April 1, 2016. Amnesty International adds it knows of almost 100 political prisoners still behind bars, with hundreds of others in detention. AI's Jasmine Heiss says, "The incoming government must take bold steps to show that human rights abuses are a problem of the past.” (AP via The Washington Post) (USA Tday) (Amnesty International) New Zealand flag debate New Zealanders vote to retain the current flag over the proposed design in the nation's flag referendum. More than 2 million people vote in the referendum. (NZ Herald) (Radio New Zealand) (The Guardian) Republic of the Congo presidential election, 2016 Current President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso is reelected with 60 percent of the vote amid tight security and a communications blackout. Opposition leaders say that they will not accept the outcome. (Al Jazeera) Sport Dutch iconic professional footballer and manager Johan Cruyff dies from lung cancer at the age of 68. (CNN) Six Russian athletes are to be stripped of the medals they won at World and European championships in 2010 and 2011 and the 2012 Summer Olympics following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The athletes affected are Sergei Balukin, Valeriy Borchin, Vladimir Kanaikin, Olga Kaniskina, Yulia Zaripova and Sergey Kirdyapkin. The ruling means Kirdyapkin is set to lose his gold medal won at the 2012 Olympics. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)