Portal:Current events/2008 March 16

March 16, 2008 (Sunday)

2008 unrest in Tibet:
- The Central Tibetan Administration government in exile reports 80 confirmed deaths. (BBC News)
- The Dalai Lama calls for a change in Chinese policies towards Tibet and claims that the death toll could be as high as 100. (BBC News)
- Protests spread to Aba, Sichuan province, where a police station and cars are attacked. Several unconfirmed deaths are reported. (BBC News)
Subprime mortgage crisis:
- JPMorgan Chase announces plans to buy investment bank Bear Stearns for $2 a share following liquidity problems caused by the crisis. (AP via Charlotte.com)
- The U.S. Federal Reserve System becomes a lender to twenty large investment banks, backs JPMorgan Chase in purchasing failed Bear Stearns, and lowers direct lending rate. (The New York Times)
The Australian Government announces that the wreck of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran has been found off the coast of Western Australia. The ship sank after a battle in 1941. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Data from the United Nations Environment Programme shows the 2006 global glacial shrinkage rate is more than double that of 2005. (BBC News)
The Conservative Alliance wins the Iranian legislative election. (BBC News)
At least 68 people have been killed this month in clashes between Bundu dia Kongo and police in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC News)
The United Nations World Food Programme warns that it has become "very difficult" to provide food aid to the Darfur region of Sudan because of repeated truck hijacks. (BBC News)
Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese participate in rival political rallies ahead of the 2008 presidential election. (BBC News)
The United National Liberation Front attacks an Indian Army camp in Minou, in the Chandel district of Manipur, killing at least six soldiers. (BBC News)
A missile strike on a building near Wana in South Waziristan, Pakistan kills at least 16 people. A local tribesman accuses the United States Army of being behind the attack. (BBC News)
Scientists from Harvard Medical School announce a breakthrough technique that could stop cancer cells' growth by inhibiting the enzyme pyruvate kinase. (BBC News)
French voters go to the polls in the second round of the 2008 municipal elections, with President Nicolas Sarkozy's party Union for a Popular Movement likely to lose. (BBC News)
United States Senator and Republican candidate to the 2008 presidential election John McCain makes a surprise visit to Iraq. (BBC News)
Italian airline Alitalia is purchased by a consortium of Air France and KLM for €138 million. (BBC News)
At the 2008 National People's Congress, Wen Jiabao is elected as Premier for another five years term. (Xinhua)