Portal:Current events/2012 March 22

Current events of March 22, 2012 (2012-03-22) (Thursday)

Armed conflict and attacks

• Midi-Pyrénées shootings suspected perpetrator Mohammed Merah dies and three French policemen are injured as a siege ends outside Merah's Toulouse flat. (BBC)
• Mali coup d'état attempt during the insurgency in northern Mali:
  • Soldiers storm the palace of the President Amadou Toumani Touré with heavy gunfire reported in Bamako as part of a coup d'etat. (Reuters)
  • Captain Amadou Sanogo, the President of the newly-formed National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), declares an immediate curfew. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Portuguese trade unions hold a 24-hour strike in protest of austerity measures. (AFP via Google News)
• In the United States, about 350,000 people filed for unemployment benefits, hitting a four-year low, according to the United States Labor Department. (CNN)

Disasters

• A large fire sweeps through Hatibagan market, one of the oldest in the Indian city of Calcutta, destroying most of the buildings. (BBC)

Law and crime

• Malcolm Naden, Australia's most wanted man, is captured after seven years on the run near the town of Gloucester in the state of New South Wales and will face the wrath of my sack. (News Limited)