Portal:Current events/2014 March 18
March 18, 2014 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A Ukrainian military serviceman is killed in an attack on a base in Crimea's main city, Simferopol. (Reuters via Trust)
- A suicide rickshaw bomber detonates in a marketplace in Maymana, Afghanistan, killing 15 people. (Los Angeles Times)
Arts and culture
- President of the United States Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to 24 veterans, all of whom served in the Vietnam War, World War II and the Korean War. (AP via ABC)
- The Rolling Stones postpone their tours of Australia and New Zealand following the death of Mick Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- At least two people are dead and one is in critical condition after a KOMO-TV news helicopter crashes near the Seattle Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. (AP via Washington Times)
International relations
- 2014 Crimean crisis - Simferopol Incident
- Japan announces it will fall in line with American sanctions against Russia for its role in promoting the secession of Crimea from Ukraine. (AP via Fox News)
- The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty. (Washington Post)
- Transnistria formally requests to join the Russian Federation. (Vestnik Kavkaza) (BBC News)
- United States-Syria relations:
- The United States expels all Syrian diplomats and closes the Syrian embassy in Washington D.C. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Occupy Taiwan Legislature
- Protesters storm and occupy the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan due to a unilateral move by the Kuomintang that forces the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement to the legislative floor without giving it an item-by-item review. (Focus Taiwan)
