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Investigators from Spanish police links two of the men who took part in an attack on North Korean embassy in Madrid to the CIA, on February 22 ten masked assailants broke into the embassy, beating and interrogating the diplomatic staff, CIA denies any involvement but Spanish government sources say their response was "unconvincing"
Iranian Foreign Minister responsible for 2015 nuclear deal with foreign governments submits resignation, Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation on Instagram which is one of the few social media platforms not blocked in the country, Iran watchers speculate the move is a prelude to regime change efforts in the country
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Miscellaneous
Romanian restaurant owner Ștefan Mandachi builds one-metre-long stretch of motorway on plot of land he owns next to busy main road in north-eastern region of Moldavia to protest country's poor highway infrastructure, Transport Minister Răzvan Cuc declares road illegal due to lack of permits but says he understands Mandachi's concerns
Japan will announce the new era name on April 1, chief cabinet secretary will create short list of three candidates from dozen finalists submitted by scholars, government plans to decide on the new name after a 2.5 hour long meeting with experts and all Cabinet members, before reporting the new name to the Emperor and the crown prince
Media
National Association of Black Journalists calls out CNN and its president Jeff Zucker, blasting the company for a lack of diversity in its top leadership, says it placed the company on a media monitoring list so the matter can be studied further after Zucker refused to meet with a four-person NABJ delegation
Politics
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hit with new ethics complaint after obtaining an official @mail.house.gov e-mail address for her boyfriend by falsely designating him a staff member, claims the account was given so he could have access to her calendar, boyfriend has previously received two payments for USD 3,000 from Brand New Congress PAC
Emmanuel Macron set out proposals for a "European renaissance", says the EU needs to stop member states "retreating into nationalism", wants to create new bodies to protect the bloc against cyber-attacks and spreading of fake news, ban foreign powers financing European political parties, introduce a EU minimum wage and target zero carbon by 2050
Eurosceptic EKRE who promised to slash taxes saw its popularity surge in Estonia's general election, more than doubling its previous results and garnering about 18% of the vote, opposition centre-right Reform party won the election with 29% of the vote, insisting a coalition with EKRE is not a choice, a quarter of Estonia's 881,000 eligible voters cast their ballots by e-voting
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta illegally hid plea details from sex trafficking victims of Jeffrey Epstein, Acosta was a federal prosecutor in Miami who struck plea deal with the politically connected former hedge fund manager, he now oversees federal government international human trafficking and child labor violations efforts
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders announces 2020 presidential bid to complete "political revolution", rose to prominence during 2016 campaign on promises of universal health care and USD 15 per hour minimum wage, ultimately lost the Democratic party nomination via controversial infighting with Hillary Clinton campaign
Opinion
Daniel McCarthy: Libertarians at least as suicidal as left-liberals, the economic crisis they focus on will be preceded by political and cultural ones of greater importance, libertarians seem numb to meaningful details such as the difference between Islam and Christianity while focusing on broader structures, tax cuts and de-regulation not enough since markets depend on civilization and nation
Robert Kajiwara: US military base construction on Okinawa sparks increased independence calls, 70% of Japanese military installations on Okinawa despite representing 0.6% of its landmass, the Henoko base, deemed unnecessary by both US and Japan, threatens world's 2nd most biodiverse coral reef and further denies economic opportunity to natives on prime real estate, less than half of population satisfied with being Japanese prefecture
Jonathan Head: Speculations whether Thaksin Shinawatra had a green light from King Vajiralongkorn to nominate Princess Ubolratana and the king then change his mind or if he assumed Princess Ubolratana had her brother's approval and took a reckless gamble, to be on the receiving end of such explicit royal disapproval is normally a devastating blow
Claudio Sopranzetti: Princess Ubolratanas's short-lived candidacy revealed a rift within Bangkok conservative elites, some of whom showed that their hate for the Shinawatras may be stronger than their adulation for the royal family, it also exposed a division within the pro-democracy camp between those who celebrated the nomination of the princess as a brilliant tactical move and those who saw it as a huge mistake, additionally it seem to have affected the relation between General Prayuth and King Vajiralongkorn
Vox Day: The death of 4,500 Boomers a day a cause for joy, 66 million left of these tiresome narcissistic morons droning on about themselves for over forty years, Boomer Hate will increase as Millennials wake up to how Boomers screwed them over by abandoning their familial and societal responsibilities
John Garnaut: Xi Jinping has continued and distilled the Marx-Lenin-Stalin-Mao belief system, central to Chinese Communist thought is the perpetual struggle against counter-revolutionary forces, Mao's most dedicated research was in the area of Chinese epics which told of imperial decay, Xi seeks to re-invigorate Chinese communism to break the historical curse of decline of the rulers
Will Burns: Gillette especially poorly positioned to talk about toxic masculinity after marketing male confidence for the last 30 years, if they were serious about their new position they should start by apologising, instead comes off as utterly disingenuous and inauthentic, probably result of echo-chamber mentality in the marketing department
Europe
UK pornography block to take effect in April, requires users to present a passport, driver's license, credit card or purchase a GBP 5 porn card to verify their age, sites not complying will be subject to a GBP 250,000 fine or a block by UK internet service providers, experts warn about possible threats to privacy of individuals and entering credit card details into untrusted sites
Parkfield Community School in Birmingham halts LGBTQ curriculum after weeks of protests from Muslim parents culminated in 80% of the pupils being withdrawn, school denies protests had anything to do with the decision but "recognizes a need for parents and officials to discuss how to implement teaching about The Equality Act of 2010"
Man arrested in Barcelona for attempting to stab police officers while reportedly shouting "Allahu Akbar", claimed he was a messenger with mission to kill everyone, according to news site El País, none of the officers were injured, police believe the man may have a mental illness but are currently investigating all possibilities
North America
FAA managers in 2015 pushed to delegate safety assessments of the new 737 MAX to Boeing itself and to speedily approve the resulting analysis, as Boeing tried to catch up with rival Airbus A320neo, safety analysis report used to certify the plane's flight control system MCAS had several crucial flaws
50 individuals accused of paying bribes to get their children into America's top colleges, said to have used bribes to manipulate SAT exams, create fake athlete profiles to get kids athletic scholarships and lie about their ethnicity on applications to take advantage of affirmative action, several famous actors among the suspects
Corruption scandal surrounding Justin Trudeau's government deepens after a third high-profile resignation, Treasury Board President Jane Philpott says she has lost confidence in the government's handling of the corruption inquiry, Trudeau denies political meddling to shield engineering firm SNC-Lavalin from a bribery trial
Latin America
Mysterious group of five armed Americans arrested by Haitian police in Port-au-Prince, they claim they were on a "government mission" and traveled without license plates or visa stamps showing entry, Haiti has seen protests and other civil disturbances calling for resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse
Venezuela's Supreme Court bans opposition leader Juan Guaidó from leaving the country and freezes his bank accounts, Maduro says he's prepared to hold negotiations, US has handed control of Venezuela's US bank accounts to Guaidó and National Security Adviser John Bolton warns anyone attempting to harm "President Guaidó"
Asia
Ethiopian Airlines says flight data from Flight 302 crash suggest clear similarities with Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610 crash last October, both Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft's data show altitude fluctuated sharply as the planes experienced erratic climbs and descents, system repeatedly forced the plane's nose down, possibly due to a faulty sensor, pilots tried to correct this by pointing the nose higher
Malaysian jailed for more than 10 years over insults against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on social media, three additional people charged, Inspector-General of Police says people should avoid "causing racial tensions within this country's diverse community" by abusing social media, unit to monitor insults against Islam and Muhammad set up by Islamic Affairs Department
India claims airstrike targeting camp of Islamic terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan killed large number of militants, response to suicide bombing earlier this month killing 40 Indian soldiers, Pakistan says there was no damage or casualties as they scrambled fighters and the Indian jets "released payload in haste"
Middle East
Ikea in Israel sued for gender discrimination over catalogue that doesn't depict women, Orthodox Jewish woman Hannah Katsman's suit alleges the lack of images connotes "women have no value", the catalogue was specially created for Israel's ultra-Orthodox community but the company states it does not live up to their standards
Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of harboring "the board of directors of al-Qaida" whilst Iran claim Saudi Arabia and Pakistan coordinated the bombing killing 27 personnel of the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, meanwhile Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign bilateral investment projects worth USD 20 billion in the energy sector, Saudi crown prince orders release of 2,100 of about 3,000 Pakistanis being detained in Saudi jails
Israeli Medical Association threatens to ban any doctors performing "gay conversion therapy", the practice is believed to cure the mental illness of homosexuality but risks creating anxiety and depression, religious authorities and political organizations stand opposed to the ban despite lack of evidence
Technology
Phone-hacking device law enforcement officials use to extract data from phones pops up on eBay for USD 100, personal data including photos, contacts and messages could still be found on the units, the devices use vulnerabilities unknown at the time to the likes of Apple or Google to access the phones, producer's terms don't permit clients to resell the products
Google Chrome prepares Scroll-To-Text feature which let users share link that takes the recipient to the exact word the sender has selected, equivalent of sharing link to a YouTube video that jumps to a preselected time, proposes adjustments to HTML standards so the feature is supported on all browsers
Science
Mitochondrial DNA analysis may identify serial killer Jack the Ripper as Polish barber Aaron Kosminski, was identified by witness to one of the killings who then refused to testify against him, scientists analyzed blood-stained shawl from fourth victim Catherine Eddowes, linking Kosminski to the crimes
European particle physics research centre Cern decides not to extend Professor Alessandro Strumia's status of guest professor, decision follows investigation into comments made by Prof Strumia on gender equality, have said "physics was invented and built by men, it's not by invitation" and that work conducted by female physicists is not as good as their male counterparts
The Food and Drug Administration approves antidepressant medication Spravato for patients with major depressive disorder who have tried other antidepressant medicines but have not responded to treatment, medication works within hours rather than weeks as is common with other drugs, comes in a nasal spray but will only be available through a restricted distribution system
Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 successfully lands on "Ryugu" asteroid 280 million km from Earth, the mission was delayed four months as the JAXA crew searched for an appropriate landing site, samples will be collected and returned to Earth intended to answer questions about the origins of the solar system
Funeral remains found in Iberian Peninsula demonstrate humans domesticated foxes during Bronze Age, researchers use multiple methods to analyze diet composition of recovered dogs and foxes which indicate shared food sources with humans, "Can Roqueta" fox shows a wounded animal whose ligaments appear to have been healed by human methods, evidence of cereal-based diet and spinal injuries suggests dogs used for carrying heavy loads