March 4, 2012 (Sunday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- The People's Republic of China announces plans to increase defense spending by 11.2 per cent in 2012. (Reuters via Yahoo News)
Disasters
- The cleanup continues in the US after tornadoes that claimed at least 39 lives. (BBC)
- A man dies in floodwaters near the Australian town of Araluen, New South Wales, with the hospital in the town of Numurkah, Victoria, being evacuated. (Herald Sun)
- A report finds that 160 children from the Chinese town of Dongtang in Guangdong Province's Renhua County are suffering from lead poisoning. (Reuters)
- The death toll from the train crash in Poland rises to 16. (New York Times)
- 2012 Brazzaville arms dump blasts: A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, with at least 250 people dead. (Reuters), (BBC)
- A truck accident in Guinea kills at least 50 people and injures 20, according to Agence France Presse. (BBC)
Law and crime
- A hunt is underway for a thief who stole the heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. (The Guardian)
- Paul McBride QC, Scotland's most senior lawyer, is found dead in a hotel room while on a visit to Pakistan. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- Voters in Russia go to the polls for a presidential election with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claiming victory despite allegations of voter fraud. (Radio Free Europe) (AP via Fox News)
- Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland and Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, criticises government plans to allow Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom. (BBC)