March 21, 2014 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
- Gunmen attack a police headquarters north of Baghdad and suicide bombers strike across Iraq killing 25 people and injuring dozens. (AP via Washington Post)
- Clashes erupt in Tripoli, Lebanon, between Syrian regime supporters and detractors, leaving three dead. (Time)
Business and economy
- Turkey restricts access to Twitter hours after the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatens to "root out" the social network where politically sensitive documents had been published. (AP)
International relations
- 2014 Crimean Crisis:
- The Russian Federation Council, the upper house of the Federal Assembly, approves the annexation of Crimea. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- The President of Russia Vladimir Putin signs the legislation completing the annexation of Crimea. (Reuters)
- Ukraine signs an association accord with the European Union in defiance of Russia. (AFP via Google News)
Law and crime
- American judge Bernard A. Friedman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan overturns Michigan's ban on same-sex marriages. (AP via Washington Post)
- A kindergarten lunch in Qiubei County, China, is poisoned, leaving two children dead and another thirty sick. (AP via CTV)
Politics and elections
- Thai general election, 2014:
- The Constitutional Court of Thailand invalidates the general election held on February 2, on the grounds that voting was not held on the same day throughout the country. (AFP via Malaysia Today)