March 17, 2015 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- In Peshawar, an unknown assailant shoots and kills Pakistani lawyer Samiullah Afridi, who had defended Dr. Shakil Afridi (in regards to assisting CIA agents hunt al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden), with two Pakistan militant groups, Jundullah and Jamaatul Ahrar, both claiming responsibility. (HuffPost)
- American-led intervention in Syria:
- Syrian Air Defense Force downs an American MQ-1 Predator surveillance drone operating in ISIL-free province of Latakia. (RT)
Disasters and accidents
- A Dutch military helicopter serving as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali crashes near Gao, killing two people. (BBC)
International relations
- Philippines v. China
- The Philippines submits to The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration a 3,000-page document containing additional volumes of arguments, evidence, and maps seeking to nullify China’s sweeping claim over the resource-rich South China Sea. (GMA News)
Law and crime
- In Australia, the New South Wales Police charge the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, with allegedly covering up a child sexual abuse crime committed by another priest, James Fletcher, in the 1970s. (ABC)
- According to the U.S. Secret Service, a white substance mailed in an envelope to the White House and received March 16, 2015, at the White House Mail Screening Facility, tests a "presumptive positive" for cyanide. (Reuters via MSN)
- Federal authorities arrest a Missouri man, Cameron James Stout, 24, of Stover, Missouri for threatening to shoot U.S. President Barack Obama. (Reuters via MSN)
- A drive-by shooting in Stockton, California kills three people and injures four more. (Reuters via MSN)
- American health insurer Premera Blue Cross announces that it was the victim of a cyberattack that exposed bank account numbers and other personal data of 11 million customers on May 5, 2014. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Israeli legislative election, 2015:
- The Likud party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wins the most seats in the Knesset, winning 30 out of 120 seats. If asked by the President to form a government, Netanyahu will become the first Prime Minister to serve a fourth term. (The New York Times) (The Times of Israel) (AP via Fox News)
- Following a congressional and possible criminal investigation surrounding the redecoration of his office and the use of donors' private aircraft at taxpayers' expense, U.S. Representative Aaron Schock (R-IL) resigns effective March 31, 2015. (Peoria Journal Star)