Portal:Current events/2025 March 11

March 11, 2025 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali civil war
- 2025 Shabelle offensive
  - 2025 Beledweyne hotel attack
    - At least ten people are killed after five Al-Shabaab militants detonate a car bomb and attack a hotel in Beledweyne, Hiran, Somalia. (BBC News) (First Post)
Syrian civil war
- Western Syria clashes
  - 2025 massacres of Syrian Alawites, March 2025 Western Syria clashes
    - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports the killings of 132 Alawite civilians, totaling 1,225 civilian deaths as a result of forty-seven separate massacres in western Syria since 6 March. (BBC News)
War against the Islamic State
- Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
  - Puntland counter-terrorism operations
    - Around 2,500 rural families who depend on frankincense harvesting have been displaced by ongoing War between Puntland forces and Islamic State militants in Cal Miskaad mountain ranges of Bari Region, Puntland. (Hiiraan Online)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - Ukraine launches a massive drone attack on Moscow, the largest inside Russia since the start of the war. At least three people are killed and 18 others are injured. Multiple fires are reported throughout the city and flights from Sheremetyevo International Airport are suspended. (BBC News) (Reuters)
  - Russia claims its air defences have shot down at least 337 Ukrainian drones overnight across 10 oblasts. (The Journal)
- Kursk offensive
  - Russia announces that the Russian military in the previous several days retook multiple villages in Kursk Oblast up to the outskirts of Sudzha, the main town occupied by the Ukrainian military, as Ukrainian forces withdraw to avoid encirclement. (Reuters) (Al Arabiya)
- Odesa strikes
  - A Russian missile strike on a cargo ship carrying a shipment of grain to Algeria at the Port of Odesa, kills four crew members and severely damages the vessel. (Trade Winds News)
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - The United States government lifts its suspension on sharing intelligence and military aid to Ukraine. (AP)
Insurgency in Balochistan
- 2025 Jaffar Express hijacking
  - The Jaffar Express passenger train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar in Pakistan is hijacked by the Balochistan Liberation Army, with over 440 people being taken hostage. The BLA claims it killed more than 30 Pakistan Army personnel. (News18) (ARY News)

Business and economy

2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico
- U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he will raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports from 25% to 50%. (BBC News)
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford suspends planned surcharges on electricity in the US. Trump backs off afterwards, though his original plan to impose 25% tariffs will go as planned. (AP)
- Trump's trade counselor Peter Navarro says that 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum won't take effect on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A bus overturns on a highway in Johannesburg, South Africa, killing at least 16 people and injuring 35 others, including 11 critically. (Euronews) (AP)
At least three people are killed and eleven others are injured when a tram-train collides with a tank truck at a level crossing in Zeutern, Ubstadt-Weiher, Germany. (CTV News)

International relations

Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Coalition of the willing (Russo-Ukrainian War)
  - The military chiefs of all European NATO countries meet in Paris, France, to discuss a potential European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, alongside Ukrainian representatives. The U.S. was not involved in the meeting. (RFE/RL)
- Ukraine–United States relations
  - The U.S. and Ukraine announce their intention to seek a 30-day ceasefire with Russia after talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, involving U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. (CBS News)
Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
- Angola announces it will mediate peace talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Rwanda-backed rebel group March 23 Movement (M23), following a visit by Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi to discuss a potential peace process with Angolan president João Lourenço. (The Independent) (The Star)

Law and crime

International Criminal Court investigation in the Philippines, Philippine drug war
- Arrest of Rodrigo Duterte
  - Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is arrested by the Philippine National Police through the Interpol at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila after being served an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court upon arriving from Hong Kong. Duterte was later transferred and later extradited to The Hague, Netherlands on a chartered flight by the Philippine government. (The New York Times)
2025 Romanian presidential election
- The Romanian Constitutional Court upholds the decision to ban far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu from running in the 2025 presidential election after he appealed the decision last week. He is under investigation for campaign finance violations and allegations of being supported by Russia. (DW)

Politics and elections

2024–present Serbian anti-corruption protests
- As protests against the Serbian government continue across Serbia, hundreds of students form a blockade around the headquarters of the Radio Television of Serbia in Belgrade, accusing the state television station of being biased towards President Aleksandar Vučić. At least one police officer is injured. (DW)
2025 Greenlandic general election
- Greenlanders and other citizens of Greenland vote to elect the 31 members of the Inatsisartut between 213 candidates from six parties. (DW)
- The centre-right opposition Demokraatit wins a plurality while the centre-left ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit–Siumut coalition loses their majority. (CNN)
Next Portuguese legislative election
- Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's minority government falls after a motion of confidence is passed in the Assembly of the Republic. Early elections are called. (Reuters)
United States District Judge for the District Court of the District of Columbia Amir Ali orders the Trump administration to pay nearly $2 billion (€1.84 billion) in unpaid funds for promised USAID programs that the administration ended. (DW)

Science and technology

NASA launches the SPHEREx near-infrared space observatory on a Falcon 9 Block 5 spacecraft from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The SPHEREx mission will perform a survey of and map approximately 450 million galaxies across the sky in color. (NBC News) (DW)