Portal:Current events/2012 March 17

• Syria:
  • At least two bombings are reported of government facilities in the Syrian capital Damascus with several police and civilians reported dead. (Ninemsn) (BBC) (CNN)
  • Saudi Arabia is sending weapons to rebels in Syria, according to a top Arab diplomat. (Times of India)
• A Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in southwest China, in the latest in a series of similar incidents where nearly 30 monks have now self-immolated. (Times of India) (Straits Times)

• Pope Benedict XVI launches an internal investigation into leaks of confidential documents alleging corruption, financial mismanagement and power struggles among senior church officials. (AP)
• Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, the leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, dies of cancer at the age of 88. (BBC)

• Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua is upgraded to a Category 4 cyclone as it hits the town of Pardoo on the northwest coast of Western Australia. (The Australian)

• Burma signs an agreement with the International Labour Organization to end forced labour by 2015. (Bangkok Post)
• China expresses concern at North Korea's intention to launch a satellite next month to mark the centenary of founder Kim Il-sung's birth. (Al Jazeera)

• Mauritania's state information agency announces that Abdullah Senussi, Muammar Gaddafi's former intelligence chief, has been arrested at the airport in Nouakchott upon arrival from Morocco. (AP) (CNN)
• Belarus executes Vladislav Kovalev, one of the men convicted of the 2011 Minsk Metro bombing. (Russia Today)
• London's Metropolitan Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the British Houses of Parliament on Friday evening. (BBC)
• Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk, convicted of accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews during The Holocaust, dies at the age of 91. (BBC)
• Venezuelan police shoot dead the daughter of a Chilean diplomat at a police checkpoint at the city of Maracaibo after the vehicle she was travelling in refused to stop - 11 police officers are under investigation. (AP via San Francisco Chronicle)

• Chinese leaders urge officials and residents in Chongqing to support the change of leadership in the city, after former chief Bo Xilai was removed. (Taipei Times)
• Leaders of the African Union meet in Benin to discuss a resolution of the leadership crisis after deadlocked elections in January. (IOL)
• Voters in East Timor go to the polls for a presidential election with incumbent President Jose Ramos-Horta standing against 11 other candidates. (AFP via France 24)
• Julian Assange announces plans to run for the Senate of Australia despite being under house arrest in the United Kingdom. (News Limited)
• Personal documents released from the papers of Margaret Thatcher show the former British Prime Minister held a private meeting with Rupert Murdoch at Chequers weeks before his purchase of Times Newspapers in 1981. (BBC)

• Association football:
  • Fabrice Muamba collapses on live television in the 41st minute of the FA Cup quarter-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers. The match is abandoned, and Muamba is rushed to a London hospital in critical condition after being resuscitated for several minutes on the pitch. (The Guardian) (BBC) (Sky)
  • Andrea Pirlo of Italian side Juventus dedicates his team's Serie A win to Muamba. (IBN)
• Wales win against France in rugby union's Six Nations Championship, achieving the Grand Slam for the 11th time.