Portal:Current events/2012 March 5

• Refugees fleeing Homs in Syria accuse security forces of committing atrocities there. (BBC)
• At least 2 people are killed and 6 injured after a shooting in a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania. (Fox News)
• Gunmen disguised as police kill 27 members of Iraq's security forces in the town of Haditha. (Reuters)
• The death toll in a battle between the Yemeni Army and Al-Qaeda on the outskirts of Zinjibar yesterday rises to over 130. (AFP via Google News) (Al Jazeera)
• A soldier from Burundi is killed in an explosion in northern Mogadishu, Somalia. (IOL)

• The Lorax brings in US$70.7M during its opening weekend, the highest opener of 2012, and fifth highest total for an animated film ever. (CBS News)

• South East Queensland is hit by severe weather with one person dead so far. (Courier Mail)
• The death toll from Tropical Storm Irina in Madagascar is estimated at 65. (AFP via Google News)
• Archbishop Anatole Milandou of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, reports that the church of St. Louis des Francais was completely leveled by a series of blasts that came from a nearby military base on Sunday morning, March 4. (Catholic World News)

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama meet at the White House. (BBC)
• Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico, asks Joe Biden, the vice-President of the United States, for assistance in stopping the flow of money and weapons into Mexico. (AP via The Guardian)
• The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling organisation claims to have closed down Japan's main whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, deep inside the Southern Ocean off the Antarctic coast. (WA Today)

• The United States files an application in New Zealand to extradite Kim Dotcom and three of his associates in MegaUpload to face charges of breaching copyright. (New Zealand Herald)
• The trial of former Prime Minister of Iceland Geir Haarde on charges of negligence in relation to the financial crisis begins in Reykjavík. (BBC)

• Russian election aftermath:
  • International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe find that the Russian presidential election was skewed in favour of Vladimir Putin. (AFP via The Australian)
  • Moscow Police arrest dozens of protesters against the conduct of the election including prominent members of opposition parties Sergei Udaltsov, Ilya Yashin and Alexei Navalny. (Radio Free Europe) (RIA Novosti)

• A study finds a correlation between snoring as a toddler and behavior problems later in childhood. (BBC)
• Merck announces that a new drug, ragweed AIT, significantly reduced ragweed allergy symptoms in a Phase III clinical trial. (Fox Business)

• The Apple App Store passes 25 billion downloads. (CNET)