March 2, 2011 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2011 Libyan civil war
- The South Korean Navy ship Choi Young arrives off the coast of Tripoli to evacuate South Korean citizens from Libya. (Yonhap)
- Supporters and opponents of Muammar Gaddafi fight to control the town of Brega with the rebel held town of Ajdabiya being bombed; government troops later retreat. (BBC), (AP viaGold Coast Telegram)
- Colonel Gaddafi claims that Libya's oil fields are "safe" and "under control" and warns against foreign intervention. (Associated Press)
- A spokesman for the "interim national government council" in Benghazi calls for the international community to carry out air strikes against mercenaries fighting for Colonel Gaddafi. (New York Times)
- 2011 Yemeni protests
- Thousands of anti-government protesters demonstrate across Yemen, amid mounting pressure for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Iranian protests
- Dozens of people are killed in fighting between rebels and troops in Southern Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
- Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's Minister for Minorities and himself a Roman Catholic, is assassinated in Islamabad. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Arts and culture
- Sony Music Japan apologises for members of the rock band Kishidan dressing up in Nazi style uniforms in a television broadcast following protests from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. (AP via MSNBC)
- Pope Benedict XVI exonerates the Jewish people for the responsibility for the death of Jesus in his book Jesus of Nazareth Part II. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- Four Chinese stamps from the Cultural Revolution are sold at auction for approximately $1.15million.(BBC)
Business and economy
- The Bangladeshi central bank attempts to remove Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank which he founded. (BBC)
- Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation agrees to sell Sky News in order to be in a position to buy BSkyB without a Competition Commission inquiry. (BBC)
- MetLife, the largest life insurance company in the United States, claims that shares held by the American International Group (AIG) have been sold for $6.35 billion to help pay back the United States government for the bailout. (Bloomberg via San Francisco Chronicle)
- Apple Inc unveils the latest model of its tablet computer, the iPad 2. (CNet)
- Barnes & Noble settles an intellectual property dispute over the design of its ebook reader, the Nook. (Reuters)
Disasters
- Around 40 fishermen in Zambia are feared dead after their boat capsized in a storm on Lake Mweru. (AFP via Google News)
- A dust storm hits Christchurch, New Zealand, hampering the recovery efforts from the 2011 Canterbury earthquake. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Law and crime
- Prosecutors in Paris, France, say that British fashion designer John Galliano will face criminal charges over alleged anti-Semitic remarks. (Newscore via New York Post), (The Telegraph)
- Frankfurt shootings
- Two United States Air Force personnel are killed and two others injured after a gunman opens fire at Frankfurt Airport in Germany - a suspect is arrested in connection with the incident. (Sky News), (AP via MSNBC), (USA Today)
- President of the United States Barack Obama says that he is "saddened and outraged" and says that the United States will ensure that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. (Associated Press)
- The United States military files new charges against Private Bradley Manning in relation to the leak of the WikiLeaks cables. (ABC News Australia)
- Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of US politician Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, is denied parole again in California. (KABC Television)
Politics
- Private and independent newspapers in Ivory Coast cease publication to protest violence and harassment by supporters of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo. Radio broadcasts by the BBC and RFI are taken off air. (Bloomberg)
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel names Thomas de Maizière as new defence minister and Hans-Peter Friedrich as the new interior minister, following resignations earlier this week. (Deutsche Welle) (Xinhua)
- The United Kingdom announces plans to axe 11,000 jobs in the British Armed Forces. (AFP via The Australian)
- Fox News suspends contributors Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum until they decide on a 2012 US presidential election candidacy. (Politico)
- Thousands of Turkish Cypriots protest against Government of Turkey inspired spending cuts in Nicosia. (Cyprus Mail)[permanent dead link]
- The Wisconsin Senate votes to fine missing Democrats $100 a day for their absence during the 2011 Wisconsin protests. (Madison.com)
- The President of the United States Barack Obama signs a bill preventing a shutdown of the United States government for another two weeks. (Washington Post)
- The South Dakota Senate passes a bill requiring additional steps to provide informed consent before a woman can have an abortion. (Rapid City Journal)
- Hawaii Democratic Party Senator Daniel Akaka announces that he will not be standing for reelection in the United States Senate election in Hawaii. (The Washington Post)
- Elections in the Netherlands: Dutch provincial elections of 2011. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) obtain the highest number of votes cast, The Labour Party (PvdA) obtain the second highest number of votes. (NOS)
Science
- The Eastern cougar is declared extinct in the United States. (AP via Salon)
Sport
- Soccer player Luis Moreno, a defender for Deportivo Pereira in the Colombian League is suspended for two matches and given a $560 fine for kicking an owl causing its death. (ESPN)