The people of 17 March

Israeli forces assassinate both Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani in two separate airstrikes in Tehran. Iran later confirms their deaths.

Conflict · 17 Mar · with Gholamreza Soleimani

U.S. National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigns in protest of the war with Iran, saying that "Iran posed ​no ​imminent ⁠threat to our ⁠nation" and alleged the U.S. entered into the war due to pressure from Israel and its American lobby.

Politics · 17 Mar

Colombian president Gustavo Petro accuses the Ecuadorian military of being the perpetrator of an airstrike two days ago inside Colombia, killing 27 people, and orders the deployment of its troops to the border in response.

Conflict · 17 Mar

Prime Minister Denisse Miralles resigns and president José María Balcázar names Luis Arroyo to replace her.

Politics · 17 Mar · with José María Balcázar, Luis Arroyo Sánchez

Provisional results announced by interior minister Raymond Mboulou reported that incumbent president of Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou Nguesso will be re-elected with 94.82% of the vote.

Politics · 17 Mar · with Denis Sassou Nguesso

A court in Brussels, Belgium, orders former diplomat Étienne Davignon to stand trial on charges of participation in war crimes in connection with the 1961 killing of former Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba. Davignon is the only surviving individual among those accused by Lumumba’s family of involvement in the case.

Crime & Justice · 17 Mar · with Patrice Lumumba

A Vatican appeals court orders a retrial of Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was convicted of embezzlement in 2023, citing procedural errors in the original proceedings. The court maintains his previously imposed prison sentence pending the outcome of the new trial.

Crime & Justice · 17 Mar

Argentine foreign minister Pablo Quirno announces the country's formal withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

Health · 17 Mar

Patriarch Ilia II, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1977, dies at the age of 93.

Culture · 17 Mar