All news: Wednesday 12 March 2025

2025 Beledweyne hotel attack

Somali security forces end the 24-hour siege at a hotel in Beledweyne, Hiran, Somalia, with at least fifteen civilians and all six Al-Shabaab attackers killed.

2025 Beledweyne hotel attack

Following the attack, over 100 Somali parliament members urge President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to resign, citing leadership failures amid worsening security and governance crises.

2025 massacres of Syrian Alawites

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documents three further reprisal massacres of Alawite minority communities on 12 March in which 158 civilians were killed, totaling 1,383 civilian deaths as a result of fifty separate massacres conducted in western Syria since March 6.

2025 Jaffar Express hijacking

Security forces rescue all surviving passengers and security personnel from yesterday's hijacking of the Jaffar Express passenger train in Pakistan by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Officials confirm the deaths of all 33 BLA militants, as well as 29 passengers, and 8 soldiers.

Kursk offensive

Russian troops, backed by close air support, enter the town of Sudzha in Kursk Oblast, ending seven months of Ukrainian occupation.

Kursk offensive

Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov says that remaining Ukrainian forces in Kursk Oblast are entirely surrounded.

Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict

Angola confirms that peace talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement will begin on 18 March, after the DRC previously insisted on solely negotiating with Rwanda.

Iran–United States relations

Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei rejects negotiations with the U.S. regarding Iran's nuclear program, stating that Iran is "not interested in nuclear weapons".

Red Sea crisis

The Houthi movement in Yemen announces it will resume targeting Israeli ships because its deadline for Israel to resume aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip has passed.

2025 Belizean general election

Belizeans vote to elect the 31 members of the House of Representatives between the incumbent People's United Party and the opposition United Democratic Party. The ruling party is re-elected by 26 seats to 5.

The Syrian presidential office announces the creation of the National Security Council as a means of confronting national and internal security problems.

2025 Swiss Federal Council election

Following the resignation of Swiss Defense Minister Viola Amherd, the Federal Assembly votes to elect the new member of the Federal Council. Martin Pfister is elected as the head of the defense ministry.

2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico

Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc announces retaliatory tariffs on CAD$29.8 billion (US$20.7 billion) of goods from the United States after U.S. president Donald Trump announced additional tariffs on Canadian metals.

The City Court in Tbilisi, Georgia, convicts former president Mikheil Saakashvili of embezzlement and sentences him to nine years in prison. The court also fines the former head of the Special State Protection Service, Teimuraz Janashia, ₾300,000 (€99,936) in connection to the case.

2024–25 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup

Norwegian ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang are suspended by FIS and will not participate in Raw Air due to an ongoing investigation involving the manipulation of ski equipment.