March 13, 2017 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- At least one person is killed and another eight are wounded after a suicide bomber attacks a bus carrying government employees in Kabul. (Al Jazeera)
- Two UN officials with MONUSCO—an American and a Swede—are among six people kidnapped near the village of Ngombe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Kasaï-Central province. Congolese officials have not identified the kidnappers nor has any group claimed responsibility. (AP)
- Somali Civil War (2009–present)
- A vehicle filled with explosives detonates near a hotel in Mogadishu, killing at least six people and wounding four others. (Al Jazeera)
- Syrian Civil War
- According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the total number of people killed and missing in Syria's war is now 465,000. (Reuters)
International relations
- 2017 Dutch–Turkish diplomatic incident
- Turkey bans the Dutch ambassador, Cornelis Van Rij, from returning to the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ankara, and closes its airspace to Dutch diplomats in response to a Dutch ban on Turkish ministers speaking at pro-Erdoğan rallies. (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- Proposed second Scottish independence referendum
- Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces she will seek a second referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. (BBC)
- United States immigration ban
- The state of Washington, joined by the states of California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon, asks a federal judge to stop, on constitutional grounds, the revised federal immigration/refugee rules from taking effect on Thursday, March 16. The state of Hawaii has filed a separate, similar request. (Reuters)
- Hungarian presidential election, 2017
- János Áder is re-elected President of Hungary by the National Assembly. (UPI)
Sports
- In rugby union, the two Paris-based clubs in France's Top 14, Racing 92 and Stade Français, announce plans to merge effective with the 2017–18 season. (ESPN (UK))