Portal:Current events/2011 March 27

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Syrian protests
    • The Syrian Army is deployed to the country's main port of Latakia. (Reuters)
    • A Syrian government official says the state of emergency law is to be lifted. (CNN)
  • 2011 Libyan civil war
    • Rebel forces seize more towns and advance towards the government-held town of Sirte. (Al Jazeera)
    • NATO assumes control of military operations in Libya. (News24) (Xinhua)
  • 2011 Yemeni protests
    • Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh scraps an offer to resign by the end of this year, as Islamist militants take control of a town in the south of the country. (Taiwan News)

• Rock group Arcade Fire wins four awards at the Juno Awards of 2011 honouring Canadian music. (AP via MSNBC)

• The level of radioactive iodine in the Pacific Ocean near the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant reaches 1850 times normal levels following the recent accidents. (Reuters)
• Anti-nuclear activists hold a big rally in Tokyo. (BBC)
• Seven people are missing following an apartment fire and explosion in the Canadian town of Woodstock, Ontario, and seven people, including one firefighter are hospitalised for injuries. (CBC) (Toronto Sun) (Victoria Times Colonist)
• Two boats collide in San Diego Bay near Shelter Island in southern California resulting in at least two deaths. (San Diego 6)

• South Korea will repatriate 27 North Koreans who inadvertently drifted across the maritime border. (Yonhap)

• A 47-year-old taxi driver is charged with the murder of Sian O'Callaghan, who vanished while walking home from a night club in the English city of Swindon last weekend. (BBC) (Telegraph and Argus)

• Winfried Kretschmann is set to be the first Green German state premier after the party success in elections in Baden-Württemberg. (DW) (DW world) (Democratic Underground) (National Public Radio)

• Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing wins the 2011 Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2011 Formula One season. (AFP via Channel News Asia)