Portal:Current events/2014 March 3

• 2014 Crimean crisis:
  • The commander of the Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy reportedly confirms that the ship never defected to Russia as reported in Russian media. (Ministry of Defence of Ukraine)
  • Ireland's deputy leader Eamon Gilmore responds by summoning his Russian ambassador for talks. (The Irish Times)
  • The Lithuanian and Polish presidents call for NATO treaty Article 4 consultations on the basis that Russia is executing military maneuvers in Kaliningrad, close to the borders with Lithuania and Poland. (Lithuania Tribune)
  • Reuters reports that armed men have seized a ferry checkpoint between Crimea and Russia. (Fox News)
• Young men with guns open fire at a local court in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, resulting in at least 11 deaths and 22 injuries. (Associated Press of Pakistan)
• Violence across Nigeria, between Islamic terrorists and the Nigerian military, kills dozens of people. (CNN)

• 86th Academy Awards:
  • 12 Years a Slave wins three Oscars, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. (Los Angeles Times)
  • Italian film The Great Beauty wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. (Reuters)
  • Alfonso Cuarón wins the Academy Award for Best Director for the film Gravity, which earned the most Awards during the ceremony, a total of seven. (Euronews)
  • Matthew McConaughey wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club. (Reuters)
  • Cate Blanchett wins the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Blue Jasmine. (Los Angeles Times)
  • Frozen wins two Oscars, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. (Los Angeles Times)
• Frozen becomes the eighteenth film and second animated film to cross the $1 billion mark in worldwide box office grosses. (Variety)
• RTÉ, the Irish national broadcast service, is jammed inexplicably with strange and repetitive messages, provoking confusion and debate. (Independent)

• Google and Samsung have asked an agency of the government of the People's Republic of China to impose limiting conditions on a proposed merger of Microsoft and Nokia. (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft founder Bill Gates regains the top spot as the world's richest person, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking of global billionaires. (BBC News)

• North Korea announces that it will release Australian Christian missionary John Short on account of his age. (Reuters via ABC Australia)

• The trial of Oscar Pistorius begins in Pretoria. (New York Daily News)

• Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announces the composition of his new government after days of complicated negotiations with main ethnic Hungarian party of Romania. (Reuters)

• Scientists announce the discovery of pithovirus, the largest giant virus yet known, from a 30,000-year-old sample of frozen tundra. (Nature)

• Graeme Smith, the captain of the South Africa cricket team, announces his retirement from international cricket at the end of the current series against Australia. (BBC Sport)