Portal:Current events/2011 February 23
< Portal:Current events
February 23, 2011 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2011 Libyan civil war
- Italy's foreign minister says as many as 1,000 people have been killed in Libya during the unrest. (Reuters)
- Anti-government protestors and defectors take control of more cities. (Al Jazeera)
- The African Union condemns the "excessive use of force" against protesters. (African Press Agency) (AFP via Google News)
- Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs, accuses the US media of inciting violence. (AP via MSNBC)
- More than 5,700 people have fled Libya for Tunisia in the past couple of days. (Al Jazeera)
- Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the former Libyan Minister for Justice, claims that Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi personally authorised the Lockerbie bombing. (AP via Washington Post)
- Nations including the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France, the People's Republic of China, Russia, Italy and Greece evacuate their citizens from Libya. (Sky News)
- 2011 Yemeni protests:
- Eight members of the ruling General People's Congress party resign after the deaths of protestors. (RFI)
Arts and culture
- A missing Enid Blyton manuscript is found in an archive of her work. (The Guardian)
Business and economy
- Samsung releases, in South Korea, a camera that can post photos and videos directly to Facebook and YouTube. (Yonhap)
- Australian businessman Lachlan Murdoch is appointed as acting CEO of Network Ten following the sacking of Grant Blackley. (NineMSN)
- Oil prices reach a two-year high due to uncertainty in the Middle East most notably in Libya. (AP via News Limited)
- Japan logs its first trade deficit in almost two years due to high commodity prices and weak demand for its exports. (Brisbane Times)
- Stock markets in the United States and Europe fall due to uncertainty in the Middle East and rising oil prices. (Bloomberg)
Disasters
- 2011 Canterbury earthquake:
- 300 persons are estimated to be still missing in Christchurch, New Zealand, following yesterday's earthquake with the official death toll reaching 75. (NZ Herald) (Courier Mail)
- The earthquake shakes off 30 million tonnes of ice loose from the Tasman Glacier in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. (NZ Herald)
- Rescue crews pull out of central Christchurch due to fears that one of the tallest buildings, the Grand Chancellor Hotel, will collapse. (ABC News Australia)
- The Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key declares a national emergency. (SBS)
- New Zealand police introduce a curfew in central Christchurch as six people are arrested for looting. (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Snow and heavy winds affecting areas around Constanţa, Romania, are predicted to continue until late Friday evening. (EnglishHotNews)
International relations
- President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino says the country has not resolved a row with Taiwan over deportations. (AFP via Google News)
- Senegal severs diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing it of supplying weapons to anti-government rebels that killed Senegalese soldiers. (Reuters) (China Radio International)
- The People's Republic of China refuses to let the United Nations Security Council publish a report on North Korea's efforts to avoid sanctions on its nuclear program. (AFP via Google News)
Law and crime
- Four men from Xinjiang in western China are to be executed following convictions for terrorism in the region last year. (BBC) (The Times of India)
- Thai police seize six tiger cubs at the house of a suspected weapons dealer. (Straits Times)
- Three people are arrested in the United Kingdom in connection with an alleged attempt to blackmail Coleen Rooney, the wife of Manchester United F.C. star Wayne Rooney. (BBC via SBS)
- Colin Hatch, a convicted child murderer, is murdered in jail while serving his sentence; a 35-year-old male prisoner has been arrested on suspicion of murder. (Sky News)
Politics
- Online calls for "Jasmine Revolution" and protest continue in China, as several people are detained. (The New York Times) (The Times of India)
- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah announces a series of benefits for citizens as he returns to the country. (Al Jazeera) (IOL)
- German defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has his doctorate revoked by the University of Bayreuth for submitting a thesis riddled with plagiarisms. (Guardian)