Portal:Current events/2013 February 19

• Nigerian Sharia conflict:
  • Seven French tourists are kidnapped by gunmen near Waza National Park in northern Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria. President of France François Hollande states that the Islamist group Boko Haram may be responsible. (BBC)
• War in North-West Pakistan:
  • Pakistani police arrest 170 suspected militants following the February 2013 Quetta bombing that killed 84 people and injured another 190. (BBC)

• A Yemeni Air Force plane crashes in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, killing 12 people and injuring 11 others. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Two people are missing and at least 14 injured after a car struck a gas main causing an explosion at the Country Club Plaza in the American city of Kansas City, Missouri. (NBC News) (CNN)

• European sovereign-debt crisis: Workers for the Spanish flag carrier airline Iberia strike over plans to axe 3,807 jobs. (The Guardian)

• The governments of Singapore and Malaysia announce plans to build a high-speed rail link between the city-state of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur by 2020. (AAP via News Limited)
• The New York Times publishes allegations that a Chinese People's Liberation Army unit called PLA Unit 61398 may be the source of hacking attacks on the West. (The New York Times)
• The People's Republic of China rejects an attempt by the Philippines to seek international arbitration over conflicting claims to the South China Sea. (AP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
• North Korea threatens the "final destruction" of South Korea during a United Nations conference on disarmament. (BBC)

• A one-man carjacking and shooting spree in Orange County, California, United States, results in the death of 4 people including the alleged gunman. (KTLA) (CNN)
• A memorial service is held for South African Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead at the home of athlete Oscar Pistorius last week. Pistorius faced murder hearings. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• The City Hall of the Canadian city of Montreal is shut down as the Quebec police conduct anti-corruption raids. (CTV News)

• Christine Milne, the leader of The Australian Greens, announces that the party has ended its agreement with the Australian Labor Party which led to the formation of the minority government led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. (The Australian)
• Official partial returns from the Armenian presidential election indicate that incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan will be reelected in a landslide with the leading Opposition candidate Raffi Hovannisian raising concerns about irregularities. (Al Jazeera)
• Prime Minister of Tunisia Hamadi Jebali resigns after failing to reach an agreement on forming a new technocratic government. (BBC)
• 2013 Bulgarian protests: At least 10 people are injured in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, as tens of thousands turn up for rallies in 10 cities, a day after Prime Minister Boyko Borisov sacked his Finance Minister Simeon Djankov. The government revokes the license of Czech company ČEZ due to high electricity prices, which helped fuel the 9-day protests. (Reuters)
• Nepal's major political parties agree to form an interim government led by the Supreme Court Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, pending a new Constituent Assembly election to write a new constitution. (AP via NDTV)

• 1996 Nobel Prize winning physicist Robert Coleman Richardson dies at the age of 75. (The New York Times)
• NASA loses direct contact with the International Space Station due to an equipment failure. Communications are restored three hours later. (Space.com) (NASA)

• 2012–13 UEFA Champions League:
  • FC Bayern Munich puts themselves in a strong position to reach the quarterfinals with a 3–1 away victory at Arsenal F.C. in London, England. (BBC) (ESPN)
  • Portugal's F.C. Porto earns a 1–0 win over Champions League newcomers Málaga CF with João Moutinho's winning goal in Porto, Portugal. (BBC) (ESPN)
• In a widening doping scandal, an ESPN report links five additional Major League Baseball players to the purchase of performance-enhancing drugs from the Biogenesis anti-aging clinic in Miami. The report indicates that Gio Gonzalez, previously linked to PED purchases from Biogenesis, did not receive any banned substances from the clinic. (ESPN)
• In ice hockey, the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Vancouver Canucks in a shooutout for the Blackhawks' sixteenth consecutive game without a regulation loss to start the 2012–13 NHL season, tying the 2006–07 Anaheim Ducks' record. Blackhawks forward Marián Hossa is forced to leave the game after being struck in the back of the head by Canucks forward Jannik Hansen. (ESPN)