Portal:Current events/2013 February 21

• Syrian civil war:
  • At least 61 people are killed and more than 200 injured following a car bombing near Syria's Baath Party headquarters in Damascus. Three other bombings kill 22 people and injure 50 others in the suburb of Barzeh, most of them government soldiers. These are the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital since the outbreak of the civil war. (Reuters) (AP) (BBC) (The Wall Street Journal)
• 2013 Hyderabad blasts:
  • At least 20 people are dead and 54 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad. (BBC) (Sky News Australia)

• Michael Edwards becomes the first British writer elected at the Académie française. (The Connexion)

• PayPal, the online payments business, a division of eBay, launches a European version of the PayPal Here mobile payments system. (Reuters)
• A watchdog group releases a report that details write-downs of $19 billion on more than 168,000 properties by five United States banks. Under terms of a federal and state settlement of foreclosure-processing violations reached one year ago in March, Bank of America lost the most and had $13.5 billion in homeowner debts written off. The other banks are Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co, and Ally Financial Inc. (FoxBusiness)

• A major snowstorm occurs in the Midwestern United States leading to two deaths so far. (BBC)

• A car crash and shooting occurs at the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Three people are dead, and six others are wounded. (CNN) (AP)
• Three young girls are kidnapped, raped, and killed in the Bhandara district of India. (CNN)
• Retired police sergeant Drew Peterson, whose fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, is sentenced by the US state of Illinois to 38 years incarceration for the 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. (AP)
• Japan executes by hanging three convicted murderers, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiro Kanagawa and Keiki Muto. The number of death-row inmates in Japan now stands at 134. (Japan Today)

• An adviser to the President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi claims that parliamentary elections will commence in late April 2013. (CNN)

• The remains of a pyramid for an adviser to Pharaoh Ramses II is found in an archaeological excavation in Luxor, Egypt. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• A study finds that bumblebees can sense electric fields around flowers. (Science News)

• The second legs of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League round of 32 are held across Europe. Among the football teams eliminated are titleholders Atlético Madrid, Ajax (in the first ever penalty shootout in the knockout phase of the competition) and European giants Liverpool, while both London sides left, Tottenham and Chelsea, advance into the last 16. (UEFA) (Setanta Sports) (Reuters)
• 29-year-old superheavyweight amateur boxer Jerimiah Moen dies in the hospital after his fight during Upper Midwest Golden Gloves tournament in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, United States. (Star Tribune) (AP via CBS Sports)
• The 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships begin today in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with men's and women's sprint in cross-country skiing. (FIS)