Portal:Current events/2013 February 25

• Terrorism in Thailand:
  • At least four people are dead and 20 injured after a homemade bomb is detonated at a Buddhist festival in Thailand's Maha Sarakham Province. (AAP via News Limited)
• Syrian civil war:
  • For the first time since the start of the Syrian civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's government offers to talk with rebels in hopes of a diplomatic solution to the conflict. (Christian Science Monitor)
  • The Syrian opposition agrees to attend an international summit in Rome, Italy, after foreign aid pledge. (BBC)

• Telecommunications giant BT expands its investment in sports broadcasting with the purchase of ESPN's channels in Britain and Ireland. (The Guardian)
• BlackBerry, the company formally known as Research in Motion, launches its BlackBerry Z10 smartphone in India, where it costs 43,490 rupees, or roughly US$800. (Reuters)

• Severe Tropical Cyclone Rusty intensifies to Category 2 status with concerns that it may intensify further before crossing the West Australian coast later this week. (AAP via The Australian)
• Cyclone Oswald:
  • Heavy rain causes flooding in the Australian state of Queensland with one man reported dead in the northern Brisbane suburb of Caboolture. (Brisbane Times)
• A 6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Tokyo, Japan, with no injuries reported. (Voice of America)

• 2013 meat adulteration scandal: Ikea withdraws Swedish meatballs from sale in 14 countries after tests in the Czech Republic revealed traces of horse meat. (BBC)
• A study from Spain published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that following a Mediterranean diet high in olive oil, nuts, fish and fresh fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of heart disease. (Reuters)
• Former United States Surgeon General C. Everett Koop dies at the age of 96. (Bloomberg)

• NATO says it has found no evidence to back the Afghan claim of misconduct by United States forces. (CNN)

• Russia enacts a law banning smoking on subways and in schools. (Reuters)
• The retrial of Vicky Pryce, the ex-wife of former UK Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne, begins hearing evidence. (BBC)

• The centre-left alliance Italy Common Good led by the Democratic Party wins the Italian general election. However the number of seats will not guarantee the majority in the Senate, paving the way to instability. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Telegraph) (Deutsche Welle)
• Park Geun-hye is sworn in as the first female President of South Korea in the capital Seoul. (Radio Australia)
• President of Cuba Raúl Castro announces he will not seek another term as president when his current one expires in 2018. He also states he will seek to put term limits and age caps for political offices in Cuba, including the presidency. (The New York Times)

• Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigns as the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh due to allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards priests in the 1980s. (BBC)

• Scientists announce they have found fragments of Rodinia, an ancient "lost" continent, in what is now the Indian Ocean. (BBC)
• Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches Indo-French satellite SARAL using PSLV rocket from the spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India. (Zee News)
• British explorer Ranulph Fiennes abandons The Coldest Journey expedition, his attempt to cross Antarctica in the heart of the region's winter due to a case of frostbite. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (AP via USA Today) (Sky News)