Portal:Current events/2016 February 15
< Portal:Current events
February 15, 2016 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- A Turkish soldier is killed following a clash on the Syria–Turkey border with an armed group trying to enter Turkey illegally. The Turkish military says the clash occurred in the Yayladağı district of the Hatay Province. (Reuters)
- Médecins Sans Frontières reports that an air strike has destroyed a hospital in the Idlib Governorate of northwest Syria, with seven people killed and at least eight people missing, presumed to be dead. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (MSF)
- Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu accuses Russia of acting as a "terrorist organization" in Syria, saying "If Russia continues behaving like a terrorist organization and forcing civilians to flee, we will deliver an extremely decisive response". (Israel National News)
- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces take control of Tell Rifaat in the Aleppo Governorate after pushing back mostly Islamist rebel fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- Kashmir conflict
- India imposes a curfew in some parts of Kashmir following a general strike being called by separatists to protest the death of two protesters. (The New York Times)
- Insurgency in the North Caucasus
- Yemeni Civil War
- Cross-border shelling from Yemen kills a Saudi Arabian border guard in the Jizan Region. (AP via ABC News)
Arts and culture
- The 58th Annual Grammy Awards are held at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. (Entertainment Weekly)
- Ed Sheeran wins the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Thinking Out Loud". (ABC News Australia)
- 1989 by Taylor Swift wins the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Swift is the first female artist to win the award twice. (Huffington Post) (Courier Mail)
- Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars wins the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. (Huffington Post)
Disasters and accidents
- The bodies of nine Indian Army soldiers killed in an avalanche on the Siachen Glacier will be transported to Delhi. (IBN Live)
- Authorities in the Chinese city of Tianjin after an inquiry into the explosions last year found that the chemical plants were too close to residential areas. (AP)
- Three South Korean army soldiers die after a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter crashes in the city of Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. (Townhall)
International relations
- Russia–Ukraine relations
- Ukraine bans Russian cargo trucks from transiting its territory after Russia's Ministry of Transport barred Ukrainian cargo trucks because armed groups had been blocking some Russian trucks from entering Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Enlargement of the European Union
- Bosnia and Herzegovina formally applies to join the European Union. (BBC)
- ASEAN Summit
- United States President Barack Obama hosts a two-day summit in Rancho Mirage, California with leaders of the ASEAN member states, including democratically-elected Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines and Joko Widodo of Indonesia as well as autocratic rulers such as Hun Sen of Cambodia and Najib Razak of Malaysia. (Los Angeles Times) (White House)
Law and crime
- Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert starts a 19-month prison sentence for bribery and obstructing justice. In the last decade, he was found or admitted guilty in four different corruption investigations. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- Two German intelligence officers are suspected of having given money to Al Qaeda in 2010. (Sputniknews) (Berliner Morgenpost)
Politics and elections
- Central African general election, 2015–16
- Officials are counting ballots from Sunday's presidential election. The final results of the run-off are not expected for several weeks. (Special Broadcasting Service)