Portal:Current events/February 2014

• Syrian Civil War:
  • Talks in Geneva end. (BBC News)
• Moro insurgency in the Philippines:
  • Twelve people are injured by a bomb attack in Mindanao. (Voice of America)
• Euromaidan:
  • Activist Dymtro Bulatov reappears after allegedly being tortured by the government. (CNN)

• Indonesian Mount Sinabung erupts killing 14 people. (Jakarta Post)

• Hundreds of endangered species from Madagascar are found in a South African airport. (BBC News)

• Bridgegate scandal:
  • A former aide of Chris Christie accuses the governor of having knowledge of the event. (USA Today)

• In India, the first 8.9 km of the Mumbai Monorail is inaugurated. (New Delhi Television Limited)

• Ray Guy becomes the first pure punter inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in its 40+ year history. (Sports Illustrated)

• Three explosions are reported in the Yemeni capital Sanaa along with heavy gunfire. (Reuters via Daily Star)

• American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006 for Capote, is found dead in his Manhattan apartment at the age of 46. Authorities initially attributed the death to a drug overdose. (NY Post)

• Thai general election, 2014:
  • Voters in Thailand go to the polls with concerns about violence between supporters of rival parties. (ABC News Australia)
• Costa Rican general election, 2014:
  • Voters in Costa Rica go to the polls for a general election. (TicoTimes)
• Salvadoran presidential election, 2014:
  • Voters in El Salvador go to the polls with a tight race expected. (Los Angeles Times)

• Super Bowl XLVIII:
  • In American football, the Seattle Seahawks defeat the Denver Broncos with a final score of 43–8 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Reuters) (Los Angeles Times)
  • Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform for the halftime show. (Agence France Press)

• Fox Broadcasting Company says Super Bowl XLVIII was watched by over 111 million people in the United States, making it the most viewed television event in U.S. history. (Deadline)

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average loses around 326 points while the NASDAQ and S&P 500 drops around 2.3%. (USA Today)

• 2013–14 Australian region cyclone season:
  • Cyclone Fletcher becomes the third cyclone to form in a week as it crosses the Gulf of Carpentaria into Queensland. (AAP via Yahoo! News Australia)
• A winter storm hits the Northeastern United States, resulting in at least two deaths and thousands of flights being disrupted. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are amongst the worst affected. (Sky News)

• 2014 Moscow school shooting. Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia. The suspected shooter, a 15-year-old student at the school, surrenders to authorities. It is one of the first school shootings to occur in Russia. (Reuters)

• A police officer and seven Islamist militants are killed in a gunfight in Tunis, Tunisia. (Reuters)

• Archaeologists working near the ancient settlement of Edfu in southern Egypt discover the remains of a 4,600-year-old step pyramid. (LiveScience via Fox News)

• The software company Microsoft internally promotes Satya Nadella to be its next CEO and appoints John W. Thompson as its chairman. (Fox Business)

• At least 10 people are dead and 35 injured when a bus falls into a ditch while travelling between the Indian cities of Pune and Satara. (NDTV)

• The Scottish Parliament votes overwhelmingly (105–18) in favor of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Scotland. (BBC News)
• The New York City Police Department questions four suspected heroin dealers in connection with Philip Seymour Hoffman's death. (Fox News)
• Sixteen missing children are rescued from Super Bowl-associated sex-trade slavery in an FBI sting. (Fox News)

• United States House of Representatives member Rob Andrews announces that he will retire at the end of his current term. (Politico)
• Michael McFaul, the United States Ambassador to Russia, announces that he is stepping down from the job after two years. (The Guardian)

• Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
  • A wave of bombings hits central Baghdad with at least 16 people dead. (AP via Los Angeles Times)
• Post-civil war violence in Libya:
  • At least 12 people are injured in a grenade attack on a school in Benghazi. (BBC News)

• Archaeologists decrypt the jötunvillur runic code found on 13th century tablets. (Sciencenordic)

• Workers on the London Underground commence a 48-hour strike, which is expected to cause disruption for millions of commuters in Greater London. (BBC News)

• Part of the South Devon Railway sea wall carrying the railway line linking London with the west of England is washed away by a powerful storm that has hit the UK overnight. Thousands of homes are also left without electricity. (BBC News)
• UK Prime Minister David Cameron announces that an extra £100 million will be spent on dealing with the aftermath of the floods that have hit the UK. (Belfast Telegraph)

• North Korea and South Korea hold meetings to discuss visitation reunions of families separated by the Korean War. (BBC News)
• Spratly Islands dispute:
  • Philippine President Benigno Aquino III compares China's territory claims in the South China Sea to Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia. (Telegraph) (The New York Times)

• 2014 Winter Olympics
  • Amidst concerns over the safety of the slopestyle course, Shaun White withdraws from the event. (CNN)

• Seven car bombings across Baghdad, Iraq, kill at least 13 people. (Reuters)
• Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fire rockets towards Hof Ashkelon region in southern Israel; the rockets are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system. (The Times of Israel)
• Fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces rages around the Aleppo Central Prison in the war-torn city of Aleppo, but it is unclear whether rebels control all or part of the facility. (CNN)

• Jay Leno finally says farewell for the second time to The Tonight Show with guests such as Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian and Jim Parsons. (Los Angeles Times)

• Sony says it will sell its PC unit and split its TV division into a separate subsidiary as part of its restructuring programme. (BBC News)

• The English Environment Agency issues two severe flood warnings where there is a "danger to life" for Somerset in South West England. (BBC News)
• Rescue workers recover eight bodies from a South African gold mine in Doornkop following a fire on Tuesday night. One worker is missing while another eight were rescued. (BBC News)

• Chinese media criticizes Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for his remarks the previous day. (CNN)
• In an Olympic first, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today addresses the IOC Session in advance of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. (OLYMPIC.ORG)

• A possible new species of giant jellyfish is discovered, washed up on a beach in Australia. (BBC News)

• Syrian Civil War:
  • Civilians are evacuated from a rebel-held area of the Syrian city of Homs after more than 18 months under a government blockade. (The Washington Post)

• The last speaker of the Native American language Klallam dies in the U.S. state of Washington. (Reuters)

• Coca-Cola buys a ten percent stake in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters for US$1.25 billion. (Daily Mail)

• Russia's Foreign Ministry calls new US sanctions against Iran a "direct violation of the Geneva deal" and "unacceptable". (RIA Novosti)

• Australian Schapelle Corby is granted parole (along with 1,290 others) in Indonesia after serving nine years in a Bali prison for drug smuggling. (Sydney Morning Herald) (The Eastern Tribune)
• U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts announces he appointed Judge Richard C. Tallman of the Ninth Circuit to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review for a six-year term beginning January 27, 2014, filling the vacancy that had existed since August, and Judge James E. Boasberg of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to replace Reggie Walton in the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a six-year term in May. (Reuters via Chicago Tribune)

• After days of rioting in Bosnia, the Presidency Building in Sarajevo is attacked. (Al Jazeera)

• 2014 Winter Olympics:
  • The opening ceremony is held in the Russian city of Sochi. (BBC Sport)
  • A man attempts to hijack a Pegasus Airlines flight from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and demands to be flown to Sochi; the pilots turned off the inflight monitors and landed in Istanbul, Turkey, where the passenger was arrested. (New York Times) (Telegraph) (CNN)
• 2014 FIFA World Cup
  • A construction worker dies, in Brazil, while at work for the FIFA World Cup 2014 arena building to be held in the country. (Mirror)

• McDonald's opens their first restaurant within Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. (BBC News)

• A rockslide strikes and derails a passing train near Annot, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France, causing two deaths. (BBC News)
• A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills fifteen Egyptian pilgrims with 130 also injured. (Reuters)
• A massive fire engulfs a warehouse holding 5,600 tons of rubber tires in Savannah, Georgia, United States. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• A truck and a bus collide in the Argentine province of Mendoza, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 10 others. (EFE via Fox News)
• Large snowstorms kill six people and injure over 600 in Japan. (Australia Network)
• Large areas of England and Wales are under flood warnings as another storm arrives. The Somerset Levels are the worst affected area. (news.com.au)
• Rail links to South West England are cut off by the storms. (BBC News)

• Princess Cristina de Borbón of Spain addresses allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at Palma de Mallorca courthouse. (The Guardian)

• The British Minister of State for Immigration Mark Harper resigns after it is discovered that a cleaner that he employed was not legally allowed to work in the United Kingdom. (Daily Mail)
• Hamdeen Sabahi announces his candidacy for the upcoming Egyptian presidential elections. (Los Angeles Times)

• 2014 Winter Olympics:
  • Norwegian athlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen ties with compatriot Bjorn Daehlie for a record 12 medals in the Winter Olympics by winning a gold medal in the men's biathlon sprint. (ABC News Australia)

• A gunman kills two people at a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin. (BBC News)
• Balochistan conflict:
  • An exchange of gunfire on the border between the Pakistani states of Sindh and Balochistan kills at least nine people. (The Express Tribune)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • Hundreds of civilians are evacuated from Homs, Syria, as a tense truce between rebel and government forces is maintained. (AP via ABC)
• Gunmen attack an Islamic religious gathering in Karachi, Pakistan, killing eight people. (AP via Fox News)
• Central African Republic conflict
  • Human Rights Watch says that the entire Muslim population of the country may end up leaving in the next days or weeks. (BBC News)

• A 50th anniversary concert is to be held in celebration of the British Invasion of The Beatles. (Time)
• The Federal government recognizes same-sex marriage in the United States in all legal matters as Eric Holder compares it to the Civil Rights Movement. (CNN)
• Woody Allen responds to allegations that he molested his daughter. (The New York Times)
• Marius the giraffe is culled and fed to the lions causing worldwide protests from environmental activists. (CNN)

• 2013–14 Australian bushfire season:
  • Authorities issue emergency warnings for numerous parts of the state of Victoria as conditions are the worst recorded since Black Saturday bushfires on February 7, 2009. (Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Authorities report that several homes are destroyed in northeast Melbourne including the suburb of Warrandyte. (Melbourne Age)
• A car crash on the Pomona Freeway in Los Angeles, California, kills six people. (Arizona Daily Star)
• A car crash on I-275 in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida kills five people. (Tampa Bay Times)

• Iran-United States relations:
  • Iranian officials say that two Iranian Navy warships will be travelling very close to the United States' maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean. (AP via USA Today)
• Iran agrees to a United Nations plan to address suspicions that they are working on designing an atomic weapon. (Reuters)

• 2012 Dhaka fire:
  • The owners of Tazreen Fashions, Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter, hand themselves in to face charges of murder in relation to the death of 112 workers in a factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in November 2012. (The Globe and Mail)
• British immigration minister Mark Harper resigns after he reveals that he had employed an undocumented worker. (The New York Times)

• Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2014:
  • Voters in the Japanese capital of Tokyo elect Yoichi Masuzoe to replace former Governor Naoki Inose, who resigned on December 24, 2013. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
• Swiss referendums, 2014
  • 50.3% of voters vote in favor of the federal popular initiative "against mass immigration", to re-introduce quotas of immigrants for foreigners. (The Guardian)

• Scientists at the Australian National University discover the universe's oldest known star SMSS J031300.36-670839.3 estimated to be about 13.6 billion-years-old. (NineMSN) (International Business Times)
• Research from the Science Translational Medicine suggest that Vitamin C may be useful in aiding chemotherapy against cancer. (BBC News)

• Head coach Mo Cheeks is fired by the Detroit Pistons after a disappointing 21-29 start to the season. (Fox Sports)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
  • A car bomb detonates in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing two contractors working with ISAF. (AP via CBS)
• A car bomb detonates prematurely in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 21 militants. In a separate event, a car bomb hits a convoy transporting Usama al-Nujayfi with a bodyguard being wounded. (AFP)

• At least 50 people are killed in flooding and landslides in Bujumbura, Burundi. (BBC News)

• North Korea-United States relations:
  • North Korea withdraws an invitation to a United States envoy to discuss the release of Kenneth Bae. (AP via USA Today)
• India-United States relations:
  • The United States files a complaint with the World Trade Organization, accusing Indian laws of discriminating against US solar panel manufacturers. (Reuters)

• The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), Ireland's police Ombudsman, is revealed to have been bugged, with emails, wi-fi and phone systems at its Dublin headquarters also accessed illegally and internationally. (The Journal) (Mirror)

• A presidential panel in Yemen agrees to transform the country into a federation of six regions. (Al Jazeera)

• Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S withdraw):
  • Sixteen Iraqi soldiers are killed by militants in an attack on military outposts protecting an oil pipeline in northern Iraq. (Reuters)
• War in North-West Pakistan:
  • At least 11 people are killed after a grenade is thrown into a movie theatre in the city of Peshawar. (Voice of America)

• 2013–14 Australian bushfire season:
  • Bushfires continue to burn in the state of Victoria with at least 34 houses lost. (Herald-Sun)
• 2013-14 United Kingdom floods:
  • The British Geological Society warns that 1.6 million properties in England and Wales are at risk from groundwater flooding with flood risks likely to be high until at least May. (Sky News)
  • Thousands of properties in South East England are at risk of flooding as the River Thames continues to rise with hundreds of properties in Berkshire and Surrey already flooded. (Sky News)
• A military transport plane has crashed in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people. (Reuters) (BBC News)

• The first governmental meetings occur between the People's Republic of China (China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) after a 65-year hiatus. (AFP via Google News)
• Under pressure to extract natural gas reserves, talks occur over the Cyprus dispute. (AFP via Google News)
• Talks between North Korea and the United States occur, with North and South Korea scheduled to start high-level talks tomorrow. (CNN)
• The second round of the Geneva II discussion occurs. (AFP via Google News)
• Talks between Cuba and the EU occur on restoring ties. (BBC News)
• The Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer USS Donald Cook of the U.S. Navy arrives at a Spanish base in Rota to begin deployment with the U.S. 6th Fleet. (Stars and Stripes)

• The Republican Party-controlled U.S. House of Representatives votes to raise the government's borrowing limit for the next year, without attaching conditions, and sends the measure to the Senate for approval. (CNN)
• Kevin Faulconer is elected as Mayor of San Diego, California. (New York Times)

• 2014 Winter Olympics:
  • The International Olympic Committee lifts the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association effective immediately. Indian athletes are now able to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics under their nation's flag. (BBC News)

• Syrian Civil War:
  • The Syrian Army and their Lebanese ally Hezbollah begin an assault to retake the strategic border town Yabrud from the Syrian rebels. (AP via ABC) (Reuters)
  • Russia says it will veto a U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria, claiming that the draft is an effort to prepare for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. (Reuters)

• Militants in northwestern Pakistan kill nine male family members of a slain leader of a pro-government militia in an attack on the family's house outside the city of Peshawar. (AP via ABC) (CNN)

• The UK's Met Office issues a "red warning" and warns of an exceptional storm as winds of up to 100mph are forecast to hit west Wales and north west England. (BBC News)
• As the North American cold wave continues, a massive winter storm across states in the southern United States causes widespread power outages, travel disruptions and dangerous road conditions. (NBC)
• A sinkhole opens underneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, swallowing eight vintage Corvettes including the millionth Corvette built. (Autoblog)

• A measles outbreak from the Philippines has spread into Australia, Canada, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. (The Toronto Star) (The Philippine Star)

• French President François Hollande is hosted by US President Barack Obama at a White House state dinner, during a visit by Hollande to the US aimed at renewing the partnership between the two countries. (CNN)
• Garbage from Canada is discovered being dumped in the Philippines. (International Business Times)

• The Philippines recovers US $29 million from Ferdinand Marcos' bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore. (The Washington Post)

• The BBC is told that the UK's three main political parties, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, will declare that whoever forms the government after the next general election will not agree to a currency union with an independent Scotland. (BBC News)
• Protesters march against the government in various cities across Venezuela with at least two people killed in the demonstrations. (Reuters)

• New York Yankees shortstop and captain Derek Jeter announces he will retire following the 2014 Major League Baseball season. (ESPN)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
  • Afghanistan releases 65 prisoners from the Parwan Detention Facility despite concerns by the United States that the men were responsible for attacks on NATO and Afghan forces. (BBC News)
• At least eight police officers are killed in a suicide bomb attack in Karachi. (BBC News)
• South China Sea dispute:
  • The United States says that it is ready to defend its allies in case of an armed conflict. (Voice of America)

• Typhoon Haiyan victims are visited by former footballer David Beckham who seeks to raise awareness about their plight. (Fox Sports)
• Archaeologists unearth a painted, human-shaped sarcophagus that is 3,600 years old -- with a mummy still inside in Luxor, Egypt. (CNN)

• Comcast is set to acquire Time Warner Cable in a US$44 billion buyout. (The New York Times)
• A Reuters poll of economic forecasters finds that they are more worried about deflation across the Eurozone than is the ECB. (Reuters)
• Facebook users in the United States are now allowed to customize their gender. (The Washington Post)

• Thousands of homes in England remain without power following Wednesday's storms as the UK's Met Office forecasts fresh heavy rain and high winds for Friday. (BBC News)
• Mount Kelud erupts prompting the evacuation of 200,000 people on the Indonesian island of Java. (AAP via SBS)

• Egypt–Russia relations:
  • During a two-day visit by an Egyptian delegation in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow and Cairo have agreed to speed up work on drafting agreements on military-technological cooperation. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu added that this could include joint military exercises and training of Egyptian officers in Russian military academies. (Al-Ahram) (The Hindu)
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin says he supports Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's bid for the upcoming presidential election in Egypt. (The Telegraph)
• President Barack Obama is set on visiting Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines after previously cancelling his trip in 2013. (Reuters)

• The UK Government says that packages sent to several army careers offices had "potentially viable devices bearing hallmarks of Northern Ireland related terrorism". (BBC News)
• Belgian lawmakers vote to extend euthanasia to people aged under 18. (AP via NDTV)

• Lawmakers riot in the lower house of India's parliament in protest of a plan creating the state of Telangana. (BBC News)
• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrests opposition activists in reaction to an "attempted coup" against his government. (Reuters)
• Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta holds an emergency meeting after Democratic leader Matteo Renzi called for him to resign. (The Guardian)
• A Virginia judge rules the state's prohibition of gay marriage unconstitutional. (USA Today)

• The remains of an infant boy from the Clovis culture is determined to be Native American. (NPR)

• Syrian Civil War:
  • From 18 to 43 people including civilians are killed and dozens wounded by a car bomb outside a mosque in the southern Syrian village of al-Yadouda according to local reports. (ABC News)
• France announces it will increase the number of its soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic as sectarian violence worsens. (The Miami Herald)

• India and Penguin books ban the book The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger for "blasphemy". (The Guardian)
• Oscar Pistorius posts a message apologizing for his role in the killing of Reeva Steenkamp. (CNN)

• Winter storms will return to the United Kingdom with flood warnings in place for parts of Gloucestershire, Berkshire, Surrey and Somerset. (BBC News)
• A giant winter storm continues to hit the northeastern United States as hundreds of thousands of people in the southern United States remain without power. At least 22 people have died in the storm. (BBC News)
• The eruption of Mount Kelud on the island of Java causes the closure of airports in three cities Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Solo as well as the reported death of two people. (Reuters)

• The United States Department of the Treasury sanctions the wife of Los Zetas former leader Miguel Treviño Morales under the Kingpin Act. (U.S. Dept. of Treasury)

• 2013–14 Thai political crisis:
  • The government of Thailand deploys thousands of riot police to reclaim areas of Bangkok currently occupied by protesters. (AAP via The Australian)
• Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigns after less than a year in office, following pressure from his own Democratic Party to step down. (CNN)

• Five members of the 2014 induction class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame are announced, headed by recently retired NBA commissioner David Stern, elected as a contributor. Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Guy Rodgers are elected as players; Bob "Slick" Leonard is elected as a coach; and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton is also elected as a contributor. The full induction class will be announced on April 7 and will be formally inducted on August 8. (AP via ESPN)

• A mass grave of Christians is discovered in a neighborhood in Bangui, Central African Republic, formerly occupied by the Muslim Seleka rebels. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • Talks in Geneva end without an agreement. (The Washington Post)

• Academy Award-nominated actress Ellen Page comes out as lesbian at a Human Rights Campaign conference. (CNN)
• Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng initiates the construction of Tân Vũ-Lạch Huyện Bridge in Haiphong which will become the longest sea bridge in Vietnam as well as Southeast Asia. (The Wall Street Journal)

• A North Korean cargo ship is allowed to leave the Panama Canal. (ABC News)

• A portion of the The National Archives of the United Kingdom burns down. (BBC News)
• Winter storms of 2013–14 in the United Kingdom:
  • A man is killed after a monster wave strikes the Marco Polo cruise ship in the English Channel. (The Independent)
  • A minicab driver is killed in London when her car is crushed by falling masonry. (BBC News)
  • Prime Minister David Cameron warns the floods may get worse because of the recent excessive amount of rainfall that has saturated the ground. (Belfast Telegraph)
• Rescuers are searching for seven missing Japanese divers in Bali. (The Guardian)

• A U.S. federal judge overturns a ban on same-sex marriage in Virginia. (The New York Times)

• A new government is formed in Lebanon after 10-months of gridlock, Tammam Salam is elected to be Prime Minister. (Reuters)
• Judicial reforms are passed in the Turkish parliament after 20 hours and a brawl in the chamber. (BBC News)

• French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie breaks Sergey Bubka's 21-year-old record with a 6.16 metres leap in Donetsk. (BBC Sport)

• Syrian Civil War:
  • Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, calls on other sectarian forces in the Arab world to withdraw from Syria, saying that if they did so, Hezbollah would also "not remain in Syria either." (Reuters)
  • A Syrian child is transferred to an Israeli hospital near Tiberias for emergency treatment after being injured during clashes in Syria, near the Israeli border, between rebels and Syrian Army. (The Times of Israel)
• A bomb detonates on a tourist bus in Taba, Egypt killing three Koreans and one Egyptian. (New York Times) (The Times of Israel)
• A bomb derails a train in southwest Pakistan killing eight people. (AP)
• Suspected Islamist militants kill 90 people in a Nigerian village raid near the border with Cameroon. (Reuters)

• 67th British Academy Film Awards:
  • The British Academy Film Awards are held at the Royal Opera House in London with 12 Years a Slave winning best film and Chiwetel Ejiofor winning best actor for his role in it. (BBC News) (Sky News)
  • Australian actress Cate Blanchett wins best actress for her role in Blue Jasmine. (Sky News)

• Heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions hit the northeastern United States days after a bad storm with between 15 and 17 inches of snow reported in Massachusetts and Maine. (AP via ABC)
• Heavy snowfall hits Tokyo and other parts of eastern Japan, killing at least 12 people and disrupting power and airline flights. (Reuters)
• A Nepal Airlines plane carrying 18 people crashes in a forest in Arghakhanchi District, Nepal. (New York Times) (USA Today)
• Eleven miners in South Africa are freed after being trapped in an illegal gold mine where they had opened up old sealed shafts but the remaining estimated 19 trapped miners are refusing to come out for fear of being arrested. (CNN) (Bloomberg)

• José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, says it would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" for an independent Scotland to join the European Union as it would need the approval of all member states. (BBC News)
• Anti-government protesters in Ukraine end a two-month occupation of Kyiv’s city hall, following an amnesty offer aimed at easing a standoff over President Viktor Yanukovych’s rule. (The Washington Post)

• Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
  • At least 25 people are killed and dozens wounded in bombing attacks across Baghdad; three bombs exploded in public markets and a fourth outside a Shiite mosque. (The New York Times)
• Taliban militants in Pakistan say they have killed 23 captured Pakistani security force members, in a setback to peace talks aimed at ending the Islamist insurgency. (VOA)
• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702 between Addis Ababa and Rome is diverted to land at Geneva in an attempted hijacking by the co-pilot who claims to be seeking political asylum. (The Houston Chronicle)

• American late-night show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon premieres on the National Broadcasting Company, with Jimmy Fallon succeeding Jay Leno as host. (AP)

• Winter storms of 2013–14 in the United Kingdom:
  • Floods in the United Kingdom continue to worsen as the Met Office issues severe rain weather warnings for southwest England. (BBC News)
• Nepalese police find the wreckage of a missing Nepal Airlines plane in the mountainous West with all 18 passengers and crew dead. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

• The Vatican head of state, Pope Francis, renews his Argentine passport, reportedly asking not to enjoy any privilege. (La Nación)
• A United Nations report accuses North Korea of atrocities and calls for an investigation by the International Criminal Court. (Al Jazeera) (BBC News)
• Iran's ambassador to Russia says that Russia could build a second reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil, under an oil-for-goods deal being negotiated that has alarmed the United States. (Reuters) (News 24)
• Venezuela orders the expulsion of three US consular officials amid rising tensions over anti-government protests after accusing the US of working with the opposition to undermine President Nicolás Maduro's government. (The Times of India)

• The legality of private gambling is taken before the United States Supreme Court. (KTVU)
• A riot at the Australian Government's immigration detention facility on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea results in one death and 77 injuries. (The Australian)

• Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, is given a mandate by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new government as Italy’s prime minister-designate. (Bloomberg)
• Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond says that blocking a post-independence Scotland from a currency union could damage businesses in the rest of the United Kingdom. (BBC News)

• A large near-Earth asteroid, 2000 EM26, passes by the Earth safely with no threat of collision at 8.8 times further from the Earth than the Moon. (NBC News) (Space.com)

• 2014 Winter Olympics:
  • The United States garners its first medal in two-man bobsled since the 1952 Winter Olympics. (NBC)
  • Meryl Davis and Charlie White become the first Americans to win Olympic gold in ice dancing. (CBS)

• 2013–14 Thai political crisis:
  • Protesters and police clash after a crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with one policeman shot dead and dozens wounded. (BBC News) (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Euromaidan:
  • Violent clashes between police forces and opposition demonstrators reignite in Kyiv, Ukraine. The death toll rises to 14, six of them policemen who were shot dead during the confrontation. (CNN) (BBC News) (Reuters)

• A US$1 million vase made by Chinese dissident Ai Wei Wei is destroyed in Miami by a local vandal protesting the lack of exhibits promoting local art. (The New York Times)

• The Supreme Court of the Philippines declares the libel provisions in the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 as legal. (Inquirer) (GMA News)
• Former Australian parliamentarian Craig Thomson is found guilty of theft and fraud during his time as national secretary of the Health Services Union. (Sydney Morning Herald) (The Australian)
• French police arrest a man in relation to a killing of a British family in the French Alps. (BBC News)
• Former United States congressman Melvin Jay Reynolds is arrested in Zimbabwe for possession of pornography. (Fox News)

• Justice Kenneth Hayne of the High Court of Australia voids the Senate election in the state of Western Australia due to the loss of ballot papers in a very close election. (Yahoo! News)

• Euromaidan
  • After protesters had resisted the police, opposition and President Viktor Yanukovych hold talks and reach a truce. The toll of riots over the past couple of days is at least 25 dead and 241 injured. (BBC News) (Yahoo! News) (Wires via Chicago Tribune)
  • The President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych sacks Volodymyr Zamana as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; replacing him with Yuriy Ilyin. (AAP via SBS)
  • In a few cities in Western Ukraine anti-government protesters seize government buildings. (Yahoo! News)
• Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon
  • Two people are killed and 38 injured in a bombing of a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. (Bloomberg via Business Week)

• Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, former members of Pussy Riot, are arrested and subsequently released after protesting during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (USA Today)
• The Parliament of India passes a bill that would make the historic region of Telangana into a state. (The Guardian)
• 2014 BRIT Awards
  • The BRIT awards are held at The O2 Arena in London with David Bowie winning Best Solo British Male Artist, Ellie Goulding winning Best Female British Solo Artist and the Arctic Monkeys winning best British Group. (Spin)

• Dongfeng Motor, a Chinese auto company, is buying a $1.1 billion equity stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen for 800 million euros, part of a broader effort to bail out the struggling French concern. (Reuters)
• Facebook announced it is acquiring WhatsApp for US$19 billion in cash and stock. (Reuters)

• Botswana ends diplomatic relations with North Korea following a UN report on the latter's human rights record. (Global Post)

• The government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu decides to free three men and a woman found guilty of assassinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. (BBC News)

• Euromaidan:
  • A shaky truce is broken with police and protesters renewing clashes on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti, with scores of deaths reported. (Kiev Post) (Associated Press)
  • The mayor of Kyiv, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announces he is stepping down from his post and leaving the Ukraine's ruling party Party of Regions. (RIA Novosty)
  • The European Union imposes sanctions against Ukraine including asset freezes and visa bans. (BBC News)
• Sinai insurgency:
  • Egyptian security officials say army helicopter gunships have rocketed several houses where militants were thought to have gathered in the northern region of the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 10. (Montreal Gazette)
• A shooter opens fire inside a Native American tribal office in Alturas, California, United States, killing four and wounding two. (CNN)

• Mexican authorities arrest Jesús Peña (alias "El 20"), the leader of Los Ántrax, an armed squadron of the Sinaloa Cartel. Peña was part of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada's inner circle and the successor of El Chino Ántrax. (Azteca Noticias)
• Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood are sentenced to eight years in prison for the 2011 beating of Bryan Stow. (NBC)

• Australian federal election, 2013:
  • The High Court of Australia rules that the Senate election in the state of Western Australia was void, meaning that a half-Senate election will be held in that state. (The Australian)
• Utah and Colorado have announced that they plan to increase the smoking age to 21. (Denver Post)

• Alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska of the Ukraine olympic team decides to pull out of the Winter Games in Sochi, as widespread anti-government protests back home leave dozens dead and hundreds injured. (BBC Sport)

• Euromaidan:
  • The Ukrainian government and opposition agree to form a unity government and to hold early elections. (The Telegraph)

• 2014 Venezuelan protests:
  • Twenty-two-year-old Venezuelan beauty queen Génesis Carmona is shot in the head and killed while participating in a student protest against Nicolás Maduro's socialist government. (The New York Times)

• Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro threatens to expel CNN from the country, alleging that they are helping the opposition. (BBC News)
• Books related to Anne Frank are vandalized across public libraries in Tokyo, Japan. (The New York Times)

• G Asset Investment, a private investment management firm, reports that it has offered to buy a majority of the equity of Barnes & Noble or to buy its digital books business, Nook. (Reuters)

• Eleven people are killed when a Libyan Air Force plane crashes from a suspected engine fire in Nabeul Governorate, Tunisia. (CNN)

• Chinese-U.S. relations:
  • The President of the United States, Barack Obama, meets with the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China to cancel the meeting. (BBC News)

• Sudan puts a married Ethiopian woman on trial after being gang-raped because she waited before she reported it. She faces the death penalty for adultery. (The Daily Mail)

• A linguists professor from the University of Bedfordshire manages to decipher 10 of the words in the enigmatic Voynich manuscript. (BBC News)

• Aogan O' Fearghail is elected as the 38th President of the GAA, and the first from Cavan in the organisation's 130-year history. (The Score) (BBC Sport)

• Euromaidan:
  • The Ukrainian parliament votes to free Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister jailed for more than two years for what supporters say are politically tainted charges. She is released later in the day. (The Irish Times) (BBC News)
  • Protesters claim control of the capital Kyiv with reports that President Viktor Yanukovych has fled to eastern Ukraine. (AP)
  • The Ukrainian parliament votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from his position. From his current base in Kharkiv, Yanukovych denounces the events in Kyiv as a "coup". (USA Today)
  • Ukrainian economist and writer Oleksandr Turchynov is voted Speaker of the Parliament, and in that capacity acting President of Ukraine. (Kyiv Post)

• Pope Francis creates 19 new cardinals in a ceremony at St Peter's Basilica in Rome. In addition, the Pope emeritus Benedict XVI makes his first public appearance at the Vatican since his resignation in 2013. (BBC News)

• One person is dead and 28 are ill from a carbon monoxide leak at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington, New York. (NBC)

• The Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as "El Chapo", is arrested in Mexico. (BBC News)

• Matteo Renzi is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Italy. (BBC News)
• Tens of thousands of people gather in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to protest against the government of Nicolás Maduro. (Los Angeles Times)

• 2014 Winter Olympics:
  • Marit Bjørgen of Norway becomes the most successful female Winter Olympian of all time when she wins a sixth gold medal in the Women's 30 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing event. She has won ten Olympic medals in total. (AP via Yahoo! News)

• Ukrainian Revolution of 2014:
  • Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is blocked by Ukraine's customs in Donetsk from taking a plane to Russia. (Moscow Times)
• 2013–14 Thai political crisis:
  • At least two people have been killed and 41 injured in an attack on an opposition rally in the Khao Saming District in Trat Province. (Reuters)
• Taliban insurgency:
  • The Taliban attack an Afghan Armed Forces base in Kunar province, killing 19 soldiers and kidnapping seven. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • Seven people are killed and 50 wounded in a car bombing near a field hospital in northern Syria, close to the border with Turkey. (BBC News)

• Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip announces that he will be leaving office before scheduled parliamentary elections in 2015. (Deutsche Welle)

• 2014 Winter Olympics:
  • The Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia officially concludes. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• In NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. eventually wins the Daytona 500, ending a 55-race winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series, after the race is red flagged for several hours due to heavy rain, while a tornado warning is put into effect for the area. (Fox News)

• 2014 Ukrainian Revolution:
  • The European Commission recognizes Oleksandr Turchynov as Ukraine‘s legitimate interim president. (DPA via Europe Online)
  • Ukrainian economist and banker Stepan Kubiv, who worked as one of the commandants for the EuroMaidan demonstrations, is selected as governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. (Reuters)
  • An arrest warrant is issued for the former President Viktor Yanukovych and other officials for their alleged role in killing protesters. (AP via Fox News)
• War in Afghanistan:
  • Senior Taliban commander Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani is killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (The Hindu)
• South China Sea dispute:
  • Chinese vessels reportedly harassed Filipino fishermen off the coast of the Philippines last January 27, according to the Philippine military. (BBC News)
• Post-civil war violence in Libya
  • Libyan police found the bodies of seven Egyptian Christians shot dead execution-style on a beach near the city of Benghazi. (Reuters)
• Israeli Air Force planes reportedly bomb a weapons shipment of SS-21 missiles destined for Hezbollah near a Hezbollah stronghold on the Lebanon-Syria border. (The Times of Israel)

• CNN cancels Piers Morgan Live, starring British presenter Piers Morgan, due to low ratings. (The Guardian)
• Pope Francis, in the most significant reform of the Roman Curia in 25 years, creates a second Secretariat, for Economic Affairs, headed by a Cardinal (which will work with the Vatican Secretariat of State, the reformed Vatican bank, or IOR, and the other economic departments of the Roman Curia), which will have an office with the power to audit any Vatican agency at any time. (AP via MSN News)
• Mt Gox, an exchange of central importance in the history of the crypto currency bitcoin, closes down for an indefinite period under pressure from hackers. (Wired)

• The death toll in the Papua province of Indonesia reaches 11 as torrential rain continues to cause floods and landslides, occurring since Saturday. (News Corp Australia)
• At least seven mourners are killed and 37 are injured as a bridge collapses as they are transporting a coffin in Vietnam's Lai Chau Province. (AP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)

• Gary Melius, owner of Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York, the second largest private residence in the United States, is shot in the head in the castle parking lot. The gunman is still at large. (Los Angeles Times)
• Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signs a bill discriminating against the LGBT community. (Time)

• 2013–14 Thai political crisis:
  • Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says she will not resign. (Straits Times)
• The government of Egypt resign en masse, allowing Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to run for President. (Reuters)
• The Pentagon announces plans to reduce the size of the United States Army to pre-World War II levels. (BBC News)
• In Russia, police arrested over 400 people in Manege Square hours after picking up some 200 people outside the court where the Bolotnaya square case defendants were being tried. (BBC News) (RFE/RL) (The Moscow Times)

• Public health officials in the U.S. state of California are preparing a report of a polio-like disease whose cause is unknown. (Los Angeles Times)
• Two species of goblin spider are discovered by the Queensland Museum in Australia's Darling Downs region. (ABC via Yahoo!7 News)
• Nokia unveils Nokia X, an Android-based smartphone, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. (NDTV)
• A 4.4-billion-year-old crystal from Western Australia has been confirmed as the oldest fragment of Earth's crust. (BBC News)

• Islamist insurgency in Nigeria:
  • Boko Haram Islamists kill 59 students in an attack on the Federal Government College in the town of Buni Yadi in Yobe State. (Reuters) (Sky News)

• Over 1,400 gold coins from the mid-19th century that were buried in eight cans are discovered by an anonymous couple while walking their dog in Gold Country, California. The find dubbed the Saddle Ridge Hoard is expected to be worth over $10 million dollars (USD) and is the largest known hoard of gold coins ever found in the United States. (USA Today)

• 2013 Asiana Airlines accident:
  • Asiana Airlines is fined US$500,000 for failing to promptly assist families of passengers aboard the flight. (Associated Press)

• 2014 Ukrainian revolution:
  • The United States administration formally declares that it no longer recognizes Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine’s president as "his actions have undermined his legitimacy". (Guardian)

• A court in the UK rules that a man arrested in connection with the 1982 Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings will not be prosecuted for his involvement. (Sky News)

• The Parliament of Ukraine removes the five-pointed red star from its spire in a measure aimed at erasing the nation’s Soviet legacy. (RIA Novosty)
• Russia's leading opposition activists Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin are jailed for 7-10 days for disobeying a police officer while protesting against the Bolotnaya square case. The previous day, in Moscow police detained over 400 people, including Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. (RAPSI) (RFE/RL) (The Moscow Times) (Euronews)

• China's National Meteorological Center of CMA warns of heavy smog in northern and central China over the next two days. (Xinhua)

• 2014 Ukrainian revolution, 2014 Crimean crisis:
  • Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov formally becomes the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Ministry of Defence)
  • Ukraine's acting interior minister Arsen Avakov says the elite Berkut police unit, blamed for the deaths of protesters, has been disbanded. (CNN)
  • The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, orders snap military exercises near the Ukraine border. (Washington Post)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • Syrian army and Hezbollah troops kill over 70 rebel fighters in an ambush in the outskirts of Damascus. (USA Today) (Reuters)

• Post-coup unrest in Egypt:
  • An Egyptian court sentences 26 people to death in absentia for plotting attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal. (NBC News)
• Kevin Lau Chun-to, the former editor of newspaper Ming Pao whose dismissal in January sparked protests over press freedom, is attacked by a man with a meat cleaver in his Hong Kong neighborhood. He is in critical condition. (CNN)
• The two men convicted of the murder of Lee Rigby are sentenced to life imprisonment, Michael Adebolajo without the possibility of parole, and Michael Adebowale with the possibility of parole after 45 years. (BBC News)

• 2014 Ukrainian revolution, 2014 Crimean crisis:
  • The Parliament of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea announces a referendum to determine the region’s future and ousts the regional government. (Kyiv Post)
  • Ousted President Viktor Yanukovich, whose whereabouts remained unknown before he turned up in Russia, issues a statement saying that he is still the legitimate president and "ready to fight to the end" to fulfill his deal with the opposition. (USA Today)
  • Around 50 armed men bearing Russian national symbols seize the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea following clashes between the ethnic Tatar and Russian protesters. The interim authorities of Ukraine put security forces on alert. (The Guardian) (AFP)
  • The Verkhovna Rada or parliament of Ukraine appoints Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the Prime Minister of Ukraine. (Voice of America)
• Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal)
  • A wave of bombings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad kills 53 people. (Daily Times)
• An Indian Army soldier kills five colleagues and himself in Jammu and Kashmir. (CNN)

• Censors in Australia effectively ban the award-winning Swedish film Children's Island due to scenes of child nudity, with anyone caught selling or showing the film in public risking up to 10 years in prison. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• An online petition organized by Muslims against the "Dark Horse" video by Katy Perry over its use of imagery containing the word "Allah" has led to the editing of the video on YouTube. (The Rolling Stone)
• Israel donates 300 books relating to Anne Frank to Japan after a vandalising incident earlier this month. (BBC News)

• Chaos erupts in Stockholm after the Swedish Public Employment Service by mistake invites 61,000 persons to the same job interview. (Dagens Nyheter)
• Yahoo webcams may have been hijacked by the GCHQ according to leaks in The Guardian. (Financial Times)

• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, speaks to both houses of the Parliament of Great Britain and urges Britain's continued participation within the EU, but she ruled out German support for any far-reaching reform of the treaties that define it, such as many Britons think their government should demand. (Reuters)
• Amnesty International accuses Israel of willfully committing war crimes against the Palestinians. (Los Angeles Times)

• Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoes a bill that would have allowed businesses to discriminate, based on their religion, against LGBT people. (Al Jazeera)
• United States Federal Reserve hacker Lauri Love is sentenced. (The Guardian)

• 2013–14 Thai political crisis
  • The National Anti-Corruption Commission summon the Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra to face charges of allegedly mishandling a rice subsidy program as her supporters block access to the building. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• Crimean referendum, 2014
  • The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has announced that it plans to hold a referendum for independence the same day as the elections in Ukraine. (The Wall Street Journal)

• The Kepler telescope discovers 715 new planets. (BBC News)

• 2014 Ukrainian revolution, 2014 Crimean crisis
  • Members of the Russian Parliament propose new laws that would make it easier for Russia to incorporate parts of Ukraine. (BBC News)
  • Russia finally confirms that it has moved troops in Ukraine's Crimea region to protect its own interests. (Telegraph)
  • Mykhailo Kutsyn is appointed Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Kyiv Post)
  • Acting General Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitsky formally calls on Russia to extradite ousted President Viktor Yanukovych along with 10 other figures; the list includes former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Yanukovich aide Andriy Klyuyev, and former Justice Minister Olena Lukash. (RIA Novosty)
  • Interim President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov says the Russian military is "directly involved" in the crisis in Crimea, while Interior Minister Arsen Avakov describes the events as "a military invasion and occupation". (Bloomberg) (CBS)
  • News agency Interfax-Ukraine reports that armed pro-Russian men have taken over control of two airports, among which Simferopol International Airport, and raised the Russian Navy flag. (Sky News)
• Syrian civil war
  • Syrian air strikes near the Lebanese border town of Arsal killed three people. (Reuters)

• The Swedish Academy announces that Swedish writer Klas Östergren is appointed new member, succeeding late art critic Ulf Linde on seat No. 11. (TT via Dagens Nyheter)

• 2013–14 Australian bushfire season
  • Sick and elderly residents in the town of Morwell, Victoria, are evacuated as a fire in a disused coal mine near the Hazelwood Power Station continues to worsen. (The Australian)
• At least fifteen children are killed in a school bus crash in Thailand's Prachinburi Province. (CNN)

• British spree killer Joanne Dennehy is given a whole life sentence for three murders and two attempted murders committed in 2013. (BBC News)
• A stabbing spree in a Loblaws distribution centre in Edmonton, Alberta kills two, and injures four. The suspect, 29-year-old Jayme Pasieka, is arrested hours after the attack. (CNN)

• Russian businessman and oppositionist Gleb Fetisov, a co-chair of the Alliance of Greens and Social Democrats, is detained in Moscow. (RAPSI) (RIA) (The Moscow Times)
• The leader of the People's Alliance (Russia) opposition party Alexei Navalny is placed under house arrest. (RFE/RL) (BBC News) (RIA)