Portal:Current events/February 2020

• Suspected Islamist militants kill at least 62 civilians in a series of massacres in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as killings of civilians intensify. The country's armed forces launch counter-offensives against insurgents of the Allied Democratic Forces. (Reuters)

• 400–500 people are left stranded at the Sasquatch Mountain Resort in British Columbia, Canada, after the road to the resort was damaged from landslides caused by heavy rain. Train service between Vancouver and Seattle was also suspended until Monday due to mudslides. (CTV News) (CTV News²)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • Kiribati becomes the latest country in the Pacific to block Chinese travelers by placing all visa applications from China on hold and ordering all those coming from countries with confirmed cases of the virus to self-quarantine. (Radio NZ International)
  • Apple Inc. announces it will close all of its stores and offices in China until February 9 due to the pandemic. (Gizmodo)

• Trump peace plan
  • The Palestinian National Authority cuts all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump. (Reuters)
• Foreign relations of the Maldives
  • The Maldives returns to the Commonwealth of Nations as a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations. (The Commonwealth)

• A court in Egypt sentences a former special forces officer and 36 others to the death penalty after being convicted on charges of terrorism, court officials say. (Reuters)
• Police in South Africa launch a manhunt for the killers of nine illegal miners who were stoned to death in western Johannesburg. All nine killed were from Lesotho. (BBC News)

• 2019–2021 Iraqi protests
  • Former Communications Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi is appointed Prime Minister of Iraq by President Barham Salih. Protestors reject his appointment, seeing him as part of the establishment. (Al Jazeera)

• 2020 Streatham stabbing
  • Three people are injured after a man attacked people with a machete in Streatham High Road, London, United Kingdom. The attacker is shot dead by police. The incident is declared as terrorism-related. (BBC News)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • More than 200 Turkish Armed Forces vehicles cross the Syria–Turkey border into rebel-held Idlib Governorate in an effort to halt the Syrian Army advance on the city of Saraqib. (The Washington Post) (Al Masdar News)
• Sinai insurgency
  • Islamist militants bomb a gas pipeline between Egypt and Israel in the northern Sinai Peninsula. (Ynet news)

• Groundhog Day
  • Punxsutawney Phil doesn't cast a shadow and predicts an early spring. (Fox News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
    • The first coronavirus death outside China is reported in the Philippines. The victim was a Chinese tourist, also infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae and influenza B, who recently arrived in the country. (CNN Philippines)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • New Zealand closes its borders to all foreign visitors from China and bolsters screenings at its airports in response to the pandemic. The travel ban will be in place for at least fourteen days. (The Guardian)

• Iran–Saudi Arabia relations
  • According to Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saudi Arabia has blocked Iran from an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah after Saudi authorities refuse to issue visas to Iranian officials. (Reuters)

• A female attacker stabs four people in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium in different locations. The victims were injured, two of whom in critical conditions. The suspect is shot and wounded by Belgian police. (The Brussels Times)

• Japan sends a destroyer to the Gulf of Oman amid heightening tensions in the region. The government says it is prepared to authorize the use of force to protect Japanese interests if needed. (Reuters)

• 2019 NFL season
  • In American football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers 31–20 to win Super Bowl LIV, the team's first Super Bowl win since 1970. (ESPN)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Syrian Army shelling kills Turkish military personnel in Idlib Governorate, prompting retaliation by Turkish forces. A pro-opposition war monitor says the Turkish retaliation killed 13 Syrian soldiers, which Syria denies. The Russian Ministry of Defence says Turkey moved troops "inside the de-escalation zone [...] without notifying the Russian side". Turkish President Erdoğan says the Syrian shelling killed five Turkish soldiers and three civilian personnel, with nine others injured, and that the Russians "need to stand aside". (AP News) (SANA) (NPR)
• A gendarme is stabbed and wounded in Metz, Grand Est, France, by a soldier who shouted Islamic extremist slogans and declared that he is an Islamic State member. He was shot and wounded. (Le Figaro)
• Gunmen open fire in an amusement arcade in Uruapan, Mexico, killing at least nine people, including three children. Police say the gunmen were searching for specific targets but then opened fire indiscriminately on customers. (The Guardian)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • The global Cruise Lines International Association bans trips to mainland China and says that it "will deny boarding to any individual, whether guest or crew, who has travelled from or through mainland China within the previous 14 days". (Al Arabiya English)
  • Thailand announces the possible discovery of a "cure" for the coronavirus after a confirmed coronavirus patient tested negative for the virus 48 hours after being given an "anti-HIV" drug. (Filipino Times) (Daily Sabah) (IB Times)
  • Huoshenshan Hospital, opening after ten days of construction, admits the first patients of the pandemic. (SCMP) (AP)
• HIV/AIDS research
  • The United States National Institutes of Health stops its trial of an experimental HIV vaccine (HVTN 702) amidst poor results. The trial involved more than 5,000 people in South Africa. (BBC News)

• Post-Brexit, United Kingdom–European Union relations
  • European Union negotiator Michel Barnier says a future trade deal is possible only if the United Kingdom "abides by EU standards". British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the UK would not be bound by EU rules in any post-Brexit agreement. (NBC News)
• Israel–Uganda relations
  • Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says he is "studying" the possibility of opening an embassy in Jerusalem as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises to open an embassy in Uganda if such a move takes place. (Reuters)
• European migrant crisis
  • Greek police on the island of Lesbos fire tear gas to disperse migrants and refugees protesting about conditions in the camps and the slow pace of processing asylum requests. (Reuters)

• List of mass shootings in the United States in 2020
  • A mass shooting on a Greyhound bus headed from Los Angeles to San Francisco leaves one dead and five wounded; the motive remains unknown. (CBS News) (NBC News)
  • A shooting at a dormitory at Texas A&M University–Commerce, leaves two dead and one wounded. (Politico) (NBC News)

• Aftermath of the 2019 Malawian general election
  • The Constitutional Court of Malawi annuls the result of the country's last general election due to various irregularities. New elections are being scheduled to be held within 150 days. (Aljazeera)
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
  • The first nominating contest in the Democratic Party and Republican Party primaries takes place in the U.S. state of Iowa. Eleven Democratic Party candidates will challenge for 49 delegates, while incumbent President Donald Trump will face two Republican challengers for 40 delegates, regarding the 2020 United States presidential election (BBC News)
  • Significant irregularities in the Democratic Party process are reported with an app being blamed for widespread confusion and delayed results. (Vox) (The Washington Examiner)
• Impeachment trial of Donald Trump
  • Closing statements are delivered before the United States Senate. (The New York Times)
  • Democratic Senator Joe Manchin asks his colleagues to consider censuring Trump, as an alternative to impeachment, for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate domestic political rivals. Senator Manchin is considered friendly with the White House. (The Washington Post)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Turkey will not allow Syria's military to gain more ground in the rebel-held Idlib Governorate, as the Syrian Army captures several more villages near the city of Saraqib. Turkish officials say intermittent clashes between Turkish and Syrian troops have continued since Monday. (BBC News)

• A magnitude 5.0 earthquake hits 20 kilometers south of Guánica, Puerto Rico. (CNN) (National Earthquake Center)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in China
    • COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
      • Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reports the death toll has surpassed 400 with over 20,000 people infected, and requests the United States "not to overreact". (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
      • The second coronavirus death outside mainland China is reported in Hong Kong. The victim was a 34-year-old Hongkonger who had recently travelled to Wuhan, the center of the pandemic. The Hospital Authority said the victim suffered from "preexisting health conditions", but did not give details. (Los Angeles Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships
    • COVID-19 pandemic on Diamond Princess
      • The Diamond Princess cruise ship is quarantined and tested for coronavirus cases as it is docked in Yokohama, Japan. Passengers and crew are now required to stay on board until at least Tuesday night. Between 3,500 and 3,700 passengers are tested. (CNN)

• Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune pardons more than 3,000 prisoners serving sentences of less than six months imprisonment as he seeks to win support after months of political turmoil. (Reuters)
• First Lady of Lesotho, Maesiah Thabane, is arrested and charged in connection to the 2017 murder of Lipolelo Thabane, ex-wife of current Prime Minister Tom Thabane. (The Guardian)
• Gunmen kill 9 people, including 3 children, in a video arcade in Uruapan, Mexico. (ABC News)

• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
  • Donald Trump receives overwhelming support in the Iowa Republican caucuses while the results of the Iowa Democratic caucuses are delayed because of problems with the use of a mobile app for reporting. (CNN)
• 2020 State of the Union Address
  • U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his third State of the Union Address to the 116th United States Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives. It was Trump's fourth and final speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. (CNN)

• 2020 Van avalanches
  • Avalanches in Van Province, eastern Turkey, kill at least 38 people, leaving more trapped. (BBC News)
• Winter Storm Kade brings heavy snowfall to much of the United States, with 14 inches of snow recorded as far south as Texas. Dozens of car accidents are reported in Oklahoma City as a result of difficult driving conditions due to the storm. (Weather.com)
• Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193
  • A plane crashes after overrunning the runway at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Istanbul, Turkey, killing 3 people and injuring 155 others. (BBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • Around 3,700 people aboard a cruise ship named Diamond Princess are quarantined after ten passengers test positive for the illness at the port of Yokohama, Japan. (Reuters)
  • A baby is diagnosed with the virus 30 hours after birth, in the first recorded case of the virus in a newborn. (New Straits Times)

• Mexico establishes diplomatic relations with the Central African Republic, resulting in Mexico having diplomatic relations with all African states. (Government of Mexico)

• The United Kingdom's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport begins a public consultation on decriminalizing the failure to pay the television licence fee. Currently, failure to pay the fee while using a television can result in fines and imprisonment. (BBC News)
• Bayard Rustin, a black and gay African American civil rights activist who worked with Martin Luther King Jr., is posthumously pardoned by California Governor Gavin Newsom for anti-gay charges. (NBC News)
• Denmark jails three men for potentially spying for Saudi Arabia. (ABC News)
• LGBT rights in Nigeria
  • A court in Nigeria grants 47 men another delay in their trial over homosexuality and public displays of affection with members of the same sex. Judge Rilwan Aikawa says it is the last accepted delay at the Lagos court. The men face up to 10-year imprisonment if convicted in a closely watched trial. (Reuters)

• Impeachment trial of Donald Trump
  • The United States Senate votes on whether to acquit U.S. President Donald Trump. By a vote of 52–48 almost entirely along party lines, the Republican-majority Senate acquits Trump on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, and acquits him on the second charge, obstruction of Congress, in a separate 53–47 vote. Utah Senator Mitt Romney casts the sole Republican guilty vote, against party lines, on the first article. (The New York Times)
• The Romanian minority government led by Ludovic Orban is toppled by a vote of no confidence. The event could lead to an early election. (DW)

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Two Palestinians are killed and seven others are wounded by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. In a separate incident, twelve Israeli soldiers are injured in a car-ramming attack by a Palestinian in Jerusalem, while a police officer was shot and wounded in another attack in the city. Airstrikes in the Gaza Strip also occurred. (BBC News)
• Syrian civil war, Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian Civil War
  • Israeli warplanes fire missiles near Damascus, Syria. A pro-opposition war monitor says army positions and Iran-backed militias are targeted, killing 12 fighters. Syria says eight fighters are wounded and Israel intends to "save the armed terrorist organisations which have been collapsing in Idlib and western Aleppo Governorate in front of the strikes of the Syrian Army". (BBC News)
  • The Syrian Army's Tiger Forces with Russian air support enters and takes control of the city of Saraqib, and the nearby town of Sarmin, after rebel forces withdrew from the area. (The Washington Post) (Anadolu Agency)
• An Australian and two Chinese citizens, one of whom was a tourist, are stabbed and injured by ISIL sympathisers in Hulhumalé, Maldives. The attackers are arrested. (The Guardian)
• Brexit Day bomb plot
  • The PSNI announce they foiled a plot, allegedly by the dissident republican CIRA, to detonate a truck bomb in the United Kingdom on the day Brexit occurred. (BBC News)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • A U.S. civil contractor is kidnapped by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan's Khost Province. A Taliban leader who declined to be named tells Reuters they had kidnapped an American in Khost but did not provide further details. (Reuters)
• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • U.S. President Donald Trump announces that the United States military has killed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Qasim al-Raymi in a drone strike in Yemen. (BBC News)

• Winter Storm Kade
  • Several tornadoes are reported across the southern United States as Winter Storm Kade continues to cross the country, with more than 200 reports of damaging winds across Mississippi, Alabama and North Carolina. (Weather.com)
  • Heavy rainfall causes severe flooding in southern states, particularly western South Carolina and western Virginia, where several flash flood emergencies have been declared. (Weather.com)
• Livraga derailment
  • A train crash in Livraga, Lombardy, Italy, kills 2 people and injures all the other 31 on board. (The Independent)

• United States–Venezuela relations
  • Venezuelan security forces move six American Citgo executives from house arrest to El Helicoide prison in Caracas, prompting condemnation from the United States. The move comes shortly after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. (Reuters)

• Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune pardons a further 6,000 prisoners after doing the same to another 3,000 two days ago. The mass pardons this week follow an offer of dialogue with the protesters, the release of detainees arrested at demonstrations, the formation of a committee to amend the constitution and meetings with opposition figures. (Reuters)
• A man is charged with raping a five-year-old girl inside of the United States embassy in New Delhi. The high-security mansion in the Indian capital is one of the most secure in Delhi, with multiple layers of manned and electronic security. (The Guardian)

• Minister-President of the central German state of Thuringia, Thomas Kemmerich, resigns under national pressure after his controversial election to the position with the help of the far-right party Alternative for Germany. (BBC News)

• Christina Koch returns to Earth from the International Space Station after a continuous 328 days in space, longer than any woman in history. (CNN via MSN)

• Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam resigns after a spying scandal. (CNN)
• Batterygate
  • Apple Inc. is fined €25 million by French regulatory agency General Directorate of Competition, Consumption & Repression of Frauds for deliberately slowing down older iPhone models. The fine amounts to less than 0.003% of Apple Inc.'s current worth. (BBC News)

• Winter Storm Kade
  • High winds, gusting up to 90 miles per hour, strike New England as Winter Storm Kade intensifies upon its exit into the Atlantic Ocean. (Weather.com)
  • Heavy snowfall blankets much of the north-eastern United States. More than 1 foot of snowfall is reported widely, with up to 2 feet recorded in parts of Maine and Vermont. (Weather.com)
• Five people are killed in a plane crash in Western Alaska, United States. (NBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Mainland China
    • General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping declares "people's war" on the coronavirus pandemic. (The National) (Reuters)
    • Li Wenliang, the doctor who tried to issue the first warnings about the pandemic, dies after contracting the virus. (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • Italy confirms that an Italian man has contracted the virus, after he visited his girlfriend in Wuhan. (Il Messaggero)
  • Royal Caribbean Cruises bans China, Hong Kong or Macau passport holders from boarding its ships amid concerns over the pandemic. (Reuters)
• Esperanza Base on the Antarctic Peninsula reaches a temperature of 18.3 °C (64.9 °F), the hottest on record for continental Antarctica. (The Guardian) (The Washington Post)
• It is reported January 2020 was the warmest January ever on record in Europe. (The Washington Post) (Time)

• Russia repatriates 26 Russian children from a Syrian refugee camp. (ABC News)

• Manish Shah, a general practitioner in the United Kingdom, is given three life sentences at the Old Bailey for 90 sexual assaults on 24 of his female patients. (BBC News)
• Patrick Crusius, accused of perpetrating the 2019 El Paso shooting, is charged with 90 counts of federal hate crimes. Under the new charges, he could face the death penalty. (BBC News)

• U.S. President Donald Trump fires National Security Council advisor Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland, who both testified as witnesses at the impeachment inquiry into him. Vindman's twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, an Army JAG officer also part of the National Security Council staff, is also fired. (New York Times) (Politico)
• 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
  • Former Illinois representative Joe Walsh suspends his presidential campaign, following his poor performance in the Iowa caucuses. (The Hill)

• Nakhon Ratchasima shootings
  • A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history. (Bangkok Post) (USA Today)
• At least ten people have been killed and dozens have been injured in ethnic clashes in Kazakhstan between Kazakhs and Dungans. About 30 houses and 15 commercial properties were destroyed during the clash. (BBC News)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • A shootout during joint exercises with U.S. and Afghan soldiers in Nangarhar Province leaves between four and six Americans, and six Afghans dead. It is unknown if the Taliban or rogue Afghan forces were responsible. (Reuters)

• Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner declares that the government will not pay back its US$57 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund until the country exits its recession. (Reuters)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • Two people – one Japanese and one American – die from coronavirus in Wuhan. They are the first foreigners (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) to die from it. (NBC News)

• Syria–Turkey relations
  • Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offers to mediate between Syria and Turkey over escalating conflicts between the two nations following the recent offensive in the Idlib Governorate. (Reuters)

• 2020 Irish general election
  • Citizens of Ireland head to the polls in the country's latest general election. (The Guardian)
  • Exit polls show the republican Sinn Féin, the ruling Fine Gael, and main opposition party Fianna Fáil in a virtual tie. (The Guardian)

• 92nd Academy Awards
  • At this year's Oscars, South Korean film Parasite wins the most awards, including Best Picture and Best International Film. It becomes the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture. (The Hollywood Reporter)

• Storm Ciara
  • Winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour have been recorded over much of the United Kingdom and Ireland, causing widespread damage and disruption. (BBC News)
  • Thousands of homes and businesses have been flooded across northern England after Storm Ciara brought sustained heavy rainfall to the region. Worst affected were the Calder Valley settlements of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire. (BBC News)
  • A man in Hampshire was killed when a tree fell onto his car on the A33 road as a result of high winds. (BBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • The death toll of the coronavirus outbreak surpasses the death toll of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, at 910 deaths. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)

• Cross-Strait relations
  • Taiwan scrambles its air force to intercept Chinese jets after they circled the island during a combat drill. The drill is denounced by the Taiwanese Defense Ministry as a violation of its sovereignty. (Reuters)
• Israel–Palestine relations
  • Israel blocks all Palestinian export of agricultural products from the occupied West Bank following Palestinian limitations on imports of Israeli cattle. (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz)

• 2020 Azerbaijani parliamentary election
  • Azerbaijan holds a snap election after President Ilham Aliyev dissolved the National Assembly last December. The opposition accuses Aliyev of limiting their ability to campaign, and calls for boycotts against the election. (Reuters) (France24)
• 2020 Cameroonian parliamentary election
  • After having been postponed twice, parliamentary elections are held in Cameroon. The ongoing Anglophone Crisis overshadows the process, with supporters of Ambazonia calling for a boycott of the election. (DW)
• 2020 Irish general election
  • Counting of the first preference votes show Sinn Féin leading with 24.1% of the vote, ahead of ruling party Fine Gael and main opposition party Fianna Fáil, each with 22.1%. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claims victory, declaring that Ireland "is no longer a two-party system", and hopes to form a coalition government. (The Guardian)
• 2020 Swiss referendums, LGBT rights in Switzerland
  • Swiss voters head to the polls to vote on a proposal to mandate quotas for affordable housing in new residential development projects, and whether to criminalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (BBC News) (Irish Times)
  • The proposal to mandate quotas is rejected, the proposal to criminalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation passes. (BBC News)
• President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele breaks into the Legislative Assembly with the Army and occupies the chair of the Speaker to demand the approval of a financial measure which couldn't pass earlier as there was no quorum. In a public release, the Presidency department calls for calm after a "demand of insurrection". The opposition accuses the president and the army of intimidation and a "self-coup". (El País) (BBC News) (The Washington Post) (The New York Times)

• The United Launch Alliance successfully launches the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter (SolO) satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The probe will study the Sun, and in particular its inner heliosphere. (BBC News)

• Auno attack
  • Boko Haram militants kill at least 30 people, burning them to death while they were sleeping in their vehicles in Borno State, Nigeria. Women and children are kidnapped. (BBC News)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • Turkey says Syrian shelling killed five of its troops at an observation post at Taftanaz Military Airbase in Idlib Governorate. The Turkish government says it "retaliated against the attack to destroy all enemy targets and avenging our fallen troops". (AP News) (BBC News)
  • Russian and Syrian Air Force warplanes carry out airstrikes on civilian settlements in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, killing at least 17 to 25 civilians including six children. (AA) (MSN) (DW)
  • A car bomb kills four people and injures 15 others in the Turkish-occupied city Afrin, in Aleppo Governorate. (France 24)

• Climate change mitigation, Individual and political action on climate change
  • Dozens of climate activists surround the offices of American investment management company BlackRock in central Paris and vandalize the building, demanding they disinvest from the fossil fuel industry. (Reuters)
• Brexit
  • UK government minister Michael Gove says an IT system for the prospective "smart" border will not be ready before 2025. (The Independent) (Financial Times)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, warns that overseas cases of the virus could be the "tip of the iceberg". (Yahoo! News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Mainland China
    • In a rare public appearance and wearing a mask, Xi Jinping visits a hospital in Beijing, and urges "more decisive measures" to combat the virus. (BBC News)

• A court in Israel sentences Sheikh Raed Salah to 28 months in prison for "inciting to terror". (Al Jazeera)
• Chinese cyberwarfare
  • A federal grand jury in the United States charges four members of China’s People's Liberation Army with the 2017 Equifax hack. (CNN)
• Mohiussunnath Chowdhury is convicted of planning terrorist attacks in London. (BBC News)
• The U.S. Justice Department files lawsuits against King County, Washington and the state of New Jersey over their use of sanctuary cities. (Reuters)

• The president of Germany's CDU party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, announces that she will resign as the party's president and not be a candidate for the federal chancellorship in the next election. (Der Spiegel) (The Guardian)
• The administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte moves to cancel the franchise of ABS-CBN, the Philippines' largest broadcast media network, by lodging a complaint against it to the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Members of the Philippine press condemn the actions in moving for the cancellation of the franchise of ABS-CBN. (The New York Times) (Rappler) (GMA News Online)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • The Syrian Army and allied militia groups secure the entire length of the strategic M5 Motorway, connecting Damascus and Aleppo, for the first time since 2012. (Reuters)
  • A Syrian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter is shot down by Turkish-backed rebel forces near the village of Nayrab in Idlib Governorate, killing both pilots. (Haaretz)
• February 2020 Kabul bombing
  • A suicide bombing in Afghanistan's capital Kabul kills six people and injures twelve others. (The Guardian)
• 2020 Iranian attack on U.S. forces in Iraq
  • The Pentagon confirms that the number of U.S. troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries from the Iranian attacks in January is higher than previously stated, now being at 109. (DW)
• 2019–20 Lebanese protests
  • Lebanese protesters attempt to block a confidence vote, and 400 people are injured. The Lebanese Cabinet wins the vote. (MSN) (NBC)

• Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
  • Siba, a standard Poodle, wins Best in Show Award. (Fox News) (ESPN) (The Guardian)

• New York v. Deutsche Telekom
  • Victor Marrero, a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, approves the $26 billion USD merger of T-Mobile US and Sprint Corporation. (NBC)
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson approves the High Speed 2 railway project, after many delays and the project going billions of pounds overbudget. (The Guardian)
• Softbank, the Japanese venture capital giant, announced fourth quarter results. They were dismal, due especially to Softbank's losses on its Vision Fund. (Reuters)

• Storm Ciara kills six people in Europe. (MSN)
• A boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsizes in the Bay of Bengal while trying to reach Malaysia. Fifteen are confirmed dead and dozens are missing, a Bangladesh Coast Guard official says. (Reuters)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Mainland China
    • The death toll of the coronavirus pandemic in China surpasses 1,000. Hubei province reported 103 deaths in a single day, the highest single-day toll of the pandemic. (DW)

• Philippines–United States relations
  • The President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte terminates the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. confirms that the Embassy of the United States, Manila, has been formally notified. The termination will take effect after 180 days. (Reuters) (The Guardian)
• Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution
  • Sudan's ruling military council agrees to hand over ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur. (The Guardian)

• Love v Commonwealth
  • The High Court of Australia finds that Aboriginal Australian people are not "aliens" under the Australian Constitution, even if they were not born in Australia and do not have Australian citizenship, and they cannot be deported. (ABC News) (SBS News)
• Venezuela makes its civilian militia a new branch of the armed forces. (Reuters)

• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary
  • Registered Democrats and independents in the U.S. state of New Hampshire vote in the first official Democratic presidential primary of the election year. It comes after the controversial Iowa caucuses that occurred a week earlier. (CBS News)
  • Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders narrowly defeats former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg to win the primary. (Vox)
  • Entrepreneur Andrew Yang suspends his presidential campaign. (PBS)
  • Colorado Senator Michael Bennet suspends his presidential campaign. (NBC News)

• Syrian Civil War
  • United States Armed Forces open fire and kill a Syrian after a group of government supporters attempted to block a U.S. convoy in protest at a checkpoint near Qamishli, Al-Hasakah Governorate. (MSN) (BBC News)

• Pope Francis rules against ordaining married men as priests, a possible measure to counter the shortage of Catholic priests. He also ruled against allowing women to be ordained as deacons. (BBC News)
• The Ministry of Culture of Colombia designates the Spanish galleon San José as an asset of cultural interest, thus protecting it from commercial exploitation. (RCN)

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a list of 112 companies linked to activities related to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • The United States Postal Service suspends time guarantees for all shipments to China and Hong Kong. (South China Morning Post)
  • The GSM Association decides to cancel this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, amid coronavirus concerns. The event would have been held between February 24 and 27. This is the first time that the mobile communications trade show has been cancelled. (CNBC)
  • MS Westerdam, with more than two thousand people on board, is finally granted permission to disembark in Cambodia after several countries deny it permission. (USA Today)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
    • Tonga refuses entry to four cruise ships due to health warnings following the pandemic. (RNZ)

• Nissan begins a US$90 million lawsuit against its former chairman Carlos Ghosn. (The Guardian)
• More than half of Malta's traffic police officers, including its chief, are arrested for overtime fraud and misuse of public resources. (Reuters)
• Trial of Maesiah Thabane
  • Lesotho begins a murder investigation of First Lady Maesiah Thabane for the murder of former first lady Lipolelo Thabane and ex-wife of Prime Minister Tom Thabane. (CNN)
• The U.S. Department of Education launches an investigation into Harvard and Yale for allegedly accepting billions of dollars in undisclosed gifts from numerous foreign governments, including those from Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia. (BBC News)

• 2020 U.S. Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick suspends his presidential campaign. (ABC News)
  • Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price resigns for his handling of this year's Iowa caucuses. (CNN)
• The Italian Senate allows former Minister of the Interior and current senator Matteo Salvini to be tried in a criminal case for illegally detaining migrants last summer. (BBC News)

• Brazilian scientists announce the discovery of a new amoebic "Yaravirus" in Lake Pampulha. The strain was found to be significantly smaller than any known amoebic virus, and 90% of its genome appears to be genes that have never been seen before in any life-form. (The Independent) (bioRxiv) (Science magazine)
• WhatsApp hits two billion users, becoming the second largest social media platform in terms of userbase behind Facebook. (Reuters)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that the U.S. and the Taliban have negotiated a proposal for a seven-day reduction of violence in Afghanistan. (Reuters)
• Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian Civil War
  • The Israeli Air Force launches an air raid on Iranian targets in the Syrian capital Damascus. Syrian state media says the Air Defense Force intercepted several missiles. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Around two dozen heavily armed men dressed in military fatigues storm a court building in El Progreso, north-western Honduras, freeing Alexander Mendoza, a senior leader of the MS-13 gang and killing four police officers. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández offers a $80,000 reward for information leading to Mendoza's recapture. (BBC News)

• 45th César Awards
  • The entire board of France's César Awards resigns following controversy over the Academy giving Roman Polanski's An Officer and a Spy 12 award nominations, the most out of any film this year. (BBC News)

• American newspaper publisher McClatchy, whose assets include the Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (The Hill)
• Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier sells its remaining stake in the A220 model, previously called the C-Series, to France's Airbus, effectively closing its commercial aviation line of business. (CBC)
• Cannabis in the United Kingdom
  • The Food Standards Agency gives producers of Cannabidiol-related products until March 2021 to register their goods, or they will be pulled from the market. (BBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Mainland China
    • Chinese officials report 15,152 new confirmed cases of the 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease (COVID-19) and 254 new deaths in mainland China, the largest single day increase since the pandemic began. However, the number of confirmed cases now also includes the number of clinically diagnosed patients in Hubei province. (CNBC)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    • Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reports the country's first death related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a woman in her 80s. (The Japan Times)

• Sudan–United States relations
  • As part of government efforts to remove the country from a list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, Sudan agrees to compensate the families of sailors killed in an al-Qaeda attack against the USS Cole. (Reuters)
• United States–Venezuela relations
  • Venezuelan Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Arreaza announces that his government, led by Nicolás Maduro, will take the U.S. to the International Criminal Court for alleged "crimes against humanity". (Washington Post)

• The Indonesian government declares that all nationals who join ISIL automatically lose their citizenship, and refuses to repatriate fighters captured in Syria. (The Jakarta Post)

• 2020 British cabinet reshuffle
  • Amid a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid resigns as the United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer after reportedly refusing to sack his adviser team. Javid is replaced by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak, who becomes the first Hindu to hold the senior position. (Sky News) (The Yorkshire Post)
  • The Attorney General for England and Wales Geoffrey Cox is sacked by Johnson. (The Independent)
  • Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Julian Smith, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom and Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers all leave the government. (BBC News)
• The U.S. Senate votes 55–45 to pass a measure requiring President Donald Trump to win approval from Congress before taking further military actions against Iran. (Al Jazeera)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • A Syrian Air Force helicopter is shot down by a surface-to-air missile over the Aleppo countryside, killing both pilots. It is the second Syrian helicopter to be shot down this week by Turkish-backed forces. (Middle East Eye) (Xinhuanet)
• Remains of 6,032 people are found with thousands of bullets in six mass graves in Karuzi Province, Burundi, the largest find yet of an excavation project into atrocities of the Burundian Civil War. (Reuters)
• Ntumbo attack
  • At least 22 people are killed in an attack on a village in Northwest Region, Cameroon. (BBC News)

• Nepalese Sherpas condemn the Nepalese government's plan to use the army to clear rubbish from the top of Mount Everest and five other Himalayan peaks, saying only experienced Sherpas can reach those places. An army spokesman says the army will be able to reach all those summits. (BBC News)

• Facebook and Instagram amend their advertising policies so that politicians are allowed to use influencers to promote their campaigns, in response to U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg using them to advertise his candidacy without being subjected to both sites' regulations on political ads. (Politico) (The Guardian)
• Twenty-one U.S. states reject a US$18 billion settlement offer by pharmaceutical manufacturers, such as McKesson Corporation and Johnson & Johnson, for their role in the opioid crisis. (Al Jazeera)
• The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration allows U.S. airlines to resume flight paths over much of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, after suspending it last month due to escalating military tensions with Iran. (Reuters)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt
    • The first case of coronavirus infection in the African continent is reported in Egypt. (Al Jazeera)

• Belarus–Russia relations
  • Belarus threatens to take oil from the Druzhba pipeline which carries Russian oil to central Europe across its territory, if Russia does not supply it with the required volumes of crude oil. Russian oil supplies to Belarus have not been agreed for 2020 and shipments have dwindled to 500,000 tonnes, down from a planned 2 million tonnes. (Reuters)
  • Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says Moscow hinted at an energy supply deal in exchange for Belarus merging with Russia, which caused talks to collapse. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
• Sri Lanka–United States relations
  • The U.S. State Department sanctions Sri Lankan Army Commander Shavendra Silva for alleged human rights violations during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (Reuters)
• Kosovo–Serbia relations
  • Kosovar President Hashim Thaçi and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić agree to connect the capitals of their respective countries by rail and roads, in a deal brokered by the United States. (Al Jazeera)

• Terrorism in Germany
  • Twelve men are arrested in Germany for attempting to start a far-right organization aimed at carrying out attacks against politicians, asylum seekers, and Muslims. (Al Jazeera)
• A court in Istanbul, Turkey, acquits novelist Aslı Erdoğan of charges of terrorist group membership and "undermining national unity". She was one of several staff members of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem accused of having ties to Kurdish militants. (Reuters)

• 2019–20 Algerian protests
  • Thousands of Algerians march in the capital of Algiers as the first anniversary of the protests nears, repeating their calls for overhauling the political system and ending corruption. (Reuters)
• Indigenous land claims in Canada
  • Canadian National suspends operations of its railroad network in eastern Canada, and Via Rail cancels most passenger inter-city rail service in Canada, in response to a blockade by First Nations activists, in support of the Unistʼotʼen Camp in Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation territory in British Columbia protesting the Coastal GasLink Pipeline project. (CBC News)

• Manchester City F.C. is banned from European club competition, among which the UEFA Champions League, for two seasons, and is fined €30 million, for deliberately inflating the value of their sponsorship deals to get around the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. The club says it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (BBC Sport)

• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • The Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of airstrikes that killed 30 people, including civilians, in Al Jawf Governorate. The Houthis say women and children were among those killed in the strike, which was said to be a retaliation for the downing of a coalition plane the previous day. (Reuters)

• Storm Dennis
  • The British Army is deployed to help with rescue efforts as the bomb cyclone kills two people. (UPI)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in France
    • The first death from the disease inside Europe occurs in France. He was an 80-year-old Chinese tourist who had arrived in Paris with symptoms of the illness on January 16. (BBC News)

• Australia–United Kingdom relations
  • Several senior Australian MPs cancel a planned trip to the United Kingdom next month due to the latter allowing Huawei to help build its national 5G network. Australia had banned the Chinese telecom from participating in their network due to security concerns. (BBC News)
• India–Turkey relations
  • Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar tells Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to "not interfere in India's internal affairs" after he and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan issued a joint declaration yesterday condemning the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir. (Al Jazeera)

• 2020 Labour Party leadership election
  • Shadow First Secretary of State Emily Thornberry is eliminated from the UK Labour leadership race after falling two nominations short of advancing to the next round. (BBC News)

• Microsoft removes a security update four days after its release, upon receiving complaints that the update has been responsible for system freezes, boot problems, and installation issues for Windows. (Bleeping Computer)

• South Sudanese Civil War
  • SPLM-IO leader and former Vice President Riek Machar rejects a peace proposal by President Salva Kiir Mayardit. While Machar welcomes the provision to reduce the number of states from 32 to 10, he opposes the creation of three administrative areas. (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–present)
  • Backed by Russian airstrikes, Syrian Army troops take control of most of the Aleppo countryside, including the towns of Anadan, Haritan and Kafr Hamrah and over 30 villages amid a collapse in rebel defences. Much of the area has been under rebel control since 2012. (Reuters) (NBC News)
• Pansi church shooting
  • Islamist gunmen kill at least 24 people, including a pastor, in a mass shooting on a church during mass in Pansi, Yagha Province, Sahel Region, Burkina Faso. (Deutsche Welle)

• The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri rules that chemical companies Bayer and BASF are accountable for the adverse effects of their Dicamba-based herbicides on American farmlands, and awards the plaintiff, a peach farmer, US$265 million in damages. Bayer announces it will appeal. (Reuters)
• A German court orders Tesla, Inc. to temporarily halt construction of new manufacturing plant Giga Berlin in Grünheide, Brandenburg, due to the threat it poses to the local wildlife and water supplies. (BBC News)

• Storm Dennis
  • The bomb cyclone claims another victim, bringing the death toll to three. 198 flood warnings have been placed across England. (CNN)

• Azerbaijani police detain three opposition party leaders and more than 100 activists for attempting to protest the results of last week's parliamentary election. (Reuters)
• Nine homeless drug users are shot dead while sleeping rough in the Afghan capital Kabul. (Al Jazeera)

• 2020 Paris municipal election
  • French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn announces she will run for the Parisian mayoral position on the La République En Marche! ticket, after the party's original candidate Benjamin Griveaux withdrew yesterday due to a sexting scandal. (Reuters)
• 2020 North Macedonian parliamentary election
  • The Assembly of North Macedonia votes 108–12 to dissolve itself after the country failed to start accession talks with the European Union, and sets the parliamentary election date for April 12. (Reuters)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gives a televised speech on the military offensives in north-western Syria, saying the offensives in Aleppo Governorate and Idlib Governorate will continue regardless of Turkey's threats while adding that the recent Syrian Army victories are a prelude to the opposition's "final defeat, sooner or later". (Al Masdar News) (Reuters)
• February 2020 Quetta bombing
  • At least 10 people are killed by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. (Reuters)

• General Motors pulls out of right-hand drive markets, ending the Holden brand in Australia. (9 News)
• Emirati port operating firm DP World returns to being wholly state-owned by the Dubai government, after its sovereign wealth fund Dubai World buys back the company's remaining stakes. DP World is subsequently delisted from the NASDAQ Dubai exchange. (Reuters)
• The Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo, Syria, opens to the public for the first time since 2013. Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hammoud says regular commercial flights will begin within days, starting with Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters) (Al Masdar News)

• Storm Dennis
  • The lower reaches of many rivers, including the Severn at Shrewsbury, continue to rise as a result of excess runoff from upstream. The River Wye in Hereford has now reached its highest level in recorded history. (BBC News)
• At least 20 people, mostly women and children, are killed in a stampede during a rush to collect aid supplies upon the opening of the gates to an aid facility in Diffa, south-eastern Niger. (BBC News)

• Sagamihara stabbings
  • Prosecutors in Japan announce they are officially seeking the death penalty against Satoshi Uematsu for stabbing 19 disabled people to death in 2016. (CNA)
• Terrorism in Germany
  • Investigations into a far-right organization whose members were arrested in Germany three days earlier reveal a plot, inspired by the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019, to carry out simultaneous, large-scale attacks on mosques across the country during prayers. (The Guardian)

• Andrew Sabisky, an advisor to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, resigns after the resurfacing of racist, sexist, and pro-eugenics comments, allegedly attributed to him. (BBC News)

• 2020 Daytona 500
  • Denny Hamlin wins his second consecutive Daytona 500, and his third overall, becoming the first driver to win the race consecutively since Sterling Marlin did so between 1994 and 1995. Ryan Newman is hospitalized with serious but non-life threatening injuries after an airborne crash coming to the finish. (WESH)

• Syrian civil war
  • The UNHCHR Michelle Bachelet says she is "horrified" by the deliberate targeting of civilians in the recent offensive in northwestern Syria and accuses the parties involved. (Al Jazeera)

• An empty sarcophagus is discovered by archeologists while excavating the Roman Forum. It appears to be dedicated to Romulus, the founder of Rome. (Fox News)

• The Boy Scouts of America file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the result of multiple sex abuse lawsuits. (The Wall Street Journal) (Scouting Newsroom)
• American retailer Macy's announces it will close 125 stores over the next three years, citing competition from online sellers, including Amazon. (USA Today)
• International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis
  • The U.S. State Department adds Russian oil company Rosneft Trading S.A. to its financial blacklist for helping facilitate the sale of Venezuelan oil. (ABC News)

• A fire at a library in Porterville, California leaves one firefighter dead and another missing. (NBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • Chinese state media reports that the director of the central Wuhan Wuchang Hospital has died from the virus. (Reuters)
  • Russia says it will temporarily block Chinese citizens beginning on February 20 from entering its territory as authorities look to stem the spread of the pandemic. (Radio Free Europe)

• Russian espionage in the United States
  • U.S. federal officials charge Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican citizen, in Miami for allegedly acting on behalf of a Russian agent who recruited him to collect information about the U.S. government and met repeatedly with him in Moscow. (The New York Times) (Politico)

• Yukos shareholders v. Russia
  • A Dutch appeal court reinstates order for Russia to pay $50 billion over Yukos. (NBC)
• A court in Denmark sentences a former public employee to six-and-a-half years in prison for embezzling $17 million in Danish government funds intended for the poor. She will not appeal the sentence, according to her lawyer. (Reuters)
• U.S. President Donald Trump grants clemency to former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich for attempting to sell former president Barack Obama's Senate seat in 2008, and pardons former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, junk bond salesman Michael Milken, and former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. for their numerous felonies and frauds. (CNN)
• A shooting in Flint, Michigan leaves three people dead. (WJRT-TV)

• 2019 Afghan presidential election
  • Almost five months after the vote, Afghanistan's electoral institution declares incumbent President Ashraf Ghani as the winner of the election. (Reuters)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a presidential order sacking senior adviser Vladislav Surkov. Surkov was in charge of the Kremlin's policy on the Ukrainian crisis and its relations with the separatist "people's republics" in the Donbass. (Voice of America)

• Archeologists announce an articulated Neanderthal skeleton was unearthed in Shanidar Cave, Iraq, the first discovery of its type in over a decade. They argue the find provided further proof that Neanderthals buried their dead, as it was next to a site where similar bodies were found surrounded by pollen clumps. (BBC News)

• Hanau shootings
  • Nine people are killed and five others injured in two mass shootings at shisha bars in Hanau, Hesse, Germany. The attacker also kills his mother and then himself in their apartment. He expressed far-right views in a letter of confession and video. (The Guardian)
  • Twelve Somali soldiers are killed when a suicide bomber and gunmen storm a military base in Lower Shabelle. The militants briefly capture the base before it is reclaimed. Al-Shabaab claim responsibility. (Reuters)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls a Turkish intervention in Syria's Idlib Governorate "imminent" after talks with Russia fail to reach what he describes as their "desired result". Erdoğan threatens to launch an operation in Idlib by the end of the month. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov calls Turkish involvement in the battle "the worst scenario". The countries support opposing sides in the war. (Al Jazeera)
• Second Libyan Civil War
  • Ceasefire talks between the Tobruk-led government and the GNA are suspended as rocket attacks bombard Tripoli. (BBC News)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • A convoy carrying Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Ali Al-Maqdashi in Ma'rib Governorate strikes a landmine, killing six people. The Defense Minister survives the blast. (Anadolu Agency)

• The assets of American fast fashion chain Forever 21 are purchased out of bankruptcy by real estate companies Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners, and brand management firm Authentic Brands Group. (Reuters)
• The American S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite stock-market indexes hit all-time closing highs. (CNBC)

• Aftermath of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says that high-ranking Malaysian officials believed pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately downed the plane. (Fox News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    • Iran reports its first two cases of the virus. Hours later, it was announced both infected people have died. (Times of Israel) (Al Jazerra)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    • The Tokyo Marathon reduces the number of runners from 38,000 to an elite group of 200 due to the rising coronavirus fear. (NOJ)
    • Hundreds of passengers aboard the Diamond Princess are allowed to disembark the ship. The vessel has been quarantined since docking in Yokohama on 4 February. Criticism mounts against the Japanese government's handling of the quarantine. (Reuters)

• Murder of Bashar Barakah Jackson
  • Bashar Barakah Jackson, also known as ‘Pop Smoke’, is killed in Los Angeles, United States. The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to his torso, inflicted by a teenager during a targeted home invasion that went wrong. Pop Smoke was a rising rapper from Brooklyn, and had just released his second mixtape ‘Meet the Woo 2’. He rented an apartment in the Hollywood Hills a few days prior to his murder for a simple vacation. The day before his homicide, he accidentally leaked his address online via social media, giving the location to it’s murderers, which tragically ended his life the age of 20 years old.

(Pop Smoke Shot Dead)

• Murder of Hannah Clarke
  • A mother and her three children are killed in a car fire in Brisbane, Australia, in a targeted familicide carjacking by former New Zealand Warriors player Rowan Baxter. He was the ex-husband of the woman and father of the children, and he committed suicide at the scene. (News.com.au)
• China expels three journalists of The Wall Street Journal over an opinion piece called "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia" that was deemed racist. The government demanded the newspaper apologize, which it declined. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang says the journalists have five days to leave the country and says the article "denigrated" China's efforts to combat the virus. (BBC News)
• Brazilian Senator Cid Gomes is shot during a clash with striking military police officers in Sobral, Ceará. (AP via Yahoo News)
• Corruption in Mexico, Operation Car Wash
  • Mexican law enforcement launches a corruption inquiry into former President Enrique Peña Nieto, as part of a larger investigation into bribery and money laundering by former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya Austin involving Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht. (Reuters)

• The Dominican Republic government fires 139 Foreign Ministry officials. (Dominican Today)
• The United Kingdom's Home Secretary Priti Patel announces a reform of the UK's immigration system. The changes includes the end of freedom of movement, a minimum requirement of migrants to speak English, a minimum salary of between £20,480 and £25,600, while priority will be given to skilled workers over non-skilled migrants. The changes are effective from January 1, 2021. (BBC News)
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • A recanvass of the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses show Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg at an effective tie, with a margin of 0.0004 percentage points of state delegate equivalents between the two candidates. The Sanders campaign has requested a recount, which may change the initial outcome of the caucus. (AP)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Turkish-backed rebels launch an offensive in the Idlib Governorate against government forces. A Russian air strike kills two Turkish soldiers and injures five others, while Turkey says a retaliatory strike killed 50 Syrian troops. Several tanks and armoured personnel carriers are destroyed near the village of Nayrab. (News AU) (Al Jazeera)
  • Turkey formally requests the deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missile systems by its NATO ally United States on the Syria–Turkey border to deter Syrian and Russian air strikes on its troops. (The Telegraph) (Al Masdar News)

• An 18th-century Ethiopian ceremonial crown, one of the 20 in existence, is returned to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. It was discovered in the Netherlands in 1998, and was held by Dutch authorities until now so it could be returned when the country was more politically stable. (BBC News)

• Morgan Stanley purchases electronic trading firm E-Trade for US$13 billion, in the largest banking deal since the 2008 financial crisis. (The Guardian)

• 2020 Wallan derailment
  • A XPT train derails in Victoria, Australia, killing two people. (The Guardian)
• A 200-car pileup in La Prairie, Quebec, Canada, kills two people and injures 69 others. (News AU)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    • South Korea reports its first death from COVID-19. (Sputnik)
  • Two Japanese passengers who were on board of the Diamond Princess cruise ship have died from the disease. Both, a man and a woman in their 80s, had underlying health conditions. (BBC News)
  • Australia extends its ban on travel from China for the fourth week in a row. (The Guardian)

• The Guardian reveals that Australian ambassador to Myanmar Andrea Faulkner met with Commander-in-chief of the Burmese Armed Forces Min Aung Hlaing last month to discuss improving relations between the two nations and possibly training Hlaing's officers in Australia, among others. Human Rights Watch criticized this meeting as enabling Hlaing's genocide against the Rohingya. (The Guardian)

• Weeks after the First Lady of Lesotho Maesiah Thabane was arrested and charged with the killing of former First Lady Lipolelo Thabane, it is announced that current Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane will also be charged with the murder in the upcoming hours. He also announced he will be stepping down at the end of July citing old age. (Reuters)
• Criminal charges brought in the Mueller special counsel investigation
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentences Roger Stone, long-time adviser and ally to the President of the United States Donald Trump, to 40 months in federal prison for seven charges of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering. (CNN) (BBC News)
• New Mexican Attorney General Hector Balderas sues Google for allegedly collecting private information of the state's schoolchildren without parental consent. (Reuters)

• 2020 Dominican Republic municipal elections
  • Protests happen in major Dominican Republic cities over the election problems. (Dominican Today)
  • Col. Ramón A. Guzmán and Claro telecom technician Manuel Antonio Regalado were arrested for the election sabotage. (Dominican Today)
• South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar agree to form a unity government by Saturday, in a major step to end the South Sudanese Civil War. (Al Jazeera)
• The California State Legislature unanimously passes a resolution apologizing for the state's role in interning Japanese-Americans during World War II. (The Guardian)
• Aftermath of the 2020 Irish general election
  • The 33rd Dáil Éireann meets for the election of the Taoiseach (head of government) and Ceann Comhairle (speaker of parliament).
  • Seán Ó Fearghaíl of Fianna Fáil is re-elected as Ceann Comhairle. No candidate for Taoiseach attains the 80 votes required to form a government. The Dáil adjourns until March 5. (RTÉ)
  • Incumbent Taoiseach Leo Varadkar offers his resignation to President Michael D. Higgins, but will remain as Taoiseach in a caretaker capacity until the formation of a new government. (Sky News)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Afghan peace process
  • A seven-day "reduction of violence" between United States troops, Afghan troops, and the Taliban is due to start at midnight local time (19:30 UTC). If the partial truce is successful, a US–Taliban agreement on withdrawing American troops would be signed on February 29. (NBC News)
• Kashmir conflict
  • India and Pakistan have engaged in a military confrontation across the de facto border in Kashmir; Indian and Pakistani forces exchanged fire near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir. One Pakistani soldier died in the exchange of fire. (Hindustan Times)
• A 64-year-old woman was killed after being attacked by a man with a hammer in Toronto, Canada. The victim was chosen at random. The attacker left a note on the victim's body, expressing support for terrorism. He was arrested and charged with terrorism offences. (Canada.com)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • Italy confirms 18 more coronavirus cases in the country, bringing the confirmed cases to twenty-one. All eighteen are Italian citizens. (Corriere della Sera)
    • COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy
      • Eleven municipalities of the province of Lodi are put on lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic, leaving around 50,000 people affected. (Metro)
  • Israel and Lebanon report their first cases of 2019-nCoV coronavirus. (Al Jazeera)
  • North Korea cancels this year's Pyongyang Marathon due to concerns about coronavirus. (Al Jazeera)

• Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane fails to appear in court for the murder of his former wife, and his son says he has traveled to South Africa to see a doctor. Police warn that if he does not return, they will issue an arrest warrant. (Reuters) (Independent Online)
• The Constitutional Court of Thailand orders the Future Forward Party to be dissolved. (ABC News)
• Mexico extradites Rubén Oseguera González, the son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, to the United States to face drug charges. Cervantes is the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. (ABC News)
• Wells Fargo is set to pay $3 billion over their 2016 scandal of creating fake accounts in customers' names. (NBC News)

• 2020 Dominican Republic municipal elections
  • The major opposition party PRM asked for protection for its presidential security chief. (Dominican Today)
  • The Protest in Black continues into the fourth day. (Dominican Today)
  • Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez launches a plan to sequester the Justice Ministry for partisan purposes. (Dominican Today)

• 2020 Iranian legislative election
  • Parliamentary elections are being held in Iran. The election is criticized for the barring of around 9,000 candidates, thus raising the concerns of an unusual low voter turnout. (DW) (The Guardian)

• Kashmir conflict
  • Two Kashmiri civilians alleged to be Lashkar-e-Taiba militants are killed by Indian soldiers at Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir, in a counter-terrorism operation. (DNA India) (ARY News)
• Five terrorists are killed in Peshawar, Khyber Paktunkhwa, Pakistan, by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in a heavy exchange of fire during a search operation. (Geo News)

• Daredevil and flat Earth conspiracy theorist Mike Hughes dies after crashing in his homemade rocket near Barstow, California. He was attempting to prove the Earth was flat as part of a documentary series with Science Channel. (BBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • Italy confirms that a 78-year-old man in Padua, Veneto, and a woman in her 70s in Codogno, Lombardy, have died after contracting the virus. They are the first two coronavirus deaths in Italy. (Tgcom24)
    • 58 more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number of cases to 79. (Open)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    • South Korea confirms that 229 more people have contracted the coronavirus in the country, raising the total number to 433. (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • The United States reports 34 confirmed cases of the illness and expects more. (The New York Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq
    • The first coronavirus case is confirmed in Iraq. (Anadolu Agency)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
    • Samoa bans all cruise ships from visiting the country amid growing efforts to keep the virus away. (RNZ)

• France shuts down its first nuclear power reactor, at the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant. (Deutsche Welle)

• Lesotho PM Tom Thabane is granted sick leave until 27 February when he is due to appear in court for the murder of his former wife. (Reuters)

• 2020 Dominican Republic municipal elections
  • The Dominican Republic government wants the Organization of American States to investigate what occurred in the controversial February 16 elections. (Dominican Today)
• 2020 Togolese presidential election
  • Voters in Togo head to the polls to elect the country's president. Incumbent president Faure Gnassingbé, accused of an authoritarian rule, seeks to run for a fourth term which was made possible by a constitutional amendment in 2019. (DW)
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Senator Bernie Sanders wins the Nevada Caucus. (CNN)

• Israel kills two members of Islamic Jihad in an aerial attack near Damascus, Syria. (Al Jazeera)

• The Carnival of Aalst in Belgium goes ahead despite UNESCO withdrawing its recognition of the event as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity because of Jewish caricatures. (Reuters) (newsmonkey)

• 2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes
  • An earthquake in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, kills at least nine people and injures more than a hundred others. (Daily Sabah)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • Seventy-six more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number of the cases in the country to 155. (La Repubblica)
    • A 68-year-old woman dies of coronavirus in Crema, Italy, bringing the number of deaths in the country to three. (Tgcom24)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    • South Korea confirms that 169 more people have contracted the coronavirus in the country, raising the total number to 602. (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    • Pakistan closes its border from Taftan with Iran due to increasing cases of coronavirus in Iran. (Geo News)
    • Turkey closes its border with Iran and halted incoming flights due to more cases of coronavirus in Iran. (Reuters)
    • Afghanistan suspends travel between it and Iran and reported three suspected virus cases in Herat. (TRT World)

• 2020 Comorian legislative election
  • The second round of the latest election in Comoros takes place. The election is still boycotted by the political opposition. (RFI)
• 2020 Dominican Republic municipal elections
  • Protests begin in New York and Massachusetts in the United States, Paris in France, Toronto in Canada, Madrid, Navarre, and Barcelona in Spain, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and London in England. (Dominican Today)
  • Protestors demand the Central Electoral Board resign. (Dominican Today)

• Volkmarsen ramming attack
  • Nearly 60 people are injured when a car rams civilians at a carnival parade in Volkmarsen, Hesse, Germany. A 29-year-old German national is arrested by police. (BBC News)
• Gaza–Israel conflict, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens the leadership of the Gaza Strip with war if rocket attacks continue. (News AU)
• Second Libyan Civil War, Libyan peace process
  • Both of Libya's rival governments, the Government of National Accord and Tobruk-based House of Representatives, pull out of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. (Al Jazeera)
• North East Delhi riots
  • Violent clashes in New Delhi, India, between Hindu and Muslim protestors over the Citizenship Amendment Act during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit leave 13 people dead and at least 150 injured. (The Guardian)
• 2020 Toronto machete attack
  • A 17-year-old boy is arrested and charged with first-degree murder after stabbing two women, one of them fatally, at a massage parlor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Global News)

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops more than 3% as the coronavirus pandemic spreads outside China. This follows benchmark indices falling sharply in Europe after steep declines across Asia. (Barrons) (Wall Street Journal)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    • Armenia has closed its border from Meghri with Iran and suspended all flights from Armenia to Iran for the next two weeks due to increasing cases of coronavirus in Iran. (Prime Minister of Armenia's Facebook page)
    • The General Authority of Oman's Civil Aviation announced the suspension of all flights between the sultanate and the Islamic Republic of Iran until further notice. (CNN)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • Seventy-four more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number to 229. Four more virus-related deaths are confirmed, bringing the death toll to seven. (La Repubblica)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    • Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airways suspends flights to South Korea starting February 26. (CNN)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • The total number of infected in the United States is now 53 people, up from 34 two days ago. (CNN)
  • Pakistan International Airlines suspends flights to China until March 15. (Geo News)
  • A 300-bed isolation ward has been set up in Islamabad for Chinese citizens returning to Pakistan after vacations. (ARY News)
  • Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman and Bahrain confirm their first cases of coronavirus. (Gulf News) (Straits Times) (Fox News)
  • Spain confirms its third case in Tenerife, Canary Islands, from an Italian tourist. (El Periódico)

• India–United States relations
  • U.S. President Donald Trump visits India and meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the sale of American military jets to India. (NPR) (ARY News)

• The United States wants the United Kingdom to extradite WikiLeaks creator Julian Assange, who might face American espionage charges. (NBC News)
• Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane appears in court and hears the charges against him in a pre-trial hearing. He denies involvement in the murder of his former wife and requests immunity from the higher court. (Reuters)
• Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases
  • U.S. film producer Harvey Weinstein is found guilty of rape, and not guilty of predatory sexual assault. (The New York Times)
• The United Kingdom bans Sonnenkrieg Division, the UK branch of the American Neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division, as a terrorist group in response to the Hanau shootings last week. (The Guardian)

• 2020 Dominican Republic municipal elections, Timeline of 2020 Dominican Republic Municipal Election Protests
  • The Organization of American States begins an audit of the suspended elections. (Dominican Today)
  • Protests in Santo Domingo continue for the fifth day. (Dominican Today)
• 2020 Malaysian constitutional crisis
  • Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad resigns. (CNN)

• Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • A U.S. airstrike kills an employee of the telecoms Hormuud Telecom. It was aimed at Al-Shabaab in Jilib, Middle Juba. (Reuters)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • As fighting continues in the Idlib Governorate, the Syrian Army takes control of rebel-stronghold Kafranbel for the first time since 2012, and 18 nearby villages including Sheikh Dames and Sheikh Mustafa. (RFI)
  • Turkish-backed rebels recapture the village of Nayrab, west of Saraqib, after days of heavy fighting which has left dozens dead, according to Turkish state media. (Al Jazeera)
• Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confirms the first Turkish Armed Forces casualties in Libya since beginning a military operation in support of the GNA government after two troops are killed. (BBC News)
• North East Delhi riots
  • Violent clashes in North East Delhi, India, between Hindu and Muslim protesters over the Citizenship Amendment Act continues leaving 13 people dead and at least 150 injured. (NDTV)

• Steve Hasker, former company president of American data firm Nielsen Holdings, is appointed CEO of Thomson Reuters effective March 15. (Reuters) (The Wall Street Journal)
• Bob Iger steps down as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and is succeeded by Bob Chapek, former chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. Iger will continue to serve the company's "creative endeavors" as executive chairman. (Reuters)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • 93 more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number to 322. Four more virus-related deaths are confirmed, bringing the death toll to eleven. (Agenzia ANSA)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
    • Two people from Lombardy, Italy, living in Austria's state of Tyrol, test positive for coronavirus. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia
    • Croatia confirms its first case of coronavirus. The patient had stayed in Milan, Italy, from 19 to 21 February, and was hospitalised in Zagreb, Croatia. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    • Iran's deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, tests positive for coronavirus. (CNA)
    • A member of the Iranian Parliament, Mahmoud Sadeghi, states on Twitter that he has been infected with the virus. (New York Times via MSN News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    • Hundreds of guests are locked down in a hotel in Tenerife, Spain, after a visiting Italian doctor tested positive for the virus. (BBC News)
    • The first case on the peninsula and the fourth in the country is confirmed in Barcelona, Catalonia. The wife of the Italian doctor becomes the fifth infected in Spain. A sixth case is reported in Villarreal. (La Vanguardia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland
    • Switzerland confirms its first case of coronavirus: a case in Ticino, on the border with Italy. (The Guardian)
  • Algeria confirms its first case of the coronavirus. The patient is an Italian man who arrived in the country a week ago. (Africa Times)
  • Canada's largest airline Air Canada suspends all flights to China until April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (CBC)

• China–Sweden relations
  • The Swedish Foreign Ministry summons the Chinese ambassador after the Chinese government sentences bookseller and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai to ten years in prison for espionage. (Reuters)

• A man was revealed to have been arrested the previous day for attempting to blow up a car in The Pentagon parking lot. (NBC)
• Aimee Anne Duffy, a Welsh singer who goes by Duffy, reveals she was raped, drugged and held hostage over some days resulting in her disappearance from the limelight in recent years. (The Guardian)

• German Health Minister Jens Spahn declines to run for leadership of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party, and endorses North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Armin Laschet for the position. (Reuters)
• The Saudi government appoints former energy minister Khalid A. Al-Falih to head a new investment ministry replacing the General Investment Authority, and sacks the media minister, among other changes to the cabinet. (Reuters)
• Former Liberal Democrats leader David Steel resigns from the party and announces he will leave the UK House of Lords after a report accused him of “abdicat[ing] his responsibility” when he supported the knighthood of former party whip Cyril Smith, who is accused of child molestation. (The Guardian)

• North East Delhi riots
  • Violent clashes between Hindu and Muslim protesters over the Citizenship Amendment Act continue in North East Delhi, India, leaving 27 people dead and at least 180 injured. (NDTV)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–present), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Turkey's MoD says two Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike in Syria's Idlib Governorate. (Middle East Monitor)
  • Turkey's MoD claims 114 Syrian Army troops were "neutralized" in retaliation. An air defense system, a ZU-23-2 AA gun, an antitank weapon, 3 Tanks, an ammunition vehicle and 2 engineering vehicles were destroyed while 3 tanks were captured. (Akşam)

• Bob Weighton, aged 111, of Alton, Hampshire, England, is named the oldest living man in the world after the death of Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan at the age of 112. (The Guardian)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • 102 more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number to 424. Another virus-related death is confirmed, bringing the death toll in the country to 12. (Sky Tg24)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
    • In Josefstadt, Vienna, students at Albertgasse high school have been prohibited from leaving the school after one of their instructors was flagged as potentially carrying the virus since he had recently returned from a trip to Northern Italy. (RT)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • In California, San Francisco declares a public emergency. Santa Clara and San Diego counties have made similar declarations. (News AU)
  • The first case in Latin America is confirmed by the Ministry of Health of Brazil in São Paulo. (Al Jazeera)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
    • Greece confirms its first case in Thessaloniki. (Reuters)
  • Romania and Georgia report their first cases. (Reuters) (Reuters)
  • A 62-year-old man in Seville becomes the first non imported infected case of coronavirus in Spain. (La Vanguardia)

• Six prisoners are shot dead by Papua New Guinea Police as they escape from prison in Western Highlands Province. They were among 100 inmates who escaped during a mass breakout. Scores of others are captured. (RNZ)
• Germany repeals its 2015 ban on advertisements for professional assisted suicide practices, after finding that its prohibition violated the German Constitution. Passive human euthanasia itself has been legal in the republic since 2014. (BBC News)
• Milwaukee brewery shooting
  • Six people, including the shooter, are killed in a mass shooting at the Molson Coors Beverage Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The perpetrator, who committed suicide, was an employee who was fired earlier in the day. (USA Today) (WGN-TV)
• The re-election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump files a libel suit against The New York Times over a 2019 editorial piece that accused the Trump campaign of striking a deal with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. (Reuters)

• 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
  • The Spanish and Catalan government meets for the first time after breaking the talks one year ago in the named "Dialogue Board" as a way to solve the constitutional and political crisis between both governments that erupted in 2017. (La Vanguardia)
• Lynching in the United States
  • The U.S. House of Representatives votes 410–4 to pass the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which designates lynching a federal crime. This is the first time that anti-lynching legislation has ever passed Congress. (NPR)

• Astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, United States, say an object known as 2020 CD3 has been captured by Earth's gravitational field and has been in orbit since 2017, becoming a temporary natural satellite of Earth. The Minor Planet Center confirms the findings and says "no link to a known artificial object has been found", implying the object is an asteroid. (New Scientist)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Syrian opposition groups backed by Turkey recapture the strategic city of Saraqib, lift the siege on four Turkish observation points and cut the M5 highway. (SOHR) (Xinhua)
  • A Turkish sniper kills a Syrian lieutenant colonel in Syria's Tell Abyad countryside. (SOHR)
  • Three Turkish soldiers are killed in Syrian Army attacks in Idlib, bringing the number of Turkish soldiers killed in Syria to 21. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • 36 Syrian Army troops and 25 Turkish-backed rebels are killed, bringing the total death toll in Idlib since December to 1,186 opposition fighters and 1,136 Syrian government soldiers. (SOHR)
  • Airstrikes kill at least 33 Turkish troops and injures 39 others in Jabal Zawiya, Idlib Governorate. (Daily Sabah) (BBC News)
  • Turkey says it has 'neutralized' 1,709 Syrian government elements in Idlib since 10 February 2020 and that it has destroyed 55 tanks, 3 helicopters, 18 armored vehicles, 29 howitzers, 21 military vehicles, 4 Docka anti-aircraft guns, 6 ammunition depots and 7 mortars in the operations. (Anadolu Agency)
  • Turkey opens its border with Syria and allows Syrian refugees free passage to Europe effective immediately for the next 72 hours. (Middle East Eye)
  • Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hold talks amid the escalation in Idlib with Syria and Russia. (AP)
  • Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are blocked in Turkey, while YouTube and WhatsApp are partially restricted. It is understood that the measures are intended to protect details surrounding troop and equipment deployments. (Netblocks)
• A cyber attack in Australia forces the cancellation of wool sales across the country. (ABC AU)

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average enters correction territory after plunging 700 points at opening. (USA Today)
  • Markets are on pace for their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. (Market Watch)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    • Vice President for Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar is infected with the novel coronavirus. (Washington Post)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • 236 more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number to 655. Five more virus-related deaths are confirmed, bringing the death toll in the country to seventeen. Forty-five people recovered from the disease. (La Repubblica)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • A woman is diagnosed with the coronavirus after a possible person-to-person transmission. It would be the first case of transmission in the United States with no known contacts to overseas cases. (NBC)
  • Saudi Arabia temporarily suspends entry to the kingdom for the Umrah Islamic pilgrimage and visits to al Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina due to fears over the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus. (Reuters)
  • Saudi Arabia blocks all foreign pilgrims from entering the country. This block happens just before the Ramadan fasting. (ABC AU)
  • Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe announces that all junior and high schools will be asked to close from March 2 until their upcoming spring break to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. (Reuters)
  • Estonia confirms their first case. (Al Jazeera)
  • Greece confirms its second and third cases and cancels all Carnival-related events. (Reuters)
  • The first case in San Marino is confirmed. (Alta Rimini)
• The decision to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport is found to be unlawful by the Court of Appeal because the British government did not take into account its commitments under the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. (BBC News)

• European migrant crisis
  • A senior Turkish official tells Reuters that Turkey "will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe". (Reuters)

• Astronomers discover the largest known explosion ever in the history of the Universe, which occurred in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster. It replaces MS 0735.6+7421. As space and ground telescopes that study radio emissions improve (which are better than X-ray observations for detecting these), more similar explosions, or "giant radio fossils", may be found. (Phys) (CNN) (Astrophysics via arXiv at Cornell University)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • Turkey calls for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria. (Yeni Safak)
  • NATO holds an emergency meeting after Turkey formally triggers Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty. (Euronews)
  • Turkish MoD states that last night 329 Syrian Army troops were "neutralized" and asserts that five helicopters, 23 tanks, 10 armored vehicles, 23 artillery and howitzers, five ammunition trucks, one SA-17 and one SA-22 air defense systems, three ammunition depots, two inventory depots and one headquarters building belonging to Syria's military were destroyed. (NTV)
  • Russia deploys two frigates, Admiral Makarov and Admiral Grigorovich, armed with Kalibr cruise missiles to the Eastern Mediterranean off the Syrian coast. (Reuters) (The Moscow Times)
  • Turkey deploys MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles to its border with Syria. (STAR)
  • A Turkish drone strike kills 11 Syrian government soldiers on the M5 highway near Idlib. (SOHR)
  • Syrian attacks on Marat al-Nasan leave more Turkish soldiers wounded, some of them seriously. (SOHR)

• Roman Polanski wins three César Awards, also for best director, for his movie An Officer and a Spy (French: J'accuse). Several women walk out in protest. Les Misérables wins four Césars, one of them for best film. (Reuters) (Variety)

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Global stock markets have lost US$6 trillion in value over the last six days. (CNBC)
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 800 points at opening, continuing the worst week since the financial crisis of 2007–08. This week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 13% and 4,000 points. (MSNBC) (NBC News)
  • The Geneva Motor Show is cancelled due to the Swiss ban on gatherings larger than 1000 people. (Fox News)
  • The ITB Berlin, the world's largest tourism trade fair, is cancelled after authorities imposed the restriction that each participant would have to prove they are not a risk. (ITB Berlin)
• American investment management firm Elliott Management Corporation buys a significant stake in Twitter, and announces it will seek to make several changes to their management, including possibly replacing CEO Jack Dorsey. (Bloomberg)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    • 464 more coronavirus cases are confirmed in Italy, bringing the number to 888. Four more virus-related deaths are confirmed, bringing the death toll in the country to 21. (Il Sole 24 Ore)
  • Belarus, Monaco, Iceland, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Lithuania, Mexico and Nigeria confirm their first cases of coronavirus. (BNO News)
  • Cyprus closes four of its checkpoints along the border with Northern Cyprus for the first time since 2003 due to coronavirus concerns. The checkpoints are expected to be reopened within a week. (Reuters)

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020), European migrant crisis
  • Nearly 300 migrants including Syrians arrived in Edirne province, Turkey, on the border with Greece in a bid to go to Europe. Another group of migrants arrived on the coast of Ayvacik in Çanakkale, western Turkey, and wanted to go to the Greek island of Lesbos by boats. Turkish officials announced that the security forces will not intervene to prevent the crossing of any migrants, including those from Syria and other countries like Afghanistan and Iran. (France 24) (Daily Sabah)

• Doping in China
  • Chinese Olympic Swimmer Sun Yang is banned from swimming for eight years after being found guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (News AU)
• Immigration policy of Donald Trump
  • The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco temporarily block the Remain-in-Mexico policy. (Fox News)

• 2020 Guinean legislative election
  • Guinea's president Alpha Condé announces a postponement of both the general election and referendum slated for March 1. A new date isn't given yet. (BBC News)
• 2019–20 Hong Kong protests
  • Hong Kong Police arrest entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, owner of the newspaper Apple Daily, and former lawmakers Yeung Sum and Lee Cheuk-yan for their involvement in anti-government protests. (SCMP) (CBC) (CNN)

• Pope Francis, in tandem with IBM and Microsoft, calls for AI technologies that risk violating human rights, such as facial recognition software, to be regulated. (Reuters)
• A meteor explodes over Croatia. The Croatian Astronomical Union say the meteor disintegrated at an altitude of at least 30 kilometers above sea level. The meteor was likely roughly 2 meters across. (Xinhuanet) (The Dubrovnik Times) (JPL)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Afghan peace process
  • American and Afghan Taliban leaders will meet at the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel in Doha, Qatar, ahead of a signing ceremony to bring an end to the 18-year war in Afghanistan, which is now the longest war in U.S. history. Taliban deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani says "everyone is tired of war, it has exhausted everyone", while the longest-serving NATO Commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, describes the situation as a "stalemate". (Al Jazeera)
  • The U.S. and the Taliban sign a deal. (Reuters)
• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • A Turkish soldier is killed and six more are wounded by Syrian government artillery shelling near Taftanaz. (SOHR)
  • Turkish bombing overnight kills 48 Syrian government troops and 14 members of the Lebanese Hezbollah, and also destroys 13 military vehicles. According to local sources, among the killed were 11 officers including a general, a brigadier general, and a colonel. (Haber 7) (SOHR)
  • Turkey says it has destroyed a chemical warfare facility at a scientific research center in As-Safira, south of Aleppo with surface-to-surface missiles. Syrian Government said Turkish statement regarding the chemical warfare facility was not true. (SOHR) (Al-Masdar News)
  • Turkey releases footage of targeting Syrian equipment including a Pantsir-S1. (The Drive)
  • Turkish media said that drone and missile strikes targeted Syrian Kuweires and Abu al-Duhur military airbases in Aleppo Governorate, saying a hangar was destroyed. (STAR)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • The United Arab Emirates suspends all extracurricular school activities and orders nurseries closed until further notice as measures to prevent the spreading of the virus. (Al Arabiya English)
  • An elderly woman traveling from Spain becomes the first case of coronavirus in Ecuador. (Reuters)
  • The first case of COVID-19 is confirmed in Ireland, Qatar and Luxembourg. (RTE.ie) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • A 78-year-old man evacuated from the Diamond Princess becomes the first death from coronavirus in Australia. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • The first death from coronavirus in the United States is confirmed after a man dies in a hospital in the Seattle area. (The New York Times) (AP News)
    • The U.S. announces new travel restrictions to Iran and increased warnings against traveling to South Korea and Italy. (NBC News)

• Eighty migrants cross to Aegean Islands Lesbos and Samos overnight after Turkey opens its border with Greece. (Hürriyet)
• Turkish President Recep Erdoğan says 18,000 refugees have crossed into Europe as of this morning and that 25,000–30,000 more may cross today. Erdoğan reiterates that Turkey cannot handle another refugee wave from Syria and that it will keep its borders open. (TRT Haber)

• 2020 Slovak parliamentary election
  • Voters in Slovakia head to the polls to elect the members of the country's National Council. (DW)
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2020 South Carolina Democratic primary
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden wins the South Carolina primary. (NPR)
  • Businessman Tom Steyer suspends his presidential campaign, after coming in a distant third. (NBC News) (The New York Times)