Portal:Current events/2016 February 24

Current events of February 24, 2016 (2016-02-24) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • Turkish Air Force helicopters struck a group of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters in southeast Turkey, killing nine militants, according to security sources. (Yahoo! News)
• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • Senior Libyan military officials say French special forces are on the ground in Benghazi helping Libyan National Army troops fight ISIL militants. They said that the French forces, along with American and British teams, are setting up an operations room inside Benina International Airport in Benina. The French defense ministry declined to comment, citing a policy not to comment on special forces' activities. (The New York Times)
• Gunmen attack a Malian military checkpoint in the town of Léré, near the Mauritanian border with Mali, killing at least three soldiers and wounding two others. (Reuters)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
    • The United Arab Emirates pulls its troops out of Yemen amid mounting casualties among its forces battling Shia Houthi militants and rising tensions with local fighters in Aden, southern Yemen, which escalated yesterday when Aden International Airport was stormed by local pro-government gunmen. The airport has now been closed. (Fox News) (Middle East Eye)
• Metrojet Flight 9268
  • Two months after Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry ruled out terrorism in Flight 9268's crash, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi admits an ISIS bomb downed the Russian passenger jet. The terrorist group's Sinai Peninsula Branch claimed responsibility shortly after the incident. (Forbes)

Arts and culture

• 2016 Brit Awards
  • The 2016 Brit Awards are held at The O2 in London with James Bay, Adele, Tame Impala, Justin Bieber, Bjork, and Coldplay all winning their respective categories. Adele won four awards in total. (The Guardian), (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
  • Cyclone Winston
    • The death toll in Fiji rises to 42 and is expected to rise further as relief teams reach remote islands. (ABC Australia)
• Tara Air Flight 193 crashes in western Nepal, killing all 23 people on board. (BBC) (AP via Yahoo! News)
• The Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service state that the three people missing since a decommissioned turbine hall partially collapsed at Didcot A power station in Oxfordshire, England, yesterday are unlikely to still be alive. If confirmed, this would raise the death toll to four. (BBC News)
• Tornadoes of 2016
  • Three people die after a tornado hits the town of Waverly, Virginia. (NBC 12)
• Australian icebreaker, Aurora Australis, runs aground in Antarctica with 68 people on board. There are no reports of injuries. The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) said blizzard conditions are hampering attempts to assess damage. (BBC)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Lebanon
  • Qatar and Kuwait join Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in asking its citizens to leave or avoid travel to Lebanon. (Al Arabiya)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • A report by two Israeli human rights groups, B'Tselem and HaMoked, states dozens of Palestinian detainees at the Shin Bet's Shikma interrogation facility in Ashkelon have been subjected to mistreatment, and in some cases torture. The report examined affidavits and personal accounts from 116 Palestinians held for security reasons at the facility between August 2013 and March 2014. (AP via San Francisco Chronicle) (Jurist)
• 2016 North Korean nuclear test
  • United States National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agree on a draft resolution that would expand United Nations Security Council sanctions following North Korea's latest nuclear test. U.S. President Barack Obama participated in the meeting. The draft is now headed to the full 15-member council. (Reuters) (AFP via Bangkok Post)

Law and crime

• 2016 Phoenix murders
  • A family of five falls victim to a murder-suicide in Phoenix, Arizona. 26-year-old Alex Bucker is identified by Phoenix police as the shooter, who was killed in a gunfight with police. (AZCentral)
• Former California state senator Leland Yee is sentenced to five years imprisonment in a U.S. Federal prison after being convicted of corruption. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Politics and elections

• European migrant crisis
  • Hungary is to hold a referendum on whether to accept mandatory EU quotas for relocating migrants. (BBC)
• South Korea's opposition holds a parliamentary filibuster, the first in the National Assembly since 1969, to block the current anti-terrorism bill that would expand National Intelligence Service powers. The opposition plans to continue until March 11, when the session is scheduled to end. (Los Angeles Times) {Daily Mail)

Sport

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • Former President of FIFA Sepp Blatter and suspended President of UEFA boss Michel Platini lose their appeals against being banned from all football related activities but the period of the ban is reduced from eight to six years. (BBC)
  • FIFA's Court of Arbitration for Sport denies presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan's request to postpone Friday's presidential election. Ali's request for transparent booths was rejected last week. (Reuters)