Portal:Current events/2022 February 21

February 21, 2022 (2022-02-21) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
    • International recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic
      • Russian President Vladimir Putin signs decrees recognising the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic with immediate effect. He also asks the parliament to ratify the treaties on friendship and mutual aid with the breakaway territories. (BBC News) (Axios)
      • In an address to the nation, President Putin declares that Ukraine is a country with "no tradition of independent statehood and an artificial creation of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin", and that the country has become a "U.S. puppet regime rife with corruption". (Reuters)
    • Russian Armed Forces are deployed to the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk for a "peacekeeping mission", shortly after Russia recognized the independence of the republics. (Axios)
    • A large column of military vehicles, including tanks, is reported on the outskirts of Donetsk city hours after Russia formally recognised the self-proclaimed republic as an independent state. (Reuters)
    • Russia says that it has killed five Ukrainian soldiers who tried to infiltrate its territory. Ukraine disputes the claim as "fake news". (Reuters)
  • Reactions to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
    • The U.S. State Department evacuates its remaining diplomats in Ukraine to Poland. (The Straits Times)
    • National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan states that the United States will rally the international community to hold Russia accountable should it invade Ukraine. (CBS News)
  • War in Donbas
    • Separatist forces shell the village of Zaitseve, Donetsk, killing two Ukrainian soldiers and a civilian. (Times of Israel)

Business and economy

• Suisse secrets
  • In response to yesterday's leak of client data from Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second largest bank, the EU's European Commission is asked to "re-evaluate Switzerland as a high-risk money-laundering country" by the European People's Party, which is the group with the largest number of seats in the European Parliament. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Gbomblora explosion
  • At least 63 people are killed and 40 others injured by an explosion at a gold mine in Gbomblora, Poni, Burkina Faso. (Reuters)
• An Iranian F-5 jet crashes into a school in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, killing both pilots as well as a person on the ground. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
      • Hong Kong reports a record 7,533 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the territory to 60,383. (The Standard)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
      • South Korea surpasses 2 million COVID-19 cases. (The Korea Herald)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa
    • South Africa changes their COVID-19 vaccination rules to allow mixing of vaccines between the Pfizer–BioNTech and Janssen COVID-19 vaccines for second and third doses and also reduces the interval between the second and third doses of the Pfizer vaccine in order to increase the country's vaccination rate. (CNA)

International relations

• Israel–Morocco relations
  • Morocco's trade minister, Ryad Mezzour, and Israel's economy minister, Orna Barbivai, sign a trade deal in Rabat. (National Post)
• China–United States relations
  • Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin announces that China will sanction American defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon after the United States approved a US$100 million missile defense repair deal between the two companies and Taiwan. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Abortion in Colombia
  • The Constitutional Court legalizes abortion in all cases for up to six months of gestation, and removes time limits in cases of rape, fetal defects, or if the mother's life is in danger. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Aftermath of the 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état
  • Burkinabé president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba orders an inquiry into the deaths of two civilians during last month's coup d'état. (AFP via Barron's)

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