Portal:Current events/2019 February 21
February 21, 2019 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- The United States' allies France and the United Kingdom say they won't keep their troops in Syria after the United States pulls out. (The Washington Post)
- Libyan Crisis (2011–present)
- The Tobruk-based Libyan National Army says it has taken control of the El Feel oilfield in Libya's southern Murzuq District. (Reuters)
International relations
- Russia–United States relations
- Russian President Vladimir Putin states that Russia is militarily ready for "a Cuban Missile-style crisis" if the United States wants one, in relation to new U.S. missile deployments in Europe. (Reuters)
- 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit
- Vietnam tightens security at its rail station on the Chinese border ahead of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to Hanoi for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Reuters)
- 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, 2019 shipping of humanitarian aid to Venezuela
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro orders the closing of his country's border with Brazil. International humanitarian aid is currently scheduled to enter Venezuela on February 23, under foreign military protection. (BBC News)
Law and crime
- American actor Jussie Smollett is arrested for filing a false police report about an alleged hate crime. (Fox News)
- Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State, is banned from entering the United States. (USA Today) (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- Spanish constitutional crisis
- Separatists in Catalonia launch a general strike in protest of the trial of Catalonia independence leaders, with major participation of the educational community. Demonstrators block major roads, highways, train tracks and the entrance to the port of Tarragona. (Time) (ABC News) (Cope)
- Clashes between demonstrators and Catalan regional police leave three arrested and 20 injured. (The Washington Post)
- 2018 North Carolina's 9th congressional district election
- North Carolina election authorities unanimously order a new election to choose the district's representative to the United States House of Representatives after their investigation determined the Republican candidate's campaign illegally handled absentee ballots, and the candidate, Mark Harris, reverses his position and calls for a new election. (The New York Times) (NPR)
- 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- United Socialist Party of Venezuela congressman and former head of the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence Hugo Carvajal defects to the opposition, urging the military to abandon Nicolás Maduro. Carvajal says drug trafficking and corruption are commonplace in the government. (The New York Times)
- 2019 Israeli legislative election
- Retired IDF Chief Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid agree to combine their prime ministerial campaigns in the April 9 Knesset election against incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu. (BBC News)
Science and technology
- A fossil from a new species of tyrannosaur named Moros intrepidus is discovered in the U.S. state of Utah. Scientists are using the find to better understand how Tyrannosaurus rex evolved during the Cretaceous period. (National Geographic)
- Scientists announce that the Megachile pluto (Wallace's giant bee), the world's largest bee, has been rediscovered in North Maluku, Indonesia, after no confirmed sightings since 1981. The first ever pictures and videos are taken of the rare species. (BBC News)
- JAXA's Hayabusa2 space probe successfully lands on Apollo asteroid 162173 Ryugu. (The Guardian)