Portal:Current events/2021 February 9

February 9, 2021 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- 2021 Afghanistan attacks
  - Five people are killed in two separate attacks targeting government employees in Kabul, including the head of the provincial department of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. (Reuters)
2021 Myanmar coup d'état
- Tatmadaw raids the headquarters of ousted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party National League for Democracy in Yangon, according to a party statement posted on Facebook. (CNA)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Calabasas helicopter crash
- The National Transportation Safety Board concludes their investigation of the crash that killed former professional basketball player Kobe Bryant and eight others nearly a year prior, citing pilot error and spatial disorientation as the cause of the crash. (AP)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba
      - Manitoba reports its first case of the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2. (CBC)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec
      - Quebec reports its first two cases of the 501.V2 variant first detected in South Africa in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. (Global News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 drug development
    - The Food and Drug Administration grants emergency use authorization for Eli Lilly and Company's combination antibody therapy bamlanivimab/etesevimab for use in COVID-19 positive adults and children aged 12 and older who are at high risk of severe disease. (Bloomberg)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - COVID-19 pandemic in England
      - Health Secretary Matt Hancock announces that all British and Irish residents returning from 33 "high-risk" countries will be charged £1,750 to stay in quarantine hotels in England for 10 days and that those who fail to do so or who violate COVID rules face fines of up to £10,000 or up to 10 years in jail. (BBC News)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland
      - Scottish Transport secretary Michael Matheson announces that all people who arrive from outside the UK and Ireland will be charged £1,750 for “managed quarantine” at one of six hotels at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports. (The Independent)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
    - Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announces a statewide isolation order in Tyrol beginning February 12 in order to prevent the spread of the 501.V2 variant. Residents will have to present a negative COVID-19 test result from the last 48 hours in order to leave the state. (ABC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus
    - Belarus surpasses 260,000 cases of COVID-19 after reporting 561 new cases in the past 24 hours. (Xinhua)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
    - Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a near-full lockdown in the Attica region, which includes the capital Athens, from February 11 until February 28. All schools, churches, hair salons, and retail stores, with the exception of supermarkets and pharmacies, are ordered to close; and restaurants are only allowed to offer delivery services. (Ekathimerini)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - Spain surpasses three million cases of COVID-19. (MedicalXpress)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland
    - Switzerland reports its first case of the Brazilian P.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2. (The Local Switzerland)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    - Iran begins a vaccination campaign against COVID-19 among healthcare workers using the Sputnik V vaccine. (Al Jazeera)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Mongolia
    - Mongolia approves the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. (Sputnik V)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
    - The government allows more businesses in retail sector and Mosques in most of Malaysia to reopen beginning tomorrow and allows restaurants to resume dine-in service with two people seat on the table despite COVID-19 cases in the country remains high. (The Straits Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Pakistan approves the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, becoming the third vaccine to be approved in the country after the Sinopharm and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Equatorial Guinea
  - Equatorial Guinea imposes a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time for the first since the beginning of the pandemic and prohibits many leisure activities. The country also reduces domestic flights to once per day, and international flights to twice per week for domestic airlines and once per week for foreign airlines. (EWN)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Peru
  - Peru launches a vaccination program against COVID-19 two days after it received 300,000 doses of Sinopharm's BBIBP-CorV vaccine. President Francisco Sagasti becomes the first person to get vaccinated. (Voice of America)

International relations

Five countries: Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Nauru, officially withdraw from the Pacific Islands Forum over a disagreement regarding the choice of the forum's new Secretary-General. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest
- Indian actor and activist Deep Sidhu is arrested by the Delhi Police's special cell unit for his role in inciting the January 26 riot at the Red Fort. (The Times of India)
2020–2021 United States racial unrest
- George Floyd protests, George Floyd protests in Richmond, Virginia
  - A Ku Klux Klan member is sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for driving his pickup truck into Black Lives Matter protesters in Richmond, Virginia, during the summer. (The Washington Post)
Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump
- Former United States president Donald Trump's second impeachment trial begins. (Reuters)
- The United States Senate votes 56–44 to proceed with the impeachment trial, rejecting claims by Trump's attorneys that the proceeding is unconstitutional. (RTÉ)
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
- A court in Baden-Württemberg overturns the nighttime curfew imposed since mid-December to stop the spread of COVID-19 following an emergency application. It means that the 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew will be scrapped on February 11. (Euronews)
Mass media in Hungary
- A court in Budapest rejects an appeal by independent radio station Klubrádió to have its broadcast license renewed by the government's media regulator, which says that the station had infringed rules. Klubrádió owner András Arató says that the station will appeal the decision at the Supreme Court. (AFP via Barron's)
Buffalo, Minnesota clinic attack
- One person is killed and four others injured in a mass shooting at an Allina Health clinic in Buffalo, Minnesota. A 67-year-old man is arrested, and the clinic is believed to have been intentionally targeted. (CNN)

Politics and elections

2021 Myanmar protests, aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état
- Demonstrations in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, continue in response to the military coup. Riot police fire rubber bullets and use water cannons to disperse protesters. (BBC News)
- 90 townships in 30 cities, including Naypyidaw and all 44 townships in Yangon, are placed under curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. local time and all gatherings of more than five people are banned. (Myanmar Times)
COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics
- Parliament suspends their sittings for the next three weeks after 17 MPs and 151 staff tested positive for COVID-19. (Pulse Ghana)

Science and technology

Emirates Mars Mission
- United Arab Emirates Space Agency spacecraft Hope enters orbit around Mars. The space probe will study the climate of Mars, and meteorological phenomena such as dust storms. (Reuters)