Portal:Current events/2017 February 23

Current events of February 23, 2017 (2017-02-23) (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in North-West Pakistan
  • At least six people are killed in a bomb blast in the Pakistani city of Lahore. (BBC)
• Battle of Mosul (2016–17)
  • Iraqi Police forces enter the Mosul International Airport and capture the runway from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (Associated Press)

Arts and culture

• American-born panda Bao Bao arrives in China. (The Washington Post)

Business and economy

• Dakota Access Pipeline protests
  • The protestors in the area of the Dakota Access Pipeline are evicted, clearing the way for the oil pipeline through Canada and the United States to be built. (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season
  • The Met Office issues travel warnings for parts of Wales, Scotland and England as Storm Doris, described as a “weather bomb”, brings gales, heavy rain and snow to the United Kingdom. At least one person is killed. (The Guardian) (The Independent)

Law and crime

• A Philippine court orders the arrest of Duterte critic and Liberal senator Leila de Lima. She later voluntarily turned herself in the next day (Al Jazeera), (PDI)

Politics and elections

• United Kingdom by-elections
  • Labour's Gareth Snell holds off UKIP's leader Paul Nuttall to win the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election, while Conservative Party candidate Trudy Harrison wins the Copeland by-election, the first gain for a governing party since 1982. (BBC)
• French presidential election, 2017
  • Yannick Jadot drops out in an effort to boost Benoît Hamon. (Deutsche Welle)

Sports

• The Alaska Aces ice hockey team announce that the 2016–17 ECHL season will be the team's last after 28 seasons of play, following a downturn in the Alaskan economy and sagging ticket sales.(The Hamilton Spectator)