Portal:Current events/2009 February 19
February 19, 2009 (Thursday)
- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's office accuses Georgian pop group Stefane & 3G's song "We Don't Wanna Put In" of hooliganism. (Financial Times)
- California's State Legislature approves a US$143-billion budget and fills a $41-billion deficit with a combination of loans, spending and service reductions, and tax increases. (New York Times)
- The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation locates Stanford Financial Group Chairman Allen Stanford in Virginia and serves him with a fraud complaint on behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission. (BBC)
- China claims it has artificially produced snowfall by cloud seeding to ease drought. (AP via Google News)
- Palestinian militants fire three rockets into Israel. (Jerusalem Post)
- General Motors says it may provide its struggling Swedish subsidiary Saab Automobile with US$400 million. (Reuters)
- Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Council approves the closure of the U.S. Air Force's Manas Air Base. (Reuters)
- A Russian court acquits three men of aiding the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. (BBC)
- The French battleship Danton is discovered in the Mediterranean Sea. (BBC)
- U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa. (BBC)
- China's Ministry of Health reports that HIV/AIDS was the country's leading cause of death from infectious disease in 2008. (BBC)
- Two Tupolev Tu-95 bombers are intercepted by two Canadian CF-18's near Canada's airspace hours before United States President Barack Obama arrives in Ottawa, Ontario.(CBC)
- Nigeria's Military Forces rescue two escaped Russian hostages who were abducted in the Niger Delta in December. (BBC)
- Fort-de-France Mayor Serge Letchimy cancels Martinique's carnival, due to ongoing general strikes. (MSNBC)