Portal:Current events/2010 February 18
February 18, 2010 (Thursday)
- United States President Barack Obama meets with the Dalai Lama amid opposition from China. (Times of India) (Al Jazeera) (Times Live South Africa)
- Irish Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea resigns after a controversy surrounding his remarks on a rival politician's relationship with brothels but denies claims by opposition party Fine Gael that he has committed perjury. Taoiseach Brian Cowen assigns himself temporary responsibility for the Department of Defence. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (BBC)
- The UK's Press Complaints Commission rejects a complaint by the husband of Stephen Gately about Jan Moir's Daily Mail article following his death but its head calls Moir's writing "extremely distasteful". (BBC) (RTÉ)
- Assassination of senior Hamas commander in Dubai:
- The British and Irish governments call in their Israeli ambassadors over the use of fake passports by the alleged killers of a Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. (BBC)
- It emerges that two additional fake Irish passports with genuine issue numbers were used by the suspects, with efforts underway to locate the two genuine holders. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejects the appeal for the inclusion of the Togo national football team in the draw for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations which resulted from their ban due to the Togo national football team attack prior to the 2010 tournament in Angola. It also says that a new draw will be required if they rule in favor of Togo in upcoming proceedings. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
- Asia's biggest railway station, the Guangzhou South Railway Station, came into use on the first day of Chinese spring festival transport rush of 2010. China's operational high-speed railways have exceeded 3,300 km. (Xinhua) (CCTV) (People's Daily)
- In Niger, a military junta named the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy carries out a coup d'état, suspending the constitution and detaining President Mamadou Tandja. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Business Day)
- Live Earth, organizer of The Dow Live Earth Run for Water, Cape Town race director announced The Parlotones concert at the Speir Wine Estate in Cape Town. (Live Earth)
- The top climate change official at the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, announces his resignation. (The Times) (CBC)
- Humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières accuses Bangladesh of a "crackdown" on Muslim Rohingya refugees from Burma. (Médecins Sans Frontières) (Al Jazeera) (AFP)
- A small private plane is intentionally crashed into an office building in Austin, Texas. (FOX News)
- Former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik is jailed for four years on tax fraud. (BBC) (Boston Globe) (The Daily Telegraph)