Portal:Current events/2011 February 18

February 18, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A thousand or more non-citizen residents of Kuwait demonstrated yesterday demanding rights given to Kuwaiti citizen. (Reuters)(Al Jazeera English)(CNN)
Police and indigenous protesters clash in Panama during a protest against changes to the country's mining law. (AFP via Google News)
At least 37 people are killed and others are wounded in a U.S.-led airstrike in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. (Press TV)
Retired CIA officer-turned-political activist Ray McGovern is thrown out, bloodied and arrested while protesting a speech given by Hillary Clinton on internet freedom^{[disambiguation needed]} at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Veterans for Peace requests that Clinton apologise. (Press TV) (American Independent)
2011 Bahraini protests:
- Troops and tanks patrol Manama as the Bahraini military sets up checkpoints; a ban on public gatherings is announced. (Al Jazeera)
- King of Bahrain Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa visits and praises the military for its nighttime crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Manama, lauding their "bravery and readiness to assume their national duties". (Press TV)
- Thousands of people attend the first funerals of those killed by security forces in yesterday's massacre at Pearl Square, many making known their anger at the Bahraini regime. (BBC)
- Bahrain's military fires at hundreds of mourners advancing towards Pearl Square with reports of live ammunition being used. (New York Times)
2011 Djibouti protests:
- Police shoot tear gas at thousands of people demonstrating against the Ismail Omar Guelleh regime in Djibouti. (Al Jazeera)
2011 Jordanian protests:
- At least 8 people are injured during an attack on a pro-democracy protest rally in Amman. (Press TV) (Xinhua)
2011 Libyan civil war:
- Anti-regime protests continue overnight after yesterday's "Day of Rage". Funerals of those killed due today. Human Rights Watch lists 24 killed and many wounded. (BBC) (Human Rights Watch)
- Libyans in Benghazi take over a radio station; it broadcasts its message to the world - calling on the international media to cover what "the criminal Gaddafi" is doing - while libya17.com posts videos in English. (Foreign Policy)
- Libya shuts off access to the Internet. (TechCrunch)
- Al Jazeera reports that its signal to Libya is being blocked. (Reuters)
2011 Iraqi protests:
- Anti-regime protests occur in Baghdad, with demonstrators calling for a larger demonstration next Friday as part of an "Iraqi revolution". (CNN) (Xinhua)
- Deaths and injuries occur during anti-regime demonstrations in Sulaymaniyah. (euronews)
- Anti-regime protests occur in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV) (The Washington Post)
2011 Yemeni protests:
- Anti-regime protesters gather for the largest of eight days of demonstrations. (Bloomberg)
- 4 people are killed during nationwide protests in Yemen. (MSNBC)
- In the southern port city of Aden one anti-government protester is shot dead and 40 others are injured as police open fire on thousands of demonstrators; thousands of protesters later storm two council buildings setting them on fire. (Xinhua)
Egyptian Revolution of 2011:
- Some Egyptians march through the streets of Cairo apologising for the way in which Hosni Mubarak was deposed after 30 years in the recent revolution. "Yes to Change, No to Humiliation". (Reuters)
- Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, issues a video saying that Egypt had long "deviated from Islam" and warning that democracy "can only be non-religious." (AP via ABC News America)
- Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a leading Islamic preacher associated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, is to lead public prayers in Cairo's Tahrir Square for the first time in thirty years. (Al-Arabiya)
Other Arab Spring Events:
- Former President of Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ousted during the recent popular revolution, is reported to have slipped into a coma following his stroke in Saudi Arabia. (Al Jazeera)
- Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud warns of the Arab Spring spreading to Saudi Arabia unless King Abdullah speeds up the reform process. (AFP via The Australian)
Tens of thousands of people march peacefully through Tirana urging the Albanian government to resign due to corruption in the Sali Berisha regime. 4 people were killed in a similar demonstration nearly a month ago. (CP via Google News) (AP via The New York Times) (Xinhua)
The corpse of Mark Rybinski is found with multiple stab wounds and a slit throat outside a private school in Tunis. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

Facebook recognises civil unions and domestic partnerships as relationship statuses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Business and economy

The U.S. abandons its criminal investigation of Angelo Mozilo former chairman of Countrywide Financial, in connection with Countrywide's collapse in 2007-08. Mozilo settled a civil action four months ago. (L.A. Times)

International relations

Japan officially suspends its whaling program for the season due to interference by the Sea Shepherd conservation organisation. (NHK)
President of the United States Barack Obama is announced to visit Brazil, Chile and El Salvador from March 19 to 23. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi proposes a reform of the Italian judiciary system restricting telephone taps, one of the methods used by prosecutors in the Ruby Rubacuori scandal. (Xinhua) (BBC)
A Chinese court upholds an eight year sentence for "stealing state secrets" for Chinese American geologist Xue Feng. (BBC) (Bloomberg)
A Turkish court jails three journalists associated with a dissident website pending trials on being part of the Ergenekon organisation allegedly plotting to overthrow the Government of Turkey. (AP via San Jose Mercury)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
A McCann family spokesman insists reports that Madeleine McCann was taken to the United States after being snatched during a family holiday in Portugal must be treated with caution. (Sky News)

Politics and elections

New Caledonia's coalition government collapses after the pro-independence Caledonian Union party withdraws its support for President Philippe Gomes in a dispute over the use of New Caledonian flags. (Radio Australia)
Voters in Uganda go to the polls for the Ugandan general election. (Bangkok Post) (Al Jazeera)
The Washington Post reports that United States Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico will announce that he will not contest the 2012 Senate election for New Mexico. (Washington Post)
The Obama administration rescinds most of a regulation designed to protect health care workers who refuse to provide a service that they find objectionable but retains protections against performing abortions when you have strong anti-abortion convictions. (Washington Post)
The United States House of Representatives blocks Federal funding for Planned Parenthood. (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution) (Xinhua)
The U.S. state of Wisconsin has demonstrations in the tens of thousands against a bill forcing public service workers to pay increased pension costs, increased healthcare coverage as well as stripping them of almost all union rights. Senators yesterday fled the state to Illinois. (CNN) (Los Angeles Times) (The Washington Post)

Science

NASA clears the Space Shuttle Discovery for its final flight on Thursday. (Space)

Sport

The soccer player Ronaldo, who retired recently, joins Brazil's 2014 FIFA World Cup organising committee. (Xinhua)