Portal:Current events/2014 February 13
February 13, 2014 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
- Afghanistan releases 65 prisoners from the Parwan Detention Facility despite concerns by the United States that the men were responsible for attacks on NATO and Afghan forces. (BBC News)
- At least eight police officers are killed in a suicide bomb attack in Karachi. (BBC News)
- South China Sea dispute:
- The United States says that it is ready to defend its allies in case of an armed conflict. (Voice of America)
Arts and culture
- Typhoon Haiyan victims are visited by former footballer David Beckham who seeks to raise awareness about their plight. (Fox Sports)
- Archaeologists unearth a painted, human-shaped sarcophagus that is 3,600 years old -- with a mummy still inside in Luxor, Egypt. (CNN)
Business and economy
- Comcast is set to acquire Time Warner Cable in a US$44 billion buyout. (The New York Times)
- A Reuters poll of economic forecasters finds that they are more worried about deflation across the Eurozone than is the ECB. (Reuters)
- Facebook users in the United States are now allowed to customize their gender. (The Washington Post)
Disasters and accidents
- Thousands of homes in England remain without power following Wednesday's storms as the UK's Met Office forecasts fresh heavy rain and high winds for Friday. (BBC News)
- Mount Kelud erupts prompting the evacuation of 200,000 people on the Indonesian island of Java. (AAP via SBS)
International relations
- Egypt–Russia relations:
- During a two-day visit by an Egyptian delegation in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow and Cairo have agreed to speed up work on drafting agreements on military-technological cooperation. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu added that this could include joint military exercises and training of Egyptian officers in Russian military academies. (Al-Ahram) (The Hindu)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says he supports Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's bid for the upcoming presidential election in Egypt. (The Telegraph)
- President Barack Obama is set on visiting Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines after previously cancelling his trip in 2013. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- The UK Government says that packages sent to several army careers offices had "potentially viable devices bearing hallmarks of Northern Ireland related terrorism". (BBC News)
- Belgian lawmakers vote to extend euthanasia to people aged under 18. (AP via NDTV)
Politics and elections
- Lawmakers riot in the lower house of India's parliament in protest of a plan creating the state of Telangana. (BBC News)
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrests opposition activists in reaction to an "attempted coup" against his government. (Reuters)
- Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta holds an emergency meeting after Democratic leader Matteo Renzi called for him to resign. (The Guardian)
- A Virginia judge rules the state's prohibition of gay marriage unconstitutional. (USA Today)
Science and technology
- The remains of an infant boy from the Clovis culture is determined to be Native American. (NPR)