Portal:Current events/2015 February 22
February 22, 2015 (Sunday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- War in Donbass
- Pro-Russian rebels start a two-week process of removing heavy weapons from the front lines in eastern Ukraine in accordance with the ceasefire agreement. (Reuters via Haaretz)
- An explosion at a pro-Ukraine march kills three and injures more than 10 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (AFP via Yahoo! News UK)
- Jeh Johnson, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, warns Americans to take a threat by Somalia-based al-Shabab to attack shopping malls in the US, United Kingdom, and Canada seriously. (BBC)
- Second Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Islamic State militants claim responsibility for bombing the Iranian ambassador's residence in Tripoli and a rocket attack on Al Abraq International Airport. (Reuters via Islamic State)
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ISIS burns more than 8,000 rare books and manuscripts in Mosul, Iraq. (FOX News)
Arts and culture
- 87th Academy Awards
- Alejandro González Iñárritu becomes the second Mexican director to win Academy Award for Best Director for Birdman. Birdman then wins the Academy Award for Best Picture. (The Globe and Mail) (The Telegraph)
- British actor Eddie Redmayne wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. (The Guardian)
- American actress Julianne Moore wins the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Still Alice. (Hollywood Reporter)
- Ida by Paweł Pawlikowski wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and becomes the first Polish film to win the award. (The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
- A rescue operation is underway in Bangladesh as a ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River after colliding with a trawler. The death toll has reached 41. (AP) (Reuters) (CNN) (AAP via SBS)
- All 486 trapped by an underground fire at the Harmony Gold Kusasalethu mine near Carletonville, South Africa have been rescued. (News24) (Globe and Mail)
Law and crime
- Six current and former Gold Coast Titans players are charged with supplying cocaine including Greg Bird, Dave Taylor, Beau Falloon, Jamie Dowling and Kalifa Faifai Loa with all players stood down for the coming Australian National Rugby League season. (Gold Coast Bulletin) (AAP via Sportsfan)
- Thai police arrest at least three people for holding an unauthorised demonstration. (Channel NewsAsia)
- Former President of the Maldives and current Opposition Leader Mohamed Nasheed is arrested. (V News)
Politics
- Two former British foreign secretaries, Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind become embroiled in a "cash for access" scandal. The two deny any wrongdoing and refer themselves to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Hudson. (The Telegraph) (BBC)
- Hungary's ruling Fidesz Party loses its two-thirds supermajority in the National Assembly after a left-wing independent candidate wins a by-election in a district based on the city of Veszprem. (AP via Star Tribune)[permanent dead link]
Sports
- In motorsports, Joey Logano wins the 57th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, the first race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Polesitter, three-time Daytona 500 winner, and four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon finishes 33rd after a last-lap crash in what is planned to be his final Daytona 500 start. (AP via ESPN)