Portal:Current events/2016 February 17

February 17, 2016 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber kills at least 13 recruits at a Yemeni Army base run by forces loyal to ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in the southern port city of Aden. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)
February 2016 Ankara bombing
- Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 28 people and injuring 61 others. Authorities believe a car bomb caused the blast. A senior Turkish security source says initial signs indicate that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are responsible. (BBC) (Time) (Haaretz) (CNN)
Iraqi Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- Iraqi authorities are searching for 10 grams of iridium-192, a radioactive material stolen from a Weatherford International oilfield services facility near Basra in November 2015. Authorities are concerned about its potential use by Islamic State, or the like, to develop a dirty bomb weapon. (Reuters)
- An Iraqi Air Force helicopter is shot down by ISIL near Amiriyah Fallujah, Al Anbar Governorate, killing at least one crew member and injuring another. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
Syrian Civil War
- Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) reports three people are found alive in the rubble of a hospital in northwest Syria hit by Russian airstrikes Monday. (UPI)

Arts and culture

Experts confirm the discovery of a lost Spanish settlement in Florida from an expedition led by Tristan de Luna. (Associated Press via MSN)

Business and economy

Iran says that it plans to increase its crude oil output until it achieves pre-sanction levels, although that contravenes OPEC efforts to restrain output. (Reuters)
Canadian multinational aerospace and transportation company Bombardier Inc. is to cut 7,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years, including over a thousand jobs in the United Kingdom. (The Guardian)

International relations

South Korea–United States relations
- Four U.S. F-22 stealth fighters, escorted by other U.S. and South Korean jets, flew low over the Osan Air Base in a show of force following North Korea's recent rocket launch. The Yonhap news agency reported two of these stealth planes will be deployed in South Korea "for a while." (BBC) (Yonhap)
Hungary–Russia relations
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Orbán used the meeting to call for Russia's relations with the EU to "return to normal", saying "We all are interested in normalizing relationship between Russia and Europe" while Putin described Hungary as an "old and faithful partner". (Reuters) (RT)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- A report by the Taiwanese Defense Ministry states that China has placed surface-to-air missiles on the disputed Woody Island. Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen called on all parties to "exercise self-control based on the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea," while Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said that such a move would be "a militarization of the South China Sea in ways" that Mainland China's leader Xi Jinping had pledged not to make. (BBC) (CNN)
Syrian Civil War
- Germany calls for a no-fly zone in northern Syria which could, among other things, reduce the number of displaced Syrians. Similar requests have been made by Turkey and others throughout the 5-year-old war. Russia rejects this strategy without Syria's consent. (AP via The Washington Post) (Macau Daily Times)
Royal Air Force Typhoons intercept two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers heading towards UK airspace over the North Sea. (Sky News)
Russia–Ukraine relations
- Russia's Finance Ministry sues Ukraine in London's High Court of Justice over a $3 billion debt. Payment was due December 21, 2015. Negotiations between Kiev and Moscow have not reached an agreement. Over the last 6 months Ukrainian government officials repeatedly stated they refuse to pay the debt. (UPI)

Law and crime

Maldives jails opposition leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla for terrorism. It is claimed that he urged the overthrow of the government in a speech. (BBC)
Apple Inc. says it will appeal a court order to create a backdoor for an iPhone 5C belonging to Syed Farook who conducted the 2015 San Bernardino attack. (Tech Crunch)
Transgender and schools
- In the[United States, the South Dakota legislature passes a bill requiring students, even those identifying as transgender, to use the school bathroom corresponding to their sex at birth. It now moves to Governor Dennis Daugaard for his approval or veto. (CBS News) (The Christian Science Monitor)
Egyptian authorities order the closure of the Egyptian branch of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), a prominent NGO that documents alleged human rights abuses and treats torture victims. Amnesty International condemns the closure of the Nadeem centre, saying the NGO gives a lifeline to hundreds of victims of torture and families of people subjected to enforced disappearances. (Reuters)
Colombian authorities are investigating the discovery of at least 100 dismembered bodies in a sewer system underneath La Modelo prison in Bogotá. Officials say the practice of killing, dismembering, and tossing body parts into drains might have also happened at prisons in other cities, e.g., Popayán, Bucaramanga and Barranquilla. The victims include inmates, visitors, and others. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Ugandan general election, 2016
- Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda says tomorrow’s presidential and parliamentary elections will be peaceful, and urges all registered citizens to vote. Seven candidates are vying to unseat President Museveni, who has been in office since 1986. (Voice of America)

Sports

2015–16 UEFA Europa League
- UEFA charges Dmitri Tarasov and his football club Lokomotiv Moscow with improper conduct after Tarasov, following Lokomotiv Moscow's loss to Fenerbahçe S.K., pulled off his team's jersey to reveal an undershirt that was emblazoned with a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (BBC) (AP via Yahoo! News)