Portal:Current events/2020 February 14

• Syrian civil war, Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • A Syrian Air Force helicopter is shot down by a surface-to-air missile over the Aleppo countryside, killing both pilots. It is the second Syrian helicopter to be shot down this week by Turkish-backed forces. (Middle East Eye) (Xinhuanet)
• Remains of 6,032 people are found with thousands of bullets in six mass graves in Karuzi Province, Burundi, the largest find yet of an excavation project into atrocities of the Burundian Civil War. (Reuters)
• Ntumbo attack
  • At least 22 people are killed in an attack on a village in Northwest Region, Cameroon. (BBC News)

• Nepalese Sherpas condemn the Nepalese government's plan to use the army to clear rubbish from the top of Mount Everest and five other Himalayan peaks, saying only experienced Sherpas can reach those places. An army spokesman says the army will be able to reach all those summits. (BBC News)

• Facebook and Instagram amend their advertising policies so that politicians are allowed to use influencers to promote their campaigns, in response to U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg using them to advertise his candidacy without being subjected to both sites' regulations on political ads. (Politico) (The Guardian)
• Twenty-one U.S. states reject a US$18 billion settlement offer by pharmaceutical manufacturers, such as McKesson Corporation and Johnson & Johnson, for their role in the opioid crisis. (Al Jazeera)
• The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration allows U.S. airlines to resume flight paths over much of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, after suspending it last month due to escalating military tensions with Iran. (Reuters)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt
    • The first case of coronavirus infection in the African continent is reported in Egypt. (Al Jazeera)

• Belarus–Russia relations
  • Belarus threatens to take oil from the Druzhba pipeline which carries Russian oil to central Europe across its territory, if Russia does not supply it with the required volumes of crude oil. Russian oil supplies to Belarus have not been agreed for 2020 and shipments have dwindled to 500,000 tonnes, down from a planned 2 million tonnes. (Reuters)
  • Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says Moscow hinted at an energy supply deal in exchange for Belarus merging with Russia, which caused talks to collapse. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
• Sri Lanka–United States relations
  • The U.S. State Department sanctions Sri Lankan Army Commander Shavendra Silva for alleged human rights violations during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (Reuters)
• Kosovo–Serbia relations
  • Kosovar President Hashim Thaçi and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić agree to connect the capitals of their respective countries by rail and roads, in a deal brokered by the United States. (Al Jazeera)

• Terrorism in Germany
  • Twelve men are arrested in Germany for attempting to start a far-right organization aimed at carrying out attacks against politicians, asylum seekers, and Muslims. (Al Jazeera)
• A court in Istanbul, Turkey, acquits novelist Aslı Erdoğan of charges of terrorist group membership and "undermining national unity". She was one of several staff members of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem accused of having ties to Kurdish militants. (Reuters)

• 2019–20 Algerian protests
  • Thousands of Algerians march in the capital of Algiers as the first anniversary of the protests nears, repeating their calls for overhauling the political system and ending corruption. (Reuters)
• Indigenous land claims in Canada
  • Canadian National suspends operations of its railroad network in eastern Canada, and Via Rail cancels most passenger inter-city rail service in Canada, in response to a blockade by First Nations activists, in support of the Unistʼotʼen Camp in Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation territory in British Columbia protesting the Coastal GasLink Pipeline project. (CBC News)

• Manchester City F.C. is banned from European club competition, among which the UEFA Champions League, for two seasons, and is fined €30 million, for deliberately inflating the value of their sponsorship deals to get around the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. The club says it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (BBC Sport)