Portal:Current events/2021 February 12

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • A French presidency official and a senior Chadian official announce that Chad will reinforce their troops by 1,000 in order to fight jihadists in the border regions of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. It will be formally announced in a summit on February 15–16. (Reuters)
• Mali War
  • A Togolese peacekeeper has died after being wounded yesterday in an attack on a MINUSMA base near Douentza in Mopti, central Mali, which wounded 28 peacekeepers, according to United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. (UrduPoint)

Arts and culture

• Aftermath of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol
  • The United States Senate votes by unanimous consent to award United States Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal for keeping rioters away from the Senate chamber during the storming of the United States Capitol. (The Washington Post)

Business and economy

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 recession
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Norway
    • The Norwegian economy contracts by 2.5% in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as their Q4 GDP grew faster than expected by 1.9%. (Bloomberg)
  • Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    • The Office for National Statistics says that the economy of the United Kingdom has contracted by a record 9.9% since the pandemic began, but has narrowly avoided a double-dip recession. This is nonetheless estimated to be the largest annual contraction since 1709. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 strikes 35 kilometres west of Murghob, Tajikistan. The tremors are felt as far away as northern India and Pakistan. (The Straits Times)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • COVID-19 pandemic in New York
        • New York governor Andrew Cuomo announces to extend the operating hours of indoor dining in restaurants in New York City to 11:00 p.m. EST beginning from Valentine's Day as it expands their curfew on restaurants and bars statewide. (WCBS-TV)
      • COVID-19 pandemic in New Hampshire, Lineage B.1.1.7
        • New Hampshire reports their first case of the B.1.1.7 variant in a person from Hillsborough County who had close contact with someone who travelled internationally. (Patch.com)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
      • COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia
        • British Columbia reports Canada's first case of the Nigerian variant of SARS-CoV-2 in a young person from the Interior Health region who is currently self-isolating. (Vancouver Sun)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
      • Mexican authorities lower the pandemic alert level in Mexico City and the State of Mexico to orange status due to a decrease in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations. (MedicalXpress)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
      • Cambodia approves the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech vaccines. (Cambodianess)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
      • The number of recovered COVID-19 patients in Indonesia surpasses one million. (detikHealth)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Japan receives their first shipment of 400,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from Belgium. (The Japan Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
      • Pakistan approves the emergency use of China's CanSinoBio vaccine, becoming the fourth vaccine to be approved in the country. (DAWN)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
      • Greece extends their full lockdown to Achaia and the island of Euboea beginning February 13 in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (Ekathimerini)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Russia, COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia
      • Russia gives a preliminary approval for its Sputnik V vaccine to be manufactured in Serbia. (The Moscow Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • The United Kingdom surpasses four million cases of COVID-19, becoming the fifth country to do so after the United States, India, Brazil, and Russia. (The Independent)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
    • President Sebastián Piñera receives the first dose of the Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine. (United News of India)

International relations

• Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations, Censorship in Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong's public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong joins mainland China in blocking BBC World News and BBC World Service. (U.S. News and World Report)

Law and crime

• 2020–2021 United States racial unrest, Black Lives Matter protests in New York City
  • A Black Lives Matter protest turned violent in New York City, resulting in nearly a dozen arrests and injuries among police officers. The New York Police Department said two officers were injured during the march in midtown Manhattan. (The Washington Examiner)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Italian government crisis
  • Prime Minister-designate Mario Draghi meets with President Sergio Mattarella and presents the list of proposed ministers for his cabinet. Draghi's oath of office is scheduled for tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. local time. (ANSA)
• 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, Elections in Belarus
  • President Alexander Lukashenko says that the country will hold a referendum that would change their constitution before January 18, 2022. (AP)
• North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un fires Economic Affairs Minister Kim Tu-il less than a month after appointing him to his cabinet for "lack of innovation". He is replaced by O Su-yong, according to state media. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• A study by University College London suggests that the bluestones that form Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, likely originated from another stone circle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, called Waun Mawn. (AFP via Dawn)
• Facebook restricts the content posted by the Myanmar's Tatmadaw in order to stop the spread of "misinformation" in a wake of military coup. (Euronews)

Sports

• 2020 Summer Olympics
  • The Chairman of Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Yoshiro Mori resigns due to a scandal over sexist remarks he made about women. (NBC News)