Portal:Current events/2024 February 21

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi conflict
  • Reports emerge that clashes between rival Shia militias, primarily Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and Saraya al-Salam, have killed at least 200 fighters across Iraq in the past two months. (The Medialine)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Lochem bridge collapse
  • A bridge under construction in Lochem, the Netherlands, collapses, killing two workers and injuring two others. (AP)
• 2024 Sumedang tornado
  • At least 33 people are injured after a tornado strikes Rancaekek, West Java, Indonesia. (Reuters)
• Fourteen people are killed and eleven more injured during the collapse of an illegal gold mine in Angostura, Venezuela. (AP)
• Fifteen people are killed and two survive when a truck falls off a cliff in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, Philippines. (AFP via Hindustan Times)

Law and crime

• Espionage in the United States
  • United States Navy chief petty officer Bryce Pedicini, assigned to the USS Higgins, is charged with four counts of espionage. (BBC News)
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko calls for armed security patrols on streets and in workplaces, claiming the possibility of "extremist" crimes. (Reuters)
• The Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Alabama rules that frozen embryos in test tubes are legally considered children. (The New York Times) (BBC News)