Portal:Current events/2015 February 12

Current events of February 12, 2015 (2015-02-12) (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks War in Donbass The President of Russia Vladimir Putin announces the third peace agreement. (AP)(Euronews) Yemeni Civil War Fighters from the Al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Sharia take control of an army base in southern Yemen. (Reuters via Daily Times) Arts and culture Reporters without Borders's annual review finds "(t)here was a drastic decline in freedom of information in 2014" because of information wars and action by non-state groups. (Reporters without Borders) (The Daily Star (Lebanon)) Business and economy The National Retail Federation worries as products languish on ships and docks at western U.S. ports as negotiations continue between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. (AP) Online travel and leisure booking website Expedia announces plans to buy rival Orbitz for $1.3 billion. (Christian Science Monitor) Law and crime Six Taiwanese prisoners commit suicide after releasing hostages captured yesterday in Kaohsiung. The prisoners were protesting their sentences and alleged poor conditions of the Taiwanese prison system. (BBC) The FBI launches a hate crime investigation into the February 11 killing of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (News Observer) Politics and elections The US Senate confirms Ashton Carter as the 25th Secretary of Defense. (USA Today) Julius Malema and members of the Economic Freedom Fighters are forcibly removed from the National Assembly of South Africa during President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address. Times Live SABC Science and technology A large meteorite falls in northern New Zealand. kelownanow.com stuff.co.nz