Portal:Current events/2015 February 19
February 19, 2015 (Thursday)
Business and economy
- Greece requests its partners in the eurozone for a six month loan program extension in an apparent compromise attempt; Germany has rejected the request. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2014–15 Australian region cyclone season
- Cyclone Marcia is expected to strengthen to category 5 before making landfall in Central Queensland. (Brisbane Times), (ABC Australia)
- Residents of Goulburn Island off the coast of the Northern Territory are evacuated ahead of Cyclone Lam. (News Limited)
- Israel is hit by the heaviest snow storm in a century causing the closure of schools and highways in high places throughout the country. (Jerusalem Post)
International relations
- Members of the P5+1 powers meet with representatives of Iran in Geneva to discuss Iran's nuclear program. (Reuters)
- Qatar withdraws its ambassador from Egypt following disagreement over Egyptian Air Force strikes against Islamic State targets in Libya after the execution of 21 Coptic Christian hostages by Islamic State. (Reuters)
Health
- Two people are dead and seven others infected at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, in Los Angeles County, California, after contracting a super-resistant bacterial infection of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). 179 other people may have been exposed to the bacteria as well. (CNN)
Law and crime
- Former Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra will be indicted over a controversial rice subsidy scheme. (Channel NewsAsia)
- Venezuelan police arrest the Opposition Mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma without a warrant on the anniversary of the arrest of another opposition leader Leopoldo López. The President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro accused him of organizing a coup d'etat with the support of the United States but the US has denied this. (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (teleSUR)
- Several hundred hooligans supporting the Dutch football club Feyenoord clash with police in Rome, before the club's Europa League contest with local side Roma. In the clashes several people are injured and a large fragment of the 17th century Barcaccia fountain by Gianlorenzo Bernini is smashed. (AP via ABC (U.S.))
Science
- Research published in the journal Nature claims that a large portion of the lithium in the universe was produced by novae. (ABC News Australia)