World Current Affairs, February 2012 (Part - 1)

This time I am loading the current affairs of the world for the month of February 2012. I hope viewes may like it and express their feelings. This is the first set of World Current Affairs, february 2012.

• The London Times reports that a secret NATO report claims that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, is set to regain control over Afghanistan after international forces withdraw from the country.(1st February)
• Pakistan Air Force jets bomb militant positions in the Orakzai and Kurram Agency areas near the border with Afghanistan with claims that 31 alleged insurgents were killed.(1st February)
• American television host and producer Don Cornelius, creator of Soul Train is found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.(1st February)
• The social network Facebook files for an initial public offering.(1st February)
• At least 73 people are killed as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in the city of Port Said.(1st February)
• The Zimbabwe Football Association suspends 80 players including members of the Zimbabwe national football team on suspicion of participation in match-fixing.(1st February)
• The Mexican Army sends 4,000 soldiers to Michoacán state as a result of recent violence.(2nd February)
• The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 350 people on board. Nearby commercial ships rescue 238 people from the sea.(2nd February)
• More than 110 people are killed across Europe as a result of a recent cold snap.(2nd February)
• The People's Republic of China asks for assistance from South Sudan to obtain the release of 29 Chinese workers held captive in Sudan for five days.(2nd February)
• The Supreme Court of India cancels 122 telecom licences granted in the 2008 sale at the centre of a corruption scandal involving former minister A. Raja.(2nd February)
• Egyptian comedian Adel Imam is sentenced to three months in prison for insulting Islam.(2nd February)
• Prince William arrives in the Falkland Islands for a tour of duty as a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot. His deployment comes at a time of high tension between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the sovereignty of the islands.(2nd February)
• Seven Pakistan Army soldiers are killed and three others wounded following a Taliban attack in the Kurram Agency.(3rd february)
• Hungarian airline Malév ceases operation as its aircraft are grounded due to unpaid debts.(3rd february)
• At least three people die and 50 are injured after a passenger train derails in the Kamrup district in India's Assam state.(3rd february)
• Thousands of Australians are evacuated in northern New South Wales and Queensland due to rising floodwaters with parts of Queensland declared as a disaster area.(3rd february)
• The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia increases the sentence of Kang Kek Iew, or Duch, to life for running the Tuol Sleng prison camp under the Khmer Rouge.(3rd february)
• Major General Michael Linnington orders a court martial for US Private Bradley Manning responsible for leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to Wikileaks.(3rd february)
• The Football Association removes John Terry as captain of the England national football team over allegations of racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand during a match.(3rd february)
• The United Nations Security Council votes on an Arab League proposal to resolve problems in Syria with reports of hundreds of people dead in the past couple of days as a result of shelling in Homs - the People's Republic of China and Russia veto the resolution.(4th february)
• The Arab Parliament calls for Arab countries to sever relations with Syria.(4th february)
• Iran starts new military exercises as tensions rise over its nuclear program.(4th february)
• Florence Green, the last known veteran from World War I, dies at the age of 110 in the United Kingdom.(4th february)
• Over 100,000 people protest for and against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow.(4th february)
• An explosion hits the gas pipeline between Egypt, Israel and Jordan in the North Sinai Governorate west of Arish.(5th february)
• More than 250 people have died of the cold weather in Europe, with Russia forced to reduce supplies of natural gas.(5th february)
• A Libyan starts court proceedings against 41 people accused of helping Muammar Gaddafi to attempt to suppress the opposition in the Libyan civil war.(5th february)
• Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah resigns as the Prime Minister of Kuwait following a strong performance by the Opposition in a recent parliamentary election.(5th february)
• In darts, England win the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts defeating Australia 4-3 in the final.(5th february)
• Hacker group Anonymous publishes hundreds of emails from President Bashar al-Assad's office.(6th february)
• The United States closes its embassy in Damascus, while the United Kingdom recalls its ambassador.(6th february)
• Spanish artist Antoni Tàpies, a pioneer of abstract art, dies in Barcelona at the age of 88.(6th february)
• The government of Greece fails to reach agreement over the terms of a new bailout from the European Union, but retracts the deadline they had given themselves to do so, 30 minutes before the deadline would have passed.(6th february)
• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hits near the central Philippines off the coast of Negros Island causing at least 13 deaths and 29 people missing with houses buried in a landslide in Guihulngan.(6th february)
• Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her becoming the monarch of the United Kingdom and seven other sovereign states in the Commonwealth of Nations with events to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee set for later in the year.(6th february)
• Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc and his entire cabinet resign after major social and political unrest in the country.(6th february)
• Maldives National Defence Force soldiers fire rubber bullets at police officers demonstrating in the capital Malé who are defying an order by President Mohamed Nasheed to crack down on protests.(7th february)
• Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the President of Argentina, states that Argentina will lodge a complaint with the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly about the alleged "militarisation" of the area around the Falkland Islands by the United Kingdom.(7th february)
• An anti-gay bill is reintroduced in the Ugandan parliament after it was previously withdrawn.(7th february)
• Pakistani officials claim that US drone missiles have killed ten people in Spalga village in North Waziristan.(8th february)
• Air France cancels long-haul flights due to a strike by staff.(8th february)
• Airbus announces that it will inspect the wings of all Airbus 380 aircraft for cracks.(8th february)
• The New Zealand Royal Commission on the Pike River Mine disaster hears that a collapse in the coal extraction area was the most likely cause of the fatal blast in the mine on November 19, 2010 that claimed 29 lives.(8th february)
• The death toll throughout Europe rises to over 400 with the Danube River freezing over for 170 km.(8th february)
• Three Bharatiya Janata Party Ministers in the Indian state of Karnataka – Laxman Savadi, C C Patil and J. Krishna Palemar – are forced to resign after footage is shown of them watching a pornographic video in the Legislative Assembly.(8th february)
• Fabio Capello resigns as the manager of England over continuing clashes with The Football Association (FA) following the sacking of John Terry as team captain, with Terry facing charges of racist abuse.(8th february)
• The United States Department of Defense issues new guidelines removing restrictions on use of women in combat.(9th february)
• Eastman Kodak Co. announces that it will no longer make digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames in an effort to save money during bankruptcy.(9th february)
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper goes on an official visit to China, meeting with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang. The two countries sign trade deals worth over $3 billion.(9th february)
• Analyst Roland S. Martin is suspended from CNN over numerous offensive comments he made about gay men on Twitter during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI.(9th february)
• Egypt's military rulers warn of conspiracies that seek to topple the state and spread chaos one day before the one-year anniversary of the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak.(10th february)
• A new book of poetry by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins is negatively reviewed by leading critic Professor Kevin Kiely, who says the President "can be accused of crimes against literature".(10th february)
• The Guard wins The Guardian's annual First Film award.(10th february)
• The death toll of a boat sunk with more than 70 people from Samaná, Dominican Republic, trying to illegally enter Puerto Rico, reaches 47.(10th february)
• A group of South Korean lawmakers make a rare visit to North Korea's Kaesong Industrial Region.(10th february)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledges greater freedoms in Tibet, hours after two protesters are killed demanding the end of Chinese rule in the region; seven officials are also sacked for "neglecting state duties".(10th february)
• A Saudi blogger is detained by Malaysian police after fleeing Saudi Arabia for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad.(10th february)
• Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab says two Americans have been detained by Bahraini security forces and US Embassy is looking into the reports.(11th february)
• Activists in Egypt mark the first anniversary of the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in the 2011 Egyptian revolution with a strike and a day of civil disobedience.(11th february)
• American singer and actress Whitney Houston dies suddenly at the age of 48 at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel.(11th february)
• Thousands of people march in Japan against the resumption of nuclear reactors that were closed after the Fukushima disaster last year.(11th february)
• The Arab League meets in Cairo to discuss sending a joint mission to Syria with the United Nations.(12th february)
• The historic Attikon cinema in Athens is set on fire following demonstrations over the latest round of economic austerity measures proposed by the government.(12th february)
• The 54th Grammy Awards for music are held at the Staples Center in the U.S. city of Los Angeles, with some of the show being re-worked to commemorate the late Whitney Houston.(12th february)
• The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Film Awards is held in London with The Artist winning the Award for best film.(12th february)
• A senior aide to the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila, is killed, and the Finance Minister Matata Ponyo Mapon is injured in a plane crash near the town of Bukavu.(12th february)
• A teenage Tibetan Buddhist nun Tenzin Choedon dies after setting herself on fire in protest against Chinese rule of Tibet in Sichuan province.(12th february)
• In football, the final of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations played at Libreville, Gabon, between Zambia and Ivory Coast, with Zambia winning 8-7 on penalties in a shock result.(12th february)
• An explosion tears through an Israeli diplomat's car in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi, India; one woman is injured.(13th february)
• Explosives are found near the Israeli Embassy building in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi; the device is neutralized safely.(13th february)
• Beverly Hills police confirm Whitney Houston was underwater and unconscious when found in a bath in her Los Angeles hotel room last Saturday.(13th february)
• Barack Obama, the President of the United States, presents 16 people with the National Medal of Arts at the White House including actor Al Pacino, country music singer Mel Tillis and former United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove.(13th february)
• The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group announces plans to cut 1000 jobs in Australia.(13th february)
• The European Union and United States approve Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of smartphone maker Motorola.(13th february)
• The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani appears before the Supreme Court of Pakistan to face contempt of court charges.(13th february)
• The president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, wins a new five-year term with 97% of the vote, according to election officials.(13th february)
• The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by the cruiser Cape St. George and the destroyer Sterett, sails through the Strait of Hormuz, close to the coast of Iran, for the second time in recent weeks.(14th february)
• A new statue of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is unveiled in the capital Pyongyang.(14th february)
• China issues new regulations on foreign television programmes being aired in the country - banning all imported programmes during prime time.(14th february)
• The World Bank announces that its President, Robert Zoellick, is stepping down when his term ends in June.(14th february)
• FIFA warns the Argentine Football Association (AFA) against renaming their top league after the ARA General Belgrano cruiser on which hundreds of people were killed after it was sunk by a British nuclear submarine in 1982. FIFA says such a move might breach rules on mixing politics with football.(14th february)