February 21, 2025 (Friday)

2.5 minutes to read

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israel says that forensic testing revealed one of the bodies returned by Hamas yesterday does not match with Shiri Bibas nor with any other hostages. Her sons Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, were all positively identified. Israel accuses Hamas of violating the ceasefire and demands the return of her body along with the other remaining hostages.

(BBC News)

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Hamas claims that Shiri's body was "mistakenly mixed" with others who were killed and buried under the rubble in Gaza, and returns an additional body the group says is hers. The identity was soon afterwards positively confirmed by Israel.

(Al Arabiya), (BBC News)

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A 30-year-old Spanish tourist is seriously injured in a stabbing attack at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Germany. A 19-year-old Syrian man is arrested, and a motive is investigated.

(AP), (DW)

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Business and economy

The Financial Action Task Force removes the Philippines from its grey list and adds Laos and Nepal to the list.

(Reuters)

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The United States Department of Defense announces it will jointly lay off 4,500 probationary workers, cutting 5-8% of the civilian workforce. The United States Forest Service also announces it will lay off 2,000 employees.

(AP)

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Disasters and accidents

Twelve people are killed and twenty-one others were injured in a bus crash in São Paulo, Brazil.

(TRT World)

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At least four people are killed and 79 others are injured after a roof collapses at the Real Plaza Trujillo shopping mall in Trujillo, Peru.

(Metro)

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Health and environment

South Sudan orders the closure of all schools in the country for two weeks due to a heat wave, with temperatures expected to reach 42 °C (108 °F).

(DW)

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A norovirus outbreak with a large number of ill passengers is reported on the MS Iona cruise ship in Belgium.

(Metro)

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International relations

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan sign an agreement to delimitate their border, solving a decades-old border dispute that had sparked clashes between different ethnic groups that had killed over a hundred people.

(Trend News Agency), (Reuters)

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Egypt, Jordan, and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to address possible future developments in the Gaza Strip.

(The Times of Israel)

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Law and crime

South Korean police file a case against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for obstructing his arrest warrant.

(Reuters)

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Demonstrations continue against the government in several cities in Indonesia. Nine students have been arrested and two are injured, along with four injured policemen and two parliament members.

(Tempo), (Barron's)

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Three people are killed in a shooting outside of a motor vehicle office in Louisville, Kentucky, United States.

(The Independent)

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American news agency The Associated Press files a lawsuit for freedom of speech against three Trump administration officials after they banned the news agency from attending presidential press events after the agency refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America".

(AP), (NPR)

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Veolia Water agrees to pay $53 million in settlement for all remaining active class action lawsuits for the contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, United States, but refuses to acknowledge any fault in the crisis.

(AP), (WNEM)

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The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil orders the suspension of online video platform Rumble for refusing to comply to court orders and for refusing to remove the account of Brazilian fugitive Allan dos Santos.

(AP)

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Hadi Matar is found guilty by a U.S. jury of attempted murder and assault for his stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie in 2022.

(ABC News)

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Two police officers are killed in a shooting during a traffic stop in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States.

(CTV News)

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Politics and elections

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces the removal of multiple senior U.S. officers from their current roles, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr. and the Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti.

(CNN)

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Science and technology

The European Space Agency announces that the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth in 2032 has decreased to 1.5% (1-in-67), and is likely to decrease further to less than 1%.

(Nature)

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February 21, 2025 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Business and economy

Disasters and accidents

Health and environment

International relations

Law and crime

Politics and elections

Science and technology