Portal:Current events/2019 February 27
February 27, 2019 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2019 India–Pakistan standoff
- The Pakistani Air Force announces it has carried out airstrikes against Indian-held Kashmir, shooting down two Indian aircraft and capturing one pilot following a dogfight. Indian officials confirm one of their plane has crashed, killing both pilots on board. Indian media claim India has shot down a Pakistani F-16 that violated its airspace. (Bloomberg) (ANI)
- An Indian Air Force Mi-17 transport helicopter crashes in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing all six IAF personnel onboard and a civilian on the ground. (Hindustan Times)
- Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Israel–Russia relations
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will "continue to take action against Iran in Syria". (The Times of Israel)
Disasters and accidents
- Ramses Station train collision
- A train crash and subsequent fire kills at least 25 people at Ramses Station in Cairo, Egypt. (BBC)
- Egyptian Transport Minister Hisham Arafat resigns as result of the crash. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly accepts the resignation. (Africa News)
- 2019 Taplejung helicopter crash
- A helicopter crashes in Taplejung, Nepal, killing 7 people, including Nepal's culture and tourism minister Rabindra Prasad Adhikari. (New York Times)
- A suspected gas explosion in Taraz, Kazakhstan, kills three people in an apartment block. (RFERL)
- Disasters in Indonesia
- A landslide hits an illegal gold mine in North Sulawesi, Sulawesi, Indonesia. An estimated 60 people are trapped underground as shafts give way, while three others are found dead. (Sky News)
- Two trains travelling in opposite directions strike a car that drove around lowered barriers on the Long Island Rail Road. One train subsequently collides with a concrete station platform. Three car occupants are killed; seven train occupants are injured. (The New York Times)
International relations
- 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit
- U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet face-to-face for the first time since their summit last year. (CNBC)
- Brexit negotiations
- MPs in the House of Commons meet to discuss UK Prime Minister Theresa May's latest proposed deal for the state's departure from the European Union. May says if this proposal and a 'no deal' scenario are both rejected by MPs they will be granted a vote on extending the departure deadline beyond the current one of March 29. (BBC)
- Conservative MP Alberto Costa tables an amendment to secure the rights of EU citizens within the UK and UK citizens abroad. Theresa May tells Commons she opposes the amendment; Home Secretary Sajid Javid subsequently supports it, apparently unaware of May's opposition. Costa resigns as parliamentary private secretary to Scotland secretary David Mundell, who supports the amendment. The government subsequently announces it will support the amendment. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2019)
- U.S. President Donald Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, is prepared to testify that Trump was aware of longtime adviser Roger Stone's efforts to make contact with WikiLeaks in advance of its release of damaging information about Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, according to a copy of his public testimony submitted to Congress and obtained by CNN. (CNN)
- Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom
- Terrorism in Israel, Human rights in Israel
- Shin Bet arrest lawyer Tarek Barghout, an attorney who has represented terror suspects, and a Palestinian man named Zakaria Zubeidi for what it calls "their involvement in serious and current terrorist activities." (The Times of Israel)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- Juan Guaidó announces that he will exercise his "duties as president" when he returns to Venezuela from Colombia. Guaidó also stated that he did not see any signs of "broad support" from Russia towards Nicolás Maduro. (CNN), (Forbes)
- Colombia asks for intervention from the United Nations to help end the crisis. (Reuters)
- Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party
- Chris Williamson, a Labour MP, is suspended by his party over comments that Labour had "given too much ground" when responding to criticism over its handling of antisemitism within its ranks. (BBC)