Top News Stories –

Canadian MP suffers from reduced smalls –
A Canadian MP Pat Martin had to leave parliament urgently due to ill fitting underpants. The opposition MP found it impossible to sit through the voting process while wearing knickers bought in a half-price sale. After a swift re-adjustment he made it back in time to cast his ballot. True commando.
Pat Martin MP

Rihanna hits 27 –
Robyn Rihanna Fenty hits late thirties. She has sold over 30 million albums and 120 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time
Rihanna

Video of the Day –

Riding on Thin Air: Kelly McGarry + Jeremy Lyttle Take on Khardung La from Mercedes-Benz Films on Vimeo.

List of the day –

Rihanna’s biggest US sellers
1 We Found Love
2 Live Your Life
3 Love The Way You Lie
4 Umbrella
5 Disturbia
6 Take A Bow
7 Rude Boy
8 Only Girl (In The World)
9 What’s My Name?
10 S&M

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • Multiple car bombs kill at least 45 and wound 30 in the eastern Libyan town of Al Qubbah. (BBC), (AP)
• War in Donbass
  • Ukraine accuses Russia of sending more troops to eastern Ukraine with claims that additional troops and tanks were headed to the rebel held town of Novoazovsk. No video or photographic evidence was provided. (Reuters)
• War in Somalia (2009–present)
  • At least 20 people are killed, including senior officials, in an attack on the Central Hotel in Mogadishu. (BBC)

Business and economy

• The government of Greece and the authorities of the Eurozone reach a tentative agreement about the extension of thebailout terms. (Yahoo Finance)

• The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association negotiate a tentative contract and will open docks at western U.S. ports beginning on February 21. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2014–15 Australian region cyclone season
  • Cyclone Marcia makes landfall near Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland as a Category 5 tropical cyclone with wind gusts of up to 285 kilometres per hour. (ABC News Australia)
  • Cyclone Lam makes landfall in Arnhem Land between Millingimbi and Elcho Island. The communities of Raminginingand Galiwinku have also been badly damaged. (ABC News Australia)
• Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railwayscancelling some services. (Reuters)
• High tides cause the River Thames to flood in parts of southwest London. (Evening Standard)
• A fire rips through The Marina Torch apartment complex in Dubai, one of the tallest residential apartment buildings in the world. (BBC)
• At least 23 people die this week in the United States due to a cold snap with 18 dead in the state of Tennessee. (CNN)

Health

• Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa
  • Liberia lifts curfews and reopens borders from Sunday as the epidemic starts to end. (Daily Star)

Law and crime

• Australian rugby star Karmichael Hunt is arrested on charges of supplying cocaine following a Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission operation. (NZ Newswire via Yahoo! 7)
• Thailand passes a law banning foreigners from hiring Thai women as commercial surrogate mothers. (BBC)
• Zambia‘s top prosecutor Mutembo Nchito refuses to prosecute himself for alleged abuse of office. (AFP via France 24)

Politics and elections

• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • The Houthis come to a preliminary agreement to form a new government in Yemen. (CNN)

Sports

• In motor sport, NASCAR indefinitely suspends former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch following a conviction fordomestic violence against his girlfriend. (CNN)

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