Top News Stories –

Hapless US sailors rescued for ninth time during bid to cross the Atlantic –
Two ‘Captain Calamity’ sailors have been rescued for a ninth time in seven months while trying to sail from Norway to America. Bungling Bob Weise and Steve Shapiro, both 71, managed to set their boat on fire having left a candle burning while it was moored, just the latest in a long line of mishaps to delay their sailing adventure. The hapless US yachtsmen set off from Scandinavia in their 40ft sailing boat Nora for a ‘last hurrah’ expedition last July but have since endured a catalogue of disasters. Their 18-ton boat suffered “considerable” damage in the latest incident after it tipped over while in Hayle Harbour, Cornwall, exacerbated by the fact they had left a candle burning when they popped ashore for groceries. [Daily Telegraph]

Record-breaking $6.2M raised for mental health during Bell Let’s Talk Day –
It’s a new Bell Let’s Talk Day record. Bell says 125,915,295 calls, texts, tweets and shares on Wednesday raised $ 6,295,764.75 for Canadian mental health. “I’m truly overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of the non-stop conversation about mental health this year and by what we’ve all built together,” said Clara Hughes, Canada’s six-time Olympic medalist and Bell Let’s Talk national spokesperson since the initiative began in 2010. [CTV News Windsor] See Top Twitter Trends

Video of the Day –

Jurassic Parkour

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • Suicide bombers blow themselves up in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, killing at least 13 and injuring at least 30 others. (AFP via Yahoo) (Reuters)
  • Cameroon closes most of its northern markets on the Nigerian border. (The News) (Voice of America)

Business and economy

• Shareholders of Royal Dutch Shell approve that company’s acquisition of BG Group, a deal expected to close on February 15. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• January 2016 United States blizzard
  • The death toll from the blizzard that hit the Eastern United States rises to 50. (AP)

Health

• Zika virus outbreak
  • Several Zika virus cases have been reported in Denmark, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. (RT)

International relations

• China–United States relations
  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agree, on principle, that a strong United Nations Security Council resolution is needed regarding North Korea’s nuclear test earlier this month. (Reuters) (CNN)

Law and crime

• Human rights in Iran
  • Amnesty International reports that at least 160 young Iranians are currently awaiting execution and 73 others have been put to death between 2005 and 2015, which including sentencing girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 to death. (The Huffington Post)

Politics and elections

• Hilda Heine is elected President of the Marshall Islands by Parliament, becoming the country’s first female president, as well as the first woman to serve as president of any Micronesian country. She succeeds outgoing President Casten Nemra, who lost a vote of no confidence on January 26. (Radio New Zealand International)
• November 2015 Paris attacks
  • Christiane Taubira, differing with President François Hollande concerning pending terrorist/citizenship legislation, resigns as the Minister of Justice in France. (France 24) (CNN)
• Vietnam reelects conservative Nguyễn Phú Trọng as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, a member of the Politburo, is expected to replaceNguyễn Tấn Dũng as prime minister. Dũng is not eligible for another term. (AP via ABC News) (Channel NewsAsia)

Science and technology

• Artificial intelligence
  • A computer program called AlphaGo, powered by DeepMind, beats the European Go champion Fan Hui, 5-0. This is the first time artificial intelligence has defeated a professional player in this ancient Chinese abstract strategy board game. (BBC) (MIT Technology Review)

Sports

• Association of Tennis Professionals, Women’s Tennis Association
  • In tennis, the sport’s governing bodies launch an independent inquiry into the anti-corruption unit following a report published by the BBC and BuzzFeed about allegations of failing to pursue allegations ofmatch fixing. (ABC Australia)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource