February 3, 2012 (Friday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- Insurgency in the North Caucasus: The Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov orders his subordinates to halt attacks on the civilian population of Russia, while leaving military and security personnel as legitimate targets.(RFE/RL)
- Egyptian protests:
- Egyptian police shoot and kill two protesters in Suez, the first deaths to occur as protests spring up over the Port Said Stadium clashes. (AP via Atlanta Journal Constitution)[permanent dead link]
- Nearly 400 people are injured in similar protests in Cairo. (BBC)
- Five people are killed and 1,700 injured in clashes resulting from the incident in Port Said. (Al-Jazeera)
- Seven Pakistan Army soldiers are killed and three others wounded following a Taliban attack in the Kurram Agency. (Dawn)
- The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights claims that more than 100 people have been killed in shelling in the city of Homs. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Hungarian airline Malév ceases operation as its aircraft are grounded due to unpaid debts. (Reuters)
- Stocks rise sharply in the United States following positive jobs information with the Nasdaq Composite reaching its highest level since 2000 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearing levels last reached in 2008. (Wall Street Journal)
- In the United States, employers added over 240,000 jobs in the month of January and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, the lowest percent in three years. (CNN)
Disasters
- An official from Papua New Guinea's maritime safety authority estimates that 100 people were trapped aboard the ferry MV Rabaul Queen which sank off the northeast coast yesterday. (Reuters via Alertnet)
- 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. (AAP via Melbourne Herald-Sun), (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- At least three people die and 50 are injured after a passenger train derails in the Kamrup district in India's Assam state. (NDTV)
- Highways in the US state of Colorado are closed due to heavy snowfall including the I-70. (9 News)[permanent dead link]
Law and crime
- 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. (BBC)
- Major General Michael Linnington orders a court martial for US Private Bradley Manning responsible for leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to Wikileaks. (Baltimore Sun)
- US Federal prosecutors drop an investigation of cycling champion Lance Armstrong for alleged use of performance enhancing substances. (USA Today)
- Catholic Church sex abuse cases in the United States
- The Archdiocese of Milwaukee faces 550 abuse claims in bankruptcy proceeding. The archdiocese has asked the court to dismiss up to 95% of the claims, saying that they are excluded by the statute of limitations or because the alleged molesters were not priests. (Catholic World News), (New York Times)
Politics
- Chris Huhne, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, resigns after the Crown Prosecution Service announces it will bring charges against him and his wife over claims she accepted penalty points on her driving licence for speeding on his behalf. (BBC)
- Thousands of Bahrainis hold a peaceful protest in Manama calling for political reform and release of political prisoners. (Al-Jazeera)
Sport
- 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. (BBC Sport)
- The Daily Mail reports that the world record for the number of water skiers pulled by a single boat (145) has been broken. (Daily Mail)