Portal:Current events/2005 February 15

February 15, 2005 (Tuesday)

A state of emergency is announced in Samoa and American Samoa as South Pacific cyclones Olaf and Nancy make landfall on Savai'i. (CNN)
The Nigerian government will not rule out military actions against the coup regime in Togo if it does not comply with demands from West African leaders to step down. (AFROL)
The United States recalls its ambassador to Syria, Margaret Scobey, in protest of alleged Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. (Houston Chronicle) (AP)
At least 209 people die in a mining disaster in Fuxin City, in China's north-eastern Liaoning province. During the first nine months of 2004, an average of 15 people died every day in China's mines. (BBC)
The European Court of Human Rights, deciding about the so-called McLibel case, rules in favour of environmental campaigners Helen Steel and David Morris and their claim that their trial was unfair. The pair said their human rights were violated when their criticism of McDonald's was ruled libel. The case has taken 15 years. (BBC) (Scotsman)(CNN)
In South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki announces that the country's elite crime-fighting unit Scorpions will be investigated. There have been claims of political vendettas and mismanagement of funds. (AllAfrica) (IOL,SA) (BBC)
United States, India and European Union countries recall their ambassadors from Nepal in protest of the takeover by King Gyanendra. (Bloomberg) (World Peace Herald)(BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
Germany's foreign minister Joschka Fischer accepts political responsibility for immigration policies that allowed criminals to enter the European Union. (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters) (BBC) (Expatica)
Microsoft announces its intentions to release Internet Explorer version 7.0. This is seen by some as a response to the growing popularity of the Mozilla Firefox browser. (News.com) (Reuters UK)