Portal:Current events/2020 February 9

February 9, 2020 (Sunday)

Arts and culture

92nd Academy Awards
- At this year's Oscars, South Korean film Parasite wins the most awards, including Best Picture and Best International Film. It becomes the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Disasters and accidents

Storm Ciara
- Winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour have been recorded over much of the United Kingdom and Ireland, causing widespread damage and disruption. (BBC News)
- Thousands of homes and businesses have been flooded across northern England after Storm Ciara brought sustained heavy rainfall to the region. Worst affected were the Calder Valley settlements of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire. (BBC News)
- A man in Hampshire was killed when a tree fell onto his car on the A33 road as a result of high winds. (BBC News)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- The death toll of the coronavirus outbreak surpasses the death toll of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, at 910 deaths. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)

International relations

Cross-Strait relations
- Taiwan scrambles its air force to intercept Chinese jets after they circled the island during a combat drill. The drill is denounced by the Taiwanese Defense Ministry as a violation of its sovereignty. (Reuters)
Israel–Palestine relations
- Israel blocks all Palestinian export of agricultural products from the occupied West Bank following Palestinian limitations on imports of Israeli cattle. (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz)

Politics and elections

2020 Azerbaijani parliamentary election
- Azerbaijan holds a snap election after President Ilham Aliyev dissolved the National Assembly last December. The opposition accuses Aliyev of limiting their ability to campaign, and calls for boycotts against the election. (Reuters) (France24)
2020 Cameroonian parliamentary election
- After having been postponed twice, parliamentary elections are held in Cameroon. The ongoing Anglophone Crisis overshadows the process, with supporters of Ambazonia calling for a boycott of the election. (DW)
2020 Irish general election
- Counting of the first preference votes show Sinn Féin leading with 24.1% of the vote, ahead of ruling party Fine Gael and main opposition party Fianna Fáil, each with 22.1%. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claims victory, declaring that Ireland "is no longer a two-party system", and hopes to form a coalition government. (The Guardian)
2020 Swiss referendums, LGBT rights in Switzerland
- Swiss voters head to the polls to vote on a proposal to mandate quotas for affordable housing in new residential development projects, and whether to criminalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (BBC News) (Irish Times)
- The proposal to mandate quotas is rejected, the proposal to criminalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation passes. (BBC News)
President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele breaks into the Legislative Assembly with the Army and occupies the chair of the Speaker to demand the approval of a financial measure which couldn't pass earlier as there was no quorum. In a public release, the Presidency department calls for calm after a "demand of insurrection". The opposition accuses the president and the army of intimidation and a "self-coup". (El País) (BBC News) (The Washington Post) (The New York Times)

Science and technology

The United Launch Alliance successfully launches the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter (SolO) satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The probe will study the Sun, and in particular its inner heliosphere. (BBC News)