Portal:Current events/2023 February 14

Armed conflicts and attacks

• High-altitude object events in 2023
  • 2023 Romania and Moldova high-altitude objects
    • The Romanian Air Force unsuccessfully attempts to intercept an unidentified flying object detected roughly 11,000 metres (6.8 mi) above southeastern Romania. (Reuters)
    • Moldova temporarily closes its airspace after receiving reports of a "balloon-like object". (Reuters)
• 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Battle of Bakhmut
    • Ukrainian forces blow up a bridge located between Bakhmut and Kostiantynivka as Russian troops and Wagner Group fighters advance on the city. (The Guardian)
• Syrian civil war
  • Iranian involvement in the Syrian civil war
    • United States Central Command says U.S. forces have shot down an Iranian UAV near a patrol base and oil field in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. (Newsweek)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Three Pakistani Taliban members are killed by fellow militants who were trying to free them while being transported from Miranshah to Bannu, Pakistan by counter-terrorism officers. Four of the attackers are also killed in the ensuing shootout. (Tribune)

Disasters and accidents

• 2022–23 South Pacific cyclone season
  • A national state of emergency is declared in New Zealand for only the third time in the country's history as Cyclone Gabrielle affects the country. (AFP via RFI) (Al Jazeera)
• Twenty people are killed and 68 others injured in a head-on collision between a tour bus and an armoured cash-in-transit van in Makhado, Limpopo, South Africa. (BBC News)

International relations

• China–Philippines relations
  • Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
    • Philippine president Bongbong Marcos summons Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian following a China Coast Guard vessel's alleged use of a laser weapon on a Philippine ship in the South China Sea. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• Phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles
  • The European Parliament formally approves a law to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in the European Union from 2035, citing the need to combat climate change in Europe and promote electric vehicles. (Reuters)
• Sri Lanka announces a ban on disposable cutlery, cocktail shakers, and artificial plants beginning in June, citing the risk of plastic pollution on its wildlife. (AFP via RFI)

Politics and elections

• 2024 United States elections
  • 2024 United States presidential election
    • 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries
      • Nikki Haley 2024 presidential campaign
        • Former Governor of South Carolina and United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley officially announces her run for president in the upcoming 2024 election. She is the first major Republican challenger to former president Donald Trump. (CNN)
  • 2024 United States Senate elections
    • California senator Dianne Feinstein announces that she will not seek re-election in 2024 after thirty years in office. (Reuters)