Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation, effective February 28 at 8pm CET (7pm UTC). He will become the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
Monaco In Monaco's parliamentary elections, Horizon Monaco alliance wins 50.3% of the vote, 20 of 24 seats in the National Council.
Shot dead A mass shooting takes place at a courthouse in New Castle County, Delaware, United States, where a gunman shot and killed two women and injures two police officers. He is later found dead at the scene.
Guinean military Six top Guinean military officials, including the head of the Guinean armed forces, are killed in a plane crash in Liberia.
Cilvegözü An explosion in a vehicle at the Cilvegözü border gate kills 14 civilians (eleven Syrians and three Turks), and injures more than 25 others in Reyhanlı district of Hatay Province, Turkey. The gate is on the Turkish–Syrian border.
Gao Insurgents launch an attack on the strategic city of Gao, capturing a police station and sparking a day-long firefight that included Malian troops, as well as French attack helicopters.