## [2018-02-20](/feed/2018/02/20/index.md)

##### 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
### [Anna Gabriel, former member Parliament of Catalonia for Popular Unity Candidacy and Catalan independentism leader, flees to Switzerland before declaring before the Supreme Court of Spain amid rebellion and desobedience crime. ](/feed/2018/02/20/anna-gabriel-former-member-parliament-of-catalonia-for-popular-unity-candidacy-and-catalan-independentism-leader-flees.md)
##### Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
### [Families and students from Parkland, Florida, begin arriving in Tallahassee, the Florida State Capitol, for advocacy meetings with lawmakers and other State officials. During Tuesday's legislative session, the Republican-controlled Florida House defeated, by a party-line vote, a motion to debate assault weapons ban legislation, 71–36. ](/feed/2018/02/20/families-and-students-from-parkland-florida-begin-arriving-in-tallahassee-the-florida-state-capitol-for-advocacy-mee.md)
##### U.S. Special Counsel investigation
### [Attorney Alex van der Zwaan pleads guilty in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to making false statements to the FBI during the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Specifically, the charges are that he lied to investigators about his interactions with political consultant and lobbyist Rick Gates and an unidentified Ukrainian-based associate of Paul Manafort. ](/feed/2018/02/20/attorney-alex-van-der-zwaan-pleads-guilty-in-the-us-district-court-in-washington-dc-to-making-false-statements-to.md)
##### Gun politics in the United States
### [U.S. President Donald Trump orders the Department of Justice to prepare regulations to ban devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to become fully automatic, such as the bump stocks used in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. ](/feed/2018/02/20/us-president-donald-trump-orders-the-department-of-justice-to-prepare-regulations-to-ban-devices-that-allow-semi-autom.md)
##### Court
### [A court in Thailand awards a Japanese man paternity rights over 13 of his children from Thai surrogate mothers. ](/feed/2018/02/20/a-court-in-thailand-awards-a-japanese-man-paternity-rights-over-13-of-his-children-from-thai-surrogate-mothers.md)
##### Corruption in Latvia
### [Latvia will ask the European Central Bank not to renew the mandate of ECB Governing Council member Ilmārs Rimšēvičs, the head of the central Bank of Latvia since 2001, amid an ECB payment moratorium and an U.S. graft investigation into Latvia's third-largest lender, ABLV. On 19 January, Rimšēvičs was released on bail. ](/feed/2018/02/20/latvia-will-ask-the-european-central-bank-not-to-renew-the-mandate-of-ecb-governing-council-member-ilmars-rimsevics-the.md)
##### 2018 Mount Sinabung eruption
### [Indonesia's Mount Sinabung has a massive eruption, completely destroying the volcano's peak, with ash reaching over 7 km high. Much of the surrounding area is covered with ash. ](/feed/2018/02/20/indonesia-s-mount-sinabung-has-a-massive-eruption-completely-destroying-the-volcano-s-peak-with-ash-reaching-over-7-km.md)
##### Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704
### [Iranian forces have spotted the wreckage of the missing Aseman Airliner 30 meters below a hilltop on mount Dena. Helicopters could not land yet at the crash site due to weather and topographical conditions. 65 people are feared dead. ](/feed/2018/02/20/iranian-forces-have-spotted-the-wreckage-of-the-missing-aseman-airliner-30-meters-below-a-hilltop-on-mount-dena-helicop.md)
##### 2017–18 South Pacific cyclone season
### [Seven regions in New Zealand declare states of emergency as Cyclone Gita makes landfall. ](/feed/2018/02/20/seven-regions-in-new-zealand-declare-states-of-emergency-as-cyclone-gita-makes-landfall.md)
##### Economic policy
### [Venezuela launches its Petro cryptocurrency, which it claims is the world's first sovereign cryptocurrency. ](/feed/2018/02/20/venezuela-launches-its-petro-cryptocurrency-which-it-claims-is-the-world-s-first-sovereign-cryptocurrency.md)
##### Civil war
### [Pro-Syrian government forces are sent to help the Kurdish YPG fight against Turkey and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army in the Afrin Region. This action opens up a new front in the war. ](/feed/2018/02/20/pro-syrian-government-forces-are-sent-to-help-the-kurdish-ypg-fight-against-turkey-and-the-turkish-backed-free-syrian-ar.md)
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