Upstract

"If it wasn't for the NHS, I don't think any of us would be leading the lives that we are." Monica Korpal says going from a career in banking to one in the NHS was the "best way to give back" following major illnesses experienced by her and her husband.

Reuters

Analysis: Biden faces calls to jumpstart North Korea talks with more pragmatic goals

Bloomberg

India led the world in internet shutdowns in 2020 as governments cracked down on political rivals and tried to suppress protests

The Independent

Greek ‘pushbacks’ brought to EU court after child refugees ‘placed back in boat and abandoned at sea’

Los Angeles Times

Majority white areas got more PPP business loan money than Latino areas, UCLA study says

ABC News

Google says it won’t develop new ways to follow individual users across the internet after it phases out existing ad tracking technology from Chrome browsers.

The Times

An Oxford academic has joined forces with the American rapper MC Hammer to criticise the British Museum for retaining stolen African treasures.

The Guardian

Sunak is an arsonist posing as a firefighter. It's Labour's job to expose the truth | Owen Jones

MSNBC

Beto O'Rourke says that Texas Gov. Abbott lifting mask mandate and announcing full reopening of state is a "death warrant for Texans" and criticized the governor's previous handling of the pandemic and aftermath of Texas' winter storm.

Daily Mirror

EXCLUSIVE: Royal aides 'incandescent' over Meghan Markle smear claims amid all-out war at Palace

The Sun

Five things hidden in the Budget including more expensive flights and no-interest loans

CNBC

10-year Treasury yield eases, but holds above 1.45% ahead of Powell's speech

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Real-Time

Peter Pan's Flight, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Disneyland Park, The Walt Disney Company

Welcome to another Wishables Wednesday! Today's release is all about the flying off for adventure on Disney's Peter Pan attractions. (Please note this article contains affiliate links. Your purchase will support LaughingPlace by providing us a small ...

Breast cancer, Mammography, Screening, Laszlo Tabar

Attending the two most recent screening appointments before a breast cancer diagnosis protects against breast cancer death, according to a Queen Mary study of over half a million Swedish women conducted over 24 years.

Boston Bruins, Vitek Vanecek, Washington Capitals, David Pastrňák

Pastrnak scored his 10th goal of the season in Wednesday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Capitals. Neither team got on the board until the third period, when Pastrnak beat Vitek Vanecek 79 seconds into the frame, but it was the only offense the Bruins could ...

Sevilla FC, FC Barcelona, Marc-André ter Stegen

The return of the semifinals of Copa del Rey between Barcelona and Seville has left a controversial move in the 70th minute when against Sevilla En Nesyri yields the ball for the arrival of Ocampos and Mingueza knocks him down when entering the area.

CBS All Access, Paramount Network

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019 file photo, Alex Kurtzman, from left, Heather Kadin, Anson Mount, Sonequa Martin-Green and Ethan Peck participate in the "Star Trek: Discovery" show panel during the CBS All Access presentation at the Television Critics ...

Law enforcement officials warn of new Capitol threat

Rand Paul blasts the Dems wasteful spending bill

SpaceX's Starship explodes shortly after landing

UN envoy: Forces are shooting people in cold blood in Myanmar

More

Armed conflicts and attacks

2021 Myanmar protests
- Thirty-eight protesters are shot dead and 30 more are wounded by the military and police as protests against the February 1 coup continue across the country. A meeting of ASEAN nations called for restraint of the security forces but failed to unanimously call for the release of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (BBC)
Vetlanda stabbing attack
- Eight people are wounded, some critically, after being attacked by a man with an axe in Vetlanda, Sweden. Authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. The perpetrator, a man in his 20s, is shot by police and arrested. (Euronews)
Colombian conflict
- Ten FARC dissidents are killed and three others are wounded when the Colombian Army bombs a base housing them in Calamar, Guaviare. (Al Jazeera)
2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis
- Ten rockets hit the al Asad Airbase hosting US-led coalition forces in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq. No one is directly killed or wounded by the strikes, but an American civilian contractor dies of a heart attack during the impact. (BBC)
Tigray War
- Following pressure from the international community, Ethiopia releases BBC reporter Girmay Gebru, AFP reporter Fitsum Berhane, Financial Times reporter Alula Akalu, local news reporter Tamirat Yemane and two translators without charge. No reason was given for their arrest, and it is still unclear if the four arrested with Girmay Gebru have been released. (BBC)

Businesses and economy

Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Economy of Australia
  - The Australian GDP contracted 1.1% in 2020 amid restrictions related to the pandemic. (The Guardian)
- Economy of Brazil
  - The Brazilian GDP contracts 4.1% in 2020 amid disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It is the country's third worst economic performance after 1981 (-4.25%) and 1990 (-4.35%). (France 24)
2021 United Kingdom budget
- Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivers the 2021 Spring budget to the House of Commons, announcing the government's tax and spending plans for the year ahead, as well as further COVID-19 support measures, including extending the furlough until the end of September and increasing the minimum wage beginning in April. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Ten people are killed in a plane crash in Jonglei State, South Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes central Greece and is felt in neighbouring countries. Most of the damage is reported in the Greek region of Thessaly. (AP News)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - COVID-19 vaccination in India
      - President Ram Nath Kovind receives his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (Hindustan Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    - Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announces the extension of the COVID-19 state of emergency in the Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, for the next two weeks as the number of new cases have not fallen sufficiently in order to lift the emergency. (Nikkei Asia)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan
    - Taiwan receives their first shipment of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative. (Focus Taiwan)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan
    - Uzbekistan surpasses 80,000 cases of COVID-19. (AKIPress)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Andorra
    - The Andorran government announces that they will receive 3,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from France. (Diari d'Andorra)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark
    - Denmark reports their first case of the Lineage P.1 variant first detected in Brazil in a person from the Capital Region. (CPH Post)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Montenegro
    - Montenegro receives 30,000 doses of the Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV vaccine donated by China. (See News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
    - Polish biotechnology company Mabion S.A. signs an agreement with Novavax to begin commercial-scale production trials for Novavax's future vaccine. (Bloomberg)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia
    - Slovakia imposes an overnight curfew from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am local time, in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The curfew will last until at least March 19. (MedicalXpress)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - The Government of Catalonia announces that 79,000 vaccinated persons were mistakenly recorded as COVID-19 cases. (El Periódico)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda
    - Rwanda receives their first shipment of 240,000 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative. (New Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Senegal
    - Senegal receives 324,000 doses of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - São Paulo governor João Doria announces that the entire state will revert to "red phase" restrictions, which means that all malls and non-essential businesses will be closed for two weeks beginning March 6 in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (The Rio Times)
China confirms an outbreak of African swine fever in Domestic pigs being illegally transported through Funing County in Yunnan province. (The Straits Times)

Law and crime

2021 Australian Parliament rape scandals
- Attorney-General, House Leader and Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter comes forward as the minister accused of raping a woman in 1988 who has since committed suicide, in an anonymous letter sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week. Porter denies the allegations and announces that he will be taking a mental health leave. (ABC Australia)
Terrorism in the Netherlands
- A pipe bomb explodes outside a COVID-19 test centre in Bovenkarspel, Netherlands, causing minor damage. No one is wounded in the explosion. (Al Jazeera)
Toronto van attack
- Alek Minassian is found guilty of murdering 10 people, and attempting to kill 16 more, in a vehicle-ramming attack. (Reuters)
Aftermath of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol
- The United States Capitol Police announces that it has obtained intelligence on a "possible plot" by an identified militia group to breach the United States Capitol building on the following day, March 4, which has recently been the subject of QAnon conspiracy theories. In response to the intelligence, the United States House of Representatives announces that it has ended its work for the week. (AP)
France bans far-right Identitarian nationalist group Génération Identitaire. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says the movement incites "discrimination, hatred and violence". (France 24)

Politics and elections

Freedom House, in its annual Freedom in the World report, downgrades India from "free" to "partially free". The report cites the rise in mob violence against Muslims, increased government interference in the judiciary, increased intimidation against journalists and activists, and the government's heavy-handed approach to COVID-19 lockdowns that left millions of migrants stranded as the main reasons for the downgrade. (France 24) (BBC)
Hungary's ruling party Fidesz withdraws from the conservative European Parliament bloc European People's Party (EPP), after the EPP changed its rules to allow it to expel a party's entire delegation. Fidesz's membership had been suspended since 2019 after it accused then-European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and philanthropist George Soros of conspiring to "flood" Europe with migrants during a national campaign. (DW)