Portal:Current events/2011 February 8

• A suspected US spy drone crashes near the south Yemen town of Loder with witnesses claiming that Al-Qaeda removed the wreckage. (AFP via Google News)
• Dokka Umarov, a Chechen warlord and one of Russia's most wanted men, claims responsibility for the bombing at Domodedovo International Airport last month. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Violence erupts at a blasphemy trial in Temanggung, central Java with three churches destroyed. (Jakarta Post)

• Volkswagen agrees on a new contract with the union IG Metall, including a 3.2 percent increase in base pay for its employees. (NY Times)
• Ultimate Electronics, a United States electronics retail chain, has applied to a bankruptcy court for permission to close all of its 46 stores. (Las Vegas Sun)
• The London Stock Exchange in the United Kingdom is in advanced talks to merge with the TMX Group that operates Canada's two stock exchanges in Montreal and Toronto. (Bloomberg via Business Week)

• Drought hits Central China. Part of the Xiangjiang River dried-up in Changsha, Hunan province. (China Daily)
• An Indonesian ferry carrying 226 passengers from Tanjung Priok to Bangka Belitung catches fire. (Jakarta Post)
• A snow storm hits the Mountain West and Great Plains areas of the United States. (CNN)

• Dinosaur, Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons on Blu-ray and DVD

• Officials from North Korea and South Korea meet in Panmunjom for military-level talks. (CNN) (Yonhap)
• Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy calls for talks with Western nations about possible changes to sanctions against Burma. (AFP via News Limited)
• Taiwan arrests Major General Lo Hsieh-che, head of the Taiwanese Army's electronic communications and information department, for allegedly leaking secrets to the People's Republic of China. (South China Morning Post)
• Several dozen Rohingya boat refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar are accepted to India at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands after being detained by the Thai Navy and rejected at sea, but face repatriation to Bangladesh. (The Canadian Press) (BBC) (The Ecologist)

• The lawyer for former Liberian President Charles Taylor walks out of court protesting that his client's rights to a fair trial had been abused. (Reuters)
• The Mexican Army rescues 44 Guatemalan immigrants in Reynosa in northern Mexico. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

• The Israeli Knesset approves the "Bishara Bill", which would revoke the pension payments of Knesset members if they fail to appear at criminal proceedings held against them, or if convicted of severe felonies. (Ynetnews)
• 2011 Egyptian protests
  • The protests continue in Egypt for a fifteenth day, hours after a detained Google executive is released with the crowds the biggest yet. (Al Jazeera), (New York Times)
  • The Vice President of Egypt Omar Suleiman promises that the government will not pursue protesters. (MSNBC)
  • Human Rights Watch claims that government-controlled health services in Egypt have been 'told to downplay protest deaths'. (ABC News Australia)
• Former Philippines Cabinet Secretary Angelo Reyes dies following an apparent suicide attempt possibly prompted by a scandal over alleged military corruption. (Philippines Star), (Philippines Inquirer), (GMA News)
• George Osborne, the United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer, announces that the tax on bank profits will become permanent. (Sky News)
• British Labour MP Eric Illsley resigns his seat two days before he is due to be sentenced for dishonestly claiming parliamentary expenses, thus triggering a by-election. (BBC)
• The United States House of Representatives fails to pass extensions of key provisions of the USA Patriot Act by the necessary two-thirds majority. (Bloomberg)
• Brazilian environmentalists and indigenous rights activists protest against the Belo Monte Dam in Brasilia. (CNN)