Current events of 4 February 2009 (2009-02-04) (Wednesday) edit history watch

2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict: An Israel Defense Force investigation concludes that the attack on Izzeldin Abuelaish was reasonable. (Jerusalem Post) The United Nations backtracks on a claim that a deadly Israeli Defense Force strike hit a Gaza school. (Haaretz) Hamas police storm a United Nations warehouse in Gaza and seize blankets and food intended for Palestinian civilians. (Haaretz) Late 2000s recession The United States Treasury moves to broaden its debt ranging options to raise the trillions of dollars needed to cope with the current recession. (Reuters) German legendary model train manufacturer Märklin goes bankrupt after the failure of long-running restructuring efforts. (Der Spiegel) (Financial Times) Panasonic Corp. announces plans to shut down 27 plants throughout the world and slash 15,000 jobs due to a slump in demand for its electronic products resulting from the worldwide recession. (AP via Google News) Icelandic retail group Baugur has applied to a district court in Reykjavik to enter into a moratorium process. (Sky News) Unemployment in Ireland sees the highest monthly increase in 40 years, with the equivalent of 1,500 people being laid off daily. (RTÉ) Russian financial crisis of 2008-2009: Fitch Ratings downgrades Russia's long-term foreign and local currency ratings to BBB and places its outlook on negative. (Dow Jones via Easy Bourse) Samira Ahmed Jassim, who allegedly recruited more than 80 suicide bombers, is arrested in Iraq. (Times Online) The High Court of Justice alleges British resident Benyam Mohammed was tortured and that the US threatened to withdraw intelligence help from the United Kingdom if details were released. (BBC) A senior British Army officer is arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of breaking the Official Secrets Act by leaking information on civilian casualties to a human rights campaigner. (Press Association via The Guardian) Sri Lankan artillery attacks in the last 24 hours in the Vanni result in the deaths of at least 52 Tamils. (The Guardian) Latvia's Minister of Agriculture resigns in the wake of growing protests by farmers. (BBC) The director of Somalia's independent HornAfrik radio station, Said Tahlil Ahmed, is killed in Mogadishu. (BBC) An estimated 15,000 students in Dublin, Ireland, protest the threatened reintroduction of university fees. (RTÉ) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announces a commission to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. (AFP via Google News) Fossils from Colombia reveal Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered. (Nature) German public television station ZDF reports that Nazi fugitive Aribert Heim died in 1992. (AFP via Google News) Eight trucks are attacked en route to Afghanistan by suspected Taliban militants. (BBC News)