February 7, 2012 (Tuesday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- 2011-2012 Syrian uprising
- Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, visits Damascus to hold discussions with the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad about the current violence. (Reuters)
- Lavrov claims to have achieved a commitment from Assad to end the violence. (AFP via The Australian)
- The city of Homs remains under siege with heavy gunfire reported. (Sky News)
- France, Spain, Netherlands and Italy recall their ambassadors for more consultations. (Reuters), (The Guardian), (AFP via the Australian)
- The Gulf Arab states withdraw their ambassadors. (BBC)
- Maldives police mutiny
- Maldives National Defence Force soldiers fire rubber bullets at police officers demonstrating in the capital Malé who are defying an order by President Mohamed Nasheed to crack down on protests. (AP via Google News)
- Nasheed later resigns on national television as the unrest spreads with the mutinying officers gaining control of state television. (BBC)
- The former Vice President of the Maldives Mohammed Waheed Hassan is sworn in vowing to uphold the "rule of law". (BBC)
- A standoff between security forces and striking policemen occupying the state legislature continues in Salvador, Brazil. (Al Jazeera)
- Tuareg Rebellion (2011–present): 22,000 people flee fighting in Mali to neighbouring countries. (IOL)
Business and economy
- Greek government debt crisis: discussions among the three parties within the ruling coalition in Greece are postponed, at least in part because the paperwork wasn't ready. (Reuters)
Disasters
- Rescuers in the Philippines search for survivors of the 2012 Negros Oriental earthquake with the death toll so far confirmed at 43. (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
- The death toll from a factory collapse in the Pakistani city of Lahore rises to 17 with 20 more people trapped in the rubble. (AAP via Yahoo7 News)
International relations
- Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the President of Argentina, states that Argentina will lodge a complaint with the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly about the alleged "militarisation" of the area around the Falkland Islands by the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Law and crime
- The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturns California's Proposition 8 banning gay marriage in that state. (Los Angeles Times)
- Manssor Arbabsiar will face a trial on October 22 in the United States for his role in the 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot against the Saudi Arabian ambassador. (AFP via France 24)[permanent dead link]
Politics and elections
- U.S. Republican Party presidential primaries
- Republican Party voters in Colorado participate in caucuses with 36 delegates at stake - Santorum wins, with Mitt Romney placing second. (9 News)[permanent dead link], (The Guardian), (BBC), (Denver Post)
- Republican voters in the state of Minnesota participate in caucuses with 40 delegates at stake - Rick Santorum is projected to win. (NPR), (The Guardian), (Fox News)
- Voters in the state of Missouri vote in a non-binding primary with Rick Santorum winning the most votes. (Joplin Globe), (Reuters)
- The French Cabinet walks out of the National Assembly after Socialist Party MP Serge Letchimy accuses Interior Minister Claude Guéant of flirting with Nazi ideology in his statement that "not all civilisations are of equal value". (The Guardian)
- The Iranian parliament summons president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over economic policy, in the first such summons since the Iranian Revolution. (Al Arabiya)
- An anti-gay bill is reintroduced in the Ugandan parliament after it was previously withdrawn. (GlobalPost)
- The United States Congress votes to pass legislation allowing for greater use of drone aircraft in the United States. (New York Daily News)