Portal:Current events/2009 February 6
February 6, 2009 (Friday)
- Sweden ends its moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants. (Financial Times)
- The United States Food and Drug Administration approves ATryn, the first drug made using genetically engineered animals. (Reuters)
- Late 2000s recession:
- U.S. President Barack Obama creates the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. (ABC News)
- The U.S. economy lost 598,000 jobs during January 2009, with unemployment rising to 7.6 percent. (New York Times)
- Canada's economy lost 129,000 jobs during January 2009, an all-time record, with unemployment rising to 7.2 percent. (AP via Google News)
- Bankruptcies in the United Kingdom rose during 2008 by 50 percent to an all-time high. (ABC News Australia)
- California's Alliance Bank and Georgia's FirstBank are closed, raising the number of 2009 U.S. bank failures to eight. (Reuters)
- A teething drug is withdrawn from circulation after killing 84 Nigerian children in three months. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is released from house arrest in Islamabad. (BBC)
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits Iraq to meet with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (AFP via Google News)
- Sri Lanka's government refuses to negotiate with the Tamil Tigers at what it calls a "crucial and final stage" of the ongoing civil war. (Sky News)
- Russia's government will allow the U.S. Armed Forces to ship nonlethal equipment to Afghanistan through Russian territory. (International Herald Tribune)
- Somali pirates will release the MV Blue Star and her crew of 28 Egyptians upon receiving a ransom. (IHT) (Melbourne Herald Sun)
- The USS Port Royal runs aground off Hawaii. (Inquisitr)
- Chief Minister of Perak, Malaysia, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is forcibly removed from office and threatens legal action. (BBC)
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu will help establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Solomon Islands. (Radio Australia)