Retired U.S. basketball star Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday. The Sikorsky S-76B was flying to Bryant’s sports academy north of Los Angeles.

The UK will release three million Brexit coins when the country officially leaves the European Union. The launch is third time lucky after two failed attempts at unveiling the new currency.

The coronavirus outbreak that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, in the province of Hubei, has killed 81 people in China so far and infected more than 2,750 globally, most of them in China.

Newly available data suggests China is now the world’s second-largest arms producer, behind the U.S. and ahead of Russia. China was omitted from previous rankings over its lack of transparency.

Billie Eilish dominated the Grammy Awards with five wins, including best new artist, song of the year with ”Bad Guy,” and best pop vocal album with “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.”

China is swiftly building a 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to patients infected with a new virus that has killed 26 people, sickened hundreds and prompted unprecedented lockdowns of cities.

Amazon says its music streaming service has more than 55 million global customers, marking the first time it has shared such growth data, closing the gap between it and market leaders Spotify and Apple.

The Doomsday Clock -- which indicates how close our planet is to catastrophe -- is now only 100 seconds away from midnight. The clock now stands at its closest to the apocalypse since it began ticking in 1947.

China has closed off the city of Wuhan, home to over 11 million people, in an effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness spreading rapidly in the Lunar New Year travel rush. At least four other cities are also under restrictions.

Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most infamous of all Nazi concentration and extermination camps. Its victims are commemorated on January 27 -- Holocaust Memorial Day -- the date of its liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.

Built between 1940-42 by occupying Nazi forces near the town of Oswiecim in southern Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau became the centrepiece of Adolf Hitler’s so-called Generalplan Ost or Master Plan East.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the leading greenhouse gas heating the planet. Six other gases are much more powerful but less abundant. In 2018, greenhouse gas emissions reached 51.8 billion tonnes.

The White House plans to add seven countries to a long-disputed
travel ban enacted shortly after President Trump’s inauguration in 2017,
which created an uproar for targeting Muslim-majority nations.

February sees the Iowa caucuses, parliamentary elections in Iran, cuts to U.S. tariffs under a new trade deal with China, and Japan Airlines offering free round-trip domestic flight tickets to Tokyo Olympics visitors.

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma goes on trial, Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival kicks off, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft is due to launch and the Oscars are awarded in Los Angeles.

Britain’s government is set to make a final decision on whether to go ahead with construction of HS2, amid warnings the new high-speed rail link could cost more than £100 billion ($130 billion).

New streaming service Disney+ is to launch on March 24 in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland – a week earlier than originally planned. It will be priced at €6.99/£5.99 per month.

Brexit may soon cost the United Kingdom in lost economic growth almost as much as its total payments to the European Union budget over the past 47 years, according to Bloomberg Economics.

The past decade was the hottest on record, and 2019 was the second-warmest year ever -- just 0.04 degrees Celsius shy of the record set in 2016, and nearly 1°C higher than the 20th-century average.

A combination of aircraft including helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and larger air-tankers, able to reach the most inaccessible regions, provide a crucial role in battling Australia’s worst bushfires on record.

Five candidates are vying to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party. The result of the contest will be announced at a special party conference on April 4.

Todd Phillips’ box-office smash “Joker” topped the list with 11 Oscar nominations, while Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”, Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood” and Sam Mendes’ “1917” received 10 nods each.

British taxpayers pay an annual Sovereign Grant to the Royal Household to support the monarch’s official business. In 2018-19, the Royal Family cost £67 million, an increase of £19.6 million (41%) compared to the previous year.

Egypt’s New Administrative Capital is being built from scratch in the desert 35km east of Cairo. Covering 700 square kilometres, the city is designed to alleviate congestion in Cairo.

Wales host Italy at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Ireland tackle Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and England travel to the Stade de France in Paris to take on France in the opening round of fixtures.

The San Francisco 49ers, seeking a record-equalling sixth Vince Lombardi trophy, take on the Kansas City Chiefs, aiming for their first Super Bowl victory since 1970, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

World No.1 Rafael Nadal begins the season just one major victory behind his great rival Roger Federer’s total of 20 Grand Slam titles. Together with Novak Djokovic, they secured 33 of the 40 major titles in the last decade.

The 2019-20 PGA Tour continues with the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, San Diego, California. Tiger Woods will aim to secure a record 83rd PGA Tour victory at Torrey Pines to eclipse Sam Snead’s 55-year-old tally.

The new ATP Tour season begins, featuring 63 ATP tournaments across 29 countries, plus the four Grand Slams and the Olympic Games in Japan. It concludes in November with the 50th anniversary of the Nitto ATP Finals.

To mark its 60th anniversary, the tournament will be hosted by 12 cities across Europe for the first time, and kicks off with the opening match between Turkey and Italy, in Rome, with the showpiece finale at Wembley Stadium on July 12.

The southern hemisphere’s top rugby union club tournament gets underway. It comprises 120 matches played across three geographical conferences, based in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The draw for the Last 16 in the Champions League pits thirteen-times winners Real Madrid against English champions Manchester City while title-holders Liverpool will face Atletico Madrid.

Five-time champions Sevilla face CFR Cluj of Romania, and Arsenal clash with Olympiacos. Other notable ties of the round include Ajax, Internazionale and Benfica, teams all eliminated from the Champions League.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games medals are made from 72,000 tonnes of recycled small electronic devices and around six million old and unwanted mobile phones, collected across Japan over two years.