WERELDAGENDA
Wereldgebeurtenissen op de agenda voor februari
February 1, 2020 - February 29, 2020 - The World Agenda gives a preview of world events scheduled in February. Events include the Iowa caucuses, parliamentary elections in Iran, and cuts to U.S. tariffs under a new trade deal with China. South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma goes on trial, Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival kicks off, and Japan Airlines offers free round-trip domestic flight tickets to Tokyo Olympics visitors. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is due to launch and the Oscars are awarded in Los Angeles.
Feb 3, U.S.: Iowa hosts the first caucuses ahead of the Nov 3 election. President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial looms as a complication for Democrat senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, who are required to attend the trial as jurors, a drain on their campaigning efforts
Feb 4, South Africa: Former president Jacob Zuma appears likely to face the corruption charges he has dodged for 15 years, after his application for a permanent stay of prosecution was dismissed
Feb 5, U.S.: The Solar Orbiter, a joint mission between the European Space Agency and NASA that is aimed at understanding how the sun creates and controls the heliosphere, is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on a seven-year mission
Feb 9, U.S.: Todd Phillips’ Joker, about Batman’s nemesis, leads the Oscars race with 11 nominations in 24 categories. Sam Mendes’s World War I epic 1917, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman each collected 10
Feb 14, U.S.: Washington will halve tariffs on a batch of Chinese imports in Phase One of a new trade deal. In exchange China pledged to buy more U.S. farm, energy and manufactured goods and strengthen intellectual property practices
Feb 21, Iran: Parliamentary elections come at a time when President Rouhani’s government is under siege from nationwide unrest and ever-tightening U.S. economic sanctions. The vote will test the popularity of the reformist bloc in parliament
Feb 21-26, Brazil: Rio’s raucous Carnival kicks off with President Bolsonaro’s slurs unlikely to spoil the party, which draws six million revellers each year. Bolsonaro, notorious for racist and homophobic remarks, retaliated with disapproving posts on social media after several 2019 floats took aim at him
February, Japan: Japan Airlines is offering free round-trip domestic flight tickets to up to 50,000 foreign nationals visiting Japan for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, in a bid to encourage visitors to venture beyond tourist hotspots