Breaking News, February 18th, 2018

Nicholas Maduro announced the start of military exercises «Independence-2018» on the whole territory of Venezuela on February 24-25. «We will bring to perfection the movement of all tanks, all missiles, all aircraft and helicopters. The armed forces will show to the world that Venezuela must be respected, and its territory is based of independence, dignity and peace, » — Maduro said. The beginning of military exercises was announced during the on-going aggravation in relations with Colombia. Recently, the Prosecutor General of Venezuela Tarek William Saab said that Colombia has plans to bomb and invade Venezuela.

On the night of Sunday, the Israeli armed forces hit 18 targets belonging to the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. During the Saturday evening at the border with the Gaza Strip a bomb was blown up, resulting in four soldiers were injured. Shortly afterwards, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, which hit the roof of one of the houses.

According to the authorities of Nigeria, 19 people died in the north of the country, at least 70 people were injured in various degrees of severity. It is reported that three suicide bombers alternately blew themselves up in the fish market of Maiduguri in the province of Borno. No official statements from the terrorists have been received so far.

The Russian government sent an official note of protest to the Ukrainian authorities in connection with the incident in the Kiev office of Rossotrudnichestvo. Previously, a group of radicals broke into the office of this organization, crushing the premises. The police did not interfere in what was happening. In a note, Moscow demands that the Ukrainian authorities conduct an investigation into the incident and punish the perpetrators.

On Saturday in the south-west of England, and the territory of Wales, around 14:30 by local time, an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.4 points of Richter scale occurred. The epicenter of the earthquake was 18 km from Swansea, the focus of it was at a depth of 11 km. There is no information about the injured people or the destructions yet. This earthquake was the strongest in the UK over the past ten years.

In Iran, a passenger plane crashed near the city of Semir (Isfahan province). 60 people were on-board of the airliner. The plane was flying from Tehran to Yasuj. It is noted that several people could have survive the crash.