• Gaza–Israel conflict:
  • Five people are injured on the Gaza Strip in an Israel Air Force raid following Palestinian militants firing a rocket towards Ashkelon. (BBC News) (The Times of Israel)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • A suicide bomber kills four people and injures 26 in the Lebanese town of Hermel, a Hezbollah stronghold near the Syrian border. (Reuters)
• Post-Iraq War
  • TMZ reveals photos of United States Marines burning bodies of Iraqis prompting an investigation from the Department of Defense. (CNN)

• Gravity and American Hustle lead the nominations for the 86th Academy Awards. (Los Angeles Times)
• The Last of Us leads the nominations for the 17th DICE Awards. (Variety) (Polygon)

• At least 13 people are dead and 40,000 are displaced in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province after severe floods. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• 2014 Australian heat wave:
  • Melbourne reaches 43.9 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) with Australian Open matches postponed. (Reuters)
  • Emergency services authorities warn of high bushfire dangers in southeastern Australia. (New Zealand Stuff)

• The Guardian reports that the National Security Agency collects data from hundreds of millions of text messages each day. (The Guardian)

• Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signs into law a bill aimed at curbing anti-government protests. (BBC News)
• A German court in Munich rules that Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone should face bribery charges. (BBC News)
• A child trafficking ring is smashed in the Philippines through the efforts of British, American, and Australian authorities. (USA Today)
• Two people are arrested in Delhi after a Danish woman was gang-raped. (Voice of America)
• According to a search warrant unsealed by a court in Bristol, Connecticut, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, awaiting trial for a 2013 murder, is under investigation by Boston police as a suspect in a 2012 double homicide. (AP via ESPN)

• 2013-14 Thai political crisis
  • Yingluck Shinawatra is being implicated in a controversial rice subsidy scheme. (BBC News)

• A British photographer designs and builds a drone as a low cost alternative for shooting nature documentaries. (Reuters)