Olympians Meryl Davis and Charlie White were the first Americans to win a gold medal in ice dancing at the Sochi Olympics in Russia in February. They have been skating together since 1997, and they are the first American figure skaters to win a medal in each division.

Four people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a twin suicide attack in Beirut, Lebanon, on Feb. 19. Two suicide bombers blew up their vehicles next to an orphanage in an attempt to hit an Iranian cultural center. The radical Lebanese group Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for attack on its Twitter account and also said they were responsible for the Nov. 19 attack on the Iranian embassy.

In January, the state of California declared a drought. Last year was the driest year ever recorded in California’s history, and this past January has been the driest January it has experienced. In February President Barack Obama announced a new federal initiative aimed at helping Californian farms and communities with water conservation.

A select number of North and South Koreans were able to attend a rare family reunion from Feb. 20 to Feb. 25. Around 180 total North Koreans attended the reunion on Feb. 20 and the one on Feb. 21. Only 100 or so relatives are chosen to take part each time, with South Korea using a lottery system to help determine who is to be included. About 72,000 South Koreans, nearly half of whom are over 80 years old, are on a waiting list to join the family reunion events. Families around the country were reunited for the first time since Korea was split in two.

On Feb. 23 Beijing, China, was under an orange smog alert, the second highest pollution warning level. Citizens are taking the matter into their own hands by installing air filters in their homes and wearing facemasks outside. The heavy industrial activity in China is the main contributing factor to the haze covering the cities. Mayor Wang Anshun of Beijing said that the city would use about $124.64 billion in efforts to clean up the air by 2017.

On Feb. 25 the New York Knicks’ point guard Raymond Felton was arrested on gun possession charges. His arrest came after the Knicks lost their Madison Square Garden game the day before. He was charged with one count of criminal possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a criminal weapon in the third degree. His wife told police that Felton had threatened her with the firearm.

On March 10, NATO jet were given the go-ahead to take off and to monitor the Ukraine-Russian border. On March 10, Russian troops and militias seized a military hospital in Crimea, Ukraine. Moscow has denied taking part in the blockade. NATO said its surveillance flights will enhance their alliance’s awareness of the situation.

 On March 7, a Malaysian passenger jet with 239 people on board disappeared over Southeast Asia. The pilots did not signal any problem, but the plane turned back toward Kuala Lumpur before it vanished. Thirty-four planes, 40 ships and search crews are scouring a large area of the South China Sea near where the plane was last detected.