Portal:Current events/2014 August 15

August 15, 2014 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamist insurgency in Nigeria:
- Suspected Islamist Boko Haram fighters have abducted dozens of boys and men in Doron Baga, a remote, sandy fishing village in the northeast, in Borno State, near Lake Chad. (MSN)

War in Donbass:
- A column of at least 23 Russian armoured vehicles and military trucks crosses the border from Russia into Ukraine, in the first confirmed sighting of such an incident by Western journalists. (Daily Telegraph)
  - According to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian artillery destroyed a large part of the column of armored vehicles that had crossed into Ukraine from Russia during the night. (The Wall Street Journal)

2014 Israel-Gaza conflict:
- An Egyptian newspaper leaks the proposed plan for a long lasting truce compromising 11 articles which is now being reviewed by both sides. (Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

A ceremony is held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal. (BBC)

Business and economy

Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd., a unit of the giant Chinese e-commerce firm, finds accounting irregularities in its books. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Texas Governor Rick Perry is indicted on felony charges for abuse of power. He is accused of coercing a District Attorney who had been convicted of drunk driving to resign by threatening to veto funding for state public corruption prosecutors. (ABC News)

International relations

Two Japanese cabinet ministers Keiji Furuya and Yoshitaka Shindo visit the Yasukuni Shrine to mark the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II. This visit upsets China and South Korea as the shrine contains the graves of war criminals. (BBC)

Politics and elections

The Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front reach a consensus regarding the creation of Bangsamoro. (Bloomberg)
Several influential Iraqis, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Ali Hatem al-Suleiman, and a group of six leaders from Sunni provinces, state that they are willing to work with the new Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider Al-Abadi, if certain conditions are met. (BBC)