Portal:Current events/2015 August 20

August 20, 2015 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Macedonia declares a state of emergency and deploys police units on its borders as immigrants from the Middle East, mainly from Syria and Iraq, block the railway line between Thessaloniki and Skopje. (The News Hub)
August 2015 Egypt bombings
- Large blasts occur in Cairo and Giza, Egypt, targeting the State Security agency and leaving six police officers injured. (Al Jazeera via Twitter), (Al Jazeera), (The Washington Post)
North Korea–South Korea relations, Korean Demilitarized Zone
- North and South Korea exchange artillery fire over the border at Yeoncheon, prompting South Korea to order evacuations of its citizens in the area. (Sky News), (BBC)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Israel–Syria relations
- The Israeli Army fires Spike missiles on Syrian Army positions in the Golan Heights' Quneitra area in response to several rockets fired from Syria which landed in villages in northern Israel, about 20 km from the border. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

Within hours of a government announcement that Kazakhstan will abandon its currency-band exchange-rate system to implement a free-floating exchange rate, the tenge loses 26% of its value against the US dollar. (Radio Free Europe/Radio liberty)

Disasters and accidents

A mid-air collision between two aircraft near Bratislava, Slovakia leaves at least seven people killed. (The Independent)

International relations

The President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro orders the border with Colombia at the town of San Antonio del Táchira closed for three days after three soldiers are attacked while looking for smugglers. (AP via ABC News)

Law and crime

An unknown shooter kills a newspaper publisher in Mindanao, Philippines. (ABC News)
2015 Bangkok bombing
- Thai police say that they suspect that at least 10 people were involved in planning the attack on the Erawan Shrine, but that international terrorists were unlikely to have been involved. (BBC)
Operation Car Wash
- In Brazil, prosecutors lodge corruption charges against Speaker of the Lower House Eduardo Cunha and former President Fernando Collor de Mello, alleging illegal activities involving the state-owned oil company, Petrobras. (Al Jazeera), (BBC), (The Guardian)
Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle reaches a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors in Indianapolis. Fogle will plead guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography and traveling across state lines to have sex with at least two teenage girls. Under the deal, he will serve from 5 to 12½ years in prison, and will also pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 victims. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Pierre Nkurunziza is sworn in for a third term as President of Burundi. (BBC)
The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, announces his resignation and calls a new election for September 20. (The Telegraph), (BBC), (Al Jazeera)
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announceds that his liver cancer (melanoma) has spread to his brain. In addition to radiation, Carter will be treated with a new drug, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), that boosts the immune system without the debilitating side effects of older treatments. (The Washington Post), (WRDW-TV GA), (OncLive)

Science and technology

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that July was the hottest month globally since record keeping began in 1880. Global temperatures were 1.46°F (0.81°C) warmer than the 20th century average. NOAA scientists expect 2015 will go down as the warmest year on record. (CBS News), (NOAA)