Portal:Current events/2017 August 31

August 31, 2017 (Thursday)

Business and economy

Wells Fargo account fraud scandal
- Wells Fargo reports finding an additional 1.4 million potentially fake bank and credit card accounts, bringing the total problematic accounts to approximately 3.5 million. (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

Hurricane Harvey
- 2017 Arkema plant explosion
  - A series of small explosions occur at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, and according to the company more are expected, after floodwaters shut down the cooling systems that kept the chemicals stable. Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital in Baytown, Texas treated 21 first responders for chemical exposure. Residents living within a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) radius of the plant are evacuated. (NBC News) (BBC) (The New York Times) (The New York Times²)
- A Harris County Flood Control District official says at the height of the flooding, 70 percent of the county’s 1,800 square miles, which includes the city of Houston, was covered with at least 1.5 feet of water, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. (The Washington Post)
Aftermath of the 2016–17 Northern Rakhine State clashes
- Twenty-six bodies of women and children are recovered after three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar sink in the Naf River in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar District. (AP via The Washington Post)
Building collapses in 2017
- A rickety multi-story apartment building collapses in the Indian city of Mumbai resulting in at least 24 deaths with at least 12 people missing. (AP via ABC News)

International relations

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- An IAEA report says Iran remains within key limits set in the 2015 agreement with world powers on development of its nuclear program. (Reuters)
Russia–United States relations
- The United States State Department orders Russia to close the Consulate-General in San Francisco and two other buildings by September 2, 2017, invoking "parity" over a Russian measure in July. (BBC)

Law and crime

Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
- Two police officials found guilty of negligence and mistreatment of evidence are sentenced to 17 years in prison. Five accused TTP militants are acquitted. The main suspect, former president Pervez Musharraf, who now resides in Dubai, is declared a fugitive for having failed to show up in court and has his property confiscated. (The Guardian)
2017 University of Utah Hospital incident
- Footage is released showing police officer Jeff Payne arresting the nurse Alex Wubbels after she refuses his request to draw blood from one of her patients. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

Politics and elections