Portal:Current events/2017 June 8

June 8, 2017 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2017 North Korean missile tests
- North Korea test fires several missiles, believed to be anti-ship weapons. The test comes immediately after South Korea suspends further deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system. (The New York Times)
War in Somalia
- Al-Shabaab militants storm a military base in Puntland. The subsequent battle with the Somali military leaves at least 70 people dead. Somali officials called the attack the deadliest in the country in years. (Al Jazeera)
2017 Tehran attacks
- Iranian Intelligence Ministry releases the names and other information about the five attackers of the day before. (PressTV)
American-led intervention in Syria
- In its third strike near the town of Al-Tanf in recent weeks, the United States bombs Syrian government and allied troops, striking two out of three technical vehicles about 24 miles from the U.S. Coalition's At-Tanf base in Southern Syria. (CNN)
- Shortly after bombing Syrian government and allied troops near Al-Tanf, the United States shot down an Iranian-made Syrian government drone that was flying toward U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Syria. There are no injuries or damage. An American official says this is first time forces supporting Damascus have attacked coalition troops. (Reuters) (AP via The Washington Post) (CNN)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

United Nations Ocean Conference
- At a United Nations-Oceans summit, delegates from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, four of the top polluters of plastic into the oceans, pledge to reduce their levels of oceanic plastic pollution. (BBC)
Verizon Wireless
- Yahoo! shareholders officially approve its $4.48 billion sale to Verizon Wireless. Yahoo! stock was up 8.5 percent shortly thereafter. (Business Insider)
115th United States Congress
- The United States House of Representatives pass a bill ending Dodd–Frank regulations. The bill now goes to the Senate where it is expected to not go through. (The Hill)

Disasters and accidents

Wildfires in South Africa
- Up to 10,000 people have been evacuated from Knysna Local Municipality on Garden Route in South Africa after wildfire destroyed 150 homes. The Wildfire is connected to the worst windstorm in 30 years, which already killed at least 8 people in Cape Town. (BBC) (ENCA) (RTE) (Al Jazeera) (The New York Times)

Health and medicine

Opioid epidemic
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asks pharmaceutical manufacturer Endo International plc to withdraw its long-lasting (12 hours) opioid painkiller, Opana ER, from the market after an FDA panel concluded the drug's benefits no longer outweighed the risks of abuse. Endo is evaluating its options. (Reuters)

International relations

2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis
- The Saudi Arabia-led bloc against Qatar issues a "terror list" against the peninsula. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Hezbollah
- U.S. authorities charge two operatives, Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, New York, belonging to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah with terrorism offenses, accused of plotting to target American and Israeli targets in New York and Panama. (Newsweek)
Ukraine–United States relations
- An explosive device is hurled at the United States embassy in Kiev. (The New York Daily News)
Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting
- A supermarket employee shoots and kills three fellow employees, then kills himself, in a closed Weis Markets store in Eaton Township in Northeastern Pennsylvania. One person escapes unharmed. (CBS News) (The Times Leader)

Politics and elections

United Kingdom general election, 2017
- Polls open in the United Kingdom, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and incumbent Theresa May of the Conservatives battling in a tight race, according to final opinion polling, to become prime minister. (Reuters)
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
- James Comey, the former FBI Director who was dismissed by President Donald Trump last month, appears before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Comey says he believes he was fired because of the FBI investigation into the possible collusion between President Trump's campaign team and Russia's interference in the 2016 elections. (The Guardian) (Reuters)
United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
- The state of Hawaii becomes the first state to enact a law, to document sea level rise and set strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that aligns the state's goals with the Paris climate accord. Governor David Ige says the islands are seeing the impacts of climate change first-hand. (NBC News)

Science and technology