Portal:Current events/2017 October 5

October 5, 2017 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
- Hawija offensive (2017)
  - The Iraqi Army fully retakes the city of Hawija in the Kirkuk Governorate from ISIL. Fighting continues to the north and east of the city as Iraqi troops continue anti-ISIL operations in the Hawija District. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Nobel Prize in Literature
- The Nobel Committee awards Japanese-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro the Nobel Prize in Literature for his "novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world." (Nobelprize.org)

Business and economy

Energy infrastructure firm TransCanada abandons two Canadian pipeline projects. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2017 Atlantic hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Nate
  - In Nicaragua, flooding from Tropical Storm Nate, kills at least fifteen people. In Costa Rica, the storm kills at least seven people with fifteen missing. (AP via ABC News)
  - Oil and gas companies evacuate production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declares a state of emergency in anticipation of Tropical Storm Nate. He says southeast Louisiana should prepare for a "direct hit" this weekend. (AP via ABC News) (NOLA) (CBS News)
- Florida Governor Rick Scott declares a state of emergency for North Florida. (Orlando Sentinel via MSN)

International relations

Law and crime

Janaúba Tragedy
- In the town of Janaúba, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, a recently dismissed security guard set fire to a childcare center, killing at least four children and a teacher and leaving 25 others, mostly children aged four and five, injured. (BBC)
Cybercrime
- Alleged Russian government-backed hackers stole highly classified U.S. cyber secrets in 2015 from the National Security Agency after a contractor put information on his home computer. The entrance to the computer was speculated to have possibly been through an installed Kaspersky Lab antivirus. U.S. rules governing federal computers now ban installation of Kaspersky Lab software. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

LGBT employment discrimination in the United States
- The Trump administration, through the Department of Justice, reverses an Obama-era policy which used Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to protect transgender employees from discrimination. (CBS News)
Governor Jerry Brown signs legislation to make California a sanctuary state. Next January, this law will prevent police from inquiring about immigration status during routine interactions, and will reduce law enforcement cooperation with U.S. immigration officers. (Reuters)