Portal:Current events/2018 August 9
August 9, 2018 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- At least 43 people, mostly children, are killed in an airstrike on a bus at a market in Dahyan, Sa'da, by the Saudi-led coalition, while more than 60 are injured. The coalition calls the strike a "legitimate military action" against the Houthis, accusing them of using children as human shields. (The Guardian)
- War in Afghanistan
- At least 40 bodies of Afghan National Army soldiers are found in a military base in Urozgan that Taliban forces stormed last week. (Reuters via Euronews)
- Gaza–Israel conflict
- Over 180 rockets and mortars are launched toward Israel by Hamas militants, injuring seven people. In retaliation, IDF launches an air assault on 150 targets in Gaza, in which three people are killed, including an 18-month-old child. (CNN)
- Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV reports that a cease-fire is reached to end the latest round of fighting with Israel. (NBC News)
Arts and culture
- Video game censorship
- Germany lifts a blanket ban on Nazi symbolism in video games, including the swastika. (Deutsche Welle)
Disasters and accidents
- August 2018 Lombok earthquake
- The death toll from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia, rises to 259, and may go higher still. (BBC)
- Hurricane Maria
- Puerto Rico raises its official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 1,427. (The Kansas City Star)
- Bolivarian diaspora
- Ecuador declares a state of emergency over increases in migrant entry from Venezuela. (Al Jazeera)
- Toronto sees severe flooding in many parts of the city after some areas receive over 100 millimeters of rain. (Weather Network)
Law and crime
- Abortion in Argentina
- The Argentine Senate rejects a bill that would have legalized abortion in Argentina. (NPR)
- Illegal drug trade
- Italian police seize 20 tonnes of hashish in a Panama-flagged, Montenegrin-crewed "research and survey" vessel's fuel tanks. (Deutsche Welle)
Politics and elections
- Indonesian general election, 2019
- Indonesian President Joko Widodo chooses the Islamic cleric Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate in the upcoming presidential election. (Reuters)
- Caracas drone explosions
- The Venezuelan Constituent National Assembly revokes the immunity of opposition politicians Julio Borges and Juan Requesens after claiming that they were involved in an assassination plot on President Nicolás Maduro. (Al Jazeera)