Portal:Current events/2019 August 15

August 15, 2019 (Thursday)

Disasters and accidents

Ural Airlines Flight 178
- A Ural Airlines Airbus 321 crash lands in a field near Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow Region, Russia. The event is dubbed the "Miracle over Ramensk", as only 23 passengers had minor injuries, similar to US Airways Flight 1549. Preliminary reports say the aircraft struck a flock of seagulls. (CNN)
A Cessna Citation carrying former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife and infant daughter crashes on landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee. All occupants survive without serious injury. (CNN)

International relations

Colombia–Venezuela relations
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro gives a speech wherein he accuses former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, Uribe's Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón, and Venezuelan politician Lester Toledo [es] of planning to kill him. (Reuters)
Iran–United Kingdom relations; Iran–United States relations
- Gibraltar says the United States has applied to seize the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1, which is being held by the United Kingdom territory for an alleged breach of European Union sanctions against Syria. (Reuters)
- The UK releases Grace 1 back to Iran after receiving written assurance that the oil would not be sent to Syria. (BBC News)
Israel–United States relations
- Two American Muslim congresswomen, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, are barred from entering Israel before a planned visit to the country due to their support of the BDS movement, a decision which was encouraged by U.S. President Donald Trump. (CNN)
Proposed United States purchase of Greenland
- Press sources report that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly expressed interest in buying Greenland. (The Wall Street Journal) (AP News)

Law and crime

Politics and elections

2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper announces that he is suspending his presidential campaign. (UPI)