Portal:Current events/2020 August 3
August 3, 2020 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan
- August 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- Jalalabad prison attack
- The military retake a prison in Jalalabad, Nangarhar that came under attack yesterday by ISIL, resulting in a mass jailbreak and shootout between Afghan forces and jihadists that ended today. At least 29 people are killed and 50 injured, among them civilians, prisoners, guards and Afghan security forces. (AP)
- Jalalabad prison attack
- August 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line incidents during the Syrian Civil War, Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War
- Israeli Air Force helicopters strike Syrian military observation posts, intelligence collection systems, anti-aircraft batteries and command-and-control bases in Quneitra Governorate, in response to yesterday's incident along the Purple Line border fence in the Golan Heights, in which four militants were killed after attempting to plant an IED where Israeli soldiers patrol. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- Pope Benedict's official biographer, Peter Seewald, reports former pope is "very frail" since his return from visiting his older brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, in Bavaria. His personal secretary, Archbishop George Ganswein, states "the health conditions are not of particular concern, except for those of a 93 year old who is going through a painful, but not serious, disease." (CNA/EWTN News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Isaias
- Isaias regains hurricane strength with maximum winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) after leaving 2-4 inches of precipitation and causing minor power outages along the Florida coast. The storm is moving north-northeast at 16 mph (26 km/h), and is expected to make landfall in eastern North Carolina early Tuesday and then continue along the Mid-Atlantic coast heading toward the northeastern states. The storm surge will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded with rising waters before moving inland. (NPR) (National Hurricane Center)
- Hurricane Isaias
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
- Victorian premier Daniel Andrews orders the temporary closure of many businesses and retail stores in Melbourne under stage four lockdown restrictions for six weeks to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Victoria. Only essential services such as supermarkets, food stores, liquor shops, petrol stations, pharmacies, convenience stores, and other essentials can remain open. (9 News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
- BBC News reports that the number of deaths and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iran are about three times higher than what was reported by the government, according to a data leak. (BBC News) (Business Insider)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
- Catalonia exceeds 100,000 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. (La Vanguardia)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
- Brazil's Chief of Staff of the Presidency Walter Souza Braga Netto tests positive for COVID-19. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
International relations
- North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- A leaked UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea report says several states believe North Korea has "probably developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles". (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Internet censorship in Thailand
- Thailand's digital minister threatens action against Facebook for not complying with the government request to restrict content that is illegal in the country, including insults of King Vajiralongkorn. Facebook responded by disabling English-to-Thai automatic translations. (Reuters)
- Monarchy of Spain, Corruption in Spain
- The Spanish Royal Household announces that Emeritus King Juan Carlos I has informed King Felipe VI that he is leaving the country motivated by "the public repercussion that certain past events are generating". His finances are being judicially investigated by a Swiss judge and the Spanish Prosecutor's Office for alleged financial dealings from Haramain high-speed railway construction and his accounts in tax havens. (El Mundo) (The Washington Post) (BBC News)
- Killing of George Floyd
- Newly leaked bodycam footage shows George Floyd pleading with police officers not to lock him up in a police vehicle, as well as saying that he is claustrophobic. (NBC News)
- Authorities announce the arrest of a 48-year-old man two days earlier in San Antonio, Texas, US, for threatening to commit a mass shooting at Fort Hood in retaliation for the killing of Vanessa Guillén there in April. He is being charged with making terroristic threats. (San Antonio Express-News)
Politics and elections
- 2020 United States presidential election
- Postal voting in the United States
- President Donald Trump vows to sue Nevada over legislation signed by Governor Steve Sisolak that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, requires election officials to send all active, registered voters a mail-in ballot ahead of the November election. This also would apply to any others that happen in the wake of a statewide emergency or disaster directive. (Reuters) (AP via ABC News)
- Donald Trump says he has the right to issue an executive order on mail-in voting but has not done so yet. (Reuters)
- Postal voting in the United States
- Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigns over the government's slow pace at reforms, warning the country is at risk of becoming a failed state. Diplomatic affairs advisor Charbel Wehbe takes his place. (Al Jazeera)
Science and technology
- Two anonymous sources confirm to Reuters that the classified United Kingdom–United States trade documents leaked ahead of the UK parliamentary election last year was caused by Russian hacking of the email account of former UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. They declined to name which Russian group or organisation they believed was responsible, but said the attack bore the hallmarks of a government-backed operation. (Reuters)