Portal:Current events/2020 December 18

December 18, 2020 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- An explosion at a religious gathering during a Quran recitation ceremony in Ghazni, Afghanistan, has killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 20 others. (Al Jazeera)
Somali Civil War
- Seven civilians and three soldiers are killed after a suicide bomber detonates his device outside a stadium in Galkayo, Mudug. Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble was due to address a gathering at the stadium. (Xinhua)
Tigray conflict
- Ethiopia offers a reward of 10 million birr (about US$250,000) for information leading to the capture of Tigray People's Liberation Front officials, including leader Debretsion Gebremichael, who are currently in hiding following the fall of Mekelle. (France 24)

Disasters and accidents

War in Afghanistan
- An explosion kills 15 children and injures another 20 people in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after a piece of unexploded ordnance blows up when the children try to sell it to a vendor. (BBC News)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 vaccine
      - COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
        Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine today. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who recovered from COVID-19 in October, say that they will receive their vaccines "at the appropriate time". (NBC News) (The State)
      - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. (Detroit Free Press)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota
      - Minnesota Senator Jerry Relph dies from COVID-19 complications. (AP)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
      - New York reports a record 12,697 new cases in the past 24 hours, surpassing the previous record set in April. (Bloomberg)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
    - Mexico City and the State of Mexico move back to the "red traffic light". All non-essential activity will be suspended until January 10 due to an "alarming" increase in both infections and hospital occupancies. (Milenio)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
    - Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announces that the country will impose a third nationwide lockdown beginning on December 26. However, people who take part in mass testing programmes between January 15 and 17 and test negative will be allowed to enter shops and restaurants beginning on January 18. (Barron's)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy
    - Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announces a second nationwide "red zone" lockdown from December 24–27, December 31–January 3, and January 5–6. On those days, people will only be allowed to travel for work, health or emergency reasons. An "orange zone", where shops are allowed to open, will be in effect from December 28–30 and on January 4. However, all bars and restaurants will remain closed during the holiday season. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia
    - Interior Minister Davor Božinović announces that Croatia will impose a ban on travel outside one's county between December 23 and January 8. (Croatia Week)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in France, COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi
    - Former President of Burundi Pierre Buyoya dies from COVID-19 at a hospital in Paris, France. (Macau Business)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
    - Germany reports a record 33,777 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,439,938. (Bild)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia
    - Prime Minister Igor Matovič tests positive for COVID-19. (The Slovak Spectator)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, COVID-19 vaccine
    - Health Minister Salvador Illa announces that the nationwide vaccination campaign will begin on December 27. (RTVE)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden
    - Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announces new measures to reduce the second wave of the pandemic. All non-essential public services will close until January 24, alcohol sales will be banned after 8:00 p.m. local time, and the number of people at restaurants will be limited to four per table. It also recommended to use face masks on public transport at certain times. (The Local Sweden)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland
    - The Swiss government announces that restaurants, bars and sports and leisure centres, as well as libraries, museums and other cultural institutions will close on December 22 to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 as the total numbers of cases and deaths surpass 400,000 and 6,000 respectively. (Swiss Info)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria
    - The Lagos State Government orders all public and private schools in the state to close until further notice. The government also recommends that all public servants from Grade Level 14 and below, except emergency workers and first responders, work from home for 14 days beginning December 21. (Nairametrics)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
    - South Africa surpasses 900,000 total cases of COVID-19. (TimesLive)
    - 501.V2 Variant
      - Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announces the discovery of a severe variant of SARS-CoV-2, named 501.V2, which contributed to the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. (Independent Online)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
    - The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia surpasses 90,000. (The Malaysian Insight)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
    - The Philippines reports 2,122 new cases, the highest daily total in more than a month, bringing the nationwide total to 456,562 cases. (ABS-CBN News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Panama
  - Starting from December 21, Panama will reimpose nationwide restrictions by require men and women to carry out holiday shopping on different days. On Christmas and New Year's Day there will be total lockdown for all genders. (The Straits Times)

Law and crime

2020–2021 United States racial unrest
- George Floyd protests, George Floyd protests in New York City
  - The New York City Department of Investigation accuses the police department of mishandling their response to Black Lives Matter protests in the city, which broke out following the killing of George Floyd. (The Wall Street Journal)
Mexican drug war
- Aristóteles Sandoval, former Governor of Jalisco, Mexico, is killed in an attack in Puerto Vallarta. Current Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez said that Sandoval was the victim of a "direct attack". (Reuters)
The Supreme Court of the United States, in an unsigned 6–3 decision, dismisses Trump v. New York, ruling that the challenge to the Trump administration's memo requiring the Census Bureau to report the results of the 2020 United States census with the exclusion of undocumented immigrants for apportionment is premature, and that no judicial review can be taken until after the data has been collected. The Bureau faces a December 31 deadline to report the results, which they have previously indicated that they may miss. (The New York Times)
Islamic Defenders Front, Islam in Indonesia
- Supporters of the controversial Indonesian Islamic cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab clash with police during a demonstration in Jakarta, demanding immediate release of Shihab from police detention. Shihab was arrested last weekend for violations of health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic after large gatherings occurred to celebrate his return to the country from self-exile in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

LGBT rights in Switzerland
- Switzerland legalizes same-sex marriage and for people to change their gender on official documents, pending an expected referendum challenging the law. (Reuters)

Science and technology

2020 United States federal government data breach
- The Department of Energy confirms that it has been breached along with other federal government agencies, but says that the country's nuclear weapons arsenal has not been compromised. The mass data breach is now considered the worst ever cyberattack on the U.S. government. (BBC)
A review of some recent medical studies shows that memory T cells may play a role in a phenomenon known as cross-reactivity, which researchers found may perhaps give certain people, in some cases, some level of immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 even without them having been exposed to or infected with the virus, or having received a vaccine. There are certain structural and clinical similarities between the virus that causes COVID-19 and the other coronaviruses that are related to it, which cause SARS and MERS. (MSN)
The British Antarctic Survey confirms that Iceberg A-68, one of the largest ever recorded icebergs with a surface area of 5,800 square kilometres, has broken in two in the South Atlantic as it approaches South Georgia island. The new smaller iceberg has been named A68D. (The Guardian)