Portal:Current events/2020 July 30

July 30, 2020 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- July 2020 Afghanistan attacks
  - A car bombing in Puli Alam, Logar Province, kills at least 17 people and injures 30 others. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the group has "nothing to do" with the bombing. (BBC News)
- Nine Taliban militants, including two leaders, are killed by security forces during clashes in Ghazni Province. (TOLOnews)
Syrian civil war
- A car bombing attack leaves 5 people dead and another 12 injured in Tel Halef village, Syria. (Reuters)
Iraqi insurgency (2017–present)
- A bomb kill a soldier in Diyala Governorate, Iraq. (National Iraqi News Agency)
A man shoots dead two policemen in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Dawn)

Business and economy

Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
- The United States economy suffers its worst quarter since World War II, with the GDP shrinking by an annualized rate of 32.9% in the April–June period. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Isaias
  - Hurricane Isaias is expected to head towards Florida, prompting the state to close their COVID-19 test sites. The hurricane has made landfall in Puerto Rico, causing landslides, flooding, and power outages. (CBS News) (CNN)
Kōriyama explosion
- An explosion destroys a restaurant in Kōriyama, Japan, killing one person and injuring another 18. A gas leak is suspected to be the cause of the accident. (The Mainichi Shimbun)
United States Marine Corps
- One Marine is killed and one Sailor and seven additional Marines went missing when their Amphibious Assault Vehicle sinks near San Clemente Island off the coast of Southern California. They were from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, San Diego County. This is the third major AAV accident involving Camp Pendleton Marines since 2011. (Reuters) (AP)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in China
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
      - Hong Kong reports its largest single day record of 149 new cases of COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours as well as one death. From that new cases, 145 of them are locally transmitted. (Reuters) (South China Morning Post)
      - Hong Kong government has reversed a day-old total ban on restaurants serving dine-in customers that was introduced to control the spread of COVID-19, and publishes new guidelines that allow restaurants could operate dine-in facilities but only during the day, at 50% capacity, and with no more than two people at a table. (AFP via The Guardian)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
      - Mainland China reports 105 new COVID-19 cases and 96 of them are in Xinjiang. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    - Tokyo reports 367 new COVID-19 cases. It is the highest jump of new cases since the pandemic began. (Asahi Shimbun)
    - Japan reports a single day record high of 1,274 new COVID-19 cases. (The Japan Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India reports its largest single day record of 52,123 new cases of COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. (Anadolu Agency)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine
    - Ukraine reports a record high of 1,197 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. (The Jerusalem Post)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Romania
    - Romania reports a record high of 1,356 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. (Romania Insider)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
    - Poland reports a record high of 615 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, and authorities warn of a reinstatement of quarantine measures for travellers from other countries. (Swissinfo) (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin
    - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers issues a mask mandate, which is expected to go into effect on August 1. (ABC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
  - Victoria records 723 new cases, as well as 13 deaths. It is the highest jump of number of cases and deadliest day since the start of the pandemic in Australia. (The Age)
  - New South Wales reports its first COVID-19 cases from prison inmates as the state reports 18 new cases. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19. (NPR)
- The number of worldwide recoveries of COVID-19 surpasses ten million. (Johns Hopkins University)

International relations

Malaysia–Philippines relations, North Borneo dispute
- Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein summons the Philippine ambassador after Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted Monday to the U.S. embassy in Manila that Sabah does not belong to Malaysia. Locsin summons the Malaysian ambassador in tit-for-tat. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Agbudu shooting
- A mass shooting in Kogi State, Nigeria leaves 14 people dead and another six injured. Thirteen of the fatalities were member of the same family. Police said that a long-standing row over land rights is suspected to be the motive behind the attack. (The Guardian Nigeria)
Shooting of Michael Brown
- St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell announces that Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer that shot and killed Michael Brown, will not be charged. (The New York Times)
Twelve people are dead and nine others injured during a mass shooting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, carried out by a drunk soldier. (Reuters)
Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, a 29-year-old student, is sentenced for nine years in a Russian penal colony for assaulting two police officers while drunk last year in Moscow. Reed's father told reporters after the verdict he is planning to appeal directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Al Jazeera)
A court in Uganda sentences a poacher who killed a rare gorilla named Rafiki to 11 years in prison. Rafiki, a 25-year-old silverback who was the head of a gorilla group in the southwestern Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, was killed with a spear in early June. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

2020 Hong Kong legislative election
- At least 12 Hong Kong pro-democracy nominees for the September election are disqualified, among them, Dennis Kwok, Joshua Wong, Tiffany Yuen, and three others from the Civic Party. Other nominations were still being reviewed, the government said in a statement expressing support for the disqualifications. (AP)
Presidency of Donald Trump
- U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested November's presidential election could be postponed, saying increased postal voting could lead to fraud and inaccurate results. Under the U.S. Constitution, Trump does not have the authority to postpone the election himself; a delay would have to be approved by both houses of Congress. (BBC News)

Science and technology

Exploration of Mars
- The Mars 2020 mission carrying the Perseverance rover and Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully launches atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral SLC-41. (Space.com)

Sports

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
- 2019–20 NBA season
  - The National Basketball Association season resumes at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex after a 141-day suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season resumes with the New Orleans Pelicans taking on the Utah Jazz. (People) (CBS Sports)
A Saudi-backed consortium ends its bid to purchase Premier League team Newcastle United. The takeover bid was stalled due to concerns about Saudi Arabia's human rights record and the Kingdom's promotion of the pirate TV station beoutQ. (Al Jazeera)