Portal:Current events/2020 June 9
June 9, 2020 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Gubio massacre
- Insurgents destroy a village in Gubio, Borno State, Nigeria, killing 81 residents. No group has claimed responsibility for the massacre, which is believed to have been carried out by the Islamist Boko Haram terror group. (BBC News)
Arts and culture
- The American reality TV program Cops is canceled after 31 years amid police brutality protests. (The Washington Post)
- The film Gone with the Wind is removed from the HBO Max streaming service. They say the 1939 film, which takes place in Georgia during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era, was "a product of its time" and depicted "ethnic and racial prejudices" that "were wrong then and are wrong today". (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- Fifty-three migrants die when a boat carrying them sinks off the coast of Tunisia on its way to Italy. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- A Harvard University study suggests that COVID-19 may have been spreading in China as early as August 2019. (The Guardian)
- China removes pangolin scales from its 2020 list of approved ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine. This comes after China upgraded all species of pangolin from second-class to first-class protected animals considering their rapidly decreasing numbers due to over-hunting and habitat destruction. (Global Times)
International relations
- North Korea–South Korea relations
- North Korea announces it is severing hotlines with South Korea in retaliation for actions taken by defectors who sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets to the border. In addition, South Korea says the North refused to respond to calls to its liaison office. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom
- The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan establishes the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm in order to review statues in London. A statue of merchant and slave owner Robert Milligan is removed. (The Independent)
- Tanzanian opposition leader Freeman Mbowe is attacked by unidentified assailants as he enters his home. His party, the Chadema, says the attack may have been politically motivated. (Reuters)
- Darfur militia leader Ali Kushayb is handed over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder and rape. He had surrendered in the Central African Republic. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Burundi
- Incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza dies at the age of 55. Pascal Nyabenda, president of the National Assembly, assumes the presidential office ad interim. (BBC News)