Portal:Current events/2020 October 1

October 1, 2020 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- Two French journalists working for the newspaper Le Monde are seriously injured by Azeri shelling, according to an Armenian government source. Two Armenian journalists are also injured in a separate incident. (Reuters) (Star Tribune)
- Former President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, expresses concern over the escalation of the situation. He also calls for Baku and Yerevan to launch negotiations. (News AM)
- Turkey issues a statement dismissing the demands for a ceasefire from the United States, France, and Russia. (BBC News)
- The Armenian ambassador to the United States, Varuzhan Nersesyan, says, "Right now, what is necessary is an intervention of the highest levels, together with other mediators, Russia and France, to stop the violence." (Newsweek)

Business and economy

The Tokyo Stock Exchange halts all trading for the day after it suffered one of the worst technical glitches in its history. It is undecided if it will reopen on Friday. The Nikkei 225 and TOPIX were also impacted, as they rely on the same system. (DW)
The Supreme Court of Ireland rules that the bread used by American restaurant franchise Subway cannot be classified as bread, due to its high sugar content. The franchise henceforth will be required to pay a 13.5% value-added tax for their bread instead of being exempted as before. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Beirut explosion
- The state-run National News Agency says that Lebanon's state prosecution has asked Interpol to detain two Russian citizens, the captain and owner of the MV Rhosus, a ship that carried thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate to Beirut in 2013. (Reuters via U.S. News)
Eight people are killed and ten others are injured as a series of wildfires sweeps through part of eastern Ukraine. (Reuters)
British businessman and TV show host Zef Eisenberg is killed in a crash while attempting a new land speed record at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire, England. (CNN)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - COVID-19 pandemic in the Community of Madrid
      - The Spanish government orders a partial lockdown in Madrid and surrounding areas badly affected by COVID-19 after a rise in cases. Under the new restrictions, residents will not be allowed to leave the area unless they have to make an essential journey. However, Madrid's regional government says that the lockdown is not legally valid. (BBC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    - Italy reports 2,548 new cases in the past 24 hours, partly due to higher swab tests that were conducted. It is the biggest daily jump of cases in five months and the first time the country has reported more than 2,000 cases since April. (Anadolu Agency)
    - The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he would ask parliament to extend the country's state of emergency to the end of January 2021, as the government tries to avoid the surge in cases seen in other European countries. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
  - Malaysia reports 260 new cases, the second biggest daily spike since the pandemic began. The sharp increase in infections comes after a surge in travel to and from Sabah for the state elections. The national tally now stands at 11,484 cases with a total of 136 deaths. (CNA)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state), 2020 Washington wildfires
    - A family of seven people who lost their homes during the Labor Day fires in the state tests positive for COVID-19. (Fox13news) (CNN)
  - President Donald Trump confirms that top aide Hope Hicks has tested positive for coronavirus and says he and First Lady Melania Trump will begin their "quarantine process" while waiting for their own test results. (CNN)

International relations

Post-Brexit United Kingdom relations with the European Union
- After the United Kingdom ignored their demands made in early September to scrap the Internal Market Bill by the end of the month, the European Commission sends a letter to the government of the United Kingdom informing them of its intent to pursue international legal action over the bill, which the European Union claims violates international law by overriding article four of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. (AFP via Asia Times)

Law and crime

2017 Las Vegas shooting
- Amidst the third anniversary of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department backtracks on an earlier decision and has included, in the official death toll, two women who died from gunshot wound complications over the past year, thereby increasing it from 58 to 60. (AP) (The Las-Vegas Review Journal)
Belgium's court of appeal recognizes the genealogical DNA test result of Delphine Boël as the daughter of King Albert II, thereby instating her to the title of Princess of Belgium with the predicate "Her Royal Highness". Having been recognized as the illegitimate daughter of Albert, Boël was given the honorific Jonkvrouw, the lowest rank within the Belgian titled nobility, prior to the decision. (AFP via The Straits Times)

Politics and elections

Alessandro Cardelli and Mirko Dolcini are sworn in Captains Regent of San Marino. Cardelli becomes the world's youngest head of state. (San Marino RTV)

Science and technology

Life on Venus
- According to a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, Venus would be able to support life if Jupiter hadn't altered its orbit around the Sun nearly 4 billion years ago. (Phys.org) (CNN)