Portal:Current events/2020 October 5

October 5, 2020 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- October 2020 Afghanistan attacks
  - A suicide bomber targeting the convoy of Rahmatullah Yarmal, the governor of Laghman Province, kills eight people and wounds 38 others. Yarmal survives the attack. (TOLO News)
2020 Kyrgyzstani protests
- Violent protests occur in Kyrgyzstan in response to the results of yesterday's parliamentary election. Kyrgyz police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters. (BBC News)
- Anti-government protesters seize the presidential White House and Supreme Council buildings in the capital Bishkek. (The Straits Times)
- Former President Almazbek Atambayev is freed from prison by demonstrators. (Sputnik)
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- Timeline of military engagements in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  - Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defence says the Armenian Armed Forces are bombarding the Azerbaijani cities of Beylagan, Barda, Tartar, and Ganja. Azeri artillery pounds Stepanakert for a fourth consecutive day, killing 5 civilians, according to an Al Jazeera journalist in the city. (Al Jazeera) (APA)

Business and economy

Animal welfare and rights in Israel
- The government announces it will ban the animal fur trade, becoming the first country to do so. Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel says "Utilising the skin and fur of wildlife for the fashion industry is immoral". Anyone found selling or buying fur after the ban, with the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews, will face a fine of up to €18,500 or a year in prison. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Gamma (2020)
- Six people are killed as Tropical Storm Gamma approaches the coast of Mexico. (Accu Weather)
Two more people who went missing in France during floods are found dead on the coasts of Liguria, Italy. Two workers in Bajardo, Liguria, are dead after their vehicle crashes while cleaning floods-related debris. The total death toll for the violent storms rise to 13. (TGCOM24) (Ansa)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
      - White House COVID-19 outbreak
        White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announces that she, along with two of her deputies Chad Gilmartin and Karoline Leavitt, have tested positive for COVID-19 and will undergo quarantine. (CNBC)
        
        US President Donald Trump returns to the White House to continue his treatment there after a three-night stay in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. (BBC News)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
      - New York governor Andrew Cuomo orders schools to close starting tomorrow in several "hot spots" around the state, including parts of the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. This comes after COVID-19 test positivity rates rose above 3% in those areas for seven days in a row. Cuomo declined to close non-essential businesses and religious institutions. (CNN)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
    - The Health Ministry reported a record jump of 2,789 deaths and 28,115 cases in Mexico, far surpassing the previous record of 1,092 deaths and 9,556 cases. The government said the record was due to a change of methodology which includes additional cases that were not reported from June. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
    - Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announces that he will undergo a two-week home quarantine, after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, who attended a National Security meeting he chaired on Saturday, tested positive for COVID-19. (CNA)
    - Malaysia reports 432 new cases in the last 24 hours, a new record of daily infections since the beginning of the outbreak. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    - Iran reports a record 3,902 new cases, taking the nationwide total of cumulative cases to 475,674. At the same time, the country announces a record 235 new deaths in 24 hours, which takes the death toll to 27,192. (Anadolu Agency)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in France
    - The government places Paris and its Île-de-France region on maximum alert following a surge of infection rates, prompting Île-de-France to shut down all bars, gymnasiums, and swimming pools completely and all festive gatherings in establishments are banned from being open to the public effective tomorrow. The restrictions will last two weeks, but restaurants will remain open with strict health protocols. (BBC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland
    - Iceland orders all bars, gyms and entertainment venues to close, and cuts the number of people allowed to gather in public from 200 to 20 amid a rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    - The regional government of Castilla y León announce to confine the cities of León and Palencia given the rising number of infections detected there over the last 14 days. The measure, which will take effect tomorrow, will include closing times for establishments at 11:00 p.m. local time with the last customer permitted to enter an hour earlier, and capacity in bars and restaurants limited to 50% indoors and 60% outdoor in a similar move that was implemented in Madrid. (El Pais in English)
Nobel Prize
- The 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for their discovery of the Hepatitis C virus. (CNN)

International relations

United Kingdom–Venezuela relations, Venezuelan presidential crisis
- The Court of Appeals for England and Wales overturns a ruling earlier this year by the High Court of Justice that stated the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro did not have the right to access the Central Bank of Venezuela's gold, worth more than US$1.8 billion, currently stored by the Bank of England due to the UK government's recognition of oppositional leader Juan Guaidó as the actual president. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

The Indonesian parliament passes a controversial job creation omnibus bill into law amid mounting criticism over its provisions on labour rights, indigenous community rights, and environmental protection. Labour unions and civil rights groups plan to hold large-scale protests. (Antara)
The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority bans all flights over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (Al Jazeera)
Former Vice President of the Maldives Ahmed Adeeb is sentenced to 20 years prison and fined US$129,892 for corruption relating to the leasing of islands for hotel development. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

2019–20 Algerian protests
- Between 400 and 500 Algerians defy the ban on protests and march on the capital of Algiers to both commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy protests and riots and renew calls for the resignation of the ruling military junta. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

2020 in paleontology
- According to a study from Scientific Reports, the Otodus megalodon was the largest shark to swim in Earth's oceans. Its body size was 15 meters (50 feet). (Phys.org) (Forbes)
Discoveries of exoplanets
- According to a research published in the Astrobiology journal by Washington State University professor Dirk Schulze-Makuch, there are 24 possible exoplanets that are superhabitable outside the Solar System. (CNET) (SciTechDaily)
Tasmanian devils are introduced to the Australian mainland for the first time in 3,000 years. (CBS News)