Portal:Current events/2020 September 19
September 19, 2020 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Papua conflict
- A priest is shot dead, allegedly by Indonesian army in Intan Jaya Regency, Papua. The military denies the allegations and blames the Free Papua Movement for the shooting. (MBS)
Arts and culture
- A 1634 edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen, the last play written by English playwright William Shakespeare, is discovered at the Royal Scots College's library in Salamanca, Spain. It is believed to be the oldest copy of any of his works in the country. (BBC News)
Business and economy
- Internet censorship in the United States, China–United States trade war
- Chinese technology company ByteDance announces a proposed joint deal with American corporations Oracle and Walmart to continue the operation of its video-sharing social networking service TikTok in the United States under the name Tiktok Global. U.S. President Donald Trump recognizes the proposal, having threatened to ban the service in suspicion of Chinese espionage should ByteDance have failed to reach a deal with an American firm. (AFP via The Hindu) (NPR)
Disasters and accidents
- Cyclone Ianos
- A rare Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone (medicane), with winds up to 120 km/h (75 mph), kills three people as it passes over Greece heading toward the island of Crete. About 5,000 homes in Karditsa, Greece, were affected by flooding and heavy winds. One person is still reported missing. (BBC) (Greek City Times)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
- COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
- Robert Koch Institute reports 2,297 new cases in Germany in the last 24 hours, the highest single daily increase since April, taking the nationwide total to more than 270,000. (Daily Sabah)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
- Poland reports a record daily jump of 1,002 new cases, according to the Health Ministry's Twitter account, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. The new record comes days after the authorities tightened conditions under which doctors are obliged to send patients for testing. (Reuters via National Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal
- Portugal reports 847 new daily cases, bringing the cumulative totals to 68,025 confirmed cases and 1,899 deaths. Ever since the end of national lockdown in May, this has been the fifth time that the country has registered some record increases in new cases, with all five records occurring during an 11-day window. (DGS)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
- COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
- Indonesia reports a daily jump of 4,168 new cases, bringing the country's total cases to 240,687. This sets a new record high for the country since the beginning of the pandemic. (detikNews)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
International relations
- United States sanctions against Iran
- The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declares the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran as no longer in force. He also warns that the United States "is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences" for other countries that do not enforce the sanctions. Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia oppose the snapback sanctions. (The New York Times) (Al Jazeera)
- Canada–China relations
- Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne announces that Canada has ceased discussing any free trade agreements with China. Canada has walked away from free-trade talks with China amid soured relations over arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. He states that "the China of 2020 is not the China of 2016". (South China Morning Post)
- Bangladesh–India relations, Deaths along the Bangladesh–India border
- The border guards of Bangladesh and India agree to launch joint patrols along the two countries' border following a spate of deaths linked to illegal entries. (Anadolu)
Law and crime
- Immigration detention in the United States
- Police arrest 86 people at a protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Times Square. The rally called for the abolition of ICE in the wake of allegations of a high rate of hysterectomies and alleged medical neglect. (CNN)
- Terrorism in the United States
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) releases a statement that a screening facility for White House mail intercepted a package containing ricin poison that was addressed to Donald Trump earlier this week. The FBI and the Secret Service are investigating where the package came from and whether others have been sent through the postal service. (BBC News)
- Central African Republic Civil War
- A Paris court indicts Eric Bagale, a former presidential guard of former Central African Republic President François Bozizé and head of an anti-balaka militia, for "complicity in crimes against humanity" and "criminal association for the preparation of a war crime" on acts his militia committed between 2007 and 2014. (AFP via The Guardian)
- Aftermath of the Hachalu Hundessa riots
- The attorney general of Ethiopia files terrorism charges against opposition activist Jawar Mohammed for the unrest that erupted following the assassination of musician Hachalu Hundessa last June. Jawar is due to appear in court on Monday to respond to the charges. (Reuters)
- Rochester shooting
- Two people are killed and 14 others injured in a mass shooting at a home in Rochester, New York. It is the largest mass shooting in the city's history. (USA Today) (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
- Former UK spy Fraser Cameron is reportedly placed under investigation by Belgian authorities for allegedly selling sensitive information to Chinese spies posing as journalists. (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic in Romania
- Hundreds of Romanian families protest at the University Square in Bucharest against the government's new mandate on social distancing and the wearing of face masks in schools. Many compare the measures to the country's communist regime. (AP via ABC News)
- 2020 Thai protests
- More than 15,000 pro-democracy protesters led by students of the Thammasat University gather near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government as well as a reform of the Thai monarchy. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)