Portal:Current events/2021 October 8

October 8, 2021 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghanistan conflict
- 2021 Kunduz mosque bombing
  - At least 50 people are killed and more than 100 injured when a suicide bomber targets a Shiite mosque in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. IS–K claims responsibility for the attack. (BBC News)
Six migrants are shot dead by guards at a detention center in Tripoli, Libya. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

Public sector undertakings in India
- Tata Sons is announced as the winning bidder for Air India, ending years of attempts by the government to privatise the loss-making airline. Tata Sons was the initial owner of the airline before it was nationalised. (NDTV) (Times of India)
ITA - Italia Trasporto Aereo is announced as the new state-owned airline for Italy, following the closure of Alitalia due to bankruptcy. ITA is a reorganization of Alitalia under a new name signed by decree in October 2020. (CNN)
The severity of the energy crisis in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces of China is reported as worsening, with power outages occurring every week and "notices ... telling us which days the following week that they will cut the power". Some factories report receiving power for only two or three days per week and are operating primarily on generators. China has also placed large bids for coal that are causing supply issues in locations as far away as Ukraine. (Nikkei Asia) (Interfax)

Disasters and accidents

Mining industry of Zimbabwe
- Gas cylinders explode at a gold mine in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, killing seven people and injuring another. (Reuters)
At least 51 people are dead after their makeshift vessel sinks in the Congo River, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several more are missing. (Al Jazeera)
Five people are killed by flash flooding occurs in parts of the U.S. states of Alabama and Tennessee, with as much as 13 inches of rain falling in some areas. (ABC News) (CNN)
The U.S. Navy reports that the USS Connecticut, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, struck an unidentified object while submerged in the South China Sea, causing 11 crew members to be injured. The extent of the damage to the Seawolf-class submarine is still being assessed although the submarine is noted as being "safe and stable". (Bloomberg)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus
    - President Nicos Anastasiades receives a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (Financial Mirror)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland, COVID-19 vaccination in Iceland
    - Iceland suspends the use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine due to concerns of side effects, becoming the fourth European country to do so. (Bloomberg)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    - Russia reports a record 936 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 214,485. (The Washington Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, COVID-19 vaccination in Malaysia
    - Malaysia grants conditional approval for the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be used as a booster dose for people over the age of 18 years old who received their second dose at least six months ago. (The Independent)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
    - Singapore reports a record 3,590 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 120,454. (The Straits Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria
    - Victoria reports a record 1,838 new cases and five deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which is the highest daily total of new COVID-19 cases of any Australian state or territory since the beginning of the pandemic. (ABC News Australia)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - Brazil surpasses 600,000 deaths from COVID-19. (VOA)
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo announce that a 3-year-old boy who died last Wednesday in Beni tested positive for Ebola. The health minister could not confirm if this was related to the Kivu Ebola outbreak which ended in 2020 and killed more than 2,200 people, but said that they were closely monitoring 100 people who may have been exposed to the virus and that three boys, all of whom were neighbors of the toddler, were already showing symptoms of the disease. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

2021 Nobel Peace Prize
- Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to safeguard the freedom of expression". (AFP via India Today)
Politics of Austria
- The Green Party, a left-wing member of the coalition, says that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is "unfit" for the position as he is investigated for corruption. The party demands that Kurz step down, although Kurz has denied any wrongdoing. (Reuters)
In his first speech, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida vows to fight and end the COVID-19 pandemic and counter the Chinese and North Korean threats by strengthening Japan coast guard and missile defenses while maintaining the country's peace. Kishida also vows to strengthen the country's alliance with the United States. (Al Jazeera)
The United States House Oversight Committee releases documents showing that the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. accumulated $70 million in losses while public financial disclosures claimed that the hotel was producing an income of $156 million for former president Donald Trump. General Services Administration documents also showed that Trump received "undisclosed preferential treatment" from Deutsche Bank on a $170 million construction loan during his presidency. (CNN) (Reuters)