Portal:Current events/2021 September 29

September 29, 2021 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Mali War
- Five Malian gendarmes are killed and four others are wounded in an ambush on a convoy escorting mining equipment to the Australian-owned Morila Gold Mine in Sikasso Region. Jihadist group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)
Mohibullah, a prominent Rohingya Muslim leader and high-profile advocate for the Rohingya, is killed by a gunman in a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
    - Three pet cats who previously tested positive for COVID-19 are euthanized in the Chinese city of Harbin amid fears that pets could spread the virus to humans. (Newsweek)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
    - Singapore reports a record 2,268 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 94,043. (CNA)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    - Russia reports a record 857 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 206,388. (The Moscow Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia
    - Slovenia suspends the use of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine following the death of a 20-year-old woman who had received the vaccine. (Euronews)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria
  - Algeria begins producing the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac, with expected production of eight million doses per month. (France 24)
Holocene extinction
- Eleven species of birds, two fish, one bat, eight mussels and one plant are declared extinct by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The ivory-billed woodpecker, the Guam flying fox and the Bachman's warbler are among those declared extinct. (BBC News)

International relations

France–United Kingdom relations, 2021 Jersey dispute
- Jersey rejects 75 French fishing applications, once again raising tensions over disputed fishing rights off Jersey. France condemns the move as French fishermen threaten to impose either a "blockade" of ports, or of lorries travelling to the United Kingdom via the Channel tunnel, as retaliation. (Deutsche Welle)

Law and crime

Unexplained wealth of the Marcos family
- The Sandiganbayan, the Philippines' anti-graft court, orders Royal Traders Holding Co. Inc., a bank formerly controlled by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to pay the Philippine government an estimated PHP1 billion ($32.446 million) in bank certificates that were confiscated by the United States Customs Service after Marcos was deposed in 1986. (Rappler)
LGBT rights in Nepal
- The Central Bureau of Statistics adds an option for a third gender to its census forms for the first time. (Al Jazeera)
Britney Spears conservatorship dispute
- The Los Angeles County Superior Court suspends James Parnell Spears from the conservatorship of his daughter, American singer Britney Spears, which was implemented in 2008. (AFP via The Philippine Star)
September 2021 Guayaquil prison riot
- The death toll from yesterday's riot between rival gangs at a prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, increases to 116, making the incident the deadliest prison riot in the country's history. (BBC News)
The U.S. Treasury Department, in coordination with Qatar, imposes sanctions on United Arab Emirates real estate company Aldar Properties and seven residents of Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia for allegedly financing Hezbollah. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

Politics of Japan
- 2021 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election
  - The Liberal Democratic Party elects former foreign minister Fumio Kishida as its new leader. Kishida is expected to become prime minister within days, succeeding Yoshihide Suga. (Reuters)
Indigenous land rights in Australia
- The Queensland state government grants land rights over parts of the UNESCO-listed Wet Tropics, including the Daintree National Park, to the Kuku Yalanji people. The Kuku Yalanji will initially co-administer the land with the Queensland government. (The Guardian)
Politics of Tunisia
- Tunisian President Kais Saied appoints Najla Bouden Romdhane as the first female prime minister in Tunisia and the Arab world. (CNN)

Science and technology

COVID-19 misinformation
- YouTube says that it will ban misinformation related to all vaccines. (TechCrunch)
- Russia threatens to ban YouTube if it does not reinstate two German-language channels backed by the Russian state that were deleted for violating COVID-19 misinformation guidelines. (BBC News)