Portal:Current events/2022 June 20

June 20, 2022 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russo-Ukrainian War
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - Pro-Russian forces of the Luhansk People's Republic claim to have taken the key town of Toshkivka, 25 km south of Sieverodonetsk. (Reuters)
  - Ukrainian forces fire missiles at a Chornomornaftogaz drilling oil facility in the Black Sea, off Crimea, injuring three workers, with seven others missing. Russia launches missile strikes on Odesa in retaliation for the attack. (The Telegraph) (The Telegraph 2)
  - A second American volunteer fighter dies in Ukraine, after triggering a landmine. (Rolling Stone)
Mali War
- 2022 Bankass massacres
  - Islamist insurgents kill 132 civilians over the weekend in a series of attacks on three villages in the Bankass Cercle of Mali's Mopti Region, including Segue. (AP)
Afghanistan conflict
- A bazaar in Nangarhar Province is bombed, which the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan says has killed and injured "scores of people." The ruling Taliban confirm that at least ten people have been injured but cannot yet confirm if anyone has been killed. (Reuters)
Mexican drug war
- Two Jesuit priests are murdered by gunmen in a church in Cerocahui, Chihuahua. (AP)
Syrian civil war
- Eleven soldiers and two civilians are killed in an attack on a bus travelling from Raqqa to Homs. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. (Washington Post) (Reuters)

Business and economy

International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Panic buying is reported in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad after Lithuania banned the transit of some goods through its territory by rail. Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov calls for calm, while Russia condemns the ban. (The Moscow Times)
- The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry demands that Lithuania "immediately reverse" new restrictions on shipments of Russian goods to Kaliningrad, saying that the restrictions were "unprecedented" and "illegal", while also suggesting that Moscow could "take actions to protect its national interests". (RFE/RL)
Canadian defence minister Anita Anand announces an increase in defence spending to $5 billion in order to upgrade continental defence. (CBC)
It is announced that Cape Verde will allocate a budget of $85 million to combat the effects of the war in Ukraine, which has caused an increase in the prices of gasoline and food, as 9% of Cape Verdeans are currently facing a food crisis. (Reuters) (Today Online)

Disasters and accidents

A helicopter crashes near Burton, North Yorkshire, England, killing two people onboard. (BBC News)

Health and environment

2022 Russia–European Union gas dispute
- Dutch climate and energy minister Rob Jetten announces that the Netherlands will remove all restrictions on the operation of coal-fired power stations until at least 2024, in response to Russia's refusal to export natural gas to the country. Operations were previously limited to less than a third of the total production. (CNA)
Canadian Environmental Minister Steven Guilbeault announces that Canada will ban the sale of single-use plastics by December 2023, and will ban the export of these plastics by the end of 2025, with the first regulations to come into effect in December. (Al Jazeera)
A study published in Nature Food finds that the impact of food transportation on climate change is three times greater than was previously believed, making up 6% of global carbon emissions. (Nature Food)

International relations

Law and crime

Recognition of same-sex unions in Japan
- The Osaka District Court rules that Japan's ban on same-sex marriage is not "unconstitutional" in a ruling on a lawsuit filed by two male couples and one female couple. (The Canberra Times)
Violent protests occur across India, including the burning of trains in Hyderabad, in response to proposed recruitment reforms in the military. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

2022 French legislative election
- President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance is confirmed to lose its majority in the National Assembly after yesterday's second round of legislative elections. Both the left-wing alliance NUPES and the right-wing party National Rally achieve significant electoral gains, forcing the government to seek compromises with other parties during the upcoming legislative period for the first time since the 1988 legislative election. (Reuters)
Next Israeli legislative election
- Leading members of the thirty-sixth government of Israel Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid agree to dissolve the Knesset, triggering a fifth snap election in just over three years. Lapid will serve as acting Prime Minister until the election is held. (Reuters)