Portal:Current events/2019 June 18
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June 18, 2019 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iran–United States relations
- In response to accusations by the United States that Iran is responsible for last week's attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, and the subsequent increased U.S. military presence in the region, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says "Iran will not wage war against any nation". (CBC)
- Forty one people are killed in an attack in the Yoro and Gangafani villages in Mali, one week after 35 are killed in another attack. The attackers, riding motorcycles, targeted primarily Dogon villages. (CNN)
Business and economics
- California housing shortage
- Google announces that it is setting aside $750 million in land and $250 million in financing to encourage developers in the San Francisco area to build and rehabilitate housing, in order to ease the homeless crisis in a region where Google has 45,000 employees. (Reuters)
- Boeing sells 200 of its 737 MAX planes to International Airlines Group, the first sale of the controversial airliners since two fatal crashes and subsequent worldwide groundings earlier this year. (CNBC)
International relations
- Colombia–Venezuela relations
- Colombian authorities deport Venezuelan refugees in the border town of Cúcuta; in response, the Venezuelan government restricts movement of Colombians into the country. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- It is reported that Roberto Marrero, aide to Venezuela's partially-recognized interim President Juan Guaidó, who was arrested several months ago, has his preliminary hearing completed, with Judge Carol Padilla denying his right to defense and ordering his incarceration. (El Universal)
- Immigration policy of Donald Trump, Immigration to the United States
- A three-judge panel of federal appeal court judges from the ninth circuit hears arguments concerning a 2017 ruling that U.S. authorities breached the Flores Settlement Agreement's order on holding undocumented immigrant children in "safe and sanitary" conditions. The Department of Justice is seeking relief because the order imposes “new substantive requirements” for the detention of immigrant children that aren’t laid out in the settlement. The panel will issue a ruling at a later date. (AP via The Washington Post) (Bay City News) (Newsweek)
Politics and elections
- Corruption in Venezuela
- Partially-recognized Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaidó and Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia Humberto Calderón Berti request that the Colombian government investigate two administrators of their own alliance on suspicion of embezzling US$100,000. (WSJ)
- Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign
- U.S. President Donald Trump's speech at a rally in Orlando, Florida is billed as the official launch of his re-election campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election. He previously filed on January 20, 2017 paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) officially announcing his bid for the 2020 presidential election. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera) (The Atlantic)
- 2019 Conservative Party leadership election
- Boris Johnson leads the second Tory MP leadership ballot. Dominic Raab is eliminated after coming in last. Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid, and Rory Stewart all advance to tomorrow's third round. (BBC News)
- Political appointments by Donald Trump
- Patrick Shanahan, who has been acting Secretary of Defense since January 1, has withdrawn his name from consideration as Secretary "... to devote more time to his family", President Trump said. Secretary of the Army Mark Esper will be the acting Secretary of Defense. There are allegations of domestic violence against Mr. Shanahan. (BBC News)
- Operation Car Wash
- Another batch of text messages between Brazilian judge Sérgio Moro and Operation Car Wash's prosecutors are leaked. The messages state that Moro advised lead prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol and the other prosecutors to halt any investigations on Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's political rival. Moro is quoted as saying the investigations would "offend someone whose support is important". (The Intercept) (Brasil Wire)