Portal:Current events/2020 October 14

October 14, 2020 (2020-10-14) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Spillover of the Insurgency in Cabo Delgado
  • Twenty civilians are killed after Islamic State militants and the allied terror group Ansar al-Sunna attack a village in Mtwara, Tanzania. Properties are damaged, forcing scores of people to abandon their homes. (Anadolu Agency)
• Yemeni Civil War
  • The Trump administration announces that they have secured the release of Mikael Gidada and Sandra Loli, two Americans that have been held hostage by Houthi rebels in Yemen for 16 months. (The New York Times)
  • A Houthi spokesman says 240 of their fighters have been released. In September, the United Nations announced a swap of "1081 conflict-related prisoners". (AP via Star Tribune)

Disasters and accidents

• 2020 Pacific typhoon season
  • Tropical Storm Linfa
    • Member of Vietnamese National Assembly Major General Deputy commander of the 4th Military Region of Vietnam People's Army Nguyễn Văn Man is confirmed to be missing. He was among the rescue troops dispatched to the mountainous area of Phong Điền District, Thừa Thiên-Huế Province to deal with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Linfa. (VnExpress)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
        • First Minister Arlene Foster announces a "circuit breaker" lockdown in Northern Ireland effective October 16. Pubs and restaurants will have to shut down for four weeks unless they offer a takeaway service, and schools will close for two weeks until November 2. Meanwhile, places of worship, shops, and gyms can stay open. (BBC News) (Sky News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
      • The number of new cases in Russia reaches 14,231 in the past 24 hours, a new record for the sixth day in a row. It is the first time that the country has reported more than 14,000 cases in a single day as authorities grapple with a second wave that has pushed hospitals to near-capacity. (The Moscow Times)
      • President Vladimir Putin announces that the country has approved its second COVID-19 vaccine following preliminary trials. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal
      • Portugal reports 2,072 new daily cases, its highest daily increase yet, bringing the cumulative count to 91,193 confirmed cases. (DGS)
      • Prime Minister António Costa announces the reinstatement of the "state of calamity" effective at midnight tonight. Gatherings will be limited to five people. Weddings and baptisms can be attended by a maximum of 50, but university parties will be banned. Fines for businesses not complying with the rules will be doubled from an upper limit of 5,000 to 10,000 euros. (Politico)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia
      • Croatia reports 748 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest number in a single day since the pandemic began. (Total Croatia News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • President Emmanuel Macron announces a 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time curfew for the Île-de-France region that includes Paris, as well as Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, and Toulouse starting October 17 for at least four weeks in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the country declares another national state of health emergency after it expired on July 10. (RTÉ)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • Germany reports 5,132 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of reported cases in a single day since April 5, according to official figures from the Robert Koch Institute. (Anadolu Agency)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland
      • The government announces a nationwide ban on visits to homes or gardens in almost all circumstances, except for providing care to children or elderly and vulnerable people. It also announces that Cavan, Monaghan, and Donegal, which border Northern Ireland, will move to Level 4 restrictions between midnight tomorrow until November 10, which means that non-essential retail stores will close and that all non-essential workers will work from home. (The Irish Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
      • Italy registers 7,332 new cases in the last 24 hours, a new record for a single day since the pandemic began and surpassing the previous record of 6,557 cases that reported in March, when the country was still in lockdown. (National Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
      • Poland reports a record 6,526 new infections and 116 deaths in a single day, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, as doctors warn that the healthcare system in the country is becoming overloaded. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, COVID-19 pandemic in Liechtenstein
      • Switzerland reports 2,823 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest record number in a single day since the pandemic began, thus taking the total to 68,704 confirmed cases in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. (Financial Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • The Catalan acting government announces the closure of bars, restaurants, beauty salons, and theme parks; the government also reduces the capacity in shops to 30% and 50% in gyms, cultural centers, and religious spaces for 15 days. (El Mundo)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • Iran announces temporary travel restrictions on Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan, and Urmia, which includes banning travel to and from the five major cities in the country. It comes after Iran reports single-day records in both deaths and new infections, with 279 deaths and 4,830 new cases reported in the past 24 hours. (France 24)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq
      • Iraq surpasses 10,000 COVID-19 deaths. (Al-Arabiya)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela, COVID-19 vaccine
    • Venezuela is expected to start clinical trials for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. (TASS)

International relations

• Kashmir conflict, Kashmir lockdown
  • Former chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has been released by India. She was detained on 5 August last year, when the government stripped the region of its partial autonomy. She was in house arrest under a controversial law that allows detention without charge for up to two years. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• George Floyd protests, 2020–2021 United States racial unrest
  • Kenosha unrest
    • It is announced that Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged for killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will not face gun charges in Illinois. (The Patriot-News)
• Indonesian Omnibus Law on Job Creation
  • People's Representative Council has submitted the final draft of Job Creation Law, which contains 812 pages after many revisions to President Joko Widodo, which represented by Minister of State Secretary Pratikno. (Kompas)
• Ugandan security forces raid the offices of the National Unity Platform in Kampala and arrest several people, including opposition leader and presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, allegedly for illegally housing army uniforms. Signatures to get Ssentamu on the ballot and his 1campaign materials were also seized. (DW)
• Protesters gather outside the Israel Supreme Court and call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be investigated for a scandal surrounding a $2 billion submarine deal with Germany. (The Washington Post)

Politics and elections

• Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory, Conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal
  • The New York Post reports that newly uncovered emails suggest Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. The Post obtained the alleged emails from top Donald Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani. (Fox News) (NY Post) (NY Magazine)
  • Twitter and Facebook announce they are limiting the distribution of the article until it is fact-checked. (CNET) (RealClearPolitics)

Science and technology

• Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • YouTube announces that it will ban misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines as an effort to expand its policy surrounding misinformation about COVID-19. (The Hill)

Sports

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
  • 2020 NFL season
    • The National Football League announces that the upcoming Pro Bowl will be cancelled, the first time since 1949. However, the league announced that it would still name teams at the end of the season in the usual format through votes by fans, players, and coaches. (ESPN) (USA Today)
  • Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban and athletic director Greg Byrne both test positive for COVID-19. (ESPN)

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October 2020

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