Portal:Current events/2017 August 9

Current events of August 9, 2017 (2017-08-09) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Levallois-Perret attack
  • In a suspected terror attack, six French soldiers are injured, three seriously, after a car is slammed into them at a barracks in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. (Independent)

Disasters and accidents

• 2017 Atlantic hurricane season
  • Hurricane Franklin, the Atlantic Ocean's first hurricane of the season, is set to hit Mexico's Gulf state of Veracruz tonight or tomorrow morning. The category 1 storm is expected to lose strength as it moves inland through the oil-producing state. (Reuters) (National Hurricane Center)

International relations

• Cuba–United States relations
  • Two Cuban diplomats are expelled from the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., after an incident in Havana forced U.S. officials to return home. (Fox News)
• Russia–United States relations
  • Unarmed Russian Air Force reconnaissance jets, under the authority provided by international Open Skies Treaty, fly over several Washington, D.C., area government buildings and landmarks as well as the President's residence in Bedminster, New Jersey. (ABC News) (CBS News)
• United States–Venezuela relations
  • The U.S. imposes new sanctions on eight Venezuelan officials, including Secretary of the 2017 Constituent Assembly Adán Chávez - the late President Hugo Chávez's brother, to deter further democratic backsliding in the South American country. (Reuters) (CBS News)

Law and crime

• Crime in North Korea
  • North Korea releases imprisoned Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim on "sick bail." (CBC News)
• Sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States military
  • Five transgender United States military personnel, with nearly 60 years of combined military service, sue President Donald Trump and top Pentagon officials over the President's policy change announced late last month banning transgender people from serving in the military. The suit asks the court to prevent the ban from going into effect. (The New York Times) (AP via NBC News)

Politics and elections

• GT road rally
  • Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif goes home after his disqualification by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. (ABC News)
• Regions of the Philippines
  • President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte abolishes the Negros Island Region (first created in 2015 by his predecessor) through Executive Order no. 38, citing lack of funds to fully establish the region. Negros Occidental reverts back to the Western Visayas region, while Negros Oriental back to the Central Visayas region. (Rappler) (Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines)