Portal:Current events/2020 July 3

July 3, 2020 (2020-07-03) (Friday)

Arts and culture

• The University of Cambridge accepts the resignation of historian David Starkey and strips him of his honorary fellowship, following controversy over his remarks about slavery. (BBC)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• At least eight police officers are killed and five others injured in Uttar Pradesh, India, in an ambush as they were attempting to arrest a suspect for murder. The attack was carried out by several gunmen, two of whom were later killed by other officers. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• 2020 China–India skirmishes
  • Indian Minister of Power R. K. Singh announces that India will halt the importation of US$2.8 billion worth of Chinese power equipment due to heightened tensions between the two nations. (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

• Sheikhupura train-van crash
  • A passenger train collides with a van carrying Sikh pilgrims near Sheikhupura, Punjab, Pakistan, killing at least 21 people. (BBC via Yahoo! News)
• An explosion at a fireworks factory in Hendek, Sakarya, Turkey, kills two people and injures 73 others. (AP)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  • The European Union approves the use of the drug remdesivir to treat severe cases of COVID-19. (DW)
• COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  • An investigation led by the Federal University of Santa Catarina uncovers traces of SARS-CoV-2 in Florianópolis sewage samples drawn on November 27, two months earlier than the first official confirmed case of COVID-19 in the Americas on January 21, and much earlier than the first reported case in Brazil at the end of February. (CGTN) (Web24)
• COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
  • Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi tests positive for COVID-19. (Reuters)
• COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia
  • Saudi Arabia surpasses 200,000 cases after reporting 4,193 infections while the death toll jumps to 1,802. (Al Arabiya)
• UNICEF and the government of New Zealand pledge funding to Kiribati to target the high mortality rate among infants. The Pacific nation has a record of one in 25 children dying before the age of one due to preventable diseases. (RNZ)
• German lawmakers agree to a deal to end nuclear power by 2022 and the use of coal by 2038. (AP via Seattle Times)

International relations

• Libya–Russia relations
  • Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov announces that Russia will re-open its embassy in Libya. (Reuters via US News and World Report)

Law and crime

• Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi
  • An Istanbul court begins an in absentia trial of 20 Saudi Arabians they accuse of involvement in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. (Al Jazeera)
• St Paul's Cathedral bomb plot
  • British Muslim convert Safiyya Shaikh is sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting to suicide bomb St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. (BBC)
• Scotland's Court of Session fines Greenpeace £80,000 for breaching an injunction against the occupation of a Transocean oil rig in the North Sea. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

• 2019–20 Hong Kong protests
  • China appoints Zheng Yanxiong to head up the newly formed Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR; Yanxiong is best known for his suppression of protests in Wukan in 2011. (BBC)
• 2020 China–India skirmishes
  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits soldiers in the Ladakh region amid heightened tensions between China and India. (Al Jazeera)
• Politics of France
  • Jean Castex is appointed to be Prime Minister of France by President Emmanuel Macron following the resignation of Édouard Philippe and amid speculation of a possible cabinet reshuffle. (CNBC) (Politico)
• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signs the Anti-Terrorism Act into law, repealing the Human Security Act signed in 2007. (Rappler) (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Sports

• The Athletics Integrity Unit announces that it has banned Kenyan runner Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich from athletics for four years after missing multiple doping tests. (AP via The Charlotte Observer)

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