Portal:Current events/2021 June 21

June 21, 2021 (Monday)

Health and environment

International relations

Foreign relations of Belarus
- The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom impose sanctions against Belarus for last month's diverting of Ryanair Flight 4978, which led to the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich. (Business Insider)
Foreign relations of Nicaragua
- The Argentinian and Mexican foreign ministries announce in a joint statement that they are withdrawing their respective ambassadors from Nicaragua for consultations in response to President Daniel Ortega's increasing crackdown on dissidents, including the arrest of five potential presidential candidates this month. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Trial of Catalan independence leaders
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announces that the nine Catalan separatist leaders involved in the unsuccessful 2017 independence bid will be pardoned tomorrow, saying that this is needed to ease tensions with Catalonia. President of the Catalan Government Pere Aragonès welcomes the pardons but says that they will pursue more concessions, such as a new authorized independence referendum. The Spanish oppositional parties subsequently announce that they will try to reverse the pardons. (Reuters)
Hong Kong national security law
- The pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily says it is considering closure by Friday after the arrest of its five top executive members and the freezing of its assets. The tabloid's founder Jimmy Lai has already been convicted of multiple charges and will be tried, along with 46 others, on subversion charges. (BBC)
A judge in Peru rejects a plea from public prosecutor José Domingo Pérez to send Popular Force party leader and presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori back to prison for allegedly violating her bail conditions over charges of money laundering and corruption. Pérez says that he will appeal the judge's ruling. (DW)

Politics and elections

The Australian National Party undergoes a leadership spill, replacing Michael McCormack with New England Representative Barnaby Joyce. Joyce previously lead the Nationals from 2016 to 2018 and was replaced by McCormack following sexual harassment allegations. As per the party's coalition agreement with the Australian Liberal Party, Joyce is set to replace McCormack as Deputy Prime Minister. Many Nationals have been critical of the Morrison Government's move towards carbon neutrality and hope that Joyce will counter this. (ABC News Australia)
2021 Swedish government crisis
- Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's government collapses after a vote of no-confidence is adopted by the Riksdag. Löfven has one week to either resign or call a snap election. (CNN)
2021 Ethiopian general election
- Ethiopian voters head to the polls to elect a new session to the House of Peoples' Representatives after months of delays. The election occurs in the midst of multiple problems affecting the country, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, deteriorating conditions in the Tigray Region brought on by the Tigray War, and the jailing of multiple oppositional figures. (CNN)

Sports

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games announce that it will allow spectactors at the 2020 Summer Olympics with a 50% cap at venues and up to a maximum of 10,000 people. However, the fans would be restricted in the event of state of emergency or any other restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. (CNN)
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard becomes the first transgender athlete chosen to compete in the Olympic Games, as the New Zealand Olympic Committee announces she is selected to compete in the Tokyo Olympics as part of the women's weightlifting team. (BBC)
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib becomes the first active National Football League player to come out as gay. (NPR)