Portal:Current events/2021 June 30

June 30, 2021 (Wednesday)

Business and economy

Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland
- U.S. fashion retailer Gap announces that will be closing all of its 81 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company will still provide an online store for British and Irish customers. (BBC)
UK Energy Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan announces that due to a move towards a "much larger mix of renewables", the use of coal for electricity production will end a year earlier than planned, in October 2024. (Sky News)

Disasters and accidents

2021 Western North America heat wave
- The number of sudden deaths during to the extreme hot temperatures in British Columbia, Canada, rise to 486 people. The toll represent a 195% increase on the 165 sudden deaths that would normally occur over this period. While the official cause of death for each deceased person is not yet estabilished, many are linked to the hot temperatures. (BBC)
- The deaths of 63 people in Oregon, United States, are linked to the extreme hot temperatures that are battering the region. (OPB)
The head of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, warns of a "biblical" famine due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and says that the disaster already exists in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen whilst he warns the conditions are of "particular concern" in Nigeria and Burkina Faso. (Deccan Herald)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
    - COVID-19 vaccination in Singapore
      - Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen says that the Singapore Armed Forces will reach “herd immunity” status by mid-July after 92% of their troops have been vaccinated. (The Strait Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
    - Cambodia reports a record 1,130 new cases and 27 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 50,385 and the nationwide death toll to 602. (Khmer Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Laos
    - Laos reports its first three imported cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in Champasack, who were migrant workers from Thailand. (The Laotian Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea
    - North Korea leader Kim Jong-un warns of a "grave incident" in the country's COVID-19 outbreak. (The Washington Post)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - Thailand reports a record 53 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 2,023. (Bangkok Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    - Russia reports a record 669 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours for the second day a row, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 135,214. (Barron's)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - United Kingdom reports 26,068 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which is the highest single-day daily cases since January 29. (Sky News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
      - U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says that the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson may be effective against the Lineage B.1.617 Delta variant. (CNBC)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Nebraska
      - Nebraska will end their COVID-19 response dashboard after the state exits their state of emergency, which ends tonight at 11:59 pm. (AP)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia
      - Over 5 million people in British Columbia have received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (CHEK-DT)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
  - The Northern Territory lockdown extends to the town of Alice Springs as coronavirus spreads from the Darwin cluster. (The Guardian)
China is declared malaria-free by the WHO, following an eradication effort that began in 1950. (DW)

International relations

UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and his German counterpart Heiko Maas in a joint statement call for Germany to permanently join the United Nations Security Council, after outgoing German UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen earlier in the day said it needs to happen to reflect the shifting global power balance. (DW) (Reuters)

Law and crime

Aftermath of the 2021 United States Capitol attack
- January 6 commission, United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack
  - The U.S. House of Representatives votes 222–190 to establish a committee to investigate the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol, with Liz Cheney (WY-1) and Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) being the only two Republicans to vote for the committee. (NBC News)
- A Alabama man becomes the third member of the Oath Keepers to plead guilty for his role in the Capitol riot. (NBC News)
Women's rights in Yemen
- The trial of Yemeni actress and model Intisar al-Hammadi begins in Sanaa. She stands accused of "indecent acts" for posting photos of herself without a headscarf on social media. Al-Hammadi was arrested in February by Houthi authorities. Human Rights Watch denounces the trial as unfair and says that she was subjected to physical and verbal abuse, racist insults and forced to sign documents while blindfolded while being threatened to undergo a virginity test. (BBC)
2021 Canadian Indian residential schools gravesite discoveries
- The discovery of 182 unmarked graves at the site of Kootenay Indian Residential School near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, is announced, weeks after the remains of 215 children were found at a similar residential school. (CIVT-DT)
Bill Cosby sexual assault cases
- Former American comedian Bill Cosby is released from prison after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction. (AP)
Legal affairs of Donald Trump
- A grand jury in Manhattan indicts the Trump organization, as well as CFO Allen Weisselberg. (The New York Times)
Saudi Arabian state-run news channel Al Arabiya reports that authorities seized a shipment of 4.5 million Captagon amphetamine pills, smuggled inside several orange cartons, at a Jeddah port. (Al Jazeera)
The UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals sentences both Serbian State Security Service chief Jovica Stanišić and his deputy Franko "Frenki" Simatović to 12 years in prison for providing support to Serb paramilitary groups that carried out ethnic cleansings against the Croat and Bosniak populations in the Bosnian town Šamac during the Bosnian War. The case against the two was the longest-running international war crime case in history, having started in 2003, and marks the first time that senior officials in the government of former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević were convicted for war crimes committed during this war. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune appoints Minister of Finance Aymen Benabderrahmane as the new Prime Minister. (Al Jazeera)

Sports

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, COVID-19 vaccine
- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledges help to the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Niue and Tonga to boost their health systems while vowing the leaders of said Pacific nations to host a "safe and secure" 2020 Summer Olympics. (Kyodo News)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport bans Bahraini 400 m-runner Salwa Eid Naser from participating in the sport for two years, thus banning her from the Tokyo Olympics, for not taking doping tests between March 2019 and January 2020. This overturns the ruling made by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal last October, who absolved her based on a technicality. (Al Jazeera)
American chess player Abhimanyu Mishra becomes the youngest Grandmaster (GM) in the world, at age 12, when he defeats Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca in Budapest. (ESPN)