Portal:Current events/2021 July 1
July 1, 2021 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- ADF insurgency
- U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Michael A. Hammer announces that 1,000 U.S. troops will be deployed to the DRC "to hunt down the Ugandan rebels of the ADF". The U.S. government will also assist in training Congolese forces and with intelligence sharing. (Newsweek)
Business and economy
- Economy of El Salvador
- President Nayib Bukele requests a minimum wage hike of 20% due to poor Salvadorans suffering from an "onslaught of global inflation". Bukele also orders more food handouts to combat hunger during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The country had a government reshuffle, which have put in doubt negotiations for a potential $1 billion financing program from the International Monetary Fund. (Reuters)
- Economy of Uganda
- Uganda imposes a new tax rate for using internet as the government orders a 12% excise duty on mobile data. President Yoweri Museveni defends the tax as he says that social media users are "endlessly donating money to foreign telephone companies through chatting or even lying" and described the use of social media as a "luxury". This tax proposal, which takes effect immediately, sparked protests in 2018 and 2019. (Africa Feeds)
Disasters and accidents
- 2021 Madagascar food crisis
- UN agencies report that due to the food insecurity that has pushed about a million people in Madagascar, the population has been surviving by eating ashes mixed with tamarind and shoe leather, as the US and South Korea pledged economic aid to Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina. (Metro UK)
- 2021 Western North America heat wave
- The village of Lytton, British Columbia, is evacuated after a wildfire destroys 90% of the village amid an unprecedented heat wave caused by a rare "heat dome" event over the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. The village recently recorded Canada's highest ever temperature of 49.6 °C (121.3 °F). (BBC)
- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raises the alert status of Taal Volcano to level 3 after the volcano spewed a kilometer-high ash plume, forcing authorities in the provinces of Batangas and Cavite to evacuate thousands of people. (Al Jazeera)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
- COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh
- Bangladesh imposes a lockdown that close all public transport and only allowing people to leave for emergency reasons due to deadly surge of COVID-19 infections. Soldiers are deployed to enforce the lockdown. (Voice of America)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
- Community Activities Restrictions Movement
- Bali begins to implement a emergency community restrictions in seven regency and cities to prevent the surge of COVID-19 infections. It comes despite the government announces an similar measures in regions in Java and Bali that classified into level 3 and 4 from July 3 until 20 that would require non-essential businesses to close. (Merdeka.com) (CNA)
- Indonesia reports a record 24,836 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 2.2 million. (detikNews)
- Community Activities Restrictions Movement
- COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
- Thailand reports a record 57 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 2,080. (Bangkok Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh
- COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
International relations
- Turkey–United States relations
- The United States adds Turkey to its list of governments that are implicated in the use of child soldiers, saying Ankara has provided "tangible support" to the Neo-Ottoman Sultan Murad Division, in Syria and in Libya, which uses child soldiers. It is the first time a NATO member state has been included in the Trafficking in Persons Report. (Reuters)