Portal:Current events/2019 October 16
October 16, 2019 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- A Taliban truck bomb in eastern Afghanistan kills three police officers and injures 36 other people, including 20 children. (al-Jazeera)
Business and economy
- General Motors and the United Auto Workers announce they have reached a tentative deal to end a month-long strike that cost the company US$2 billion. It will be sent to union members on Thursday for final approval. If approved, workers will receive a pay raise and temporary workers will be granted a more simplified path to full-time employment. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2019 Hong Kong protests
- Jimmy Sham, a leader of the Hong Kong protests, is attacked by a group of hammer-wielding men in the Mong Kok District of the Kowloon Peninsula, and is taken to hospital with severe head injuries. (BBC)
- Around 337 people in a dozen countries are arrested for participating in a child pornography network that hosted up to 250,000 videos depicting child sexual abuse. Officials in the United States, United Kingdom, and South Korea called it one of the largest child pornography operations to date. (Reuters)
- Trial of Catalonia independence leaders
- The nine pro-Catalonia independence politicians jailed earlier this week issue a joint plea for an end to violent protests across the region. Meanwhile, the Spanish government says it will meet protestors with a "firm, proportional and united" response. (The Guardian)
- Catalan President Quim Torra and members of the government of Catalonia joins one of the many road cuts. (El País)
- The violence of the protests in Tarragona, Girona, Lleida and Barcelona increases, while there are clashes with Mossos d'Esquadra in Reus. Four protesters and one policeman are injured in a pro-independence protest in Madrid. (El Mundo) (El País)
- The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez advises in a press conference that the Government will act with moderity but not concrete excepcional measures yet. (El País)