Portal:Current events/2020 September 16
September 16, 2020 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Two men are injured during a rocket attack in Ashdod, Israel. In response, the Israel Defense Forces strike Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- September 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- A bomb kills two people and injures 12 others in Kalafgan District, Takhar Province, Afghanistan. (TOLOnews)
- September 2020 Afghanistan attacks
Disasters and accidents
- 2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Sally strengthens into a Category 2 hurricane. The storm has forced evacuations and left more than 150,000 people without electricity. It is now expected to make landfall near southeastern Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. (CNN)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
- COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia
- COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
- Indonesia reports 3,963 new cases over the past 24 hours which takes the nationwide total at 228,993, an new all-time high since the pandemic began in the country. (detikNews)
International relations
- Venezuelan protests (2014–present), Crisis in Venezuela
- A United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission formally accuses the Venezuelan government of crimes against humanity, including cases of killings, torture, violence against political opposition and disappearances since 2014. President Nicolás Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials are among those implicated in the charges. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the Hollywood movie Hotel Rwanda faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the crimes with which he's charged, according to the prosecution. Rusesabagina had called for armed resistance against the government of Paul Kagame on YouTube. The dual Belgian-Rwandan citizen declined Monday to respond to the charges. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Yoshihide Suga is elected Prime Minister of Japan, following the resignation of his predecessor Shinzo Abe over health concerns. (BBC)
- Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley announces that the Caribbean island will become a republic next year before its 55th anniversary of independence from the United Kingdom in November 2021, replacing Elizabeth II as head of state with a Barbadian. Governor-General Sandra Mason says "the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind." (Sky News)
Science and technology
- A United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure report blames a "horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing’s management, and grossly insufficient oversight" by the Federal Aviation Administration for two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes. (Reuters)