Portal:Current events/2020 September 16

September 16, 2020 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Disasters and accidents

2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Sally
  - 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)
  - Hurricane Sally makes landfall in Gulf Shores, Alabama, at 5:45 am ET as a Category 2 hurricane. (USA Today)
  - Part of the Pensacola Bay Bridge in Pensacola, Florida, collapses due to 30 inches of rain. (USA Today)

Health and environment

International relations

Venezuelan protests, 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)
International reactions to the 2020 Belarusian presidential election and protests
- The head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, says the United States works behind the scenes in Belarus towards "another 'colour revolution'", funding bloggers and training activists through NGO's against the interests of Belarusian citizens. Minister of Defence Sergey Shoygu flies to Minsk after Lukashenko said he had asked Putin for weapons during a meeting in Moscow on Monday. Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov says Russia will, before the end of the year, disburse the first $1-billion tranche of a loan that was agreed also on Monday, to help Belarus' financial stability. (Reuters)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announces plans to repeal the Dublin Regulation and reform the migration policy of the European Union, which von der Leyen says will be presented on September 23. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

Rwandan humanitarian and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Paul Rusesabagina, the subject of the film Hotel Rwanda, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the crimes with which he is charged, according to the prosecution. Rusesabagina had called for armed resistance against the government of Paul Kagame on YouTube. Rusesabagina, however, declined 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)
Decolonization of the Americas
- 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

Boeing 737 MAX groundings
- 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, resulting in the airliner being grounded worldwide. (Reuters)

Sports