Portal:Current events/2020 November 12

November 12, 2020 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Tigray military intervention
- Amnesty International reports massacres taking place in the Tigray Region after conflict broke out last week. Amnesty cites witnesses blaming the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) for the "horrific tragedy" taking place as airstrikes continue to hit the region after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed blamed the political group of committing war crimes. Amnesty's report could not identify the perpetrators of the massacres. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Eta makes landfall as a tropical storm near Cedar Key, Florida. (ABC News)
European migrant crisis
- The International Organisation for Migration says at least 74 people have died after their boat, which was carrying more than 120 people, capsized off the coast of Libya. The Libyan Coast Guard have managed to bring 47 survivors to shore. (BBC)
A helicopter carrying Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeepers crashes near Sharm el-Sheikh in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Seven people are killed, including five Americans, a French national and a Czech national. One crew member, an American, survived and was medically evacuated to an Israeli hospital. (BBC)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois
      - Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issues a new Stay-at-Home advisory that asks Chicagoans to leave the house only for work or school or other essential reasons. It is scheduled to take effect for 30 days at 06:00 am CST on November 16. (WMAQ-TV)
      - Illinois reports 12,702 new cases in the past 24 hours, a new single-day record since the pandemic began. (Chicago Sun-Times)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in California
      - California surpasses one million cases of COVID-19, becomes the second state after Texas to reach that milestone. (KABC-TV)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
      - Michigan reports 6,940 new cases, a new single-day record and brings the total number of confirmed cases to 236,225 across the state. (Detroit Free Press)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota
      - Minnesota reports 7,228 new cases, a new single-day record and brings the total number of confirmed cases to 201,795 cases. (Star Tribune)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario
      - Ontario reports a record 1,575 new cases in the last 24 hours, raising its seven-day average to 1,299 cases and the cumulative cases in the province to 89,784. (CBC)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi
      - Delhi reports a record 8,593 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total confirmed cases in the capital to 459,975 cases, where 410,118 people have recovered. (The Hindu)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    - Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has tested positive, only days after being released from prison. (Radio Free Europe)
    - Iran surpasses 40,000 total COVID-19 deaths after 457 new fatalities are reported in the last 24 hours. (Al Jazeera)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    - The number of new confirmed cases in Japan surges to a record high of 1,651 cases in the last 24 hours as Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura warned of more stringent measures if the infections continue to spike. (The Straits Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Pakistan reports 1,808 new infections in the last 24 hours, the highest in three months since July 30, raising its nationwide total to 349,992 cases, according to data from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). (The Nation)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine
    - Ukraine surpasses 500,000 total COVID-19 cases after a record 11,057 new cases are reported in the last 24 hours. (Kyiv Post)
    - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is hospitalized after he contracted COVID-19 earlier this week. (Daily Sabah)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia
    - Croatia reports 3,082 new cases over the past 24 hours, a new single-day record and raising the total caseload to 75,922 cases nationwide. (Total Croatia News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
    - Greece reports 3,316 new cases and 50 deaths over the past 24 hours, a new single-day record on both cases and deaths since the pandemic began and taking the nationwide totals to 66,637 cases and 959 deaths, respectively. (The National Herald)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    - Russia reports a record 439 new fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising the nationwide death toll to 32,032. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - The United Kingdom reports 33,470 new cases, a new single-day record since the pandemic began and taking the nationwide total to 1.29 million. (Sky News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Marshall Islands
    - President David Kabua informs that the Marshall Islands are COVID-free again after the US Army workman who had tested positive is no longer contagious. Initially, two US Armed Forces personnel had tested positive for the virus and have both recovered. (RNZ)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
    - COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins asks New Zealanders who work in the Auckland CBD to stay home if possible from tomorrow after a new case in the community was found in the city. (The Guardian)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco
  - Morocco reports 6,195 new cases, a new single-day record since the beginning of the pandemic and taking the nationwide total to 276,821. (Morocco World News)

Law and crime

Belgium expels five far-right Danish activists associated with Rasmus Paludan, ahead of a planned Quran burning event in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels. The area has a large Muslim community and it was feared the Quran burning could spark civil unrest. Asylum Secretary Sammy Mahdi said the group were a "serious threat to public order". (BBC)