Portal:Current events/2015 September 8

September 8, 2015 (2015-09-08) (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Turkey–PKK conflict
  • Turkey bombs PKK sites in northern Iraq after a bombing yesterday in Hakkâri Province that killed at least 16 soldiers. (BBC)
  • A PKK bombing attack on a minibus in the eastern Iğdır Province near the Armenian border kills 14 Turkish police officers. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
  • U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that two ISIS militants, UK citizens, Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, were killed in Syria when a British drone attack hit their car on August 21, 2015. Both Khan and Amin had appeared in an ISIS recruitment video last year. They are alleged to have been plotting a terrorist attack on the UK. (BBC) (The Guardian)
  • The Syrian government calls off airstrikes against rebel fighters due to a sandstorm affecting large parts of the Middle East. (AP)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • The UN announces that it has grave concerns for around 96,000 children in Al Hudaydah, Yemen, who are starving due to the nearby fighting. (Al Jazeera English Online)
  • A Saudi-led air raid on Yemen's Al Hudaydah port reportedly kills 20 Indian nationals involved in oil smuggling. (Times of India)

Arts and culture

• New Zealand temporarily bans the sale or lending of the book Into the River by Ted Dawe, pending a review which could see the book restricted long-term. This is the first time in 22 years that a book has been restricted to this extent in New Zealand. (The Guardian) (Radio New Zealand Online)

Business and economy

• German airline Lufthansa cancels 84 long-haul flights as pilots go on strike over a proposed restructure plan. (Bloomberg)
• Jeff Smisek resigns as CEO of United Airlines due to allegations that he tried to improperly influence officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

• A massive sandstorm hits Lebanon and Syria as well as Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The Lebanese Health Ministry said the storm caused the deaths of two women, and sent hundreds to hospitals with breathing difficulties. Particularly hard hit were the 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, many in flimsy tents in informal campsites. (Middle East Eye) (AP via CTV News) (Al Jazeera English Online)
• The VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam is fully evacuated after parts of the hospital were flooded because of a burst in a major water-pipeline. (DutchNews)
• British Airways Flight 2276, a Boeing 777 aircraft, suffers an uncontained engine failure and fire on take-off from McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Fourteen of the 172 on board are injured and taken to a nearby hospital. (BBC), (NBC News)

International relations

• North and South Korea are to hold reunions for families divided by the Korean War from October 20 to October 26. (AP via Washington Times)
• European migrant crisis
  • Sigmar Gabriel, the Vice Chancellor of Germany, says that Germany "can take 500,000 asylum seekers a year" while calling on other nations to take their fair share. " (BBC)

Law and crime

• During protests over a lack of mining jobs in South Africa's Limpopo province, demonstrators destroy 21 buses, a police station, and a municipal office as well as blocking roads from Lephalale to Marapong. (ENCA)
• Death of Freddie Gray
  • The U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland, agrees to a $6.4 million settlement with relatives over the death of Freddie Gray. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Miller v. Davis
  • Kim Davis, the county clerk of Rowan County in the U.S. state of Kentucky, is released from jail on contempt of court charges but she may not interfere with her deputy clerks issuing marriage certificates to same sex couples. (Yahoo! politics)
• Matrimonial nullity trial reforms of Pope Francis
  • Pope Francis announces canon law reforms making it easier for people to obtain declarations of nullity (marriage annulments) (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, is reelected (unopposed) President of the Liberal Democratic Party. (AP via The New York Times)

Sport

• In football, Wayne Rooney becomes the highest goalscorer for the England national football team with a goal against Switzerland in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match. (ITV)
• The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia was abandoned due to crowd trouble just before full time.

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