Portal:Current events/2020 August 21

August 21, 2020 (2020-08-21) (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Second Libyan Civil War
  • Chief of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj orders a ceasefire in all the territory of Libya. The statement ordered "to all military forces to immediately ceasefire and all combat operations in all Libyan territories". (Reuters)
  • GNA's rival leader of the eastern-based front Aguila Saleh Issa appeals to a halt of hostilities from both sides and supports the ceasefire to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Libya. There has been no comment from Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Khalifa Haftar. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 recession
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • Vice Chancellor and Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz announces a plan to loan around €218 billion ($258bn) for a bailout to mitigate the impact of the country's recession caused by the pandemic, thereby suspending the debt brake. (CGTN)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • The UK's national debt exceeds £2 trillion ($2.61tn) for the first time, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. (AFP via New Straits Times)
  • Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, COVID-19 pandemic in Brunei
      • The Singaporean Ministry of Health announces that it would permit the entry of travelers from Brunei and New Zealand, effective September 1, citing the countries' effective responses to pandemic. (Reuters via CNBC)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon, Lebanese liquidity crisis
    • The S&P Global Ratings downgrades Lebanon's credit rating for its external debt to "selective default" (SD), following defaults due to the resignation of the government in the aftermath of the August 4 explosion in Beirut and the implementation of a two-week lockdown from August 18 following a surge in infections. (AFP via France 24)
  • State-run oil company Saudi Aramco suspends plans to build a US$10 billion oil refinery in Liaoning, China, due to decreased global demand for oil. Its Chinese partners said they will press ahead with the project. (Al Jazeera)
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the drilling ship Fatih has found 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea, Turkey's biggest natural gas find to date. If Turkey can extract the gas commercially, it will be able to reduce its reliance on imported energy. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• 2020 California wildfires
  • Structures at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park have been damaged or destroyed by the CZU Lightning Complex Fire in Santa Cruz County. (CNN)
  • Six people have died from wildfires in Northern California. (ABC News)
  • The LNU Lightning Complex fire grows to 220,000 acres, with 7% of the fire contained. (SFGate)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
      • Chief Executive Carrie Lam announces mass COVID-19 testing for residents starting on September 1, with the assistance of a 60-person team from the mainland, which is the first time Chinese health officials have assisted the special administrative region in its battle to control the epidemic. (CNA)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Israel
      • Israel surpasses 100,000 cases as the government struggles with a resurgence of infections. The death tally stands at 809. (Al Arabiya)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar
      • The state government of Rakhine imposes a night-time curfew in the state's capital of Sittwe, after the Ministry of Health and Sports reported a surge in local cases. (Anadolu Agency)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
      • South Korea reports 324 new cases in the previous 24 hours. This is the highest number of new cases since March 8, as the authorities warn of a cluster of infections in Seoul threatening to spread nationwide. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Syria
      • The opposition-controlled region of the northwest of Syria reports its first death from COVID-19, that of an 80-year-old woman who suffered from severe renal insufficiency and high blood pressure. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • At least 41 schools in Berlin have reported students or teachers are infected with COVID-19 less than two weeks after they reopened. Hundreds of students and teachers are in quarantine and Elementary schools, high schools and trade schools are affected. (AP via CBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary
      • Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announces on state radio that he will tighten border crossing rules in Hungary on September 1 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the number of new infections rises in neighbouring countries. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
      • Italy reports 947 new cases, touching the same levels recorded in mid-May, when the government started easing its stringent lockdown measures. (Anadolu Agency)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New Hampshire
      • New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announces that restaurants in the state can now open at 100% dine-in capacity. (Newsweek)
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • American company Pfizer and German company BioNTech says that they are on track to being submitted for regulatory review as early as October. (Financial Express)

International relations

• Mali–United States relations
  • The U.S. announces through its Sahel Region representative J. Peter Pham that it is halting military cooperation with Mali over the recent coup until the recent situation is "clarified". (Reuters)
• Iran–United States relations
  • A U.S. attempt to extend United Nations sanctions against Iran under a JCPoA "snapback" provision is opposed by 13 Security Council members, who argue that the U.S. left the agreement with Iran in 2018. (The Guardian)
• Afghanistan–Pakistan relations
  • The Pakistani Foreign Ministry reveals that it on August 18 placed financial sanctions on dozens of Taliban members, including chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and deputy head and Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani. The sanctions were placed to avoid placing the country on the Financial Action Task Force blacklist. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• A court in Zimbabwe denies, for the third time, bail to opposition politician and activist Jacob Ngarivhume after ruling he "could be a danger to the public if released", over protests he organized last month. His lawyer says he is "stunned" by the court's decision. (Reuters)
• King Salman of Saudi Arabia dismisses Awwad Eid Al-Aradi Al-Balawi, the directorate general of the Border Guards, and several other officials over structural encroachment in the Red Sea Project. (Xinhua)
• American actress Lori Loughlin is sentenced to two months in prison and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, is sentenced to five months in prison for their role in the college admissions scandal. (Los Angeles Times)
• Former California police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, also known as the Golden State Killer, receives multiple consecutive life sentences without parole in the county superior court in Sacramento. DeAngelo pleaded guilty in June to 13 counts of first-degree murder in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. (ABC News)
• The press office of deposed Bolivian President Evo Morales rejects a criminal complaint filed this week by the Ministry of Justice accusing him of trafficking and raping a 16-year-old girl, claiming it was part of a "dirty war" waged by the interim government. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland
    • Irish Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary resigns after attending a golf dinner with more than 80 people, which came a day after Dublin announced a tightening of lockdown restrictions. Gardaí are now investigating possible breaches of COVID-19 regulations on the event. (BBC)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya, protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Police arrest anti-corruption protesters in Nairobi for allegedly disobeying social distancing measures. Protesters, however, claim the arrests were an attempt by authorities to silence dissent and report that police have used tear gas to disperse the crowds. (AP via The Washington Post)
• 2019–2020 Iraqi protests
  • Protesters in the southern city of Basra set fire to a local parliament office after gathering to demand the resignation of governor Asaad Al Eidani for the killing of two activists last week. (Reuters)
• Doctors treating Russian anti-corruption activist and opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Omsk refute claims that Navalny was poisoned before his flight from Tomsk to Moscow the previous day, citing that tests had shown no trace of any poison in his body. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered to transfer Navalny to Berlin for further treatment by sending an air ambulance to Omsk, but doctors have refused to discharge him, saying Navalny is in an "unstable" condition. Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh claim the refusal is a ploy to hide the poisoning and "put his life at risk". (AFP via NDTV)

Sports

• 2019–20 UEFA Europa League
  • In association football, Sevilla FC defeat Inter Milan 3–2 in the final to win the UEFA Europa League for a record sixth time. (AP via Lincoln Journal Star)

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