Portal:Current events/2017 September 27

September 27, 2017 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Russian aircraft carry out air strikes on the Christian-majority Qaina and Yaqobia villages, in the western countryside of Idlib, killing a child and injuring 5 others. (Iraqi News)
- Five Russian warplanes bombard the city of al-Tamane’a with rockets, bombs, and Bunker-Buster missiles, wounding several civilians and causing a significant damage to the area, and causing large number of civilians to flee. (Iraqi News)
Russia and weapons of mass destruction
- Russia announces it has completed the destruction of all of its chemical weapons under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention. (New York Times)
2017 Kalynivka ammunition depot explosion
- Thirty thousand people are evacuated from Kalynivka, Ukraine, following an explosion in an ammunition dump 180 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of Kiev. The Government of Ukraine blames sabotage. (Irish Independent)

Disasters and accidents

International relations

Law and crime

Politics of Uzbekistan
- Uzbekistan dissident writer Nurulloh Muhammad Raufkhon is arrested on his return to the Central Asian country from exile. (Reuters)
Politics of Thailand
- Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is sentenced to five years in prison in absentia. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Japanese general election, 2017
- Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike establishes the conservative Kibō no Tō (Party of Hope) to contest the upcoming election although she will neither lead it nor run. (Kyodo)
Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
- The Republic of Ireland announces a referendum on abortion will be held between May and June 2018. (The Telegraph)
Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum, 2017
- The government of Iraqi Kurdistan announces that they won the referendum by over 92% of the vote. (The Independent)
- Iraq's prime minister has demanded the Kurdistan Regional Government "cancel" the outcome of the referendum on independence that it held on Monday. (BBC)
German federal election, 2017
- Former members of the Alternative für Deutschland party Frauke Petry and Marcus Pretzell may create a new party. (Deutsche Welle)
United States presidential primary
- California moves its 2020 presidential primary to March 3, making it fifth in the nominating process after Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. The 2016 primary was held on June 7. (Reuters) (Los Angeles Times)
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
- Facebook, Google, and Twitter executives have been asked to testify before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee in October and the Senate Intelligence Committee on November 1, according to committee sources. (Reuters)

Sports

2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball corruption scandal
- The University of Louisville, whose men's basketball team was linked to illicit payments by Adidas to the family of freshman player Brian Bowen, places head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich on administrative leave, pending further university action. Pitino's attorney tells Louisville's newspaper, The Courier-Journal, that Pitino has been "effectively fired", and multiple media reports indicate that Jurich has also been effectively fired. Louisville men's basketball was already on NCAA probation due to violations related to a recent sex scandal. (CBS Sports)