Portal:Current events/2018 July 16

July 16, 2018 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Disasters and accidents

2018 lower Puna eruption
- 23 passengers on a tour boat in Hawaii are injured after a lava bomb from the Kīlauea volcano punctures the roof of the vessel. (KABC-TV)
An intense heatwave kills at least 14 people in Japan. (Reuters)
Heavy flooding in Nigeria kills 44 people and 20 others are missing. (All Africa)
Five bodies are recovered from MV Shunqiang 2, which sank the day before after colliding with another ship near Shanghai. (Xinhua)
A ship catches fire at the Gadani ship-breaking yard in Pakistan, trapping four workers inside. (The Tribune)
A road collision involving a broken-down bus kills at least 17 people and injures at least 11 others in Hyderabad, Pakistan. (The Tribune)
Two vessels deliver 25 survivors and one Peruvian corpse from Spanish ship MV Dorneda to ports in Argentina and Patagonia. One crewman remains missing after the fishing trawler sank off Argentina. (The Journal du Cemron)
An explosion in a coal mine in Tkibuli, Georgia, kills four people and injures six others. (A.A.)
A gas explosion at a hotel in Multan, Pakistan, kills three people and injures 25 others. (The Nation)

International relations

Law and crime

Communications in Iran
- Iranian police arrest 46 people in fresh crackdowns on models and associated colleagues posting "immoral images" on Instagram. (Washington Post)
Russian espionage in the United States
- The US government charges Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian woman with conspiracy to act as a Russian government agent while infiltrating political groups. (The Guardian)
Finbar Charles, a 62-year-old citizen of Saint Lucia, pleads guilty to bribing US Army officers for military contracts during the Iraq War. (AL)

Politics and elections

Khoisan § Declaration of sovereignty
- King Khoebaha Calvin Cornelius III declares independence from South Africa to form the "Sovereign State of Good Hope", encompassing the states of Northern Cape, Western Cape, and the western parts of Eastern Cape. The state raised their own flag after taking down the South African flag. (The Citizen)

Science and technology

British space programme
- The UK Space Agency announces that the country's first spaceport will be located in Sutherland, northern Scotland, with the first launches potentially taking place in the early 2020s. (BBC) (The Guardian)