Portal:Current events/2019 August 6

August 6, 2019 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
- Four Ukrainian Ground Forces soldiers are killed in an attack by pro-Russian separatists, near the village of Pavlopil in the war-torn eastern Donetsk Oblast. (RFE/RL)

International relations

United States–Venezuela relations, International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order freezing all assets and interests of the Venezuelan government as contained within the United States, a severe escalation from recent industry sanctions and verbal rhetoric. Twenty-one exceptions are issued, for companies providing services including oil, aid, and telecommunications. The expanded sanctions are widely criticized as likely to worsen the conditions for people in Venezuela. (Reuters) (BBC News)
India–Pakistan relations, Kashmir conflict
- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan vows to fight India's unilateral decision to revoke Indian-administered Kashmir's autonomy, including in the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council. Mr. Khan stated this move is a breach of international law, adding he feared the possibility of ethnic cleansing in the Muslim-majority region. (BBC News)
- China, which administers the Kashmir territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract, voices opposition to this "unacceptable" Indian move and, along with Turkey, reaffirms their support for a peaceful resolution. (EurAsian Times) (Newsweek)
- Kashmir remains on lockdown, with the internet out and nearly all phone lines severed. (The New York Times)

Law and crime

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis orders law enforcement to handle a criminal probe of Jeffrey Epstein's jail release in the late 2000s. (CNBC)

Politics and elections

Crisis in Venezuela
- The Argentine government says it has already received "hundreds" of reports of human rights abuses and criminal accusations against the Venezuelan government, days after Argentina invited Venezuelans in the country to file reports against the Venezuelan government. (La Nación)

Science and technology

Scientists at the Spring, Texas, Arch Mission Foundation confirm that tardigrades in a cryptobiotic state were added to the payload of the failed SpaceIL Beresheet lander that crashed on the Moon on 11 April 2019, and may have survived the crash. (The Guardian) (CNET)
2019 in spaceflight
- The European Space Agency successfully launches the German Aerospace Center-operated EDRS-C laser communication satellite on an Ariane 5 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. (BBC News)
- SpaceX successfully launches Israeli communications satellite Amos-17 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was provided by SpaceX for free following the destruction of Spacecom's Amos-6 satellite in 2016. (Space.com)