Portal:Current events/2019 October 7

October 7, 2019 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A 32-year-old Syrian man rams a stolen truck into eight cars in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, causing eight injuries. German police believe it was intentional, but the motive is yet to be determined. (The Guardian)
2019 Jalalabad suicide bombing
- A bomb on a rickshaw detonates as a minibus carrying new army recruits passes in Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. A military spokesperson says ten, including a child, were killed and a further 27 wounded. (The Washington Post)
Syrian Civil War, Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present), International military intervention against ISIL, Northern Syria Buffer Zone
- U.S. forces begin to withdraw from northern Syria. (Foreign Policy)
- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces calls the U.S. withdrawal a "stab in the back". (BBC News)
- A U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson says Turkey has been pulled off the Combined Air Operations Centre's air tasking order and that the U.S. has halted sharing aerial surveillance information with Turkey. (Middle East Monitor) (Military Times)
- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham strongly criticizes President Trump's decision, describing the event as "a big win for Iran and Assad [and] a big win for ISIL". Former American envoy Brett McGurk mentions the 60,000 SDF-held ISIL detainees, saying that the State Department and inspectors general at the Department of Defense warn they are the "nucleus for a resurgent ISIL". (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Censorship in China
- China bans American animated sitcom South Park in response to the episode "Band in China" which parodied censorship in China and Chinese influence on Hollywood. (New York Post) (CNN) (Global News)

Business and economy

Economic effects of Brexit
- Holger Bingmann, head of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services, tells journalists German businesses have lost €3.5 billion so far this year due to Brexit. (Deutsche Welle)
Pizza Express, a UK-based chain with 470 restaurants, including 150 overseas, reportedly hires financial advisors ahead of talks with its creditors. The business is £1.1 billion in debt and has made a loss for two consecutive years. It employs around 14,000 people. (BBC News)
China–United States trade war
- Citing human rights issues, the United States Department of Commerce puts 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight high tech companies, such as HikVision, SenseTime and Megvii, on the Export Administration Regulations entities blacklist. Like Huawei, which was sanctioned on an identical blueprint for national security reasons, the entities will need U.S. government approval before they can purchase components from U.S. companies. (Reuters) (American Shipper)

Disasters and accidents

The Ukrainian Ministry of Transport announces it has revoked the air operator's certificate of Ukraine Air Alliance, effective from October 5. The move results from the October 4 crash of an Antonov An-12 owned by the airline, after it ran out of fuel near Lviv, Ukraine. The decision was taken the same day. (The Aviation Herald)
A North Korean fishing boat collides with a Japanese Fisheries Agency vessel and sinks off Japan. At least 20 North Koreans are pulled from the water. The Japanese ship had been attempting to warn the North Korean vessel away from Japanese territory. (Bloomberg) (The New York Times)
An overloaded ship carrying migrants capsizes and sinks off the island of Lampedusa, Italy, in rough conditions in the Mediterranean Sea. Search and rescue is underway; of at least 50 on board, 22 survivors have been saved and 13 bodies found. The deceased and missing both include pregnant women. The International Organization for Migration states the boat had departed from Tunisia. (Deutsche Welle)

Law and crime

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden decides that the children of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, and the children of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill will no longer be members of the Royal House of Sweden. The purpose of the decision is to establish which members of the Royal House may be expected to perform official duties incumbent on the Head of State or related to the function of the Head of State. (Swedish Royal Court)
In Lower Manhattan, New York City, a 24-year-old homeless man is charged with murdering four other homeless men and attempting to murder a fifth in random attacks. Authorities identify one of the deceased as an 83-year-old man, but release no further details about the victims. (The Independent)
Two protestors who were arrested in Rostov-on-Don in 2017 while holding signs seeking resignations from the Russian government, and have been in custody since, are sentenced to over six years each in high-security prisons. They were charged with planning violent mass disturbances, and said that they confessed during torture. (The Times)
The Supreme Court of the United States opens its 2019–2020 nine-month term with eight of its nine justices present. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who underwent a number of medical procedures for cancer throughout the past year, was present, but Justice Clarence Thomas was absent "due to an unspecified illness." (Reuters)
2019 Hong Kong protests
- The first people are charged with breaking the ban on wearing face masks in Hong Kong. The government of Hong Kong says the prohibition of face masks is needed to end months of violent protests. (The Guardian)
Tax returns of Donald Trump
- A judge rules against U.S. President Donald Trump, ordering him to release eight years of state tax returns to New York officials. The defense makes an immediate appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and is granted a temporary stay "pending expedited review." (BBC News)

Science and technology

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Peter J. Ratcliffe, William Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. (The New York Times)
Astronomers announce the discovery of 20 new moons around Saturn, adding to the 62 previously known. The new moons comprise 17 retrograde moons in the Norse group and three prograde moons, two of which belong to the Inuit group. (Phys.org)