Portal:Current events/2018 September 19

September 19, 2018 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Oromo–Somali clashes
- The death toll from the recent spike in ethnic violence in Ethiopia rises to 58. Thousands are still protesting against the killings in the capital Addis Ababa. (Yahoo News)

Disasters and accidents

Hurricane Florence
- The death toll rises to 37 after two mental health patients died when the police van in which they were being transported got caught in floodwaters. (BBC)
Storm Ali
- Two people are killed by Storm Ali as it brings winds of up to 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph) in Ireland. (BBC)

Law and crime

Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
- After serving fifteen years behind bars for her role in the kidnapping, Wanda Barzee, is released on probation from Utah State Prison. She will be on probation for five years. (Us Weekly)
Killing of Mollie Tibbetts
- Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a 24-year-old man charged in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, is expected to be arraigned in a Poweshiek County court. (KCRG-TV)
Panama Papers case
- Islamabad High Court suspends the NAB accountability court sentences and orders the release of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar Awan. However, the convictions remain standing. (Al Jazeera)
1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
- Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, is arrested in connection with the allegation that RM2.6 billion (US$681 million when first reported three years ago) went into his personal bank accounts. New charges are, once approved, due to be filed tomorrow. (The Wall Street Journal)
An arrest warrant is issued in Texas for 3D-printed gun rights activist and Defense Distributed owner Cody Wilson in connection with the sexual assault of a child. Wilson was last known to be in Taiwan. (ABC News) (Gizmodo)
Gun violence in the United States
- An employee at a software firm in Middleton, Wisconsin, opens fire on his coworkers, injuring three, before being fatally wounded by police. (CNN)
- Four people are wounded in a shooting at a courthouse in Masontown, Pennsylvania, before police fatally shoot the gunman. (CNN)
- A gunman upset from his divorce shoots and wounds his ex-wife, then fatally shoots his parents in a retirement home in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The suspect later is found dead in his van after a brief shootout with police. (USA Today)
Three people are injured after a car rammed into pedestrians near a mosque in northwest London. The Metropolitan Police are treating the incident as a hate crime. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

Discoveries of exoplanets, 2018 in spaceflight
- NASA discovers its first exoplanet via the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite space telescope. Pi Mensae c, a small Earth-like exoplanet, is located nearly 60 light-years away from Earth. (Gizmodo)
Discoveries of exoplanets, Stars and planetary systems in fiction
- Astronomers discover an exoplanet located in the 40 Eridani star system mentioned in the Star Trek series where the planet Vulcan is located. (Forbes) (Syfy)