Portal:Current events/2019 October 26

October 26, 2019 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2018–19 Iraqi protests, October 2019 Iraqi protests
- Fifteen more people are killed in clashes between security forces and protestors in Iraq, raising the overall death toll to 222 since protests began this month. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
- Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi orders the elite Counter-Terrorism Service to quell the protests in the capital Baghdad and the southern city of Nasiriya. (Voice of America)
2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone
- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu rejects a proposal by German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to establish a United Nations-mandated security zone in northeastern Syria, calling the plan "not very realistic". (Al Jazeera)
Sea-Eye, a charity which performs migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea, claims the Libyan coastguard circled their ship MV Alan Kurdi and fired warning shots into the air, with weapons pointed at crew and the migrants they were rescuing. (Deutsche Welle)

Disasters and accidents

Flooding in Japan kills nine people in Chiba and one more in Fukushima, with a further person missing in the latter. (Gulf News)

Business and economy

The Times reports that the Barclay family is looking to sell The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, citing conflicting viewpoints within the family and low circulation. The Daily Mail, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev are rumored to be potential buyers. (Reuters) (BBC News)

Law and crime

Trial of Catalonia independence leaders; 2019 Catalan protests
- In a demonstration in Barcelona, 350,000 people protest prison sentences given to Catalan leaders. The protest turns violent with clashes with National Police Corps and Mossos d'Esquadra. (Euronews) (La Vanguardia)
2019 Grays incident
- The driver of the lorry in which 39 bodies were found is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, as well as immigration offences, money laundering, and people trafficking. Three other people remain in police custody suspected of manslaughter and people trafficking after 39 bodies were found in a lorry earlier this week. (BBC News)