Portal:Current events/2021 June 1

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • 2021 Afghanistan attacks
    • June 2021 Kabul bombings
      • Two bombs explode in a Hazara district in western Kabul, killing ten people and injuring twelve others. (Al Jazeera English)
• Attempted assassination of Katumba Wamala
  • Four gunmen on a car open fire against a convoy carrying Ugandan Minister of Transport Katumba Wamala, injuring him and killing his daughter and driver. (Deutsche Welle)

Business and economy

• Lebanese liquidity crisis
  • A report released by the World Bank warns that the current economic crisis in Lebanon risks becoming one of the three most severe since the mid-19th century if its "bankrupt economic system, which benefited a few for so long" isn't reformed. (Al Jazeera English)
• Amazon quietly changes its terms of service to allow customers to file lawsuits after plaintiffs that were barred from filing a class action lawsuit filed 75,000 individual arbitration demands on behalf of Echo users. This resulted in a bill for tens of millions of dollars in filing fees, according to lawyers involved, which would be payable by Amazon under its own policies. (Fox Business)
• American food processing company JBS USA is hit by a massive ransomware attack, temporarily shutting down its operations in the United States, Canada, and Australia. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre claims the attack is Russian in origin, and the FBI is currently investigating. (BBC News)
• eBay prohibits sellers from using PayPal, now mandating that all funds will be transferred directly to and from their bank accounts. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysian movement control order
        • Malaysia begins phase one of its 14-day total lockdown that only allows essential economic sectors and manufacturing services to operate in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 following a sharp increase in the number of cases since April. (Malay Mail)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
      • COVID-19 vaccination in Singapore
        • Singapore begins a vaccination rollout for more than 400,000 students over the age of 12 in schools and institutes of higher learning amid concerns about COVID-19 infections in children. (The Straits Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
        • Vietnam suspends all inbound international flights to Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport until June 7 following an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (France 24)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
      • In Guangzhou, hundreds of flights at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport are canceled and the Liwan District is placed under lockdown following an outbreak of the Lineage B.1.617 variant, believed to be the first community outbreak of this variant in the country. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • Germany lowers its COVID-19 alert level from "very high" to "high" as the number of new infections continues to decline. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
      • Turkey partially reopens restaurants, gyms and cafés as well as shortens its nightly curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. as part of a gradual normalization plan, although a full lockdown remains imposed on Sundays. Primary school students also return to classrooms and movie theatres are allowed to reopen at 50% capacity. (Hürriyet Daily News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • The United Kingdom records no daily deaths from COVID-19 within 28 days of a positive test for the first time since March 2020. (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
      • Michigan lifts several face mask restrictions at outdoor gatherings and loosens restrictions at indoor gatherings and businesses. Fully vaccinated people are allowed to not wear masks in public, but unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people are still required to do so. (MLive)
    • COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
      • Moderna says that it has requested full approval for its vaccine from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Currently, it has only been approved for emergency use. (NBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria
    • Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • Algeria partially reopens its borders for international flights for the first time in 14 months. Travellers who arrive in Algiers must present a negative PCR test from within the past 36 hours before boarding and must also undergo a five-day quarantine in a hotel requisitioned by the government. (The Washington Post)
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • The World Health Organization issues an emergency use authorization for Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine, becoming the second Chinese-made vaccine to be approved on an emergency basis after BBIBP-CorV and thereby making it eligible for use as part of the COVAX initiative. (BBC News)
• Arctic Refuge drilling controversy
  • U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland suspends all oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, pending further review of their environmental impacts. U.S. President Joe Biden previously on January 20 issued an executive order freezing oil and gas exploration activities at the Refuge for similar reasons. (Politico)
• China reports its first human case of a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3 in a 41-year-old man from Jiangsu province. (Reuters)

International relations

• Mexico–United States relations, Asylum in the United States
  • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially terminates the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy, which mandated that all asylum seekers from Central America were to wait in Mexico pending their court cases. However, a health order from March 2020 allowing for border authorities to send migrants back for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic remains in place. (Al Jazeera English)

Law and crime

• Belarusian prisoner Stepan Latypov, detained in a crackdown on protests, attempted to cut his own throat with a pen during a court hearing on Tuesday after telling his family that he had been held in a torture cell for 51 days and being informed by police that his relatives and neighbors would be prosecuted under criminal law if he did not confess. (Reuters) (South China Morning Post)

Politics and elections

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics
  • The Vanuatuan opposition files a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Bob Loughman over allegations of excessive spending for self-interest in times of national crisis. The country's economy has been severely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of Cyclone Harold last year. This motion is the first attempt to oust Loughman since he formed a government last year. (RNZ International)
  • Norbert Hofer, chairman of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria, resigns following weeks of infighting with former Interior Minister Herbert Kickl over their conflicting approaches to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Hofer says that he will remain as one of the deputy presidents for the National Council until the next parliamentary elections. (France 24)
• LGBT rights in Chile
  • Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announces his government's support for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Chile. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Australian and Chinese researchers announce the discovery of two new, distinct species of woolly flying squirrel in the Himalayas: the Tibetan woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus tibetensis) and the Yunnan woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus nivamons). (Mirage News)