Portal:Current events/2024 October 23

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Eastern Ukraine campaign
    • The Russian Defense Ministry claims that Russian forces have captured the villages of Mykolaivka and Serebrianka in Donetsk Oblast, while Ukrainian military newspage DeepState reports heavy conflict surrounding Selydove. (Reuters)
  • Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • The U.S. State Department reports that it has confirmed evidence that North Korean troops are now present in Russia and are preparing to travel to the battlefield in Ukraine. South Korea says that Pyongyang has promised to send up to 10,000 troops to support the war effort. (The Guardian)
  • United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • The U.S. Defense Department finalizes a US$20 billion loan to Ukraine for military and economic support as part of a collective US$50 billion loan between G7 members. (Reuters)
• Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • 2024 Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters attack
    • Five people are killed and 22 more injured during a bombing–shooting attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters in Kahramankazan, Ankara Province, Turkey. The perpetrators are later killed during a shootout with security forces. The Turkish government suspects the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to be behind the attack. (Al-Monitor) (Reuters) (DW)
    • The Turkish Air Force launches airstrikes on PKK targets across northern Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan in response to the attack, with Turkish drone strikes in Kobani, Syria, injuring three Asayish officers. (Reuters) (ANHA)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Assassination of Hashem Safieddine
    • Hezbollah confirms that Hashem Safieddine, head of their executive council, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 3. (BBC News)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip reportedly kill at least 42 people. UNRWA says one of their staff members was killed after their vehicle was hit by Israeli forces in Deir al-Balah. (Reuters)
• Mexican drug war
  • Nineteen suspected cartel members are killed and one local cartel leader is arrested in a shootout between gunmen and police officers in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Two people are killed and 11 injured after an explosion at a Toyota Material Handling factory in Bologna, Italy. (Stato Quotidiano)
• Three people are found deceased and seven are hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning at a care home in Swanage, Dorset, England. (Sky News)

Health and environment

• Demographics of Germany, German economic crisis
  • The Ifo Institute for Economic Research reports that Germany experienced a 13% birth rate decline nationally and up to a 17.5% birth rate decline in eastern Germany between 2021 and 2023, with the institute attributing the decline to several reasons including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russo-Ukrainian war, and high inflation. (DW)

International relations

• China–Holy See relations
  • China and the Holy See agree to extend their 2018 provisional agreement on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for a further four years. (Vatican News)
• China–India relations
  • Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi holds a bilateral meeting with President of China Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. This is the first bilateral meeting between India and China in five years and comes in the aftermath of the 2020 border skirmishes between Indian and Chinese troops. (India Today)

Law and crime

• 2024 social unrest in Martinique
  • Protesters with automatic weapons target police and firefighters in Martinique, where protests over the high cost of living have prompted France to deploy forces to the island. (AP)
• A court in Munich, Germany, charges a Russian man for stabbing two Ukrainian soldiers at a shopping center in Murnau am Staffelsee, Bavaria, Germany, in April. (DW)
• A man kills two of his relatives and wounds two more during a mass shooting at their home in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. A policeman and the perpetrator are killed during the ensuing shootout, while three more officers are wounded. (The Brazilian Report)
• Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announces that his government will raise the minimum age limit to use social media from 13 to 15 in order to protect children from the "power of the algorithms". (The Guardian)