Portal:Current events/2020 July 28

• Three Sudanese migrants are killed and four others injured after Libyan authorities opened fire against them during landing operations in the city of Al-Khums. (La Repubblica)

• A 63-year-old woman is killed in a great white shark attack near Bailey Island, off the coast of Maine, United States. It is the first ever fatal shark attack on record in Maine, and only the second attack ever recorded in the state. (BBC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Vietnam confirms 18 new cases, the highest number of local transmitted cases in 24 hours since March. (Vietnamese Health Ministry)
      • Vietnam suspends all flights to and from Da Nang and closes its airport for 15 days after 14 COVID-19 cases are confirmed in that city. (Bangkok Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
      • Iran records a record high 235 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The health ministry urges not to visit Mashhad as the virus infections rose by 300 percent over a one month period. (Al Arabiya)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
      • Indonesia reports a record high 2,366 recoveries from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. West Java reports a most number with 627 new recoveries. (detikNews)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Osaka and Aichi prefectures post a single day record high of 155 and 110 new COVID-19 cases respectively in the last 24 hours. (The Japan Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus
      • Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko tests positive for COVID-19. (DW)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malta
      • Malta's health ministry states that of 94 migrants rescued from the sea yesterday, 65 have tested positive for COVID-19. (Reuters)

• United States–Zimbabwe relations
  • Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU–PF threatens U.S. ambassador Brian A. Nichols with expulsion and calls him a "thug", accusing him of funding organizers of anti-government protests planned for Friday. The embassy denies the accusations of meddling in local politics and did not comment on the insult. (AP)

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is found guilty by the Malaysian High Court and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and fined RM210 million (US$47 million). The High Court convicted Najib on all seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over misappropriating over RM42 million (US$ 10 million) from 1Malaysia Development Berhad's former subsidiary SRC International to his personal bank accounts. (Malay Mail) (BBC News) (Channel News Asia)
• George Floyd protests in Australia
  • The New South Wales Police arrests six people, including organizer Paddy Gibson, at a Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney; five of those were handed penalty infringement notices. They arrested them because they were breaching a public health order. (ABC News Australia)
• 2020 Nova Scotia attacks
  • Following massive public backlash, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announces a public inquiry will be held over the law enforcement response to the rampage in Nova Scotia, Canada, last April, which left 23 dead, including the gunman. (Global News)
• A woman and her brother-in-law are arrested in Essen and Hildesheim, Germany, respectively, after they travelled to Syria to join ISIL. The woman also travelled with her four young children. (AP)

• Hong Kong legal scholar and pro-democracy activist Benny Tai is fired from his tenured position as associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, due to his prior arrest for coordinating the Umbrella Revolution. Tai in a Facebook post called it the "end of academic freedom" in the city. (Reuters)
• Chilean President Sebastián Piñera sacks six ministers in his cabinet, including Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel, as a response to the current political crisis. Last week, a constitutional reform to change the pension system and increase support for COVID-19-affected families was approved with cross-party support despite the government's rejection. (Reuters)

• Astronomers at Pan-STARRS announce the discovery of a small near-Earth object (NEO) HLV2514, which is an Amor asteroid near Mars. The asteroid was first discovered in June 2020 by two 14-year-old Indian schoolgirls who were participating in a NASA project. (CNN)