Portal:Current events/2021 October 5

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Three civilians are killed by suspected Islamist terrorists at three different locations in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, in a spike of killings targeting civilians in the area. The victims were a Hindu chemist, an Indian street food vendor from Bihar, and a Muslim taxi driver. Two other civilians were killed in Srinagar four days ago by a Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked group. (The Indian Express)
• Afghanistan conflict
  • A report by Amnesty International says that the Taliban has executed 13 Hazaras, including eleven former members of the government, shortly after the fall of Kabul. The Taliban denies that they were behind the killings. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• Russian actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko launch into space onboard Soyuz MS-19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan. They intend to film scenes for The Challenge, which will be the first feature-length movie filmed in outer space, on the International Space Station over one week before returning to Earth. (AFP via The Moscow Times)

Business and economy

• Evergrande liquidity crisis
  • Two further Chinese real-estate developers, Fantasia Holdings and Sinic Holdings, with liabilities of $12.8 billion and $14.2 billion respectively, both fail to make bond payments amid tightening resource availability after Evergrande raised investor concerns, and were both downgraded to "CCC" or "substantial credit risk". (CNBC)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Romania
      • Romania reports a record 15,037 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,289,156. (Romania Insider)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
      • Russia reports a record 895 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 211,696. (Interfax)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, COVID-19 vaccination in Spain
      • The Ministry of Health announces that the National Public Health Commission will offer booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine beginning in late October to elderly people who received their second vaccine dose at least six months ago. (MedicalXpress)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria
        • Victoria reports a record 1,763 new cases and four deaths in the past 24 hours, which is the highest daily total reported by any Australian state since the start of the pandemic. (ABC News Australia)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, COVID-19 vaccination in New Zealand
      • Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces the details of the COVID-19 vaccine certificates, which show full vaccination status, in order to make large-scale events safer. The vaccine certificate is expected to come into use in November. (TVNZ)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
    • Singapore reports a record 3,486 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 109,084. (The Straits Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Zambia
    • Zambia lowers its vaccination target from 70% to 30% in December as the country will relaunch the nationwide vaccination program on Thursday. (Anadolu Agency)

International relations

• Afghanistan–United Kingdom relations
  • UK special envoy Simon Gass meets with Taliban Deputy Prime Ministers Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi in Kabul for the first time since the takeover of the country to discuss Afghanistan's growing humanitarian crisis and terrorism, and to guarantee safe passage to those wishing to emigrate. Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi also said they discussed the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations, with Gass saying the foreign ministry wishes to "begin a new chapter of constructive relations". (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Two prison guards are taken hostage at a prison in Condé-sur-Sarthe, Normandy, France. One of the hostages is injured. The hostage-taker later surrenders. (Reuters)
• A court in the Holy See agrees to return to the investigative phase of an ongoing trial against Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu for alleged embezzlement, abuse of power and fraud, and other charges. Becciu was fired from his position in the Vatican City by Pope Francis in 2020 for alleged nepotism, which Becciu also denies. (Reuters)
• Nine barracks at the former Auschwitz concentration camp, now the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, are vandalized with Holocaust denial graffiti. (MSN)
• Prosecutor General of Moldova Alexandru Stoianoglo is suspended from his positions by President Maia Sandu, and is detained by security forces following allegations of corruption. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Romanian political crisis
  • The Romanian government is dissolved following a no confidence vote against the centrist government of Prime Minister Florin Cîțu. (Reuters)
• 2021 Libyan general election
  • The Libyan House of Representatives votes to postpone the parliamentary elections initially scheduled for December 24, alongside the presidential election, until January 2022. (AFP via Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

• Microsoft Windows version history
  • Microsoft launches Windows 11, its latest version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The upgrade to Windows 11 will be free for Windows 10 users. (BBC News)
• Climatologists Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann and theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi are awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work towards the understanding of physical systems through climate models. (AFP via NDTV)