Portal:Current events/2021 October 7

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Two teachers are killed by suspected Islamist terrorists inside a school in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. The victims, who were members of the Hindu and Sikh minorities, are the 24th and 25th civilian victims killed by suspected terrorist groups in Kashmir this year. (Al Jazeera)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • ISAWP militants kills 87 Boko Haram fighters after raiding their camp in Borno State, Nigeria. The attack is said to be a reprisal over the killing of 24 ISWAP fighters, five days ago, by Boko Haram. (Daily Post)
• Afghanistan conflict
  • A bomb explodes at a religious school in Khost, killing one student and injuring 17 other people. (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

• Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee". Gurnah's most renowned novel is Paradise, set in colonial East Africa during World War I. (The Economist)

Business and economy

• Economy of Venezuela
  • The U.S. State Department confirms accusations made yesterday by Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez, who blamed an alleged U.S. veto for not allowing Venezuela to receive IMF COVID-19 relief funds. The State Department says that only recognized governments can access these funds. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 Balochistan earthquake
  • At least 24 people are killed and around 200 others injured as a 5.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Harnai, Balochistan, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
• An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 hits Tokyo, Japan, and surrounding areas, injuring 41 people and stopping train lines but without any immediate reports of severe damage. According to Japan's system, this was labeled as a "strong-5 earthquake". (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India, COVID-19 vaccination in India
      • India begins the use of commercial drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to remote areas of the country in order to increase the country's vaccination rate. (BBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, COVID-19 vaccination in Indonesia
      • The Indonesian Drug and Food Control Agency issues an emergency use authorization for the three dose Zifivax ZF2001 vaccine. (Antara)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, COVID-19 drug development
      • Malaysia signs an agreement with Merck & Co. to obtain 150,000 courses of the experimental drug Molnupiravir as part of a transition towards the endemic phase and "living with the COVID-19". (The Straits Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, International aid related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • The World Health Organization begins shipping essential COVID-19 medical supplies into North Korea via the Chinese port of Dalian and quarantine facilities in the seaport of Nampo, a possible sign of easing one of the world's strictest pandemic border closures. (NPR)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Finland
      • Finland suspends the usage of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for people born since 1991 due to unpublished reports of rare cardiovascular side effects such as myocarditis. (The Hill)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, COVID-19 vaccination in Germany
      • The Standing Committee on Vaccination recommends COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for people over the age of 70 and care home workers. The committee also recommends mRNA-based booster doses for people who previously received the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. (Deutsche Welle)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
      • Russia reports 27,550 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which is the highest single-day total of new cases this year. (AP)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • The U.S. surpasses 44 million cases of COVID-19. (KRIS-TV)

International relations

• Taiwan–United States relations
  • The Wall Street Journal reports a contingent of U.S. special forces soldiers have been deployed in Taiwan to train Taiwanese forces amid tensions with China. The military trainers were first deployed under the Trump administration. (The Guardian)
• Estonia and the Republic of Ireland announce their intentions to sign an OECD-led multilateral agreement that would set a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 per cent, making them the last OECD member countries to join the deal. (AFP via Radio France Internationale)

Law and crime

• The trial against a 100-year-old former SS concentration camp guard begins in Germany. The man is accused of collaborating in the murders of 3,518 people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1942 and 1945, when he was employed as a standing guard in the watchtower. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

• Politics of Ukraine, 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada
  • Dmytro Razumkov, the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, is dismissed following his disagreements with President Volodymyr Zelensky and his ruling Servant of the People party's stances on legislation which aimed to reduce the influence of Ukrainian oligarchs. (Kyiv Post)
• Politics of Norfolk Island
  • A political party named the Norfolk Island Party is formed to advocate for the islanders' self-determination from Australia. The party's goal is to achieve sovereignty for Norfolk Island. (RNZ)
• Poland and the European Union
  • The Polish Constitutional Tribunal rules that the Constitution of Poland takes precedence over EU laws, directly challenging the primacy of European Union law principle, escalating tensions around the Polish rule-of-law crisis and in particular around the country's controversial judicial reforms. (The New York Times) (Politico)
• 2022 Philippine presidential election
  • Opposition leader and Vice President Leni Robredo joins the race to replace President Rodrigo Duterte. (Bloomberg)

Sports

• A Saudi-backed consortium, funded through its sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund, officially purchases Newcastle United F.C. for £300 million. An agreement on its purchase was finalized upon last April, but impasses on the issue of ownership among the specific entities in the consortium prevented the deal from moving forward until recently. (ESPN)