Portal:Current events/2021 September 20

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Aftermath of the Rwandan genocide
  • A court in Rwanda finds Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager portrayed as a hero in the Hollywood film about the genocide, guilty of terrorism-related charges. Rusesabagina, who remained handcuffed in court, denounced president Paul Kagame and said that he was abducted from exile in Dubai in order to stand trial in Rwanda. (Reuters)
• Insurgency in Cabo Delgado
  • ISIL-linked militants raid a village of Kagera, Tanzania, after crossing the border from Mozambique, killing four people. Three of the victims were beheaded. Between 18 and 33 people have been kidnapped. (Cabo Ligado)
• Anglophone Crisis
  • Fifteen soldiers and civilians are killed during two bombing and shooting attacks in the Northwest Region, Cameroon. The attacks had been carried out several days ago but were not reported until today. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Volkswagen submits an offer of €2.5 billion for French car rental firm Europcar. The deal, which would give Volkswagen 66% of Europcar's shares, has been accepted by the board but still needs to be accepted by regulators in France. Volkswagen previously owned Europcar and sold it to French investment firm Eurazeo for €3.3 billion in 2006. (RTE)
• Twitter agrees to pay $809.5 million to settle a shareholder class action lawsuit that accused the social media company of painting an overly rosy picture of its future. (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

• 2021 La Palma eruption
  • More than 100 homes on the island of La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands are destroyed by lava flows, and 5,000 people are evacuated. Several schools on the island suspend classes. (El Mundo) (Europa Press)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 pandemic in England, COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom
        • England and Scotland begin the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of 12 and 15 as part of an expansion of their vaccination programme in order to protect more people from COVID-19 during the winter. (BBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
      • The Austrian government announces that it will require protective face masks and COVID-19 passes for users of ski lifts this winter in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the country will allow foreign skiers for the first time in two years. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, COVID-19 vaccination in Italy
      • Italy begins administering booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to clinically vulnerable people using mRNA-based vaccines. (ANSA)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • Switzerland begins to implement a mandatory negative COVID-19 test result for travellers who have not been vaccinated or who have not recovered from COVID-19 upon entering the country in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (Schengen Visa Info)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vatican City
      • The Vatican City issues a decree that would require visitors who enter the city state to show an Italian Green Pass or its international immunity passport equivalent, providing proof that they have been vaccinated, tested negative in the previous 72 hours, or have recovered from COVID-19, beginning on October 1. (The Washington Post) (Catholic News Agency)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
        • Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announces that COVID-19 vaccines will be required for all teachers and students in the district by November 1. (The Washington Post)
      • The Biden administration announces that travel restrictions will be lifted for international travellers who are fully vaccinated and show a negative COVID-19 test. These rules will be in effect beginning in November. (Euronews)
    • The CDC releases a study, which finds that 99.4% of all current cases of COVID-19 in the United States are of the highly transmittable Lineage B.1.617 Delta variant. (The New York Times)
    • The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. surpasses the total number of deaths from the Spanish flu in the U.S. from 1918 to 1919. (ABC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan
    • Uzbekistan lifts some COVID-19-related restrictions, allowing the reopening of theatres, cinemas, and concert halls, as well as allowing mass events to be held indoors and outdoors due to a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases. (AKI Press)
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • Pfizer says that their vaccine candidate is effective for children between the ages of 5 and 11 years. (CBS News)

International relations

• El Salvador–United States relations, Guatemala–United States relations
  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces that the department has included five judges of the Supreme Court of El Salvador as well as the Attorney General of Guatemala María Consuelo Porras in a list of "undemocratic and corrupt" officials. (Swissinfo)

Law and crime

• Perm State University shooting
  • Six people are killed and around 20 more are wounded in a mass shooting at Perm State University in Perm, Perm Krai, Russia. The gunman, an 18-year-old student at the university, has been arrested. (BBC News)
• 2021 Belarus–European Union border crisis
  • Poland accuses Russia and Belarus of "orchestrating a wave of illegal immigration" after four people were found dead yesterday at the Polish–Belarusian border. (Al Jazeera)
• Three former U.S. intelligence operatives, who worked as senior managers at a United Arab Emirates–based company, have been ordered by the Department of Justice to pay $1,685,000 in fines for "leveraging zero-click exploits to illegally obtain and use access credentials for online accounts issued by U.S. companies, and to obtain unauthorized access to computers globally, including in the United States". (Fox Business News)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Canadian federal election
  • Voters in Canada go to the polls to elect members of the House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament, with pollsters predicting a tight race between Justin Trudeau's incumbent Liberal Party and Erin O'Toole's opposition Conservative Party. (CTV News)
  • The Liberal Party is projected to retain their minority government. (CTV News)
  • O'Toole speaks to supporters and announces that he has made a phone call to Trudeau to concede the election. (National Post)
  • The Conservative Party win a plurality of the popular vote for the second consecutive election. (Yahoo! News Canada)
• Aftermath of the 17 October Revolution
  • The parliament of Lebanon approves the government formed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati. (AFP via France 24)
• COVID-19 protests in Australia
  • Members of Melbourne's far-right violate lockdown laws and riot at the office of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, damaging windows and assaulting state secretary John Setka before being dispersed by police. The rioters were dressed in the high-visibility clothing associated with the construction industry and presented themselves as Union rank-and-file protesting a bureaucracy which they claimed was working to impose mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. Setka said that the Union opposes mandatory vaccinations and blamed the riots on "outside extremists", stating that only a minority of those in attendance were Union members. (The Guardian)