Portal:Current events/2023 August 25

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • The army reports the killing of 27 al-Shabaab jihadists near Awdheegle, Lower Shabelle, along with the destruction of militant hideouts, as part of an ongoing campaign to secure areas previously under al-Shabaab control. (Xinhua)

Disasters and accidents

• Three Ukrainian Air Force pilots are killed when two L-39 trainer aircraft collide in midair in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Andrii Pilshchykov was among the dead. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

• British Museum director Hartwig Fischer resigns after insufficient investigations of recent thefts of items from the museum's collection, including jewelry and antiquities. (AFP via RTÉ) (AP)

Business and economy

• 2022–2023 food crises
  • Norway announces that it will spend 63 million kroner (US$6 million) each year on grain reserves due to environmental and geopolitical concerns. (AP)
• Haitian crisis
  • Two telecommunication companies in Haiti, Digicel and Access Haiti, said their fiber optic cables were severed this week, temporarily disrupting service in suspected acts of sabotage by criminal gangs. (AP)
• The United Auto Workers of the United States vote to call a strike if contract negotiations with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis are not finalized by the stated deadline. (AFP via RFI)
• A U.S. federal control board files a new plan for restructuring $10 billion in debt owned by Puerto Rico’s power company in an attempt to end bankruptcy negotiations. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 12 people are killed and 80 are injured in a human crush during the opening ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island Games at the Mahamasina Municipal Stadium in Antananarivo, Madagascar. (Reuters)

International relations

• 2023 Nigerien crisis
  • Foreign relations of Niger
    • The ruling Nigerien military junta orders the ambassadors of France, Germany, Nigeria, and the United States to leave the country. France rejects the ultimatum, claiming they do not recognize its authority, while the US claims it has received no request to withdraw its personnel from Niger. (Reuters) (AFP via SCMP)
• Finland–Russia relations
  • Yan Petrovsky, one of the leaders of the Russian far-right paramilitary Rusich Group, is detained in Finland. Ukraine has sent a request for Petrovsky's extradition. (Meduza) (Fontanka.ru)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in the United States
  • Capital punishment in Alabama
    • The Alabama attorney general’s office makes a filing with the Supreme Court of Alabama indicating plans to carry out a death penalty by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method that is authorized in three US states but has never been used. (AP)
• Corruption in Lebanon
  • Monaco’s judicial authorities announce they have closed a probe against Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati and his family over corruption allegations due to lack of evidence. (AP)
• Homelessness in the United States
  • Officials in Boston, Massachusetts, announce police will remove tents and other makeshift shelters at the Mass and Cass tent city, an encampment for the homeless, many of whom struggle with mental health issues and substance abuse disorders. (AP)
• Yale University and a student group announce they have reached a settlement in a U.S. federal lawsuit that accused the Ivy League school of discriminating against students with mental health disabilities, including pressuring them to withdraw. (AP)
• A Pakistani doctor and former Mayo Clinic research coordinator who sought to join the Islamic State terrorist group to fight in Syria and expressed interest in carrying out attacks in the U.S. is sentenced to 18 years in prison. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Aftermath of the Afghanistan War
  • U.S. Rep. Cory Mills introduces articles for impeachment against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, accusing Austin of ignoring key intelligence during the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan that caused the killing of 13 soldiers and the surrender of Kabul to the Taliban. (The Hill)
• 2023 Guatemalan general election
  • Sandra Torres, who lost Guatemala's presidential election, files a complaint alleging fraud in the way the votes were counted. (AP)

Sports

• 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup
  • The 19th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup opens, with the Philippine Arena setting a World Cup attendance record of 38,115 during the co-hosts' opening game against the Dominican Republic. (AP)