Portal:Current events/2021 September 20

September 20, 2021 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Rwandan genocide
- A court in Rwanda finds Paul Rusesabagina, a once hotel manager portrayed as a hero in a Hollywood film about the genocide (Hotel Rwanda) guilty of terrorism-related charges. Rusesabagina, who remained handcuffed in court, denounced president Paul Kagame and said he was abducted from exile in Dubai to stand trial in Rwanda. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Volkswagen has offered €2.5 billion for French car rental firm Europcar. The deal would give VW 66% of Europcar's shares and has been accepted by the board yet 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)

Disasters and accidents

2021 La Palma eruption
- On the island of La Palma of the Spanish Canary Islands, more than 100 houses have already been destroyed by the lava flows and 5,000 people have been evacuated. Several municipalities on the island have suspended classes. (El Mundo) (Europa Press)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Austria
  - The Austrian government announces that it will require a protective face masks and COVID-19 passes for the use of ski lifts this winter in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the country will attract foreign skiers for the first time in two years. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  - Switzerland begins to implement mandatory negative COVID-19 test results for travellers who have been not vaccinated or unrecovered from COVID-19 upon entering the country in order to halt the spread of COVID-19. (Schengen Visa Info)
- 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 begins the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 12 to 15 years old as part of expansion of their vaccination programme in order to protect more people from COVID-19 in winter. (BBC)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
    - The Biden administration announces that travel restrictions will be lifted for international travellers who are fully vaccinated and negative COVID-19 test. The rules will be in effect 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 Delta variant. (The New York Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan
  - Uzbekistan lifts some COVID-19-related restrictions that allow the reopening of theatres, cinemas, and concert halls, as well as holding mass events indoors and outdoors due to declining number of COVID-19 cases. (AKI Press)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Vatican City
  - Vatican City issues an decree that would require visitors who entry to the city state to showing a Green Pass or its international immunity passport equivalent, providing that they have been vaccinated, tested negative in the previous 72 hours, or have been recovered from COVID-19 beginning from October 1. (The Washington Post)
- COVID-19 vaccine
  - Pfizer says that their vaccine candidate works for children aged 5 to 11. (CBS News)

Law and crime

Perm State University shooting
- Six people are killed and about 20 more 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)
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 sentenced 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, like mobile phones, around the world, including in the United States". (Fox Business News)

Politics and elections

COVID-19 protests in Australia
- Anti-vaxxers riot at the offices of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union in Melbourne before being dispersed by police. CFMEU state secretary John Setka says the Union opposes mandatory vaccination and blames misinformation spread by "outside extremists" for the riot. (The Guardian)
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. (Financial Times)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that they included five judges of the Supreme Court of El Salvador and the Attorney General of Guatemala María Consuelo Porras in a list of "undemocratic and corrupt" officials. (Swissinfo)