Portal:Current events/2024 June 20
June 20, 2024 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine is prioritized as first among the list of countries to receive ordered deliveries of MIM-104 Patriot missile systems from the United States. (CNN)
- Sudanese civil war
- The Rapid Support Forces captures Al-Fulah, the capital of West Kordofan, Sudan, after the Sudanese Armed Forces withdraw from the city after several hours of fighting. (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- A company drilling for natural gas off the coast of northern Israel discovers a 3,300-year-old ship and its cargo, one of the oldest known examples of a ship sailing far from land. (NBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 Hajj disaster
- At least 1,081 pilgrims are now confirmed to have died from heat-related causes during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. (France 24)
- 2024 Tamil Nadu alcohol poisonings
- At least 36 people die and more than 60 are being treated in hospitals after consuming tainted liquor in Tamil Nadu, India. (Reuters)
- At least two people are killed and nine others injured when a train full of passengers collides with another train on a test run outside Santiago, Chile. (AP)
- A cruise ship rescues 68 migrants and finds five bodies in a wooden dinghy that was drifting off the Canary Islands, Spain. (ABC)
- Kuwait announces temporary power cuts in parts of the country during peak consumption hours, saying it is struggling to meet increased demand spurred by extreme summer heat. (Al Arabiya)
International relations
- Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is announced as the next Secretary General of NATO, beginning his term on October 2. (Politico)
Law and crime
- Two Just Stop Oil activists film themselves using an angle grinder to cut through a metal fence, then spraying orange paint over two private jets at Stansted Airport in Essex, United Kingdom. Police arrest them for criminal damage at the scene. (BBC News)
Science and technology
- Vandalism of Stonehenge
- The orange powder paint sprayed on Stonehenge by Just Stop Oil activists yesterday is removed with a "specialist handheld blower", leaving no visible damage. (BBC)
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature announces that the Iberian lynx has been upgraded from being an endangered species to vulnerable for the first time since 1986, after the 2023 census showed a population of 2,021 specimens. (BBC)
Sports
- Anti-Serb sentiment
- Serbia threatens to withdraw from UEFA Euro 2024 if UEFA does not punish Croatia and Albania after their supporters chant "kill, kill, kill the Serb" during a match. (Sky News)