Portal:Current events/2019 September 8
September 8, 2019 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War, Northern Syria Buffer Zone
- The Turkish Armed Forces conduct their first joint patrol with the United States Armed Forces near the Syrian town of Tell Abyad, within the context of the Northern Syria Buffer Zone agreement. (ABC News)
- The Syrian government condemns the operation as a "flagrant violation of international law." (SANA)
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says the U.S. seems to be interested in a safe zone for "the terrorist organization", rather than for Turkey. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- China–United States trade war
- Imports of U.S. goods into China decreased by 22% in August, while exports of Chinese goods into the U.S. fell 16% over the same year-to-year period, according to customs data. (NBC News)
- A pilots' strike over a pay dispute causes British Airways to cancel "the vast majority" of its 850 daily flights on Monday and Tuesday. It is the first pilots' strike action at the company since the 1970s. (Bloomberg via Gulf News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2018–19 Australian bushfire season
- A wildfire destroys much of the Queensland Heritage Register-listed Binna Burra Cultural Landscape holiday resort, including its famous lodge, in Binna Burra, Queensland, Australia. (ABC News) (BBC News)
- A bus connecting Casablanca and Rissani fell off the Oued Damchan bridge in the Draa Tafilalet region, Morocco, killing 24 people. (Morocco World News)
International relations
- Brexit negotiations
- French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian says that, under current conditions, the European Union would not grant the United Kingdom an extension beyond October 31 to negotiate its exit from the Union. (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (The Guardian)
- Iran's Adrian Darya 1 oil tanker, which was temporarily detained in Gibraltar and sanctioned by the United States Department of Justice, has sold its cargo after supposedly docking at the Syrian port of Tartus, according to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Reuters) (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Russian elections
- Russian citizens head to polls to cast their votes in elections for heads and council members of federal subjects, among which an election for the Moscow City Duma, members and heads of local legislatures, and in by-elections to the State Duma. (TASS)
- Roskomnadzor, the state communications watchdog, states Google and Facebook published political advertising the day before and during the election, even though it requested them to ban such publication "in line with Russian law". The watchdog labels the tech giants' actions as "interference in Russia’s sovereign affairs". (Reuters)
- The Parliament of Georgia appoints the previous Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia as Prime Minister. (DPA via Gulf Times)
- 2020 U.S. Republican Party presidential primaries
- Former South Carolina congressman and governor Mark Sanford announces a primary challenge against incumbent President Donald Trump. (Axios)
- Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) politician Stefan Jagsch is elected as the mayor of Altenstadt-Waldsiedlung in Altenstadt, Hesse, after running unopposed, prompting condemnations from Germany's political leaders, including SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil. Norbert Szilasko, a member of the council who voted Jagsch into office says, "We voted for him due to the fact we have nobody else". (The Telegraph)