Portal:Current events/2020 September 3

September 3, 2020 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- September 2020 Afghanistan attacks
  - A mine explosion killed at least three people and left another injured in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. (TOLOnews)
Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile
- Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdelaziz al-Hilu, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM–N), sign an agreement to transition the country into a secular state. The agreement comes three days after the signing of a peace deal between Sudan's transitional government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front, to which the SPLM–N opted out of. (Anadolu Agency)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Twenty Nigerian soldiers are killed after Boko Haram militants attacks two military positions in Borno, Nigeria. (Sahara Reports)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Nana
  - Tropical Storm Nana strengthens into a hurricane as it is expected to make landfall overnight in Belize. (ABC News)
  - Hurricane Nana makes landfall and downgrades to a tropical storm. (WINK-TV)
- Hurricane Laura
  - The death toll from Hurricane Laura in Louisiana increases to 17. Eight of the deaths were linked to carbon monoxide poisoning. (brproud.com) (People)
2020 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Maysak, the strongest typhoon of the season, makes landfall along the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, southwest of Busan, South Korea. (UPI)
- Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Gulf Livestock 1 with 43 crew members and thousands of cattle onboard is reported missing in the East China Sea. The Japan Coast Guard says it has found one person drifting in rough waters in a lifejacket. A distress signal was sent from the ship shortly before disappearing. (BBC News)
A second fire breaks out on board the oil ship MT New Diamond off the coast of Sri Lanka. The ship departed a port in Ahmadi Governorate, Kuwait, and was headed to the port of Paradeep in India. Authorities fear the 2 million barrels of oil could cause an "environmental disaster". Russian ships depart to assist and one out of the 23 crew was missing following the incident. (Reuters via Al Arabiya)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India reports a record daily jump of 83,883 cases. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
    - Indonesia reports a record daily jump of 3,622 new cases in the last 24 hours. Of those new cases, 1,359 are from Jakarta, which also reports the highest single day increase in new cases. (detikHealth)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - Thailand reports their first case after a streak of 100 days without new cases. (Bloomberg.com)
- COVID-19 vaccine
  - Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says that the vaccine trials for Pfizer might have results by October. (CNBC)
  - GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi announces that they will start vaccine trials. (BBC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - The United States Department of Defense says that the United States military will choose five treatment facilities to carry advanced testing phases for AstraZeneca and other vaccine trials. (UrduPoint)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - The number of cases in Brazil passes 4 million. (Reuters)
2020 wildfire season, Climate change in the Arctic
- The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service reports that the Arctic Circle has experienced its worst wildfire season on record after the service released data indicating that a series of wildfires occurring in the first half of 2020, mostly in the Russian republic of Sakha, have emitted more than 244 million tons of carbon dioxide. The emissions within that period have increased by more than a third of carbon emissions in the whole of 2019. (Bloomberg) (CNN)
Public Health England reports that the country last year had the most cases of gonorrhea since records began more than 100 years ago, at 70,936 reported cases. Those aged 20–25 had the largest increase, at 28% between 2018 and 2019. (BBC News)

International relations

Bahrain–United Arab Emirates relations
- Bahrain's Civil Aviation Affairs grants first freedom rights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), allowing flights between the UAE and any country to enter Bahraini airspace. Bahrain follows Saudi Arabia in granting such rights to the UAE, which the latter did two days prior following the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE. Like Saudi Arabia and most Arab states, Bahrain currently does not maintain any official relations with Israel nor recognises it. (Arab News) (Reuters)
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres urges Japan and other wealthy nations to give up on their reliance on fossil fuels and invest in green energy. Guterres noted that many countries are using green energy to keep global warming at 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). (AP)

Law and crime

Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal
- Protesters and riot police clash in the city of Lalitpur over the ban of outdoors public events amid a religious festival. The government had previously banned public gatherings as the country records a total of 42,877 cases. (AP)
Murder of Ján Kuciak
- A Bratislava court acquits Slovak businessman Marián Kočner for ordering the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in February 2018. The court rules the lack of evidence to convict Kočner. (DW)
Vitoria massacre
- Former Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Rodolfo Martín Villa declares before the Argentine courts accused of genocide and crimes against humanity for the role of the police during his tenure as Minister of the Interior between 1976 and 1979, especially for the Vitoria massacre in 1976. (20 minutos)
2020 Solingen killings
- Five children who were siblings are found dead in their apartment in Solingen, NRW, Germany. Their elder brother survived. Their mother, who is injured after throwing herself in front of a train in Düsseldorf, is suspected of the killings. (BBC News)
2020–2021 United States racial unrest
- Killings of Aaron Danielson and Michael Reinoehl
  - Michael Reinoehl, who was accused of killing Patriot Prayer activist Aaron Danielson, is shot dead by police during arrest. ( The New York Times)
- Killing of Daniel Prude
  - Rochester police made another round of arrests during protests that at times, turned violent. Protesters gathered and chanted near the Public Safety Building, and tensions began rising around 10:30 p.m. with police deploying pepper spray and pepper balls multiple times in a 10-minute span. (spectrum local news)
A Hong Kong court acquits pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai of criminal intimidation on a 2017 charge. This verdict comes after his high-profile arrest last month under the new national security law. (Reuters)
Kuwait swears in eight female judges, being the first Gulf country to do so. The women were among 54 judges sworn into the Supreme Court. (AFP via AL Arabiya)

Politics and elections

2020 Jamaican general election
- Jamaicans head to the polls the elect a new parliament amid a surge of COVID-19 infections. Prime Minister Andrew Holness of the Labour Party is among the candidates. (BBC News)
- The Jamaica Labour Party wins 49 of 63 seats in a landslide victory, marking the first time that the party has won consecutive general elections since 1967. (VOA)
2020 Bulgarian protests
- Protests in Bulgaria turn violent for the first time, as protesting crowds attempt to storm the nation's parliament, leading to a night of fighting between demonstrators and security forces. (DW)

Science and technology

The skeletons of 200 mammoths, 25 camels, and five horses are unearthed at a construction site for the Mexico City Santa Lucía Airport. It surpasses Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, South Dakota, United States as the largest find of mammoth bones, which had 61 skeletons. (Los Angeles Times)