Portal:Current events/2017 August 29
August 29, 2017 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- A suicide bomber kills five people at the entrance of a Kabul Bank subsidiary near the Embassy of the United States in Kabul. The Taliban claims their attack targeted soldiers and police withdrawing their salaries. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Television in the United Kingdom
- Sky UK stops broadcasting Fox News in the United Kingdom after 15 years due to low audience figures. (BBC)
- Banking in the United States
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc has become the largest shareholder of Bank of America by exercising its right to acquire 700 million shares at a steep discount, more than tripling an investment it made six years ago. Bank of America on Tuesday announced the exercise of the warrants, which gave Berkshire, controlled by Warren Buffett, the right to buy the bank’s shares for about $7.14 each. Bank of America shares closed down 14 cents at $23.58 on the same day. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Hurricane Harvey
- The death toll from Hurricane Harvey reaches 30 as Sylvester Turner, the mayor of Houston, Texas, introduces a curfew to deter looters. (The New York Times)
International relations
- 2017 North Korea crisis, North Korean August 2017 missile launch over Japan
- North Korea fires a Hwasong-12 ballistic missile which flies 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi), passing over Hokkaido, northern Japan, prompting the activation of the nationwide J-Alert warning system. This is first time since 2009 that a North Korean missile has passed over Japanese territory. (South China Morning Post) (The Independent)
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says North Korea's launch of a missile over Japan was "absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible" and that North Korea has "violated every single U.N. Security Council resolution that we've had, and so I think something serious has to happen." (Reuters)
- 2017 clashes at the Turkish Ambassador's Residence in Washington, D.C.
- A grand jury in Washington, D.C. has issued indictments for 19 people, including 15 identified as Turkish security officials, for attacking protesters in May 2017. (AP)
- European migrant crisis
- The Libyan Navy rescues nearly 500 migrants in three operations in the seas west of the capital Tripoli. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Germany
- The Landtag of the Free State of Saxony has lifted the immunity of Frauke Petry, Party Chair in the Alternative for Germany party, opening the way for prosecutors to pursue possible perjury charges against her concerning statements made to a committee of the Saxony parliament about how the party’s campaign for the 2014 election was financed. (Reuters)
- Sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States military
- Defense Secretary James Mattis announces that transgender troops in the military will continue to serve pending the results of a study started in June to assess the Pentagon's ability to fight and win wars. (USA Today) (The Hill)