Portal:Current events/2019 August 5
August 5, 2019 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Second Libyan Civil War
- A Libyan National Army airstrike on the southern Libyan town of Murzuk reportedly kills at least 43 people and injures 51 others, according to local officials. An LNA spokesperson says the raid had targeted "Chadian mercenaries". (France 24)
Business and economy
- China–United States trade war
- China lets its currency drop to its lowest reported level since 2008 and also asks its state-owned companies to halt imports of U.S. agricultural products. In response the U.S. Treasury Department designates China as a currency manipulator. (Reuters One) (Reuters Two)
- Harland and Wolff, known for constructing several famous ships, including the RMS Titanic and HMS Belfast, collapses into administration. All 130 employees have been given redundancy notices, and the company is expected to cease trading after 158 years. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- A bus carrying volunteer doctors from La Paz towards the north of Bolivia crashed, leaving 14 dead and 21 injured. (NDTV)
- A fire and large explosions at a Russian Armed Forces ammunition dump prompts the mass evacuation of civilians from the nearby city of Achinsk. (RFE/RL)
International relations
- The United Kingdom announces it is joining a United States-led naval mission in the Persian Gulf to protect oil tankers, following several seizures in international waters by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (The Guardian)
- Venezuelan refugee crisis, Colombia–Venezuela relations
- Colombia grants national citizenship to all children born in the country to Venezuelan parents since August 2015. The measure will be in force for two years. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts
- Cesar Sayoc is sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending pipe bombs to CNN and several prominent U.S. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden last year. (CNN)
- R. Kelly is charged with two counts for engaging in prostitution with a person under 18 in Minnesota. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests
- Hong Kong citizens call for a city-wide general strike with various sit-ins in seven districts. With around 2 million residents participated in the strikes, thousands of workers announcing their participation, over 200 flights were cancelled, MTR lines halted and the Hang Seng Index dropped sharply. Chief Executive Carrie Lam blamed protesters for "destroying Hong Kong" and rejected their demands. (Bloomberg) (Hong Kong Free Press)
- India revokes Jammu and Kashmir's special status amidst increased regional tensions. The Indian government moved additional troops into the sensitive area before banning assemblies, closing schools, restricting tourism and announcing a plan to split the state into two union territories. (The New York Times)
Science and technology
- 2019 El Paso shooting
- 8chan is taken offline after San Francisco-based Cloudflare cuts support for the site in response to the perpetrator Patrick Crusius posting his white nationalist manifesto The Inconvenient Truth on the site shortly before killing 22 people and injuring 24 others at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas which was an anti-Hispanic terrorist attack. (BBC News)
Sports
- German association football club Chemnitzer FC sacks club captain Daniel Frahn for "openly displaying sympathy for Neo-Nazi groups". Frahn, who is currently unable to play due to injury, watched the club's recent match in the stands with far-right hooligan fans. (The Guardian)