Portal:Current events/2020 September 21

September 21, 2020 (Monday)

Business and economy

Microsoft agrees to buy video game holding company ZeniMax Media, including Bethesda Softworks and their following subsidiaries for $7.5 billion, in what is the biggest and most expensive takeover in the history of the video game industry. (Bloomberg)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
    - Indonesia reports a daily jump of 4,176 new cases, bringing the country's total cases to 248,852. This sets a new record high for the country since the beginning of the pandemic. (detikNews)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    - The number of cases in Iran rises by 3,341 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily tally since early June. The number of total cases in the country reaches to 425,481. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
  - The government raises its alert level from 3 to 4, meaning transmission is "high or rising exponentially." It comes after the government's scientific adviser warned that there could be 50,000 new cases a day by mid-October without further action. (BBC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
  - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lifts all remaining lockdown restrictions in the country except for Auckland, which maintains its lockdown until at least October 7. (AP)
Arctic sea ice decline
- The National Snow and Ice Data Center of the United States reports that the Arctic sea ice in 2020 has melted to an area of 3.74 million square kilometers, its second smallest area since records began in 1979. (AFP via Bangkok Post)
The Australian government reports that over 200 pilot whales are stranded off the Macquarie Harbour in West Coast, Tasmania, at least 25 of which have died. A rescue mission for the surviving whales is scheduled for tomorrow. (AAP via The Guardian)

International relations

Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement, Bahrain–United States relations
- The United States embassy in Manama warns American citizens in Bahrain of the "need for caution", days after the gulf kingdom signed a U.S.-backed deal with Israel. (AFP via Barron's)
United States sanctions against Iran, International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis, United States–Venezuela relations
- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the imposition of an arms embargo on the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics and other entities involved in Iran's nuclear program, including the government of disputed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for providing weapons to Iran. (AFP via CNA) (CNBC)
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international relations, COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
- President Rodrigo Duterte lifts a moratorium on Filipino health professionals to work overseas during the pandemic. (Anadolu)

Law and crime

Aftermath of the 2012 Burgas bus bombing
- A court in Bulgaria sentences two men, a Lebanese Australian and a Lebanese Canadian, to life in prison in absentia, for their roles in the suicide bombing of a bus in Burgas in 2012 that killed five Israeli tourists, the Bulgarian driver and the bomber. The whereabouts of the men is unknown and they are the subject of an Interpol red notice. (AP)

Politics and elections

2020 Malian coup d'état
- Bah Ndaw is named as Mali's interim President by the National Committee for the Salvation of the People military junta. Coup leader Assimi Goïta is appointed as Vice President. (Al Jazeera)