Portal:Current events/2021 September 22

September 22, 2021 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghanistan conflict
- ISIL-K militants open fire against a Taliban vehicle at a gas station in Jalalabad, killing two Taliban members, a gas station attendant, and a child. Two bombs also explode nearby to two more Taliban vehicles, killing another child and injuring three more Taliban members. (First Post)
- ISIS-K militants kill four Christian Afghan men after stopping their vehicle and then shooting the victims. (Mission Network News)
Yemeni Civil War
- Houthi forces capture the Bayhan District in Yemen's Shabwah Governorate where oil fields are located and continue their advance into neighboring Usaylan District. (Xinhua via The Manila Times)
Authorities in Germany link a belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and far-right extremism as motives behind the killing of a cashier in Idar-Oberstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, four days ago. The 20-year-old student employee was murdered at the shop where he worked by a man who refused to wear a mask. Far-right extremists praise the killing and make denigratory comments about the victim. (BBC News)
Gunmen open fire against a vehicle carrying Serhiy Shefir, an official close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, near the village of Lisnyky, outside of Kyiv, wounding the driver of the car. The attack is deemed an assassination attempt against Shefir. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

2021 Mansfield earthquake
- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes the Alpine National Park in Victoria, Australia, with tremors felt throughout the state and in parts of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania. Some buildings in Melbourne are damaged but no casualties are reported. (ABC News Australia)
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes off the coast of Nicaragua, measuring 40 kilometres (25 mi) in depth. (Reuters)
UNICEF reports that most infants in at least 91 countries suffer from malnourishment and food insecurity. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated last week that about 811 million people globally are affected by hunger. (The Guardian)
A Russian An-26 transport aircraft, believed to have six people on board, disappears while flying at an ultralow altitude of 600 meters. The plane went off radar some 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Khabarovsk airport in southeastern Russia. (DW)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia
    - Georgia surpasses 600,000 cases of COVID-19. (Azeri Press Agency)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India reports its lowest number of active COVID-19 case in 186 days with the daily positivity rate recorded at 1.69%. (Khaleej Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
    - Singapore reports a record 1,457 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, surpassing the previous record of 1,426 cases set in April 2020, and thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 81,356. (Yahoo! News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
    - Michigan surpasses one million confirmed cases of COVID-19. (WDIV-TV)
  - COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
    - The Food and Drug Administration officially authorizes the usage of a third dosage of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as a booster shot for individuals still considered vulnerable to COVID-19. Among those eligible are health care workers and senior citizens who have been fully inoculated with the vaccine for at least six months. (CNET)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - Brazilian Health minister Marcelo Queiroga tests positive for COVID-19 while in New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly. (CBS News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji
  - Mental health organizations urge the government to address suicide prevention and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on mental health, as an advisor to the government warns that Fiji faces a "mental health epidemic". (RNZ)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda
  - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni eases COVID-19-related restrictions, including allowing churches and many sports and social activities to resume, due to a decline in the number of infections. The President will also allow universities and other post-secondary education institutions to reopen on November 1. (Swiss Info)
Eight hatchlings from one of the world's rarest crocodile species are found in the Sre Pok Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Cambodia, raising hopes for the continuing survival of the species in the wild. Conservationists found the baby Siamese crocodiles in a river earlier this month, according to a statement from Cambodia's Environment Ministry and the World Wildlife Fund. (9 News)

International relations

Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, Iran–Saudi Arabia relations
- King Salman of Saudi Arabia insists on the "importance of keeping the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction ... and support international efforts aiming at preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons". Salman also accused Yemen's Houthis of launching attacks against the kingdom despite proposed ceasefires by Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
France–United States relations
- French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden agree to meet in Europe soon to repair the strained relations following the security pact between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. France also agrees to send back its ambassador to the United States. (Al Jazeera)
Algeria–Morocco relations, Western Sahara conflict
- Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune orders the prohibition of all Moroccan-registered aircraft in Algerian airspace after the two countries broke off diplomatic ties on August 24. (AFP via The Times of Israel)

Law and crime

Killamarsh killings
- The Derbyshire Constabulary charges a 31-year-old man with four counts of murder following a suspected mass murder in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, England, on Sunday. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

COVID-19 protests in Australia
- Protesters return to the Melbourne CBD for the third day straight, albeit in lesser numbers than yesterday. The protests end with a three hour stand-off with riot police firing non-lethal rounds and teargas at the Shrine of Remembrance. Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemns the protests. (The Guardian)
2021 Tunisian political crisis
- President Kais Saied declares that he will rule by decree. (AFP via Radio France Internationale)
2022 Philippine presidential election
- Mayor of Manila Isko Moreno announces his candidacy for the President of the Philippines in the upcoming 2022 elections. (Rappler)
Germany nominates current World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom for a second five-year term as the head of the United Nations body. He appears to be the sole candidate, but at a news conference he declines to state whether or not he will accept the nomination. Ethiopia has withdrawn its support for his candidacy, accusing him of openly supporting the Tigray People's Liberation Front in the ongoing Tigray War. (France 24)

Sports

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
- 2022 Winter Olympics, United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics
  - The United States will require athletes to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. (Axios)