Portal:Current events/2016 September 15

September 15, 2016 (Thursday)

Business and economy

The Obama administration through the U.S. Justice Department seeks a fine of $14 billion against Deutsche Bank in regards to mortgage securities. (Marketwatch)
Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi asks U.S. businesses to invest in Myanmar after Barack Obama agrees to lift U.S. sanctions. (Time magazine)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Pacific typhoon season
- The China Meteorological Administration forecasts that Typhoon Meranti will make landfall in south Fujian Province. (Manila Bulletin)
The Awam Express train collides with a freight train near the Pakistani city of Multan killing at least six people and injuring another 150. (Geo TV)
An explosion on a tourist speed boat kills two people and injures 20 others shortly after departing from the Indonesian port of Padangbai in Karangasem, Bali. (AP via ABC News), (The Jakarta Post)

International relations

List of individuals sanctioned during the Ukrainian crisis
- The European Union extends the asset freeze and travel ban against 146 persons and 37 entities, including close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, by six months until 15 March 2017 for the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. (The New York Times), (Europe Online Magazine), (EU press release)
106 of the 108 papal nuncios and other papal diplomatic representatives meet in Rome for three days of meetings. On the final day, Pope Francis presides at a Mass with the nuncios. (Holy See Press Office)

Law and crime

Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, Davao Death Squad
- A former militiaman claims while testifying at a hearing by the Philippine Senate that President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte ordered the deaths of criminals and political opponents, allegedly Leila de Lima, critic and journalist Juan Pala, and unidentified Filipino Muslims in 1993, while he was mayor of Davao City. The witness also revealed that Duterte's son Paolo may also have been involved in the murders as an accomplice to his father. (Interaksyon), (Bloomberg) (AP via WTOP), (The New York Times)(Rappler)
Death of Sandra Bland
- Texas authorities agree to pay $1.9 million to the family of Sandra Bland, the woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, in July 2015. A grand jury did not issue an indictment. (CBS News)
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee releases a summary of its two-year investigation into former NSA contractor Edward Snowden which downplays his alleged status as a whistleblower while acknowledging "tremendous damage to national security" as a result of the classified documents he stole. (NPR)

Politics and elections

Japan's Democratic Party elects Sha Renhō as President. The House of Councillors member becomes the first female to head the opposition party. (The Japan Times), (The New York Times)

Science and technology