Portal:Current events

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- ISIL militants launch attacks on government buildings, police stations, and a power station in the city of Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurdistan, killing at least 19 people. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Per Wästberg, a member of the Swedish Academy, says that songwriter and artist Bob Dylan has not yet indicated whether he intends to accept the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. (SVT – Swedish Television), (The Guardian)

Business and economy

British American Tobacco offers to buy out U.S. cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc in a $47 billion takeover that would create the world's biggest listed tobacco company. (Reuters)
AT&T reportedly agrees in principle to buy Time Warner for about $85 billion. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Tottori Prefecture in western Japan. Local media report that there are 14 injuries in Kurayoshi. Tottori is Japan's least populous prefecture. (Bloomberg), (BNO News)
A chemical spill at the MGP Ingredients plant in Atchison, Kansas, United States, injures 26 people and leads to evacuations. The spill of sodium hypochlorite and sulfuric acid produces a toxic fog. (The Kansas City Star)
Authorities evacuate London City Airport after a chemical incident, but, after some remediation, police later declare the airport safe. (CNN)
2016 Eséka train derailment
- A passenger train derails in central Cameroon, killing at least 53 people and injuring 575 others. (Africa News), (Reuters)
A Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes and leaves at least 19 dead and three others injured on the Yamal Peninsula in Russia's Extreme North. (Radio Free Europe)

International relations

South Africa formally begins the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court amid a dispute over the country's refusal to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at last year's African Union summit in Johannesburg. (BBC)

Law and crime

A series of cyberattacks utilizing distributed denial-of-service attack, targeting networks operated by DNS provider Dyn, makes major Internet platforms and services unavailable to large swaths of users in Europe and North America. Affected companies include Amazon, Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, PayPal, and Airbnb. (The Wall Street Journal)
2014 Iguala mass kidnapping
- After two years on the run, Mexican officials arrest the former police chief of a Mexican city, Felipe Flores, capturing him in Iguala in the southern state of Guerrero. The city is where 43 students disappeared in September 2014. The police arrested the students and then handed them over to a drug cartel who killed them and incinerated their bodies. (BBC)

Science and technology

The Tennessee Valley Authority completes the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, the first U.S. nuclear reactor to enter commercial operation in 20 years. (CNN)

October 20, 2016 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Turkish military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Turkish jets hit Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia with 26 airstrikes in three recently-captured-from-ISIL villages west of al-Bab and northeast of Aleppo. The Turkish General Staff says between 160 and 200 have been killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports 11 dead and dozens of people wounded. (Reuters), (USA Today)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Haima, the second tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in less than a week, kills at least seven people and causes flooding, landslides, and power outages before heading out to sea. (AP via The New York Times), (The Epoch Times), (BBC)

International relations

Philippines–United States relations
- Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he plans to cut ties with his country's former colonial ruler, the United States, while strengthening ties with China. (The Guardian)
Canada–European Union relations
- The European Union calls an emergency two-day meeting about the planned EU-Canada free trade agreement, approved by all 28 EU member governments but held up by the "non" vote in Walloonia, one of Belgium's five sub-federal administrations. (NASDAQ), (Reuters), (The New York Times)
South Africa will notify the United Nations that the country is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC). This separation would take effect one year from when notice is formally received by the U.N. Secretary-General. Last week, Burundi's parliament voted to leave the ICC, but the required paperwork has not yet reached the U.N. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Brazilian prosecutors file homicide charges against 21 people employed by the companies Samarco, Vale, and BHP Billiton for the November 2015 iron ore mine dam burst in the state of Minas Gerais that killed 19 people and polluted waterways. (BBC)
Following his October 5 arrest, U.S. federal prosecutors in Baltimore charge Harold T. Martin III, a former National Security Agency contractor, for violating the Espionage Act, specifically, with felony theft of government property. Prosecutors state that, over a 20-year time period, Martin stole at least 50 terabytes of data and "six full bankers boxes" of classified and other documents. The prosecutors state that Martin had an “arsenal” of weapons in his home. (The Washington Post)

Science and technology

The journal Scientific Reports publishes research from a team, led by Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum's Stephen Poropat, reporting the discovery of a new Australian dinosaur species, Savannasaurus elliottorum using fossils first found in 2005 at Winton, Queensland, Australia. (The Verge)

October 19, 2016 (Wednesday)

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Disasters and accidents

2016 Pacific typhoon season
- The Philippine government places more than two dozen provinces on alert before Typhoon Haima makes landfall over Luzon. Haima, downgraded by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System to a Category 4 storm, landfalls Cagayan province in the island's northeast. Weather forecasters expect the storm to impact up to 2.7 million people before veering northwest toward the Chinese coast on October 21. (Media Corp Press Today Online), (CNN via KCCI), (The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System)
A natural gas explosion damages several buildings and injures eight people in downtown Portland, Oregon. (The Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The European Space Agency fails to contact its Schiaparelli lander during its descent through the atmosphere of the planet Mars. (The Guardian)
NASA's Juno probe, in orbit around Jupiter, enters safe mode. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

The Attorney General of Mexico issues an arrest warrant for the former Governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, for suspected involvement in organized crime and money laundering. (Reuters)
A police dispersal occurs between combined minority groups and anti-U.S. activists and the Philippine National Police in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Police arrest 30 protesters with 60 people injured, several rammed by a police van driven during the dispersal. (Rappler), (The Manila Bulletin), (Al Jazeera)
Czech police announce the arrest of a man at a Prague hotel two weeks ago who they claim is a Russian hacker suspected of targeting the U.S. (CBS News)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016
- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet for the third presidential debate of the 2016 U.S. election at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (The Telegraph)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reshuffles his cabinet, replacing culture, education, and sports ministers. The new ministers still need the parliament's approval. (Mehr), (The Tehran Times)
Croatian parliamentary election, 2016
- Croatian lawmakers approve conservative Croatian Democratic Union party leader Andrej Plenković's new coalition government 91–45. (AP), (Reuters)

Sports

Major League Baseball
- The Cleveland Indians defeat the Toronto Blue Jays and win the American League Championship Series 4–1, advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1997. Major League Baseball names Cleveland reliever Andrew Miller the series Most Valuable Player. (AP via ESPN)

October 18, 2016 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Somalia
- Somali police say at least seven are dead after clashes as Somali and African Union troops pushed back al-Shabab extremists from Afgooye, a town near Mogadishu. (AP)
Clashes between Pygmy and Bantu tribes in Tanganyika region of Democratic Republic of Congo leave 20 people dead. (Africa News)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Pacific typhoon season
- The death toll in Vietnam, from Typhoon Sarika, rises to at least 31 people. (Fox News)

International relations

UNESCO's executive board approves the "Occupied Palestine" resolution which reaffirms the cultural heritage of Palestine, especially East Jerusalem, and criticizes certain Israeli actions regarding the Palestinian territories. For the land in Jerusalem where the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands, the board uses only Islamic naming terms without also mentioning Jewish or Christian historical references. (AP), (BBC), (Haaretz)
War in Donbass
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel invites the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and France to meet tomorrow in Berlin to discuss peace efforts in eastern Ukraine. (AP), (Reuters)

Science and technology

Applications of nanotechnology
- While attempting to create a nanotechnology-based, catalyst-mediated series of chemical reactions to turn carbon dioxide (CO
  2) (a greenhouse gas) into a usable fuel, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory instead discover a single-step process using the surface area of tiny spikes of copper and carbon as a catalyst to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol (CH
  3CH
  2OH). The reaction may serve as a method to alleviate possible climate change by both decreasing CO
  2 in the atmosphere and by using the ethanol as an additive to fuels to increase efficiency and thereby decrease consumption. (Popular Mechanics), (The Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

October 17, 2016 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War
- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announces the start of the Battle of Mosul, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, to retake ISIL-held Mosul, the self-declared caliphate's capital in Iraq. (Reuters), (Reuters²)
War in Afghanistan
- The Vice President of Afghanistan, Abdul Rashid Dostum, survives yet another assassination attempt. (Reuters)
Clashes between rival gangs in at least two prisons in Brazil, leave at least 18 people killed. (Reuters)
South Sudanese Civil War
- Clashes between government troops and rebels in South Sudan, leave at least 56 people killed. (The Chicago Tribune), (The Wire)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Pacific typhoon season
- Floods in Central Vietnam, triggered by Typhoon Sarika's heavy rains, kill at least 24 people with 4 others missing. Sarika has killed at least two people and displaced more than 150,000 in the Philippines. (AP)
Two buses collide near the city of Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, killing at least 30 people and injuring 69 others. (ITV News)
An explosion and fire in Ludwigshafen, at the largest production site of BASF in Germany, kills at least two people and injures six more with two people still missing. BASF is the world's biggest chemical producer. (Reuters)
A fire breaks out at a hospital in the East Indian city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha, killing at least 20 people. (BBC)

International relations

Yemeni Civil War
- The United Nations announces that the warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting October 19 at 23:59 AST (4:59 EDT). (AP), (Reuters)

Law and crime

Circuit Court Judge Debra Nelson in Seminole County, Florida, sentences Matthew Apperson, convicted by a jury last month of second-degree attempted murder, to 20 years in prison for shooting at George Zimmerman, who had shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in February 2012. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

American conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe releases a series of videos allegedly showing conversations with, among others, Scott Foval, the former national field director of Americans United for Change, speaking about his hiring of people to sabotage rallies for Donald Trump by staging fights in them in a process Foval called "bird dogging". (Salon)

Science and technology

Shenzhou program
- China launches Shenzhou 11, the country's sixth manned spaceflight mission and the first one to the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, with two taikonauts on a 30-day mission. (Reuters), (AP)
NASA's Commercial Resupply Services
- Orbital ATK Antares 230 rocket launches carrying an unmanned resupply spacecraft, the Cygnus CRS OA-5 cargo ship, to the International Space Station from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The mission returns the Antares rocket to flight after an anomaly on October 28, 2014, caused an Antares-series rocket to explode seconds after liftoff. (Space.com), (NASA via You Tube)

October 16, 2016 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Turkey–ISIL conflict
- A suicide bomber kills three police officers and wounds at least nine people in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep during a police raid on a suspected ISIL safehouse. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army rebels seize control of the symbolic town of Dabiq, Aleppo Governorate, following clashes with ISIL militants. (NBC News)
War in Donbass
- A bomb placed in an elevator shaft kills Pro-Russian, high-ranking officer of the Donetsk People's Republic's special forces, Arseny Pavlov, also known as "Motorola", in Donetsk. (TASS), (The Kyiv Post)

Arts and culture

The Simpsons, the longest-running American, prime time, scripted television series, airs its 600th episode. (CNN)
Pope Francis declares seven new saints. {Vatican Radio)

Disasters and accidents

The collapse of a footbridge connecting the islands of Lembongan and Ceningan, near Bali, Indonesia, leaves 9 dead and 30 injured. (The New York Times)

International relations

Yemeni Crisis
- The United States and the United Kingdom call for, "within hours," an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Yemen to end the violence following last week's Saudi airstrikes, based on bad information, that killed around 140 people. (Reuters), (The Guardian)

Law and crime

An arsonist firebombs a Republican Party office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and leaves a graffiti message reading, "Nazi Republicans get out of town or else." (CNN)

Politics and elections

Montenegrin parliamentary election, 2016
- With over 95 percent of votes counted, Prime Minister Milo Đukanović's Democratic Party of Socialists receives the most votes in this quadrennial election, but, by five seats, fails to gain an absolute majority. Djukanovic says he will seek a coalition with parties of national minorities. (Reuters)

Science and technology

ExoMars project
- The European Space Agency-Roscosmos operated Schiaparelli EDM lander successfully separates from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft, beginning a three-day descent to the surface of Mars. (Reuters)

Sports

Anthony Foley, coach of Irish rugby union team Munster, dies suddenly at the age of 42 in a hotel near Paris. Officials postpone Munster's European Rugby Champions Cup match against Racing 92. (BBC)

More October 2016 events...

Ongoing events
Business Panama Papers Volkswagen emissions scandal Yahoo! data breach Culture Nobel Peace Prize Disasters Atlantic hurricane season California wildfires Oklahoma earthquake swarms Pacific hurricane season Pacific typhoon season Southeast Asian haze Health Flint water crisis Zika virus pandemic Law 2016 clown sightings Black Lives Matter protests Philippine Drug War Timor Gap PCA arbitration Political Aftermath of Brexit Austria presidential election Ethiopian protests European migrant crisis (timeline) Lebanese political deadlock South China Sea disputes United States presidential election Venezuelan protests Zimbabwe protests More details on ongoing conflicts below Sport 2016 ATP World Tour 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2016 Formula One season 2016 Major League Baseball season 2016 NFL season 2016–17 Premier League 2016 WTA Tour edit sidebar

Recent deaths
October 21: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer 19: Yvette Chauviré 16: Anthony Foley 16: Kigeli V of Rwanda 16: Arsen Pavlov 14: Klim Churyumov 14: Jean Alexander 14: Pierre Étaix 14: Helen Kelly 13: Bhumibol Adulyadej 13: Dario Fo 13: Jim Prentice 9: Aaron Pryor 9: Kenneth P. Thompson 9: Andrzej Wajda 7: John Gleeson 7: Alistair Urquhart 7: Rebecca Wilson 5: Michal Kováč 5: Josh Samman 5: Rod Temperton (reported on this date) 3: Trịnh Thị Ngọ 2: Neville Marriner 1: Daphne Odjig September 30: Mike Towell 29: Miriam Defensor Santiago 29: Jamshid Amouzegar 28: Agnes Nixon 28: Shimon Peres 28: Max Walker 26: Herschell Gordon Lewis 25: José Fernández 25: David Padilla 25: Arnold Palmer 25: Jean Shepard 24: Mel Charles 24: Bill Mollison 24: Bill Nunn 24: Buckwheat Zydeco 23: Marcel Artelesa edit sidebar

Ongoing conflicts
Africa Algeria and Tunisia Maghreb insurgency ISIL insurgency in Tunisia Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria Boko Haram insurgency Central African Republic Civil war Democratic Republic of the Congo Kivu conflict ADF insurgency Ituri conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Libya Civil war Mali Northern Mali conflict Somalia Civil war South Sudan Ethnic violence (South Sudanese Civil War) Sudan War in Darfur South Kordofan conflict Sudanese nomadic conflicts Americas Mexico Mexican War on Drugs Peru Internal conflict in Peru Asia Afghanistan Afghanistan War China Xinjiang conflict India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Insurgency in Northeast India India and Pakistan Kashmir conflict Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Moro conflict Cross border attacks in Sabah Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua conflict Myanmar Internal conflict in Burma Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict Philippines CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Thailand South Thailand insurgency Europe Armenia and Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Georgia Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Georgian–Ossetian conflict Russia Chechen–Russian conflict North Caucasus insurgency Ukraine War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine Middle East Egypt Sinai insurgency Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria Arab–Israeli conflict Iran Iran–PJAK conflict Iraq American-led intervention in Iraq Iranian intervention in Iraq Iraq and Syria (map) Military intervention against ISIL Israel and Lebanon Israeli–Lebanese conflict Israel and Palestine Gaza–Israel conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Syria American-led intervention in Syria Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Turkish military intervention in Syria Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Turkey Turkey–PKK conflict Turkey–ISIL conflict Yemen Yemeni Civil War Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Al-Qaeda insurgency edit sidebar

Elections and Referendums
Recent September 25: Switzerland, Referendum October 2: Cape Verde, President 2: Colombia, Referendum 2: Hungary, Referendum 5: Curaçao, Estates 7: Morocco, House of Representatives 8: Georgia, Parliament 9: Lithuania, Seimas 15: Afghanistan, House of the People 16: Montenegro, Parliament Upcoming October 23: Lithuania, Seimas (2nd round) 29: Iceland, Althing 30: Moldova, President November 1: Palau, President, National Congress 6: Bulgaria, President, Referendum 6: Nicaragua, President, National Assembly 8: United States, President edit sidebar

Trials
Recently concluded Australia: Brett Peter Cowan, Craig Thomson, Robert Hughes, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara Brazil: Mensalão scandal Canada: Luka Magnotta China: Ji Jianye, Li Chuncheng, Jiang Jiemin, Liao Shaohua, Ni Fake, Ling Jihua, Chen Baihuai, Zhou Yongkang, Gu Junshan, Yao Mugen, Guo Boxiong Egypt: Hosni Mubarak, Peter Greste, Mohamed Morsi Germany: Bernie Ecclestone, Uli Hoeness, Christian Wulff Iran: Mohammad Reza Rahimi Israel: Hussam Qawasmeh Jordan: Abu Qatada Philippines: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Romania: Liviu Dragnea, Dan Diaconescu, Gheorghe Ștefan, Gabriel Sandu, Dorin Cocoş, Dumitru Nicolae Russia: Eston Kohver South Africa: Shrien Dewani, Oscar Pistorius Spain: Lionel Messi Turkey: Kenan Evren, Tahsin Şahinkaya United Kingdom: Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, Ray Wilkins, Liam Adams, R v Grillo and Grillo, Ian Watkins, William Roache, Dave Lee Travis, Nicholas Jacobs, Nigel Evans, Max Clifford, Stuart Hall, Dappy, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Rolf Harris, Tulisa Contostavlos, Chris Denning, Ray Teret, Gary Glitter, Fred Talbot, Adam Johnson, Ched Evans United States: Abu Hamza al-Masri, Michael Grimm, Jesse Jackson Jr., Bob McDonnell, Vilma Bautista, Kermit Gosnell, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, James Eagan Holmes, Sheldon Silver, Javaris Crittenton, Dylan Quick International ECCC: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan ICC: Germain Katanga ICTY: Radovan Karadžić Ongoing China: Bai Enpei, Guo Youming, Pan Yiyang, Wan Qingliang, Yang Weize, Zhu Zuoli Germany: Beate Zschäpe Indonesia: Mary Jane Veloso Iran: Babak Zanjani Netherlands: Geert Wilders Philippines: Andal Ampatuan, Jr., Leila de Lima, Jovito Palparan Romania: Darius Vâlcov, Dan Șova, Elena Udrea, Radu Mazăre, Gheorghe Nichita, Marian Vanghelie, Cătălin Voicu Russia: Alexei Navalny South Korea: MV Sewol crew members United States: Paul Anthony Ciancia, Dean Skelos, Etan Patz International ICTY: Ratko Mladić Upcoming China: Wu Changshun Estonia: Edgar Savisaar Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi United Kingdom: Rolf Harris United States: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Aaron Hernandez, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Rick Perry, Bill Cosby International ICC: Laurent Gbagbo edit sidebar