Portal:Current events
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Topics in the news
- Thirty-nine people are found dead in a refrigerated lorry container in Grays, England.
- In baseball, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeat the Yomiuri Giants to win the Japan Series (MVP Yurisbel Gracial pictured).
- In Santiago, Chile, protests over increased metro fares cause President Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of emergency.
- Several Lebanese cabinet ministers resign amid protests after the government announces plans to tax gasoline, tobacco, and online phone calls.
October 25, 2019 (Friday)
October 24, 2019 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War, 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone
- Amid the start of the implementation of the Second Northern Syria Agreement, the Syrian Democratic Forces announce their plans to merge with the Syrian Army upon the completion of a political settlement. (Reuters) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
International relations
- Japan–South Korea relations, 2019 Japan–South Korea trade dispute
- Japan and South Korea hold a high-level bilateral meeting for the first time since the trade dispute, with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe meeting with his counterpart Lee Nak-yeon. (The Japan Times)
Law and crime
- 2019 Grays incident
- Persecution of homosexuals in Uganda
- The law authorities announce that they have arrested 16 LGBT activists on suspicion of gay sex. (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- The remains of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco are exhumed from Valle de los Caídos and are moved to a private mausoleum with his wife Carmen Polo, 44 years after his death. Some pro-Franco protestors gather outside the national mausoleum. (CNN)
- 2019 Lebanese protests
- As protests enter its eighth day, President Michel Aoun in a televised address states he is willing to meet with protestors and offers support for various reforms, such as increasing transparency for banks and lifting immunity for government officials. He however states that changes “can only happen through state institutions" in response to calls to bring down the government. (Al-Jazeera)
- The Chicago Teachers Union's strike enters its sixth school day as it is unable to reach an agreement with Chicago Public Schools. (NBC Chicago)
October 23, 2019 (Wednesday)
Disasters and accidents
- Lion Air Flight 610, Boeing 737 MAX groundings
- Indonesian investigators meet with families of the deceased ahead of the release of their final report, scheduled for Friday. They state the crash was caused by design flaws with software on the aircraft, and inaccurate assessments by Boeing as to how pilots would respond to them. (al-Jazeera)
- Yirol Let L-410 Turbolet crash
- Ukraine releases the final report into the disaster, which was prepared by South Sudan. The report concludes mistakes by both crew and maintenance, as well as poor weather, combined to cause the crash. (The Aviation Herald)
Health and environment
- Pacific Gas and Electric is set to shut off power to 179,000 customers in Northern California due to an elevated wildfire risk, while Southern California Edison does so for 308,000 in Southern California. (The New York Times), (KTLA)
International relations
- 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Turkey–United States relations
- The Trump administration lifts the sanctions it placed on Turkey, in response to the latter's ceasefire. While U.S. President Donald Trump states the ceasefire is permanent, he threatens to reinstate the sanctions if "something happens that we are not happy with". (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2019 Grays incident
- Police discover 39 bodies inside a lorry container in Grays, Essex, UK. They had been transported from Zeebrugge, across the English Channel to Purfleet. The driver, a man from Northern Ireland, is arrested. (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Botswana general election
- Citizens of Botswana cast their vote to elect the members of the National Assembly and local government councils. (EWN)
- 2019 Chilean protests
- Chilean President Sebastián Piñera in a nationally televised address apologizes for the failures of the government and pledges economic reforms as violent protests continue in the country. (WJCT)
- 2019 Bolivian protests
- Evo Morales accuses opposition politicians of plotting a coup d'etat with foreign powers. (The Guardian)
- Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump
- Roughly two-dozen U.S. House Republicans storm a secure room being used by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, demanding more access to proceedings regarding the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. (The Washington Times)
- At a hearing in New York City, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who aided him with a search in Ukraine for detrimental information on President Trump's political opponents, plead not guilty to charges that they funneled $350,000 in illegal donations to a pro-Trump political committee and another $20,000 to former Republican Congressman Pete Sessions while acting on behalf of at least one Ukrainian government official. (AOL)
- A lawyer for Lev Parnas says some of the evidence collected in his client's case could be subject to executive privilege. (Yahoo! News)
- Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Fort Lauderdale airport shooting
- In a special session of the Florida Senate, the chamber voted 25–15 to uphold the suspension of former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel for his agency's response to the mass shootings at both Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Parkland. (WPLG)
October 22, 2019 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone
- Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, presidents of Russia and Turkey respectively, reach an agreement in Sochi, which would end Turkey's offensive into Northern Syria. (CNN) (CNN2)
Arts and culture
- 2019 Japanese imperial transition
- Japanese Emperor Naruhito officially proclaims his enthronement as the Emperor of Japan in an ancient enthronement ceremony held in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, after ascending to the throne on 1 May. It was attended by about 2,000 guests with 420 foreign dignitaries. (CNN) (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse
- The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States concludes its investigation into the accident, which killed six and injured ten. It states design errors were the immediate cause, exacerbated by failures to take appropriate remedial action when cracks were discovered. (USA Today)
- A convention centre catches fire in Auckland while still under construction, causing signficant disruption in the CBD. (Stuff)
Law and crime
- Crime in Norway
- Police officers in Oslo wound an armed 32-year-old man, who injured three people when he rammed a stolen ambulance into them. The police then arrest him and a 25-year-old woman, both of whom have connections to the Nordic Resistance Movement. (The Guardian) (The Telegraph)
- Manchester Arena bombing
- UK Home Secretary Priti Patel announces the inquests into the deaths of the victims will be converted into a public inquiry at the request of the coroner. This enables the hearing of evidence in secret by members of the intelligence community, which would otherwise not be available as the coroner had previously granted public interest immunity to the witnesses on the grounds of possible assistance to future terrorists were the evidence to be heard. Inquests cannot hear secret evidence. (The Telegraph)
- In Alabama, police say the body of 3-year-old Kamille McKinney has been discovered in a dumpster. McKinney disappeared during a birthday party in Birmingham on October 12 after being lured away from the party by a trail of food set up by a man and a woman. Authorities are obtaining arrest warrants for two suspects. (KDVR)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Chilean protests
- According to candidate for Vice President of Argentina for the Together for Change alliance, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, there is a "destabilization plan in Latin America directly linked to Venezuela's and Cuba's governments' activities". Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie also expressed his concerns and said there were "calculated and identical methods of destabilization in the region". He blames Nicolás Maduro's government after Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello says there is a "Bolivarian breeze" in the region. (Clarín) (Buenos Aires Times)
- Abortion in Northern Ireland, Same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland
- As a result of the local government failing to reconvene in time, the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 comes into effect. This means abortion is decriminalized in Northern Ireland, and same-sex marriage is scheduled to commence in February 2020. (BBC)
- Brexit
- The British Parliament votes 329 to 299 to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, but then rejects the proposed timetable in a separate 322 to 308 vote. Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow says the bill is now "in limbo", and Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to consult with European Union leaders for the time being. (BBC)
- Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump
- Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor Jr. testifies before Congress that he had been told President Donald Trump would, to help his reelection chances, withhold military aid to Ukraine until that country publicly declared investigations would be launched into Burisma Holdings, a company that hired former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter, as well as Ukraine's alleged involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Salon)
- Presidency of Donald Trump
- An anonymous senior Donald Trump administration official, who in 2018 wrote a controversial New York Times op-ed called treasonous by President Trump, has written a book about the administration titled "A Warning," its publisher says. It will be released next month. (The Washington Post)
October 21, 2019 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Syrian Civil War
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says his country is ready to mediate between the Syrian government and Kurdish forces. (Kurdistan 24)
Arts and culture
- A team of ocean explorers announce the discovery of Imperial Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi on the Pacific seafloor. The vessel was sunk in 1942 during the World War II Battle of Midway. (The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
- A fiery bus crash near Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo kills at least 31 people, with another 18 injured. (CNN)
International relations
- New Zealand–United Kingdom relations
- The Foreign Minister of New Zealand Winston Peters accuses the United Kingdom of "walking out" on Pacific aid to small island nations. The accusation surprised British officials. (RNZ)
Law and crime
- Murder of Ján Kuciak
- Authorities in Slovakia charge four people with murdering investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée. The killings sparked widespread anti-corruption protests and forced the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico. (The Guardian)
- Opioid epidemic in the United States
- Teva Pharmaceuticals, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen reach a US$260 million settlement hours before a civil trial in U.S. federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, brought as a class-action lawsuit representing communities affected by opioid addiction. (The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Canadian federal election
- Voters in Canada go to the polls to elect members of the 43rd Canadian Parliament. Polls show Justin Trudeau's Liberals and Andrew Scheer's Conservatives deadlocked with equal numbers of support after a divisive campaign. (CBC) (CTV News)
- The Liberal Party win a pluralty of seats, and will remain in government, albeit as a minority and having lost the popular vote to the Conservative Party. The Bloc Québécois resurge from a 10-seat rump at dissolution to take third place and regain official party status. (CBC) (CTV News)
- 2019 Chilean protests
- Chilean President Sebastián Piñera says that Chile is "at war" as violence continues in the capital and other cities. (Al Jazeera)
- 2019 Bolivian protests, 2019 Bolivian general election
- 2019 Lebanese protests
October 20, 2019 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
- U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says American troops withdrawing from Syria will go to western Iraq, where the U.S. military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State to prevent its resurgence. (Yahoo! News)
Disasters and accidents
- Three American soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division are killed and three others are injured in a training accident at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Bolivian general election
- People in Bolivia head to the polls for the latest general elections. Preliminary results were indicating 45% for incumbent president Evo Morales and 38% for former president Carlos Mesa when the authorities abruptly stopped updating them. (BBC News)
- 2019 Chilean protests
- Curfew is extended to Concepción and Valparaíso Region. Including Santiago, nine million people are under a state of emergency, equal to 52% of the country's population. (La Tercera) (Sputnik)
- Three people are found dead in a supermarket that had been set on fire in San Bernardo. (BioBioChile) (The Raw Story)
- 2019 Swiss federal election
- Voters in Switzerland elect the members of the country's Federal Assembly and Council. Provisional results show the Swiss People's Party retaining their plurality, and that the Green Party has become the fourth-largest party. (DW) (Le News)
- Second inauguration of Joko Widodo
- Joko Widodo is officially inaugurated as President of Indonesia for the second time, while Ma'ruf Amin is inaugurated as the new Vice President. They will serve their terms from 2019 to 2024. (Tempo)
- Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
- The government of Bangladesh announces it will begin moving thousands of Rohingya refugees from crowded camps to the flood-prone island of Thengar Char, starting early November. The government hopes to relocate 100,000 refugees by the end of the operation, which has been criticised by rights groups as an "inevitable" humanitarian crisis. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
October 19, 2019 (Saturday)
Disasters and accidents
- SIEV X
- An Iraqi man is arrested at Brisbane Airport for his membership in a human trafficking syndicate responsible for chartering a boat carrying 421 Afghan and Iraqi refugees to Australia. More than 350 of those aboard perished when the boat sank off the coast of Indonesia in October 2001. (The Guardian)
- A dam on the Seiba river in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, collapses, flooding a nearby gold mine and cabins used to house miners. At least 15 people have been killed, with 13 more missing and 14 hospitalised. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Santiago protests
- The Chilean government declares a state of emergency in the capital Santiago, following riots in response to a price hike in Santiago Metro fares. Overnight, the high-rise headquarters of Enel Generación Chile is set on fire by rioters. (BBC)
- 19 stations of the Santiago Metro are set on fire during the night. (La Tercera)
- Police and military officers clash with protestors in Plaza Baquedano, Maipú Main Square and other places, while several cacerolazos are heard in the city. (ADN Radio)
- Curfew is announced for the Greater Santiago area, the first time it is used since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. (El Desconcierto)
- Brexit
- The British Parliament votes 322 to 306 to pass the so-called "Letwin amendment" to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which states it will not approve any withdrawal agreement unless all relevant formal legislation is passed. In effect any subsequent vote on a deal is not considered final, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be forced to ask for an extension. (Reuters) (CNN)
- 2019 Lebanese protests
- Four ministers resign from the current cabinet, stating that the government is incapable of addressing any of the issues under current circumstances. Conversely, Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah announces that his group will continue to support the government, saying, "All of us have to shoulder the responsibility of the current situation that we arrived at." (Al-Jazeera)
October 2019 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Ongoing events
Disasters
- 2018–19 Australian bushfire season
- 2019–20 European windstorm season
- 2018–19 Kivu Ebola epidemic
- 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- 2019 Pacific hurricane season
- 2019 Pacific typhoon season
- 2019 Atlantic hurricane season
- 2019 wildfire season
- Yemeni famine
Politics
- Afghan peace talks
- Algerian protests
- Brexit
- Catalan protests
- Chilean protests
- Ecuadorian protests
- Egyptian protests
- European migrant crisis (timeline)
- Hong Kong protests
- Indonesian protests
- Iraqi protests
- Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump (Mueller Report) (investigation) (timeline)
- Kashmir lockdown
- Lebanese protests
- Papua protests
- Persian Gulf crisis
- Qatar diplomatic crisis
- Rohingya persecution in Myanmar
- Turkish purges
- Venezuelan presidential crisis (protests)
- Yellow vests movement
Religion
Sports
More details – ongoing conflicts
Elections and referendums
Recent
- October
- 13: Poland, Parliament
- 13: Tunisia, President (2nd)
- 15: Mozambique, President, Assembly of the Republic
- 17: Gibraltar, Parliament
- 20: Bolivia, President, Legislative Assembly
- 20: Switzerland, Federal Assembly
- 21: Canada, House of Commons
- 23: Botswana, National Assembly
Upcoming
Recently concluded
- Honduras: Rosa Elena Bonilla
- Sweden: ASAP Rocky
- Spain: Trial of Catalonia independence leaders
- United States: Gregory B. Craig
Ongoing
- Guatemala: Otto Pérez Molina, Roxana Baldetti, Juan Carlos Monzón and others
- Greece: Nikolaos Michaloliakos
- Israel: Faina Kirschenbaum, Benjamin Netanyahu
- Malaysia: Najib Razak
- Philippines: Leila de Lima, Maria Ressa, Leni Robredo
- South Africa: Jacob Zuma
- Spain: Bárcenas affair
- United States: Fat Leonard scandal, Varsity Blues scandal, Raid on the North Korean embassy in Madrid, 6ix9ine
Upcoming
- Guatemala: Álvaro Colom, Manuel Baldizón, Juan Alberto Fuentes
- Japan: Carlos Ghosn
- Philippines: Andal Ampatuan Jr.
- United Kingdom: Football sex abuse scandal, David Duckenfield
- United States: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Elizabeth Holmes, Meng Wanzhou, Duncan D. Hunter, Roger Stone, R. Kelly, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Avenatti, Golden State Killer
- Zimbabwe: Ignatius Chombo
- Association football
- Women's association football
- American football
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Golf
- Ice hockey
- Motorsport
- Rugby sevens
- Rugby union
- Tennis
- Other sports seasons
More details – current sports events
October 2019
- 22: Raymond Leppard
- 21: Willie Brown
- 21: Lho Shin-yong
- 20: Thomas D'Alesandro III
- 20: Huang Yong Ping
- 20: Nick Tosches
- 19: Joseph Lombardo
- 18: Mark Hurd
- 18: Meir Shamgar
- 17: Alicia Alonso
- 17: Elijah Cummings
- 17: Bob Kingsley
- 16: Morton Mandel
- 14: Harold Bloom
- 14: Sulli
- 13: Richard Huckle
- 13: Charles Jencks
- 12: Sara Danius
- 12: Hevrin Khalaf
- 11: Sam Bobrick
- 11: Robert Forster
- 11: Alexei Leonov
- 8: Carlos Celdran
- 7: Ella Vogelaar
- 6: Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Al Zamil
- 6: Ginger Baker
- 6: Eddie Lumsden
- 6: Rip Taylor
- 5: Amalia Fuentes
- 5: Marcello Giordani
- 4: Diahann Carroll
- 3: Diogo Freitas do Amaral
- 2: Bill Bidwill
- 2: Kim Shattuck
- 1: C. K. Menon
- 1: Erik Pleskow
September 2019
Africa
- Algeria, Libya and Tunisia
- Cameroon
- Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria
- Central African Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Libya
- Mali
- Mozambique
- Nigeria
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
Americas
- Colombia
- Mexico
- Peru
Asia
- Afghanistan
- China
- India
- India and Pakistan
- Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines
- Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
- Myanmar
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Thailand
Europe
- Armenia and Azerbaijan
- Georgia
- Russia
- Ukraine
Middle East
- Egypt
- Iran and the Persian Gulf
- Iraq
- Iraq and Syria (map)
- Israel and Gaza
- Syria
- Turkey
- Yemen and Saudi Arabia