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COVID-19 pandemic

U.S. Supreme Court Building

At least twenty soldiers are killed during skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control between China and India.
The U.S. Supreme Court (building pictured) rules that gay and transgender people are protected from employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza dies in office at the age of 55.

June 17, 2020 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
- The Turkish Army launch a joint air-land external operations Claw-Eagle and Claw-Tiger into Northern Iraq. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan, Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna announces that plans to sell shares in the state-run oil and gas company KazMunayGaz abroad will be delayed from this year to 2022 due to the pandemic. (Reuters)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic in Honduras
- President Juan Orlando Hernández is hospitalized for COVID-19 and is being treated for pneumonia. Although receiving medicine via an intravenous drip, the president is generally in good health, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said. (Reuters)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations
- North Korea rejects South Korea's offer to send special envoys to defuse the current tensions on the peninsula after destroying the Inter-Korean Liaison Office, and says the Korean People's Army will re-enter the demilitarized Kaesong and Mount Kumgang areas. (Yonhap) (Reuters)
China–Japan relations
- Japan says it will keep a close watch over the disputed Senkaku Islands after Chinese ships are seen near the islands for 65 days in a row. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says Japan had protested to China over the issue and that it would respond "calmly and firmly". (Reuters)
Syria–United States relations
- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces "toughest sanctions" on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma in an effort to end the decade-long civil war in the country. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Papua conflict, 2019 Papua protests
- A court in Indonesia sentences Chairman of the National Committee for West Papua Buchtar Tabuni and six others to 11 months in prison for treason. The seven men were charged after they joined anti-racism protests that swept across two provinces in Western New Guinea last August. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

The Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan confirms former first deputy prime minister Kubatbek Boronov as the new prime minister. (Reuters)
Vanuatu's opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu says he is taking the decision to suspend his party from parliament to the Supreme Court, saying the decision was an "outrage". (RNZ)
Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna says he is stepping down in September after nearly a decade in power. His deputy and Finance Minister Mark Brown will take over. (RNZ)

Science and technology

The Indian Department of Telecommunications bars the state-run telecommunication company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited from upgrading its 4G network with Chinese equipment, as tensions between India and China mount over the recent border skirmishes. (NDTV)

June 16, 2020 (Tuesday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

2020 China–India skirmishes
- At least 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers have been killed in a clash in Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region, amid rising tensions between the two countries. Local media reported that the Indian soldiers were "beaten to death", and the Indian Army says no shots were fired. (BBC)
Mali War
- President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta says that opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé, who was kidnapped in late March, is alive. Keïta said "we know who his captors are [...] And if it pleases God, he will come back soon". (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

The World Trade Organization rules that the Saudi government violated Qatar’s intellectual property rights by promoting the pirate TV station beoutQ, which aired Qatari programs like beIN Sports after Saudi Arabia and several other Middle Eastern countries cut ties with the Kingdom during the Qatar diplomatic crisis. The Qatari Communications Minister applauds the decision, while Saudi Arabia denies any involvement. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
  - Beijing closes all schools, locks down several residential estates and imposes a partial travel ban, urging residents not to leave the city, after 27 more COVID-19 cases are confirmed in the city, bringing the total to 106 new cases in the last five days. The new outbreak is linked to the Xinfadi Market. (The Nations)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - Brazil's Ministry of Health reports a record 34,918 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,282 more deaths in the last 24 hours. Despite the record daily rise, Chief of Staff of the Presidency Walter Souza Braga Netto says the virus is now under control. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Honduras
  - President Juan Orlando Hernández says that he, his wife, and their aides have been diagnosed with COVID-19. (CNA)
- The total cases surpass eight million worldwide. (RNZ)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations
- The General Staff Department of the Korean People's Army says they are on "high alert" and are looking at plans to mobilize the army into the demilitarized zone, in response to defector groups in South Korea sending propaganda material across the border. (BBC)
- North Korea blows up the four-storey Inter-Korean Liaison Office in the Kaesong Industrial Region, according to South Korean authorities. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, had earlier threatened to destroy the "useless" building. A neighbouring apartment complex used by South Korean officials appears to have partially collapsed in the explosion. (Yonhap) (Al Jazeera)
Chinese intelligence activity abroad, Sino-Russian relations since 1991
- Russian investigators accuse Valery Mitko, President of Arctic Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and one of the country's leading Arctic researchers, "of treason" after alleging that he gave a document containing state secrets to Chinese intelligence in early 2018 at China's Dalian Maritime University, where he was a visiting professor. Mitko and his lawyer Ivan Pavlov deny any wrongdoing and say that all the materials were openly available. (CNN)

Law and crime

2020 boogaloo killings
- The alleged gunman in a fatal attack on Santa Cruz County deputies is also charged with last month's murder of a Federal Protective Service officer in Oakland, California. A second man is also charged as an accomplice. Both men had ties to the far-right boogaloo movement. (NBC News)
George Floyd protests
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order limiting the use of police chokeholds, except in cases where “deadly force is allowed by law”. (CNBC)
Moldova asks the U.S. to extradite businessman Vladimir Plahotniuc after accusing him of "involvement in the theft of $1 billion from banks in 2014–2015". (Reuters)
Pacific Gas and Electric Company CEO Bill Johnson pleads guilty on behalf of his company to 84 counts of felony involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California's history, as well as one felony count of unlawfully starting a fire. PG&E will pay a maximum fine of US$3.5 million, as well as an additional US$500,000 for the cost of investigations. (Al Jazeera) (The Sacramento Bee)
The Indonesian National Police says that they have arrested Russ Medlin, an American fugitive wanted at home in connection with a $700 million cryptocurrency scam, on local teenage sex charges. (The Jakarta Post)

Politics and elections

2020 Tanzanian general election
- President John Magufuli dissolves parliament ahead of the election. In the decision, he highlights his government's achievements, citing "expanding infrastructure such as roads, electricity generation and reforming the mining sector". (Reuters)

June 15, 2020 (Monday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- The United Nations remove Saudi Arabia from a blacklist of countries accused of "killing or maiming children, following a sustained significant decrease in air strikes". Saudi Arabia had threatened to cut funding to the UN. (Reuters)
Mali War
- The armed forces say an ambush on a military convoy in central Mali has killed at least 24 troops and left others missing. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

China–United States trade war
- The U.S. Department of Commerce announces it will relax the blacklist against Huawei to allow American companies to work with the Chinese telecom on setting 5G network standards. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A United States Air Force 48th Fighter Wing F-15 Eagle based at RAF Lakenheath crashes into the North Sea, 74 miles (119 km) off the East Yorkshire coast, killing the pilot. (BBC)
At least three houses were damaged after an Indonesian Air Force Hawk 209 crashes into a residential area of Kampar, Riau. There are no fatalities in the incident. (The Jakarta Post)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) tests positive for COVID-19, becoming the 8th member of Congress to do so. (The Hill)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
  - The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF warn that 51,000 children could die in West Asia and North Africa due to the disruptive impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems. (Middle East Eye)

Law and crime

Killing of Rayshard Brooks
- The Fulton County medical examiner declares Rayshard Brooks' death a homicide. Brooks was shot in the back by an Atlanta Police officer while fleeing from an attempted arrest for driving under the influence in which he stole an officer's taser and fired it at him on June 12. (BBC)
Hundreds of French police are brought in as reinforcements to the city of Dijon, as over 150 Chechens from around France have gathered to avenge the alleged assault of a Chechen teenager by local drug dealers. During the violence, several people are reported injured and one person suffered gunshot wounds. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
Maria Ressa, CEO of Philippine news site Rappler, is found guilty of libel by a Manila court over a 2012 story linking a businessman to various crimes. She faces up to six years in prison. (Reuters)
Sudan's public prosecutor announces the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of students who were killed in 1998 when they tried to evade conscription. The prosecutor accused former ruler Omar al-Bashir. (Reuters)
A court in Russia sentences former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan to 16 years in prison for espionage. The U.S ambassador to Russia John Sullivan condemns the sentencing as "a mockery of justice" in a statement to media after the verdict. (CNN)
LGBT rights in the United States
- The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decision in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, ruling that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. (BBC)
Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau is found dead in Tallahassee, Florida, US, after going missing on June 6. Shortly before her disappearance, Salau tweeted that she had been sexually assaulted by a black man. Her death is currently being treated as a homicide. (CNN)
The Nepali Department of Immigration says that it will deport five foreign tourists (three Chinese, an American and an Australian) and ban them from entering Nepal for two years after they joined protests against the government's response to the coronavirus outbreak. (CNA)
Police in Florida arrest Eliceo Hernandez, age 20, for the murder of African American wildlife officer Julian Keen Jr., who was off duty at the time and pursued Hernandez for alleged reckless driving and a hit and run. Hernandez, who had been arrested for a shooting offense in 2015, confronted Officer Keen and gunned him down. (WINK-TV)

June 14, 2020 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghan peace process; Taliban insurgency; June 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- The Interior Ministry accuses the Taliban of killing or wounding more than 400 Afghan security forces personnel in the last week and said the insurgent group had increased attacks ahead of expected peace talks. He also accused them of attacking religious scholars to put "psychological pressure" on the government. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
- The Turkish Defense Ministry says that military jets successfully targeted PKK militants in Sinjar and Qandil, Iraq, among other places, as part of Operation Claw. The ministry claimed it was in response to increased militant attacks on Turkish bases. (Reuters)
A drone strike in northwestern Syria kills two high-ranking members of the Guardians of Religion Organization, linked to al-Qaeda, according to opposition war monitors. (AP via Al Arabiya)

Disasters and accidents

At least 19 people are killed and more than 172 injured Saturday after a liquefied gas tanker exploded on a Chinese highway near the city of Wenling. Close to 100 fire trucks responded. Some people are still missing. (UPI)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt
- Egypt reports the highest daily rise in both active cases and deaths since the start of the pandemic. (Reuters)
COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana
- Ghanaian Minister of the Health Kwaku Agyemang-Manu is hospitalized with COVID-19. (Voice of America)
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
- COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
  - Florida reports two consecutive days of 2,000-plus new COVID-19 cases as more counties reopen their beaches. Miami's mayor says this information does not include data from Memorial Day weekend and the George Floyd protests. (ABC News)

Politics and elections

Morocco's state-run news agency Maghreb Arabe Press reports that King Mohammed VI has undergone successful heart surgery in Rabat; the king underwent a similar surgery two years ago in Paris. (Reuters)

June 13, 2020 (Saturday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

2020 Monguno and Nganzai massacres
- ISWAP kills over 20 soldiers and 40 civilians in attacks in Monguno and Nganzai in Borno, Nigeria – four days after they killed 82 civilians in Gubio. (Reuters)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki says the armed forces destroyed a ballistic missile targeting the Saudi border city of Najran. In a statement, the spokesman said the missile was launched from the Yemeni city of Saada and that some people were slightly injured when it was destroyed. The Houthis did not claim responsibility. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
- More than 3,100 deaths are officially reported in the country. However, an investigation reported the Ministry of Health told the World Health Organization that the death toll reached 5,000 cases. (France24)
- Jaime Mañalich is succeeded by Enrique Paris as Minister of Health. (France24)

International relations

Czech Republic–Poland relations, COVID-19 pandemic in Poland
- Poland's Ministry of National Defence admits its army briefly invaded and occupied the Czech Republic for several days last month in a "misunderstanding", the Polish soldiers took up positions near a chapel on the Czech side of the border in Moravia as part of coronavirus measures, and prevented Czech visitors from the site. (BBC)

Law and crime

Killing of Rayshard Brooks
- Protestors set fire to a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., in response to Rayshard Brooks' death the evening before. Outside the restaurant the previous day, two police officers shot Brooks after he attempted to escape from them after a tussle in which he took one of the officer's taser and discharged it at one of them following a DUI investigation. (The Guardian)
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom; Crime in Greater Manchester
- A man is killed, a woman raped and three others stabbed at two "quarantine raves" late Saturday that attracted 6,000 people in Greater Manchester. They were a clear breach of coronavirus legislation. (BBC)
A court in China sentences an Australian man to death for drug trafficking. The man had been arrested in 2013 at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou. The Australian government condemns the verdict. (Reuters)
Colombian businessman Alex Saab is arrested in Cape Verde a week after Colombian authorities froze his assets following the opening an investigation against him for alleged money laundering. The Nicolás Maduro-led Government of Venezuela denounces the arrest as an arbitrary detention and violation of international law. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

George Floyd protests
- George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom
  - Protests organized by Black Lives Matter are cancelled in London before the arrival of counter-protesters, including members of the far-right, although some BLM supporters arrived. Far-right protesters and police clashed at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Times)
- French riot police clash with anti-racism protesters in central Paris, as thousands march onto the Place de la République to protest police brutality against the country's immigrants. (Reuters)
2020 Polish presidential election, LGBT rights in Poland
- President Andrzej Duda compares the "LGBT ideology" to "communist indoctrination" ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. Opposition candidate Robert Biedroń condemns his remarks. (Reuters)

June 12, 2020 (Friday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War
- 2019–20 Western Libya campaign
  - Eight mass graves containing hundreds of bodies are discovered in western Libya, most of them in the town of Tarhuna. The Government of National Accord (GNA) says the remains are of captured GNA fighters and civilians, apparent evidence of war crimes. (Al Jazeera)
June 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- Four people are killed and eight others wounded by the bombing of a mosque in Kabul. No group claimed responsibility. (Reuters)
About 30 Indians cross the border into Nepal and clash with Nepali police when stopped in the district of Sarlahi. Nepali border guards opened fire, killing one man and injuring two. According to police, the forces fired when one of the men snatched a gun from them. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

Sanrio founder and CEO Shintaro Tsuji, whose company is best known for creating Hello Kitty, announces he will resign on July 1 citing a need to "transform the company to better respond to today's rapidly changing business environment." His grandson Tomokuni Tsuji is expected to replace him. (BBC)
Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras says it will not do business with tankers that visited Venezuela in the past year, adhering to sanctions placed by the United States. (Reuters)

Law and crime

LGBT rights in the United States, Abortion in the United States
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services removes protections against discrimination within Obamacare for transgender people and women seeking abortions. The move is condemned by civil rights groups and Democratic officials. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Slavery in Australia
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologizes for saying there was "no slavery" in Australia. He says that he was referring specifically to the fact that the first Australian colony of New South Wales was set up without the widespread use of slave labor. (CNN)
Lebanese liquidity crisis
- Hundreds protest over the handling of the country's economic crisis, many calling for Hassan Diab's government to resign. The Lebanese pound has lost 70 percent of its value since October, when protests began. The government announced the central bank will begin injecting more United States dollars into the market on Monday. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
2020 Republican Party presidential primaries, Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign
- U.S. President Donald Trump announces the MAGA Rally that was to be held on June 19, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is rescheduled to June 20. The rally's original date had been widely criticized because the 19th is Juneteenth, the date commemorating the end of American slavery. The location was also criticized due to it being where the 1921 Tulsa race massacre took place, because of the ongoing George Floyd protests. (CNN) (The Hill)
President-elect of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye is set to take power immediately, days after the death of incumbent Pierre Nkurunziza, as the constitutional court says "it is not necessary to have an interim period", and that Ndayishimiye should be sworn-in "as soon as possible". (Reuters)
On the 122nd anniversary of the Philippines's independence from Spain, more than a thousand protestors march at the main campus of the University of the Philippines in Manila to protest a controversial anti-terrorism bill introduced by President Rodrigo Duterte. (Reuters)

Science and technology

Twitter says it has removed a network of more than 170,000 accounts it says were spreading pro-Communist Party of China propaganda on the social media platform, saying the Chinese-based network had links to earlier state-backed operations on Facebook and YouTube. More than a thousand Russia-based misinformation accounts are also removed. (BBC)

June 11, 2020 (Thursday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

Maghreb insurgency
- At least 10 Ivorian soldiers are killed and six others wounded at the border with Burkina Faso when an armed group ambushed them; one of the attackers was also killed. It is the first attack in the country since the 2016 Grand-Bassam shootings. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from the sinking of a ship carrying 53 migrants off the coast of Tunisia on Tuesday rises to at least 46 as more bodies are recovered from the sea. (Reuters)
The Ministry of Emergency Management of China says that flooding in south and central China has killed more than a dozen people and forced hundreds of thousands to seek emergency shelter since 2 June. (Al Jazeera)

International relations

Iraq–United States relations, Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (2020)
- The United States and Iraq begin negotiations, conducted remotely, to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops and countering Iranian influence. (The New York Times)
United States war crimes
- U.S. President Donald Trump authorizes sanctions against the International Criminal Court in retaliation for their investigation into potential war crimes by U.S. officials. (CNN)

Law and crime

Bærum mosque shooting
- A court in Norway sentences Philip Manshaus to 21 years in prison for the racially-motivated murder of his stepsister and for attempting to kill Muslim worshippers. It is the longest prison sentence allowed by law. The prison term contains a provision that his release can be put off indefinitely should he still be considered a threat to society. (Al Jazeera)
Turkey–United States relations, 2016–present purges in Turkey
- A court in Turkey sentences a U.S. Consulate employee, Metin Topuz, to 8 years and 9 months in prison on charges of aiding the followers of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based preacher who is accused in Turkey of being the mastermind behind a failed coup attempt in 2016 against Erdoğan. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara releases a statement on Twitter saying officials were "deeply disappointed" in the decision. (The New York Times)
An attacker, believed to be a former student, kills the deputy head and injures five others with a knife at a school in Vrútky, Slovakia, before being killed by responding police officers. (BBC)
The Senate of the Republic of Colombia approves a resolution banning the testing of cosmetics on animals, as well as the commercialization of cosmetics which are actively tested on animals. (La FM)

Sports

2020 AFL season, George Floyd protests in Australia
- After a ten-week suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 AFL season resumes with Collingwood facing Richmond at the MCG. Before the match began, both teams knelt to show solidarity with the George Floyd protests. The match finished in a draw. (News.com.au)

More June 2020 events...

Time: 20:59 UTC|Day: 17 June