Portal:Current events/2015 October 7

Current events of October 7, 2015 (2015-10-07) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • An FBI investigation has reportedly found that criminal networks specializing in nuclear smuggling in Eastern Europe, particularly in the nation of Moldova, have shipped radioactive material to 'Middle Eastern extremists', including the Islamic State (which in the recent past has threatened to unleash a nuclear holocaust to 'wipe the West off the face of the Earth'). (AP via The Huffington Post)
• Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  • Russia launches an intense bombing campaign in the Syrian governorates of Idlib and Hama. The Syrian Army is conducting a ground offensive in the same area. (Jerusalem Post), (Reuters)
  • Four Russian warships launch at least 26 cruise missiles at ISIS positions in Syria from the Caspian Sea. (RT)
  • Russian airstrikes destroy the main weapons depots of a U.S.-trained rebel group, Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, in Syria's Aleppo province. Last week, Russian raids hit Liwa sites in western and northern Syria, areas where the Islamic State group has no significant presence. (Reuters)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 15 people at a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu. (AP)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) calls for activating the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission – for the first time since its 1991 creation under the Geneva Conventions – to investigate the deadly U.S. bombing of MSF's hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. MSF says it does not trust internal military inquiries into the bombing that killed at least 22 people, which it considers a war crime. (Reuters) (BBC)
  • United States President Barack Obama telephoned MSF International President Joanne Liu to apologize for the U.S. bombing of the hospital in Afghanistan, express his condolences for the 22 people killed, commit to provide a transparent, thorough, and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident, and implement any changes to make tragedies like this one less likely to occur in the future.(Reuters) (Washington Post)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Saudi-led airstrikes kill at least 15 civilians and wound 25 others in Yemen at a wedding hosted by a tribal leader known to support the Houthi rebels. (AP via ABC News) (The New York Times)

Health and medicine

• The World Health Organization announces that, since the Ebola outbreak began in March 2014, last week marked the first week of no new cases worldwide. (Time)

Law and crime

• The High Court of Australia rules that the breast cancer gene BRCA-1 cannot be patented and the patent claimed by Myriad Genetics is invalid. (ABC News Australia)
• China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announces their investigation of Fujian governor Su Shulin, the former chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, on suspicion of serious disciplinary violations, the "euphemism for corruption." This follows the massive anti-corruption drive President Xi Jinping launched when he came to power more than three years ago. (Reuters via Daily Mail) (South China Morning Post)
• Brazil's Federal Accounts Court (TCU), in a unanimous 8-0 decision, rules that President Dilma Rousseff's government manipulated its accounts in 2014 to disguise a widening fiscal deficit. The ruling, while not legally binding, is expected to be used by opposition lawmakers who are calling for impeachment proceedings. (Reuters) (AP)

Science

• Tomas Lindahl, Paul L. Modrich and Aziz Sancar win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in DNA repair. (BBC)

Sport

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • Fédération Internationale de Football Association ethics committee recommends FIFA President Sepp Blatter be suspended, re: the Swiss attorney general's ongoing criminal investigation. The final decision will be made by Chairman of the Ethics Committee's adjudication chamber, Hans-Joachim Eckert. (BBC) (Daily Mail)
• The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 in the MLB National League Wild Card Game. (ESPN)