Portal:Current events/2019 September 19

September 19, 2019 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- According to Afghan officials, a US drone strike kills more than 30 pine nut farm workers in Nangarhar Province. The US military say they targeted ISIL terrorists. (Reuters)
- 2019 Qalat bombing
  - According to Afghan officials, a Taliban truck bomb outside a hospital in Qalat, Zabul Province, kills 39 people. The Taliban say they targeted a National Directorate of Security building nearby. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

A German magazine reports that the chief financial officer of automobile manufacturer BMW, Nicolas Peter, plans to cut between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs at that company, mostly at the Munich headquarters, before 2022. (Reuters)
UK-based travel agent Thomas Cook is reported to be attempting to sell assets as it seeks to prevent its collapse. The group employs 20,000 people and, were it to collapse, approximately 150,000 British customers currently abroad could require repatriation assistance from the Civil Aviation Authority in the largest peacetime operation of its kind. (Sky News)
Over the last three days, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York adds more than US$200 billion liquidity to the money market, countering a spike in the repo rate on Tuesday. (Business Day)

Disasters and accidents

- An F-16 fighter jet of the Belgian Air Component strikes a house before crashing into a field near Pluvigner, north-west France. Both pilots eject and escape with minor injuries, but one gets his parachute entangled in high-voltage power lines, requiring two hours to rescue. (BBC News)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- France and Italy call for a new system to redistribute immigrants to the European Union amid an ongoing increase in the numbers arriving, complaining of unfair demands being placed upon nations where immigrants make landfall. (BBC News)
Austrian MPs vote to demand a government veto on a proposed trade deal between the European Union and South American trade group Mercosur. The deal is the result of 20 years of negotiations. France and Ireland have previously threatened to also veto the deal unless Mercosur member Brazil increases efforts to fight ongoing Amazon rainforest wildfires. (BBC News)
The United States Department of State withholds US$160 million in direct aid to Afghanistan, citing "Afghan Government corruption and financial mismanagement." (The Hill)
Citing "influence operations against the United States," the US expels two Cuban diplomats at the United Nations. Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla dismisses the accusations as "vulgar slander." (CNN)

Law and crime

Fukushima nuclear disaster
- The only prosecution concerning the 2011 nuclear catastrophe ends with the acquittal of three former Tepco executives. The decision means nobody has been held criminally responsible for the meltdown. Greenpeace says the verdict is not very surprising, since the case was "hugely political". (Al Jazeera)
Interpol reports that in six weeks it has detected more than a dozen people wanted for terrorism offences crossing the Mediterranean Sea using tourist routes. The joint operation involved Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia. (BBC News)
Brexit
- The UK Supreme Court finishes hearing arguments on the lawfulness of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament. The court states it expects to rule next week. It is jointly considering appeals against two rulings. One, made by the High Court in London under English law, ruled prorogation was an entirely political decision over which courts had no jurisdiction. The other, made by the Court of Session in Edinburgh under Scots law, ruled Johnson acted unlawfully and the prorogation was a nullity that must be reversed. (BBC News)
Hwaseong serial murders
- Police in South Korea link convicted murderer Lee Chun-jae to the serial rapes and murders, which occurred between 1986 and 1991 and left ten dead. The investigations inspired the movie Memories of Murder and saw 21,000 people investigated. Lee, who is serving life for the 1994 rape and murder of his sister in law, cannot be prosecuted despite a DNA link to three victims because the statute of limitations has expired. (BBC News)

Science and technology

Havana syndrome
- A study ordered by the Canadian government finds that exposure to anti-mosquito fumigation, which contains cholinesterase-inhibiting neurotoxins, coincides with brain damage causing the same symptoms as those associated with the syndrome. (Reuters)