Portal:Current events/2015 September 19

Current events of September 19, 2015 (2015-09-19) (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • Islamist rebels execute 56 Syrian Army personnel following the capture of the Abu al-Duhur airbase in the Idlib Governorate according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Telegraph), (The News Hub)
• Turkey–PKK conflict
  • At least 55 are killed when Turkish warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq, according Turkey's security sources. (Reuters)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • A Saudi-led military coalition bombards government buildings and residential neighborhoods in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, killing about 30 people, including civilians. Rescuers continue searching for other possible victims buried under the rubble. (AP via Orange County Register), (Xinhuanet)

Arts and culture

• Pope Francis departs from Rome to begin his Apostolic Visit to Cuba, where he will visit Havana, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba, and meet with Raul Castro. The visit is his first there, and the third to the country by a reigning Pope. Francis will then visit the US, also his first visit there as Pope. In the US, he will address a joint session of Congress (the first by an incumbent Pope), meet with President Obama, canonize Junipero Serra, tour a prison and the World Trade Center site, hold Masses in New York, Washington, and Philadelphia, and preside over the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. (Vatican), (USCCB), (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

• Heavy rain triggers flash floods killing 10 people in Tehran and southern Iran with eight others missing. (AP via CP24)
• Ten Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad ethanol tanker cars derail and two catch fire in southeast South Dakota between the towns of Scotland and Lesterville. No injuries are reported and no nearby structures are threatened by the fire. (AP via ABC News)

Health

• Dengue fever outbreaks
  • Authorities in the Dominican Republic issue an alert as the number of deaths (57 this year) and cases of dengue fever continue to rise. (AP via ABC News)
  • The Delhi government defers elective surgery to free up 1000 hospital beds to treat a dengue fever outbreak. [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Dengue-outbreak-Government-orders-hospitals-to-defer-all-planned-surgeries/articleshow/49029123.cms (Times of India)

International Relations

• Japanese Self-Defense Forces
  • Japan's upper chamber of Parliament approves controversial legislation, which the lower chamber passed in July, that expands the role of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces overseas. (CNN), (Mainichi Daily News)
• European migrant crisis, Croatia–Hungary relations
  • Hungarian security forces confiscate a Croatian train carrying 1000 migrants and disarm 40 Croatian police officers accompanying the migrants. Hungarian authorities repatriate the officers. (Sky News)
  • Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanović says Croatia will 'force' Hungary to accept migrants by sending them to the Hungarian border. Hungary responded angrily calling Milanović "pathetic" and accused Croatia of human smuggling. (BBC)
  • Croatia allows some asylum seekers to move on past its borders into Hungary and Slovenia. (Washington Post)
  • Italy rescues thousands of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. (Al-Jazeera)

Law and crime

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • The Federal Bureau of Investigation launches an investigation of money laundering associated with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund. (Wall Street Journal)