Portal:Current events/2018 September 14

September 14, 2018 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Residents in Idlib, the last Syrian opposition-held territory, demonstrate against President Bashar Assad's government. (ABC News)

Arts and culture

Disasters and accidents

2018 Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Florence
- Hurricane Florence makes landfall in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane. and leaves over 895,000 residences and businesses without electrical power. A 105 mph (169 km/h) gust hits Wilmington, the strongest wind recorded there since Hurricane Helene in 1958. Florence is later downgraded to a Tropical Storm as it moves inland with sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). (ABC News) (The Morning Call) (AP) (NHC) (Reuters)
- More than 150 residents in New Bern, North Carolina, are left stranded after 10-foot (3 m)–high storm surges flood the city. (CBS News)
- At least four people are reported killed in Florence-related incidents. (AP)
2018 Pacific typhoon season, Super Typhoon Mangkhut/Ompong
- Super Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong) approaches the Philippines as one of the strongest in its history, with sustained winds of 205 kilometres per hour (127 mph) and gusts of up to 285 km/h (177 mph). (The Guardian)
The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe rises to 25. In response, the government launches a crowdfunding campaign, which has been criticized due to it being started amid allegations of misused state funds. (BBC)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations, Inter-Korean Liaison Office
- North Korea and South Korea open their first liaison office near Kaesong ahead of the third summit meeting between Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un in 2018. (SCMP) (USA Today)
Brexit
- European Union diplomats reject Dominic Raab's claim that negotiations are "closing in". (The Guardian)
Organization of American States
- Secretary general Luis Almagro of the OAS says that he does not exclude "a military intervention to overthrow" President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, arguing that the Maduro government perpetrates "crimes against humanity, the violation of the human rights and the suffering of people that is inducing an exodus". (AP via Houston Chronicle)

Law and crime

Trials of Paul Manafort, Mueller special counsel investigation
- Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort agrees to plead guilty in a foreign-lobbying and money-laundering case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort has agreed to cooperate with the investigation. (Politico) (BBC)
Corruption in Venezuela
- 28 former Venezuelan officials are charged with corruption by a judge in Andorra. (BBC)