Portal:Current events/2021 July 8

July 8, 2021 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- 2021 Taliban offensive
  - Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan
    - U.S. President Joe Biden announces that the United States will end its military mission in Afghanistan by August 31. Also, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says that the Biden administration will evacuate Afghan interpreters from the country. (CNBC) (Politico)
  - Afghanistan–Tajikistan relations
    - Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Suhail Shaheen says that the organization does not plan to attack the Afghan–Tajik border. (TASS)
  - Sixty-nine Taliban fighters are killed during clashes with the government in the town of Qala e Naw, Badghis. (The Times of India)
  - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to outline the plan for the final withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan in detail. (AP)
Assassination of Jovenel Moïse
- Three of the assassins of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was killed yesterday, are shot dead during a shootout with police in Port-au-Prince. Seventeen others are arrested, while six more are on the run. The attackers are identified as 26 Colombian mercenaries and two American-Haitians. The masterminds of the assassination and motive behind the assassination are unknown. (BBC News)
2021 Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan conflict
- A Kyrgyzstan border guard is killed during clashes at the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border. (AKIPress)
American diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria are targeted in three rocket and drone attacks in the past 24 hours, including at least 14 rockets hitting an Iraqi airbase, wounding two American soldiers. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

Rupganj factory fire
- At least 52 people are killed and about 30 others injured by a fire in a food processing factory in Rupganj, Narayanganj, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. (Al Jazeera)
A magnitude 5.9 M_L earthquake strikes south of Lake Tahoe, near the California–Nevada state border, triggering a series of strong aftershocks. Though resulting in minimal damage and no casualties, it is the largest quake to hit the region in nearly 25 years. (USA Today)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
    - Indonesia reports a record for the fourth consecutive day of 38,391 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 2.41 million. (Yahoo! News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Israel
    - Israel reports its first case of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a vaccinated woman who returned to the country from abroad. (The Times of Israel)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
    - Malaysia reports a record 135 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 5,903. The country also surpasses 800,000 cases of COVID-19. (CNA)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    - South Korea reports a record 1,275 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 164,028. (Al Jazeera)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - Thailand reports a record 75 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 2,462. (Bangkok Post)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
    - Hanoi suspends all public transport services to and from 14 provinces impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and urges people to stay at home after the country reports a record 1,314 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary
    - Hungary surpasses 30,000 deaths from COVID-19. (Hungary Today)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Luxembourg
    - Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is discharged from hospital after being in a serious but stable condition due to COVID-19 for several days. Bettel thanks the medical services and announces that he will resume activities through telework until the end of his isolation period. (RTL)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - The United Kingdom reports a record for the second consecutive day of 32,551 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 5,022,893. (ITV News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria
  - Nigeria reports its first case of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a traveller following the routine travel test required of all international travellers and genomic sequencing at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Abuja. (AllAfrica)
- The global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 4 million. (CNN)

International relations

China–European Union relations
- The European Parliament votes 578–29 to pass a 28-point nonbinding resolution condemning the tightening restrictions on the press in Hong Kong following the shutdown of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily. The resolution also calls for the European Commission to take punitive actions in response, such as sanctioning officials responsible for drafting and enforcing the national security law, and refusing invitations to the Beijing Winter Olympics next year. (South China Morning Post)
2019 Bolivian political crisis
- Bolivia accuses Argentina of providing weaponry to the military and police of Bolivia during the 2019 Senkata and Sacaba Massacres. The Bolivian government also accuses former president of Argentina Mauricio Macri of wanting the assassination of Evo Morales during his ousting. Argentina was among the first countries to recognize the interim presidency of Jeanine Áñez in 2019. (A24)
Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo announces that his country will continue to negotiate with third parties or blocks independent of the MERCOSUR bloc, including extending preferential tariffs to other countries even if doing so contradicts the bloc's consensuses. President Luis Lacalle Pou, while calling for the bloc to be reformed, states that Uruguay will still remain a full member of the bloc. (MercoPress)

Law and crime

Belarusian attacks on journalists and censorship
- Belarusian authorities block the website of Nasha Niva and detains two of the newspaper's journalists. The journalists' apartments are also searched by authorities. A spokesman for the website said that it is the latest crackdown on democracy activists and independent journalism in the country, conducted in the "worst way of the Soviet era". (AP)

Politics and elections

2021 Samoan constitutional crisis
- The Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi party asks the Supreme Court to recognize the impromptu swearing-in of newly elected officials because, according to party leader Naomi Mataʻafa, all other venues were blocked when her party was locked out of Parliament. The Supreme Court had earlier rejected a similar petition but had granted a review. (RNZ)

Sports

2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Summer Paralympics, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
- The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games announce that the games will be held without spectators following a state of emergency declared in the Tokyo area beginning on July 12 following an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Japanese capital. (BBC News)