Portal:Current events/2020 September 7

• War in Afghanistan
  • September 2020 Afghanistan attacks
    • An explosion occurs in Zhari District, Kandahar, when a motorcycle hits a mine. One person is killed and another injured. (Tolo News)
    • During clashes between the Taliban and security forces in Faryab, 22 militants are killed and 24 others are injured. (Tolo News)
• Somali Civil War
  • Three Somali special forces officers are killed and one U.S. officer seriously wounded when a car bomb explodes outside a special force base in an attack in the country's south, in a village some 60 km (around 40 miles) from the port city of Kismayo. Jihadist group al-Shabaab claims responsibility, saying it "killed U.S. personnel". (Reuters)

• A shipwreck discovered in the Norwegian trench in April 2017 is confirmed to be that of the German cruiser Karlsruhe, according to Norwegian power grid operator Statnett and a maritime archaeologist. The cruiser was sunk by a British Royal Navy submarine on April 9, 1940, during the opening stages of Operation Weserübung. (Reuters)

• Argentine debt restructuring
  • S&P Global Ratings upgrades Argentina's long term sovereign-credit rating to "CCC+" from "SD" citing the end of prolonged foreign and local law foreign currency debt restructurings, effectively pulling the country out of default territory after the country successfully restructured over $100 billion in sovereign debt. (Reuters)

• 2020 Sudan floods
  • Sudan declares a state of emergency after unprecedented flooding kills at least 99 people and leaves over 100,000 people homeless. The floods are the worst on record in Sudan since 1988, while the Nile has risen to its highest levels in a century. (The Guardian)
• 2020 California wildfires
  • The United States Forest Service announces that forests in California will close after wildfires reach two million acres. (ABC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois
      • The number of cases in Illinois exceeds 250,000. (The Chicago Sun-Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
      • The Florida Department of Health reports 1,838 cases in 24 hours, the state's lowest since June 15. (The Miami Herald)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces a deal with CSL Limited to secure access to the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and receive the first batches of the potential vaccine in January. (HuffPost) (The Straits Times)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in India
    • India surpasses Brazil as the country with the second-most cases in the world, behind the United States. India reported 90,802 cases in the past 24 hours and 1,016 deaths, recording the single largest increase of cases in the world in almost a month. (AP)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    • Spain becomes the first Western European and European Union country to surpass 500,000 cases. (ABC.es) (The Guardian)

• India–Russia relations, COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
  • Russia says that they will begin phase 3 clinical trials of their Gam-COVID-Vac vaccine in India later this month. (India.com)
• Aftermath of the 2020 Malian coup d'état
  • At a summit in Niamey, Niger, regional bloc ECOWAS gives the Malian military rulers a deadline of September 15 to appoint a new civilian President and Prime Minister. (Al Jazeera)

• 2020 Belarusian protests
  • Prominent opposition figure and activist Maria Kalesnikava is taken away by masked men in Minsk and bundled into a van. Police say that they did not detain her. (DW)
• Killing of Jennifer Laude
  • Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pardon United States Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton for the killing of a transgender woman in 2015. Human rights activists condemn the decision while Duterte defends his move saying Pemberton was treated "unfairly". (Reuters)
• Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi
  • Saudi Arabia issues final convictions for eight people for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. (NBC News)
• Istanbul nightclub shooting
  • A Turkish court sentences ISIL militant Abdulkadir Masharipov to life imprisonment, plus an additional 1,368 years in prison, for killing 39 people and injuring 79 more at an Istanbul nightclub in 2017. (Reuters)

• One-China policy, Politics of Solomon Islands
  • The government of Solomon Islands says that a proposed independence referendum in Malaita Province is illegal. Daniel Suidani, the provincial premier of Malaita, proposed the referendum in protest to the decision by the central government to switch recognition from Taiwan to China last year. (RNZ)