Portal:Current events/2015 September 1

• Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
  • The United Nations confirms the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has completely destroyed the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, after earlier reports that the structure was mostly intact. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)
• Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • Al-Shabaab claims to have killed scores of African Union troops in a successful attack that captured a compound in Janaale, south of Mogadishu. (Al-Jazeera), (AP)
• War in North-West Pakistan
  • Six suspected militants are killed in a United States drone attack in the tribal area of North Waziristan. (IANS via Yahoo! News India)

• Pope Francis releases a letter granting priests the ability to grant absolution to women who have received an abortion. (Washington Post)
• Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia
  • Wikipedia concludes a large-scale operation blocking hundreds of users centered on networks of for-pay edits violating the encyclopedia's guidelines. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Ars Technica)

• A chemical plant owned by the Shandong Binyuan Chemical Company explodes in the Chinese city of Dongying in the coastal Shandong province, killing at least one person with the extent of other injuries unknown. (AP via Asian Correspondent) (Voice of America) (Shanghaiist)
• The death toll from a Legionnaires' disease outbreak at a Quincy, Illinois veterans home rises to at least seven with more than the current number of 32 sickened expected since the incubation period for illness can be up to two weeks. (Reuters)

• European migrant crisis
  • Authorities in Hungary close the Budapest Keleti railway station to prevent hundreds of migrants from boarding trains to other European capitals. (ITV)
  • Thousands of refugees arrive in Germany's München Hauptbahnhof from Budapest. Police and firefighters on the scene provide them with food, water and medical aid even as more continue to arrive. (thelocal)
  • More than 11,000 Icelanders offer to open their homes to Syrian refugees to help with the European crisis.(The Independent) (Time)
• Eurostar services between Paris and London are delayed by hundreds of migrants trying to board the trains at Calais. (Reuters)

• In Lake County, Illinois, a manhunt is initiated as authorities seek three suspects who killed a police officer from the Fox Lake Police Department, Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz. (Chicago Tribune)
• 3000 indigenous Lumad evacuate over the murders of an indigenous Lumad family and the rape of an indigenous Manobo girl allegedly by soldiers and militiamen of the Philippine Army. (The Philippine Star), (Rappler)

• Guatemala's Congress unanimously votes to strip President Otto Pérez of immunity from prosecution for his alleged role in a graft scandal that has engulfed his government. Nationwide elections are scheduled for Sunday, September 6th; Pérez is not eligible because of constitutional term limits. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
• New Zealand flag debate
  • Four alternatives to the current New Zealand flag are chosen for a Spring referendum (20 November – 11 December 2015) in which New Zealanders will determine their favorite of the new designs. (TV New Zealand) (New Zealand Government)
• A law affecting online personal computer data storage comes into force in Russia. (RT)
• Faroese general election, 2015
  • The center-left opposition, led by Aksel V. Johannesen, wins the elections on the Faroe Islands; the new government is expected to pass legislation allowing same-sex unions. (The Local)

• University of California, San Francisco, scientists announce the discovery of an altered protein (prion) that is the direct cause of a rare, incurable, Parkinson’s-like brain disorder, multiple system atrophy. (San Francisco Chronicle), (Medical Daily)