Portal:Current events/2017 October 12

• War in North-West Pakistan
  • Pakistani forces rescue Canadian Joshua Boyle, American Caitlan Coleman, and their family, in the Kurram Valley. The family had been kidnapped by the Taliban nearly five years ago in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. (Global News) (The Washington Post)

• 2017 Kobe Steel falsification of data scandal
  • As had been previously reported on October 9, Japan's third-biggest steelmaker, Kobe Steel, now admits to further falsification of product data. Steel wire products did not meet the specifications requested by customers. The scandal now affects about 500 customer companies. (Reuters) (BBC)

• Tropical Depression 23W (2017)
  • Floods and landslides in Yên Bái and Hòa Bình provinces in Vietnam kill at least 54 people with 39 more missing. (BBC) (Reuters)
• October 2017 Northern California wildfires
  • Various local safety officials report a total of at least 31 people have been killed by the 17 fires, while 400 people are reported as missing. (Los Angeles Times)

• Gene therapy
  • A panel of external experts to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unanimously vote that the benefits of the gene replacement treatment made by Spark Therapeutics of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called voretigene neparvovec (trade name, Luxturna), which treats Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA), a form of hereditary blindness, outweigh its risks. The treatment, which targets a specific disease-causing mutation, is designed to treat individuals who have two mutated copies of a gene called RPE65 and consists of a virus injected into the eye loaded with a normal copy of the RPE65 gene. Further, this technique utilizing adeno-associated virus as a vector may, in the future, be used for the treatment of heart disease and also mutations other than LCA, including some cancers. (Nature) (MIT Technology Review)

• Membership in UNESCO
  • The United States Trump administration and the government of Israel announce their plans to withdraw as members of UNESCO. (The Washington Post) (BBC)

• Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations
  • The New York Police Department and London's Metropolitan Police Service open investigations into alleged sexual assault allegations against the American film producer Harvey Weinstein. (BBC)
  • Amazon puts Amazon Studios chief Roy Price on an immediate leave of absence, following allegations that he harassed producer Isa Dick Hackett, the daughter of author Philip K. Dick, by propositioning her in 2015, and that he ignored actress Rose McGowan's claim of a sexual assault by producer Harvey Weinstein. (Reuters)
• Beating of DeAndre Harris
  • DeAndre Harris, a black man beaten by white supremacists during the Unite the Right rally, turns himself in to Charlottesville after he is served an arrest warrant for an alleged attack on a white supremacist during the same rally. (BBC)

• Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process
  • Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, sign a unity deal in Cairo, that is also publicly supported by the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Fatah-controlled Palestinian National Authority (PNA), along with Israel, currently govern the West Bank. According to the signatories of the deal, the PNA will take administrative control of the Gaza Strip, and, along with Hamas, police its borders. The signatories consider the agreement a first step, and, if productive, plan to meet next month to address the remaining issues. The government of Israel opposes any involvement by Hamas in a Palestinian government. (The New York Times) (BBC)
• Trumpcare Executive Order
  • U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order allowing the sale of health insurance plans that are exempt from some Obamacare regulations including purchases effective across state lines. (BBC)

• Asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2017
  • As predicted by NASA, the Apollo-group-type asteroid 2012 TC4 (approximately 15 m (49 ft) in diameter) passes a distance of 0.0003352 AU (50,150 km; 31,160 mi) from Earth, well within the Moon's orbit. (CBC) (NASA)