Portal:Current events/2020 August 14

• Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir
  • Islamist insurgents kill at least two police officers and injured another in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The attack comes days after the first anniversary of the revocation of Kashmir’s constitutional autonomy. (Reuters)
• Moro conflict
  • Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari surrenders Abduljihad Susukan, a sub-commander of the ISIL-affiliated Abu Sayyaf militant group, to the Philippine National Police in Davao City, following the latter's involvement in the 2015 Roseller Lim and Samal Island kidnappings and beheadings. Susukan surrendered to Misuari in April 2020. (AP via CBC News)

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic in New York City
    • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that museums and cultural institutions in New York City will be allowed to reopen on August 24 at a 25% capacity. (The New York Times)

• 2020 wildfire season
  • 2020 California wildfires
    • The Lake Fire in Santa Clarita and Palmdale grows to over 10,000 acres, prompting evacuations in the Lake Hughes area. (CBS News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • France reports 2,846 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, as well as more than 12,300 new cases this week, making it the highest number of cases since the lockdown was eased in May. (The New York Times) (The Telegraph)
      • The government declares Paris and Marseilles as "active zones", or high-risk zones. The move allows local authorities in those designated areas to impose restrictions. (DW)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • Amid an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases, the government of Spain closes all nightclubs and bans smoking in public sites in the event that the social distancing is not assured. (CBS News) (Politico)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
      • Greece announces that they would limit public gatherings to 50 people and impose a midnight curfew on bars and restaurants in Athens and other areas. This measure is to last until August 24 in parts of the country where infection numbers have risen. (Greek Reporter)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
    • Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces that the current Alert Level settings will be extended for another 12 days. (Newshub)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
    • Education Secretary Leonor Briones suspends the commencement of the 2020–21 academic year for primary and secondary schools until October 5 due to the continuous rise of cases in the country. (Kyodo News via The Mainichi)

• Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • Germany declares all of Spain except for the Canary Islands a high risk region following a spike of COVID-19 cases in the country. Designations as risk regions are typically followed by the German Foreign Ministry warning against touristic travel to those areas and mean people returning from those areas face a test or two weeks' compulsory quarantine. (France 24)
• Belarus–Lithuania relations, 2020 Belarusian presidential election, 2020 Belarusian protests
  • Lithuania becomes the first EU state to openly reject the legitimacy of Alexander Lukashenko as President of Belarus. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says "We can not call Mister Lukashenko legitimate because there were no free democratic elections in Belarus". (Urdu Point)
• Sanctions on Iran
  • The United Nations Security Council has resoundingly rejected a United States bid to extend a global arms embargo on Iran. In a Security Council vote, United States only got support from the Dominican Republic for its resolution to indefinitely extend the arms embargo on Iran, leaving it far short of the minimum nine "yes" votes required for adoption. Eleven members on the 15-member body, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, abstained while Russia and China opposed extending the ban but did not need to use their vetoes. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)

• 2020 Belarusian protests
  • Amnesty International says "widespread torture" is taking place inside detention centres in Belarus, with more than 6,700 people detained since protests against Lukashenko broke out following the disputed presidential election result. Amnesty International says detainees described being stripped naked, beaten and threatened with rape. The BBC also reports evidence of torture, including at the Okrestina detention centre in Minsk. (CNN) (BBC News)
• 2020 Thai protests
  • Thai police arrest a student leader over an anti-government protest last month. The student was arrested in the outskirts of Bangkok while traveling to a protest. Human Rights Watch reports that he will be charged with breaching multiple laws. Police declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. (Reuters)
• The United States Department of Justice says Yale University is illegally discriminating against White Americans and Asian Americans in its undergraduate admissions process, following a two-year investigation into the university. A Yale spokeswoman "categorically" denies the federal accusations. (BBC News)

• 2020 Bulgarian protests
  • Prime Minister Boyko Borisov pledges to resign if the nation's National Assembly passes his motion to call for a constituent assembly to change the nation's constitution. (The New York Times)
• Politics of Equatorial Guinea
  • Prime Minister Francisco Pascual Obama Asue presents his resignation and that of his entire government without making public the reason. President Teodoro Obiang claims that "he has not met the programmatic objectives, which has undoubtedly caused this crisis situation that today requires us to take urgent measures". (La Vanguardia)

• 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, FC Barcelona 2–8 FC Bayern Munich
  • In association football, FC Bayern Munich become the first team to score eight goals in a UEFA Champions League knockout match after doing so against FC Barcelona in a quarter-finals match that ended 8–2. FC Barcelona suffer one of their worst defeats in history, having conceded eight goals for the first time since 1946. (AP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)