Portal:Current events/2021 September 6

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Afghanistan conflict
  • Panjshir conflict
    • The Taliban repeats its claim of having captured all of Panjshir Province, releasing footage of Taliban militants in front of the gubernatorial palace in Bazarak, the capital of the province. The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan continues to deny the Taliban's claims. (Reuters)
    • Anti-Taliban forces in Panjshir claim to have been bombed by Pakistan Air Force drones, accusing Pakistan of directly supporting the Taliban offensive. (The Hindustan Times)
• Tigray War
  • War crimes in the Tigray War
    • In a single day, 11 more dead bodies of Tigrayans wash up along the Setit River, most likely coming from Humera. According to refugees from Humera, Amhara militants have rounded up thousands of Tigrayans and forced them into makeshift mass detention camps while those of other ethnicities were safe, particularly those of the Amhara ethnicity. Inside these detention camps, people were crammed together on the floor without rooms or partitions to create privacy. These people were also not given food and sometimes did not even have access to a toilet. (CNN)
• 2021 Guinean coup d'état
  • The military junta led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya announces an indefinite nightly curfew in the country, and says that Guinea's governors will be replaced by regional commanders of the military. The junta also refuses to issue a timeline for the release of deposed President Alpha Condé, saying that the former leader still has "access to medical care and his doctors". (AP)
  • Doumbouya announces the formation of a new government soon and says that there will be no "witch-hunting" of ministers or former ministers of the Condé government. (BBC News)
• Police in Algeria arrest 27 members of the separatist group MAK, which has been blamed for two recent attacks in northern towns. The group is known for seeking independence for the Berber-speaking region of Kabylie. Algeria cited Morocco's support for the group as a reason for suspending diplomatic relations last week. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announces that the historic Monument to Christopher Columbus in Paseo de la Reforma will be permanently replaced by a statue of a woman from the indigenous Olmec civilization. Sheinbaum says that the move is not an attempt to "erase history" but to instead deliver "social justice". The Columbus statue is reportedly being moved to a small park in the Polanco neighborhood. (BBC News) (USA Today)

Business and economy

• Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • The government of Colombia, through the Superintendency of Corporations, ceases its control of the petrochemical firm Monómeros S.A. that had been under the management of the Venezuelan transitional government. This intervention takes place one week after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called for the opposition to return control of the enterprise to Venezuela. (Semana)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 17 people are killed at a hospital during heavy floods in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico. (BBC News) (Milenio)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • COVID-19 vaccination in India
        • India administers 10,576,296 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the past 24 hours, setting a new record for the third time in the past 11 days. (Hindustan Times)
      • An industry executive says that India will increase its medical oxygen capacity to 15,000 tonnes in preparation for a third wave of COVID-19. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
      • The Philippines reports a record 22,415 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 2,103,331. (GMA News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Vietnamese authorities launch a plan to conduct COVID-19 testing of up to 1.5 million people in higher-risk areas of Hanoi in order to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 infections as the capital extends its COVID-19-related restrictions for two more weeks. (CNA)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark, COVID-19 vaccination in Denmark
      • The Danish governmment cancels its plans for a national vaccine production tender after they agreed to support Bavarian Nordic's vaccine development with financial aid of DKK 800 million (US$128 million). (Medwatch)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Kosovo
      • Kosovo receives a shipment of 503,100 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine donated from the United States through the COVAX initiative. (Gazeta Express)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
      • Turkey begins to require a negative PCR test result from the previous 48 hours for those who have not been fully vaccinated or who have not recovered from COVID-19 in order to enter theatres, cinemas, or other crowded events as well as to travel by plane, train or bus. (Daily Sabah)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Peru
      • COVID-19 vaccination in Peru
        • Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announces that the Peruvian government has reached an agreement with Russia to create a plant that would produce a Sputnik V vaccine in the country. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
      • The Public Health Institute of Chile approves the usage of the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine for children over the age of six. (Bloomberg)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)
      • New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs the HERO Act, a legislation that would provide protection to state workers in their workplaces. (New York Daily News)

International relations

• Germany–Russia relations
  • The German government calls on Russia to cease its cyber-attack operations, alleging phishing attacks against members of the Bundestag. Those accused are believed to be "cyber-actors of the Russian state" and specifically from the GRU. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

• 2020–2021 Belarusian protests
  • A court in Minsk, Belarus, finds opposition activist Maria Kalesnikava guilty of "trying to seize power and extremism" and sentences her to 11 years in prison. Kalesnikava had destroyed her passport to avoid being expelled from the country. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya promises to release Kalesnikava "much earlier than these 11 years" and condemns the verdict. (Reuters)