Portal:Current events/2023 August 12

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Corruption in Ukraine
    • A government investigation uncovers corruption at recruitment centres in 11 regions with 112 criminal proceedings opened. Bribes averaged around US$6,000 for a medical certificate granting an exemption from military service. (Financial Times) (The Guardian)
    • Investigative news website Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reveals documents showing the Ministry of Defence overpaid for summer camouflage kits bought as winter coats for troops. The documents are suspected to be related to a investigation launched in June by Ukraine’s security services into Former Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov. (The Guardian)
    • A New York Times investigation reveals that a company tied to Serhiy Pashynskyi, who was previously under investigation for corruption, has become the biggest private arms supplier to the Ministry of Defence. (Insider)
  • Crimea attacks
    • The Russian Ministry of Defense says that it shot down twenty Ukrainian drones over Crimea. (NOS)
    • Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov says that three Ukrainian missiles were shot down over the Kerch bridge. (CNN International)
  • Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the Northern Fleet and visits a Rosatom nuclear weapons test site in Novaya Zemlya. (Reuters) (Hindustan Times) (The Barents Observer)
  • One person is killed and 12 others are injured in a Russian guided aerial bomb strike on Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. (CNN International)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Hawaii wildfires
  • The death toll from the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, United States, increases to 89, making it the deadliest wildfire in the state's history. (The Independent)
• 2023 Pacific typhoon season
  • Hurricane Dora, which partially caused the wildfires in Hawaii, becomes a Pacific typhoon. (Forbes) (Hawaii News Now)
• English Channel migrant crossings
  • Six people are killed and fifty others are rescued when a boat carrying migrants capsizes in the English Channel off the coast of Calais, France. (AP)
• Fukushima nuclear disaster
  • South Koreans gather in central Seoul to protest against Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. (Reuters)
• Four people are killed and one other injured following a house explosion in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States, that destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others. (AP via The Manila Times)
• A Sukhoi Su-30 crashes during a training mission in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, killing both pilots. (RFE/RL)

Law and crime

• 2023 Ecuadorian general election
  • Ecuador transfers head of the Los Choneros criminal group, Jose Adolfo Macias, from Prison 8 in Guayaquil to La Roca maximum security prison. He is accused of threatening presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio before his assassination. (AFP via The Manila Times)
• Italian police recover 266 antiques from the Greek, Roman and Etruscan periods, worth tens of millions of Euros, from the United States. (NOS)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Ecuadorian general election
  • Andrea González Náder, the running mate of assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, is nominated by the Movimiento Construye party to run for president. (AFP via CNN-News18)
• 2023 Malaysian state elections
  • Malaysians in Selangor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Penang vote for their state assembly members, following the dissolution of the assemblies. (AFP via The Manila Times)
• Senator Anwar ul Haq Kakar is appointed as the new caretaker prime minister of Pakistan. (ANI News)

Sports

• 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup
  • In association football, Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr FC wins their first Arab Club Champions Cup in a 2–1 victory. (Arab News)