Portal:Current events/2021 October 4

October 4, 2021 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest
- Farmers vow to intensify their protest against laws aimed at liberalising agriculture, after four farmers were rammed and killed yesterday in Uttar Pradesh by a vehicle owned by Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra. Three members of the party and the driver of the vehicle were then killed by protesters. A journalist was also found dead today near the scene of the violence. (Al Jazeera)
Islamic State–Taliban conflict
- The Taliban says it has "destroyed an IS–K cell" in Kabul following yesterday's bombing at a mosque during the memorial for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Mujahid says that a special Taliban unit carried out the operation and that the base was destroyed and everyone inside was killed. (Deutsche Welle)
Insurgency in the Maghreb
- Twelve Burkinabé troops are killed and five others are wounded in an attack in the northern Sanmatenga Province. No group has claimed responsibility for the ambush assault. (Reuters)
Aftermath of the Second Libyan Civil War
- A United Nations report blames all warring sides in Libya of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly against detainees, migrants and prominent women. (Al Jazeera)
Police in Cyprus arrest a man suspected of "planning attacks against Israeli people". Israel has accused Iran of orchestrating the plot, although Iran has denied the allegations. Other reports suggest that the target of the plot was businessman Teddy Sagi and could be linked to business disputes involving Sagi. (BBC News)
Four ISIL terrorists and one security forces member are killed during clashes in southern Khartoum, Sudan. Four other suspected militants are arrested during the raid, while three more soldiers are wounded. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Evergrande liquidity crisis
- Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times reports that Chinese property developer Evergrande Group will sell 51% of its property service arm to rival company Hopson Development for US$5 billion. The report comes as both Hopson and Evergrande suspended trading in their shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the morning, pending an announcement about a "major transaction". (CNBC) (AFP via The Jakarta Post)

Disasters and accidents

2021 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- The death toll from the floods in Muscat, Oman, caused by Cyclone Shaheen, increases to 12 as nine more people are found dead. (Al Jazeera)
2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption
- The main cone of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma collapses, increasing the lava flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The main lava flow is now 1.2 km across at its widest point. (El Pais)
2021 Orange County oil spill
- Authorities in Orange County, California, United States, blame a 41-year-old oil pipeline for yesterday's spill, so far releasing 3,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean and severely damaging the coast of Southern California. (Reuters)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, COVID-19 drug development
    - The Australian government signs an agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme to buy 300,000 courses of the antiviral drug molnupiravir, pending regulator clearance, which would be the first pill to treat COVID-19 patients. (9 News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji
    - Fiji reopens businesses, places of worship and educational institutions at 70% capacity to those who have been fully vaccinated amid a decrease in the number of new cases and an increase in the vaccination rate. (Matangi Tonga)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
    - New Zealand drops the elimination strategy to combat COVID-19 in favour of a new model that contains vaccination rates amid the continued outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. (The Guardian)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Isle of Man
    - The Isle of Man begins administering booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. (BBC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, COVID-19 vaccination in Sweden
    - The Public Health Agency of Sweden recommends that children between the ages of 12 and 15 be vaccinated against COVID-19 using the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. (The Straits Times)
  - European Union response to the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 vaccine
    - The European Medicines Agency approves a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people aged over 18-years-old. However, it was up to member states to decide whether to use them. (Deutsche Welle)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, COVID-19 vaccination in Thailand
  - Thailand begins a vaccination programme for children between the ages of 12 and 17 years old using the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as the government plans to resume face-to-face learning. (NHK World-Japan)
Insulate Britain protests
- Insulate Britain holds a sit-in protest in three major routes into London, including the Blackwall Tunnel. The group have stated that they will continue protesting until the government has concrete plans to retrofit around 29 million buildings which the group claims have insufficient insulation. (ITV News)

International relations

2021 North Kosovo protests
- Kosovo and Serbia begin implementing stickers to cover national symbols and country abbreviations on their respective vehicle license plates when they are in the other country, with normal traffic on the border fully resuming. (Exit News)
North Korea–South Korea relations
- The North and South Korean governments reinstate the Seoul–Pyongyang hotline after North Korea suspended the connection in early August, in protest against South Korea's military exercises with the United States. (AFP via France 24)
Cross-Strait relations
- A total of 52 People's Liberation Army Air Force aircraft fly into Taiwan's southwestern air defense identification zone, the Ministry of National Defense says on Twitter. This amounts to 145 Chinese aircraft which have flown into Taiwan's air defense area this month (NBC News)

Law and crime

Aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état
- Deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi asks to reduce her time in court appearances, stating that her health has deteriorated. The judge will make a decision on the request next week. Suu Kyi currently faces multiple charges ranging from corruption to money laundering. (The Guardian)
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent is killed and another is critically wounded, and a Tucson Police Department officer is wounded at a shooting involving two suspects, one of whom was a gunman who is believed to have killed himself, at the Tucson, Arizona Amtrak train station; the officers had boarded the just-disembarked Sunset Limited to do a drug check. (MSN/AP)

Politics and elections

The parliament of Singapore passes a law aimed to outlaw foreign interference in domestic affairs. Opponents of the measure have expressed concerns regarding the broadness of certain provisions that may potentially hinder some civil liberties. (AFP via The Guardian)

Science and technology

2021 Facebook outage
- Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus experience an extended global outage that began at 15:39 UTC. Some experts believe that the outage was caused by a BGP update from Facebook. (CNN) (Cloudflare)
Scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian are awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch". (Reuters)

Sports

2021 NASCAR Cup Series
- Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. wins the rain-shortened YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, becoming the first African-American to win a NASCAR Cup race since 1963. (The New York Times)