Portal:Current events/2020 November 13

November 13, 2020 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- November 2020 Afghanistan attacks
  - A car bombing leaves at least four soldiers dead and five others injured in Paghman District, Kabul Province. (TOLOnews)
Kashmir conflict
- 2020 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
  - Cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops kill 15 people, including ten civilians, and five security personnel. The Indian Army says it foiled an "infiltration attempt from Pakistan" in northern Kashmir whereas the Pakistan Army claims it responded to "unprovoked and indiscriminate firing" from India. (Reuters)
Tigray military intervention
- The United Nations says that war crimes might have been committed in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. (NBC News)
Aftermath of the 1998 United States embassy bombings
- An intelligence official says that Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two United States embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives. (The New York Times via The Sydney Morning Herald)
2020 Western Saharan clashes
- Polisario Front declares war on Morocco accusing Rabat of breaking the 1991 ceasefire. (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Pacific typhoon season
- The death toll from the landfall of Typhoon Vamco in the Philippines rises to 53, according to the national police, with at least 22 still missing. The provinces of Cagayan and Isabela in northern Luzon are the most affected, mainly caused by floodwaters from the Magat Dam. (Xinhua)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois
      - Illinois registers 15,415 new cases in the last 24 hours, a new single-day record, breaking a national record that was previously set by Florida on July 12, when that state reported 15,299 cases. (WBBM-TV)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Maryland
      - Maryland reports 1,869 new cases, a new single-day record. (The Baltimore Sun)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
      - Michigan reports 8,516 new cases, a new single-day record. (WDIV-TV)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada
      - Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak tests positive for COVID-19. He says he is symptom-free but will quarantine at his home for ten days. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in New York
      - New York reports more than 5,000 new cases for the first time since April, when the state registers 5,401 cases. The positivity rate also reaches 2.65 percent. (The Hill)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in North Dakota
      - North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum issues a statewide face mask mandate and impose several business restrictions in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. The new executive order will take effect tomorrow. (ABC News)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Oregon
      - Oregon Governor Kate Brown announces a statewide two-week "freeze" starting November 18, which will limit restaurants and bars to take-out only and close gyms, indoor and outdoor recreational facilities. (OPB)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
      - More than 130 Secret Service agents have been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers. (The Washington Post)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin
      - Wisconsin reports 7,777 new cases, a new single-day record. The state also surpasses 300,000 total confirmed cases. (WBAY-TV)
    - Nationwide, more than 180,000 cases reported in the United States, a new world record. (Forbes)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia
      - British Columbia reports a record of 617 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its total number of cases to 20,985. (CBC)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi
      - Delhi reports 104 new fatalities on Thursday, the highest single-day figure since the beginning of the pandemic, bringing the overall death toll to 7,332. (The New Indian Express)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, COVID-19 vaccine
    - Indonesia reports a record 5,444 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 457,735 cases. Central Java reports the highest number of new cases, with 1,362 new cases. (detikHealth)
    - President Joko Widodo states that the country has sought emergency authorization to start a mass vaccination programme by the end of the year using CoronaVac and the Sinopharm vaccine. He also said that health workers, military and police will be the first to receive the vaccine. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
    - South Korea begins to fine people and operators who fail to wear masks in public. Under the new rules, people caught without masks in public venues face fines of up to 100,000 won (US$90), while the operators of those places face fines of up to three million won (US$2,700). (The Japan Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
    - The number of new confirmed cases in Germany surges to a record 23,542 cases over the past 24 hours, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute. (Zeit Online)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    - The number of new confirmed cases in Italy surges to a record of 40,902 cases, pushing the nationwide total to 1.1 million cases as the government designates the Tuscany and Campania regions as high-risk "red zones". (ANSA) (BBC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal
    - Portugal surpasses 200,000 cumulative cases of COVID-19. (DGS)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
- After a series of briefings against Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife, two of his Special Advisers Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain (also Downing Street Director of Communications left their roles in Number 10 Downing Street
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    - Russia reports a record 21,983 new cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the nationwide total since the start of the pandemic to 1.88 million cases. (The Moscow Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden
    - Sweden, whose government took a lighter approach to the pandemic, including not enforcing lockdowns, reports 5,990 new cases, a new single-day record that pushes the nationwide total to 177,395 cases. (Dagensvimmerby)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland; COVID-19 vaccine
    - Switzerland begins reviews of Moderna's potential vaccine candidate. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine
    - The number of new confirmed cases in Ukraine surges to a record of 11,787 cases, pushing the nationwide total since the start of the pandemic to 512,652 cases. (Kyiv Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    - Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces that all states and territories in Australia will reopen their borders by Christmas, with the exception of Western Australia. (9 News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
    - The Auckland CBD reopens after contact tracing of a new case revealed it was linked to a known case from a border isolation facility, reversing an earlier call for people to work from home. (RNZ)
- COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships
  - Seven passengers on SeaDream Yacht Club's SeaDream I cruise ship test positive for COVID-19, forcing the cruise line to cancel the remainder of the sailing and return the ship to a port in Barbados. (CNN)

Law and crime

Corruption in South Africa
- Ace Magashule, a top official of the African National Congress, is expected to face 21 charges of corruption in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (ABC News)
Terrorism in Germany
- Federal prosecutors in Stuttgart state court charge 11 people with membership of the "Group S." far-right terror organization, allegedly planning to effect "conditions similar to civil war" by killing Muslims and attacking mosques so as to "shake the state and the social order" and eventually overthrow the German government. (AP via Chicago Daily Herald)
Alcohol in Indonesia
- Twenty-one lawmakers from staunchly conservative Islamic parties, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Development Unity Party (PPP), re-initiate their argument at the parliament to have the Bill on the Prohibition of Alcoholic Drinks passed into law. The bill has stalled in parliament ever since it was initiated by the same group in 2015. (Coconuts)
A major police operation is conducted at the headquarters of Ubisoft Montreal following reports of a hostage situation. The employees remaining in the building are safely evacuated. Later, the police tell the local media that it was a false alarm. Police sources deem the 911 call that triggered the incident a hoax. (Le Journal de Montréal) (CBC)
Recently unsealed court documents reveal that a teenager had been arrested last year for plotting an attack on an unidentified school in the Tasman District of New Zealand. He was in possession of an AR-15 style rifle, a modified shotgun, and homemade explosives. The suspect had pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful possession of restricted weapons and objectionable material and had been sentenced to two years of supervision. (Stuff)

Politics and elections

2020 Belarusian protests
- Protesters gather in Belarus to mourn the death of 31-year-old protester Raman Bandarenka, who died in a hospital in Minsk after being beaten by security forces. (ABC News)
2020 Myanmar general election
- Early results show Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy winning an absolute majority in the country's latest general election. The election is called unfair by the oppositional Union Solidarity and Development Party and is criticised by rights groups for alleged voter suppression and the political disenfranchisement of the Rohingya minority. (DW)

Sports

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
- The Egyptian Football Association announces that Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before Egypt's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match against Togo. (Al Jazeera)