Current events: 2023-08-31

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Johannesburg building fire
  • At least 73 people are killed by a fire in a block of flats in Johannesburg, South Africa. (CNBC)
• Fifteen people, including an owner and workers of a clothing factory, die in a fire in Quezon City, Philippines; three more survive. (AP) (The New York Times)
• Five people are killed and two more hospitalized when a passenger train collides with track workers doing maintenance work in Brandizzo, Piedmont, Italy. (BBC News)

International relations

• 2023 Gabonese coup d'état
  • The African Union announces the immediate suspension of Gabon's membership after the country's military instigated a coup d'état. (AFP via The Peninsula)
• North Korea–South Korea relations
  • The Korean Central News Agency reports that North Korea has conducted drills simulating a missile strike on South Korea, in protest at ROK-USAF military drills. (Reuters)
• Russia and weapons of mass destruction, Belarus–Russia relations
  • Ukrainian head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov says that the first sets of nuclear weapons have arrived in Belarus. (Ukrainian News Agency)

Law and crime

• Aftermath of the January 6 United States Capitol attack
  • Criminal proceedings in the January 6 United States Capitol attack
    • Proud Boys member Joe Biggs is sentenced to 17 years in federal prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with planning the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol. (NBC News)
• The Brazilian Federal Police questions former President Jair Bolsonaro over his involvement in a jewelry scandal in which he is accused of robbing $3 million in diamond jewelry from Saudi Arabia. (AP)

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