Current events: 2024-08-23

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukraine War
    • The United States announces a new military aid package to Ukraine, including air defense missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, an array of anti-armor missiles, vehicles, and other equipment. (AP)
• Surovikino penal colony hostage crisis
  • Four inmates linked to the Islamic State seize control of a prison in Surovikino, Volgograd Oblast, Russia, and take hostages, killing four prison staff members and injuring three others. The inmates are shot dead by responding security forces. (Azerbaijani Press Agency) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• Unemployment in the United States
  • United States Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell states that increased unemployment rates and labor market cooling has made it necessary for the Federal Reserve to markedly reduce interest rates in the near future. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 India–Bangladesh floods
  • At least 23 people are killed and more than 4.5 million people are affected by floods caused by heavy rains in eastern Bangladesh. (Al Jazeera)
• Ten people are killed by landslides and flooding in Phuket, Thailand. (Bangkok Post)
• The last missing body is recovered from the shipwreck of the Bayesian superyacht near Porticello, Sicily, Italy. (The Guardian)

Health and environment

• 2023–2024 mpox epidemic
  • Gabon reports its first case of mpox in a man who traveled to Uganda. (Le Monde)

International relations

• International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia–United States relations, China–United States relations
  • The United States Treasury Department imposes sanctions on more than 400 individuals and entities, including Chinese firms that are allegedly aiding Russia in order to avoid western sanctions. (Reuters) (CNN)
• Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India–Ukraine relations
  • During a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi urges Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the Russo-Ukrainian War, and volunteers to act as a mediator in talks between Zelenskyy and Russia. In a later national address, Zelenskyy thanked Modi but stated that it is necessary for India to respect international law as well as Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. (Reuters)
• Poland–South Africa relations
  • South Africa blocks the transfer of 50,000 purchased artillery shells to Poland out of fear that they would be sent to Ukraine for use in the Russo-Ukrainian War. (Kyiv Independent)

Law and crime

• 2024 Solingen stabbing
  • At least three people are killed and nine others are seriously injured in a stabbing attack during a public festival celebrating the 650th anniversary of Solingen, Germany, resulting in a manhunt for the suspect and a citywide shelter-in-place emergency for residents. (The Independent) (DW)
• 2024 United Kingdom riots
  • The United Nations recommends that the United Kingdom implement bans and auditing of hate speech, xenophobia, and far-right rhetoric following widespread destructive anti-immigration protests exacerbated by remarks made by public figures and politicians. (Reuters) (The Guardian)
• A court in Krasnodar, Russia, sentences five men to more than six years in prison for participating in anti-Israel riots at an airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan, in October 2023. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2024 United States presidential election
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 2024 presidential campaign
    • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces that he is ending his presidential campaign and endorses Donald Trump's campaign. However, Kennedy will remain on the ballot in some states as he has already registered his campaign in those states. (The Hill) (USA Today)

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