Portal:Current events/2015 October 26

October 26, 2015 (2015-10-26) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Turkey–ISIL conflict
    • Four Islamic State militants and two Turkish policemen are killed during a raid on a house used by militants in the city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Four other police officers were injured. (AP via Fox News) (Reuters)
  • United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports at least 120,000 people have been displaced in Syria this month because of fighting. These displaced Syrians need tents, basic household items, food, water and sanitation services. The agency's humanitarian partners are scaling up their response. (AP)
• Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  • According to the Wall Street Journal an official from the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed it has deployed special forces to Syria over the past weeks supporting its mission to back-up the Bashar al-Assad regime. Alleged Russian Defence Ministry official added that the special forces, who are "akin to the Delta Force of the United States", had been operating in pro-Russian rebel held areas of Ukraine before being called off to Syria. (Business Insider) (The Wall Street Journal)
• A suicide-bomb attack at a Shia mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Najran accounts for over a dozen casualties. (BBC)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • At least 50 people are killed, including seven civilians, in heavy fighting between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi near the city of Taiz. (Al-Jazeera)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017), American-led intervention in Iraq, Syrian Civil War, American-led intervention in Syria
  • United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter indicates a more robust role ahead for the United States military in bolstering indigenous forces countering ISIS and in response to Russia’s increasing role in Middle East conflicts. (WSJ)
• Colombian conflict (1964–present)
  • At least 11 Colombian Army soldiers and one policeman have been killed in an ELN attack in northeast Colombia. (Colombia Reports)

Business

• MTN Group is fined $5.2 billion by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to disconnect non-registered SIM cards. (BBC)
• Toyota is once again the world's largest carmaker with 7.5 million units sold thus far in 2015, compared to Volkswagen's 7.43 million and General Motors' 7.2 million. (BBC)
• Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone announced it would buy US auto parts retailer Pep Boys for $835 million. (Reuters)
• Duke Energy announced it would buy Piedmont Natural Gas for $4.9 billion. (Reuters)
• USAA, one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S., announced the ending of its long-term relationship with MasterCard. The tenth-largest credit card issuer in the U.S. will replace the old credit cards with Visa cards next year. (WSJ)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake
  • An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Moment magnitude scale (MMS) strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northeastern Afghanistan, 158 miles from Kabul, in the remote province of Badakhshan, one of Afghanistan’s most inaccessible regions. Tremors reached as far as New Delhi, India. At least 263 are dead in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan with more than 1,000 injured. The death toll will likely climb since communications in much of the affected areas are cut, and rescue teams had not yet reached districts closest to the epicenter, including some that are controlled by Taliban insurgents. (BBC) (Financial Express) (USGS) (Dawn) (Reuters) (L.A. Times) (AP)

International relations

• Saudi Arabia–United Kingdom relations
  • Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, in an op-ed piece in the The Daily Telegraph, warns of "potentially serious repercussions" for the two countries' relationship unless a more respectful discourse developed. At issue is London's withdrawal from a £5.9m (US$9.1m) prison deal with Saudi Arabia which has been linked to London's concerns about a death penalty case and a case involving Karl Andree, a 74-year-old Briton who faces 350 lashes. Today, the Saudi Supreme Court confirmed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr's death sentence. (Arab News) (BBC) (Daily Telegraph)
• The United States is reportedly blocking a $400 million plan by South Korea to sell KAI T-50 Golden Eagle trainer jets, co-developed in 2006 with Lockheed Martin, to Uzbekistan, according to The Korea Times. The aircraft uses Lockheed Martin technologies -- including avionics -- and as such requires permission under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act for its sale to other countries. (UPI) (The Korea Times)
• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • The U.S. Navy plans to send guided missile destroyer USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea. This first freedom of navigation challenge to China's territorial claims in one of the world's busiest sea lanes may occur as soon as tomorrow, according to a U.S. defense official. (Reuters) (The Diplomat)

Law and crime

• Indian fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan is arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. (BBC)
• Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upholds the death sentence of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was found guilty of sedition and other charges following his involvement in the 2011 Arab Spring Movement. (Jurist)
• A member of the Saudi Royal Family and four other people are detained in Lebanon for attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine on a private jet. This is the largest drug seizure in the history of Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. (Al Jazeera) (NBC News)

Politics and elections

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a review of the status of certain Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu says he is considering revoking residency status for Palestinians living there, according to Israel's Channel 2. (AP) (UPI)
• Gun politics in the United States
  • Leaders of nine national law enforcement groups, at the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago, Illinois, call on federal lawmakers to strengthen background checks on gun purchases. (USA Today) (Reuters)
• In the United Kingdom, the unelected House of Lords, Parliament’s upper house, delays by three years reductions in tax credits paid to working people that would have cost affected families an average of £1,300 ($2,000) a year. This is the first major setback for George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, since the general election. Osborne said the government will "lessen" the impact of tax credit cuts for those affected, while vowing to press on with changes designed to save billions from welfare. (Bloomberg) (BBC)

Science

• A new study by scientists finds that areas around the Persian Gulf could become uninhabitable to humans in less than 100 years due to rising temperatures. (The Telegraph)

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