Portal:Current events/2020 July 14

July 14, 2020 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Central African Republic Civil War
- A Rwandan United Nations peacekeeper was killed and two others wounded in an ambush on a convoy in Nana-Mambéré, Central African Republic. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
- The University of Mississippi removes a monument of Confederate soldiers from the campus. The monument is expected to be relocated to a cemetery. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Iran explosions
- Iranian police launch an investigation following another suspicious explosion, this one at an industrial complex south of Mashhad. (Al-Monitor)
The fire on USS Bonhomme Richard continues for a third consecutive day. The United States Navy says its crews have made significant progress fighting flames and reducing smoke, but it is still unclear when the fire will be extinguished. There have been 61 injuries; 38 sailors and 23 civilians have been treated mostly for minor injuries related to firefighting. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in New York
    - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo adds Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin to the state's quarantine requirement list, while Delaware is removed. (The Hill)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia
    - Virginia Governor Ralph Northam says that he will increase enforcement of masks and social distancing as cases in the Hampton Roads area spike. (The Virginian-Pilot)
  - Moderna is expected to start a late stage clinical trial at 87 study locations in the United States for its COVID-19 vaccine on July 27. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in France
  - France is expected to make masks compulsory in indoor public spaces. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela
  - The number of COVID-19 cases in Venezuela surpasses 10,000. (AP)
Mongolia puts five districts under a six-day quarantine after a 15-year-old boy dies of the bubonic plague in the remote Gobi-Altai province amid fears of an epidemic. (AFP via Al Arabiya)

International relations

China–United States relations, 2019–20 Hong Kong protests
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs legislation and an executive order that will "hold China accountable" for recent "oppressive actions" in Hong Kong by ending its preferential economic status with the United States. (AP) (Reuters)

Law and crime

Capital punishment
- Capital punishment in the United States
  - The Supreme Court of the United States rules 5–4 to lift the block on four federal executions scheduled for July and August. Convicted murderer Daniel Lewis Lee, whose execution was scheduled for the previous afternoon, is executed by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Two more executions are scheduled for later in the week. (The Washington Post)
- Capital punishment in Iran, 2019–2020 Iranian protests
  - Following a social media campaign that generated 7.5 million posts with the hashtag #do_not_execute, the Iranian authorities halt the impending executions of three anti-government protestors who were arrested during street protests in November 2019 in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed. A retrial is ordered. (BBC News)
George Floyd protests
- George Floyd protests in Kentucky
  - Nearly 100 people protesting the police killing of Breonna Taylor are arrested outside the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

2020 United States elections
- 2020 United States Senate elections
  - People in Maine, Alabama, and Texas are expected to cast their votes in both regular and run off primaries. (CNN)
  - Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville defeats former attorney general Jeff Sessions in the Alabama Republican primary. Tuberville will face Democratic incumbent Doug Jones. (Vox)
July 2020 New Zealand National Party leadership election
- Todd Muller resigns as leader of the New Zealand National Party citing health and family reasons. A party caucus elects Judith Collins as the party's new leader. (Stuff) (Stuff₂)
2020 Belarusian presidential election
- The Belarusian election commission bars two prominent opposition candidates to current President Alexander Lukashenko from running in the election, ensuring a victory for Lukashenko. The barred candidates are Viktar Babaryka who was disqualified for an open criminal case against him and Valery Tsepkalo whose signatures on a supporting petition were nullified. (Reuters)
2020 Hong Kong pro-democracy primaries
- Exit polls results show a strong support for young pro-democracy candidates, including independent activist Joshua Wong and League of Social Democrats candidate Jimmy Sham. A spokesperson for the Liaison Office of China in Hong Kong says that the election could be in violation of the new security law and could be nullified. (NHK-World)
International students in the United States
- The Trump administration reverses its student visa policy, announced on July 6, to deport international students whose courses move fully online. The plan met stiff opposition. At least 59 universities and the attorneys general of 18 states sued to block this directive. Federal district judge Allison Burroughs dismisses the first case brought to court as moot because the federal government has agreed to rescind the policy. (BBC News) (USA Today)

Science and technology

UK Digital Media minister Oliver Dowden announces to the House of Commons that the country's mobile providers will be barred from buying 5G equipment from Huawei starting December 31, and will be required to remove it from their networks by 2027. Lord Browne resigned from his position as chairman of Huawei's UK branch shortly before the announcement. (BBC News)