October 15, 2016 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017), 2016 October Baghdad attacks
- Attacks targeting a Shi'ite Muslim gathering, a police check-point, and the family of an anti-Islamic State Sunni paramilitary leader, kill at least 55 people in Iraq. (Reuters)
- ISIL claims responsibility as a response to take back launching of its stronghold Mosul by the Iraqi forces. (TeleSUR)
- Russian border patrol officers open fire on a North Korean fishing vessel, leaving one fisherman dead, and eight others injured. (RT)
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Saudi Arabia accepts the finding of the Joint Incidents Assessment Team, a setup of coalition states to investigate complaints against coalitions conduct in Decisive Storm, that the October 8 coalition’s bombardment at a funeral ceremony in Sana'a, in which over 140 people were killed and more than 600 injured, was based on wrong information. (Arab News), (Samaa TV)
- Syrian Civil War
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- The United States Navy's USS Mason is fired on for the third time in a week from territory controlled by Houthi forces in Yemen, while in international waters of the Red Sea. The ship deployed countermeasures and was not struck, according to U.S. officials. (NBC News)
- Sinai insurgency
- Egyptian government airstrikes on jihadist targets in North Sinai Governorate, leave at least 100 terrorists killed and 40 others wounded. (Xinhua Net)
Arts and culture
- A wildlife sanctuary for rescued elephants opens in Brazil. (BBC)
Business and economy
- Google introduces a so-called "fact checking" feature on its news aggregate service to combat alleged political bias. (The Los Angeles Times)
- The U.S. Transportation Department's emergency order banning Samsung Galaxy Note 7 from aircraft in the United States goes into effect. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- A stampede among Hindu pilgrims headed to Varanasi, India, kills at least 24 people and injures at least 20. (Reuters), (AP via The New York Times)
- 2016 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Sarika (Karen) arrives at Luzon, Philippines, with the storm's future direction predicted to be toward Vietnam. (The Independent)
- A pickup truck hurls off San Diego, California's Coronado Bridge, plummets some 60 feet, and crashes onto a park where hundreds of people had gathered for a motorcycle rally, killing four people in a vendor's booth and injuring eight others. (Reuters)
International relations
- European migrant crisis
- Syrian child refugees previously settled in the Calais jungle legally immigrate into England. (The Guardian)
- North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- The United States Defense Department reports its Strategic Command systems detected a failed North Korean ballistic missile launch near the city of Kusong in North Pyongan Province. (CNN)
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin sign several agreements including a $12.9 billion defense and energy deal. Russian state oil major Rosneft pays for a controlling stake in both India's Essar Oil and port facilities that it already owns. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- A gun battle that started when three armed men returned to a restaurant in Los Angeles, leaves 3 people dead and 12 others wounded. Police set up a dragnet for the suspects. (The Los Angeles Times)
- Police in China detain 75 people in connection with a service that determined the female gender of unborn babies for the purpose of abortion. Authorities say that at least 300 people were involved in the illegal service in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. Expectant parents wanting male children smuggled fetal blood samples to Hong Kong for gender testing. China ended its one-child policy last year. (BBC)
- Judge Vivien Rose of London's High Court, finds in favor of Goldman Sachs, that the bank is not liable for the failure of highly speculative trades made by the sovereign wealth fund of Libya. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Montreal Protocol
- The Obama administration agrees to an international limit on the use of hydrofluorocarbon gases in refrigeration and air conditioning. (BBC)