Portal:Current events/2017 June 18

June 18, 2017 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- A coordinated suicide bombing attack on a police station in the town of Gardez in Paktia Province results in dozens of people killed and injured. (Reuters via Aus. Broadcasting Corp.)
June 2017 Bamako attack
- Gunmen storm a popular tourist resort near the Malian capital, Bamako. At least two people are reportedly killed. Malian troops and France's Operation Barkhane counter-terrorist force are at the site. (BBC)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An air raid kills at least 24 civilians at a market in Houthi-held Saada Governorate, Yemen. (AFP via PRI)
Syrian Civil War
- 2017 Deir ez-Zor missile strike
  - Iran fires medium range ballistic missiles from western Iran to ISIL targets in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria, in retaliation for the June 7 Tehran attacks. (Haaretz) (Reuters)
- Battle of Raqqa (2017)
  - A U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet shoots down a Syrian Arab Air Force warplane after it had dropped bombs near Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters in Raqqa Governorate, according to United States Central Command. The Syrian Armed Forces says its jet was on a combat mission against ISIL. (The Independent) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision
- Rescuers find the bodies of seven United States Navy sailors who were missing after the prior day's collision between the USS Fitzgerald and the MV ACX Crystal off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan. (AP, Reuters via The Japan Times)
2017 Portugal wildfires
- The death toll from forest fires in Pedrógão Grande, central Portugal, rises to at least 62. Many victims were trapped on the road between the towns of Figueiró dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera. (BBC) (AP) (Euronews).
Earthquakes in 2017
- An earthquake and tsunami strike Greenland leaving at least 4 dead. (CBC)

Health and medicine

International relations

North Korean defectors
- A North Korean soldier defects to South Korea after swimming across the Han River, the second North Korean defection in a week. (BBC)

Law and crime

Murder of Nabra Hassanen
- The body of a teenager from Reston, Virginia is found in a pond in Sterling, Virginia. A suspect is arrested and charged with murder. (USA Today)

Politics and elections

French legislative election, 2017
- Voters in France return to the polls for the second round of a legislative election, with 573 of 577 seats in the National Assembly yet to be decided after the first round. (Bloomberg)
- The result delivers a landslide victory to the recently formed En Marche! in alliance with the Democratic Movement, while the right-wing coalition led by The Republicans remains the second largest party despite losing many seats. (The Local/AFP)
- The left-wing coalition led by the Socialist Party, most recently in government, loses the vast majority of its seats, prompting First Secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadélis to resign. (Reuters)
Presidency of Donald Trump
- Six members of President Trump's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resign stating the administration doesn't have a strategy to address the epidemic, doesn't seek input from experts on HIV policy, supports legislation that would halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease and would harm people living with HIV. (NBC News) (The Independent) (Newsweek)

Sports