Portal:Current events/2020 April 4

April 4, 2020 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security announces that security forces have arrested 20 ISIL–KP fighters, including leader Aslam Farooqi. (Al Jazeera)
2020 Romans-sur-Isère knife attack
- Two people are killed and five others are injured in a mass stabbing in Romans-sur-Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. A man from Sudan was arrested at the scene. The attack is treated and investigated as a terrorist incident. (BBC News)
Mexican Drug War
- A shootout between rival cartel gangs in Chihuahua, Mexico, kills at least 19 people. (Global News)
Second Libyan Civil War
- Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War
  - Turkish-backed GNA forces say they have shot down three Sukhoi Su-22 jets belonging to forces loyal to Field marshal Khalifa Haftar. (Middle East Monitor)
Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq
- The United States-led CJTF–OIR hands over Al-Taqaddum Air Base to Iraqi security forces. It is the fourth military base to be returned to Iraq in recent weeks. (Military Times)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia
    - Georgia reports its first death from COVID-19; that of a 79-year-old woman who had other illnesses and underlying health conditions. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - The Department of Health and Social Care reports 708 more deaths from COVID-19, the highest daily death toll in the country to date, bringing the UK's death toll to 4,313 and 41,903 confirmed cases. (Sky News)
    - A 5-year-old boy dies from COVID-19, becoming Europe's youngest victim of the virus to date. He had underlying health conditions. (Metro)
    - Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      - At the British government's daily press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove condemns conspiracy theories being spread on social media about 5G spreading COVID-19. Several 5G telecommunications masts have been set on fire in recent days in Birmingham and Merseyside. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in France
    - France reports 1,053 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the country's death toll to 7,560 and 89,953 cases. The new figures include previously unreported deaths in retirement homes. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Kuwait
    - Kuwait reports its first death from COVID-19 as cases reach 479. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prisons
    - Turkey deploys the Gendarmerie General Command to the eastern city of Batman after a riot erupts inside the city's Type-M prison. The riot comes after the Turkish parliament approved the release of 100,000 inmates due to COVID-19, but excluded journalists and political prisoners, many of whom are Kurds. (Ahval News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
  - The President of New Caledonia Thierry Santa self-quarantines after a member of his crisis management team tested positive for COVID-19. (RNZ)

Politics and elections

2020 Labour Party leadership election
- Sir Keir Starmer wins the 2020 Labour Party leadership election in the United Kingdom and becomes Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. (The Guardian)
2019–20 Chilean protests
- Chilean president Sebastián Piñera takes pictures in an empty Plaza Baquedano, symbol of mass protests calling for his resignation. The image provokes outrage after the protests were halted due to the coronavirus pandemic and a quarantine was declared. (The New York Times)