Portal:Current events/2020 October 3

October 3, 2020 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- October 2020 Afghanistan attacks
  - A car bombing near the district governor’s compound in Shinwar District, Nangarhar Province, kills at least 15 people and wounds another 30. Gunmen tried to enter the district governor’s compound but were killed by security forces. (TOLOnews)
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev criticizes international mediators calling for a ceasefire, saying the war won't end until Armenian forces withdraw from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. (Daily Sabah)
- Azerbaijan says its troops have captured Suqovuşan (Madaghis), Talış, Mehdili, Aşağı Maralyan, Şəybəy, Quycaq and Aşağı Əbdürrəhmanlı following clashes with Armenian and Artsakh forces. President Ilham Aliyev tweets "Madagiz is ours. Karabakh is Azerbaijan!". (APA)
- Iran says ten shells have fallen inside Iranian territory as fighting rages between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 35 stray mortar shells have hit Iran since the recent fighting began, causing damage to housing units and the injury of a child. (Almasdar News)
War in Darfur
- The transitional government of Sudan signs a peace deal with the main rebel groups fighting in the conflict. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, which had refused to engage in previous talks, joined this time. The U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Donald Booth, hails the deal as a "historic achievement". (Reuters)

Arts and culture

2020 in archaeology
- Egypt unveils 59 coffins of priests and clerks from the 26th dynasty nearly 2,500 years ago. (Reuters)
Irreecha
- The Oromo people celebrate the Irreecha thanksgiving festival amid political tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic. (The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

One person is killed and another missing after heavy floods affect the Piedmont region in Italy, while a firefighter is killed by a tree in Aosta Valley. Twenty-one other people go missing but are rescued alive. (Il Fatto Quotidiano)
Flash flooding in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, causes hundreds of people to evacuate, with waters reaching as high as two meters. (Antara)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in France
    - France reports 16,972 new cases in the past 24 hours, setting a new record for the country since the beginning of the pandemic. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    - Italy reports 2,844 new cases in the last 24 hours as swab tests conducted by the country remain steady at over 100,000. It is the highest number of reported cases since April, when the country was still in lockdown. (Anadolu Agency)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal
    - Portugal reports 963 new daily cases, bringing the cumulative total to 78,247 confirmed cases and 1,995 deaths. Ever since the end of national lockdown in May, this has been the seventh time that the country has registered some record increases in new cases, with all other six records occurring during the month of September. (DGS)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - The United Kingdom reports 12,872 new cases, a record number of reported cases since the start of the pandemic; however, the Department of Health and Social Care says that there has been a delay in publishing a number of cases due to a technical glitch, which has now been resolved, meaning the total reported over the coming days will include some additional cases in the period between September 24 and October 1. (ITV)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
    - White House COVID-19 outbreak
      - U.S. Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin tests positive for COVID-19, joining U.S. Senators Thom Tillis from North Carolina and Mike Lee from Utah as high-profile politicians infected with COVID-19 who attended recent events with President Donald Trump. (CNN)
      - Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also tests positive for COVID-19 and checks himself into the Morristown Medical Center. (Reuters) (Bloomberg.com)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - COVID-19 vaccination in Brazil
    - São Paulo State governor João Doria asks health regulator Anvisa for approval to use COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac, a major step in what could be one of the first vaccination programs in the Americas. In late July, São Paulo was one of the first sites of Phase III clinical trials for Sinovac. Doria plans to begin inoculating the population of São Paulo by mid-December, which is one of the world’s most ambitious schedules. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in India
  - India surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, becoming the third country to reach that milestone behind the United States and Brazil. (France 24)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the Solomon Islands
  - Solomon Islands records its first case, a student who arrived from the Philippines. (The Straits Times)

Law and crime

2019–2020 Chilean protests
- Protests spark in Santiago after footage of a police officer throwing a 16-year-old boy from a bridge over the Mapocho River is released. The incident occurred on Friday while Carabineros were repressing a protest near Plaza Baquedano in downtown Santiago. (The Guardian)
- Opposition politicians call for the resignation of Carabineros General Director Mario Rozas and announce an impeachment to the Ministry of Interior due to several incidents against protesters. Also, they announce they will reject the annual budget for Carabineros unless changes are implemented. (La Tercera)
- The officer is under arrest and charged with attempted murder by the National Public Prosecutor. (La Tercera)
List of foreign nationals detained in Iran
- French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah is temporarily released from prison in Tehran but with an electronic tag. Adelkhah had been detained since June 2019 and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in May 2020 for "conspiring against national security". (AFP via RFI)

Politics and elections

2020 Green Party of Canada leadership election
- The former 2019 federal Green Party candidate for Toronto Centre and older sister of Canadian actress Ngozi Paul, Annamie Paul, is elected as the new leader of the federal Green Party. (CBC)
Jordan's Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz resigns. King Abdullah asks him to stay on as a caretaker premier until the king appoints a successor. (US News & World Report)