Portal:Current events/2020 September 4

September 4, 2020 (Friday)

Business and economy

The La Línea highway tunnel is opened in Colombia after 14 years of construction and several delays. It is the longest road tunnel in South America at 8.65 kilometres (5.37 miles). (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Two people in Vernon Parish, Louisiana and five in Texas die during Hurricane Laura, bringing the national death toll to 27. The two people in Louisiana died due to heat-related illness while removing debris. (KLFY) (NBC News)
2020 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Maysak
  - Rescuers find a second survivor from the presumed wreck of the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Gulf Livestock 1. A body was also pulled from the East China Sea. (News.com.au)
2020 California wildfires
- The Big Basin Redwoods State Park is expected to close for a year due to damage caused by the CZU Lightning Complex fires. (USA Today)
The MT New Diamond is towed out of sea off the coast of Sri Lanka amid major fears of a massive oil spill after the ship caught fire yesterday, killing one Filipino crewman. The Panamanian-registered ship carries about 270,000 tonnes of crude oil. The government of the Maldives has expressed worry, with a presidential minister saying that the country needs to take all precautions to prevent oil from reaching its shores. (BBC News)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in France, COVID-19 pandemic in Réunion, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education
    - Education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer announces that 22 schools across metropolitan France and the overseas department of Réunion are closed again, only two days after the reopening of schools across the country, in response to rising cases and protests from parents and teachers' unions. (Sky News)
    - The health ministry reports 8,975 new cases in the last 24 hours, setting a new all-time record for France since the beginning of pandemic. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
    - Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia, COVID-19 vaccine
    - A study shows that the Gam-COVID-Vac, Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, has produced an antibody response with no serious side effects in a small trial. (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic
    - The Czech Republic records 798 cases, marking the first time the country reported over 700 cases. (devdiscourse.com)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
  - The death toll in Iran exceeds 22,000. (Al Arabiya)
- COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
  - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extends the Alert Level 2.5 restrictions on Auckland until at least September 14, while the rest of the country remains under Alert Level 2, after the health ministry reported the first COVID-19 death in New Zealand since May. (Reuters via The Straits Times)
  - Former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Joe Williams, aged 85, becomes the second COVID-19 death in 24 hours. (NZ Herald)
A person is dead and sixteen others tested positive during a legionella outbreak in Busto Arsizio, Italy. (Il Fatto Quotidiano)

International relations

2020 Kosovo–Serbia agreement, Kosovo–Serbia relations
- Kosovo and Serbia announce that they will normalize economic relations. (Daily Sabah)
Israel–Kosovo relations, Israel–Serbia relations
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that Kosovo and Serbia will open their embassies in disputed Jerusalem, recognizing the city as Israel's capital. Netanyahu says Kosovo is the first Muslim-majority country to do so. Until this day, only the United States and Guatemala have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, a move that Palestinians reject. (Reuters)
Nuclear program of Iran
- The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran has stockpiled 2,105 kilograms (4,641 lb) of enriched uranium, violating the 300 kilograms (660 lb) limit under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (DW)
China–Malaysia relations
- Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof announces that Uyghur refugees in the country will not be extradited back to China, but permitted to use Malaysia as a safe passage to a third country. (Reuters)
Palau–United States relations
- It is revealed that Palau urged the United States to build joint-use military facilities in the country, a move seen as a push back against Chinese influence in the Pacific. Palauan President Tommy Remengesau Jr. made the request in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who visited the island country last week. (CNA) (RNZ)
2020 Belarusian protests, Foreign relations of Belarus
- Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for the United Nations Security Council to stop human rights abuse in her country. (VOANews)

Law and crime

Football Leaks
- Rui Pinto begins his trial at the Central Criminal Procedure Court in Lisbon, Portugal, on charges of attempted qualified extortion, violation of secrecy, and illegally accessing information for leaking financial transactions within European association football. (Al Jazeera)
United States v. Guzmán
- Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit against his life imprisonment sentence handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in July 2019. Guzmán's lawyer claims that his maximum-security isolation at the Metropolitan Correctional Center following his extradition to the United States in January 2017 made him heavily unaware about his case and limited his ability to participate in his defense. (AFP via NDTV)
Killing of Daniel Prude
- Protests over a fatal police encounter in Rochester, New York began peacefully but ended with authorities using tear gas and pepper balls following incidents of vandalism and violence. It was the third straight night of protests after video was released earlier in the week showing Rochester Police Department officers holding Daniel Prude on the ground with a spit sock on his head in March. Prude stopped breathing and was declared brain dead at a hospital. (CNN)

Politics and elections

George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon
- American social media service Facebook deletes pages associated with the Portland, Oregon-based far-right group Patriot Prayer and its founder, Joey Gibson, citing efforts to remove "violent social militias" from its platform. (The Guardian)
Former Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott is appointed as an adviser to the United Kingdom's Board of Trade. (Reuters)

Sports

2020 Diamond League
- British long-distance runner Mo Farah and Dutch long-distance runner Sifan Hassan break the world record for most distance covered in one hour for men and women respectively, by running 21.330 kilometres (13.254 miles) and 18.930 kilometres (11.763 miles) during the Brussels meet. (BBC Sport)