Portal:Current events/2015 August 28
< Portal:Current events
August 28, 2015 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- South Sudanese Civil War
- Rebels and the Sudan People's Liberation Army trade accusations of violations of recently-signed peace accords. (Reuters)
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
- A car bomb detonates in the parking lot of a Baghdad police station while police attempt to defuse it, killing six officers and injuring another ten. (AP via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- 2015 India-Pakistan border skirmishes, Kashmir conflict
- Indian and Pakistani border guards exchange gunfire over the disputed Kashmir border with nine civilians killed and 63 injured. (AP via KSL)
Arts and culture
- The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommends that Costa Rica remove Cocorí from schools because of its perceived racial connotation. (The Tico Times)
Disasters and accidents
- European migrant crisis
- The body count from a van found on an Austrian highway carrying migrants yesterday rises to at least 71. Three people are arrested in Hungary in relation to their deaths. (AP via The New York Times), (ITV)
- 2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit reports that Tropical Storm Erika has left at least 12 dead and more than 20 missing. Erika deposited almost 12 inches of rain in less than 10 hours and caused extensive damage across the island as floods wiped out roads, swamped villages, and started mudslides. (CNN)
- Florida Governor Rick Scott declares a state of emergency as Erika is forecast to hit the Gulf Coast of Florida on Monday. The storm is over Hispaniola with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, but is expected to weaken this weekend. Of particular concern is Tampa Bay, which has had historic rainfall in late July and early August. (The Tampa Bay Times), (The Miami Herald)
- 2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Hawaii Governor David Ige signs an emergency proclamation in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ignacio on Monday. Ignacio is expected to strengthen to Category 2 this weekend. The state is still recovering from precipitation from Tropical Storm Kilo which skirted the islands earlier this week. In addition, Hurricane Jimena, which is expected to intensify to near category 5 strength on Saturday, is trailing Ignacio and also heading toward Hawaii. (Hawaii News Now), (AP via The Washington Post), (Maui Now), (The Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
- Exposure to toxic chemicals at a paper mill in central China kills seven people are and injures two others. (AP)
- Thirty-eight girls and young women die in a crash and twenty others on board the truck receive injuries while travelling to the traditional Umhlanga ceremony in Swaziland. (AP)
International relations
- Colombia–Venezuela relations
- Turkey–PKK conflict
- Turkish police detain two British journalists from Vice News covering unrest in southeastern Turkey. (ABC Australia)
Law and crime
- Authorities arrest two French journalists for allegedly attempting to blackmail King Mohammed VI of Morocco. (AP via The New York Times)
- President Trương Tấn Sang of Vietnam signs two directives granting amnesty to 18,539 prisoners including murderers, rapists, human traffickers, and other criminals, but no political prisoners were released. (AP via The New York Times)
- Authorities charge New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran with 64 counts including fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. (The Albuquerque Journal)
Politics and elections
- Greek government-debt crisis
- Interim Prime Minister of Greece Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, the country's first female prime minister, was sworn in Thursday. The PM named her caretaker government cabinet that will oversee implementation of austerity measures required by the latest debt bailout with Eurogroup. Elections, required after Alexis Tsipras resigned last week, are scheduled for September 20, 2015, the third time Greeks will be going to the polls this year. (AP via The New York Times), (The Irish Examiner), (CTV News)
Sports
- 2015 World Championships in Athletics
- Dafne Schippers defeats Elaine Thompson in the Women's 200 metres finals in Beijing. (The NL Times)