Portal:Current events/2018 June 18

June 18, 2018 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Gaza–Israel conflict
- A Palestinian man dies while tampering with the Israel–Gaza border's automated defences, which detonate. (Reuters)
Eight Kenyan security forces officers are killed after their vehicle hits a bomb in the country's east. Local authorities ascribe the killings to al-Shabaab. (teleSUR)
ISIL kidnaps and executes six people in Mosul, Iraq. (Iraqi News)

Arts and culture

Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, gives birth to a second daughter (later named Lena Elizabeth Tindall). (BBC)

Business and economy

Google announces that it will invest US$550 million in the Chinese e-commerce company JD.com. (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

2018 Osaka earthquake
- A magnitude 5.5 earthquake strikes Osaka, Japan, at 7:58 a.m. local time (22:58 UTC, June 17). At least five people have been killed and several are transported to hospitals with injuries. Electrical services are disrupted citywide, affecting 170,000 buildings. (NHK)
Shipwrecks in 2018
- A ship catches fire in Port Kembla in New South Wales, Australia, forcing the port's temporary closure. (Mining Weekly)
- A second attempt is made to extinguish burning container ship MV SSL Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal off India after rough conditions prompted an abandonment of yesterday's efforts. (Telegraph India)

Law and crime

Corruption in Spain
- Iñaki Urdangarin, brother-in-law of King Felipe VI of Spain, enters prison to serve the sentence of almost 6 years for the Nóos case. (La Vanguardia)
Volkswagen emissions scandal
- Audi CEO Rupert Stadler is arrested in Ingolstadt, Germany, over "clear signs that there was to be an effort to influence people and other suspects". Stadler is being investigated for suspected fraud and false advertising. (Reuters)
Cannabis in Canada
- The House of Commons of Canada votes to legalize recreational cannabis. The bill will now head back to the Senate, where it is expected to be passed into law. (The Independent)
Gun violence in Sweden
- Three men are killed and another three men are injured in a drive-by shooting outside an Internet cafe near a police station in central Malmö, Sweden. (BBC)
Shooting of XXXTentacion
- American rapper XXXTentacion is shot dead in Deerfield Beach, Florida, United States. (The Hollywood Reporter) (BBC)
Israel charges former energy minister Gonen Segev with spying for Iran. Segev is in custody; he was extradited from Equatorial Guinea. (BBC)
The United States Supreme Court sidesteps two major partisan gerrymandering cases, allowing challenged voter redistricting maps to be used in this year's midterms. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Militarisation of space
- US President Donald Trump directs the Department of Defense to begin the process of establishing a "space force" as the sixth military branch of the United States Armed Forces. (CNBC)
The Joko Widodo administration of Indonesia appoints Mochamad Iriawan, an active police general, as acting governor of West Java bringing back dual function. (The Jakarta Post)

Sports

The foreign minister of the Central African Republic, Charles-Armel Doubane, says that tennis player Boris Becker is not an official diplomat of the country. (AP via The Kansas City Star)