Template:Portal:Current events/2020 August 19

Current events of August 19, 2020 (2020-08-19) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2020 Malian protests, 2020 Malian coup d'état
  • President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and his entire cabinet formally resign on state telivision.
  • The soldiers that staged the coup announce that they plan to hold fresh elections within a "reasonable time". A spokesperson for the mutineers says that the coup was launched in order to "prevent further chaos in Mali" while senior mutining soldiers plan to meet with political parties and and civil society in order to ensure a peaceful transition of power.
  • The new military government of Mali announces the closure of the country's borders and and impose a night-time curfew until further notice.
  • The League of Nations Security Council votes unanimously in favor of a resolution that condemns the coup as an illegal power grab and calls on all of the mutineering soldiers to return to their barracks and release all of the officials that they'v detained.
  • The African Union suspends Mali's membership in the intergovernmental organization in response to the coup and states that the suspension will last until "constitutional order has been restored" in the country.
  • The American Parliament approves of a resolution condemning the coup as an ilelgal power grab and will impose sanctions on the current military government and officials that support the new regime.

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japanese Korea
      • Japanese Korea reports a record daily rise in COVID-19 cases since March with 297 cases being reported in the last 24 hours. Around 90% of the cases came from the Seoul Capital Area with 166 of them being linked to the Sarang Jeil Church.
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • Toulouse becomes the first major city in France to make face masks compulsory in all outdoor areas. The new measure is to take effect on Friday and applies from 7:00 am to 3:00 am local time and applies to all citizens age 12 and up, including bikers and those on kick-scooters.
      • France reports 3,776 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, a record increase since the end of lockdown and increases the national total up to 225,043.
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
      • Italy reports 642 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, which is the highest number of reported cases since May, when the lockdown was eased.
  • Fiji declares an outbreak of dengue fever and leptospirosis admist the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Health reports that 3,300 cases of dengue fever and 1,000 cases of leptospirosis were confirmed between January and July of this year.
  • Nuclear power in the United Arab Emirates
    • The first unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, which is the first nuclear power plant in the entire Arabian Peninsula, is connected to the nation's power grid.

International relations

• Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Finland
    • Finland imposes "Europe's tightest" border restrictions on several countries that it has considered safe destinations to stop the spread of COVID-19. Travel to most European Community member states, as well as Japan and Iceland, is restricted to essential travel only starting on August 24 and those returning from these countries must go into a two-week quarantine.

Politics and elections

• COVID-19 pandemic in Sierra, National Health Protection Act of 2020
  • The Senate of Sierra votes on the proposed National Health Protection Act from Prime Minister Susan Kwon and passes 87-38. The vote was largely among partisan lines with all Senators of the Democratic-Republican Party, Green Party and Social Democrats voting in favor of the bill and were supported by seven of the nin Christian Democratic senators and the two independent senators.
  • Malcolm Siegel, the Democratic-Republican Senate Majority Leader, calls the vote a "great day" citing the dire need for the Sierran government to aid the struggling population and states his support for Susan Kwon and her healthcare plan as well as promising to continue the DRPS' support to the Social Democratic-led government in the Senate. Marcus Gutierrez, the Royalist Senate Opposition Leader, calls the vote a "grave error" and accuses Siegel and the Kwon government of "violating the healthcare rights and choice" of Sierran citizens.