Portal:Current events/2021 June 23

June 23, 2021 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Tigray War
- Togoga airstrike
  - Doctors and medical workers in the Tigray Region say that more than 80 civilians have been killed and dozens more have been injured in an airstrike on a busy market in the village of Togoga. Ethiopian soldiers have reportedly prevented a convoy of ambulances from reaching the village. (AP)
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Three people are killed and 13 others injured during an explosion near the residence of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of the Islamist terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, in Lahore, Pakistan. Saeed's residence is suspected to be the attack's target. Saeed is serving is serving an 11-year prison sentence. (Al Jazeera)
War in Afghanistan
- Suspected Taliban insurgents fire a rocket into a hospital in Kunar, destroying COVID-19 vaccines and setting the hospital on fire. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denies responsibility for the attack as the group gains more territory on the border with Tajikistan. (Reuters)
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado
- The Southern African Development Community agrees to deploy a "standby force" to northern Mozambique to contain the growing Islamist insurgency in the area. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India surpasses 30 million cases of COVID-19, becoming the second country to do so after the United States. (Hindustan Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
    - Indonesia reports a record 15,308 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 2.03 million. (detikHealth)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Mongolia
    - Mongolia surpasses 100,000 cases of COVID-19. (AKI Press)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    - Thailand reports a record 51 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 1,744. (Bangkok Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    - New restrictions are imposed in Sydney and surrounding towns as the number of COVID-19 cases increases. Household visits are limited to five people, capacity quotas are introduced at businesses and masks are made mandatory in all non-residential indoor settings. The other states and territories of Australia, as well as New Zealand, close their borders with New South Wales. (NSW Government)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Fiji
    - Fiji reports a record for the second consecutive day of 279 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the national total to 2,549. The Ministry of Health also reports four deaths from COVID-19. (RNZ)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine
  - Ukraine reports its first two cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a woman and a teenager who travelled from Russia. (Kyiv Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in California
    - COVID-19 pandemic in the San Francisco Bay Area
      - San Francisco will require all 35,000 of their city employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine. (The New York Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state)
    - Clallam County in Washington reports their first case of the Lineage P.1 Gamma variant in an unvaccinated resident who traveled out of the state. (Peninsula Daily News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
  - Brazil reports 115,228 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, a new single-day record. (RTE)

International relations

Russia–United Kingdom relations
- Russia's Defence Ministry says that a Russian Navy patrol ship fired shots and a Su-24 attack aircraft dropped bombs in the pathway of the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender after it reportedly entered Russian-claimed territorial waters near Crimea in the Black Sea. The UK MOD said that this was part of a Russian military exercise in the vicinity and rejected Russia's account of the incident denying that any shots or bombs had been directed at the British ship. (BBC News)
China–United States relations
- The U.S. Department of Commerce places sanctions on five Chinese companies, some of them major producers of solar panel parts, for using forced Uyghur labor. (Al Jazeera)
The United Nations votes 184-2 on a resolution ending the embargo on Cuba, with the United States and Israel being the lone no votes. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Aftermath of the 2021 United States Capitol attack
- An Indiana woman is sentenced to three years probation for her role in the attack on the United States Capitol, making her the first person to be sentenced in the riot. (ABC News)
- Graydon Young pleads guilty to conspiracy charges for his role in the Capitol riot, making him the first member of the Oath Keepers to do so. (NPR)
Trial of Catalonia independence leaders
- The nine Catalan separatists pardoned on Tuesday leave prison after their pardons were ratified by King Felipe VI and after the Supreme Court set their imminent release. (RTVE)
Hong Kong national security law
- The pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily announces that its final edition will be released on Thursday and that it will later cease activities after five top executives were arrested under the national security law and the newspaper's assets were frozen. Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is already imprisoned and awaits trial, along with 46 others, on subversion charges. (CNN)
LGBT rights in Poland
- Polish education minister Przemysław Czarnek accuses the LGBT community of "insulting public morality" for a march held on Saturday in support of rights for the community. The opposition condemns Czarnek's comments as "language of hate". (Reuters)
American businessman John McAfee is found dead in his Barcelona prison cell, believed to be caused by suicide after the Spanish High Court authorized an extradition request for tax evasion earlier in the day. (Reuters)
The Cowessess First Nation and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations announce the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, Canada. (CBC News)