Portal:Current events/2024 August 20
August 20, 2024 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis
- The Israel Defense Forces reportedly recover the bodies of six hostages from the Khan Younis area, who were kidnapped by Hamas in the initial October 7, 2023 attack. (Reuters)
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
- At least twelve Palestinians, including two children, are killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school used to shelter displaced people in Gaza City. (Middle East Eye)
- Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Russia claims that its forces have taken control of New York in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
International relations
- Haiti–United States relations, Illegal drug trade in Haiti
- The United States Treasury Department imposes sanctions on former Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly for allegedly using his influence to facilitate drug trafficking in the country and into the United States. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Suspected serial killer Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, accused of murdering 42 women, escapes from police custody in Nairobi, Kenya. (Al Jazeera)
- The Taliban’s virtue ministry dismisses 281 members of the security force for failing to grow a beard and announces that they destroyed 21,328 musical instruments in the past year and prevented thousands of computer operators from selling immoral and unethical films in markets. (Al Arabiya)
- United States district judge Joanna Seybert sentences former US Representative George Santos to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Germany–Iran relations
- Following the ordered closure of the Islamic Centre Hamburg in Germany, Iran orders the closure of two branches of a German language school in Tehran for "breaching Iranian law, committing various illegal actions and extensive financial violations." Germany summons the Iranian ambassador in response. (DW)
Science and technology
- BMW recalls over 720,000 vehicles due to an issue with degrading electrical connectors that could potentially cause a vehicle fire. (AP)