Portal:Current events/2017 September 20

September 20, 2017 (Wednesday)

Business and economy

Economy of the United States
- The U.S. Federal Reserve announces its benchmark interest rate will not change this month, though it expects an increase by the end of the year, along with three increases in 2018 and two in 2019. The Federal Reserve also says its balance sheet reduction program will begin in October. (CNBC)

Disasters and accidents

2017 Central Mexico earthquake
- Searches continue for possible survivors of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit central Mexico yesterday. By mid-afternoon, 52 people are rescued while at least 226 people have been killed and another 800 injured. (Los Angeles Times) (ABC News)
2017 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Maria
  - Hurricane Maria makes landfall on Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. Effects are disastrous and the entire island loses power. Seven deaths are reported on Puerto Rico, along with two on Guadeloupe. Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló declares a 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew through Saturday. (NHC) (Reuters) (The Telegraph) (The Washington Post) (The New York Times)
  - Now a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (180 km/h), Maria is moving toward the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, and is forecast to affect the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas Thursday night and northern Haiti Friday. (National Hurricane Center)
  - The National Hurricane Center predicts Puerto Rico's total rainfall through Saturday will be 20–30 inches (51–76 cm) inches with 35 inches (89 cm) in isolated areas. The Virgin Islands will receive an additional 3 to 5 inches (7.6 to 12.7 cm). (National Hurricane Center²)

International relations

U.N. Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Treaty
- Fifty countries (50) sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted on 7 July 2017, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. The world's nuclear-weapon states oppose the measure. (AP via MSN.com)^{[permanent dead link]} (Reuters) (United Nations)

Law and crime

Presidency of Donald Trump
- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra files suit in federal court against U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed plan for a wall along the U.S.–Mexico border. (AP) (The Hill)
Catalan independence referendum, 2017
- Spanish police raid Catalan government offices and arrest Catalan officials as part of the effort to halt a banned referendum on independence. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont says, "The Spanish state has by all rights intervened in Catalonia’s government and has established emergency rule." (Reuters) (The New York Times)
Philippine Drug War, Human rights in the Philippines
- Speaking to government workers at the presidential palace in Manila, President Rodrigo Duterte orders police to kill his eldest son, Paulo Duterte, if drug trafficking allegations against him are proven true, and adds that those who carried out the execution would be protected from prosecution. (Independent)

Politics and elections

Censorship in Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia lifts its 2013 ban on internet calls, effective midnight local time (21:00 UTC). (Reuters)

Science and technology

Long-term effects of global warming
- MIT physics professor Daniel Rothman's mathematical formula, published in the peer-review journal Science Advances, predicts a sixth mass extinction may be set to occur within 10,000 years if by the year 2100 current carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced, and a critical amount of carbon (310 gigatons) is added to the oceans. (Phys.org) (Science Advances)