Portal:Current events/2015 October 14

October 14, 2015 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo calls for calm in the province of Aceh after a person was killed and a church burned down yesterday. (Channel News Asia)
Syrian Civil War
- Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - Two officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are reportedly killed in Syria. (Al Arabiya)
  - Thousands of Iranian troops arrive in Syria to reportedly start a new offensive in the battle of Aleppo. (The Telegraph)
- Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - The United States and Russia are finalizing a memorandum of understanding that sets out basic air safety procedures in the skies above Syria, according to a U.S. official. (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021)
- ISIL confirms that U.S. forces killed its number two leader, Abu Mutaz al-Qurashi, in an airstrike near Mosul back in August. (Israel National News) (Al Arabiya)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israel's military deploys new checkpoints in its Arab neighborhoods, as well as thousands of border police soldiers to cities and on roads to assist police forces in response to recent Palestinian stabbing attacks. (USA Today) (AP via Denver Post)
- A Palestinian man wearing camouflaged clothing is shot dead at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate after charging at Israeli police with a knife; another Palestinian attacker stabs a 70-year old woman near Jerusalem's Central Bus Station before being shot dead by police. (Jerusalem Post) (The Times of Israel)
Taunsa Sharif bombing
- A suicide bomb kills at least seven people and injures 13 others in Pakistan’s Punjab province inside the political office of Pakistan Muslim League MNA Sardar Amjad Farooq Khan Khosa, who was not present. Sardar Khosa, who is attending a meeting in Islamabad, said he did not receive any threat or alert prior to the blast. A Taliban splinter group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claims responsibility for the attack. (The Express Tribune) (India.com)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A triple suicide-bomb attack in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri kills at least 7 people. (Yahoo)
- The U.S. is to deploy 300 troops to Cameroon as part of a stepped-up effort to counter Boko Haram in the region. (AP via Daily Mail)
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- Taliban insurgents overrun two security checkpoints near Kandahar in the southern Helmand Province, killing at least 29 border police officers, according to local officials. (Star Tribune)

Arts and culture

At the beginning of today's weekly general audience, Pope Francis asks for forgiveness for the scandals which have recently hit Rome and the Vatican. He did not offer details. The Church's Synod on the Family concludes Sunday, October 25, 2015. (Voice of America) (Catholic Herald) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A Swiss Boeing F/A-18 military jet crashes in France while on a training mission, injuring the pilot. The Swiss defense ministry has said it did not know what caused the accident. (Reuters)
A temporary footbridge across the M1 motorway in Sandton near Johannesburg, South Africa, collapses, killing two people and injuring 23. Both carriageways of the motorway remain closed as rescue work continues. (News24)
2015 Mina stampede
- An updated count by the Associated Press raises the death toll from the Mina stampede during the Hajj to at least 1,621, with hundreds still missing. (AP via Washington Post) (Dainik Jagran)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- Myanmar election authorities confirm that landmark polls will go ahead on November 8 after the opposition rejected postponing due to this summer's widespread flooding. The upcoming election is Myanmar’s first since moving away from half a century of military rule in 2011. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (The Guardian)

Sports

2015 WNBA season
- In North American basketball, the Minnesota Lynx win their third Women's National Basketball Association title in five years defeating the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2 in the finals. (AP)
2015 MLB postseason
- In North America, the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Texas Rangers, 6-3, and the Kansas City Royals top the Houston Astros, 7-2, in a pair of American League Division Series (ALDS) deciding game fives. The teams move on to the best-of-seven 2015 American League Championship Series (ALCS). The series opens Friday, October 16, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. EDT when defending AL champs Kansas City host the Blue Jays, who are in the ALCS for the first time since 1993. (Game 1 - MLB.com) (Game 2 - MLB.com)

Business and economics

The businessman and outdoorsman Skip Yowell – co-founder of a leading maker of popular backpack, JanSport – died at the age of 69 in St. Peter, Kansas. (New York Times)