Portal:Current events/2016 June 18

June 18, 2016 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Terrorism in the European Union
- Twelve people are arrested and three men are subsequently charged with terrorism offences in Belgium after dozens of raids were carried out mainly in the Brussels region. (BBC)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least eight people, including four children, are shot and killed, and another eight wounded by Turkish border guards. The group was trying to cross from northwestern Syria into Turkey's Hatay Province. (The Times of Israel) (AP)

Disasters and accidents

A week of heavy rains and flooding in south China results in at least 25 deaths, six people missing and 33,000 people displaced. (ABC News)
Six people are killed and 10 injured when a van crashes in the U.S. state of Virginia. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Killing of Jo Cox
- Thomas Mair from the town of Birstall, West Yorkshire, is charged with the murder of British MP Jo Cox. (West Yorkshire Police) (BBC)
A 73-year-old gunman shoots dead a police officer, and seriously wounds another before shooting himself dead in Vihti, Finland. Finnish broadcaster Yle reports it is the first time a police officer in Finland has been killed in the line of duty since 2007. (AP via Daily Mail)
Mohamed Morsi, former President of Egypt, is sentenced to life imprisonment and another 15 years for his role in allegedly leaking government secrets to Qatar. Six people, including two Al Jazeera employees, are sentenced to death. (Daily News Egypt) (Al Jazeera)
At least six people have been shot dead and 12 injured as a result of 18 shootings in the American city of Chicago, Illinois. (ABC7 Chicago)

Politics and elections

Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile
- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declares a four-month ceasefire in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan in order to give rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North a chance to join the peace process and to lay down arms in order to end the conflict which has been ongoing since 2011. (Al Jazeera)
2016 United States presidential election, 2016 Republican National Convention
- Apple Inc. notifies the GOP that this year it will not fund or provide other support for the party’s 2016 presidential convention, citing Donald Trump’s controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities. (Politico)

Science and technology