Portal:Current events/2020 July 20

July 20, 2020 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Second Libyan Civil War, Egypt–Libya relations
- In a closed-door session, the Parliament of Egypt authorizes the military to intervene in neighbouring Libya. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said Sirte is a "red-line", and that any attack on the strategic Libyan city would prompt Egyptian military action. (ABC News)
Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War
- Syrian air defenses respond to a strike over Damascus attributed to Israel, state media reports, in the latest wave of attacks that Western intelligence sources have said were Israeli strikes on a major Iranian-backed ammunition depot on the edge of the capital. According to a Syrian military sources, at least seven soldiers were wounded in the attack which also inflicted "heavy material damage". (Haaretz)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
- Popular music magazine Q announces it is ceasing operations after 34 years in print amid an accelerated downturn in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Reuters)

Health and environment

International relations

European Union response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- The EU meeting on a post-coronavirus recovery fund enters deadlock on its fourth day. Complicating matters, the group is also negotiating a deal for the bloc's next long-term budget. Today's early talks over a proposed €750bn ($857bn / £680bn) recovery package have reportedly been testy. Resumption is scheduled for 14:00 GMT. (BBC News)
China–United Kingdom relations, Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations
- UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announces that the United Kingdom will "immediately and indefinitely" suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong over the controversial national security law. (BBC News)

Law and crime

George Floyd protests in the United States
- George Floyd protests in Chicago
  - Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she has "great concerns" about the possibility that President Donald Trump could deploy federal agents to Chicago to crack down on gun violence and protests, similar to an approach in Portland, Oregon. The Trump Administration will be sending 175 federal agents to Chicago to assist police in curbing violent crime. (WBBM-TV)
Capital punishment in Iran
- Iranian Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, convicted of spying for the United States and Israel and on the Revolutionary Guards commander, Qasem Soleimani, is executed by hanging in Iran. (BBC News)
Police in Panama arrest a person linked to a mass shooting two days ago which resulted in six young people killed with gunshot wounds to the head. Investigators suspect that it was a targeted attack. (BBC News)
Roy Den Hollander, a self-described antifeminist lawyer, is named as the attacker behind the shooting at the home of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas last night, which left her son dead and her husband critically injured. Den Hollander has been found dead at a home in Rockland, New York, and is also being investigated in connection to the earlier shooting death of a southern California lawyer. (USA Today) (The Daily Beast) (NBC News)

Politics and elections

2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia
- Democratic Party of Georgia Chair and State Senator Nikema Williams is selected by the party's Executive Committee to replace the name of the late incumbent John Lewis on the ballot for Georgia's 5th congressional district for the November 3 general election. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
King Salman of Saudi Arabia, 84, is admitted to a hospital due to an inflammation of the gall bladder. The hospitalization prompts Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to cancel his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)