Portal:Current events/2017 August 2

August 2, 2017 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- A suicide bomber kills two American troops near the Kandahar International Airport in Afghanistan. The Taliban insurgency claims responsibility. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

British royal consorts
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, retires from public appearances at the age of 96, after having completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952. (ABC News (Australia))

Business and economy

Affirmative action in the United States
- The U.S. Justice Department announces internally that it is to start investigating colleges which have admissions policies that are seen as unfair to Asian Americans. (Newsweek) (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

Floods in the United States
- Several streets in Miami and Miami Beach are underwater after Tropical Depression Emily causes 102 to 178 millimetres of rain overnight. (CNN)
Minnehaha Academy gas explosion
- A natural gas explosion at college prep school Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kills two staff members. Another nine people were injured, seven of whom are hospitalized, three in critical and four in serious condition. (AP) (CBS News)

Health and medicine

Gene editing
- Teams of United States-based researchers, composed of American, Chinese and South Korean scientists, successfully edit a piece of faulty DNA that causes a deadly form of heart disease from cells in human embryos. (BBC) (CNN) (Science News Magazine) (Scientific American)

International relations

Law and crime

Politics and elections

Papua New Guinean general election, 2017
- The parliament of Papua New Guinea re-elects Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister, ending a chaotic election campaign marred by violence, which analysts fear may continue amid widespread voter unrest. (Reuters)
Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly election, 2017
- At a news briefing in London, the CEO of Smartmatic, the Venezuelan-owned multinational company that provided the election system used in Sunday's election, says the number of those participating in the poll was tampered with, off by at least one million. (NPR)
Immigration policy of Donald Trump
- United States President Donald Trump, together with Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, unveils the RAISE Act, a plan that would, if passed, reduce legal immigration to the U.S. by half each year, and implement a "merit-based system" prioritizing skilled workers, instead of the current family-based chain migration system. (The Washington Post) (NPR)

Science and technology

Effects of global warming on South Asia
- New research suggests that large parts of Southern Asia may be uninhabitable by 2100 due to levels of humidity dangerous to humans. (National Geographic)