Portal:Current events/2017 October 19

October 19, 2017 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- At least 43 Afghan soldiers are killed in a Taliban attack on an army base in Kandahar Province. Around 10 Taliban fighters also died in the attack. (Business Insider)
2017 Tongo Tongo ambush
- The United States Africa Command sends a team to Niger to investigate an October 4 ambush which killed four U.S. soldiers. (NBC News)

Law and crime

Crime in Florida
- Two people are arrested and five people suffer minor injuries at the University of Florida during protests of Richard B. Spencer's speech at an event there. (ABC News)

Politics and elections

2017 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warns Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont that the region's autonomy will be suspended if he fails to drop the Catalonian government's bid for secession by 10:00 a.m. CEST (08:00 a.m. GMT). (BBC)
- Rajoy announces that he will begin the process of stripping Catalonia of its autonomy starting on October 21. This follows a letter Puigdemont wrote before the deadline again asking for dialogue, and blaming Rajoy for escalating the crisis. Rajoy had wanted dialogue after reassurances that the independence bid was dropped. (Vox)
Aftermath of the 2017 New Zealand general election
- New Zealand First leader Winston Peters chooses to create a minority coalition with the Labour Party and form the sixth Labour government. (NZ Herald)
- Jacinda Ardern, the leader of the Labour Party, will be the next prime minister. (Newshub)

Science and technology

Scientists studying flying insects in nature reserves and protected areas of western Germany report a decline of more than 75% of the population in about three decades. (The Atlantic) (PLOS One)

Sports