Wednesday

October 19, 2016

Disasters and accidents

A natural gas explosion damages several buildings and injures eight people in downtown Portland, Oregon. (The Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The European Space Agency fails to contact its Schiaparelli lander during its descent through the atmosphere of the planet Mars. (The Guardian)

NASA's Juno probe, in orbit around Jupiter, enters safe mode. (The Guardian)

2016 Pacific typhoon season

The Philippine government places more than two dozen provinces on alert before Typhoon Haima makes landfall over Luzon. Haima, downgraded by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System to a Category 4 storm, landfalls Cagayan province in the island's northeast. Weather forecasters expect the storm to impact up to 2.7 million people before veering northwest toward the Chinese coast on October 21. (Media Corp Press Today Online), (CNN via KCCI), (The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System)

Law and crime

The Attorney General of Mexico issues an arrest warrant for the former Governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, for suspected involvement in organized crime and money laundering. (Reuters)

A police dispersal occurs between combined minority groups and anti-U.S. activists and the Philippine National Police in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Police arrest 30 protesters with 60 people injured, several rammed by a police van driven during the dispersal. (Rappler), (The Manila Bulletin), (Al Jazeera)

Czech police announce the arrest of a man at a Prague hotel two weeks ago who they claim is a Russian hacker suspected of targeting the U.S. (CBS News)