current Events/2021 October 27

• War in Donbas, Russia–Ukraine relations
  • Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov warns that the delivery and Ukraine's first operational deployment of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 in Donbas may "destabilize the situation" in the region. Ukraine carried out its first strikes against separatist forces using the Bayraktar drone yesterday. (Reuters)
  • Ukrainian troops regain control of the village of Staromaryivka in the so-called "grey zone" between Ukraine and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), according to DPR Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova. (TASS)
• Islamic State insurgency in Iraq
  • Eleven people are killed and 26 more injured as angry villagers attack residents of Nahr Al-Imam in retaliation for yesterday's Islamic State attack in the nearby village of Al-Rashad, Diyala Governorate, which killed 15 people. The victims were not however connected to the attack. (The New Arab)
• October 2021 Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan protests
  • Four policemen are killed and 263 more are injured during clashes with supporters of the banned far-right Islamic extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party in Lahore, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
• Papua conflict
  • A report by the United Nations and the government of Papua New Guinea finds that thousands of Papuans from Indonesia have crossed into the remote border areas of western Papua New Guinea. In one of the areas, the sole police commander, Terry Dap, has asked the central government in Port Moresby to help reduce the influx of asylum seekers into Papua New Guinea. (RNZ)
• October 2021 Sudanese coup d'état
  • The African Union suspends Sudan in response to Monday's military coup. (DW)

Arts and culture

• Pope Francis blesses two large bells headed to Ukraine and Ecuador. The bells are part of an initiative by the Polish Yes to Life foundation. They each weigh more than 2,000 pounds, are nearly four feet in diameter, and were cast by the Felczyński bell foundry in Przemyśl, Poland. (Catholic News Agency)

Business and economy

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, Economy of Brazil
    • The Central Bank of Brazil raises its interest rate by 150 basis points to 7.75 percent, its largest increase since 2002. (AFP via RFI)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, COVID-19 vaccination in Vietnam
      • Vietnam begins to vaccinate children in Ho Chi Minh City where 1,500 teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17 years old are eligible to receive the vaccine as part of an effort to reopen schools after a six-month closure. (AP)
      • Vietnam surpasses 900,000 cases of COVID-19. (The Saigon Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
      • Singapore reports a record 5,324 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 184,419. (Today)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria
      • Bulgaria reports a record for the second consecutive day of 6,816 new cases of COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 582,122. (Bulgarian News Agency)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
      • Russia reports a record for the second consecutive day of 1,123 deaths from COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 233,898. (ABC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • Labour Party leader Keir Starmer tests positive for COVID-19. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, COVID-19 vaccination in Australia
    • The Therapeutic Goods Administration approves the usage of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose for people over the age of 18 years old, which can be administered at least six months after the second dose. (ABC News Australia)
  • COVID-19 drug development
    • Merck & Co. signs a licensing agreement with the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool that will allow more companies to manufacture generic versions of its experimental oral antiviral COVID-19 treatment molnupiravir with a royalty-free license that will apply to 105 low- and middle-income countries. (Reuters)

International relations

• Lebanon–Saudi Arabia relations
  • Saudi Arabia summons the Lebanese ambassador over "offensive" remarks about the war in Yemen made by Lebanese information minister George Kurdahi. (Arab News)
• China–Tajikistan relations
  • Tajikistan approves the construction of a new US$10 million Chinese military base near its border with Afghanistan, and in a separate statement offers to hand over a pre-existing base to China and waive future rent payments on the base in exchange for military aid. The approval comes as the Tajik government expressed concerns about the worsening security situation along the border after the Taliban took over Afghanistan a few months prior. (RFE/RL)
• Nuclear program of Iran
  • Following a meeting with European officials in Brussels, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announces that negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will resume in November. Negotiations were halted following the United States' withdrawal from the deal. (AFP via WION)

Law and crime

• Climate justice
  • Men from the Kalaw Lagaw Ya Indigenous Australian community sue the Australian Government in the Federal Court over the impacts of climate change on the Torres Strait Islands. (ABC News Australia)
• COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro
  • The Brazilian Senate votes to charge President Jair Bolsonaro over his controversial handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The charges include crimes against humanity, incitement to crime, falsification of documents and the violation of social rights. Brazil's COVID-19 death toll is second only to that of the United States. (BBC News)
• Protests continue for a second consecutive day across Ecuador due to an increase in the price of gasoline, as president Guillermo Lasso orders the deployment of security forces to highways in order to maintain order. Lasso also calls on indigenous populations and civil society groups to engage in dialogue. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Next Portuguese legislative election
  • The budget proposed by the Socialist minority government of Prime Minister António Costa is rejected by the Assembly of the Republic for the first time in the country's democratic history, following moves by the Left Bloc and the Communist Party to join the right-wing parties and reject the budget. It is expected that the President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will dissolve the parliament and call for early elections. (AFP via France 24)
• Poland and the European Union
  • The European Court of Justice (ECJ) fines Poland €1 million per day, for breaking the law by maintaining the disciplinary chamber of its Supreme Court. The ECJ says Poland has failed to comply with its order, and finds it might pose a "serious and irreparable harm to the legal order of the European Union". The fine is the highest daily penalty the ECJ has ever imposed on any EU member state. (DW)

Sports

• Homosexuality in association football
  • Australian professional soccer player Josh Cavallo comes out as gay, becoming the only current openly gay top-flight male soccer player. (CNN)