Portal:Current events/2020 July 7

• Anshun bus crash
  • A bus carrying students to an exam plunges into a reservoir in Anshun, Guizhou, China, killing 21 and leaving 16 injured. (Reuters)
• At least two people die and over 20 are injured when two trains collide near Pernink in the Czech Republic. (Reuters)
• Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers are deployed to battle wildfires in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk Oblast. The fires have killed six people and destroyed more than 120 houses. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai says some of the fires may have been caused by arson. (The National)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
      • Sinovac Biotech is starting Phase III trials of its potential COVID-19 vaccine following a fast-track approval for the trials by Brazilian regulators last week. The study, done in partnership with Brazilian vaccine producer Instituto Butantan, will recruit nearly 9,000 healthcare professionals working in COVID-19-specialized facilities and start this month. (Al Jazeera)
      • President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19. (The Guardian)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
      • Chile surpasses 300,000 cases of COVID-19. (Cooperativa)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut
      • Connecticut reports zero deaths for the first time in four months. (The Hill)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
      • Texas surpasses 200,000 cases of COVID-19. (USA Today)
    • The United States has averaged just under 50,000 new cases daily over the last week, twice as high as a month ago. (CNN)
    • Contact tracing is no longer possible across the Southern United States due to rapid COVID-19 surges in the region. (Fox8) (Fox10)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Iran
    • Iran reports a record high death toll of 200 in the last 24 hours. (AFP via Al Arabiya)

• Assassination of Qasem Soleimani
  • United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnès Callamard concludes, in a report to be presented at the United Nations Human Rights Council, that the killing of Qasem Soleimani in January by the United States was "unlawful". Callamard says that based on U.S. evidence, the killing was "arbitrary" and "violated the UN charter". (Al Jazeera)

• Censorship in Vietnam
  • In what is seen as an increase in arrests of political activists, a court in Vietnam sentences a 29-year-old Facebook user to eight years in prison for making anti-government posts, including several criticizing communist leader Ho Chi Minh. The man was also sentenced to serve three years of house arrest after finishing his prison term. (Reuters)
• Tom Meighan, former lead vocalist of the band Kasabian, pleads guilty to assaulting his former partner. (The Guardian)

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador
    • Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner resigns over the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia
    • Thousands of people protest outside the House of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in the capital Belgrade, in response to President Aleksandar Vučić's plan on introducing stricter lockdown measures in Belgrade, due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city. A small group of protesters storm the building after pushing through a police cordon. (Reuters)
• The United States officially declares its intent to withdraw from the World Health Organization in 2021. (The Guardian)