Portal:Current events/2018 August 8

August 8, 2018 (Wednesday)

Arts and culture

Academy Awards
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces new changes to the Oscars, including possibly a shorter ceremony, and a new category called "Most Popular Film". (Huffington Post)

Disasters and accidents

August 2018 Lombok earthquake
- The death toll from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia, rises to 131 and nearly 2,500 people are now confirmed seriously injured. (The Washington Post)

International relations

Canada–Saudi Arabia relations
- Saudi Press Agency reports that all Saudi patients are being transferred from Canadian hospitals to other medical facilities outside Canada. (Al Jazeera)
Colombia–United States relations, Crisis in Venezuela (2012–present)
- The United States pledges US$9 million in aid to Colombia to help support Venezuelan migrants in the country. (McClatchy DC Bureau)
2018 China–United States trade war
- China announces 25% tariffs on an additional US$16 billion worth of imports from the United States, effective August 23, matching yesterday's decision by the United States. (Bloomberg)
International recognition of the State of Palestine
- The Mission of Palestine in Colombia announces recognition of the State of Palestine as a free and sovereign state. (WAFA)
Reactions to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
- The United States imposes new sanctions on Russia after the use of a Novichok nerve agent in the United Kingdom. Yesterday, the UK said that they would seek extradition of suspects from Russia. (BBC) (Sky News)

Law and crime

Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia reports the execution and crucifixion, in Mecca, of a man from Myanmar. The man was sentenced for breaking into the home of a woman and stabbing her, which led to her death, as well as for other crimes. (Bloomberg)
Insider trading
- U.S. Representative Chris Collins (R–NY) is arrested on charges of securities and wire fraud, conspiracy and lying to investigators. He is accused of passing nonpublic information about Innate Immunotherapeutics, a biotech company, to his son, who traded on the information and passed it along to others. Collins was a director of the company and also a major investor. (NPR)

Politics and elections