PORTAL:CURRENT EVENTS 2019 JUNE 25

June 25, 2019 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  - Saudi Arabia announces that Abu Usama al-Muhajir, the leader of ISIL's Yemeni branch, has been captured by special forces. (The New York Times)
Sinai insurgency
- Suspected ISIL militants attack checkpoints and an assembly center in the Egyptian city of Arish. Seven police officers are killed, along with a civilian. Four militants also died, including one that blew himself up. (Al Jazeera)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Boko Haram militants open fire on farmers in Borno State, killing 22. (Xinhua)

Business and economy

Safety of electronic cigarettes
- San Francisco becomes the first U.S. city to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes (vapes) until the health effects of using them are better understood. Juul, the largest producer of e-cigarettes in the United States, which is based in the city, condemns the ban saying the move will drive people back to tobacco smoking and will create a black market. (BBC News)
AbbVie, the Illinois-based pharmaceutical company best known for Humira, announces its plan to purchase Allergan, the maker of Botox, for about $63 billion. (Reuters)
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announces that, effective immediately, foreign currencies such as the United States dollar or South African rand will no longer be legal tender in the country, and that any use of foreign currency within Zimbabwe will be a punishable offense. (Deutsche Welle)
The Chamber of Commerce of Lima warns that just under a million Peruvians are at risk of returning to poverty. (La República)

Disasters and accidents

One woman dies and 21 people are affected after eating lunch in a Seventh-day Adventist church in the district of Sorochuco, department of Cajamarca, in Peru. The causes of the poisoning are not yet clear. (El Comercio)
A brush fire burns at least 32,000 acres of land in the Florida Everglades amid near record-breaking temperatures. (Accuweather)

International relations

Iran–Saudi Arabia relations, Iran–United Arab Emirates relations, Bahrain–Iran relations
- Iran's special advisor to the parliament speaker, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, says Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain are "toying with regional security by giving territories to a foreign power". (Middle East Monitor)

Law and crime

Cannabis in the United States
- Illinois becomes the 11th U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. The bill, signed into law by Governor of Illinois J. B. Pritzker, will also remove criminal records for purchasing or possessing 30 grams or less of cannabis. (AP)

Politics and elections

Science and technology

Space Test Program, 2019 in spaceflight
- SpaceX successfully launches and deploys 24 satellites, including LightSail 2, Green Propellant Infusion Mission, and the Deep Space Atomic Clock, into orbit via its Falcon Heavy rocket. Falcon Heavy's sideboosters both returned safely to their landing pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while the rocket's center booster failed to land on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean, exploding in the sea. (The New York Times)

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