August 12, 2019 (Monday)
Business and economy
- 2019 Argentine general election
- After Argentine President Mauricio Macri comes second in Argentina's primary elections, the country's peso loses 15% of its value against the US dollar. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- At least 24 people die after floods strike across Vietnam. In the south, nearly 3,900 houses and more than 22,000 hectares of crops are submerged, mostly in Lam Dong Province. Floods also damage more than 30km of national roads, including the road leading to the tourist city of Dalat and destroy 142 hectares of aquarium farming and 4,300 cages of river-raised fish. (Al Jazeera)
International relations
- Japan–South Korea relations
- In a tit-for-tat move, South Korea removes Japan from its preferred trade list. (US News)
- Human rights in Venezuela
- Venezuelan activist Tamara Sujú visits London to ask the United Kingdom, and specifically Dominic Raab, to pressure the International Criminal Court to investigate claims of torture and human rights abuses by the Nicolás Maduro government. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Death of Jeffrey Epstein
- Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raid late financier billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's private Caribbean island, amid an investigation into alleged sex trafficking. The raid comes two days after Epstein's death. (NBC News)
Politics and elections
- Hong Kong protests
- The Airport Authority Hong Kong cancels all departure flights from Hong Kong, effectively locking down Hong Kong International Airport amid ongoing unrest. (BBC News)
- A spokesperson for China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office releases a statement accusing violent protesters that threw petrol bombs at Hong Kong Police officers of being "terrorists", saying that a violent minority within the pro-democracy movement poses "a serious challenge to Hong Kong's prosperity and stability". (Channel NewsAsia)
- 2019 Argentine general election
- Former Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Alberto Fernández gains a 15% lead over incumbent President Mauricio Macri in Argentina's primaries. (The New York Times)
- Operation Car Wash
- Text messages leaked by The Intercept Brasil show that Deltan Dallagnol, former coordinator of Operation Car Wash's prosecution team and anti-corruption public figure, knew that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni was involved in corruption, but chose not to act on it. (O Dia)