Portal:Current events/2019 August 9

August 9, 2019 (Friday)

Business and economy

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given waivers to 31 small oil refineries, freeing them from obligations to blend biofuels into their gasoline. (Reuters)
The International Monetary Fund finds that China's currency, the yuan, has been "broadly stable" against other currencies over the last year. The yuan is pulled down by market pressures due to the slowing economy. Suggesting little intervention by China's central bank, the IMF position is at odds with the designation of China by the U.S. as a currency manipulator. (AP News)

Disasters and accidents

A massive power failure affects most of the northwestern and southeastern United Kingdom and London, leaving thousands of homes, various train lines, and parts of Newcastle International Airport without power. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Canadian tourist Kristian Lee Baxter, who had been held in Syrian detention since 2018, is released in Lebanon. (BBC News)
Le Parisien claims French ex-head of security Yves Bonnet brokered a secret deal with Fatah in the 1980s offering immunity in exchange for no further terror attacks in France. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections