Portal:Current events/2015 October 17

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Current events of October 17, 2015 (2015-10-17) (Saturday)

Henriette Reker, a candidate in Cologne's mayoral race, is stabbed in the neck by a man claiming to be angry over Germany's refugee policies. (BBC)

Syrian Civil War
- A top Al-Qaeda commander is killed in an airstrike in Syria. (USA Today)
- Battle of Aleppo (2012–present), Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - The Syrian army, backed by Iranian fighters, captures several villages south of Aleppo. (Reuters)
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia
- A gunman from the Islamic State opens fire on a Shiite meeting hall in Saudi Arabia, killing five people. (Reuters)

Stephen Glass, author, former journalist and attorney, will repay Harper’s Magazine and other outlets because works he authored were found to have been fabricated. (New York Times)
The Writers’ Revolt: Nayantara Sahgal, is one of the latest authors in India who will return that nation’s highest award from the National Academy of Letters in protest against what Salman Rushdie has characterized as “’thuggish violence’ creeping into Indial life hunder the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.(New York Times)

The United States cancels two potential Arctic lease sales off Alaska's northern coast, and announces Shell and Statoil current leases will not be extended because of "current market conditions and low industry interest." (NPR) (BBC)
US Airways final flight, Flight 1939 -- named for the airline's founding year, landed at Philadelphia International Airport at 5:54 a.m. Saturday. Future flights will fly under the American Airlines banner, completing the merger announced in 2013. (Christian Science Monitor) (AP via WSAW)

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Koppu (Lando) heads towards the Philippines island of Luzon where it is expected to make landfall as a Category 4 storm, linger and deposit up to 50 inches of rain in some areas. (Mashable)
At least 15 people are killed in a wedding bus crash in Andhra Pradesh state in southern India. (AAP via News Limited)

Ardit Ferizi, a 20-year-old hacker from Kosovo and computer student in Malaysia, is arrested for hacking into a Phoenix, Arizona computer system and stealing the names and personal information of thousands of U.S. military personnel. Ferizi is accused of giving the information to ISIS. The U.S. is seeking Ferizi’s extradition. (CNN)

European migrant crisis
- The first migrants reach Slovenia after the border between Hungary and Croatia is closed. (Reuters)
- Turkey's Anadolu Agency reports that 12 migrants have drowned in the Aegean Sea while trying to get to Europe. (AP)