2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
José Luis Rugama Rizo was assassinated when leaving his house with a blue and white face mask and shouting "Viva Nicaragua libre" to a caravan after Ortega's speech this July 19 in Estelí. The murder occurred on Sunday night in the city of Estelí, in the north of Nicaragua, when Jorge Rugama Rizo was outside his house and the Sandinista caravan passed, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) and the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH), which received complaints from the victim's relatives and witnesses to the event.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
On July 20, 2020, while burying the murdered opponent, the house of some relatives of the deceased was burned by Nicaraguan social networks, and a campaign was raised to collect funds to meet the main basic needs of the family. The Nicaraguan Police presents on Tuesday July 21, 2020 Abner Onell Pineda Castellon as the main person in charge of José Luis Rugama Rizo


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
The family of the released prisoner and youth leader Bayron Estrada, continues to be besieged by the sanctioned Sandinista police, thus the young Estrada announced through his social networks. The family of the former political prisoner and youth leader Bayron Estrada, continues to be besieged by the sanctioned Sandinista police, thus the young Estrada announced through his social networks.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
The former political prisoner and professor Juan Bautista Guevara denounced in the Permanent Commission on Human Rights (CPDH) the escalation of the siege of the Nicaraguan police, as well as paramilitaries in his home since he was released under the Amnesty Law in 2019. According to Guevara, he and his relatives are subjected to police harassment "every day and at all hours", taking photographs of people entering and leaving the house and even pointing guns at them.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
Nicaraguan journalist Gerall Chávez denounced that he was threatened through an anonymous letter sent to his relatives in Carazo y de igual manera, le enviaron un vídeo en el que simulan cómo lo van a matar. On the other hand, the journalist and sports reporter for Radio Corporación, Julio «El Porteño» Jarquín denounced the police siege outside his home. Along the same lines, a police operation moved for hours outside the facilities of Radio Darío in León on the afternoon of July 25, 2020.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
Since late afternoon, the police chief, Fidel Domínguez located traffic agents in every corner leading to the station. A group of policemen from the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime, under the command of the León police chief, Fidel Domínguez, stole a motorcycle and a vehicle from Radio Darío collaborators in the hours of Saturday night, denounced the means of communication on their social networks. The station, located east of the Óscar Danilo Rosales Argüello Hospital (Heodra), in León, spent more than nine hours under siege, before the occupation of the motor vehicles was recorded, according to the director of the media outlet, Aníbal Toruño.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
The Nicaraguan Independent Press forum demands the cessation of attacks, intimidations and attacks against the Independent Press by the Ortega Murillo dictatorship, in different parts of the country.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo confirmed that the 41st anniversary of the Sandinista revolution would take place virtually due to "difficulties in these times" (referring to the COVID-19 pandemic that is raging in the country), Murillo announced that virtual concerts and activities will be held for those who like to participate in caravans. Also in the mayoralty of Managua a platform would be placed for the celebration of the anniversary.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020
Subsequently, various users who opposed the regime proposed a counter-march for July 19, flooding with blue and white flags before the red and black government's withdrawal of the FSLN flag. Users seek to generate actions of rejection in the face of the political crisis in the country and to remember the victims of the anti-government protests that emerged in 2018


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 20
A drunk man broke into a van in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua (Nicaragua), and destroyed part of its infrastructure, a fact that was condemned by the local church, which asked the faithful for prayers. In a statement, the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Maria de Managua (Nicaragua) reported that on July 20 at dawn, a drunk man broke into a truck in the Cathedral Church and destroyed three interior doors, and then ran away.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 25
The Catholic priest of the Our Lord of Veracruz Catholic Church Pablo Antonio Villafranca Martínez denounced the sacrilegious and robbery in the El Carmen Chapel "this is our complaint we will not put any before anyone else. "On the official website of the church, the priest informed the parishioners that criminals entered the chapel and caused damage to the temple “we will have to replace microphones, cables, amplifiers, speakers, locks, padlocks, piggy banks and repair everything. We have nothing but tears, helplessness, pain and frustration. "


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 29
The Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro chapel in the municipality of Nindirí, in Masaya (Nicaragua), was desecrated with "fury and hatred", because the unknown individuals not only stole custody and the ciborium, but also broke images, trampled the hosts and made other damage. The event occurred this Wednesday, July 29. The priest Jesús Silva, parish priest of the Santa Ana parish, to which the chapel belongs, made the complaint on social networks.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
An unidentified man threw a firebomb into a chapel of Managua's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, severely damaging the chapel and a devotional image of Christ more than three centuries old. A fact that has been described as an "act of terrorism" by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes. The incident occurred in the morning hours, when only two people were inside the chapel. The vice president and first lady, Rosario Murillo, declared to official media that "a fire" occurred because "our people are very devoted" and there were many candles in the place, where a curtain caught fire.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
However, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, archbishop of Managua and president of the Episcopal Conference, refuted Murillo, noting that on the site "there is no candle and we also have no curtains, our chapel has no curtains and has no candles	Brenes connected the fire with another event that occurred on the 20th, in which a man in a van destroyed the gates of the Cathedral, and with the theft of a fence, which served as an escape route for the person causing the fire. A woman who works in the temple told local television channel 14 that a young man asked where the chapel was and, after indicating the place, he heard an explosion and saw the stranger jumping over the walls that protect the place.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
The Sandinista Renovator Movement (MRS) party condemned the recent attacks against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, such as the burning of the Chapel of the Blood of Christ in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua this Friday morning, “We absolutely condemn all terrorist attacks and vandalism against temples and churches, now against the Cathedral of Managua, which constitute a flagrant violation of religious freedom, enshrined in the Nicaraguan Constitution ” For his part, José Adán Aguerri, President of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, expressed his solidarity through his Twitter account for this act of terrorism that occurred in the Cathedral of Managua “from COSEP Nicaragua and personally, our solidarity and support for the archdiocese.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
of Managua and the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, before the cowardly attack on the Cathedral of Managua that adds to the acts of vandalism in different chapels in the country in previous days. Intolerance will not succeed, ”says the publication. National Unity blue and white in a statement condemned the acts of desecration, siege and harassment against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua and ensure that "these acts violate freedom of religion provided for in our Constitution. These events, in addition to being targeted attacks, demonstrate the levels of insecurity experienced by the population at the national level. ”


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
He also added that "the evidence shows that the attacks are being committed by people related to the criminal dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, who maintains a permanent political campaign against priests and the Church. We stand in solidarity with the Catholic Church and the devout and Christian people of our country, in the face of such acts of desecration, ”the UNAB statement continues.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) through a statement expressed its repudiation of what happened in the Chapel of the Blood of Christ of the Cathedral of Managua, burned by an unknown person who threw a Molotov bomb and then fled the scene without leaving trail.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
"We demand that the authorities INVESTIGATE THE FACTS WITH CELERITY AND FIND THE GUILTY, otherwise we will suppose that it was the Ortega Murillo regime who gave the order to burn down the temple to continue its campaign of hatred and terror against churches, religious and believers that adversity him "expresses part of the Communiqué.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
Juan Sebastian Chamorro member of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy condemned the facts in a video via the social network Twitter and Father Edwin Roman condemned the attack and indicated that it can burn and destroy the image of the Lord but never Faith and dignity from his people. In this regard, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, wrote on his Twitter account: "We have cried together because of the fire that has occurred in the chapel of the venerated image of the Blood of Christ."


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
"Terrorist act associated with paramilitaries of the regime burn down the chapel of the Blood of Christ," denounced the opposition Edipcia Dubón. "I urge your Holiness the Pope to denounce the attacks by Daniel Ortega and his paramilitaries against the Catholic Church, the bishops and priests and the terrorist acts against the Cathedral of Managua," demanded activist Bianca Jagger. The Evangelical Alliance of Nicaragua, the main organization of evangelical Christians in the Central American country, has rejected the attack on the Chapel of the Blood of Christ located in the Cathedral of Managua.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
President Ortega appeared through official means to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the Nicaraguan Army Air Force. In his message, Ortega avoided commenting on the suffering of hundreds of stranded Nicaraguans, as well as the terrorist act perpetrated against the Catholic Church.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
In the act, Ortega highlighted the role of the Air Force during humanitarian emergencies or catastrophes produced by the impact of natural phenomena, but was silent on the humanitarian emergency that more than 500 compatriots have lived on the border of Peñas Blancas for two weeks and on the complicity of the Sandinista Army that expelled several Nicaraguans to Costa Rica who tried to enter the country through blind spots.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
Nine hours after the terrorist act in the cathedral of Managua, the Nicaraguan National Police issued a statement in which it suggested that an "alcohol spray" could have caused the fire that left the image of the blood of Christ in ashes." At the scene, a plastic spray bottle with alcohol (volatile easily combustion) was found, with one Nicaraguan observer from 100% Noticias stating that "they relate among the findings. It is worth noting that the atomizer was in good physical condition, without being observed melted by the fire that burned the chapel of the blood of Christ in the cathedral.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
The Sandinista regime led by Ortega continues its campaign of siege and intimidation against the independent media for showing its public mismanagement against the Nicaraguan population, on the morning of this Saturday, August 1, members of the Nicaraguan Police deployed patrols and riot police units at various points in Managua, including near El Diario La Prensa. From 8:30 in the morning, so too Radio La Costeñisima in Bluefields.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, Attacks on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, July 31
The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the aggressions and intimidations of the "authoritarian regime" of Nicaragua against journalists, which, it said, have worsened during the coverage of the pandemic and called on regional governments to exert "more pressure". Faced with allegations of crimes against press freedom made by various journalists' organizations, IAPA President Christopher Barnes and the President of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Roberto Rock, condemned "the new wave of censorship and attacks "and particularly targeted" public officials, police officers and members of parastatal groups, all motivated by the government of Daniel Ortega. "


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, International reactions
The Panamanian Episcopal Conference rejects the act of "vandalism" carried out in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, Nicaragua. When on July 31, 2020, a man threw an explosive device, which caused the chapel that houses the "Blood of Christ and the Most Holy" to catch fire. It causes us deep pain and outrage, seeing how the sensitivity of the Nicaraguan people to such destruction caused by a bomb that burned the chapel of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua has been wounded, "the Panamanian organization said in a statement.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, International reactions
For his part, the United States Ambassador to Nicaragua, Kevin K. Sullivan, "condemned the attack" and considered this fire to be "one of the series of deplorable attacks on Catholic temples in different parts" of the Central American country. Through a statement, the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) expressed its voice of rejection against the recent events that affected the cathedral of the city of Managua, Nicaragua, where, through the activation of an explosive charge, an attempt was made against the main religious temple in the city, on July 31. "We condemn this and any act of sacrilege or desecration that threatens the spiritual life of the faithful and the evangelizing work of the Church, especially in these difficult times of pandemic that we have to live," says the statement.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, International reactions
The OHCHR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights] condemns yesterday's incendiary attack against the Chapel of La Sangre de Cristo in the Cathedral of Managua, expresses its solidarity with the entire Catholic community and urges the authorities to thoroughly investigate what happened, "said the institution in a message released through its official Twitter account.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, July 2020, International reactions
The Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica went even further by referring to the incident as a "cowardly attack", which, he noted, "has resulted in the desecration of the sacred species contained in the Tabernacle, as well as the desecration of the venerated image of the Blood of Christ, so loved by the Catholic faithful in the sister Republic of Nicaragua. "" We consider that this criminal act constitutes a frontal attack on the Church in Nicaragua and on religious freedom in this beloved nation, "added the bishops. Costa Ricans in a statement. In Spain, the media, journalists, theologians, religious orders and the Spanish Episcopal Conference expressed their rejection of these violent actions against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, August 2020
The Sandinista regime led by Daniel Ortega continues its campaign of siege and intimidation against the independent media for showing its public mismanagement against the Nicaraguan population, on the morning of this Saturday, August 1, members of the Nicaraguan Police deployed patrols and riot police units at various points in Managua, including near El Diario La Prensa. From 8:30 in the morning, so too Radio La Costeñisima in Bluefields.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, August 2020
Michael Kozak, Acting Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, condemned the attacks and intimidation of the press that occurs in Nicaragua.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, August 2020
Pope Francis condemned the attack carried out by unknown persons last Friday, July 31, 2020, against the Chapel of the Blood of Christ in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, Nicaragua. This Sunday, August 2, 2020, after saying the Sunday prayer for the Angelus, Pope Francis expressed solidarity with the Nicaraguan Christian people.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, August 2020
New attack on another Catholic church. A subject burst into the middle of mass and threw stones on a glass urn and then returned and threw another stone at a Christ who was on the altar of the Church of Santa Rosa de Lima, in the municipality of Santa Rosa del Peñón, León.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, August 2020
An opponent and custodian of the Virgin of Montserrat was killed in a beating in a small Pacific town in Nicaragua, the Catholic Church reported Thursday, whose temples suffer a wave of desecration that has spread since last July. Noel Hernández, 24, died  after 48 hours in critical condition after receiving a beating from unknown persons in the San Juan de La Concepción municipality, Masaya department, confirmed the Inmaculada Concepción de María parish.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, September 2020
The Valle family television channel 12 confirmed that they had a millionaire embargo applied to them. Carolina Valle, through a statement, reported that on September 11, Judge Luden Marti Quiros García, Managua's third execution and embargo judge, appeared at the facilities to "carry out an embargo for 21 million cordobas at the request of the Directorate General of Income, DGI ", declared Carolina Valle. According to Valle, the seizure request before the judge was made by the financial assistant attorney, Marlen Isabel Ramiíez Laguna, who imposed an "arbitrary and illegal objection to our income tax returns for the years 2011, 2012 and 2012-2013. "


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, September 2020
The director of Radio Darío in León Anibal Toruño denounced through his Twitter account the harassment and intimidation of this radio station by officials of the National Police of Nicaragua.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, October 2020
Members of the National Coalition are stoned in the city of Masaya where Verónica Chávez, wife of journalist Miguel Mora, was injured in her head and the tomographies certify that Chávez has a cranial fissure and suffered an internal hemorrhage that keeps him in the hospital. The perpetrators of this attack are supporters of President Daniel Ortega and with the complocity of the National Police. The UN condemned the attack


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, October 2020
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) warned this Friday that the law on foreign agents approved by parliament the day before gives President Daniel Ortega "totalitarian control" and asked the international community for "urgent action" to reject it. The National Assembly of Nicaragua, with a pro-government majority, approved on Thursday the law regulating foreign agents aimed at controlling the resources that people and organizations receive from external sources. That includes board members, public relations, advertising agents, information service employers, and political consultants, among others. On the contrary, the international media and correspondents, as well as cooperation agencies, humanitarian organizations and accredited religious entities were exempted from the law.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, October 2020
Subjects and entities under this denomination must register with the Ministry of the Interior, report the receipt of funds and how they are spent. This exception would be revoked in the event that their activities derive into interference in internal affairs, according to the regulations.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, October 2020
Opponents to the regime of Daniel Ortega y Periodistas denounce the continuous harassment, attacks and threats of supporters and members of Sandinismo. The opposition National Coalition denounced that dozens of anti-riot agents were stationed this Saturday (10.17.2020) outside a capital hotel where they were holding an assembly with a view to the 2021 general elections, while the exiled journalist Maryórit Guevara denounced that unknown persons marked his home with a phrase that he assumes "as a death threat."


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, October 2020
Nicaragua has lost 217,930 formal jobs and has been dragging two consecutive years of economic contraction since 2018, the year in which the civic rebellion against the Daniel Ortega regime began, according to a report released this Saturday by the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN ).Until last August, Nicaragua closed with 695,867 workers affiliated to the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS), a figure that represents 3.7% less than the previous year that registered 722,606, according to the Central Bank of Nicaragua.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, December 2020
The Nicaraguan opponent, Félix Maradiaga, assured that during a struggle with the Nicaraguan National Police, which prevented him from leaving a house, he had a broken finger and two others dislocated. Maradiaga, a leading political scientist of the opposition Blue and White National Unit (UNAB), wanted to travel to Bilwi, capital of the northern Caribbean autonomous region, with a shipment of humanitarian aid to deliver to people affected by hurricanes Eta and Iota, which hit that area last month


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, December 2020
The National Assembly of Nicaragua, dominated by the ruling Sandinista Front, approved on December 21, 2020 by a large majority a law that prevents the participation of the opposition in the 2021 elections, while the United States announced new sanctions against three government officials by Daniel Ortega. In an extraordinary session, the bench of 70 Sandinista deputies approved the so-called "Law for the defense of the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace." Fourteen deputies of the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) voted against it, considering it "unconstitutional." The controversial norm, approved as a matter of urgency, prevents those who the government considers "coup plotters" or "terrorists" from running for public and popularly elected positions, despite the fact that the current constitution establishes full rights to political participation for all citizens without exception .


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, December 2020
Two years after the occupation of the CONFIDENCIAL newsroom, the 100% Noticias channel, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), the Institute for Development and Democracy (Ipade), the Center for Information and Advisory Services in Salud (Cisas) and the Popol Na Foundation, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo notified –through various signs on the buildings– that the properties now “belong to the Ministry of Health” and were confiscated, without a prior court order


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, December 2020
The main management leadership of Nicaragua denounced this a "de facto confiscation" by the State of the private property of two media critical of President Daniel Ortega and of nine NGOs that were outlawed in the context of the socio-political crisis that he is experiencing the country since April 2018. In a statement, the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) pointed out to the government of "taking political decisions that violate the rights and constitutional guarantees of Nicaraguans" and cause "legal insecurity and economic and social instability in the country."


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, December 2020
The Nicaraguan State ceded to the Ministry of Health (Minsa) the buildings where the 100% Noticias television channel operated and that of the digital magazines Confidencial and Niú and the television programs "Esta Semana" and "Esta Noche", which are protected by police officers, as well as nine NGOs. The facilities of these media and those NGOs woke up on Wednesday with the label "this property belongs to the Ministry of Health," according to Efe.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, Response, Domestic
Protesters generally were spread across the political spectrum, and Murillo's statements angered the left-wing sector, which responded by destroying her metal "Trees of Life" public art pieces in Managua. The majority of those demonstrating do not see any negotiation without the results being Ortega's removal.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, Response, Domestic, Domestic NGOs
The NGO Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) stated that President Ortega and his wife "encouraged and directed" the repression against protesters and that "the demonstrations are legitimized by a social rejection of the authoritarian way of governing by President Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo" and called for dialogue monitored by the United Nations and the Organization of American States.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, Response, International, Others
Several protests abroad accompanied the development of the demonstrations against INSS reform in Nicaragua. There were protests held at the Nicaraguan Embassy in San José (Costa Rica), the consulates in Miami and Houston, and other cities like Ciudad de Guatemala, Madrid or Barcelona. A group of Nicaraguans residing in Panamá demonstrated at the Cinta Costera of Panama's capital. In Spain, there have been at least eight demonstrations by the Nicaraguan community in the country.


2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests, Response, International, Others
One of the most active cities was Granada, where hundreds of Nicaraguans and Spaniards have come together to protest for peace, freedom, and democracy in Nicaragua by reading poems of Nicaraguan writers and a manifesto, demanding that the Ortega-Murillo family give up power in Nicaragua. There have also been protests in Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Australia, Vienna, Finland, Paris, San Francisco, New York, Washington, and Toronto.


2018–2021 Southern African drought
The 2018–2021 Southern Africa drought is an ongoing period of drought taking place in Southern Africa. The drought began in late October 2018, and is negatively affecting food security in the region. As of mid-August 2019, the drought is classified as a level 2 Red-Class event by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System. The alert level was reduced to the Orange-1.7 by 12 December 2019, as the new wet season had started. As of September 2020, the drought is classified as a level 2 Red-Class event. The drought continued into early 2021.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Background
As a region, Southern Africa has historically been at high risk of droughts; a probability due to several meteorological and sociological factors.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Background
The Southern African climate is affected by strong seasonal rainfall patterns; the majority of the region's annual rainfall is deposited by storms from early November to March, forming what is considered Southern Africa's wet season. The wet months of rainfall saturate the region's soil, providing moisture that persists for the drier months of the year.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Background
While this cycle is normally reliable, anomalies in the climate—such as El Niño events—disrupt the region's annual level of rainfall; this, in turn, causes the decline of the region's plant life, the lowering of water levels in bodies of water and a loss of moisture from the soil, with the latter effect causing a drought.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Background
As noted by sources, Southern Africa's low level of economic development and reliance on agriculture—namely cereal crops and livestock—leave the region highly susceptible to droughts. Though variations exist, the region's farmers tend to plant their next crop in late October—this sowing is timed with the expected rains that begin to arrive in November. The next five-six months are considered the "lean" season, during which time stockpiled food is consumed while the concurrent "wet" season rains nourish the next year's crops.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Background
However, if the usual rains are disrupted by a weather anomaly, planting is delayed until November or early December, resulting in a longer "lean" season before crops can be harvested. If the region's weather patterns are disrupted enough to cause drought, the lack of rainfall and eventual loss of moisture from soil often results in a noteworthy decline in Southern Africa's agricultural production; the resulting detrimental economic conditions lead to social unrest and a decline in the level of regional food security.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Background
Periods of drought effect Southern Africa's various biomes and wildlife, while reduced water levels in rivers can cause hydroelectric dams to operate at reduced capacity. El Niño events in Southern Africa also increase the likelihood of African armyworm outbreaks, further decreasing the region's agricultural output.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Previous droughts
In the late 2015 – early 2016 season, an El Niño event caused a drought in some parts of Southern Africa. As of the start of the 2018-19 ongoing El Niño-induced drought, some parts of Southern Africa had not yet recovered from the effects of the earlier drought.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, Description, Previous droughts
In Namibia, the drought of 2012/2013 was thought to be the worst of the decade as around 42% if the total population experienced food insecurity. The Namibian government declared a state of emergency in 2012.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Initial warning
In August and September 2018, several organizations began to warn farmers about the possibility of an oncoming drought. In August 2018 the Southern African Development Community advised farmers to avoid selling some of their stockpiled food from the previous season, and in September 2018 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a warning to Southern African countries about the formation of conditions for a drought. Patrick Kormawa, the Sub-Regional Coordinator for FAO in Southern Africa, predicted a 40 percent chance the region would be impacted by an El Niño event in Fall 2018.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
In spring 2018, an El Niño event disrupted Southern Africa's annual rainfall. The first effect of this disruption was a delayed sowing date, which was pushed back from late October to early November. In November, a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported an 80 percent likelihood of the El Niño event continuing until December; it also noted that 9.6 million people in Southern Africa were severely food-insecure as of the start of the 2019 lean season.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
The drought continued to 2019 with multiple regions in Southern Africa seeing significantly reduced levels of rainfall. A report from FAO noted that, while rainfall had picked up in late December 2018, several areas within the region were suffering from a severe drought and accompanying effects.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
As of April 2019, parts of Southern Africa remain affected by the ongoing drought. Heavier than average rainfall during the first weeks of February in some locales have alleviated local droughts, but the area as a whole is expected to suffer from negatively impacted cropping conditions. Rates of hunger in the region have risen, and are expected to continue to rise.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
The drought was re-declared as national emergency in South Africa 4 March 2020. 17 March 2020 the black market of stolen water was reported in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality amidst emergency-related corruption concerns.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
In May 2019, Namibia declared a state of emergency in response to the drought, and extended it by additional 6 months in October 2019. This is the third time in six years the government has declared a state of emergency. The drought of 2019 has been described as the worst in the last 90 years in the country, with the lowest recorded rainfall in Windhoek since 1891.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
The agricultural sector is one of Namibia's primary industries and due to extremely low rainfall in 2019, production in the sector fell by 17.5%. Grazing land conditions were observed to have deteriorated to a very poor state in many parts of the country leading to severe pressure on the grazing and to a severe decline in livestock due to starvation. A combination of lack of rainfall and low soil moisture led to a severe and prolonged drought in 2019 which resulted in real hardship and significantly affected many livelihoods, especially among the most vulnerable communities.


2018–2021 Southern African drought, 2018–2021 drought, Current drought
In August 2020 a vulnerability assessment conducted by the Namibian government found 427,905 Namibian people are currently food insecure. Factors that contribute to this insecurity includes the impact of droughts, floods, pests and worms.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis
The 2018-21 Turkish currency and debt crisis (Turkish: Türkiye döviz ve borç krizi) is a financial and economic crisis in Turkey. It was characterized by the Turkish lira (TRY) plunging in value, high inflation, rising borrowing costs, and correspondingly rising loan defaults. The crisis was caused by the Turkish economy's excessive current account deficit and large amounts of private foreign-currency denominated debt, in combination with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's increasing authoritarianism and his unorthodox ideas about interest rate policy. Some analysts also stress the leveraging effects of the geopolitical frictions with the United States and recently enforced tariffs by the Trump administration on some Turkish products such as steel and aluminum.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis
While the crisis was prominent for waves of major devaluation of the currency, later stages were characterised by corporate debt defaults and finally by contraction of economic growth. With the inflation rate stuck in the double digits, stagflation ensued. The crisis ended a period of overheating economic growth under Erdoğan-led governments, built largely on a construction boom fueled by foreign borrowing, easy and cheap credit, and government spending.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis
The economic crisis caused a significant decline in Erdoğan's and the AKP's popularity, which lost most of Turkey's biggest cities including Istanbul and Ankara in 2019 local elections.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
A longstanding characteristic of Turkey's economy is a low savings rate. Since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan assumed control of the government, Turkey has been running huge and growing current account deficits, $33.1 billion in 2016 and $47.3 billion in 2017, climbing to US$7.1 billion in the month of January 2018 with the rolling 12-month deficit rising to $51.6 billion, one of the largest current account deficits in the world. The economy has relied on capital inflows to fund private-sector excess, with Turkey's banks and big firms borrowing heavily, often in foreign currencies.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
Under these conditions, Turkey must find approximately $200 billion a year to fund its wide current account deficit and maturing debt, while being always at risk of inflows drying up; the state has gross foreign currency reserves of just $85 billion. The economic policy underlying these trends had increasingly been micro-managed by Erdoğan since the election of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002, and strongly so since 2008, with a focus on the construction industry, state-awarded contracts and stimulus measures.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
Although, research and development expenditure of the country (% of GDP) and the government expenditure on education (% of GDP) are nearly doubled during AKP governments, the desired outcomes could not be achieved The motive for these policies have been described as Erdoğan losing faith in Western-style capitalism since the 2008 financial crisis by the secretary general of the main Turkish business association, TUSIAD. Although not directly related in the conflict, the Turkish invasion of Afrin largely strained US-Turkish relations, and led to mass instability in Syria. This led to global view of Turkey as an unnecessary aggressor.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
Investment inflows had already been declining in the period leading up to the crisis, owing to Erdoğan instigating political disagreements with countries that were major sources of such inflows (such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands). Following the 2016 coup attempt, the government seized the assets of those it stated were involved, even if their ties to the coup were attenuated. Erdoğan has not taken seriously concerns that foreign companies investing in Turkey might be deterred by the country's political instability. Other factors include worries about the decreasing value of lira (TRY) which threatens to eat into investors' profit margins.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
Investment inflows have also declined because Erdoğan's increasing authoritarianism has quelled free and factual reporting by financial analysts in Turkey. Between January and May 2017, foreign portfolio investors funded $13.2 billion of Turkey's $17.5 billion current account deficit, according to the latest available data. During the same period in 2018, they plugged just $763 million of a swollen $27.3 billion deficit.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
By the end of 2017, the corporate foreign-currency debt in Turkey had more than doubled since 2009, up to $214 billion after netting against their foreign-exchange assets. Turkey's gross external debt, both public and private, stood at $453.2 billion at the end of 2017. As of March 2018, $181.8 billion of external debt, public and private, was due to mature within a year. Non


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Current account deficit and foreign-currency debt
-resident holdings of domestic shares stood at $53.3 billion in early March and at $39.6 billion in mid-May, and non-resident holdings of domestic government bonds stood at $32.0 billion in early March and at $24.7 billion in mid-May. Overall non-residents' ownership of Turkish equities, government bonds and corporate debt has plummeted from a high of $92 billion in August 2017 to just $53 billion as of 13 July 2018.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Government's 'action plans' to tackle the crisis
The finance minister of the Turkish government, Albayrak unveiled a new economic program to stave off the recent financial crisis. The three-year plan aims to "reign in inflation, spur growth and cut the current account deficit". The plan includes reduction on the government expenditures by $10 billion and suspension of the projects whose tender have not been carried yet. The transformational phase of the plan will be focusing on value-added areas to increase the country's export volume and long-term production capacity with the goal of creating two million new jobs by 2021. The program is expected to lower economic growth substantially in the short term (from a previous forecast of 5.5% to 3.8% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019) but with a gradual growth increase by 2021 towards 5%.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Presidential interference with the central bank
Turkey has experienced substantially higher inflation than other emerging markets. In October 2017, inflation was at 11.9%, the highest rate since July 2008. In 2018, the lira's exchange rate accelerated deterioration, reaching a level of US$4.0/TRY by late March, US$4.5/TRY by mid-May, US$5.0/TRY by early August and 6.0 as well as US$7.0/TRY by mid-August. Among economists, the accelerating loss of value was generally attributed to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan preventing the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey from making the necessary interest rate adjustments.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Presidential interference with the central bank
Erdoğan, who said interest rates beyond his control to be "the mother and father of all evil", shared unorthodox interest rate theories in a 14 May interview with Bloomberg and said that "the central bank can't take this independence and set aside the signals given by the president." Presidential interference with central bank policy comes with a general perception in international investment circles of a "textbook institutional decline" in Turkey, with Erdoğan seen increasingly reliant on politicians whose main qualifications for their jobs is loyalty, at the expense of more qualified and experienced options. Erdoğan also has a long history of voicing Islamist discourse of interest-based banking as "prohibited by Islam" and "a serious dead-end". He is also on record referring to interest rate increases as "treason". Despite Erdogan's opposition, Turkey's Central Bank made sharp interest rates increases.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Presidential interference with the central bank
The Financial Times quoted leading emerging markets financial analyst Timothy Ash analyzing that "Turkey has strong banks, healthy public finances, good demographics, pro-business culture but [has been] spoiled over past four to five years by unorthodox and loose macroeconomic management." By mid-June, analysts in London suggested that with its current government, Turkey would be well advised to seek an International Monetary Fund loan even before the dwindling central bank foreign exchange reserves run out, because it would strengthen the central bank's hand against Erdoğan and help gain back investor confidence in the soundness of Turkey's economic policies.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Presidential interference with the central bank
Economist Paul Krugman described the unfolding crisis as "a classic currency-and-debt crisis, of a kind we’ve seen many times", adding: "At such a time, the quality of leadership suddenly matters a great deal. You need officials who understand what’s happening, can devise a response and have enough credibility that markets give them the benefit of the doubt. Some emerging markets have those things, and they are riding out the turmoil fairly well. The Erdoğan regime has none of that."


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey
During the emergence of the crisis, lenders in Turkey were hit by restructuring demands of corporations unable to serve their USD or EUR denominated debt, due to the loss of value of their earnings in Turkish lira. While financial institutions had been the driver of the Istanbul stock exchange for many years, accounting for almost half its value, by mid-April they accounted for less than one-third. By late-May, lenders were facing a surge in demand from companies seeking to reorganise debt repayments.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey
By early-July, public restructuring requests by some of the country's biggest businesses alone already totalled $20,000,000,000 with other debtors not publicly listed or large enough to require disclosures. The asset quality of Turkish banks, as well as their capital adequacy ratio, kept deteriorating throughout the crisis. By June Halk Bankası, the most vulnerable of the large lenders, had lost 63% of its US dollar value since last summer and traded at 40% of book value. However, it is hard to say that this is mainly due to the economic developments in Turkey since the valuation of Halkbank was largely affected by the rumors over the possible outcomes of the US investigation about the bank's stated help to Iran in evading US sanctions.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey
Banks continuously raised interest rates for business and consumer loans and mortgage loan rates, towards 20% annually, thus curbing demand from businesses and consumers. With a corresponding growth in deposits, the gap between total deposits and total loans, which had been one of the highest in emerging markets, began to narrow. However, this development has also led to unfinished or unoccupied housing and commercial real estate littering the outskirts of Turkey's major cities, as Erdoğan's policies had fuelled the construction sector, where many of his business allies are very active, to lead past economic growth.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey
In March 2018, home sales fell 14% and mortgage sales declined 35% compared to a year earlier. As of May, Turkey had around 2,000,000 unsold houses, a backlog three times the size of the average annual number of new housing sales. In the first half of 2018, unsold stock of new housing kept increasing, while increases in new home prices in Turkey were lagging consumer price inflation by more than 10 percentage points.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey
While heavy portfolio capital outflows persisted, $883,000,000 in June, with official foreign exchange reserves declining by a $6,990,000,000 during June, the current account deficit started narrowing in June, due to the weakened exchange rate for the lira. This was perceived as a sign of getting balanced economy. Turkish Lira started recover its losses as of September 2018 and the current account deficit continued to shrink.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey
As a consequence of the earlier monetary policy of easy money, any newfound fragile short-term macroeconomic stability is based on higher interest rates, thus creating a recessionary effect for the Turkish economy. In mid-June, the Washington Post carried the quote from a senior financial figure in Istanbul that "years of irresponsible policies have overheated the Turkish economy. High inflation rates and current account deficits are going to prove sticky. I think we are at the end of our rope."


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey, Suicides
In January 2018, a worker burnt himself in the front of parliament. Another person also burnt himself in governor's office of Hatay.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey, Suicides
In November 2019 four siblings were found dead in an apartment in Fatih, Istanbul, having committed suicide because they were unable to pay their bills. The price of electricity increased in 2019 around 57% and youth unemployment stood around 27%. The electricity bill for the apartment had not been paid for several months.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey, Suicides
A family of four including two children 9 and 5 years old was similarly found in Antalya. A note left behind detailed the financial difficulties the family was experiencing.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey, Suicides
In mid-November The Guardian reported that an anonymous benefactor had paid off some debts at local grocery stores in Tuzla and left envelopes of cash on doorstops after the suicides.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Consequences in Turkey, Suicides
Ak Parti officials and media have denied that the recent deaths were caused by the rising cost of living.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, International consequences
The crisis has brought considerable risks of financial contagion. One aspect concerns risk to foreign lenders, where according to the Bank for International Settlements, international banks had outstanding loans of $224 billion to Turkish borrowers, including $83 billion from banks in Spain, $35 billion from banks in France, $18 billion from banks in Italy, $17 billion each from banks in the United States and in the United Kingdom, and $13 billion from banks in Germany.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, International consequences
Another aspect concerns the situation of other emerging economies with high levels of debt denominated in USD or EUR, with respect to which Turkey may either be considered "a canary in the coalmine" or even by its crisis and the bad handling thereof increase international investors' retreat for increased perception of risk in such countries. On 31 May 2018, the Institute of Financial Research (IIF) reported that the Turkish crisis has already spread to Lebanon, Colombia and South Africa.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Improvements
On 15 August 2018, Qatar pledged to invest $15 billion in the Turkish economy making the lira rally by 6%.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Improvements
On 29 November 2018, the Turkish lira hit a 4-month high in value against the US Dollar. It recovered from 7.0738 against the dollar to 5.17 on 29 November, an increase of 36.8%. Reuters also reported in a response to a poll that it expects the inflation to decrease for the November month. The reasons that were given are the positive exchanges, discounts on products and tax cuts.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
From a background of a long history of promoting conspiracy theories by the Turkish government of Erdoğan and the AKP, with the emergence of the financial crisis, members of the government have stated that the crisis were not attributable to the government's policies, but rather were the conspiratorial work of shadowy foreign actors, seeking to harm Turkey and deprive President Erdoğan of support.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
During the major lira sell-off on 23 May, Turkey's energy minister, Erdoğan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak, told the media that the recent sharp drop in the value of the lira was the result of the machinations of Turkey's enemies. On 30 May, foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that the plunge of the lira would have been caused by an organized campaign masterminded abroad, adding that the conspiracy would include both "the interest rate lobby" and "some Muslim countries", which he however refused to name.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
At an election campaign rally in Istanbul on 11 June, Erdoğan said that the recently published 7.4 percent GDP growth figure for the January to March period would demonstrate victory against what he called "conspirators" whom he blamed for May's heavy falls of the Turkish lira. In August, Erdoğan started using the formula of "the world fighting an economic war against Turkey". Part of this idea likely had to do with a row with America regarding the case of U.S. citizen Andrew Brunson, which had a deleterious effect on Turkey-U.S. relations. Alongside sanctions on specific government figures, tariffs were also used by both countries to create economic pressure. Vox describes it as a "trade spat". Commentators such as Vox's Jen Kirby have pointed to the pivotal role Brunson's case plays in it.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
A tariff on steel and other products was placed on Turkey by the United States. However, Sarah Sanders has described the American tariffs as related to "national defense", and thus not changeable by circumstances, noting that only the sanctions would be lifted upon the release of Brunson.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
Erdogan describes these tariffs as an "economic war" against Turkey.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
In retaliation, Turkey announced tariffs on US products, including the iPhone. The tariffs by Turkey cover products such as American cars, and coal. At a White House Press conference, Sanders described these as "regrettable". Sanders said that the Turkish economic trouble was part of a long-term trend that was not related to any actions America did.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
On 22 August 2018, John R. Bolton, speaking to Reuters, said "the Turkish government made a big mistake in not releasing Pastor Brunson... [e]very day that goes by that mistake continues, this crisis could be over instantly if they did the right thing as a NATO ally, part of the West, and release pastor Brunson without condition." He went on to state that Turkey's membership in NATO was not as much of a major foreign policy issue for the US, but instead the American focus was on individuals that the United States said Turkey is holding for non-legitimate reasons.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
Bolton also expressed skepticism in regard to Qatar's attempts to infuse money in the Turkish economy. Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, in a written statement, described these remarks as an admission that, contra Sanders, the American tariffs were, in fact, in relation to the Brunson case and proof that the US intended them to economically war against Turkey.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Turkish government statements of a foreign plot
According to a poll from April 2018, 42 percent of Turks, and 59 percent of Erdoğan's governing AKP voters, saw the decline in the lira as a plot by foreign powers. In another poll from July, 36 percent of survey respondents said it the AKP government was most responsible for the depreciation of the Turkish lira, while 42 percent said it was foreign governments. This was said to be caused by the government's far-reaching control over the media via the fact that those respondents mostly reading alternative views in the Internet were more likely to see their own government responsible, at 47 percent, than foreign governments, at 34 percent.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Crisis as a topic in the June 2018 elections
On 16 May, a day after president Erdoğan had unsettled markets during his visit to London by suggesting he would curb the independence of the Central Bank of Turkey after the election, Republican People's Party (CHP) presidential candidate Muharrem İnce and İYİ Party presidential candidate Meral Akşener both vowed to ensure the independence of the central bank if elected.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Crisis as a topic in the June 2018 elections
In a 26 May interview on his campaign trail, CHP presidential candidate Muharrem İnce said on economic policy that "the central bank can only halt the lira’s slide temporarily by raising interest rates, because it’s not the case that depreciation fundamentally stems from interest rates being too high or too low. So, the central bank will intervene, but the things that really need to be done are in the political and legal areas. Turkey needs to immediately be extricated from a political situation that breeds economic uncertainty, and its economy must be handled by independent and autonomous institutions. My economic team is ready, and we have been working together for a long time."


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Crisis as a topic in the June 2018 elections
In a nationwide survey conducted between 13 and 20 May, 45 percent saw the economy (including the steadily-dropping lira and unemployment) as the greatest challenge facing Turkey, with foreign policy at 18 percent, the justice system at 7 percent and terror and security at 5 percent.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Crisis as a topic in the June 2018 elections
İYİ Party presidential candidate Meral Akşener, supported by a strong economic team led by former Central Bank Governor Durmuş Yılmaz, had on 7 May presented her party's economic program, saying that "we will purchase the debts from consumer loans, credit card and overdraft accounts of 4.5 million citizens whose debts are under legal supervision of banks or consumer financing companies and whose debts have been sold to collection companies as of 30 April 2018. It is our duty to help our citizens with this condition, as the state has helped big companies in difficult situations."


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Crisis as a topic in the June 2018 elections
On 13 June, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu reiterated the opposition's view that the state of emergency in place since July 2016 were an impediment to Turkey's currency, investment and economy, vowing that it be lifted within 48 hours in case of an opposition victory in the elections. İYİ Party leader and presidential candidate Akşener had made the same vow on 18 May, while CHP presidential candidate İnce had said on 30 May: "Foreign countries do not trust Turkey, thus they do not invest in our country.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Crisis as a topic in the June 2018 elections
When Turkey becomes a country of the rule law, foreign investors will invest thus the lira will gain value." Early June, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had suggested in an interview that the issue of lifting the emergency rule would be discussed the elections, however asked back: "What's wrong with the state of emergency?"


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Statements of corruption and insider trading
In early April, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş, writing in a letter from prison—where he has been held without conviction since 2016, charged of inciting violence with words— saying that "the biggest problem for the youth in Turkey is corruption which has accompanied with AKP governance."


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Statements of corruption and insider trading
In late May, Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy chair Aykut Erdoğdu called the Financial Crimes Investigation Board of Turkey (MASAK) to investigate exchange rate transactions made amid rapid decline and partial recovery in the value of the lira on 23 May, saying there was insider trading by market participants who knew of the 300 basis points interest rate hike by the Turkish central bank in advance.


2018–2021 Turkish currency and debt crisis, Politics and corruption, Statements of corruption and insider trading
In early July, Turkey's Capital Markets Board (SPK) said that until the end of August share purchases on the Borsa Istanbul by people party to the relevant company's internal information, or by those close to them (insider trading), would not be subject to a stock market abuse directive. Amid a public outcry, it suspended the directive some days later, without giving a reason for the move.


2019
2019 (MMXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2019th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 19th  year of the 3rd millennium, the 19th  year of the 21st century, and the  10th  and last year of the 2010s decade.


2019
2019 was designated as International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements by the United Nations General Assembly given that it coincides with the 150th anniversary of its creation by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869.


2019 (EP)
2019 is a compilation extended play by American singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus. It was released on November 8, 2019 through Matador Records. The EP is a concept album that compiles seven singles released throughout the year to honor various holidays. 2019 went on to peak at number 22 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, making it her first charting album in the country.


2019 (EP), Songs
"La vie en rose", originally by Édith Piaf, was released as the EP's first single on February 2, 2019 to celebrate Valentine's Day. "My Mother & I" was released on April 24, 2019 for Mother's Day, and is about Dacus's relationship to her own mother and their similarities as Taurus women.


2019 (EP), Songs
The country-influenced "Forever Half Mast" was released on June 25, 2019 for the Fourth of July and sees the condemn American exceptionalism and asks listeners "to consider their own complicity in American atrocities" A cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" was released on September 12, 2019 for the artist's birthday, which is also Dacus's father's birthday. "In the Air Tonight", originally by Phil Collins, was released on October 8, 2019 for Halloween, with Dacus calling the song "the best eerie bop of all time".


2019 (EP), Songs
The same day, the album was made available for pre-order and the full tracklist was announced. A punk pop cover of "Last Christmas" by Wham! was released on November 1, 2019 to celebrate Christmas. "Fool's Gold" was released on November 9, 2019 for New Year's Eve, and sees Dacus "alone and anxious in the ruins of the party she threw."


2019 (EP), Critical reception
2019 received a score of 76 out of 100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, based on reviews from four critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In a review for DIY, Tom Sloman called "My Mother & I" one of the strongest songs of Dacus's career thus far and praised the original songs as a whole, but said that some of the covers miss the mark, specifically "Dancing in the Dark".


2019 (EP), Critical reception
Marcy Donelson of AllMusic similarly commended "My Mother & I", calling it "spare and both comforting and yearning" and said that the covers "are bound to provide a lasting preferred version (or two) for fans." Peyton Thomas of Pitchfork applauded Dacus's songwriting, saying "She treats her weighty subjects with careful concision: short lines, simple phrasing. These are among the best songs she’s ever written." Thomas also named "Dancing in the Dark" the EP's best cover, and praised it for recontextualizing the original as celebration of lesbian love. Paste writer Clare Martin named "La vie en rose" the best cover, saying "Dacus dives headfirst into romanticism—a rare occasion on an album that tends to regard most special occasions with a winking knowingness—with a persistently plucked guitar that will make your heart race."


2019 1. deild karla
The 2019 1. deild karla (English: Men's First Division) was the 65th season of second-tier Icelandic football. Twelve teams contested the league. The season began on 4 May and concluded on 21 September.


2019 1. deild karla, Teams
The league was contested by twelve clubs. Eight remained in the division from the 2018 season, while four new clubs joined the 1. deild karla:


2019 1. deild kvinnur
The 2019 1. deild kvinnur (also known as Betri deildin kvinnur for sponsorship reasons) was the 35th season of women's league football in the Faroe Islands. EB/Streymur/Skála were the defending champions, having won their 2nd title the previous season. The season started on 9 March and ended on 28 September.


2019 1. deild kvinnur, Teams
The league was contested by five teams, a decrease from last season's six, as B68 joined ÍF/Víkingur to compete as ÍF/Víkingur/B68.


2019 1. deild kvinnur, Results
Each team played four times (twice at home and twice away) against every other team for a total of 16 matches each.


2019 1. divisjon
The 2019 1. divisjon (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football league season.


2019 1. divisjon
Aalesund set a new record for most points in a 1. divisjon season with 79. They surpassed IK Start's previous record of 74 points, from the 2004 season.


2019 1. divisjon, Season summary
On 20 October, Aalesund secured both promotion and league title with three games to spare by winning 1–0 away over Tromsdalen. The same day, Tromsdalen were the first team to be relegated as their defeat was coinciding with a victory for Strømmen. On 2 November, Sandefjord secured promotion to the first tier with one match to spare after their 1–0 win over Jerv at Komplett Arena. On the same day, Skeid were the second team to be relegated as their draw against Notodden meant that survival was out of reach before the ultimate round.


2019 1. divisjon, Teams
In the 2018 1. divisjon, Viking and Mjøndalen were promoted to the 2019 Eliteserien, while Åsane, Florø and Levanger were relegated to the 2019 2. divisjon.


2019 1. divisjon, Teams
Start and Sandefjord were relegated from the 2018 Eliteserien, while Raufoss, Skeid and KFUM Oslo were promoted from the 2018 2. divisjon.


2019 1. divisjon, Play-offs, Promotion play-offs
The 3rd to 6th placed teams took part in the promotion play-offs; these were single-leg knockout matches. In the first round, the fifth-placed team played at home against the sixth-placed team. The winner of the first round then met the fourth-placed team on away ground in the second round. The winner of the second round then met the third-placed team on away ground. The winner of the third round advanced to play the 14th-placed team in Eliteserien over two legs in the Eliteserien play-offs for a spot in the top-flight next season.


2019 1. divisjon, Play-offs, Relegation play-offs
The 14th placed team took part in a two-legged play-off against the winners of the 2. divisjon play-offs to decide who would play in the 2020 1. divisjon.


2019 1. divisjon, Season statistics, Attendances
Source: Notes:1: Team played last season in Eliteserien.2: Team played last season in 2. divisjon.


2019 1. divisjon (women)
The 2019 1. divisjon is the second tier of Norwegian women's football in 2019. The season kicked off on 13 April 2019 and is scheduled to finish on 3 November 2019.


2019 1. divisjon (women)
Due to a reduction of teams from 12 to 10 teams in both the first and the second tier, the top placed team will have to play promotion play-offs against the tenth-placed team in Toppserien to win promotion. Four teams are relegated directly to the 2. divisjon. The eighth-placed teams play relegation play-offs against a team from 2. divisjon.


2019 1. divisjon (women), Promotion play-offs
The promotion play-offs will this season be contested by the 10th placed team in Toppserien, Lyn, and the winner of the 1. divisjon, IF Fløya.


2019 1. divisjon (women), Relegation play-offs
The relegation play-offs will this season be contested by the 8th placed team in 1. divisjon, Grand Bodø, and the winner of the 2. divisjon, KIL/Hemne.


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring
The 2019 1,000 Miles of Sebring was an Endurance sportscar racing event held on the 15th of March 2019, as the sixth round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. This was the inaugural running of the race, a 268-lap event, and the first FIA WEC race to be held at Sebring International Raceway since the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring.


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring, Background
The provisional calendar for the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship, released on the 1st of September 2017 saw a raft of changes, with several races dropped, but included a return to Sebring for the first time since 2012. In the provisional calendar issued, the race was originally planned to be run as a second 12-hour race after the IMSA Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring on the same weekend, and would start at midnight after the conclusion of the IMSA 12 hours.


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring, Background
On 21 September 2017, the race became known as the 1500 Miles of Sebring, to avoid confusion between the 2 events, at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris. However, on 4 April 2018, it was announced that the race would become shortened to 1000 Miles or 268 laps, have a time limit of 8 Hours, and would take place on March 15 instead, prior to the start of the 12 Hours of Sebring, rather than after the race. In addition, it was also announced that there would be a new pitlane built to accommodate the WEC teams, located on the Ulman Straight.


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring, Entry list
The entry list released on the 8th of February 2019 saw a number of changes, with the #4 ByKolles Racing Team ENSO CLM P1/01 removed, after the team announced they would not compete due to an engine supply dispute with NISMO, and an additional Entry from the Corvette Racing team. Nathanael Berthon was added to the #3 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13, while Mathias Beche moved to the #1, replacing Andre Lotterer, who was unable to attend due to a clashing simulator test for the DS Techeetah Formula E team. Jenson Button and Matevos Isaakyan were replaced in the #11 and #17 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1s by Brendon Hartley and Sergey Sirotkin respectively.


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring, Qualifying, Qualifying Results
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring, Qualifying, Qualifying Results
– Stephane Sarrazin had his best lap time deleted for ignoring blue flags. – Thomas Flohr and Motoaki Ishakawa both had their fastest lap times deleted for speeding under the red flag. – Only one driver of the No. 61 Clearwater Racing set a lap time. – The No. 61 Clearwater Racing withdrew due to Perez-Companc's crash in qualifying. – Michael Wainwright had his fastest lap time deleted for speeding under the red flag, resulting in only one driver of the No. 86 Gulf Racing UK being classified as setting a lap time. – All of Frits van Eerd's and Nyck de Vries' lap times were deleted for speeding in the pit lane, resulting in the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland having no times.


2019 1000 Miles of Sebring, Race, Race Result
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of the overall winning car's distance was 178 laps. Class winners are in bold.


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500
The 2019 1000Bulbs.com 500 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on October 13–14, 2019 at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Contested over 188 laps on the 2.66 mile (4.2 km) superspeedway, it was the 31st race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the fifth race of the Playoffs, and second race of the Round of 12. Ryan Blaney scored his first win of the season and third of his career edging out Ryan Newman by .007 seconds becoming the 6th closest finish in NASCAR history.


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Report, Background
Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4 km) tri-oval.


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Practice, First practice
Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 46.734 seconds and a speed of 204.904 mph (329.761 km/h).


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Practice, Final practice
Clint Bowyer was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 47.396 seconds and a speed of 202.042 mph (325.155 km/h).


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Qualifying
Chase Elliott scored the pole for the race with a time of 49.692 and a speed of 192.707 mph (310.132 km/h).


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Race
Note: Stage 1 was held on Sunday, October 13, but the race was interrupted by rain after 57 laps. Stages 2 and 3 were completed on Monday, October 14.


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Race, Final stage results
* Matt Crafton replaced Paul Menard after Stage 1 of the race due to back problems.


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Media, Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and six-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. covered the race in the booth for NBC. Steve Letarte called from the NBC Peacock Pit Box on pit road. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.


2019 1000Bulbs.com 500, Media, Radio
MRN covered the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace called the race for MRN when the field races thru the tri-oval. Dave Moody called the action from turn 1, Mike Bagley called the action for MRN when the field races down the backstraightaway, and Dan Hubbard called the race from the Sunoco tower just outside of turn 4. Winston Kelley, Kim Coon, Steve Post, and Dillon Welch called the race for MRN from pit road.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring
The 67th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts was an endurance sports car racing event held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 14–16 March 2019. The race was the second round of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the second round of the Michelin Endurance Cup.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring
Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing brought home a Cadillac 1-2-3 finish for the overall honours, with the win going to the #31 crew of Eric Curran, Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani, who won the 12 Hour race for a third time in the previous four editions.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring
the #911 Porsche GT Team won in the GTLM class over the #66 Ford GT of Chip Ganassi Racing, LMP2 was won by Performance Tech Motorsports, and the Grasser Racing Team took a second straight victory in the GTD class, winning over fellow Lamborghini GTD team Magnus Racing, who came 2nd in only their second start as a Lamborghini team.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Background
The FIA World Endurance Championship returned to the venue for the same weekend for the first time since 2012, albeit with a few changes. The World Endurance Championship had a 1,000-mile standalone event of its own on Friday, March 15th, 2019, the day before the official 12 Hours of Sebring sanctioned by IMSA, on March 16th. Despite initial questions raised over whether or not two separate events of the same length could be held on the same weekend, the event was confirmed to be the sixth round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. Select drivers and teams, such as Corvette Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing, competed in both events back-to-back.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Background
On 28 February 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the 12-hour race. In the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, most cars had reductions in power, with the exception of the Cadillac DPi. The Mazda RT24-P was made 10 kilograms heavier, and had fuel capacity reduction. In the GT Le Mans class (GTLM), the Ferrari 488 GTE was made 15 kilograms lighter. Despite being given a break, Ferrari GTLM team Risi Competizione decided to forgo Sebring, for concerns over the adjustment.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Background
On March 6th, 2019, the official entry list for the 12 Hours was revealed, featuring 38 cars in total. There were 11 cars in the DPi class, eight entries in GT Le Mans, 17 in GT Daytona, and a mere two entrants in the LMP2 class. Following the retirement of Christian Fittipaldi, Le Mans winner Brendon Hartley joined the Action Express Racing team in the #5 car. Matthieu Vaxivière joined Wayne Taylor Racing in their #10 Cadillac, after Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso were barred from taking part in IMSA's event. In the GT Daytona class, Black Swan Racing, who had confirmed a full endurance-event program for the 2019 IMSA Season, had withdrawn as a result of team owner and driver Tim Pappas sustaining injuries from February's Bathurst 12 Hour event.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Report, Thursday practice
Due to the World Endurance Championship event taking place on Friday, the first few practice sessions for the 12 Hours of Sebring were held on Thursday. In the first practice session, Felipe Nasr and the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac team were quickest, setting a 1:46.996. They were 0.355 seconds faster than the #6 Team Penske Acura. In GT Le Mans, Porsche and Ford were at the top of the leaderboard, with Laurens Vanthoor setting the quickest time for the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, setting a 1:56.983.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Report, Thursday practice
He would be three tenths clear of the times from the Ford GT drivers Richard Westbrook and Joey Hand. In GT Daytona, Mario Farnbacher of the #86 Meyer-Shank Racing Acura team set the fastest time of 2:00.793, nearly half a second clear of the #73 Park Place Motorsport Porsche, driven by Patrick Long. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports went fastest in the LMP2 class.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Report, Thursday practice
In free practice two, after a low-risk session from Mazda Team Joest, Olivier Pla would give them the fastest time of the weekend so far in the #55 car, a 1:46.834. He would be 0.815 seconds faster than Pipo Derani of the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac. Acura driver Hélio Castroneves completed the top three in the DPi class. In the GT Le Mans class, Porsche GT Team were fastest once again, with #911 driver Nick Tandy setting a 1:56.991. The team were once again fastest over the two Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs. In GT Daytona, Bill Auberlen set the pace in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6, with a 2:00.583. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports once again set the fastest LMP2 time, with 1:52.149.


2019 12 Hours of Sebring, Report, Qualifying Results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .


2019 2. divisjon
The 2019 2. divisjon (referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian football third-tier league season. The league consisted of 28 teams divided into 2 groups of 14 teams.


2019 2. divisjon
The league was played as a double round-robin tournament, where all teams played 26 matches. The season began on 13 April and concluded on 26 October.


2019 2. divisjon, Promotion play-offs
The teams who finished in second place in their respective group qualified for the promotion play-offs, where they faced each other over two legs. The winner, Åsane, then played against the 14th placed team in 1. divisjon for a place in the 2020 1. divisjon.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona
The 2019 24 Hours of Daytona (formally the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona) was an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned endurance sports car race held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 26–27, 2019. It was the 57th running of the race, and the first of 12 races in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the first of four rounds of the 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup. The race was ended ahead of the 22nd Hour, due to heavy rainfall.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona
The race was won overall by Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor, Fernando Alonso, and Kamui Kobayashi in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. The LMP2 class was won by the #18 DragonSpeed Oreca 07, piloted by Pastor Maldonado, Roberto Gonzalez, Sebastián Saavedra and Ryan Cullen. The GTLM class was won by the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE of Connor de Phillippi, Augusto Farfus, Philipp Eng, and Colton Herta. The GTD class was won for a second consecutive year by the #11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, and Christian Engelhart.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Background, Regulation changes
Prior to the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, a raft of regulation changes were made, which saw significant changes to both Prototypes and GT3 cars entered in the 2019 event. The Prototype class, which previously combined Daytona Prototype International cars, alongside Le Mans Prototype LMP2 cars was now split into 2 separate classes,  the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) class, and the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class. The DPi class would be the top class of the Championship, and will feature teams with full Professional Lineups running Daytona Prototype International cars, with its own class-based Balance of Performance (BoP).


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Background, Regulation changes
The LMP2 class would be the lower prototype class of the 2, featuring Global Specification LMP2 cars, and Pro-Am lineups, with no BoP being applied to the class. The Pro-Am classes in the Championship (LMP2 and GTD) were also now required to adhere to driver rating requirements, with each car being allowed only 2 Platinum/Gold rated drivers for the Rolex 24, and one Platinum/Gold rated driver for the other Endurance Races, alongside the requirement of 1 Bronze/Silver rated driver for every Sprint race. Bronze or Silver rated drivers would also be required to start the race in these categories. Cars in the DPi, LMP2, as well as the GTD classes will also run on Michelin tyres, instead of Continentals while the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class would continue to be an open-tyre class.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Background, Entry list
Ahead of the Roar Before the 24 tests at the track, IMSA released an entry list of the teams due to participate in the compulsory 3 day tests. The entry list listed 47 teams across the four classes: 11 entries in the DPi class, 4 in the LMP2 class, as well as 9 in the GTLM class, featuring Group GTE Cars, as well as 23 in the GT Daytona (GTD) class.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Background, Entry list
Each car was driven by two drivers who were to complete in the whole WeatherTech Sportscar Championship season, alongside 1–2 additional drivers, with one of the two additional drivers participating in the whole Michelin Endurance Cup season. These drivers came from a variety of categories, such as the FIA World Endurance Championship (Fernando Alonso, Kamui Kobayashi, Harry Tincknell), the IndyCar Series (Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi), the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (René Rast, Loïc Duval).


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Pre-testing Balance of Performance (BoP)
Ahead of the Roar Before the 24 Tests, IMSA issued a pre-test BoP, on December 21, 2018, aiming to create parity in each class among the cars, as well as to separate the performances of cars in each class. The DPis were given a 10kg weight reduction, as well as increased boost pressure for Turbocharged Engines, while Naturally Aspirated Engines received a larger air restrictor. The LMP2 cars were given a 10kg weight addition, alongside a five-litre reduction in fuel capacity, and a 4 second increased refuelling time.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Pre-testing Balance of Performance (BoP)
Changes were also made to both the GTLM class, with the BMW M8 GTE, and the Porsche 911 RSR getting a weight break, with the Ferrari 488 GTE was given a 5kg weight increase, the Ford GT a 20kg weight increase, and the Corvette C7.R remaining unchanged. The GTD class saw several changes


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The Roar Before the 24 tests occurred from January 4 to 6, 2019, with all cars participating in the test. The first session on Friday morning saw the #77 Mazda RT-24P entered by Mazda Team Joest top timesheets with a 1:35.989 lap, while the #52 Oreca 07 entered by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports topped the LMP2 category with a 1:39.828 by Gabriel Aubry. GTLM was topped by #911 911 RSR, with Patrick Pilet at the wheel setting a 1:44.866, while Jeroen Bleekemolen set a 1:47.188 in the #33 AMG GT3.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The second session on Friday afternoon had the #10 Cadillac DPi-V.R of Wayne Taylor Racing top the session with a 1:36.596 by Kamui Kobayashi, while Gabriel Aubrey topped the LMP2 category again with 1:39.575. Davide Rigon set a 1:44.718 in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, to top GTLM, while the #33 topped GTD once more with a 1:46.452 from Jeroen Bleekemolen.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The first session on Saturday morning saw the #55 Mazda RT-24P set the pace, with Harry Tincknell setting a 1:34.925. The #52 Oreca 07 topped the timesheet again in LMP2 with a 1:38.107 from Matt McMurry. The #912 Porsche 911 RSR topped GTLM, with a 1:43.862 from Mathieu Jaminet, while the #540 Black Swan Racing 911 GT3 R topped the GTD category with a 1:45.919 from Matteo Cairoli.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The Afternoon session was led by the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R with Renger Van Der Zande setting a 1:34.534, with LMP2 being led once more by Gabriel Aubry in the #52 Oreca with a 1:37.083 lap. GTLM was led by the #67 Ford GT with Richard Westbrook setting a 1:43.148, with GTD being led by Trent Hindman in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3, with a 1:45.533 lap.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The Night session saw Jonathan Bomarito set the pace in the #55 Mazda RT-24P, with a 1:34.533, while the #52 led LMP2 once more, with a 1:36.990 from Gabriel Aubry. GTLM saw Nick Tandy set a 1:43.402 in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, with GTD led by the #13 Via Italia Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with a 1:45.842 from Victor Franzoni.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
GTD had a Qualifying session on the day itself, which was meant to allocate garages for the teams, with Ana Beatriz securing the top spot with a 1:45.537 in the #57 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3, after P1 Motorsport was disqualified from the session for using a gold driver (Dominik Baumann), in spite of it setting the fastest time.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The morning session on Sunday saw Harry Tincknell top the lap times in the #55 Mazda RT-24P, with a 1:34.224, while Ben Hanley led LMP2 with a 1:35.975 in the 81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07, and GTLM was led by Richard Westbrook in the #67 Ford GT with a 1:43.083.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The Last Session on Sunday, where only 14 cars ran, saw the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan-Onroak DPi top the times with a 1:35.176 from Loic Duval, while LMP2 was led by the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07, with a 1:36.188 from Nicolas Lapierre, and GTLM led by the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, with a 1:43.848 from Patrick Pilet.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Roar Before the 24 Tests
The Qualifying for DPi, LMP2 and GTLM saw Oliver Jarvis earn the top spot for Mazda Team Joest in the #77 Mada RT-24P, with a 1:33.398 which also unofficially broke the track record, while the #52 topped the LMP2 class with a 1:35.930 from Gabriel Aubry, while GTLM was led by the #3 Corvette C7.R with a 1:42.651 from Jan Magnussen.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Post-testing Balance of Performance Adjustments
On January 16, 2019, IMSA released a technical bulletin with regards to the Balance of Performance of the cars competing in the Rolex 24. Unlike previous years. there were only minor tweaks to selected cars, and saw no significant performance related adjustments. In the Daytona Prototype International class, 3 of the 4 cars saw changes to their fuel capacity, with the Acura ARX-05 and Mazda RT24-P each losing 2 liters and the Cadillac DPi-V.R being reduced by 1 liter.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Testing, Post-testing Balance of Performance Adjustments
The Nissan-Onroak DPi, meanwhile, has an adjusted Lambda, while the Mazda RT-24P was mandated to run its high downforce rear wing package instead of “2019 Opt. 1” that was outlined in the initial pre-testing BoP. In GT Le Mans, the BMW M8 GTE received a 2-liter fuel capacity increase, while an adjustment was made to the Ferrari 488 GTE’s RPM redline. The GT Daytona class saw the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo get a 1 mm larger air restrictor, along with a related 2-liter increase in fuel capacity, while the BMW M6 GT3 received a 15 kg weight break. Fuel capacities were also adjusted for the new-for-2019 Porsche 911 GT3 R (+3 liters) and Acura NSX GT3 Evo (−3 liters), while IMSA elected to not slow down the GTD Class.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
Four practice sessions were held before the start of the race on Saturday, three on Thursday and one on Friday. The first two sessions on Thursday morning and afternoon were 45 minutes and 75 Minutes in length, while third held later that evening ran for 90 minutes, and the fourth on Friday morning lasted an hour.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
In Practice 1, which was held in damp conditions, Felipe Nasr set the fastest lap, in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, with a best of 1:36.108, in a session which saw just four of the eleven DPi cars set flying laps on slick tires during the damp session. Behind Nasr was Filipe Albuquerque, who gave the Action Express Racing a 1–2, in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, with a best of 1:36.707.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
Tristan Vautier’s 1:37.595 effort in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac and Jonathan Bomarito’s 1:38.561 in the No. 55 Mazda RT-24P were the only other competitive times set on Thursday morning. The 5th best time, and the top time in the GTLM class was set by Frederic Makowiecki, in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR on slick Michelins putting a gap of eight-tenths over Mathieu Jaminet in the German manufacturer’s No. 912 car, whilst Joey Hand moved Ford Chip Ganassi Racing up to third late on, although his final effort was over a second off the Porsche pace up front.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
In GTD, Corey Lewis ended the morning quickest with a 1:46.577 in the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. This lap came during the 15-minute extension of the event’s first practice session dedicated to silver and bronze drivers in the secondary GT class. Henrik Hedman topped the charts in LMP2 for DragonSpeed with a 1:46.657 in the team’s FIA World Endurance Championship Oreca 07 Gibson.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
In Practice 2, Jonathan Bomarito, driving the #55 Mazda RT24-P, setting a 1:34.672, was a full 0.711 seconds faster than second place Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. Colin Braun checked in with the third fastest time, set early in the session, in the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan Onroak DPi, while Ricky Taylor and Agustin Canapino completed the top five for Acura Team Penske and Juncos Racing, respectively. In LMP2, a late effort from James Allen put the No. 81


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson at the head of the four-car class by 0.257 seconds over Gabriel Aubry in the No. 52 from PR1/Mathiasen, with a 1:37.255. In GTLM, Nick Tandy was quickest in the GT Le Mans class in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, with him setting a 1:43.475, followed by the #3 Corvette C7.R of Jan Magnussen with a 1:43.561, and the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe 1:43.755. Daniel Serra turned in the fastest lap in GTD, in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 with a 1:45.936, while Trent Hindman and Ben Keating completed the top three in class for Meyer Shank Racing and Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports, setting a 1:46.184 and 1:46.244 respectively.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
In Practice 3, which was held at night, Loic Duval put the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan DPi at the top, with a 1:34.786, while a 1:34.905 was set by Filipe Albuquerque in the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. None of the Mazda RT24-P prototypes turned laps in Thursday evening practice after the Joest Racing team elected to carry out separate planned engine changes. In LMP2, Ben Hanley led the class, with a 1:36.521 in the #81 Dragonspeed Oreca 07.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Practice
In GTLM, Augusto Farfus set the fastest lap, with a 1:43.315, just 0.002 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed #911 Porsche 911 RSR. In GTD, Bill Auberlen posted a 1:45.165 to put his #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the lead, with Daniel Serra coming in 2nd in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3, 0.109 seconds behind.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
On Thursday's Qualifying session, which was divided into 3, with one session for the Prototypes, GTLM and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (LMP2/GTD) classes requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid such that the Prototype and GTLM cars began ahead of the GTD field.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
In the Prototype Qualifying session, Oliver Jarvis, driving for Mazda Team Joest, broke the Daytona International Speedway Road Course lap record to clinch pole position for the race, bringing the #77 Mazda RT-24P to the top of the timing screens early in the 15-minute prototype qualifying session before shaving his best effort down to a 1:33.685. This was two tenths quicker than the previous record around the road course of the Daytona International Speedway, that had remained unbeaten for over 25 years, and had been set by P.J. Jones in 1993 behind the wheel of a GTP Toyota Eagle MkIII.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
This pole position was the first ever for Mazda Team Joest, and the Mazda RT24-P. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Ricky Taylor in the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05, who interrupted a Joest 1–2 held by Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito, until his Penske team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya jumped up to third shortly before the checkered flag. Bomarito’s time of 1:34.212 however, held out as the fourth-best, while Felipe Nasr brought the highest-placed Cadillac DPi-V.R to fifth on the grid.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
He was followed by another 4 more Cadillacs, with Jordan Taylor going sixth in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing car, ahead of Juncos Racing’s Agustin Canapino, and the JDC-Miller Motorsports cars driven by Tristan Vautier and Stephen Simpson, while Jon Bennett propped up the running DPi field in the CORE Autosport run Ligier Nissan DPi. The defending race winning #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R failed to post a time during the session, after Filipe Albuquerque radioed his crew about engine problems.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
In LMP2, James Allen took pole in the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson, recording a time which was half a second quicker than the 2nd placed #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 driven by Gabriel Aubry.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
In GTLM, Nick Tandy set a new qualifying track record for the class, taking pole position for the Porsche GT Team, driving the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, with his best lap of 1:42.257 being a full 0.326 seconds faster than the effort by the previous year’s GTLM pole sitter Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R. Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team Ford GT finished 3rd, to bring three different manufacturers into the top 3 starting spots for the .


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
Davide Rigon came in fourth fastest in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, and was followed by Earl Bamber in the sister car to the #911, the #912. It was a tight qualifying session for the class, with all nine cars being covered by 0.982 seconds, and with the top four qualifiers in the class posting times under the previous class track record.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
In GTD, Marcos Gomes set a track record for the class, while en route to taking the class pole position in the #13 Via Italia Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. The Brazilian broke Daniel Serra’s previous class qualifying record which had been set the previous year, while marking the third straight year that a Ferrari has taken the GTD class pole. Gomes’ best lap of 1:45.257 was 0.067 seconds faster than that of the second placed #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, driven by Ben Keating.


2019 24 Hours of Daytona, Qualifying
Trent Hindman was came third in the #86 Acura NSX GT3 Evo for Meyer Shank Racing. Lamborghini then took the next two spots on the grid with Giacomo Altoe and Rolf Ineichen for Ebimotors and GRT Grasser Racing Team, respectively. The top 13 cars in the GTD class were covered by less than one second, making for a closely packed qualifying session.