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Worldwide current events
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Topics in the news

Maithripala Sirisena

Amidst a constitutional crisis, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka suspends the attempt by President Maithripala Sirisena (pictured) to dissolve parliament.
American comic book creator Stan Lee dies at the age of 95.
An outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed more than 200 people since August.
Four wildfires in California, including the Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire, burn more than 230,000 acres (93,000 hectares) and kill at least 51 people.

November 15, 2018 (Thursday)

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Politics and elections

Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Brexit
- Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Dominic Raab resigns. (Bloomberg)

November 14, 2018 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Anglophone Crisis
- The Cameroonian Armed Forces kill at least 30 Ambazonian separatists in two-days of intense fighting in Cameroon's restive English-speaking region, while a mayor in Donga-Mantung is shot dead. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

2018 California wildfires
- The death toll in the Camp Fire rises to 56, with the statewide total at 59. Authorities release the names of 130 people who are missing, including many in their 80s and 90s, with the potential that dozens more are unaccounted for. (CBS News)

International relations

Brexit negotiations
- British Prime Minister Theresa May wins approval of her Brexit plan from her cabinet, although many Conservative and opposition MPs voice strong disapproval. (The Guardian) (Politics Home)
The United Nations Security Council unanimously votes to lift sanctions on Eritrea. (BBC)

Law and crime

2018 California wildfires
- A lawsuit is filed against Pacific Gas and Electric Company, alleging company negligence and health and safety code violations in the Camp Fire, which has killed at least 48 people. (Reuters) (Los Angeles Times)
Persecution of Muslims in Myanmar, Inn Din massacre
- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence condemns Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya Muslims and called for Aung San Suu Kyi to pardon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, the two Reuters journalists imprisoned in the country. (Huffington Post)
Tampon tax
- The Constitutional Court of Colombia unanimously rules to strike down a five per cent tax on feminine hygiene products on gender equality grounds. (El Tiempo)

Politics and elections

2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis
- The Sri Lankan Parliament reconvenes. The Speaker says it passed a motion of no confidence against the disputed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Al Jazeera)
Cabinet of Israel
- Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announces his resignation with effect in 48 hours in response to the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (BBC)

Science and technology

Astronomers announce, through the Nature journal, the discovery of Barnard's Star b, a Super-Earth exoplanet orbiting Barnard's Star, the fourth-nearest-known individual star to the Sun. (BBC)

November 13, 2018 (Tuesday)

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Business and economy

Amazon HQ2
- Amazon announces it will split their second headquarters in New York City and National Landing in northern Virginia (outside Washington D.C.) (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

2018 California wildfires
- The death toll of the Camp Fire in Butte County, the deadliest wildfire in Californian history, rises to 48 people while dozens are missing. (BBC)
A T-38 Talon jet trainer crashes at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, killing a pilot and injuring the other. (CBS News)

Law and crime

CNN controversies
- CNN files a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming its revocation of White House correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass on November 7 violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights. (The Washington Post)
Pike County, Ohio shootings
- Four suspects have been arrested for the murders of eight members of a family in 2016. Police believe custody of a child plays a role in this case. One of the suspects has a child with one of the victims.(CNN)
Bishop International Airport incident
- Amor Ftouhi is found guilty of three federal charges in the stabbing of an airport police officer last year in Flint, Michigan. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis
- The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka reverses President Maithripala Sirisena's decisions to dissolve Parliament and to hold snap elections. (Al Jazeera)
Brexit
- The Government of the United Kingdom says that UK and EU negotiators reached a draft agreement and that it will be discussed by Cabinet tomorrow. (AP via ABC News)
2026 Winter Olympics
- Residents of the city of Calgary head to the polls to vote on a non-binding plebiscite to determine if the city should make a bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. (CTV News)
- The unofficial results suggest the No vote is in the lead, and only a 40% voter turnout. Official results will be released Friday, November 16. (City of Calgary)
First Lady of the United States Melania Trump calls for the ousting of Deputy National Security Advisor Mira Ricardel. (Toronto Star) (Reuters)
The Islamic City Council of Tehran appoints Pirouz Hanachi as the new mayor of Tehran, the third in 18 months. (RFE/RL)

Science and technology

Timeline of nuclear fusion
- China's Hefei Institutes of Physical Science announces that its Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor in Hefei has reached a milestone of 100 million degrees celsius. (CGTN)

November 12, 2018 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Gaza–Israel clashes (November 2018)
- Israel and Hamas exchange missile fire with 300 rockets being launched from Gaza within the span of three hours. (The New York Times)
- The Israeli Air Force bombs Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV's headquarters in Gaza City. (Reuters)
- A rocket fired from Gaza strikes an apartment building in Ashkelon, killing a man and injuring two others. The victim was a middle aged Palestinian illegal immigrant from Hebron. This is the first person killed on Israeli soil due to Palestinian rocket fire since 2014. (Ynetnews)

Arts and culture

Amnesty International strips Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi of its highest honor, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, which she received in 2009, because of her inaction regarding the persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim population in Rakhine State and the military operations in Kachin and Shan State. (BBC) (CNN)
Pope Francis asks the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, now meeting in Baltimore, to delay voting on proposals to address the sexual abuse crisis until he leads a global summit in February. (CNN) (Axios)
Marvel Comics editor and comic book writer Stan Lee dies at the age of 95. (The New York Times) (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

2018 California wildfires
- The Camp Fire in Butte County is now ranked as the deadliest wildfire in Californian history, with 42 people confirmed dead and 228 people missing. (HuffPost)

International relations

Killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia
- Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau confirms that Canadian intelligence officials have listened to the recording provided by Turkey of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, though he himself had not heard it. (CTV News)

Law and crime

Parviz Kazemi, former Iranian welfare minister, is arrested and transferred to Tehran's Evin Prison on charge of causing disruption in the country's economic system. (PressTV)
Antisemitism in Canada, History of the Jews in Toronto
- Toronto police investigates a hate crime against four Jewish teens. 1 person is arrested and 9 other teenagers are being sought. (Huffington Post Canada) (CBC CA)

Politics and elections

United States Senate election in Arizona, 2018
- A week after the election, which was initially too close to call, Democratic Party candidate Kyrsten Sinema is elected to the United States Senate, defeating GOP candidate Martha McSally. Sinema is the first woman elected to represent Arizona in the Senate and first Democrat to win a Senate election in the state since 1988. (BBC)
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine narrowly survives a 16-16 vote of no confidence. 17 votes were needed to remove Heine from office. (Marianas Variety)

Science and technology

The Irish Aviation Authority launches an investigation after several airliner pilots report extremely fast moving bright lights off the south-west coast of Ireland. (BBC) (Irish Examiner)

November 11, 2018 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Israel-Palestine confrontation (November 2018)
- Seven Palestinians, including commander Nour Baraka and three other militants, are killed during a raid by the Israel Defense Forces in the southeastern Gaza Strip, that was supported by air attacks. One IDF officer was killed and another was injured. Over a dozen rockets were subsequently fired from Gaza, three of which were shot down. (KUNA) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
World War I centenary
- Around 70 world leaders in Paris mark the centenary of the 1918 Armistice which ended World War I. (ABS-CBN News)

Disasters and accidents

Camp Fire, Woolsey Fire, 2018 California wildfires
- The death toll in the Camp and Woolsey wildfires has risen to 31 with more than 200 people still missing. (BBC)

International relations

Killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were issued to Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. (CNN)

Law and crime

2018 Brăila attack
- Ten people are injured after a man steals a car by stabbing its owner and drives into pedestrians on a sidewalk and at a shopping mall in Brăila, Romania. (Star Tribune)
2018 Australian strawberry contamination
- A 50-year-old former strawberry farm supervisor is arrested in Queensland in connection with 230 reports of sewing needles found hidden in strawberries. The "strawberry scare" spread throughout the country and to New Zealand, and devastated Australia’s multimillion-dollar strawberry industry. (BBC) (The Mail)

Politics and elections

Democratic Republic of the Congo general election, 2018
- The opposition coalition chooses lawmaker Martin Fayulu, leader of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development party, as its joint presidential candidate. (Reuters) (AFP via Yahoo News)

November 10, 2018 (Saturday)

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Arts and culture

Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Elvis Presley, Babe Ruth, Roger Staubach, Antonin Scalia, Orrin Hatch, doctor and philanthropist Miriam Adelson, and Alan Page are expected to be recipients for the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. (Entertainment Weekly), (The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

Camp Fire, Woolsey Fire, 2018 California wildfires
- The town of Paradise, California, with a population of 27,000, is largely burned down. More than 6,700 buildings have been destroyed, making it California's most destructive wildfire since record-keeping began. (CBC)
- Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea reports 14 additional bodies have been found in the city of Paradise bringing the death toll to 23; Honea added there are 110 outstanding reports of missing people. (AP via MSN.com)
- Two people have been confirmed killed by the Woolsey Fire, which has burned 70,000 acres and hundreds of homes near Los Angeles. (BBC)
2018 Kivu Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola virus outbreak
- The death toll of the ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that started in August, rises to 200 people. This is the deadliest ebola outbreak in the history of the country. (BBC)
A landslide leaves at least 10 people dead while eleven others are injured in Niterói, Brazil. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

RCMP confirm one of two explosions at the Strathcona County Community Centre in Sherwood Park, Alberta on November 6th was deliberate, and the other was accidentally set off. They also disclose the suspect shot himself and later died from his wounds. No one else was hurt in the incident, and a motive for the incident is still under investigation. (CTV News)

Politics and elections

Florida elections, 2018
- Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner orders machine recounts in the U.S. Senate race and the state's governor and agriculture commissioner races as required by law when the lead is less than 0.5 percent. Results are due by 3 p.m. EST Thursday. Should the results still be within 0.25 percentage points, a manual recount will be triggered, with results due on November 18. (CNBC) (NPR)

Sports

Japanese side Kashima Antlers wins 2018 AFC Champions League after winning 2–0 on aggregate against Iranian Persepolis in the final. (Sporting News)

November 9, 2018 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- Officials say that an attack by the Taliban on an army outpost killed 10 soldiers and 7 policemen in Khwaja Ghar District after 7 policemen were killed in Farah yesterday. (AP via The Fresno Bee)
2018 Melbourne stabbing attack
- One person is killed and two others are injured by a knife-wielding man in Melbourne, Australia. The suspect, a 31-year-old Australian resident originally from Somalia, randomly stabbed pedestrians after exiting his burning, crashed utility truck that held multiple gas canisters. He was shot and killed attempting to stab responding police. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility. (ABC News) (The Age) (NPR)

Disasters and accidents

Camp Fire, 2018 California wildfires
- At least 11 people have been killed and more than 150,000 evacuated as two big wildfires rage in California, the Camp Fire in Butte County and the Hill Fire in Ventura. (BBC)
Flash floods caused by heavy rain in Petra, Jordan, kill 11 people while 24 others are injured. (BBC)
Two additional bodies are found in the rubble of the two buildings that collapsed four days ago in Marseille, France, bringing the final death toll to eight. (LCI)
A convoy accident involving British Prime Minister Theresa May and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel interrupts an Armistice Day trip after two police motorbikes were knocked over. (Sky News) (Reuters)