Portal:Current events/2015 November 11

November 11, 2015 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- The Israeli Air Force reportedly conducts an airstrike near Damascus International Airport, in Syria's capital, the target apparently a weapons shipment reportedly intended for Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, according to Syrian opposition groups. (Times of Israel) (The Jerusalem Post)
Turkey–PKK conflict, 2015 PKK rebellion
- Turkish security forces backed up by tanks and combat helicopters launch a large-scale operation against PKK militants in the mainly Kurdish town of Silvan, which has been under a punishing curfew for nine days. At least five people are killed in the fighting, including a Turkish soldier. (AFP via Yahoo)
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- Carrying coffins holding the beheaded bodies of seven ethnic Hazara, thousands of demonstrators from Afghanistan's different ethnic groups - Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara - march on the Presidential Palace in Kabul, urging the government to take action against the rising violence against Afghan civilians. The murders, which the United Nations denounced as a potential war crime, have fueled a growing sense of insecurity since the Taliban briefly seized control of Kunduz in late September. (RAWA News) (Reuters)

Business and economics

Metrojet Flight 9268
- Tourism bookings in Egypt’s main Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh plunge in the wake of the plane crash with some 80% of reservations cancelled and at least 40% of the tourists leaving the resort since the crash. (The Globe And Mail)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Slovenian border barrier
  - Slovenia's army begins erecting a razor wire fence along parts of its southern border with Croatia in order to stop a tide of illegal migrants entering the country. Around 180,000 people, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan have streamed into Slovenia since mid-October after trekking northwards along a Balkan corridor from Greece, most of them bound ultimately for Germany. (Reuters)
- Sweden is imposing temporary border controls to stem a record inflow of refugees. The Nordic nation pleads with the rest of Europe for help. (Bloomberg) (Newsweek)

Law and crime

Anti-corruption campaign in China
- Beijing Deputy Communist Party Secretary Lü Xiwen and Shanghai vice mayor Ai Baojun are placed under investigation by the top anti-graft body of the Communist Party of China, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. (New York Times)
The Constitutional Court of Spain agrees to hear an appeal by the national government against a bid for independence by Catalonia suspending legal bids for secession. (Reuters)
Three aircraft, a Southwest Airlines 737, a Virgin America A319, and a private plane, were all struck by a laser coming from the same direction as they were about to land at Dallas's Love Field, according to the U.S. FAA. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- With 45 percent of the Pyithu Hluttaw (House of Representatives) results announced from Sunday's election, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) moves closer to an absolute majority in the country's parliament, winning over 90 percent (135 of 149 seats) in the country's lower house. The NLD also has taken over 85 percent in the upper house and regional assemblies. The NLD needs to win more than two-thirds of seats that were contested in parliament to form Myanmar's first democratically elected government since the early 1960s. (Reuters)
- Twenty-five percent (25%) of the seats in the legislature are not elected; they are reserved for military appointees, taken from Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) personnel, and officially known as "Army Representatives." (Channel 3000)^{[permanent dead link]}
Pro-independence Catalan leaders vowed to continue their efforts to secede from Spain, defying a ruling by the Madrid-based constitutional court that suspended a law defining a path for independence. (International Business Times) (Time)

Science and technology

Astronomers announce the discovery of V774104, the most distant object yet found in the Solar System, a dwarf planet orbiting at three times the distance of Pluto. (NPR)