Portal:Current events/November 2010

Armed conflicts and attacks

Two Afghan women charity workers are shot dead. They were travelling between Lashkar Gah and Garmser, a volatile area in the Helmand River valley, when they were attacked. (dawn)
Battle of Mogadishu (2010):
- At least 12 people are killed in fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia, between pro-government forces, African Union troops and the Islamist militant al-Shabaab group. (AFP) (Ennahar)
Photographs, diaries and footage of Gyles Mackrell's rescue of refugees from the Japanese invasion of Burma in World War II are made available. (The Independent)
The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey announces it will extend a truce until elections next year. (AFP)
58 hostage-takers, hostages and police officers are killed and 67 people wounded when Iraqi forces storm a Baghdad church to free dozens of hostages. (Deccan Chronicle)(Times of India) (One India) (DNA) (Khaleej Times)
Four militants, including two from Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), are killed in separate gun battles with security forces in Kupwara and Kulgam districts of Kashmir Valley, India. (PTI) (Xinhua)
A United States drone attack kills six people in northwest Pakistan. (AP via Yahoo! News) (Dawn)
A suicide bomber kills two Pakistani policemen and wounds 10 others as security forces try to stop him from walking into their local headquarters in Swabi, 100 kilometres northwest of Islamabad. (Dawn)

Arts and culture

A Turkish film wins the Best Documentary award at the Thanet International Film Festival in the United Kingdom. (Hurriyet Daily)^{[permanent dead link]}
The People's Republic of China begins its first census in ten years. (BBC) (China Daily)

Business and economy

India and China help boost Asian shares outside Japan by 1.7%. (Livemint)
Ambac Financial Group announces that it may have to declare bankruptcy, though it is still in talks with its senior bondholders about a consensual rescheduling of its debts. Before the 2008 financial crisis, Ambac was one of the two dominant bond insurance companies. (Reuters)
An examiner appointed by the Delaware Bankruptcy court says that there is no value left in the estate of defunct bank Washington Mutual for the stockholders to receive anything. (Reuters)

Disasters

At least 50 people drown after a ferry-boat capsizes on the Muri Ganga River in West Bengal, India. (Sydney Morning Herald)
16 people lose their lives in separate incidents due to rainfall in various parts of the district of India in Nakapalli, Elamanchili, Payakaraopeta, Vizag, Rambilli and in other parts of Andhra Pradesh. (PTI) (Deccan Chronicle)
A large crater appears in the early hours in the central German town of Schmalkalden. (Xinhua)

International relations

Disputed islands:
- The President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev visits Kunashiri, one of the southern Kuril Islands that are the subject of the Kuril Islands dispute between Russia and Japan. (Reuters) (CNN)
- The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan describes Medvedev's visit as "deplorable". (CNN)

Law and crime

Three suspected ivory poachers are shot dead by rangers in Kenya in separate incidents. (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) (CNN)
A court in Uganda orders a newspaper to cease publishing the names and photographs of people it says are homosexual, following attacks on homosexuals in the past month. (BBC)
The Government of Canada agrees to accept Canadian Omar Khadr, detained at Guantanamo Bay for the past eight years, after he serves a year of his sentence at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (CNN)

Politics and elections

State media in Burma warn against a boycott of the general election on Sunday, with the government threatening jail time for those encouraging a boycott. (BBC) (UPI)
While attempting to open a mental health care facility in Dublin, Irish Health Minister Mary Harney is pelted with red paint by an opposition politician highlighting the "blood budget" which "will result in the unnecessary and avoidable deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people over the coming years". Harney is overseeing hospital cuts of €1 billion. (The Straits Times) (ABC News) (RTÉ)

November 2, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Greek mail bombs
- Parcel bombs explode at the Mexican, Russian and Swiss embassies in Greece. Similar packages were sent or addressed to the embassies of Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Germany and the Netherlands over the past two days. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (China Daily)
- German police disarm a mail bomb sent from Greece to the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Similar packages addressed to the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy and the Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi are detected en route. (AP via Yahoo! News), (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- Greece suspends international mail and parcel services for 48 hours. (Al-Jazeera)
Two militants are killed by security forces in the Shopian district of south Kashmir. (Hindustan Times) (Sify)
A series of bomb blasts in Baghdad, Iraq, kill at least 63 and injure 180. (CNN) (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

Fudan University releases the results of a survey that shows that 72.6% of Shanghai residents visited Shanghai Expo, an average of 2.31 times per resident. (Shanghai Daily)

Business and economy

BP raises the estimated cost of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to $40 billion. (Reuters)
California voters reject a proposition that would have suspended indefinitely the operation of that state's cap-and-trade bill, Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, known as "AB 32". (AP)

Disasters and accidents

At least 14 people are killed as Tropical Storm Tomas passes over Saint Lucia. (BBC) (Jamaica Observer)
Thousands of people are stranded amid flash floods in Thailand. (Straits Times)
17 people are killed and three others injured when a truck carrying them overturned at Tarapur talukav near Indranaj in India. The truck was on its way from Surat to Bhavnagar. (PTI) (PTI via Mathrubhumi)
Continuing eruptions of Mount Merapi in Java, Indonesia, lead to cancellation of flights to the nearby city of Yogyakarta. (AP) (Shanghai Daily)

International relations

President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez welcomes President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos to Caracas. (Xinhua)
A senior military intelligence officer is arrested in Taiwan for being a double agent for China. (Focus Taiwan) (BBC) (RTHK)
Japan temporarily recalls its ambassador to Russia amid a dispute over a visit by President Dmitry Medvedev to the Kuril Islands. (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy meet in London and sign a treaty allowing joint development and testing of nuclear warheads, and outline plans for a joint army expeditionary force. (BBC) (Xinhua)

Law and crime

A court in Zambia grants bail to two Chinese managers accused of attempted murder for shooting and injuring 11 coal miners during a protest over pay and working conditions. (Reuters) (Zambian Watchdog)
Yemen charges militant Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki with incitement to kill foreigners. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Salum Khalfani Bar'wani of the opposition Civic United Front party is elected as a Member of Parliament, the first albino to serve elective office in Tanzania. (BBC)
Kosovo's government is brought down. (BBC)
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is subjected to calls for his resignation by opposition politicians amid reports of his involvement with a 17-year-old girl. He responds by saying "It's better to like beautiful girls than be gay", causing further anger and leading to demonstrations by gay groups. (Reuters via The Guardian) (The Irish Times) (The Times of India) (The New York Times)
Irish TD and former government minister Jim McDaid resigns suddenly from Dáil Éireann after disagreeing with his colleagues, once again reducing the fragile majority of the country's government and provoking new calls for a general election ahead of a hard-hitting budget; four seats are now vacant following the latest resignation. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (Reuters) (Financial Times) Resignation letter
All India Congress Committee meeting begins at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi. (Samay Live)
U.S. Midterms
- Voters in the United States go to the polls for elections for the House of Representatives, 37 Senate seats, 39 state and territorial governors and various local seats and issues. (BBC)
- The Republican Party wins six gubernatorial elections including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming. (AP)
- The Democrats retains a clear majority in United States Senate, though the Republicans pick up seats in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, North Dakota, Indiana and Wisconsin (AP), (BBC)
- The Republicans win control of the House of Representatives with the largest turnover of seats since 1948 and the largest gain for Republicans since 1894. (BBC)(Wall Street Journal)
Members of the United Kingdom House of Commons vote to hold a referendum on May 5 to replace the first-past-the-post system with the alternative vote. (BBC)

Science

NASA delays the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-133, its final mission, due to a circuitry glitch. (CNN)

Sports

The San Francisco Giants defeat the Texas Rangers to win the 2010 World Series 4-1. (Sports Illustrated) (BBC)
Americain wins the 2010 Melbourne Cup. (The Australian)
Three time surfing world champion Andy Irons dies from suspected dengue fever, one of five people on the ASP World Tour to suffer from the illness in the past three weeks. (The Australian)

November 3, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Greece suspends air mail deliveries after a series of parcel bombs are sent to foreign embassies and leaders. (CNN) (BBC) (People's Daily)
At least 17 co-ordinated explosions across a widespread area of Baghdad kill 113 people and wound more than 271. (Xinhua) (Shanghai Daily) (Los Angeles Times)
The South Korean Navy fires warning shots at a North Korean fishing boat at the Northern Limit Line maritime border. (Reuters) (Korea Times)

Arts, culture and entertainment

A Singapore court convicts British author Alan Shadrake of insulting the judicial system in his book Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock. (BBC)

Business and economy

At least 25,000 students take to the streets of Dublin to protest against rising emigration, unemployment and an increase in university fees, in the largest such demonstration for a generation. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (BBC) (Irish Examiner) (University Observer)
The Government of Canada announces that it will block a $38.6bn hostile takeover bid by BHP Billiton for Potash Corporation. (BBC)
The United States Federal Reserve announces its plan for further quantitative easing in a bid to ward off deflation. (CNN)
The central bank of Iceland, i.e. the Sedlabanki, cuts its key interest rate to 5.50 percent, a somewhat deeper cut than had been expected. This is part of an ongoing policy of expanding the money supply in response to the crisis of 2008. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Two people die and 50 are injured after a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hits Central Serbia. (B92) (Forbes)

International relations

A French court orders the extradition of Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana to stand trial at the International Criminal Court. (RFI) (The East African)
The United Nations schedules a new round of talks on the Western Sahara. (BBC)
NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is to visit Russia to discuss the European missile defence project with President Medvedev. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

David Tamihere is granted parole after serving 20 years imprisonment for the 1989 murders of two Swedish backpackers in New Zealand. (NZ Herald)
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is to be hanged for murder today in Iran, according to the International Committee against Stoning. (The Irish Times)
San Francisco passes a law banning McDonald's from giving free children's toys with unhealthy food. (Reuters)
The United States Border Patrol finds a sophisticated tunnel between Tijuana in Mexico and Otay Mesa, California, used by drug smugglers. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Constitutional referendum results in Niger show that 90% of voters approve a return to civilian rule from the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy military junta. (BBC)
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf dissolves her cabinet. (Reuters)
A package addressed to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi bursts into flames at Bologna Airport during a police inspection. (Xinhua)
Former Russian Premier and founder of Gazprom Viktor Chernomyrdin dies at 72. (RT) (The Guardian) (Wall Street Journal) (BBC) (AFP) (The New York Times)
Ireland's High Court rules as unconstitutional the government's delay in holding one of the four by-elections due in the country; the government then announces the by-election in the Donegal South–West constituency will take place by the end of the month. (The Irish Times) (BBC) (RTÉ)

November 4, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Six armed ethnic groups in Burma join forces, fearing they will be attacked by the military government after the general election on Sunday. (Straits Times) (MSN Philippine News)
The United Nations says child soldiers continue to be recruited to fight and engage in piracy in Somalia. (IRIN)
Somali pirates hijack a vessel under the flag of the Comoros Islands with 29 people on board off the coast of Tanzania. (Voice of Russia)
Two men are charged with terrorism following parcel bomb attacks in Greece, as a 14^th bomb addressed to the French embassy in Athens is detonated by police. (AFP) (BBC)
Several Sudanese police are killed in a battle with rebel Justice and Equality Movement fighters in Darfur. The Sudanese government claims that the rebels sustained heavy casualties. (BBC)
Thirteen militants are killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan. (BBC)

Arts and culture

A piece of stone axe found at the Gabarnmung rock art gallery on the lands of the Jawoyn people in Australia's Northern Territory is dated at 35,500 years old making the oldest of its type in the world. (ABC News Australia)

Business and economy

Toyota recalls around 135,000 vehicles in Japan and Europe over a steering fault. (Financial Times) (Bloomberg)
A United States jury rules that Citigroup did not mislead Terra Firma Capital Partners in its bid for music group EMI. (BBC)
United Kingdom - Business Secretary Vince Cable orders Ofcom to investigate News Corporation's plan to take full control of BSkyB. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Residents in Haiti and Jamaica are evacuated ahead of Tropical Storm Tomas. (AP)
Indonesia evacuates thousands more people from their villages as Mount Merapi in central Java explodes again. (Jakarta Globe) (ABC)
At least sixteen people are dead and fifteen missing following mudslides in Costa Rica caused by heavy rains. (CNN)
Ongoing flooding in northern Colombia kills at least 102 people. (Sky News Australia) (Colombia Reports) (The Weather Network) (ReliefWeb)
Qantas Flight 32:
- Qantas Flight 32 from Singapore to Sydney makes an emergency landing at Changi Airport after debris suspected to be from the aircraft is found on Batam Island in Indonesia. (MSN)^{[permanent dead link]}, (AFP via Yahoo! News), (BBC)
- Qantas suspends all A380 flights while the explosion is investigated. (AAP via Brisbane Times)
Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashes in central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.

International relations

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned that "the window is closing" on the possibility of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. (BBC) (The Guardian)
Serbian President Boris Tadić apologises for the Vukovar massacre in 1991 on a visit to a mass grave in Croatia. (Al Jazeera) (B92)

Law and crime

Japanese police investigate the leak of classified anti-terrorism documents. (AFP) (Asahi Shimbun)
An ongoing denial-of-service cyber attack knocks Burma off the internet, days ahead of the general election. (BBC) (AFP)
More than fifty inmates at the Moorlands Young Offenders Institution in South Yorkshire, England, riot for the second successive night. (BBC)

Politics and elections

The Cambodian government opens a "protest park" in the capital Phnom Penh, amid criticism from rights groups. (Phnom Penh Post) (Canadian Press) (Straits Times)
Pat Quinn is reelected as Governor of Illinois after a close election. (KSDK)

November 5, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A suicide bomber kills at least 50 people and injures around 90 in a mosque near Darra Adam Khel region, 30 kilometers from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. (CNN) (Xinhua) (Dawn)
At least five people are killed after two clans clash in Sindh's Khanur Mahar region of Pakistan. (Dawn)
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims responsibility for the cargo plane bomb plot of October 29, 2010 and a September UPS plane crash in Dubai. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

In the United Kingdom, members of the National Union of Journalists at the BBC begin a 48 hour strike in a dispute over proposed changes to the Corporation's pension scheme. BBC News operates a reduced service. (BBC) (The Guardian)
MSNBC suspends U.S. television pundit Keith Olbermann indefinitely for making political donations to three Democratic Party candidates. (AP)
Ready Steady Cook, thought to be the longest running cookery show currently on television, is axed by the BBC. (The Guardian) (RTÉ) (Daily Record) (Daily Mail)

Business and economy

A final funding deal for the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft has been agreed to by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. (BBC)
Thomas Hoenig, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, gives some indication of the split within that body in a speech to the National Association of Realtors. Though the Fed announced a new round of quantitative easing on Wednesday, Hoenig said that the Fed risks inflation and another boom-bust. (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from the Mount Merapi eruption in Indonesia rises to 122 as at least 78 bodies were removed from homes and streets blanketed by ash up to 30-centimeters deep. (The Jakarta Globe)
An Aero Caribbean passenger plane crashes in the central Cuban province of Sancti Spíritus, killing all 68 on board. (BBC) (CNN)
A small plane carrying 21 people crashes near Karachi Airport in Pakistan. (Times of India)
12 people are dead after a 41-vehicle traffic accident on an expressway in East China's Jiangxi province. (Shanghai Daily)
At least one person dies in Haiti from flooding caused by Hurricane Tomas, adding to the fourteen people who died in Saint Lucia. (BBC)
A concrete mixer lorry falls on a train near Oxshott, England. (BBC)

International relations

Georgian police arrest 13 people allegedly belonging to a Russian spy network. (France 24)
The Chinese embassy in Oslo implicitly warns foreign diplomats not to attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony for Liu Xiaobo. (BBC)
Greece resumes shipping mail and packages overseas following a 48-hour suspension imposed following a spate of parcel bombs sent to embassies in Athens and to European Union leaders. (Reuters)
The Government of Norway demands an explanation from the US Government on reports that the US embassy in Oslo conducted illegal surveillance on Norwegian citizens for more than ten years. (Reuters)

Law and crime

A Peruvian judge orders that United States born militant Lori Berenson be released from prison in Lima. (AP via The News Tribune)^{[permanent dead link]}
Mexican drug cartel leader Ezequiel Cardenas Guillén is shot dead by Mexican security forces in Matamoros following a gun fight of several hours. (BBC)
Violent protests occur in Oakland, California following Johannes Mehserle receiving two years jail for the shooting of Oscar Grant on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system with Oakland police chief Anthony Batts expecting to make 150 arrests. (New York Times), (CNN)

Politics and elections

Protests against the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Spain take place. (euronews)
A specially convened Election court in the United Kingdom orders a re-run of the 2010 general election campaign in Oldham East and Saddleworth, the constituency of ex-immigration minster Phil Woolas, after he is found guilty of making false statements against an opponent during the original campaign. (BBC)
Nigel Farage is re-elected as the leader of the UK Independence Party. (BBC)
A protest by French anti-nuclear organisation GANVA blocks a train carrying nuclear waste near Caen in northwestern France. (CNN)
The President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete is reelected to a second term despite allegations of vote-rigging. (ABC News Australia)

November 6, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The United Nations says that more than 650 women and children have been detained, tortured and sexually abused during mass evictions from Angola to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Al Jazeera)
27 people are killed in various arson incidents in Karachi, capital of Pakistan's Sindh province. (The Deccan Chronicle) (Dawn)
In response to militants firing rockets into southern Israel, the Israel Air Force launches two raids on the southern Gaza Strip; one Palestinian is wounded. (France24) (Ynet)
Car bombs injure at least 37 people in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Kirkuk. (CNN)
Somali pirates receive a record £7.6m in ransoms for seized South Korean and Singaporean ships. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange the bodies of deceased soldiers and a civilian under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

The House of the Gladiators in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii collapses, prompting criticism of the Italian government's "neglect" of the site. (AP via Washington Post)
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei claims that he has been placed under house arrest to stop him organising a demolition party to observe the destruction of his studio. (BBC) (CNN)
Christ the King, the world's biggest statue of Jesus, is completed in Świebodzin, Poland (AP)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from the Haiti cholera outbreak rises to 500. (AFP)
At least 19 people are killed in a fire at a shopping mall in northeast China's Jilin City. (Times of India) (BBC)
2010 eruption of Mount Merapi
- Lava and ash spew from Mount Merapi in Central Java province in Indonesia before dawn as the death toll rises to 120. (The Guardian) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Tropical Storm Tomas heads for the Turks and Caicos Islands after killing seven people in Haiti. (The Telegraph)

International relations

US President Barack Obama arrives in India on the first leg of an Asian tour aimed at boosting United States exports. (BBC) (Times of India)
Finance Ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meet in Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI begins a visit to Spain at Santiago de Compostela. (BBC)

Law and crime

The jury in the Petit family home invasion murder trial continues to deliberate whether murderer Steven Hayes should receive the death penalty or life imprisonment. (Fox News)
Prominent Russian journalist Oleg Kashin for the Kommersant newspaper is attacked outside his home in Moscow. (Reuters) (RIA Novosti)
Three Northern Ireland police officers are injured after a bomb is thrown at them while investigating a robbery in West Belfast. (BBC)
A judge in Yemen orders the capture of militant Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to face charges of "forming an armed gang". (CNN)
Armed attackers attempt to carjack Formula One World Champion Jensen Button in São Paulo as he was returning from practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. (BBC)
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar says “the Jews will soon be expelled from Palestine” in the same way that they were “kicked out” by European countries “because they betrayed, stole and corrupted these countries." (The Jerusalem Post)

Politics and elections

Tens of thousands of people participate in an anti-nuclear demonstration against a waste shipment on its way from France to Germany. (Reuters)
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete is sworn in for a second and final term. (Daily Nation) (Xinhua)
Following a recount, Republican Eddie Calvo is certified as the winner of the 2010 gubernatorial election in Guam by 487 votes over Democrat Carl Gutierrez. (Pacific News Center)
Opposition parties in Burma accuse the military junta of "cheating" and "threatening" voters ahead of the general election on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)
The Ivory Coast presidential election will go to a second round with President Laurent Gbagbo facing opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. (BBC)

Sports

New Zealand have won four medals including two golds at the World Rowing Championships. (TVNZ) (Radio NZ) (Stuff)
US surfer Kelly Slater wins his 10th ASP world championship, the most by any surfer at the Rip Curl Pro Search in Puerto Rico. (AAP via ABC News Australia)
Champion American thoroughbred racehorse Zenyatta ends her career with a second to "Blame" in the Breeders' Cup. (People)
Joe Paterno wins his 400th game as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, becoming the first FBS head coach to reach that milestone. (ESPN)

November 7, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabaab threaten more attacks in Burundi and Uganda in retaliation for their participation in an African Union peacekeeping operation in the country. Meanwhile, seven people are killed in fighting in the capital Mogadishu. (CP)
Police use batons, pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon to disrupt activists expressing concern about the safety of a temporary warehouse in Gorleben where nuclear waste is being transported via train from France to Germany. It is thought to be the largest such mobilisation ever. (Huffington Post) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The Hindu) (The Straits Times) (euronews)
Kenyan policeman Peter Karanja kills 10 people, including two colleagues, in a shooting rampage in bars in Siakago, 90 miles northeast of Nairobi. Protesters outside the police station demand answers from police as to how this incident happened. (CNN)(The Deccan Chronicle) (Al Jazeera) (China Daily) (Xinhua)
Israel police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at residents trying to halt demolition of an illegal mosque in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat. (AFP via Google News) (Al Jazeera)
Fourteen people are killed in United States drone attacks in North Waziristan, Pakistan. (AP)
At least three people die, including two members of Sons of Iraq due to a bomb planted at their checkpoint in central Iraq, and an imam was shot dead in Baghdad. (CNN)

Arts and culture

Queen Elizabeth II starts a Facebook page but one is not permitted to "poke" or "befriend" her. (MSNBC) (BBC)
The 16th London Turkish Film Festival began Thursday evening with the world premier of Çağan Irmak's 'Prensesin Uykusu' at the Empire Leicester Square in London. (Hürriyet Daily)
Supporters of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei hold a party at his studio in Shanghai ahead of its scheduled demolition; he cannot attend as he is under house arrest. (BBC)
Residents of Cap d'Agde, Europe's largest nudist colony, criticise foreign nudists and express unhappiness at "an explosion of libertarianism" they claim is turning the resort into the "European capital of debauchery" and an "open-air brothel". (The Observer)

Disasters and accidents

Airlines cancel flights to Indonesia due to the Mount Merapi volcanic eruption. (ABC News Australia)

International relations

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Iran has agreed to hold talks with the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany (G5+1) in Turkey. (Xinhua)
Israel expels Riksdag member Mehmet Kaplan, a veteran of the Gaza flotilla raid, moments after his arrival, claiming he had "failed to follow procedure". Ex-Israeli artist Dror Feiler, who is also currently based in Sweden, is expelled with him. (AFP via Google News)
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrives in Qatar for talks with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Swedish police announce that a 38-year-old male had been brought into custody on suspicion of being involved in the 2009–10 Malmö shootings. (CNN) (BBC)

Politics and elections

Burmese election
- Voters in Burma go to the polls for the Burmese general election, the first national election in twenty years, with widespread allegations of intimidation and fraud. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (ABC)
- Burma declares a state of emergency preventing political gatherings for 90 days after the election. (ABC News)
Police in Vietnam detain prominent government critic Cu Huy Ha Vu on charges of "propaganda against the state". (Zee News) (VOV News)
Greeks vote in local elections with the Prime Minister George Papandreou threatening to dissolve parliament if his party does not fare well. Early results show that the PASOK is doing well making an early election less likely. (Al Jazeera) (The Observer) (AP via Beaver County Times)^{[permanent dead link]}
Voters in Guinea finally go to the polls for the second round of voting in the presidential election. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
Voters in Azerbaijan go to the polls for a parliamentary election with the opposition raising concerns over candidates being prevented from registering. (BBC) (Trend News Agency)
Scores of candidates in the Afghan parliamentary election protest at the lack of any results from the election held on September 18 and call for a new election. (Reuters)

Sport

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing wins the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix with Red Bull winning the Constructors Championship. (Sydney Morning Herald)
New York Marathon
- Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, one of the greatest long distance runners, announces his retirement after failing to complete the marathon. (New York Times)
- Edna Kiplagat of Kenya wins the women's marathon. (New York Times)
- Gebregziabher Gebremariam wins the men's marathon. (New York Times)

Technology

The Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DSi XL come out in color red celebrating mario's 25th anniversary.

November 8, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghan and NATO-led troops kill 15 Taliban militants in the southern Kandahar Province during a joint operation. (Xinhua)
Fighting erupts between ethnic rebel groups and Burmese government forces in the east of the country; thousands of people flee into Thailand. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
An armed group kidnaps at least two Americans, two Frenchmen and a Canadian from a Transocean oil rig in the Okoro Oilfield off the coast of Niger Delta, Nigeria, injuring two others. (Reuters) (Xinhua). (CNN)
Bomb attacks in the Iraqi cities of Karbala, Najaf and Basra kill at least nineteen people and injure scores more. (CNN), (BBC)

Arts and culture

American talk show host Conan O'Brien returns to television on TBS ten months after his high-profile exit from The Tonight Show. (CNN)
The Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, denounces the left-wing performers who refuse to perform in a theatre in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank as an "extremist group trying to wage cultural terrorism". (Reuters)
French novelist Michel Houellebecq wins the Prix Goncourt for his book La Carte et le Territoire (The Map and the Territory). (The Telegraph)

Business and economy

Global Green Growth conference ends in Copenhagen. (People Daily)
Qantas Flight 32: Qantas announces that it has found "slight anomalies" in the engines of its Airbus 380 aircraft and is keeping it grounded for the time being. (BBC)
Express delivery company DHL promises better screening of customers and parcels before they are sent to airports after recent parcel bombs sent from Yemen and Greece. (Reuters)
A government conservation campaign, and possible hoarding by state oil companies, causes a severe shortage on diesel fuel in the People's Republic of China, disrupting industry and commerce. (CNBC)^{[permanent dead link]}

Disasters

At least 120 people are tested for cholera in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. (BBC)
An explosion due to mishandling of explosives kills two in a Copiapó, Chile copper mine. (Wikinews)

International relations

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle calls on Hamas to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and urges Israel to end its embargo of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, but does not meet with the Gaza leadership because of group's refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel. (Reuters) (The Jerusalem Post)
The annual meeting of the Kimberley Process closes in Jerusalem without finding a solution to the issue of “blood diamond” exports from the Marange diamond fields of Zimbabwe. (The Jerusalem Post)
President of the United States Barack Obama backs a permanent seat for India on the UN Security Council. (CNN)
The Obama administration bans cargo shipments from Somalia in the wake of the Yemen bomb attacks. (Yahoo! News)
Israel has revealed plans to build nearly 1,300 housing units for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem. (BBC)
The United States offers to drop Sudan from its list of "state sponsors of terrorism", ending its isolation, if two scheduled referendums take place with respected results. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Libyan authorities arrest 10 reporters apparently for criticizing Libya's leadership. (The Jerusalem Post)
Unidentified attackers armed with knives kill 12 people in Kushchyovskaya, Krasnodar krai, Russia. (The Moscow Times)
U.S. militant Lori Berenson is released from prison in Peru after serving more than a decade for collaborating with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. (AP via The Chronicle)

Politics and elections

Human rights organizations say the Palestinian Authority is depriving Palestinians in Gaza affiliated with Hamas of passports; Hamas has retaliated by depriving Gazans belonging to Fatah of their passports. (The Jerusalem Post)
Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were held in accordance with international standards. (Beta Rian)
Two people are killed and several injured after a protest camp in Western Sahara is broken up by Morocco, hours before talks on the disputed territory begin. (BBC) (Taiwan News)
An ECOWAS regional court in West Africa orders authorities in Niger to release deposed President Mamadou Tandja who was detained in a coup in February. (BBC)
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces a referendum to decide whether indigenous Australians should be recognised in the Constitution. (AFP via Yahoo! News Australia)

Science

The reptile scientist, Ngô Văn Trí of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, discovers a species of self-cloning lizard later known as Leiolepis ngovantrii when he came across tanks full of them at small restaurants in rural villages in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province. Ngo Van Tri becomes intrigued when he notices that all of the lizards appeared to be female. (Dan Tri)
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveils pictures of the Moon's Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, taken during China's Chang`e-2 lunar probe mission. (Unian) (Xinhua)

Sport

Cycling's world body Union Cycliste Internationale asks the Spanish federation to take action against Tour de France winner Alberto Contador who tested positive for a small amount of clenbuterol. (BBC)

November 9, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A bomb explosion kills Ali Abadi, governor of Shwak district in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktia. (Press TV)
The death toll from clashes at a camp in Western Sahara between Sahrawi protesters and Moroccan police rises to eleven. (AFP via Google News)
Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni cleric affiliated with al-Queda, tells Muslims in a new video posting that they are free to kill American at will, in retaliation for the killing of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. (The Australian)
About 20,000 people flee Burma to escape fighting between the Burmese military and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in Karen State after the recent general election. (AFP via Yahoo News)
Three members of the British Armed Forces are being investigated by military lawyers over alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees. (BBC)
In Dublin, dozens of complaints are made about the "heavy-handed" tactics of "excessive force" deployed by gardaí following last week's nationwide student demonstration against a government-proposed fee increase, the largest such demonstration in a generation. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ)

Business and economy

The European Commission finds that Qantas, British Airways, Air France, Japan Airlines and seven other carriers fixed the price of air cargo between 1999 and 2006 and fines each airline involved millions of euros. (ABC)

International relations

A United Nations report suggests North Korea has supplied Burma, Iran and Syria with nuclear technology, in violation of United Nations sanctions. China had previously blocked the report from reaching the UN Security Council. (Reuters)
British Prime Minister David Cameron begins an official visit to the People's Republic of China. China, UK seek closer ties as economic dialogue opens in Beijing. (Xinhua) (BBC)
Secret documents are released showing churches and civilians upon the enemies list of Indonesian special forces Kopassus. The U.S. government had just removed a twelve-year funding ban on the group this summer.(Democracy Now!)

Law and crime

In the first public sign that the sentence of death by stoning passed on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is causing divisions within the regime, Alef, a conservative newspaper in Iran, challenges the handling of the case. (The Australian)
A man surrendered to police and confessed to killing five and wounding one in two separate attacks in South China's Hainan province. (China Daily)
A second Russian journalist is attacked in Moscow. Motivation is unclear but both had written about trees being felled to make way for motorways. (Al Jazeera)
A riot in the Pedrinhas prison in north-eastern Brazil results in eighteen prisoner deaths and a guard being wounded. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
A new law in Taiwan allows women to breastfeed in public and imposes fines on those trying to stop them. (Straits Times) (AFP via Google News)
Seventeen people including six employees of the Claims Conference in the United States have been charged with theft of $42 million from Holocaust compensation funds provided by the Government of Germany. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Jordanian elections:
- Jordanians go the polls for their parliamentary election but the opposition Islamic Action Front boycotts. (BBC) (Xinhua)
- One person is killed and several others injured as fighting between rival groups breaks out during the vote in Imrea, near Kerak. (Al Jazeera)
Hamas bans Fatah supporters from holding a rally in the Gaza Strip as representatives of the two parties prepare to meet in Syria to discuss ways of resolving the conflict between them. (The Jerusalem Post)
The Union Solidarity and Development Party is predicting a sweeping victory in the Burmese general election which overseas observers have called a sham. (Reuters)
The Chinese government prevents the lawyer for Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo from going to London to speak at a conference organised by the International Bar Association. (The Daily Telegraph) (Radio Television Hong Kong)

Science and technology

Construction of a factory for the first fleet of commercial spaceships begins at the Mojave Air and Space Port in the United States. (The Australian)

November 10, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The death toll from clashes in Western Sahara increases to 19. (AP via South Coast Today)
The United Nations says pirates off the coast of Somalia are "outperforming" an international effort to stop them. (Al Jazeera)
Bombings targeting Baghdad's Christian neighbourhoods kill at least four people. (AP via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)^{[permanent dead link]} (CNTV)
An article in Time states Egypt helped Israel assassinate Palestinian Muhammad Jamal al-Namnam, a senior member of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Army of Islam organization. He was killed last week, after his car exploded in Gaza City. (Al Jazeera) (Time)

Art and culture

Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis (Serpico, Death Wish) dies in Los Angeles, California ending a movie career that spanned seven decades in both the United States and Italy. (ABC News America)
3D Express Coach to be put into trial in Beijing. (CNTV)
US singer Brad Paisley wins Entertainer of the Year at the 2010 CMA Awards held in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

Business and economy

Singapore Airlines grounds three of its Airbus A380 fleet to replace their Rolls-Royce engines. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Disasters

At least 16 people are killed and dozens are injured in a fire at a juvenile jail in the town of Ilobasco in El Salvador. (Al Jazeera)
Qantas and Cathay Pacific cancel flights out of Jakarta's Soekarno–Hatta International Airport due to the eruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia. (CNN)
2010 Haiti cholera outbreak:
- Doctors set up cholera clinics in Port-au-Prince as the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak reaches the capital. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- The death toll passes 600. (BBC)
An Israeli Air Force F-16I crashes in Makhtesh Ramon while on a training over the Negev desert in southern Israel, killing both the pilot and navigator of the plane. "Bodies of IAF pilot and navigator found after F-16I crash in Negev" (Ha'aretz)

International relations

U.S. President Barack Obama gives a speech in Indonesia during which he says more needs to be done to repair the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. (Reuters)
Jordanian King Abdullah II meets with Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, in Amman, Jordan. (CPC)

Law and crime

American Gabe Watson leaves detention in Australia after serving time for the death of Tina Watson after she drowned in 2007 after he failed to rescue her. He will be extradited to Alabama to face murder charges upon suspicion of murder. (News.Com.Au)

Politics and elections

A Chinese activist Zhao Lianhai who campaigned for victims of the tainted milk scandal in 2008 is jailed for two and half years for "inciting social disorder". (BBC) (Reuters Africa)
Tens of thousands of university students and lecturers march in a National Union of Students protest in London against plans by the United Kingdom government to raise tuition fees to £9,000 per year in England. Violence occurs later with the building hosting the Conservative Party's campaign headquarters trashed by riots in the day (BBC) (The Guardian)
Prithviraj Chavan is appointed Chief Minister of Maharashtra in India to replace Ashok Chavan who resigned in a corruption scandal. (BBC)
The Ivory Coast defers the second round of voting for the Ivory presidential election to November 28. (CNN)

November 11, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali pirates seize a Panamanian-flagged chemical tanker almost 900 nmi (1,700 km) from the Horn of Africa. (EU NAVFOR)
Sudanese government forces clash with Arab fighters in the country's Darfur region, according to the U.N. and rebel sources; the Sudanese army denies any fighting took place (Reuters Africa)
An ongoing clean-up operation conducted by the Afghan and NATO-led forces kills four Taliban militants in Afghanistan's Logar Province, 60 km south of capital city Kabul. (People Daily)
At least 18 people are killed and 100 are injured by a Pakistan Taliban car bomb at Karachi's Criminal Investigation Department, a rare attack on government security forces there. The building collapsed, trapping people beneath the rubble. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (The Daily Telegraph)
International media are giving the impression that all of Mexico is awash with drug violence while ignoring other matters concerning the country, according to Mexico's ambassador to the United States at the American think tank Council on Foreign Relations. (BBC)
At least 11 deaths result from violence in Dagestan, North Caucasus. (Al Jazeera)
An Israeli settler attacked a Palestinian family, injuring two children and one old woman, the attack happened in the Tuqu village of Bethlehem. (Al Jazeera)
Israeli police and stone-throwing youths clashed for a third day running in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Issawiya in occupied East Jerusalem. (Al Jazeera)
Following the detonation of explosive devices near the Gaza border, Israel Air Force helicopters targeted an area near the city of Khan Yunis, causing damage to houses and injuring a number militants suspected of involvement in the attack. (Ynet) (Al Jazeera)(The Jerusalem Post)

Arts and culture

Medical records searched through by University of Manchester professor Stephen Parker suggest the playwright Bertolt Brecht may have died after contracting undiagnosed rheumatic fever as a child. (BBC)
The UK's National Union of Journalists calls off a second planned 48-hour strike at the BBC scheduled for 15 and 16 November after the Corporation agrees to hold talks aimed at resolving a dispute over pension scheme changes. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Record rains cause flooding in Sri Lanka leaving 36,000 families in the western provinces homeless and leaving the Parliament of Sri Lanka in Colombo under four feet of water. (CNN)
Cholera in Haiti has now caused at least 724 deaths. (Al Jazeera)
A Panama registered cargo ship sinks off Japan's southern islands. Only 5 out a total 25 crew have been accounted for, with 1 body found. (AFP via Google)
Severe gales batter large parts of England, Northern Ireland and Wales with some bridges being closed. (BBC)
Stormy conditions also spread across Ireland. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
The crippled Carnival Cruise liner Carnival Splendor is towed to port in San Diego, California. (The New York Times)

International relations

The Delegation of Statistics Canada on Environment Statistics Project visited NBS. (stats.gov.cn)
Iceland opens an inquiry as it emerges that its citizens may be being spied on by the United States embassy. This follows similar investigations into possible illegal U.S. activities in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, with possibly hundreds of Norwegians being monitored and Sweden describing the matter as "very serious". (BBC)
Cuba – United States relations: A Cuban website questions the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops, an American shooter video game in which United States forces try to murder Fidel Castro. (BBC)
World leaders gather in Seoul, South Korea, for the G-20 summit. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (Yonhap)
The United Nations says there has been "no material change" for people in Gaza since Israel announced it was easing its economic blockade. An Israeli spokesman stated that the reason for the blockade was "because the territory has been overtaken by a declared terror movement."(BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

The Palestinian Authority arrests Walid Husayin for heresy, a charge carrying a potential life prison sentence, after he claims to be God and insults the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook and his blog. (Canadian Press via Google News)
A Christian woman, Asia Bibi, is sentenced to death for blasphemy by a court in Lahore, Pakistan. (Daily Times) (National Post)
The High Court of Australia finds that Australia's offshore processing of asylum seekers denies procedural fairness. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A British Conservative Party councillor is questioned by police and suspended by his party after posting a comment on Twitter calling for the Asian journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to be stoned to death. She had earlier spoken on radio concerning the issue of human rights in China. (BBC)

Politics and elections

A court in Burma rejects an appeal by Aung San Suu Kyi against her house arrest. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
The BBC says that without explaining why, the Sri Lankan government has banned its news crews from traveling to the north for public hearings of a commission investigating the civil war. (BBC)
Students plan a nationwide protest on 24 November against increased fees brought about by the British government. (The Guardian)
Iraqi politicians seem to have brokered a deal to end the impasse over who would form the Government with the Iraqi National Movement agreeing to join a government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (Reuters)
The UK Government unveils plans for the biggest shake up of the country's welfare system since the 1940s. (BBC)

November 12, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A convoy carrying Chinese mine workers is attacked in Cabinda Province, Angola, killing two soldiers. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Major Italian cultural attractions are closed as the government plans to cut its culture budget as part of austerity measures. (BBC)
Dublin Zoo upsets some people with red hair by offering free entry to young redheads in honour of Orangutan Awareness Week. (The Irish Times) (BBC) (Irish Independent)
The 23rd consecutive season of American cartoon The Simpsons is announced. (BBC) (Reuters via ABC News Australia)

Business and economy

G20 summit
- Leaders from Germany, France and the United Kingdom hold an emergency meeting at the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit after panic selling of Irish debt spreads to Spain and Portugal. (Reuters)
- The leaders agree to avoid "competitive devaluation" and to develop "indicative guidelines" to tackle trade imbalances. (BBC)
Brazil begins auctioning parts of the Amazon Rainforest to private companies for logging. (CNN)
Eurozone economic growth slows in third quarter. (Hurriyet Daily)^{[permanent dead link]}
United Kingdom holiday company Pontin's goes into administration. (Financial Times)
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration announces plans to nominate Joseph Smith to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Smith has been the banks commissioner in North Carolina since 2002. (Reuters)
Bing Search for Android now available in market. (Mobileburn)

Disasters

2010 Haiti cholera outbreak:
- The United Nations appeals for nearly $164 million to fund the battle against Haiti's outbreak of cholera as hospitals overflow and space and time run out. (BBC)
- Haitians demonstrate, saying their government, the United Nations and aid workers have all failed to protect them. (Al Jazeera)
Ten elderly people die and seventeen are injured following a fire in a nursing home in Pohang, South Korea. (AFP via The Ottawa Citizen) (Yonhap)
Mount Bulusan, a volcano in the Philippines, erupts again. (The Inquirer)
An intense European windstorm in the British Isles kills an elderly woman and brings gusts exceeding 160 km/h. (BBC) (UPI.com)

International relations

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in Sofia for talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov. (ITAR) (Novinite)
Nigeria is to question an Iranian citizen over a shipment of arms seized in Lagos, warning that it could report Iran to the United Nations Security Council if sanctions had been breached. (BBC) (IBTimes Hong Kong)
The leaders of Russia and Japan are to meet to discuss the disputed Kuril Islands. (Al Jazeera)
The European Union agrees to meet with Iran to discuss its nuclear program. (BBC)

Law and crime

The Supreme Court of the United States refuses to rescind the country's ban on openly gay soldiers. (Al Jazeera)
The trial of eight police officers charged with the murder of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC) (AllAfrica.com)
Hassan Bamoum is arrested in Yemen prompting thousands of people to march through cities in the south. (Al Jazeera)
Omar Bakri Muhammad is sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court in Lebanon. (BBC)
Transparency International names Poddala Jayantha, Sergei Magnitsky and Gregory Ngbwa Minsta as joint winners of a global award for integrity. (BBC)
A student who guessed the answers to former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin's security questions in 2008 is convicted of hacking and sentenced to one year in state custody. (BBC)
One day after the failure of his appeal, Twitterers combine to support Paul Chambers, a Briton convicted and fined for a threatening Twitter message. (BBC)
The corpse of missing 10-year-old Australian girl Zahra Baker is found in Caldwell County in the U.S. state of North Carolina; her father and stepmother, Adam and Elisa Baker, are the main suspects in her disappearance and homicide. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

Burma
- Two ethnic Karen rebel armies in eastern Burma join forces in advance of a possible crackdown by the military government. (Al Jazeera)
- Crowds gather at the headquarters of the National League for Democracy headquarters in Rangoon, Burma, in anticipation of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. (The Irrawaddy) (BBC)
José Alencar, Vice-President and current Acting President of Brazil in the absence of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is taken to the Sirio Libanes hospital in São Paulo following a heart attack. (BBC)
Former Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon is taken home from hospital still in a comatose state. (Reuters Alertnet) (Al Jazeera)
Irish Health Minister Mary Harney is targeted with eggs and cheese by protestors shouting "Bloody Mary" in response to her healthcare funding cuts. It follows a similar incident involving red paint last week. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (Irish Examiner)
The Prime Minister of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed names a new Cabinet with doubts that the parliament will approve his choices. (Reuters Alertnet)

Sport

The International Cricket Council forms a three man tribunal to hear charges against former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer for involvement in the Pakistan spot fixing controversy. (AFP via ABC News Australia)

November 13, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The Nigerian military asks civilians in the Niger Delta creeks to leave, warning of action against camps of criminal gangs in the area. (Reuters) (AFP)
The Kenyan navy shoots dead three suspected Somali pirates who had attacked a naval patrol. (IOL) (Reuters)
Somali pirates hijack a Chinese ship with 29 crew on board in the Arabian Sea. (Shanghai Daily) (Times of India)
Taliban insurgents attack the airport in the Afghan city of Jalalabad and a nearby base. (BBC)

Disasters

A fire kills dozens of animals at a zoo in Karlsruhe, Germany. (Deutsche Welle) (BBC)

International relations

APEC Japan 2010:
- Leaders from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation area attend the APEC Japan 2010 summit in Yokohama. (Japan Times)
- Thousands demonstrate against Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit, against the background of a dispute between Japan and China over islands in the East China Sea, condemning “Chinese imperialism” while waving the flags Tibet, East Turkestan and south Mongolia. (NPR)^{[permanent dead link]} (AP)
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says that Hamas has agreed to deliver a letter from abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit to his family; Carter has mediated between the two sides in the past. (Haaretz)
The United Nations Security Council receives a report on violations of the Darfur weapons embargo; China says it is vaguely worded and full of flaws. (BBC)

Law and crime

Morocco arrests 96 people it accuses of inciting violence during last Monday's deadly police raid on the Gdaim Izik camp in Western Sahara. Half a dozen appear before a military court, including activist Annaama Asfari. (Al Jazeera)

Politics

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is released after 15 years of house arrest. (BBC) (Times of India) (Al Jazeera)
Police and protesters clash in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka over the authorities' bid to evict opposition leader Khaleda Zia from her home. (Al Jazeera)
The French Cabinet led by Prime Minister François Fillon resigns ahead of a reshuffle by President Nicolas Sarkozy. (BBC)

Sports

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (South Korea) defeats Zob Ahan Isfahan F.C. (Iran) 3–1 to win the AFC Champions League. (Football 3)^{[permanent dead link]}
Manny Pacquiao defeats Antonio Margarito to win the WBC World Super Welterweight title, winning his record eighth belt in eight championship classes. (AP via NBC)

November 14, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

One person dies when a bomb in a pushcart explodes in Behsod district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Xinhua)
Russian security forces kill three rebels in Buinaksk in the Caucasus region of Dagestan. (PTI)
Eleven people are killed in Helmand province, Uruzgan province, Kandahar province, and Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. (The New York Times)
A northern Sudanese plane bombs Southern Sudan, injuring several people, and the UN sends an assessment team to the area. (BBC)
Somali pirates free British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler after a year in captivity. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
Abdul Khaliq Farahi, the Afghan consul general in Pakistan, is released by gunmen after two years in captivity. (Reuters AlertNet)
Former British soldier turned singer-songwriter James Blunt claims that he stopped what he believed would be World War III by disobeying a direct order for his troops to attack Russian soldiers given by American General Wesley Clark while he was in Kosovo with NATO in 1999. (BBC) (The Age) (The Independent) (TVNZ) (UPI)

Arts and culture

Yines, a previously unknown indigenous tribe, is discovered in the Amazonian jungle of southeast Peru. (Al Jazeera)
The UK is to become one of the first countries to officially monitor happiness in a government scheme designed to measure psychological and environmental wellbeing. (The Guardian)

Disasters

2010 Haiti cholera outbreak:
- The death toll rises to 917. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- The Irish government pledges €500,000 and an emergency shipment of humanitarian supplies to Haiti in the battle against its cholera epidemic. (The Irish Times)
Seven people are killed in a fire burning migrant workers' residence in Dijon, eastern France. (Xinhua)
The death toll from the Mount Merapi eruptions reaches 250. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Flooding in southeastern Belgium kills three people and leaves one person missing near the capital Brussels. (The Voice of Russia) (The Canadian Press) (Expatica Belgium)

Law and crime

Authorities in Lebanon arrest Islamist preacher Omar Bakri Muhammed, days after a court sentenced him and 21 others to life imprisonment for carrying out "terrorist acts". (UPI) (Lebanese National News Agency) (Reuters)

International relations

The head of the joint UN-African Union mission in Darfur expresses concern that military tensions between north and south Sudan over the Southern Sudanese independence referendum could spill over into the separate Darfur conflict, undermining troubled peace efforts there. (Reuters Africa) (AFP via Google)
Thousands of people protest in Spain against a raid by Moroccan authorities in a camp in the disputed Western Sahara. (Angola Press) (CNN)
The Israeli cabinet approves a plan to allow 8,000 Ethiopians of Jewish descent into the country. (BBC) (JTA)
The United States offers Israel 20 F-35s and opposition to anti-Israel resolutions in the UN if Israel agrees to a partial 90-day freeze in building in the West Bank, excluding east Jerusalem. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (The Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
The Organization of American States urges Nicaragua and Costa Rica to withdraw their security forces from an island in the San Juan river. Google is blamed for the dispute and revises its maps. (BBC)
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders agree to work towards forming a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific. (Straits Times)

Politics

Rival Palestinian parties Fatah and Hamas accuse each other for the failure to resolve the conflict between them in the second round meeting held in Damascus, Syria. (The Jerusalem Post)
Hundreds of people protest in Moscow, Russia, to demand action over an attack on journalist Oleg Kashin. (RIA Novosti) (CP)
Cuba frees political prisoner Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, one of 13 prisoners who had refused to go into exile in exchange for their freedom. (BBC)
A nationwide strike takes place in Bangladesh after former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was evicted from her home. (Al Jazeera) (Hindustan Times)
The French cabinet led by Prime Minister François Fillon resigns, paving the way for a reshuffle by President Nicolas Sarkozy. Fillon remains as Prime Minister with Michèle Alliot-Marie becoming the Minister for Foreign Affairs replacing Bernard Kouchner. (BBC) (France 24), (Al-Jazeera)
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announces he will seek a confidence vote once the 2011 budget is approved. (Reuters)
Thousands of cheering supporters greet Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi outside the headquarters of the National League for Democracy in Yangon. (AP via The Star) (BBC)
Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Féin, announces that he will resign his positions in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Parliament of the United Kingdom to stand for the Dáil. (The Times via The Australian) (The Guardian)
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou does well in a second round of municipal elections including its candidates elected as mayors of Athens and Thessaloniki. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

Sports

Sweden's Robin Söderling wins his first major tennis tournament by winning the Paris Masters final, currently ranking fourth in the world in tennis. (BBC News)
Germany's Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing wins Formula One's Drivers Championship. (IBN)

November 15, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

US diplomat Richard Holbrooke says the US has a transition plan for Afghanistan, not an exit strategy, and that there will be some drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan next year but the U.S. combat mission will not end there until 2014. (CP via Google)

Business and economy

BHP Billiton abandons its US$39 billion takeover bid for Canadian fertiliser maker Potash Corp. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Disasters

Fire destroys a high-rise apartment building in Shanghai, China, killing at least 42 people, injuring more than 90 and forcing some residents to jump from windows to escape. (Guardian) (MSNBC) (Los Angeles Times) (Shanghai Daily)
At least 42 people die after a building collapses in eastern New Delhi, India with at least twenty people trapped in the rubble. (AFP via Google News)

International relations

The United States will provide an additional US$500-million aid to Pakistan to help rebuild the country after devastating floods caused the worst natural disaster in Pakistan’s history. (VOA)^{[permanent dead link]}

Law and crime

Iran arrests five human rights lawyers for security-related offences, the latest in a series of arrests of Iranian human rights' activists since last year's disputed presidential election. (Reuters) (AFP via Google) (Herald Sun)

Politics and elections

Recently freed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi criticizes the recent elections in Burma, but calls for dialogue with Myanmar government and pledges to keep working toward restoring democracy and improving human rights in Myanmar. (CNN) (The Australian)
A. Raja resigns as the Indian Telecommunications Minister over claims that licenses had been improperly given to mobile phone companies. (BBC)
Guinea election
- Violence occurs in Guinea as both candidates declare victory ahead of the Guinean presidential election. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- Alpha Condé of the opposition Rally of the Guinean People is declared the winner of the election. (CNN)

Science

Scientists exhume the remains of 16th century astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague to try to solve the mystery of his sudden death. (AP)(BBC)

November 16, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

An anti-tank mine explodes under a truck in Battambang province of Cambodia, killing all 14 people aboard. (Zee)
A suspected US missile attack on insurgents in the village of Bangi Dar in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan kills at least 15. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Iran started a 5-day air defense drill, claimed by its government to be the biggest drill of its kind ever. The drills are held near its nuclear facilities. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Clarence House announces the engagement of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, to be married next year. (BBC)
The Beatles release their back catalogue on iTunes. (NME) (The Guardian) (The New York Times)
UNESCO adds traditional dishes of France and Mexico to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at a committee meeting in Nairobi, the first time cuisine is added to the list. (BBC)
New York archbishop Timothy Dolan is voted president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (The New York Times)

Business and economy

Facebook announces that it will launch a new messaging platform, providing an email address of "@facebook.com." (Xinhua)
ExxonMobil says a raid by Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant Nigerian group, has eliminated 45,000 barrels a day of production of natural gas liquids and condensates. (Reuters)

Disasters

The death toll from the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak passes 1,000. At least one man is shot dead by United Nations peacekeepers after allegedly opening fire on the peacekeepers. (BBC)
The death toll from the collapse of an apartment building in the Indian capital New Delhi rises to 66 with the search for victims continuing. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (Xinhua)
Authorities in Shanghai arrest four people for unlicensed welding following the 2010 Shanghai fire. (Al Jazeera)

International relations

Nigeria reports Iran to the United Nations Security Council over the seizure of a shipment of weapons. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)

Law and crime

Detainees at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, Australia, go on a hunger strike following the suicide of an Iraqi detainee. (AAP via the Daily Telegraph)
Thailand extradites suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States to face terrorism charges. (Reuters), (AP via Minneapolis Star-Tribune)^{[permanent dead link]}
British author Alan Shadrake is jailed for six weeks in Singapore for contempt of court. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

The UK Government is to pay millions of pounds in compensation to around a dozen British citizens who were held in detention overseas, including the camp at Guantanamo Bay, and who say British security services colluded in their torture. (BBC)
President Herman Van Rompuy predicts the possible collapse of the European Union but then says "I'm very confident we will overcome this". (The Guardian)
Taoiseach Brian Cowen addresses Dáil Éireann ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers, saying Ireland has not applied for financial support from the European Union. (The Guardian) (BBC) (RTÉ)
The United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct finds Charlie Rangel guilty of multiple violations of House of Representatives rules. (CNN)
The President of the United States Barack Obama presents a Medal of Honor, the highest United States military decoration to Staff Sgt Salvatore Giunta at the White House. (BBC)
U.S. Republican Party Senators adopt a ban on earmarking, or setting aside money in bills for specific purposes specified by legislators. (Reuters)

Science

A study done by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research concluded that reduced wintertime Arctic sea ice cover could create anomalies in wind patterns, resulting in overall cooler winters in continents across the northern hemisphere. (ABC News)

November 17, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

After Alpha Condé was declared the first democratically elected president of Guinea, at least nine people have been killed during riots in Guinea’s capital, Conakry. (CNN) (Ottawa Citizen)
Germany heightens its police security presence at its airports after identifying "concrete indications" that a terrorist attack is planned for the end of November (BBC News)
Israel approves plans to withdraw IDF troops from the northern half of Ghajar, a village on the Israeli-Lebanese border. (BBC News)
At least 21 people die in a fight between an armed group and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

Thirty-six minutes of the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 is leaked. (CNN) (MTV)
A Roman settlement filled with ancient artifacts and human remains is unearthed at a construction site in London. (BBC News)

Business and economy

Russia to give 6 choppers, 31 tanks and 500,000 munitions to Lebanon. (Pravda)
EU finance ministers downplay the importance of talks on a potential bailout for Ireland, claiming that no detailed discussions were held on the issue (BBC News)
A United States bankruptcy judge orders Bank of America to return $500 million it seized from the bank accounts of the defunct Lehman Brothers trading firm a few weeks before Lehman declared bankruptcy in 2008. (Bloomberg)
Economy of the United States
- New home construction fell to its lowest level since April 2009. (CNN Money)
- Mortgage applications declined by 14% in the week ending 12 November, the biggest drop this year. (Bloomberg)
- Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded a 0.6% rise for the year, marking the slowest increase in prices since records began in 1957. (CNN Money)
- The Chicago Climate Exchange announces that it will close its cap-and-trade market, given the death of supportive legislation in the U.S. Senate. (CNN Money)

Disasters

Floods and gale-force winds cause widespread disruption and damage across the United Kingdom county of Cornwall. (BBC)

International relations

Italian Vice Prime Minister Janni Letta held talks with visiting Head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) Hamid Baqaei. (IRNA)

Law and crime

Italian police arrest fugitive Camorra crime boss Antonio Iovine. (BBC)
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is convicted on one count of conspiracy in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for his role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. (New York Times)
Major South African health-care provider pleads guilty to using Israeli-linked organ trafficking syndicate.(Press TV)

Politics and elections

People in the Pacific island nation of Cook Islands go to the polls for the general election as well as a referendum on reducing the number of MPs. (Xinhua) (People)
The Republican and Democratic party caucuses in the United States House of Representatives hold leadership elections. Nancy Pelosi of the Democrats is elected as Minority Leader when the new House sits in January with John Boehner to become Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. (CNN), (MSNBC), (CNN)
A state of emergency is declared in Guinea after post election violence. (CNN)
Senator Lisa Murkowski wins the Alaska senate election becoming the first successful write-in candidate to be elected since 1954. (AP)

Science and technology

Facebook inadvertently disabled some users' accounts when a system designed to detect fake accounts malfunctioned. The problem has since been resolved. (CNN Money)
A study published by The Lancet medical journal describes how short blasts of radio waves to the kidney may help regulate blood pressure. (BBC News)
CERN has managed to trap antihydrogen atoms for the first time. (BBC ) (Al Jazeera)

November 18, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Police discover a detonator, batteries and a ticking clock in Namibia's Windhoek Airport apparently due to be loaded on an aircraft bound for Munich, Germany. (BBC) (AFP)

Arts and culture

American actor, George Clooney, is awarded the 2010 Ripple of Hope award at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, in recognition of his humanitarian work in Darfur and Haiti. (ITN)

Business and economy

Officials from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union arrive in Dublin to discuss the Irish debt crisis with the Irish Government. (BBC)
About 40 Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on Airbus A380 aircraft around the world will be replaced due to the engine failure on Qantas Flight 32 earlier this month. (News Limited)
Auto maker General Motors is listed again on the New York Stock Exchange in the biggest Initial public offering in United States history. (Reuters)

Disasters

Haiti police fire tear gas into a camp for internally displaced people in Port-au-Prince after riots over United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal allegedly bringing cholera into the country turn violent. (Al Jazerra)
President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos declares a state of emergency in Colombia after ongoing floods and landslides kill at least 136 people and the flooding spreads to the capital, Bogotá. (CNN) (Colombia Reports) (Momento24)

International relations

The Nobel Committee says the Nobel Peace Prize for Liu Xiaobo may not be handed out this year as China will not allow anyone from his family to attend the event. (The New York Times) (Al Jazeera) (Sify India)
A South Korean Government report finds that the Sunshine Policy to North Korea adopted by the former government had not resulted in changes to Pyongyang's behaviour. (Reuters via Yahoo News)
At the Caspian Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticizes NATO for adopting policies based on "false information". (Press TV)

Law and crime

Nearly 200 prisoners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo escape from a jail in the northwest of the country. (BBC)
Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny who leads a criminal investigation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is seeking a court order for his immediate arrest. (AFP) (Washington Post)
A Chinese woman is sentenced to a year in a labour camp after she posted on Twitter, on charges of "disrupting social order". (BBC) (CNN)
Australia deports Gabe Watson to face trial in the US state of Alabama for the alleged murder of his wife Tina. (The Australian)
Japanese police arrest Kiyoshi Takayama, the number two gangster in the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group in Kobe. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Politics

Egyptian authorities release blogger Kareem Amer who was imprisoned for four years for insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak. (BBC) (Al-Masry Al-Youm)
The United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct recommends that the United States House of Representatives censure Rep. Charlie Rangel D-NY for ethics violations and be required to make restitution for any unpaid taxes. (CNN)
US health insurers gave over $86.2million to the Chamber of Commerce last year for the purpose of opposing the health-care overhaul. (Bloomberg) (Democracy Now!)

Science

The Leonid meteor shower was visible across much of the US early this morning. (USA Today)
China is to use own uranium resources to meet growing nuclear demand. (RIA Novosti)
A fault discovered in Idaho could produce an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude. (BBC)
A planet, HIP 13044 b, which was formed in another galaxy has been discovered in the Helmi Stream. (BBC)

Sport

FIFA bans executive committee members Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii following claims of corruption associated with the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids. (Daily Mail)

November 19, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Eleven people are killed in clashes between the rival al-Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a groups in central Somalia. (Press TV)
A police officer dies in hospital after a suspected militant attack in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan. (RIA Novosti)
A US drone attack kills at least three suspected militants and destroys their vehicle in the North Waziristan district of Pakistan. (AFP via Google) (Sify)
Responding to Palestinians firing phosphorus shells and mortars into Israel, the Israel Air Force bombs at least two targets in the Gaza Strip and will file a complaint with the UN. The Salah al-Din Brigades claim responsibility, saying the rockets were responding to the killing of two members of the al-Qaida affiliated Army of Islam in Gaza. (The Jerusalem Post) (Reuters) (JTA) (Ynet)
The U.S. military is sending M1 Abrams tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war in Afghanistan. (The Washington Post) (AFP via Google)
Germany says the laptop bag containing an explosive simulation training device found at Namibia's main airport during loading of a flight to Munich was part of a security test, a day after German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière issued a warning of possible terror attacks next week. (Reuters) (MSNBC)

Arts and culture

United States federal judge William Terrell Hodges orders actor Wesley Snipes to surrender to authorities so that he can start a three year sentence for tax-related crimes. (AP via Huffington Post)

Disasters

Twenty-nine coal miners and officials are feared trapped following an explosion at the Pike River Coal Processing Plant at Atarau in the Grey District of the South Island of New Zealand. (Stuff.co.nz) (Sydney Morning Herald) (The Australian) (AFP via Yahoo! News) (BBC)
The cholera epidemic which has killed more than 1,100 people in Haiti spreads to the largest prison in the country. (CNN) (BBC)
Residents of Los Angeles come under attack from rabid bats carrying a deadly disease. (BBC)

International relations

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes part in a limited attendance meeting of the EurAsEC Interstate Council. (premier.gov.ru)
France rejects a demand by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to leave Afghanistan in return for the freeing of French and African hostages kidnapped in Niger. (Al Jazeera)
India summons the Iranian chargé d'affaires to protest against remarks by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regarding Kashmir. It also abstains on a vote on Iranian human rights for the first time. (Times of India)
NATO summit
- NATO members meet in Lisbon, Portugal, to discuss progress in the War in Afghanistan and relations with Russia. (BBC)
- NATO agrees to extend its Europe-based missile defence system. (Al-Jazeera)
The UN General Assembly's human rights committee criticizes Iran for human rights abuses; Iranian diplomat Mohammad-Javad Larijani calls the UN censure a "politicization” of human rights. (Sify) (CNN) (UK Press Association)
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, says that cultural genocide is taking place in Tibet, particularly in light of the Chinese authority’s requirement of Mandarin as the language of instruction in schools in Tibet. (Hindustan Times)
Demonstrators outside the Saudi embassy in Jakarta demand justice for migrant workers after a Saudi Arabian employer kills an Indonesian maid and another maid was severely beaten by her Saudi employer; the Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa summons the Saudi Arabian ambassador to protest. (The Jakarta Post) (CNN)
Panama grants asylum to María del Pilar Hurtado, the former head of Colombia's Administrative Department of Security wanted for allegedly illegal wiretapping. (BBC)
Major fishing nations meet in Paris to discuss quota limits for fishing of the critically endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna; many nations are urging that lower fishing rates are needed.(Reuters)

Politics

The Cook Islands Party wins a majority of seats in the Cook Islands general election, defeating the incumbent Democratic Party. Henry Puna will become the next Prime Minister. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Hundreds of people demonstrate in Malawi against a pension bill that would raise the retirement age of women to 55, and 60 for men. (BBC) (African Press Agency)^{[permanent dead link]}
Anti-government red shirt protesters return to the streets in Thailand. (Reuters) (Thai News Agency)
Mahinda Rajapakse is sworn in for a second term as President of Sri Lanka in Colombo. (AFP via Google News)
British Conservative Party politician Lord Young resigns as the coalition government's enterprise adviser after claiming that most Britons "have never had it so good" in spite of the recession. (BBC)

November 20, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

The Nigerian army arrests the leader of a militant gang and 51 others believed responsible for hostage-taking in the Niger Delta. (Reuters) (Xinhua)
A three day mutiny in Madagascar ends after an army barracks occupied by rebel troops is stormed by the army. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

Vladimir Arzumanyan from Armenia wins the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the entry "Mama". (Junioreurovision.tv)
The Vatican will issue guidelines for bishops, on how to combat sexual abuse within the church. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Nine people, including Russians and Ukrainians, die in a bus accident in Egypt. (ITAR-TASS)
Doctors without Borders criticizes the response to the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak as inadequate. (BBC)
All 12 people aboard an Indian Air Force Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter are found dead following a crash in Arunachal Pradesh near the Chinese border. (Times of India) (Sky News)

International relations

Pope Benedict XVI urges Pakistani authorities to release Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman facing a death sentence on a charge of blasphemy against Islam. (Daily Times)
China's state-backed church appoints a bishop without the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. (BBC) (Taiwan News)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is welcoming Iran's invitation for a visit next year by the United Nations' human rights chief, Navi Pillay (SMH News)
NATO summit
- NATO nations agree to start handing over Afghanistan's security to the Afghanistan military and give local forces total control by 2014. (Associated Press)
- Russia agrees to help NATO build a United States planned missile shield in Europe. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

The United States Senate settles with a payment of $4.6 billion to black farmers and at least 300,000 Native Americans who objected to government discrimination and cheating in Cobell v. Salazar. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to elevate 24 new cardinals at a ceremony. (BBC)
Mahmoud Bahmani resigns as Governor of the Central Bank of Iran. (IRNA)

November 21, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least six suspected Islamist militants are killed in a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan region. (Sify) (AP via Google News) (DNA India)
Seven people are killed after a bomb planted by suspected Maoist rebels explodes in Aurangabad district, Bihar, northeastern India. (The Times of India) (BBC)

Arts and culture

Pope Benedict XVI says his personal opinion is that condoms may be used "in exceptional cases" to combat HIV-AIDS, but the Vatican says it has not changed its policy on contraception. (The Australian) (The Telegraph) (AP via Google News)
Canadian pop star Justin Bieber wins four awards at the American Music Awards. (BBC)

Business and economy

North Korea unveils a new uranium enrichment plant. (The New York Times) (Arirang)
Irish financial crisis
- Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, Jnr applies for an international bailout to deal with the Irish financial crisis. (RTÉ) (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (BBC)
- Protesters gather outside Government Buildings in Dublin. (The Irish Times)
- A ministerial car runs over a protestor who is then taken away in an ambulance. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

A chemical factory explodes in Yushe county, North China's Shanxi province, killing at least three. (Xinhua)
A flood traps 28 people in a coal mine in Sichuan, southwestern China. (BBC) (China Daily)
The death toll from the eruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia reaches 292. (CNN)
Four Haitian presidential candidates call for the postponement of the Haitian elections set for November 28 as the country struggles with a cholera epidemic which has killed nearly 1,200. (AFP via Google News)
Rescuers begin drilling a hole to analyse air inside the Pike River mine in New Zealand. There has been no communication with the 29 trapped miners. (TVNZ) (Adelaiden Now)

International relations

Russia hosts the International Tiger Forum summit meeting of international wildlife experts and officials from 13 countries in St.Petersburg, to discuss the protection of tigers which could become extinct in 12 years if unprotected. (AP via Google News) (RIA Novosti) (AP via Google News) (Voice of America)

Law and crime

Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy against Islam, appeals to President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her. (Sify) (The Washington Post) (Dawn) (The Nation)
An Israeli military court demotes two Givati Brigade staff sergeants to sergeant after convicting them of forcing a nine-year-old Palestinian boy to open two bags thought to contain explosives. (Haaretz) (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
Thirty five people are arrested in Salt, Jordan, to restore calm after four days of rioting following the police shooting of an alleged traffic violator. (The Washington Post)
Iran delays the trial of two American citizens detained while hiking until 6 February 2011. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Voters in Burkina Faso go to the polls, with incumbent President Blaise Compaoré claiming victory with 75 per cent of the votes.(BBC News)
Egypt restricts opposition before vote, with security forces arresting hundreds of opposition activists, and clamping down on the media ahead of parliamentary elections next week according to Amnesty International. (Reuters Africa) (CNN) (AP via Google News)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects the country's once effective family planning program as an "ungodly Western import" and urges girls to marry at age of 16. (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post)

Sport

US stock car racer Jimmie Johnson wins his fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, the first driver to do so. (New York Times)

November 22, 2010 (Monday)

Disasters

An army robot encounters water and breaks down 550 metres into the Pike River Mine in New Zealand where 29 miners are missing, but drilling of a shaft continues to allow air sampling. (The New Zealand Herald) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
All 29 Chinese miners trapped in the flooded Batian mine in Sichuan Province are rescued. (AP) (China Daily)
At least 339 people are killed at a stampede during Bon Om Thook (Khmer Water Festival) celebrations in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (BBC) (Xinhua) (AP) (Reuters)

International relations

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young says the country may consider redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons after the announcement of a new nuclear uranium enrichment plant by North Korea. (Korea Herald) (Financial Times) (China Daily)
Israel's parliament passes a bill requiring a special parliamentary majority or a referendum before Israel could relinquish the Golan Heights or east Jerusalem for a peace deal. (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

Ten Somalis go on trial in Germany for attacking a German ship in the country's first pirate trial in 400 years. (Deutsche Welle) (Al Jazeera)
Former Vice President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, goes on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. (IOL) (CNN)
Chinese authorities begin a search for a batch of melamine-tainted products in Hubei. (Xinhua) (AFP via Google News) (RTHK)
A Washington D.C. jury convicts Ingmar Guandique of the murder of Chandra Levy. (The Washington Post)
CBC News leaks a suggestion that Hezbollah may have been responsible for the murder of Rafic Hariri. (CBC)

Politics and elections

Irish financial crisis:
- Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach, states that he will call an early election once the Oireachtas passes an emergency budget to tackle the financial crisis. (The New York Times)
- Protesters, including TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh, gather in Dublin. Some enter Government Buildings. Protesters are struck with batons while trying to sit down. (The Irish Times)
Former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar is chosen to challenge incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan for the ruling People's Democratic Party nomination in next year's presidential election. (Al Jazeera) (Nigerian Guardian) (AFP via Google News)
The Burmese embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, grants Aung San Suu Kyi's younger son Kim Aris a visa to see her. (BBC) (Sify India)
Minoru Yanagida resigns as the Japanese Minister of Justice for joking about how easy his job was. (BBC) (Japan Today)

Sport

Canadian baseball player Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds wins Most Valuable Player of the National League in Major League Baseball in an almost unanimous vote. (Major League Baseball)
Brad Childress is sacked as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings National Football League team. (AP)

November 23, 2010 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Shelling of Yeonpyeong:
- North Korea shells Yeonpyeong island, South Korea at 14:34 local time in response to South Korean shelling close to the North Korean border during military drills. The North's shelling kills two marines and prompts a military response by the South in one of the most serious clashes since the 1953 armistice of the Korean War. (YTN Television) (BBC) (Yonhap) (China Daily)(The Sun UK)
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claims responsibility for the destruction of an oil pipeline feeding a refinery in the Niger Delta. (AFP via Google News) (CNN)

Arts and culture

Clarence House confirms that Prince William and Catherine Middleton are to be married at Westminster Abbey on Friday 29 April 2011. (BBC)

Business and economy

Qantas announces that its fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos will start returning to service on Saturday. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A United States federal court jury decides that SAP AG must pay Oracle Corporation $1.3 billion for copyright infringement, the largest ever damages payment for copyright infringement. (Bloomberg)

Disasters

Cambodia declares a day of mourning for at least 378 people killed in a stampede in the capital Phnom Penh. (BBC)
At least seven bodies are recovered following a mine collapse in Suriname. (Jamaica Observer)

Home Video

Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition on 2-Disc DVD

International relations

A Saudi woman accused of torturing her Indonesian maid is sent to jail while the maid is hospitalised, in a case that has caused tensions between the two countries. (AFP via Google News)
The Gambia severs diplomatic and economic relations with Iran and orders Iranian government representatives to leave within 48 hours. The Gambia has given no reason for the move. (BBC) (Reuters)
India forms two new military divisions, comprising more than 36,000 men, to be deployed in Arunachal Pradesh near the border with China. (BBC)

Law and crime

Bangladesh sentences a further 23 soldiers from the Bangladesh Rifles to imprisonment over a mutiny in February 2009. (Xinhua)

Politics and elections

The Irish financial crisis:
- Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach, claims in Dáil Éireann that he is "not clinging to power". (RTÉ)
- One of Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey's many offices is targeted with graffiti. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ)
- Morgan C Jones, actor and satirist from Dublin, announces a "you're fired" protest against the government for Dáil Éireann on Thursday. (The Irish Times)
- The opposition Labour Party grants its leader Eamon Gilmore "a free hand to take any initiative he deems appropriate over the coming days". (RTÉ)
- A candidate in Thursday's by-election withdraws calling it a complete farce with a general election now due to occur in January. Some islands voted in the by-election yesterday. (RTÉ)
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is reunited with her son for the first time in a decade. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
King Abdullah II of Jordan commissions the Prime Minister Samir Rifai to form a new government following recent elections. (Bloomberg)

November 24, 2010 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Shelling of Yeonpyeong:
- The bodies of two civilians killed in the attack are discovered on Yeonpyeong. (BBC) (Yonhap)
- South Korea suspends flood aid to North Korea following the attack. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Arts and culture

Debut novellist Amy Sackville wins the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for her novel The Still Point.

Business and economy

Workers in Portugal hold a general strike to protest against proposed cuts to wages. (BBC)
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Moscow and meets with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Chinese companies sign deals worth over $8.6 billion with Russian counterparts. (AFP via Yahoo! Finance)
Don Chu, an executive of a hedge fund networking fund Primary Global Research, is arrested on insider trading charges in the United States. (Reuters)
Ireland unveils a 15 billion euro austerity package to secure a bailout from the financial crisis. (Sydney Morning Herald)
American corporations posted record profits of $1.67trillion for last quarter, amidst high unemployment rates. (Democracy Now!) (CNN)

Disasters

29 miners in a New Zealand mine are confirmed dead after a second explosion, following a first explosion on November 19 which trapped them. (TVNZ) (3 News), (Sydney Daily Telegraph)
An Australian Government report on the Montara oil spill blames it on oil rig operator PTTEP. (AP via Forbes)
The United Nations and Pan American Health Organization estimate that the number of cases in the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak could reach more than 200,000 in the next three months. (AFP via Google), (BBC)

Law and Crime

Former United States House of Representatives Majority Leader and former Dancing with the Stars contestant Tom DeLay is convicted of money laundering and conspiracy in relation to Republican fundraising for the 2002 Texas state elections. (CNN) (Reuters)
Brazilian police shoot dead at least thirteen people in Rio de Janeiro following a wave of violence by suspected drug traffickers. (BBC)

Politics and elections

One protester is killed during clashes between riot police and Egyptian copts after permission was refused for a new church. (AP) (RFI)
Blaise Compaoré is re-elected as President of Burkina Faso following a presidential election with 81% of the vote. (Times Live South Africa)
Protests occur in Kabul follow the announcement of most of the results of the Afghan parliamentary election. (Reuters)
UK Independence Party MEP Godfrey Bloom is expelled from the chamber of the European Parliament after calling German Socialist MEP Martin Schulz an "undemocratic fascist". (BBC) (The Independent)
University students throughout England and Wales stage a day of demonstrations against increases in tuition fees and cuts to higher education funding. (BBC)

November 25, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least one person is killed and more than 40 left wounded after hundreds of Christian protesters clash with riot police in Cairo, Egypt. (Pravda)

Business and economy

Del Monte Foods is purchased in a US$5 billion leveraged buyout led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. (Financial Times)

Disasters and accidents

Seven are killed and three injured in the rough landing of a Mi-8 helicopter in the Omsk region of Siberia, Russia. (ITAR-TASS) (KazInform)

International relations

Korean peninsula:
- North Korea warns that it will launch further attacks on South Korea if it continues "reckless military provocation". (CNN)
- South Korea increases its military strength on the islands near the border since the shelling of Yeonpyeong on Tuesday. (Reuters)
- The South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young resigns over the handling of the incident. (Yonhap)
The heads of government of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meet in Dushanbe for their annual summit. (Xinhua)
A court in Nigeria charges an Iranian man over an illegal weapons shipment discovered in Lagos. (BBC) (AFP)
Israel demolishes several buildings in the West Bank, including one Palestinians say was a mosque; Israeli officials said the structures were temporary and built without Israeli issued permits in a military fire zone. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)

Law and crime

Brazilian police begin an operation in a shanty town in Rio de Janeiro to end a surge of violence; at least 30 people have been killed in recent days. (BBC) (RTHK)
The European Commission passes a ban on the use of bisphenol A in baby bottles. (BBC)

Politics and elections

156 people are detained in Egypt following clashes between police and Copts after authorities blocked construction of a church. (Reuters)
Tongans go to the polls in the first general election in the nation's history in which the majority of parliament will be popularly elected. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Science

The United States Government sets aside an area in Alaska twice the size of the United Kingdom as a "critical habitat" for polar bears. (BBC)
The United Kingdom experiences its earliest widespread snowfall for 17 years, with large parts of Scotland and north east England particularly affected. (BBC)
A new species of ancient crocodile, Khoratosuchus jintasakuli, is identified from a fossil in Thailand. (NPR) (Geol. Soc., Lond., Spec. Pub.)
A World Health Organization study estimates that 600,000 deaths a year are attributable to second hand smoking. (Reuters)

Sport

The 2010–11 Ashes series begins at The Gabba in Brisbane, with Australian bowler Peter Siddle taking a hat-trick on his birthday. (BBC Sport)

November 26, 2010 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Three armed men are killed in a shootout in the Russian republic. (rferl)
A suicide bomb explodes at a rebel Houthi procession in northern Yemen, killing several people. (BBC) (The Hindu)

Arts and culture

United States country music singer Willie Nelson is charged with marijuana possession. (AP via MSN)^{[permanent dead link]}

Business and Economics

Irish financial crisis. Widespread speculation that senior bondholders of Irish banks will have to take a "haircut" -- i.e. share in the costs of an EU bailout -- leads to downgrades in the credit worthiness of the institutions that hads the most at stake in the ballooning property values of recent years. (CNBC)

Disasters

A third explosion within a week occurs at the Pike River Mine on the South Island of New Zealand, where 29 men are presumed dead. (ABC Australia)

International relations

Korean peninsula:
- North Korea issues warnings about a planned exercise by South Korea and the United States this weekend. (Jerusalem Post)
- North Korea holds an artillery drill near Yeonpyeong Island, which it shelled earlier this week. (Times of India) (Jerusalem Post)
China warns the U.S. against performing any military acts within their exclusive economic zone, ahead of joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises aimed at threatening North Korea. (Reuters)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits Iran, seeking help to prevent violence if a U.N.-backed tribunal indicts Hezbollah members for killing former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, and 21 others in a car bombing (Reuters Africa)

Law and crime

A Rwandan court reschedules the trial date of the United Democratic Forces opposition party leader, Victoire Ingabire, for another 30 days for prosecutors to complete building their case against her. (Bloomberg)
Pakistani police arrest two Islamist militants planning a suicide bombing attack against a mosque and a government building in Islamabad. (UK Press Asscociation) (VOA)
Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrest 149 people with links to al-Qaeda suspected of planning attacks on government officials and journalists. (Al-Jazeera)
Authorities find the largest cache of homemade explosives ever discovered in the United States, in two houses near Escondido, California. (CNN) (Los Angeles Times)
Human Rights Watch criticizes the punishment of Israeli soldiers who forced a Palestinian child to open bags thought to be booby-trapped as inadequate and a sign that the "Israeli military justice system will not seriously sanction soldiers convicted for offenses that are war crimes". (Human Rights Watch) (Press TV)

Politics

A gunman opens fire at a Kuomintang political rally in Taiwan; prominent member Sean Lien is shot in the face. (Focus Taiwan News Channel) (The Independent)
Kim Kwan-jin becomes the new Minister for Defense in South Korea, replacing Kim Tae-Young who resigned following the shelling of Yeonpyeong. (Yonhap)
Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin wins a by-election for the Donegal South–West constituency in the Irish parliament reducing the majority of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to two. (BBC)
Police in the UK are seeking the power to take down websites they deem "criminal", with critics worried over the lack of judicial oversight. (BBC)

November 27, 2010 (Saturday)

Disasters and accidents

Seven people are killed after steel box girders used for building an overpass overturn in Nanjing, China. (Xinhua via Shanghai Daily)
Christians flee from their homes in Saeedabad, Karachi, following violence sparked by a Muslim-Christian marriage. (Daily India)

International relations

Shelling of Yeonpyeong:
- North Korea accuses South Korea of using "human shields" during the incident. (BBC)
- International diplomats work to ease hostilities in the Korean Peninsula, after North Korea warned of unpredictable "consequences" if the United States deploys an aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea. (CNN) (Voice of Russia)
A senior United Nations official, Vijay Nambiar, meets with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon. (Al Jazeera) (The Irrawaddy) (Reuters)

Law and crime

Somali-born teenager Mohamed Osman Mohamud is arrested in Portland, Oregon, for allegedly plotting a bombing attack on a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. (BBC)
At least three people die in protests in the Ivory Coast over a curfew imposed ahead of the second round of the Ivorian presidential election. (BBC)
Hundreds of Pakistani Muslims demonstrate in Lahore against a potential pardon for a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy against Islam. (news.com.au)

Politics and elections

Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo declares a curfew, amid clashes that killed three people ahead of the second round of the presidential election on Sunday. (Channel News Asia) (IOL)
Two Japanese ministers are censured by the House of Councillors over a territorial dispute with China. (Straits Times)
Voters in the Australian state of Victoria go to the polls for the state election. (ABC News)
Ed Miliband launches a two-year review of British Labour Party policy, saying that the Party must move beyond New Labour and calling on activists to make it the "People's Party" again. (BBC)
Tens of thousands of people march through Dublin in protest at the Irish government's austerity measures. (BBC)
Icelanders vote for the creators of a new constitution. (AP via MSNBC)

November 28, 2010 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

United States diplomatic cables leak and attack on WikiLeaks:
- The WikiLeaks website is attacked by a computer-hacking operation and undergoes "a mass distributed denial of service attack" as it prepares to release more secret U.S. documents. Julian Assange says U.S. authorities are afraid of being held accountable for their actions. (BBC)
- The United States Department of State says the planned release of a new batch of classified documents would place its military operations at risk, and warns of possible legal action if they were found to have been provided in violation of U.S. law. (CNN) (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
- Wikileaks releases 250,000 messages sent by U.S. embassies, including messages discussing corruption, criticisms of the UK, Guantánamo Bay prison camp, a Chinese cyber attack, the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi, and a possible unified Korea. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (Reuters) (The New Zealand Herald) (Sky News)
- The White House issues a statement of condemnation "in the strongest terms [of] the unauthorised disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information". (BBC)
Korean peninsula:
- The United States Navy and South Korean Navy hold exercises in the waters west of the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from North Korea. (Bloomberg via Houston Chronicle) (Reuters)
- Artillery fire is heard on Yeonpyeong Island after residents are ordered to take shelter. (AP)
- China calls for emergency “six-party talks” on resolving the crisis. (Reuters) (CNN)
- North Korea deploys surface-to-air missiles near its disputed border in the Yellow Sea. (Arirang) (Press TV) (The New York Times)
Israeli soldiers shoot and wound four Palestinians who were digging for gravel in northern Gaza Strip. (Xinhua)

Arts & Culture

Leslie Nielsen, famed for his roles in Airplane! and The Naked Gun series, dies at the age of 84 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (AP via Fox News)

Business and economy

Central China's Hunan Province begins building the country's third National Supercomputing Center (NSCC), where the world's fastest supercomputer, the Tianhe-1A, will be installed. (Xinhua)(Sina)
Irish financial crisis:
- European Union finance ministers meet to work out the details for rescuing the Irish economy, and to outline an agreement for a fund to rescue other economically troubled euro-zone nations. (CNN Money) (The New York Times) (AP via Google News) (Bloomberg)
- The EU approves an €85 billion rescue deal for Ireland, which includes €10 billion for bank recapitalisation, €25 billion for banking contingencies and €50 billion for financing the budget. (RTÉ) (BBC)

Disasters

Fire damages Turkey's historic Haydarpaşa Terminal in Istanbul. (Today's Zaman) (euronews)
At least 8 people are killed when a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane bound for Khartoum, Sudan, crashes minutes after take off in a residential area of Karachi, Pakistan. (Tribune) (Reuters) (The Star)
Parts of the UK experience their coldest temperatures on record for November overnight. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Sky News) (The Daily Telegraph)
Ireland experiences heavy snow which causes disruptions to its transport system and its finance minister. (RTÉ) (The Wall Street Journal)

International relations

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni becomes the first foreign leader to visit the Somali capital Mogadishu in 20 years. (AFP) (Daily Nation)
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is to boycott an African Union-European Union meeting in the Libyan capital Tripoli to "avoid embarrassment to Libya". (AFP)

Law and crime

More than 2,000 Brazilian police and military personnel enter the Alemão slum of Rio de Janeiro in search of drug traffickers, in efforts to boost security well ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games. (Voice of America) (The New York Times)(CNN)

Politics and elections

Haitian general election, 2010:
- Voters in Haiti go to the polls for a general election, amid confusion and disorganization resulting from the cholera epidemic and the aftermath of the January earthquake (AP via Google News) (Reuters) (Voice of America)
- 12 of the 18 candidates call for the election to be cancelled, alleging widespread voter fraud. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Voters in the Ivory Coast go to the polls for the second round of the Ivorian presidential election with violent clashes having occurred between rival supporters. (BBC)
Voters in Egypt go to the polls for parliamentary elections amid reports of the detention of hundreds of opposition supporters, scattered violence, vote buying and the ejection of independent monitors as the government cracks down on the opposition; 21 people are wounded in skirmishes connected with the poll. (Bloomberg) (AP) (Tehran Times) (People)
Voters in Moldova go to the polls for parliamentary elections. (ITAR TASS)
Voters in Catalonia, Spain, go to the polls for parliamentary elections. (Euro News)
Voters in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, go to the polls for the gubernatorial election with anti-US base governor Hirokazu Nakaima reelected. (Japan Times), (BBC)

November 29, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari is killed and his wife injured, while another scientist is wounded during two attacks in Tehran. Iran says Western governments and Israel may have carried out the killing. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Four Islamist militants are killed in a raid by security forces in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. (BBC) (24.kg News Agency)
Somali pirates hijack a Malaysian cargo vessel with 23 crew members 900 miles off the coast of Somalia. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Pablo Picasso's electrician says he has 271 previously unknown works given to him as gifts by the artist. (BBC)

Business and economy

Irish financial crisis:
- Fine Gael speaks out against the high interest rate imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank and their insistence that the country pay €17 billion out of its own national pension fund. (The Guardian)
- Major European stock markets record falls while the Euro suffers its biggest drop in 2 months against the US dollar. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- The Central Bank says Anglo Irish Bank's brand name is to "disappear" within weeks. (RTÉ)
Workers at the London Underground go on strike for 24 hours, causing widespread peak-hour disruption in the capital of the United Kingdom. (Guardian)

Disasters

Ash from Mount Bromo in Indonesia forces the closure of a nearby airport. (Bernama) (Times of India)

International relations

Diplomatic cable leaks by Wikileaks reveal that China regarded North Korea as a "spoilt child" and the view of Korean reunification under South Korean leadership is "gaining ground". (The Guardian)
Israel's "eased" blockade of the Gaza strip continues to cripple the Gazan economy. (BBC)
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference begins in Cancun, involving 194 countries, amidst low expectations. (The Telegraph) (Reuters)

Law and crime

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya's David Kuria criticises Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga after he announces the imminent arrest of the country's homosexuals. (BBC)
A United States court sentences a Somali to 30 years in jail for piracy after an unsuccessful attack on a United States Navy flotilla. (BBC)
23 students and a teacher are released after being taken hostage for five hours by an armed 15-year-old student, who then shot and injured himself, at Marinette High School in the town of Marinette, Wisconsin, United States. (CNN) (BBC) (Reuters)

Politics and elections

12 of the 18 candidates in Haiti's presidential election call for a cancelled vote, describing it as fraudulent and favouring the ruling party, as the UN expresses "deep concern" and thousands of people march in Port-au-Prince . (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition bloc, claims fraud in the parliamentary elections and says it has won no seats. (Al-Masry Al-Youm) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
The Constitutional Court of Thailand dismisses a case brought against the ruling Democrat Party by the election commission, saying the commission did not follow legal procedures. (Thai News Agency) (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
John Brumby concedes defeat in the Victorian election; Ted Baillieu becomes the new Premier of the Australian state of Victoria. (The Herald Sun)
President of the United States Barack Obama calls for a wage freeze for two million United States government workers. (AP)
The Canadian federal by-elections fills two vacant House seats in ridings for Manitoba and one in Ontario, resulting in one Conservative gain, one Conservative hold and one Liberal gain. (CBC) (Global Winnipeg)

Sport

The BBC Panorama programme accuses Nicolás Léoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira, three senior FIFA officials due to vote on the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids, of accepting bribes in the 1990s. (BBC News)

November 30, 2010 (Tuesday)