Portal:Current events/2010 November 11

Current events of November 11, 2010 (2010-11-11) (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, Aasia 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)