Portal:Current events/2010 November 2

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)