Portal:Current events/2010 November 8

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)
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)

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)