Portal:Current events/2015 November 2

Current events of November 2, 2015 (2015-11-02) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks 2015 Nepal fuel crisis Nepali police shoot dead an Indian citizen at a border checkpoint as they attempt to clear protesters whose blockade has crippled Nepal's fuel supplies and badly damaged relations between the neighboring countries. (Reuters) War in Somalia (2009–present) At least 15 Somalia army soldiers are killed in an Al-Shabaab ambush near the town of Wanlaweyn in the Lower Shebelle region. (AP) A Palestinian terrorist stabs an 80-year-old woman and two men in the Israeli town of Rishon Letzion, and another Palestinian attacks an 71-year-old man and critically wounds him in Netanya.(Times of Israel) Arts and culture New Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces knights and dames will no longer be part of the nation’s honors system. He said Queen Elizabeth signed off on the decision. (Time) (Reuters) In the United States, the hacking group Anonymous starts releasing names and information about alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a white-supremacist terrorist group originally founded after the Civil War by former Confederate soldiers. Prominent individuals listed deny the allegations. The group says they also infiltrated KKK-affiliated websites, and warned of more action culminating on November 24, the anniversary of the Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's decision not to indict. (The Hill) (USA Today) (Anonymous) Business and economics China's government-owned Comac launches the Comac C919 as part of its efforts to challenge Boeing and Airbus. (CNN) American financial services company Visa Inc. buys European franchisee Visa Europe for $US23 billion. (AP via AL.com) Volkswagen emissions scandal The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California's CARB are widening the Volkswagen investigation into several more expensive VW, Porsche, and Audi automobiles with 3.0-liter diesel engines in model years 2014 through 2016. Volkswagen says it installed no defeat device software on its 3.0 litre V6 diesel cars and is cooperating with the agency to fully investigate the matter. (Reuters) (Consumer Affairs) TransCanada Corp asks the United States Department of State to suspend its review of the Keystone XL pipeline while it negotiates with the US state of Nebraska about the route. If granted, the delay (according to Reuters) would almost certainly mean the decision on the project will be made by a future president. (The Globe and Mail) (Reuters) Disasters and accidents 2015 Southeast Asian haze The Indonesian state of Riau extends its haze emergency by another month while four airports in Sumatra and Kalimantan remain shut. (Straits Times) SS El Faro The American National Transportation Safety Board confirms that wreckage found on Saturday east of the Bahamas is the cargo ship SS El Faro that sank during Hurricane Joaquin on October 1. (NBC News) Planes have been left stranded at airports throughout the United Kingdom as the "Great Fog" descends. Heathrow Airport said around 45 flights had been cancelled there while London City Airport was closed for several hours. Other affected airports include Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Glasgow, Belfast, Southampton and Cardiff. (BBC) 2015 North Indian Ocean cyclone season At least one person is killed after Cyclone Chapala hits Yemen's Socotra island in the Indian Ocean with flooding reported in Hadibu, the provincial capital. The severe cyclone is expected to cause considerable damage when it makes landfall on Yemeni mainland. (BBC) Kogalymavia Flight 9268 U.S. intelligence analysts conclude the Russian plane was not brought down by surface-to-air missile. An American infrared satellite detected a heat flash at the same time and same place over the Sinai as the plane, but no evidence a missile was involved. Analysts believe it could have been some kind of explosion on the aircraft itself, either a fuel tank or a bomb. U.S. officials do not rule out that ISIL could have been responsible for bringing down the flight. (NBC News) (ABC News) The Russian Air Transportation Ministry says the flight recorders are recovered with only "minor" damage. The ministry also said charter airline Metrojet's assertion that technical failure or human errors have been ruled out pointing to "external" reasons for the crash, is "premature and not based on any real facts." (Voice of America) (Reuters) International relations A day after Sunday's trilateral summit between China, Japan, and South Korea, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are meeting in Seoul. The two countries haven't met in over three years. Expected topics include trade ties, North Korea's pursuit of nuclear bombs, and long-running disputes over Japanese wartime aggression and behavior. (AP) (Nikkei Asian Review) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China–United States relations Chinese military aircraft conduct training in the South China Sea following the cruise of a U.S. Navy ship in the vicinity of the disputed Spratly Islands. (International Business Times) A U.S. defense official says the U.S. Navy plans to conduct patrols within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands in the South China Sea about twice a quarter to remind China and other countries of U.S. rights under international law. "That's the right amount to make it regular but not a constant poke in the eye," the official said. (Reuters) (Sydney Morning Herald) Law and crime The Vatican police arrest Msgr. it and Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, members of a former papal commission charged with studying financial operations of the Holy See, for allegedly leaking confidential documents to the media, a crime since 2013. (New York Times) Science and technology French national public television broadcaster France Télévisions fires France 2 TV channel's weatherman Philippe Verdier, who has been suspended since mid-October. Verdier, known as “Monsieur Météo” (Mr Weather), has been promoting his recently published book, Climat Investigation (Climate Investigation), in which he throws doubt on the global warning findings of leading climate scientists and political leaders. France Télévisions said its rules, "prevent anyone using their professional status … to push forward their personal opinions." (Irish Times) (The Guardian) Sports 2015 Major League Baseball postseason The Kansas City Royals win the 2015 World Series, defeating the New York Mets 7–2 in 12 innings in Game 5 to take the best-of-seven series. (NY Times) Politics and election United States presidential election, 2016, Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016 Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig announces his decision, via a four minute YouTube video, to end his campaign for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination. (Politico) (The Atlantic) (YouTube)