Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza–Israel conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • The Gaza Health Ministry says that at least 704 people have died in the past day. The UN relief agency says this was "the highest fatality toll reported in a single day". (The Hill) (Al Jazeera)
    • At least 16 people are killed and several others injured following Israeli airstrikes across Gaza residential areas in Jabalia, Tal al-Hawa, Khan Younis and the Nuseirat refugee camp. (The Business Standard)
    • At least 11 people are arrested in Hebron in the West Bank following an Israeli raid. Israeli troops stormed several villages including al-Burj and al-Majd. (Al Jzeera)
    • The UN Security Council holds an open debate, with many of the nearly 90 countries on the speakers' list calling for a ceasefire amid the mounting death toll in Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
    • Draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire are being considered by both the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • Credit rating agency S&P says it is downgrading Israel's rating outlook to "negative" to reflect “the risk that the Israel-Hamas war could spread more widely". Fitch Ratings also places a similar negative rating on Israel. (AFP via The Straits Times)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Pacific hurricane season
  • Hurricane Otis makes landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, as a category 5 hurricane with 1-minute sustained winds of 165 miles per hour (266 km/h). (BNO News)
• 2023 Darling Downs fires
  • Two people are killed and more than five buildings destroyed in more than forty out of control bushfires across the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. (ABC News)

Law and crime

• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • US legal organization Palestine Legal says it has responded to more than 260 requests for assistance in the past two weeks, ranging from job losses to the cancellation of classes. (Al Jazeera)
• Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announces plans for the semi-autonomous city to formulate its own national security law by 2024. (AFP via France 24)
• The Supreme Court of Japan declares the unconstitutionality of compulsory sterilization and gender-affirming surgery in gender transition. (AFP via RFI)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza–Israel conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • The World Health Organization says that medicine and health supplies have not been delivered to three hospitals in northern Gaza and that nearly two-thirds of hospitals in Gaza are now inoperable. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
      • The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says that the number of aid trucks so far is "a trickle in the face of the immense needs of people" and calls for an "unimpeded and continuous flow of humanitarian assistance and medical assistance to continue coming into Gaza". (Reuters)
    • War crimes in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
      • Israel launches airstrikes near Red Crescent headquarters and Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, where more than 4,000 Gazans are taking shelter. (Al Jazeera)
      • UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying that there are clear violations of international humanitarian law. Guterres also called for more humanitarian relief to be allowed into the enclave. (Al Jazeera)
      • Human Rights Watch criticizes Israel for "deliberately deepening the suffering of civilians in Gaza" by refusing to allow shipments of fuel into the enclave and for not restoring the supply of water. (The Business Standard)
    • Israeli police close the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem and stop Muslim worshippers from entering the compound. (Middle East Monitor)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Heligoland ship collision
  • One person is killed and four others are missing after two cargo ships, the British-flagged Verity and the Bahamas-flagged Polesie, collide in the North Sea near Heligoland, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, with the Verity sinking. Rescue efforts are ongoing. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

• Aftermath of the January 6 United States Capitol attack
  • Criminal proceedings in the January 6 United States Capitol attack
    • Former Trump administration chief of staff Mark Meadows is granted immunity by prosecutor Jack Smith in exchange for testifying to a grand jury earlier this year. (ABC News)
• Christchurch mosque shootings
  • The deputy chief coroner of New Zealand opens an inquest into the shootings in order to investigate police response times. (AFP via The Manila Times)

Politics and elections

• October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
  • The Republican party selects Tom Emmer as their nominee for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. However, Emmer withdraws four hours later. (CNN)
• The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China votes to remove several state council members from their positions, including defense minister Li Shangfu, finance minister Liu Kun, and science minister Wang Zhigang. (Reuters via CNA)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza–Israel conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • Hezbollah–Israel fire exchanges
      • More than 20,000 people are internally displaced in Lebanon amid cross-border strikes by Israeli soldiers, according to the United Nations migration agency. (Reuters)
      • Israeli air raids target several locations in Lebanon including Ramesh, Markaba, Houla, Shebaa, and Kafr Shuba. (Al Jazeera)
    • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • The Indonesian Hospital, the largest in northern Gaza, loses power after running out of fuel. (CNN)
    • Kidnappings during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
      • Hamas releases two Israeli hostages following mediation by Qatar and Egypt. The pair were taken to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. (AFP via The Philippine Star)
    • Omar Daraghmeh, a senior Hamas official, dies while in an Israeli prison, with Hamas spokespeople claiming it to have been an assassination. He was arrested in the West Bank by the Israel Defense Forces, along with his son. (Reuters) (BNN)
    • The Gaza Health Ministry says that Israeli airstrikes kill at least 436 Palestinians, including women and children, in northern Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp as well as Khan Younis. (Al Jazeera)
    • Israeli forces launch night raids in the West Bank, with heavily armed troops backed by armored vehicles seen in at least two areas. (Al Jazeera)
    • Qatar's Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani has warned the escalation of fighting in Gaza poses a threat to the region and the world. He asserted Israel should not be given a "green light for unconditional killing". (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican drug war
  • At least 24 people, including twelve police officers, are killed in three separate mass shootings and ambushes by unidentified assailants in Coyuca de Benítez, Guerrero, and Tacámbaro, Michoacán, Mexico. (AFP via France 24)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023–24 European windstorm season
  • Storm Babet
    • The death toll from the extratropical cyclone in the United Kingdom rises to seven as another body is found in floodwaters in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. (The Independent)
• A cargo train collides with a passenger train in Bhairab, Bangladesh, killing at least 17 people and injuring many others. (Reuters)
• Seven people are killed and 25 others are injured in a multiple-vehicle collision on Interstate 55 near New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Police say the 158-car pile-up was caused by a dense fog. (BBC News)

International relations

• Enlargement of NATO
  • Sweden–NATO relations
    • Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan submits a bill on granting Sweden membership into NATO to the Grand National Assembly. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Aftermath of the 2023 Pakistani protests
  • The Supreme Court of Pakistan declares the court-martials of civilians unconstitutional, moving the trials of over 100 pro-Imran Khan protesters to civilian criminal courts. (Reuters)
• A Russian district court extends RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva's detention until December 5 as a "preventive measure" after Kurmasheva allegedly failed to register as a "foreign agent". (AFP via RFI)
• Authorities in Touboro, North Region, Cameroon confirm that over 30 people, likely including students from Chad, were abducted by suspected bandits yesterday. (Reuters via Japan Today)
• Five people are killed in a mass shooting in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. (CBC News)

Science and technology

• 2023 in arthropod paleontology
  • A new species of prehistoric millipede named Lauravolsella willemeni is discovered in the Netherlands. (NOS)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza–Israel conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • The United Nations says the lives of at least 120 newborn babies in incubators in Gaza hospitals are at risk, as fuel runs out in the enclave. (Al Jazeera)
    • Journalists killed in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
      • Palestinian journalist Rushdi Sarraj is killed in an Israeli attack on his home. (The Peninsula)
    • October 2023 Hezbollah strike
      • Five Hezbollah members are killed during a shootout with Israeli soldiers at the border with Lebanon, bringing the number of Hezbollah members killed during the conflict to 24. (AP)
    • At least 55 Palestinians are killed in overnight Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health. (Al Jazeera)
    • The number of mosques destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip increases to 31. (AA)
    • An Israeli tank accidentally hits an Egyptian position near the border with Gaza. Several Egyptian border guards sustain injuries from shell fragments. (Reuters)
    • At least 300 Palestinians are placed under administrative detention or have had detention orders renewed, allowing Israel to hold them without charge indefinitely under secret evidence. (Al Jazeera)
    • Paddy Cosgrave, a co-founder of the European tech conference Web Summit, resigns after opposition to his public statements on Israel, which included, "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are." (The Telegraph)
• Syrian civil war
  • Israel launches airstrikes against Damascus International Airport, killing two workers. (Reuters)

International relations

• 2023 Israel–Hamas war protests
  • Several thousand people gather in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, waving Palestinian and Bosnian flags and demanding an end to Israel's bombardment of Gaza. (Reuters)
• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • The Philippines reports separate collision incidents between its military ships and vessels of both the China Coast Guard and the Maritime Militia near the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands. (AFP via NDTV)

Disasters and accidents

• Capsizing Incidents in DRC
  • 28 killed in a capsizing on the Congo River in Équateur Province of North-Western Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Africa News)

Law and crime

• Alaska Airlines Flight 2059
  • An off-duty pilot reportedly attempts to hijack and crash an Alaska Airlines passenger plane travelling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, California, United States. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• Elections in Venezuela
  • 2023 Unitary Platform presidential primaries
    • Venezuelan opposition parties hold their first presidential primary since 2012. (AP)
• 2023 Argentine general election
  • Argentines elect the president and the members of the legislature. Sergio Massa and Javier Milei receives ~36% and ~30% of the votes respectively and will face off in a second round (Reuters) (CNN)
• 2023 Swiss federal election
  • Voters in Switzerland elect the members of the Federal Assembly. Results show that the right-wing Swiss People's Party becomes the largest parliamentary faction after the election, gaining nine seats compared to the previous election. (AP)
• 2024 Indonesian presidential election
  • Defense minister and Gerindra presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto chooses Surakarta mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest child of incumbent president Joko Widodo, as his running mate. (AFP via The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • The Rafah Border Crossing on the Egypt–Gaza border opens for the first time since the war began, allowing humanitarian aid trucks to enter Gaza. (AFP via NDTV)
• Myanmar civil war
  • The Tatmadaw conducts airstrikes and deploys additional troops in response to the Kachin Independence Army's attacks near the China–Myanmar border in Mu Se District and Laiza, Kachin State. (AFP via TOI)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • A Russian missile strike on a postal office in Kharkiv kills 6 workers and injures 16 others. (BBC)
• Somali Civil War
  • Six people are killed and nine others injured during an Al-Shabaab suicide car bombing outside a military facility in Lower Shabelle, Somalia. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Pacific hurricane season
  • Hurricane Norma makes landfall near Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Warnings have been issued for the states of Baja California Sur and Sinaloa. (AP)

Law and crime

• Police in Cyprus arrest four Syrians for detonating a small explosive device near the Israeli embassy in Nicosia. (AP via ABC News)

Politics and elections

• Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after four years in self-imposed exile in London, United Kingdom. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2023 Nigerien crisis
  • The French Armed Forces confirms that 1,500 troops will leave Niger by the end of the year, following the military junta's request. (AFP via Le Monde)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • Evacuations during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
      • Israel announces the total evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, a city of 20,000 near the border with Lebanon, amid increasing tensions with the militant group Hezbollah. (The Jerusalem Post)
    • Kidnappings during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
      • Hamas releases two American hostages following mediation by Egypt and Qatar. (AFP via France 24)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Battle of Avdiivka
    • Ukrainian forces repel Russian forces from Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, saying it has destroyed at least 175 vehicles, including 55 tanks. (Forbes)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Colombia, Foreign relations of the State of Palestine
  • Colombian President Gustavo Petro announces the establishment of an embassy to the State of Palestine in Ramallah in the West Bank, and also announces humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war. (AA)
• Foreign relations of Italy, Foreign relations of the State of Palestine
  • Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tells the Cairo Peace Summit the international community must avoid an escalation in the war in Gaza and set a roadmap towards a two-state solution. (Al Jazeera)
• Foreign relations of Greece, Foreign relations of the State of Palestine
  • Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calls for a new peace process envisioning an independent State of Palestine alongside Israel, saying "no military intervention can replace a viable political solution". (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• October 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
  • The Republican majority fails to deliver enough votes for Jim Jordan to become House Speaker on the third vote, with Jordan also losing a subsequent secret ballot among Republican members, thereby ending his nomination. (CNN)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi conflict
  • Drones and rockets strike the Al-Asad Airbase in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq, which houses U.S. troops. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • 2023 Israel–Hamas war
    • 2023 Hezbollah–Israel fire exchanges
      • Dozens of rockets are fired at the northern Israeli cities of Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona from southern Lebanon, injuring at least three civilians. Hamas says that its cells in Lebanon were responsible for the rocket attacks. Israel responds with airstrikes on Hezbollah positions. (The Times of Israel)
    • A member of the Security Cabinet of Israel says that the Israel Defense Forces has been given the "green light" to enter the Gaza Strip. (ABC News)
  • Five Palestinians are killed in clashes with the Israeli military at the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm in the West Bank. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War
  • Khatumo is reestablished as one of the federal states of Somalia by the Somali government. (Horseed Media)
• Yemeni civil war
  • In the Red Sea, the United States Navy destroyer USS Carney uses SM-2 missiles to shoot down three cruise missiles and eight drones launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. The Pentagon says that the missiles and drones were "potentially headed towards Israel". (Yahoo! News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023–24 European windstorm season
  • Storm Babet impacts the United Kingdom, bringing gale force winds and heavy rains, killing two people in Angus, Scotland, and another person in Shropshire, England. The crew of a Danish fishing trawler is rescued by the RNLI in the North Sea. (BBC News)

International relations

• Canada–India relations
  • Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India due to India's decision to revoke the diplomats' immunity following the death of Sikh independence leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. (AFP via NDTV)
• International reactions to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • Israel–United Kingdom relations
    • UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits Israel and meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announcing the UK's solidarity with Israel in its war with Hamas. (BBC News)
• Israel–Turkey relations
  • Israel withdraws its ambassador Irit Lillian and other diplomats from Turkey after urging its citizens to avoid all travel to the country. (The Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

• Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
  • 2020 Georgia election investigation
    • American attorney Sidney Powell pleads guilty to six misdemeanor charges in the Georgia election racketeering prosecution for her role in attempting to overturn the results in Georgia. (BBC News)