Portal:Current events/2015 October 31

• Syrian Civil War, American-led intervention in Syria
  • A newly formed U.S.-backed Syrian rebel alliance, Democratic Forces of Syria, launches an offensive against Islamic State forces in the northeast province of Hasaka. (Reuters) (International Business Times)

• Vodafone Group Plc announces criminals accessed customer account details, including phone numbers and some bank details. The British multinational telecommunications company of over 400 million subscribers says it is contacting about 1,800 affected customers. This is the second recent hacking of a U.K. phone carrier. Last week, TalkTalk Telecom Group Plc said its systems had been attacked. (Bloomberg) (Financial Times)

• Fifteen people are killed and 11 injured in a fire at the public markets at Zamboanga City in the Philippines. (CNN)
• Kogalymavia Flight 9268
  • A Russian Kogalymavia Airbus A-321 airliner crashes in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula with 224 passengers on board travelling from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg. (The News Hub) (BBC)
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant affiliate in the Sinai claims responsibility for shooting down the aircraft, but the claim is disputed. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
  • The wife of co-pilot Sergei Trukachev says, in a call with their daughter before the flight, he complained that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired. According to Egyptian officials, while in the air, the pilot told traffic controllers the aircraft was experiencing technical problems and he intended to try and land at the nearest airport. (AP via New Jersey Herald)
• A second round of storms and strong winds moves east across Texas in the American Southwest, with three radar-confirmed tornadoes damaging homes and causing injuries in the Houston area that got up to eight inches of rain since Friday night. Six people have been killed. (AP via USA Today) (AP update)
• Colectiv nightclub fire
  • Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta declares three days of national mourning. (Reuters) (CBC)

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retracts controversial comments he made about Nazi policies during World War 2, saying he never meant to claim that an Islamic leader Amin al-Husseini persuaded Adolf Hitler to adopt a policy to kill European Jews. (CNN)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Syria peace talks in Vienna
    • U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says new talks aimed to help end Syria's war shouldn't be held up by wrangling over whether President Bashar Assad stays or goes. (AP)
  • American-led intervention in Syria
    • At the International Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces the United States will contribute $100 million (£64.7 million) in fresh aid to support the Syrian opposition. (AP)

• The Presidential Palace and the Philippine Senate investigate an extortion scam involving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. (Manila Bulletin) (BBC)
• Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
  • Faisal Abedin Deepan, a publisher of secular books, is hacked to death in Dhaka. (The Guardian)
  • In a separate incident, another publisher and two writers are stabbed and shot in Dhaka. (The Guardian)
  • A group identifying itself as Ansar al-Islam – Bangladesh chapter of al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) – claimed responsibility. (The Daily Star)
  • The United Nations condemned the attacks expressing deep concerns over these threats to free speech. (Prothom Alo)
• October 2015 Colorado Springs shooting
  • A man marching down a street in Colorado Springs, Colorado, shot and killed three people before being fatally shot in a gun battle with police. (AP) (Colorado Springs Gazette)
• At least eleven people are killed in Pakistan in fighting between rival parties as voters go to the polls for local elections in Sindh province. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)

• Guinean presidential election, 2015
  • Guinea's constitutional court validates President Alpha Condé's October 11, 2015, re-election victory. The court dismissed complaints lodged by opposition candidates. (Reuters) (Channel NewsAsia)

• A large asteroid 2015 TB145, thought to be a dead comet, passes close to the earth. (Time)
• According to a new NASA (U.S.) study, ice sheet gains outweigh losses on the continent of Antarctica. An increase in snow accumulation that began 10,000 years ago outweighs increased losses from the continent's thinning glaciers. In 2013, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings suggested gains were not keeping up with losses. NASA glaciologist Jay Zwally said, "We’re essentially in agreement with other studies ... (except) ice gain in East Antarctica and the interior of West Antarctica exceeds losses in the other areas." (UPI) (NASA)

• 2015 Rugby World Cup Final
  • In rugby union, New Zealand defeat Australia 34–17 to win the 2015 Rugby World Cup. (BBC)
• In baseball, the 2015 Korean Series ends with the Doosan Bears beating the Samsung Lions by 4 games to 1 ending the Lions four straight consecutive Korean Series streak. (Yonhap News)
• In horse racing, U.S. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah completes his racing career with a win in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Classic, becoming the first-ever "grand slam" winner in American horse racing. (New York Times), (ESPN)