Portal:Current events/October 2015

2015 January February March April May June July August September October November December

October 2015 was the tenth month of that common year. The month, which began on a Thursday, ended on a Saturday after 31 days.

Portal:Current events

This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from October 2015.

Current events of October 1, 2015 (2015-10-01) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks Gaza–Israel conflict In retaliation for the rocket fired on the Israeli city of Ashdod, the Israeli Air Force carries out airstrikes on suspected Hamas positions in Gaza. No casualties are reported. (The News Hub) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) Battle of Kunduz The government of Afghanistan claims to have recaptured the city of Kunduz. (AFP via ABC News Australia) Taliban forces take over the Warduj District of the Badakhshan Province as government forces retreat. (WVTM) A C-130J transport aircraft crashes in eastern Afghanistan as it approaches the airport in Jalalabad killing at least 11 people on board. A U.S. military spokesman says there were no reports of enemy fire at the time. (Al Jazeera), (ABC News), (Reuters) Syrian Civil War Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War Russian air-strikes reportedly kill U.S.-backed Syrian rebels as Russian jets bomb rebel positions in rural areas of northern Syria, including the town of Jisr al-Shughour, which is currently held by Islamist militant groups including Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front. (The Telegraph) Hezbollah fighters and newly arrived Iranian troops are reportedly preparing for a 'major ground offensive' in northern Syria, backed by Russian air-strikes. (Reuters) Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi endorses Russian air-strikes against ISIS forces in Iraq while expressing 'disappointment' with the U.S.-led coalition. (Times Live) Turkey–PKK conflict 2015 PKK rebellion Four Turkish soldiers are killed in PKK attacks across southeastern Turkey. Turkish authorities impose a curfew in the city of Mardin due to escalating violence. (Today's Zaman) Chinese authorities arrest a suspect in yesterday's 17 Liucheng County mail bomb explosions that killed at least seven people and wounded more than 50. The suspect is identified as 33-year-old quarry-worker, Wei Yinyong, from Dapu township also in Guangxi Province. There is another explosion this morning. While it's not clear if it is connected, authorities reportedly located 60 packages yesterday which were being examined by a bomb squad. (The New York Times), (Asia One), (Voice of America), (Al Arabiya) Umpqua Community College shooting A mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon kills nine people and leaves seven wounded. The shooter commits suicide when confronted by the police. The man's motives are unknown. (Reuters), (CNN), (BBC News), (Reuters) The shooter is identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer. (CBS News), (Palm Beach Post) An Israeli couple are murdered in a shooting attack on their car in the northern West Bank; four of the couple's children are in the vehicle at the time but are not hit by the gunfire. Hamas praises the "heroic attack" and calls for "more high-quality attacks." (The Times of Israel), (Israel National News), (Breaking Israel News), (VOA News) Yemeni Civil War Government forces and the Southern Resistance backed by coalition forces wrest control of the strategic strait of Bab Al Mandab and a small Mayoun Island in the Red Sea from Houthi militants. (AP via Fox News) (Gulf News), (Al Jazeera‎) Boko Haram insurgency Five girl bombers attack the Nigerian city of Maiduguri with at least 14 people, including the girls, killed and 39 injured. (BBC) Business and economy The UAW at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reject a four-year contract, setting the stage for at least localized strikes against the automaker.(Reuters) Disasters and accidents 2015 Atlantic hurricane season Hurricane Joaquin Hurricane Joaquin becomes a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. Some additional strengthening is possible tomorrow. The storm, moving at just 6 mph, is predicted to drop 10 to 15 inches of rain in the central Bahamas with up to five inches expected for the rest of the archipelago. (Nassau Tribune), (NHC) Joaquin, expected to pick up forward speed when it turns north tomorrow, could hit the East Coast this weekend. While forecasts of the storm's trajectory are still uncertain, nearly every state from North Carolina to Connecticut is in the so-called "cone of uncertainty." North Carolina and New Jersey join Virginia in declaring states of emergency. (UPI), (Reuters) Health and medicine The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends everyone diagnosed with HIV immediately receive antiretroviral therapy and recommends preventative treatment for all at "substantial risk" of infection. Previously, the UN health agency had recommended to physicians that the threshold for patient intervention was the presentation of symptoms. (The Verge), (Time), (WHO) International relations Bahrain recalls its ambassador to Iran and expels the Iranian acting chargé d'affaires who is declared persona non-grata, a day after Bahraini security forces discovered a large bomb-making factory in Nuwaidrat and arrested a number of suspects linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Bahrain's decision to recall its ambassador comes "in light of continued Iranian meddling in the affairs of the kingdom of Bahrain in order to create sectarian strife and impose hegemony and control." (The Daily Star), (Gulf News) Current events of October 2, 2015 (2015-10-02) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War, Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War The Russian Government says Russian jets bombed Syria for the third consecutive day, hitting 12 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that ISIL has no presence in the western and northern areas struck though Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate al-Nusra Front does. Russian planes also bombed Raqqah, the unofficial capital of ISIL. (Daily Mail) Turkey–PKK conflict At least 17 PKK militants are reportedly killed following a Turkish military operation in the Kurdish-majority city of Silvan. (RT) War in Donbass, 2014-15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine OSCE observers who are monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels, reported the presence of a new Russian weapons system in rebel-held territory this week, the 'TOS-1 Buratino' is a thermobaric multiple rocket launcher system which can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage. Only Russia produces the system and it was not exported to Ukraine before the conflict broke out. (Reuters) Business and economy Air France KLM will cut 2,900 jobs after talks with pilots unions are unsuccessful. (BBC) Google completes its reorganization into Alphabet Inc., becoming its leading subsidiary. Sundar Pichai becomes CEO of Google. (Investor Relations - Google) Disasters and accidents Aviastar Flight 7503 Indonesia's Aviastar airline loses contact with an aircraft between Masamba-Makassar carrying 10 people. (DailyMail) Hurricane Joaquin The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a 735-foot (224-meter) cargo ship named 'El Faro,' with 33 people on board, that went missing near Crooked Island in the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin. Five Poles and 28 Americans make up the crew. (The Telegraph) (Reuters) Hurricane Joaquin attacked The Bahamas as a Category 4 hurricane and destroyed houses, cut communications and electric power, uprooted trees, and unleashed heavy flooding. So far, there are no reports of fatalities or injuries. The storm, which weakened to Category 3 status with 125 mph sustained winds, is expected to dump up to 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain in some location before it moves away from the islands. (AP via Sacramento Bee) (AFP via Yahoo News) Joaquin is slowly moving on a east/northeast trek lowering the possibility of a direct hit to the U.S. East Coast. However, unrelated storms have already drenched the eastern seaboard this week. Streets were underwater up and down the coast at this afternoon's high tide. Adding Joaquin's wind and rain could create deadly, unprecedented downpours, flooding, wind damage, and power outages. (WorldNetDaily) (Reuters) (AP via Portland Press-Herald). 2015 El Cambray Dos landslide A Guatemalan hillside, loosened by heavy rains, collapses and sends tons of dirt and trees onto Santa Catarina Pinula on the edge of Guatemala City, killing at least 56 with as many as 600 people missing. (Reuters) (BBC) Law and crime A 15-year old boy shoots and kills a civilian NSW Police employee outside the NSW Police headquarters in Parramatta, Sydney. The incident is labelled as a terrorist attack. (Daily Telegraph) Hackers steal the personal information of about 15 million T-Mobile US customers and applicants. The breach is at a unit of the credit agency Experian. (BBC) 2015 FIFA corruption case Longtime FIFA corporate sponsors -- Coca-Cola Co., McDonald's, Visa Inc., and Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev -- demand FIFA President Sepp Blatter step down immediately following last week's announcement of his criminal investigation by the Swiss attorney general. Blatter refused. (Reuters) (Irish Independent) Current events of October 3, 2015 (2015-10-03) (Saturday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War, Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War The Obama Administration weighs the option of using military force to protect the U.S.-backed rebels fighting the Assad regime. (Fox News) British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says only five percent of Russia's airstrikes in Syria have targeted Islamic State extremists. Instead, other Syrian rebel groups, including the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, have been attacked. "Our evidence indicates they are dropping unguided munitions in civilian areas, killing civilians," Fallon added. (Voice of America), (Reuters) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) A prolonged series of American military airstrikes hit a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Kunduz, killing twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, with 37 seriously injured and many more people still missing. (MSF), (The Washington Post), (Reuters) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL claims responsibility for the killing of a 65-year-old Japanese citizen in Bangladesh. This attack comes after the recent murder of an Italian, Cesare Tavella, in Bangladesh, which was also claimed by ISIL. (Al Arabiya) Disasters and accidents Hurricane Joaquin As Hurricane Joaquin, still a Category 3 storm, heads northeast, a Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch are in effect for Bermuda. Winds will begin to strengthen early Saturday with thunderstorms and more significant showers around midnight. Joaquin should turn toward the north-northeast Sunday and pass around 125 nautical miles (232 kilometres; 144 miles) west of Bermuda that evening. (WCVB5 Boston), (NHC), (Bermuda Royal Gazette) Joaquin's eastward turn away from the United States could send the storm across the Atlantic Ocean toward the United Kingdom. Current weather models predict Joaquin, powered by the jet stream, will reach the British Isles on the October 10th weekend. (Daily Mail), (Daily Express) A double-decker bus crashes into a Sainsbury's supermarket in Coventry city center killing two people, including an eight-year-old boy; six others are also seriously hurt, including the bus driver according to West Midlands Police. (BBC) Sports 2015 Rugby World Cup England becomes the first host nation and first former finalist to be knocked out of the Rugby World Cup during the group stages following their defeat to Australia. (BBC) Current events of October 4, 2015 (2015-10-04) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli–Palestinian conflict Stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City kill two Israeli civilians and injures three others. As a result, Isreal bans Palestinians from entering the Old City for two days unless they live there. (BBC News), (Yahoo News), (CNN) Turkey–PKK conflict Turkey's air force launches a new wave of air-raids bombing PKK positions in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Turkish warplanes destroy PKK fuel and ammunition depots in the Hakkari province on the border with Iraq, as well as, in the eastern Kars province, according to a military statement. (AFP via Yahoo News) Syrian Civil War Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says reforms in Syria are unlikely until all of the government’s armed opponents are vanquished. The country will continue to send representatives to peace negotiations sponsored by Moscow, but rule out negotiations with the Western-backed groups opposing his government. (The Washington Post) Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant destroys a 2,000-year-old Roman-era Triumphal arch in Palmyra according to Syria's antiquities chief. (The Independent), (AP) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) The death toll from Saturday's airstrikes on the Doctors Without Borders' hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan rises to at least 10 patients and 12 hospital staff in Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Doctors without Borders issues a statement expressing its "clear assumption that a war crime has been committed," and announces that all staff have left the hospital and the city. (UPI), (International Business Times) Disasters and accidents Heavy flooding along the French Riviera in the southeast of France killls at least 17 people with four more still missing. Rail, road, and air traffic are all suspended, and 27,000 homes are without electricity. A major stretch of the French Riviera has been declared a natural disaster zone. According to local radio station France Bleu-Azur, more than 17cm of rain fell on the Alpes-Maritimes region in two hours, the same amount the region would usually expect over two months. (AFP via Yahoo News), (Sky News), (Euro News) October 2015 nor'easter U.S. President Barack Obama declares a state of emergency for South Carolina, after the state receives over two feet of rain in some areas. More than 250 roads across the state close. A low pressure area funnels heavy tropical moisture into the region, as well as, pulls in Hurricane Joaquin-related precipitation. (CNN), (NBC News) Rain and flooding are expected to persist along the east coast tonight. Two deaths are reported in North Carolina. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia are under coastal flood warnings. (Sydney Tenplay) 2015 Atlantic hurricane season Hurricane Joaquin U.S. Coast Guard searchers, looking for the 790-foot El Faro cargo ship missing since Thursday, locate multiple objects, including life jackets, life rings, containers, and an oil sheen in the waters off The Bahamas. Connection to El Faro is not immediately confirmed. (USA Today) (ABC News) Bermuda, which suffered a glancing hit by then-Category 2 Hurricane Joaquin, reports scattered power outages with heavy rain, high wind, and waves. The center of Joaquin, now a Category 1 hurricane (max winds 85 mph), is moving north-northeast, and will clear Bermuda sometime Monday. (AP via Orlando 6), (NHC) Politics and elections Portuguese legislative election, 2015 Exit polls show Portugal’s center-right government, in its first contest since tough austerity measures were launched to combat a debt crisis, is headed for victory, but, could lose its majority in parliament. (The Guardian), (Reuters), (The Telegraph) In Minsk, about 1,000 opposition activists protest Russia's plans to establish a military air base in Belarus, saying it would turn the former Soviet republic into a Kremlin "vassal" and add to regional tensions. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has refrained from commenting on the initiative to establish the base. (Fox News) Kyrgyzstani parliamentary election, 2015 Voters in Kyrgyzstan go to the polls with the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan winning the most votes which will lead to a pro-Russian coalition. (AFP via Yahoo! News) Sports In horse racing, Golden Horn wins the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Two-time winner Treve finishes fourth. (BBC) Current events of October 5, 2015 (2015-10-05) (Monday) Armed conflicts and attacks Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War Turkey says a Russian warplane violated its airspace near the Syrian border, prompting the Turkish Air Force to scramble two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it. The Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to protest the violation and urged Russia to avoid repeating such a violation, or it would be held "responsible for any undesired incident that may occur". (Reuters) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) Car-bombings across Iraq kill at least 57 people. The attacks include a rare bombing in the southern Basra province leaving 10 people dead. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is suspected of being behind the attacks. (Reuters) Yemeni Civil War (2015) Fighting rages between Houthi militants and Hadi loyalists backed-by Saudi-led coalition forces along Yemen's Red Sea coast for control over the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Houthi officials say that their forces have destroyed six opposing tanks and killed multiple pro-Hadi fighters. Also, the UAE announces another of its soldiers has died during fighting in Ma'rib. (Business Insider) Business and economy Clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel files for bankruptcy. The company says that its 200+ retail stores will continue to operate without any interruptions. (The New York Times), (Forbes) The World Bank estimates that 9.6 percent of the world’s population is living in extreme poverty this year, down from 12.8% in 2012. The bank also updated its global poverty line from $1.25 per day to $1.90 per day to reflect inflation and changes in purchasing power around the world; it was last adjusted in 2008. (Time), (The Guardian) Disasters and accidents October 2015 nor'easter Additional search and rescue efforts take place in the American city of Columbia, South Carolina. (AccuWeather), (USA Today) In South Carolina, the death toll rises to nine people in weather-related incidents with millions remaining homebound. Rain is forecast to continue with parts of the state dealing with flooding for some time. (CNN), (AP via ACBS News) Hurricane Joaquin The El Faro, missing since Thursday, is catagorized as sunk with 33 people on board during Hurricane Joaquin after a debris field is found. (NBC News) 2015 Pacific typhoon season Typhoon Mujigae At least nine people are dead as Typhoon Mujigae hits southern China in the midst of the country's weeklong National Day holiday. Mujigae also generates several strong tornadoes and leaves dozens of fishermen missing. Nearly 200,000 people had been evacuated before the storm made landfall. Neighboring Guangxi Zhuang region orders 12,700 fishing boats and 35,400 offshore workers to return to port. (AP), (International Business Times) Tropical Storm Kabayan (local name for then-Tropical Storm Mujigae) leaves at least two dead in the Philippines with two injured and 63 persons missing. The system intensified as it leaves the Philippine Area of Responsibility heading toward China. (Manila Sun Star), (Philippine Star) International relations The government of Nauru announces that the Nauru Detention Centre will become an "open facility" where people seeking asylum in Australia will be able to move freely around the island. (ABC News Australia) North Korea repatriates a South Korean student held in detention since April. (Yonhap News) Law and crime The Independent Commission Against Corruption charges former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang with corruption. (Hong Kong Free Press) The Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries is finalized in the American city of Atlanta. According to wikileaks, the main point of the deal will be that trans-national corporations will not be subjected to the laws of individual countries. Instead, an international system will be formed with the right to overrule national laws and legal decisions. (The Australian) Politics and elections Governor Jerry Brown signs legislation which will go into effect in late 2016, legalizing euthanasia statewide in California. (CNN) Science and technology William C. Campbell, Satoshi Omura, and Tu Youyou win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on parasitic diseases. (AP), (The Washington Post) Current events of October 6, 2015 (2015-10-06) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Yemeni Civil War (2015) A hotel where Vice President of Yemen and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah was staying in Aden which was also being used as a de-facto military base by Arab coalition forces is hit by multiple explosions killing at least 15 coalition soldiers. Although the Houthis were first suspected and accused of being behind the attack, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has since claimed responsibility, marking the first attack on Arab coalition forces in Yemen by the extremist group. (CNN) (Al-Arabiyah News) In the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, at least seven people are killed following a suicide-bomb attack on the al-Nour mosque. (Reuters) Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia's pair of violations of Turkish airspace over the weekend do not look like accidents. Russia, which said it's looking into claims of a second violation, reported the first violation lasted a few seconds and was due to poor weather. (BBC) Russian warplanes bomb Islamic State positions in the central Syrian city of Palmyra and in the northern Aleppo province, releasing videos that show them destroying 20 vehicles and 3 weapons depots. (Reuters) Turkey says its jets patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border were directly threatened by a Russian MiG-29 and later by an an anti-aircraft missile system which locked-radar on the Turkish jets. (Independent) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) Russia says it would consider extending its air-strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria to Iraq if it receives such a request from the Iraqi government. Iraqi President, Fuad Masum has recently said he would welcome this assistance. (Reuters) Boko Haram insurgency A Boko Haram attack near Lake Chad kills at least 11 Chadian troops while 17 Boko Haram militants are also reportedly killed in the fighting following the pre-dawn strike on Chadian army positions. (AFP via Yahoo) Business and economy The European Court of Justice decides an international agreement, generally known as a Safe Harbor rule, used by thousands of companies for moving people’s digital data between the European Union and the United States is invalid, effective immediately. The decision throws into doubt how global technology giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google can collect, manage, and analyze online information from their millions of users in the 28-member bloc. Decisions by this court, the highest legal authority in the EU, cannot be appealed. (The New York Times) (USA Today) (BBC) (Reuters) Disasters and accidents Typhoon Mujigae (2015) Sixteen campers are missing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region following a flash flood in a camping reserve. (Xinhua) October 2015 nor'easter, Hurricane Joaquin Thirteen people are reported to have died during this storm, 11 in South Carolina and two in North Carolina. At least 18 dams have breached or failed since Saturday. Communities downstream face a mass of water working its way toward the low-lying coast. (CNN) Hurricane Joaquin missed the East Coast but brought tropical moisture aimed directly at South Carolina. (ABC News) 2015 El Cambray Dos landslide The death toll from Thursday's landslide in the Guatemalan village of El Cambray Dos increased to 152 with more than 300 people missing. No survivors have been found at the site. Search crews have found entire families who died huddled together and buried alive. The Guatemala’s National Disaster Reduction Commission, known as the Conred, declared the area uninhabitable. (BBC) (Reuters) (Press TV) International relations Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israel destroys the homes of three Palestinian terrorists. Rassen and Udai abu-Jamal who committed the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack and Moatez Hijazi who committed the excavator rampage in Jerusalem during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. (Jerusalem Post) Law and crime 2015 Burkinabe coup d'état Associated Press reports that coup leader General Gilbert Diendéré has been formally charged. (AP via ABC News America) Former President of the United Nations General Assembly John William Ashe is charged with taking US$1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen. (AFP via Channel News Asia) Science and technology Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of neutrino oscillations. (AP via Yahoo! News) Sport 2015 FIFA corruption case South Korean FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon admits that he is facing charges before FIFA's ethics committee but denies wrongdoing. (Reuters via Daily Nail) Current events of October 7, 2015 (2015-10-07) (Wednesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An FBI investigation has reportedly found that criminal networks specializing in nuclear smuggling in Eastern Europe, particularly in the nation of Moldova, have shipped radioactive material to 'Middle Eastern extremists', including the Islamic State (which in the recent past has threatened to unleash a nuclear holocaust to 'wipe the West off the face of the Earth'). (AP via The Huffington Post) Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Russia launches an intense bombing campaign in the Syrian governorates of Idlib and Hama. The Syrian Army is conducting a ground offensive in the same area. (Jerusalem Post), (Reuters) Four Russian warships launch at least 26 cruise missiles at ISIS positions in Syria from the Caspian Sea. (RT) Russian airstrikes destroy the main weapons depots of a U.S.-trained rebel group, Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, in Syria's Aleppo province. Last week, Russian raids hit Liwa sites in western and northern Syria, areas where the Islamic State group has no significant presence. (Reuters) Boko Haram insurgency Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 15 people at a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu. (AP) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) calls for activating the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission – for the first time since its 1991 creation under the Geneva Conventions – to investigate the deadly U.S. bombing of MSF's hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. MSF says it does not trust internal military inquiries into the bombing that killed at least 22 people, which it considers a war crime. (Reuters) (BBC) United States President Barack Obama telephoned MSF International President Joanne Liu to apologize for the U.S. bombing of the hospital in Afghanistan, express his condolences for the 22 people killed, commit to provide a transparent, thorough, and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident, and implement any changes to make tragedies like this one less likely to occur in the future. (Reuters) (Washington Post) Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Saudi-led airstrikes kill at least 30 people and wound 25 others in the southwestern Yemeni town of Sanabani at a wedding hosted by a tribal leader known to support the Houthis. (AP via ABC News) (The New York Times) (CNN) Health and medicine The World Health Organization announces that, since the Ebola outbreak began in March 2014, last week marked the first week of no new cases worldwide. (Time) Law and crime The High Court of Australia rules that the breast cancer gene BRCA-1 cannot be patented and the patent claimed by Myriad Genetics is invalid. (ABC News Australia) China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announces their investigation of Fujian governor Su Shulin, the former chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, on suspicion of serious disciplinary violations, the "euphemism for corruption." This follows the massive anti-corruption drive Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping launched when he came to power more than three years ago. Su is the first sitting governor investigated since the campaign began. (Reuters via Daily Mail) (South China Morning Post) Brazil's Federal Accounts Court (TCU), in a unanimous 8-0 decision, rules that President Dilma Rousseff's government manipulated its accounts in 2014 to disguise a widening fiscal deficit. The ruling, while not legally binding, is expected to be used by opposition lawmakers who are calling for impeachment proceedings. (Reuters) (AP) Science Tomas Lindahl, Paul L. Modrich and Aziz Sancar win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in DNA repair. (BBC) Sport 2015 FIFA corruption case Fédération Internationale de Football Association ethics committee recommends FIFA President Sepp Blatter be suspended, re: the Swiss attorney general's ongoing criminal investigation. The final decision will be made by Chairman of the Ethics Committee's adjudication chamber, Hans-Joachim Eckert. (BBC) (Daily Mail) The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 in the MLB National League Wild Card Game. (ESPN) Current events of October 8, 2015 (2015-10-08) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks Yemeni Civil War (2015), Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Government forces and their allies, including troops from a Saudi Arabian-led coalition, capture the town of Sirwah, the last outpost of Houthi militants in the key Marib province. (The Australian) Yemeni military forces backed by Houthi militants reportedly destroy a Saudi warship off the coast of Yemen in the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait. (Press TV) (Fars News) (Independent) Syrian Civil War, Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states are reportedly 'stepping up' arms supplies to at least three Syrian rebel groups in response to the recent Russian intervention in the civil war. (BBC) Syrian troops and allied militia backed by a fresh wave of Russian airstrikes and naval cruise missiles attacked rebel forces as the government extended an offensive to recapture territory in central and northwestern Syria. (Reuters) (The Moscow Times) At least four Russian cruise missiles fired at Syria from the Caspian Sea landed in Iran, according to US officials. Damage or casualties are not yet known. Russia and Iran rejected these reports. (CNN) (Reuters) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO will double its high-readiness force to 40,000, and may send ground troops to Turkey as a result of the escalation of Russian military activities in Syria, including violations of Turkish airspace. (Irish Times) (Hindustan Times) Arts and culture Belarusian author and journalist Svetlana Alexievich wins the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. (The Guardian) Business and economy Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) reach a new tentative four-year labor agreement, averting a threatened strike of the automaker’s U.S. operations. The agreement must be ratified by a vote of FCA's 40,000 U.S. union workers, who rejected the previous proposal earlier this month. If ratified, the UAW intends to use the pact as a template for negotiations with General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Company. (Reuters) (Detroit Free Press) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season Thousands of people are evacuated on the Japanese island of Hokkaido as Typhoon Choi-wan approaches from the east. (AAP via SBS) 2015 Southeast Asian haze The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo announces that he will seek help from other nations in putting out illegally lit forest fires that have caused the haze. (Channel News Asia) Ecuador's restive Cotopaxi volcano erupts. (Fox News) International relations Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prohibits all members of the Knesset (MKs) from visiting the Jerusalem site revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, in an attempt to calm several days of violence in the Old City. The prohibition applies to both Jewish and Muslim parliamentarians. (Washington Post) (Jerusalem Post) Law and crime Spencer Stone, one of the individuals involved in stopping the gunman in the August 2015 Thalys train attack, is stabbed in downtown Sacramento. Police said the incident is not related to a terrorist act; the assault occurred near a bar. He is in stable condition at a hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening wounds. (MSN) Politics and elections European migrant crisis The German state of Bavaria plans "emergency measures" in response to the migrant crisis, including deporting migrants back to Austria and closing the border. An estimated 225,000 migrants have arrived in the southern German state in less than five weeks. (Yahoo) U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who had been the favorite to replace outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, withdraws from the race. (Fox News) Sports 2015 FIFA corruption case: FIFA suspends Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jérôme Valcke from all football-related activities for 90 days amid allegations of corruption. (BBC) Current events of October 9, 2015 (2015-10-09) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War Battle of Aleppo (2012–present) Iranian state television says Revolutionary Guard brigadier general, Hossein Hamadani, has been killed on the outskirts of Syria's Aleppo by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. This is the latest in a string of high-ranking Iranian commanders killed in Iraq and Syria in the last six months. (Independent) Islamic State militants launch an offensive north of Aleppo, seizing several rebel-held villages, as well as the strategic former Syrian Army base known as the 'Infantry Academy'. (AP via The Washington Times) United Nations condemns the killing of Anadolu Agency Turkish photojournalist Saleh Mahmoud Laila in Thursday's ISIS suicide attack at a marketplace in Huraytan, north of Aleppo. (Daily Sabah) (Novinite) Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War United States suspends its 500 million dollar Syrian rebel training program. The new strategy will shift toward supplying military aid "to a select group of vetted leaders and their units so that over time they can make a concerted push into territory still controlled by ISIL," a U.S. official said. (CNN) (ABC News) Israeli–Palestinian conflict Hamas' leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, declares an "Intifada" against Israel in the West Bank and says, "Gaza will fulfil its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation” with Israel. Over 20 stabbing attacks have happened in the last 24 hours in Israel. (The Telegraph) (The Guardian) An Israeli stabs and injures two Bedouin arabs and two Palestinians in the southern city of Dimona. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "strongly condemned the harming of innocent Arabs." (Washington Post) Israel Defense Forces kill six Palestinian protesters and wound 60 at the Gaza Strip border, according to Gaza medics. The protesters attempted to destroy the "border" fence between Gaza and Israel and IDF soldiers "responded with fire on the main instigators in order to prevent them progressing and to disperse the riot," according to the IDF. (Reuters) (CNN) Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, urges Security Council President Román Oyarzun to hold an emergency meeting on the latest tensions with Israel. (AP via WHDH TV) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) Iraqi police officials say at least 35 people have been killed following a mortar bombardment of villages near the eastern city of Baqubah, capital of the Diyala Governorate. Officials did not speculate on who may be responsible for the attack, however the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in the volatile province. (AP via ABC News) Disasters and accidents 2015 Mina stampede A new tally by the Associated Press places the death count from the Mina stampede at 1,453 killed making it the deadliest disaster ever to occur during the Hajj. (AP via MSN) 2015 Guatemala landslide The death toll from the landslides in Guatemala rises to 253 with 374 people still missing. (Reuters via Melbourne Age) International relations Libyan Civil War (2014–present) The United Nations envoy for Libya, Bernardino León, proposes a government of national unity for Libya led by Fayez Sarraj as Prime Minister. (BBC) Australia is to send refugees from Nauru and Manus Island to the Philippines. (Sydney Morning Herald) The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet wins the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers comprise the quartet. (BBC) (CNN) (Nobel Peace Prize) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea China says it will "not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation", following a statement from a Pentagon official, that the U.S. may consider sailing warships close to China's disputed artificial islands in the South China Sea within the next two weeks. (Reuters) Law and crime School shootings One student is killed and three others wounded during an early morning shooting in a Northern Arizona University dorm in Flagstaff, Arizona. The suspected shooter was taken into custody. (New York Daily News) (NPR) One person is killed and another wounded, with a person in custody, in a shooting at an apartment complex near the Texas Southern University campus in southeast Houston, Texas. This is the second shooting involving TSU this week. A man is in serious, but stable, condition after being shot on the campus's Tiger Walk on Tuesday. (Houston Chronicle) (Reuters) WikiLeaks releases the intellectual property section of the finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership intended to be withheld until after October 19. (WikiLeaks) (International Business Times) Politics and elections European migrant crisis The southern German state of Bavaria threatens to take the Federal German government to court if it fails to take immediate steps to limit the flow of migrants to Germany. Over 200,000 migrants are estimated to have entered Germany since the beginning of September, the vast majority over the Austrian border into Bavaria. (Reuters) Current events of October 10, 2015 (2015-10-10) (Saturday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli–Palestinian conflict Palestinian militants fire 3 rockets into Israel during the night after several violent riots throughout Israel and the West Bank. (BBC) Israeli security forces shoot dead two Palestinians aged 12 and 15 in protests along Gaza's border fence. (Reuters) The death toll from Friday's violence at the Gaza Strip border is now seven Palestinians. Of the 60 wounded, 10 were seriously injured. Massive riots managed to breach the border fence and enter Israeli territory and were dispersed by live fire. (Ynet News) 2015 Ankara bombings Twin bomb blasts in the Turkish capital Ankara near the main train station leave at least 97 people dead and over 400 wounded. The bombing occurred during a peace rally protesting the conflict between Turkey and the militant Kurdish PKK. (BBC), (CNN), (Sky News Australia) Boko Haram insurgency Five suicide bombers target a village in Chad that is home to thousands of Nigerian refugees who have fled Boko Haram, killing at least 36 people. (AP) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) The U.S. Department of Defense will make payments to families of victims of last week's U.S. airstrike that struck a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz. At least 22 people were killed including 12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children. MSF says 33 people are still missing and presumed to have died in the fire. (Reuters) (NBC News) (AFP via ABC News) Mali conflict Suspected jihadists attack Dioungani, a village in central Mali, killing a local official in front of his family. (AP) Disasters and accidents At least eight people have died in a major fire at a halting site for Irish travellers in the south of Dublin. (Irish Times) An Indonesian chopper carrying five people lost contact with air traffic control during a flight on North Sumatra, Indonesia. (Channel News Asia) International relations Territorial disputes in the South China Sea China completes the construction of two lighthouses on the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea according to Chinese state media. The U.S. and the Philippines have opposed the construction efforts. (The Guardian) North Korea holds a massive military parade in its capital, Pyongyang, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Workers' Party of Korea rule in the country. Liu Yunshan, the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea in three years, attends the parade. (BBC) Egypt–France relations During a state visit to Cairo by French prime minister Manuel Valls, Egypt officially signs a deal with France to purchase the two Mistral-class helicopter carriers that were originally destined for Russia but France refused to deliver due to the Ukrainian crisis. Russia will sell Egypt the helicopters originally intended for the ships. (Times of India) Politics and elections Over 150,000 people protest in Berlin against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership accord between the European Union and the United States. (RT), (DW), (CNBC), (France24) Sport Mexico defeats the United States 3-2 in the 2015 CONCACAF Cup. (CONCACAF) Current events of October 11, 2015 (2015-10-11) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas weapons facilities in the Gaza Strip result in an explosion that collapsed a nearby house, killing a 30-year old pregnant Palestinian woman and her two-year old daughter. Four others were wounded, including the woman's husband and son, the Gaza Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said the airstrike was in response to Saturday's pair of rocket launches from Gaza at Israel, as well as two large riots that succeeded in breaching the border fence. (Reuters) (AP via New York Times) (AFP via New Indian Express) Israeli traffic police stop a Palestinian woman transporting a small gas canister within Israeli territory near Jerusalem. She detonates the gas canister, lightly wounding a police officer and critically wounding herself. (AP via Houston Chronicle) (AFP via NDTV) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) A suicide bomber targets a foreign forces convoy in the Joy Shir area of Kabul. Taliban insurgents claim responsibility. A statement from Afghanistan's Interior Ministry reported at least three civilians were wounded. There are no report of casualties among the foreign forces. (AFP via Times of India) (Reuters) Five members of the NATO-led coalition die and five others are injured in a non-combat helicopter crash in Kabul. The Associated Press reported the chopper collided with a monitoring balloon on landing. Nationalities weren't identified by NATO's Resolute Support; the British said two were Royal Air Force personnel. (BBC) (CNN) (USA Today) Syrian Civil War Following Russian airstrikes, the Syrian army and allied Lebanese Hezbollah militia take control of a highland area in Idlib province close to insurgent-held positions, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Reuters) (Malaysian Insider) Boko Haram insurgency in Cameroon At least eight people are killed following a suicide bomb attack in northern Cameroon's Sangueleri region near the Nigerian border. Boko Haram have previously carried out attacks in the region. (Business Standard) Turkey–PKK conflict The Turkish Air Force launches a wave of airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Turkish security officials have also rejected a PKK ceasefire declared on Saturday shortly after the bombings in Ankara, saying "The PKK ceasefire means nothing for us. The operations will continue without a break". (Reuters) Thousands gather in Ankara to pay their respects to those killed in Saturday's peace rally bombings. Marches and sit-ins protesting the attack were also held in Istanbul. No group has claimed responsibility. Turkey’s already polarized political parties traded accusations of responsibility for the attack. National elections are still scheduled for November 1, 2015. (Los Angeles Times) (The Guardian) (CNN) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) Iraq's military reports bombing a convoy possibly carrying Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group was headed to a meeting in the western Al Anbar Governorate, close to the Syrian border. Eight senior ISIS figures were killed, but al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them according to Iraqi officials. (Reuters) (New York Daily News) Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen An Arab coalition airstrike on a prison in Yemen's central Al Bayda Governorate, reportedly kills 20 prisoners. The prison which held more than 100 prisoners was controlled by the Houthis. (Yahoo) International relations South Africa plans to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the government faces criticism for, earlier this year, ignoring a court order to arrest Sudan's president. (Reuters) Law and crime Iranian Students News Agency reports an undisclosed verdict has been reached in the espionage case of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has been held by Iran for more than 14 months. The final closed door hearing on Rezaian's case was on August 10, 2015. By not disclosing details, the Post stated that it seems Tehran could be working a political angle. Last month at the UN, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told journalists he would welcome quicker steps on mutual prisoner releases. (Washington Post) (Christian Science Monitor) (Reuters) A shooting at a house in Omeath, County Louth in the Republic of Ireland leaves two men dead, including an on-duty police officer. (BBC) A 15-hour protest about police-related deaths, in Thalang on Thailand's Phuket Island in the Andaman Sea, turned into a riot when the crowd attacked the Thalang Police Station with rocks and fire bombs. Two young men were killed in a motorcycle crash while being chased by police. Fourteen police were injured, nine cars were torched, 13 others and five motorcycles damaged. While numerous people were inconvenienced by the blockade, a heart attack patient died on his way to Thalang Hospital when the ambulance couldn't get through the crowd. (AP via Fox News) (Celebcafe.org) (Immortal.org) (PhuketWan Tourism News) Politics and elections Belarusian presidential election, 2015 Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko won a fifth term by a landslide in today's election. (Radio Free Europe), (Reuters) (Reuters) Guinean presidential election, 2015 Millions of Guineans vote peacefully in the West African country's second free election since gaining independence from France nearly 60 years ago. Ballot counting started; the provisional outcome is not expected until the end of this week, an official said. Incumbent President Alpha Conde is expected to win reelection. (Deutsche Welle) Sport Bathurst 1000 In motor sport, Australian driver Craig Lowndes wins the 2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 for the sixth time. He also appeared on the podium for the 13th time, setting a new record for the event. (NZ Newswire via Yahoo! 7) Current events of October 12, 2015 (2015-10-12) (Monday) Armed conflicts and attacks 2015 Ankara bombings The Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu states that Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is the prime suspect in Saturday's bombing. (Reuters via Thomson Reuters Foundation) Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Palestinian political violence Palestinians carried out three stabbing attacks against Israeli citizens and police in Jerusalem today with two of the attackers shot dead as the wave of violence continues, police said. There have been a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank in recent days that have wounded several Israelis; nine attackers have been shot dead. Also, at least 16 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during/after violent demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza. (AP via Houston Chronicle) (Times of Israel) (Israel National News) An Arab attempting to stab pedestrians on a street in Tel Aviv is subdued by bystanders, with no injuries reported. (Israel National News) Two Palestinian teenagers stab and critically injure a Jewish teenager and another man in East Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in the third stabbing attack in the capital in six hours; one attacker is neutralized by a motorist and the second is shot dead by police. (The Jerusalem Post) Islamist militants kill two Tunisian soldiers and injure four others who were seeking to free a man kidnapped in a mountainous area near the border with Algeria. (Reuters) (Azeri-Press Agency) Syrian Civil War, American-led intervention in Syria U.S. cargo planes airdrop small arms ammunition and other supplies to Syrian rebels, including Kurdish groups such as YPG, in northern Syria. (Reuters) Business and economics U.S. computer maker Dell takes over EMC Corporation for $US67 billion. (BBC) International relations Syria Civil War, Foreign involvement European Union foreign ministers, gathered in Luxembourg to discuss the situation in Syria, release a statement urging Russia to stop its attacks in Syria and direct efforts towards a political solution. (Daily Sabah) (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (European Council) The government of Ukraine bans all Russian airlines from flying into Ukraine from October 25 in response to Moscow's decision in September to impose a similar ban on Ukrainian airlines. (Radio Free Europe) Law and crime Iranian State television reports that court spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i clarified the Iranian-American reporter's verdict -- Washington Post's Jason Rezaian was convicted in a closed-door espionage trial that ended two months ago. Details remain unknown. Rezaian faced four charges; it's not clear whether he was convicted of all charges nor what sentence was imposed. Leila Ahsan, Rezaian’s lawyer, also had not received the verdict as of Sunday. Post executive editor Martin Baron says they will appeal. (The Washington Post) (Payvand.com) London police end their three-year long, round-the-clock guard outside the Ecuadorian Embassy waiting to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Officers have been stationed at this embassy since June 2012. Police said the operation cost 11.1 million pounds (17.6 million dollars) through April 2015. Assange is wanted for jumping bail in England and sexual assault allegations in Sweden. Assange denies the Swedish charges and suspects the real reason is to bring him to the U.S. (NBC News) (AP via Newser) (London Metropolitan Police) Post 2011 Egyptian Revolution trials Cairo's criminal court orders the release of the sons of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who are waiting for the Court of Appeal's decision in a financial corruption case. Each was sentenced to three years. The court ruled Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, who were initially detained in April 2011, had already served the requisite time in prison for the sentence. (New York Daily News) (Reuters) Politics and elections Jioji Konrote is elected President of Fiji by the country's Parliament. Konrote, Fiji's Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, received 31 votes, defeating Epeli Ganilau, who garnered 14 votes. (Radio New Zealand International) The Vanuatuan Speaker of the Parliament, Marcellino Pipite, serving as acting President, pardons himself and 13 other MPs who had been found guilty of bribery on 9 October 2015. (ABC News) Science Angus Deaton wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare, helping redefine the way poverty is measured around the world, notably in India. (Huffington Post) (Washington Post) Current events of October 13, 2015 (2015-10-13) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War, Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War Two shells hit the Russian embassy in Syria's capital Damascus, as hundreds of pro-government supporters rallied outside in support of Russian airstrikes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the shelling as "a terrorist act." (BBC) Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Palestinian political violence Two stabbing attacks take place in Ra'anana: one outside city hall in which one man is injured and the attacker is subdued by civilians; in a second incident, the attacker stabs civilians in front of a cafe, injuring one critically and three lightly until he is subdued by civilians. (The Jerusalem Post) In Jerusalem two Palestinian men attempted to stab passengers on a bus before being shot; one person was killed and another wounded as a driver rammed into a crowd and the attacker reportedly stepped out of the crashed vehicle and attempted to stab the wounded before being subdued by police; in a separate incident two male passengers were killed and three others suffered gunshot wounds in a combined shooting and stabbing attack on a bus in the neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in southern Jerusalem. (The Times of Israel) Arts and culture Jamaican author Marlon James wins the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings inspired by the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 1970s. (BBC) Disasters and accidents The Dutch Safety Board releases their final report into the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) disaster that concludes that the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot-down by a Russian-made Buk missile system on 17 July 2014 killing 298 people. (Sky News) (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (9News) At least 13 people are killed as a rockslide hits shanties in the Gulistan-i-Jauhar in the Pakistani city of Karachi. (Dawn) Business and economics Anheuser-Busch InBev agrees to buy its main rival SABMiller for £68 billion ($104 billion) in the biggest beer deal ever. (CNN) International relations Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma The Governor of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, revokes permission given by a predecessor for landfill work to replace a United States Marine Corps base. (Japan Times) Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly approves the deal on its nuclear program agreed with six world powers. (BBC) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea The United States and Australia warn China they remain committed to freedom of navigation in the waters of the South China Sea and express strong concerns at China’s construction of artificial islands in the disputed waters. (Channel News Asia) (The New Daily) (Time) Politics and elections Burkina Faso's presidential and parliamentary elections are deferred to November 29 due to a recent coup. (Yahoo! News) Sports 2015 MLB postseason In the U.S., the Chicago Cubs defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 6–4 in Game 4 of their National League Division Series (NLDS), winning the best-of-five-game series 3–1. The Cubs, who clinched a postseason series at their home for nearly a century, Wrigley Field, for the first time ever, move on to the best-of-seven 2015 National League Championship Series. The series opens on October 17 at the home park of the winner of the other NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. (AP via ESPN) Current events of October 14, 2015 (2015-10-14) (Wednesday) Armed conflicts and attacks The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo calls for calm in the province of Aceh after a person was killed and a church burned down yesterday. (Channel News Asia) Syrian Civil War Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War Two officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are reportedly killed in Syria. (Al Arabiya) Thousands of Iranian troops arrive in Syria to reportedly start a new offensive in the battle of Aleppo. (The Telegraph) Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War The United States and Russia are finalizing a memorandum of understanding that sets out basic air safety procedures in the skies above Syria, according to a U.S. official. (Reuters) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present) ISIL confirms that U.S. forces killed its number two leader, Abu Mutaz al-Qurashi, in an airstrike near Mosul back in August. (Israel National News) (Al Arabiya) Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israel's military deploys new checkpoints in its Arab neighborhoods, as well as thousands of border police soldiers to cities and on roads to assist police forces in response to recent Palestinian stabbing attacks. (USA Today) (AP via Denver Post) A Palestinian man wearing camouflaged clothing is shot dead at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate after charging at Israeli police with a knife; another Palestinian attacker stabs a 70-year old woman near Jerusalem's Central Bus Station before being shot dead by police. (Jerusalem Post) (The Times of Israel) Taunsa Sharif bombing A suicide bomb kills at least seven people and injures 13 others in Pakistan’s Punjab province inside the political office of Pakistan Muslim League MNA Sardar Amjad Farooq Khan Khosa, who was not present. Sardar Khosa, who is attending a meeting in Islamabad, said he did not receive any threat or alert prior to the blast. A Taliban splinter group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claims responsibility for the attack. (The Express Tribune) (India.com) Boko Haram insurgency A triple suicide-bomb attack in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri kills at least 7 people. (Yahoo) The U.S. is to deploy 300 troops to Cameroon as part of a stepped-up effort to counter Boko Haram in the region. (AP via Daily Mail) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) Taliban insurgents overrun two security checkpoints near Kandahar in the southern Helmand Province, killing at least 29 border police officers, according to local officials. (Star Tribune) Arts and culture At the beginning of today's weekly general audience, Pope Francis asks for forgiveness for the scandals which have recently hit Rome and the Vatican. He did not offer details. The Church's Synod on the Family concludes Sunday, October 25, 2015. (Voice of America) (Catholic Herald) (Reuters) Disasters and accidents A Swiss Boeing F/A-18 military jet crashes in France while on a training mission, injuring the pilot. The Swiss defense ministry has said it did not know what caused the accident. (Reuters) A temporary footbridge across the M1 motorway in Sandton near Johannesburg, South Africa, collapses, killing two people and injuring 23. Both carriageways of the motorway remain closed as rescue work continues. (News24) 2015 Mina stampede An updated count by the Associated Press raises the death toll from the Mina stampede during the Hajj to at least 1,621, with hundreds still missing. (AP via Washington Post) (Dainik Jagran) Politics and elections Myanmar general election, 2015 Myanmar election authorities confirm that landmark polls will go ahead on November 8 after the opposition rejected postponing due to this summer's widespread flooding. The upcoming election is Myanmar’s first since moving away from half a century of military rule in 2011. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (The Guardian) Sports 2015 WNBA season In North American basketball, the Minnesota Lynx win their third Women's National Basketball Association title in five years defeating the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2 in the finals. (AP) 2015 MLB postseason In North America, the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Texas Rangers, 6-3, and the Kansas City Royals top the Houston Astros, 7-2, in a pair of American League Division Series (ALDS) deciding game fives. The teams move on to the best-of-seven 2015 American League Championship Series (ALCS). The series opens Friday, October 16, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. EDT when defending AL champs Kansas City host the Blue Jays, who are in the ALCS for the first time since 1993. (Game 1 - MLB.com) (Game 2 - MLB.com) Business and economics The businessman and outdoorsman Skip Yowell – co-founder of a leading maker of popular backpack, JanSport – died at the age of 69 on Wednesday, 14 October 2015, in St. Peter, Kansas. (New York Times) Current events of October 15, 2015 (2015-10-15) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks War in Afghanistan (2015–present) President of the United States Barack Obama announces that he will keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan. (RT) Internal conflict in Myanmar: The government of Myanmar signs a peace treaty with eight ethnic armed groups, although some powerful groups stay away. (AP via Star Tribune) Yemeni Civil War (2015), Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Yemen's Sana'a-controlled forces fire a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia in retaliation to Saudi "war crimes". A spokesman for Yemen's military allied with Houthi militants said the missile hit a Saudi airbase and caused "widespread destruction". There was no immediate comment from the Saudi side. (Reuters) Thousands gather in Aden's Al Ouroudh Square to thank coalition forces and to celebrate victory three months after pushing Houthi militants out of southern Yemen. (Gulf News) European migrant crisis At least one person is reportedly killed after Bulgarian border guards open fire on a group of illegal migrants after they attempted to cross the border from Turkey. The incident happened near the southeastern town of Sredets. (AFP via Channel News Asia) (Yahoo) Boko Haram insurgency A twin bombing near a mosque kills at least 26 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. (The Washington Post) Israeli-Palestinian conflict An Israeli is stabbed by a fellow Israeli Jew, because he is mistaken for an Arab. (New York Times) (The Guardian) Arts and culture Lennart Anderson died at age 87 in Brooklyn, New York. Also a teacher at several notable institutions such as Pratt Institute, the Art Students League of New York, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Brooklyn College, Anderson’s influence was felt by generations of artists.(New York Times) Business and economy Volkswagen emissions scandal The German automotive watchdog KBA orders Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million cars in that country after the emissions scandal becomes public knowledge. (Reuters via SBS Australia) Four Papa John's Pizza franchise owners agree to a settlement of about $500,000 after admitting to paying employees unfair wages, according to Thursday's announcement by New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman and the U.S. Labor Department. Schneiderman has reached settlements with several other Papa John's franchises, including one for over $2 million. Out-of-court settlements have also been reached with other fast-food franchises. (UPI) (Reuters) International relations Vietnam says a Chinese vessel rammed into and sank one of its fishing boats near disputed islands in the South China Sea. More than 20 Vietnamese fishing boats have been attacked by Chinese vessels this year causing tensions between both countries. (AP via Yahoo) Disasters and accidents Hurricane Joaquin & SS El Faro The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) has asked the U.S. Navy to resume the search ended by the U.S. Coast Guard for the merchant vessel SS El Faro believed lost on October 7 during Hurricane Joaquin. The loss of the ship — with its crew of 33 hands — is regarded as “the worst U.S. merchant marine disaster of recent memory.” (USNI News) Law and crime 2015 Parramatta shooting Rahan Alou and Talal Alameddine are charged with assisting Farhad Jabar to kill New South Wales Police Force accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta, Australia on 2 October 2015. (The Guardian) (ABC News Australia) A cache of classified intelligence documents published from The Intercept, released by an anonymous whistleblower, highlight details surrounding post-September 11 attacks United States drone strikes in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen, alleging that the United States conducts these strikes under extremely unreliable information and faulty pretenses. (Al-Jazeera America) (U.S. News) (Vice News) Five individuals – four men and a teenage boy – are arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Sydney, Australia, house party. (CNN) Scottish and U.S. prosecutors identify two Libyans as suspects in the Lockerbie bombing. (CNN) (The Guardian) The Nevada Gaming Control Board rules that daily fantasy sports leagues are a form of gambling that requires a license to operate in the state, including being offered to state residents. Due to Nevada's status as a major gambling center, the decision is seen as potentially influencing other U.S. states' stances on the leagues. (CBS News) (ESPN) Politics and elections 2015 United Nations Security Council election Egypt, Senegal, Uruguay, Japan, and Ukraine are elected to two-year, non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for 2016-17, replacing Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, and Nigeria. (New York Times) Science Astronomers say they have observed bizarre light patterns using the Kepler Space Telescope from a star that appears old, but is shrouded in debris like a much younger star, roughly 1,500 light-years away. This has led to speculation that these are an "artificial extraterrestrial mega-structure", orbiting the star known as KIC 8462852 in the Cygnus constellation. KIC 8462852 lies just above the Milky Way between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. It first attracted the attention of astronomers in 2009 when the Kepler Space Telescope identified it as a candidate for having orbiting Earth-like planets. (Independent) (Discovery News) Sports 2015 MLB postseason In the U.S., the New York Mets defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3–2 in the deciding Game 5 of their National League Division Series. The Mets move on to face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven 2015 National League Championship Series, which opens on October 17 at the Mets' home of Citi Field. (AP via ESPN) Current events of October 16, 2015 (2015-10-16) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian political violence Palestinian rioters set fire to the building containing Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus causing heavy damage to the structure before the fire is put out. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemns the attack. (Times of Israel) (Jerusalem Post) An Israeli soldier is stabbed shortly after the fire by a Palestinian posing as a journalist with a camera and a "PRESS" vest; the attacker is shot dead. (Reuters) Battle of Aleppo (2012–present), Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War Syrian Army forces supported by Russian planes attack insurgents south of the city of Aleppo. (Reuters) Spillover of the Syrian Civil War Turkey says it has shot down a drone near the Syrian border after it failed to leave Turkish airspace. (Today's Zaman) Arts and culture A United States appeals court rules the Google Books Library Project, the scanning of millions of books with snippets searchable online, is legal under copyright law, affirming a 2013 district court decision. (USA Today) (The Register) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season Koppu strengthens to a typhoon ahead of threatening lives and properties in the Philippines island of Luzon over the weekend. (AccuWeather) 2015 California drought, El Niño Many residents of Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern drought-stricken California are trapped by flash floods after receiving four to six inches of rain in a short period of time. (CNN) Mudslides, with head-high mounds of mud, from yesterday's flash floods cover major highways in the mountains and desert north of Los Angeles. Interstate 5, one of the state's major north-south arteries, is closed. The National Weather Service issues a flash flood watch today. (AP via KPHO TV) (Los Angeles Times) Six construction workers, injured when scaffolding at an unfinished building collapsed in Houston, Texas (US), are rushed to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. Firefighters continue to sift through the debris for other potential victims. (Houston Chronicle) International relations European migrant crisis The European Union and Turkey reach an agreement for Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe in return for a £3bn aid package, easier visa conditions and re-energised talks to join the bloc. (ITV) Hungary announces it will close its southern border with Croatia at midnight. (Reuters) Russia and other ex-Soviet states meeting in Kazakhstan agree to set up a joint task force to tackle instability on their borders, most notably from Afghanistan. (Reuters) President Park Geun-hye of South Korea is in Washington, D.C. and met with President Barack Obama at The White House. (New York Times) China hosts the ministers of defense from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). During the meeting a Chinese defense official suggests joint maritime drills between the host and ASEAN. At the same time, it is widely expected that U.S. Navy vessels may soon sail within 12 nautical miles of islands China is constructing upon reefs and atolls in the South China Sea. (New York Times) (BBC) The United States confirms Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon, in "clear violation" of a United Nations Security Council ban on ballistic missile tests. (Reuters) (BBC) Law and crime Rafe Esquith, a notable teacher in the Los Angeles, California, public school system files a $1 billion class action lawsuit against the LA Unified School District. Esquith, recently removed from teaching and subsequently fired, alleges on behalf of almost 2,000 individuals, certain age-discrimination tactics by the school system against older teachers. (CNN) A U.S. federal judge declines plaintiffs request for an emergency order requiring Texas issue birth certificates to U.S.-born children of immigrant families who entered the country illegally. The judge said Matrícula Consular cards issued by Mexican consulates to their citizens in the U.S. aren’t secure. The U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees the right of citizenship to children born in the United States. (Miami Herald) (Washington Times) Politics and elections Hawaii Governor David Ige declares a state of emergency to address homelessness as the state has seen an alarming increase in unsheltered individuals and families over the past two years, particularly on O'ahu. Hawaii has the highest per capita rate of homelessness among the 50 states at about 465 people per 100,000 citizens. This act "frees up" money for this problem. (UPI) (Reuters) (Hawaii) Current events of October 17, 2015 (2015-10-17) (Saturday) Armed conflicts and attacks Henriette Reker, a candidate in Cologne's mayoral race, is stabbed in the neck by a man claiming to be angry over Germany's refugee policies. Reker is in serious condition, as is an aide. Three others suffered minor injuries. (BBC) (Today Online) Syrian Civil War A top Al-Qaeda commander is killed in an airstrike in Syria. (USA Today) Battle of Aleppo (2012–present), Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War The Syrian army, backed by Iranian fighters, captures several villages south of Aleppo. (Reuters) Terrorism in Saudi Arabia A gunman from the Islamic State opens fire on a Shiite meeting hall in Saudi Arabia, killing five people. (Reuters) 2015 PKK rebellion Three Turkish troops, including a lieutenant colonel, are killed following clashes with PKK insurgents around Dağlıca vlliage, in the southeastern Hakkâri Province. At least 17 PKK insurgents were also reportedly killed in the fighting. (Today's Zaman) Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, Yemeni Civil War (2015) A Saudi-led coalition airstrike targeting Houthis in the southern Taiz Governorate mistakenly hits a Hadi-loyalist position, killing at least 20 fighters. (BBC) Hundreds of Sudanese troops arrive in the southern port city of Aden to reinforce coalition forces. (CBC News) Mexican Drug War Fugitive drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán suffered injuries to his leg and face as he escaped Mexican authorities who were closing in on him in the mountains in Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico. (CNN), (The Yucatan Times) Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israeli security forces kill four Palestinians and critically wound another who attempted to stab either police officers or a member of the public today. This is the latest in a month of similar attacks where 17 Palestinian attackers and eight Israelis have been killed. (UPI), (Abu Dhabi National) Arts and culture Stephen Glass, author, former journalist and attorney, will repay Harper’s Magazine and other outlets because works he authored were found to have been fabricated. (The New York Times) Nayantara Sahgal, is one of the latest authors in India who will return that nation’s highest award from the National Academy of Letters in protest against what Salman Rushdie has characterized as "thuggish violence" creeping into Indian life under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (The New York Times) Business and economy The United States cancels two potential Arctic lease sales off Alaska's northern coast, and announces Shell and Statoil current leases will not be extended because of "current market conditions and low industry interest." (NPR), (BBC) US Airways final flight, Flight 1939 – named for the airline's founding year, landed at Philadelphia International Airport at 5:54 a.m. Saturday. Future flights will fly under the American Airlines banner, completing the merger announced in 2013. (The Christian Science Monitor), (AP via WSAW) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season Typhoon Koppu (Lando) heads towards the Philippines island of Luzon where it is expected to make landfall as a Category 4 storm, linger and deposit up to 50 inches of rain in some areas. (Mashable) At least 15 people are killed in a wedding bus crash in Andhra Pradesh state in southern India. (AAP via News Limited) At least 16 people are killed near Odessa in the Ukraine after a passenger boat sinks in bad weather. (RT) Law and Crime Ardit Ferizi, a 20-year-old hacker from Kosovo and computer student in Malaysia, is arrested for hacking into a Phoenix, Arizona computer system and stealing the names and personal information of thousands of U.S. military personnel. Ferizi is accused of giving the information to ISIS. The U.S. is seeking Ferizi’s extradition. (CNN) A shooting just before midnight at the ninth annual Fort Myers, Florida, Zombicon kills one person and injures four others, none with life threatening injuries, and causes pandemomium on the city's downtown streets. Police ask attendees to share smartphone video from the incident. (USA Today), (Reuters) International relations European migrant crisis The first migrants reach Slovenia after the border between Hungary and Croatia is closed. (Reuters) Turkey's Anadolu Agency reports that 12 migrants have drowned in the Aegean Sea while trying to get to Europe. (AP) Politics and elections Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015 Egyptians residing abroad begin casting votes in the country's first parliamentary election since the 2013 military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi. Embassies and consulates in 139 countries will be open for two days of voting. (AP via The Florence Times Daily), (Gulf News) Guinean presidential election, 2015 The Guinea electoral commission reports that the President of Guinea Alpha Conde has won the election with 58 per cent of the vote. (Reuters) Current events of October 18, 2015 (2015-10-18) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) The Israeli military evacuated dozens of Jewish worshippers who were surrounded by Palestinians after entering Joseph's Tomb compound in Nablus, which was recently torched by Palestinians. The area is under full Palestinian control but Jewish prayer is permitted there when coordinated with authorities. The military said Sunday's visit was not, and the worshippers had no permit. (AP), (New Delhi Television) John Kerry, the United States Secretary of State announces Sunday that he will meet in Germany with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of increased violence between Palestinians and Israelis. (NBC) Turkey–ISIL conflict Turkish police conduct pre-dawn raids on 17 locations in Istanbul and detain some 50 people suspected of being linked to the Islamic State group, according to Turkey's state-run news agency. (AP) 2015 PKK rebellion Two Turkish soldiers are killed after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in the eastern Tunceli Province. (Reuters) Syrian Civil War Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War A suspected Russian airstrike is said to have killed dozens of members of one family in Homs, Syria. (Al Jazeera) American-led intervention in Syria, War on Terror U.S. Military officials announce that a military airstrike in northwest Syria killed a financial manager and leader of an al Qaeda network. Sanafi al-Nasr, of Saudi Arabia, was said to have been plotting terror attacks against the West. (The New York Times) Arts and culture As part of the weekend celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops, during the 3-week-long Ordinary General Synod on the Family, Pope Francis canonizes the parents of the Doctor of the Church, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus of Lisieux, France (Saints Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin, 1823–1894 and 1831–1877, respectively), the first married Catholic parents to be canonized at the same time. He also canonizes the religious superior general Saint María de la Purísima Salvat Romero (Mary of the Immaculate Conception), 1926–1998, and the diocesan priest and founder of a religious institute, Saint Vincenzo Grossi, 1845–1917. (The Vatican), (AP via C TV), (Voice of America) Business and economy Tens of thousands of junior doctors rally in London (UK) near Pall Mall to protest contract changes that will reclassify their normal working week to include Saturdays and late evenings, and the government's threat to impose a new contract. (The Guardian), (The Daily Mail), (The iFreePress) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season Typhoon Koppu (Lando) makes landfall in northern Luzon in the Philippines with forecasters warning it could stay in the area for several days. Thousands of people have been evacuated or are stranded. (AFP via Yahoo), (The Inquirer) Slow-moving Koppu weakened after blowing ashore with fierce winds in the northeastern Philippines leaving at least two people dead and at least six missing, displacing 16,000 villagers, and knocking out power in entire provinces, according to authorities. (AP via NBC News), (UPI) At least four people are killed and a dozen injured after a small plane crashes in a residential area of the Colombian capital Bogota. (AP) A San Francisco-bound Southwest Airlines flight returned to Los Angeles after an apparent altercation on the plane. Eyewitness accounts indicate that the fracas may have begun after one passenger reclined her seat, and the passenger behind her allegedly “started choking her." One passenger was removed from the flight. The airline moved the remaining passengers to a different plane to resume their journey to San Francisco. (USA Today), (NBC News) Politics and elections Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015 Voters in Egypt go to the polls for the first round of voting in long delayed parliamentary elections. (BBC) Swiss federal election, 2015 Voters in Switzerland go to the polls for a federal election. Results show the anti-immigration Swiss People's Party winning the election with at least 29.5% of the vote, a record election result for the nationalist party. (AP) Current events of October 19, 2015 (2015-10-19) (Monday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) 19-year-old soldier Omri Levy was killed and nearly a dozen injured in a shooting and stabbing attack in the central bus station in the southern city of Beersheba carried out by an Israeli Bedouin Arab, 21-year old Mohind al-Okbi, who was killed after a gun battle. (Washington Post) (NBC News) Israeli hospital officials announce an Eritrean migrant, Haptom Zerhom, mistakenly shot by an Israeli security guard and then attacked by bystanders who thought he was involved in the Beersheva bus station attack, has died of his wounds. Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahsho said this latest incident seemed to capture the current climate of ratcheted-up tensions. Police are looking to identify and locate members of the crowd who beat and fatally wounded the man; the security officer whose shot incapacitated the victim will not be investigated. (AP) (Yediot Ahronot – Ynet) War in Afghanistan (2015–present): Kunduz hospital airstrike Afghanistan’s acting defense minister has stated that the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz bombed on 3 October by U.S. forces was being used as a safe haven by insurgents. MSF has repeatedly denied the allegation, stating "Every staff member in Kunduz working for MSF has repeatedly reported to us that there were no armed people in the hospital at the time of the bombing". (AP) Business and economics China’s economy expanded 6.9% in third quarter over last year’s growth, just slightly better than forecast. (New York Times) Shareholders from both companies overwhelmingly approve Aetna's acquisition of Humana for $37 billion. (Louisville Courier-Journal) (Reuters) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season Rising floodwaters are causing problems in the northern Philippines as Typhoon Koppu (Lando in the Philippines) is set to linger over the island of Luzon until Wednesday. Eleven people have died so far. (BBC) (AP via Fox News) Seven hikers are killed by a forest fire while climbing Indonesia's Mount Lawu. (The Telegraph) International relations The United States Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force held a triennial fleet review off Tokyo Bay. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first sitting Japanese leader to board a U.S. aircraft carrier when he visited the USS Ronald Reagan. (USA Today) (Japan Times) Pope Francis encourages bishops from around the world to sign an appeal to world leaders, meeting in Paris next month, for crucial climate change talks. In a major teaching document in June, the encyclical Laudato Si' (Latin: Praised be), Francis denounced what he called the “structurally perverse” fossil fuel-based world economy that exploits the poor and destroys the habitability of the Earth for humans. (AP via Washington Post) European migrant crisis Croatia reopens its border with Serbia allowing thousands of refugees to cross. (Irish Times) Elements from the maritime forces of India, Japan, and the United States engage in joint military exercises in the Bay of Bengal. (Military Times) South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov announces South Ossetia intends on holding a referendum on joining the Russian Federation. Tibilov said reuniting with Russia "is a century-long dream of the South Ossetian people". (Radio Free Europe) Law and crime Spencer Stone, primarily responsible for thwarting an August terrorist attack on a train en route to Paris from Amsterdam and later stabbed in downtown Sacramento has undergone open heart surgery. The wounds from the most recent altercation were more serious than previously reported. (Air Force Times) South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is released from prison to serve the rest of his sentence for culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp under house arrest. (The Guardian) Following 21 days of deliberation the deadlocked jury in Manhattan declared a mistrial in the case against three former senior attorneys from the “once large and prominent law firm” Dewey & LeBoeuf. The three had been charged with “plotting to manipulate financial records in an attempt to defraud bank lenders and insurance companies during the financial crisis.” (New York Times) Politics and elections Canadian federal election, 2015 The Canadian Liberal party led by Justin Trudeau won the federal election with 184 seats. (CBC) ministerial screening, Amaechi response to the Senate The screening of ministerial nominees resumed on Thursday, with the screening of six nominees including former River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, PDP senators were also silent as senate screens amaechi and six others. (naij.com) (thenationonlineng.ne) The Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits, Allison Hickey, at the beleaguered United States Department of Veterans Affairs resigned. She held the post since June 2011. (Military Times) U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx announced that all unmanned aircraft, i.e. drones, will be required to be registered with the government just as manned aircraft are. DOT is forming a task force of government leaders and diverse stakeholders who will determine the specifics of which drones will be covered and how the registration process will work. (Forbes) (Reuters) (NBC News) (DOT) War in Donbass Portraits of former dictator Joseph Stalin go up in the city of Donetsk as the Donetsk People's Republic adopts more Soviet era policies. (The Guardian) Eric Chu, KMT party chairman, has replaced Hung Hsiu-chu as Taiwan’s ruling party candidate just months ahead of elections. (The Diplomat) Science and technology Apple pulls hundreds of iOS mobile applications from its App Store which, the company discovered, includes software that was secretly sending users’ personal information to an advertising firm in China. (NBC News) (TechCrunch) Current events of October 20, 2015 (2015-10-20) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), American-led intervention in Iraq The United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford arrived in Iraq to discuss the ongoing battle against ISIS. (AP) Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, during a surprise visit to Jerusalem today, calls for calm ahead of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an effort to bring an end to the month-long wave of violence. (CNN) (Time) Syrian Civil War Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Russian airstrikes in Syria’s coastal Latakia province have killed a top FSA commander, Basil Zamo, and several other rebel fighters. (Reuters) At least three Russian troops fighting alongside the Syrian Army are reportedly killed after a shell hit their position in the coastal province of Latakia. If confirmed, the deaths would be the first Russian military casualties since intervening in the civil war in September. (Reuters) Libyan Civil War (2014–present) Warplanes of unidentified origin carry out airstrikes on ISIS camps in the Libyan city of Sirte. (The Daily Star) Military intervention against ISIL The U.S. deploys around a dozen A-10 ground-attack planes to Turkey's southern Incirlik Air Base. A U.S. military official said the deployment had "added capability" to the coalition's efforts against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. (AFP via Yahoo) Canada's prime-minister elect Justin Trudeau informs U.S. President Barack Obama that Canada will be withdrawing fighter jets from both Iraq and Syria, effectively ending Canada's military participation in the war on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (AFP via Yahoo) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) The Taliban kill 22 policemen and kidnap 19 others, including the district’s security chief, during clashes with Afghan troops who kill 12 of the insurgents in the battle in Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan. (New York Times) (Latin American Herald Tribune) Taliban forces advance on Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, amid fierce fighting with government forces that threatens to cut off a major highway and has prompted many families to flee. (Reuters) Arts and culture Former BBC journalist Jacky Sutton is found hanged in a restroom at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Of late, she was the acting director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. (BBC) Oslo's city council announces plans to ban cars from the Norwegian capital's central city by 2019. (Reuters) (Christian Science Monitor) Disasters and accidents Hidden Pines Fire At least 70 homes have been destroyed by a raging wildfire in Bastrop County, central Texas. The Texas A&M Forest Service reports the blaze in Bastrop County is currently 80 percent contained. (AP via ABC News) Health and medicine The American Cancer Society recommends women at average risk of breast cancer should begin annual mammograms at age 45, and women 55 and older scale back screening to every other year. (USA Today) (Reuters) International relations Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015 Brazil pulls out of an electoral mission to observe crucial legislative elections in Venezuela over what it says are a lack of guarantees by the government of Venezuela and its veto of the choice to head the delegation. (ABC News) European migrant crisis European Union members agree to provide 291 border guards to Greece and Italy to help identify and register migrants. (AP) Saudi Arabia receives US State Department approval for the purchase of four Multi-Mission Combat Ships for $11.25 billion. (UPI) Syrian Civil War The United States and Russia sign an agreement designed to avoid conflict between both countries' warplanes in Syria. The Pentagon said the agreement will remain secret; a hotline will enable both countries to directly communicate. (CBS News) (UPI) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in tonight's speech to the World Zionist Congress on "the 10 big lies" told by Palestinians and their backers, said Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from 1922–1937, convinced Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to change their original plan of expelling Jews to the so-called Final Solution, i.e., the extermination of Jews. The Washington Post states this reinforces Netanyahu's position that Palestinian violence is caused by their old and intractable hatred of Jews, not Israel's 1948 creation. (Washington Post) Law and crime The Israel Defense Forces arrest senior Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef for alleged incitement to commit violence. (Jerusalem Post) A French public prosecutor said charges against far-right leader Marine Le Pen should be dropped. Le Pen is being tried for comments she made five years ago comparing Muslim street prayers to Nazi occupation. Prosecutor Bernard Reynaud said, “Madame Le Pen in denouncing prayers in public space addressed not the entire Muslim community but a minority and was only exercising her freedom of expression.” (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) Politics and elections Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016 Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb announces his withdrawal from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination during a press conference at the National Press Club. He added that he would consider his other options in the coming weeks. Webb's campaign said he is weighing an independent bid. (NBC News) (AP) (Washington Post) Science Research from University of California, Los Angeles scientists indicates that life on earth may have started 4.1 billion years ago – 300 million years earlier than previously thought. (Economic Times) Research by the University of Central Florida indicates a common UV-filtering compound, oxybenzone, found in sunscreen lotion is killing coral, especially among reefs frequented by recreational divers and snorkelers. (UPI) (Time) Sports Lamar Odom, who had been hospitalized in grave condition after ingesting, in a binge, herbal Viagra, alcohol, and other substances in a 3-day, $75,000 stay at a legal brothel in Nevada, comes out of his coma, improves, and is able to have conversations, though he is still on dialysis to deal with the renal damage he suffered. He is released from intensive care and Sunrise Hospital, to a hospital closer to his Los Angeles home. (MSN via Sporting News) Current events of October 21, 2015 (2015-10-21) (Wednesday) Armed conflicts and attacks War in Afghanistan (2015–present) The Taliban announced it overran Ghoryan in western Herat, the second district to fall in three days. (Long War Journal) Syrian Civil War ISIL orders males aged 14 and older in Raqqa, its de facto Syrian capital, to register with the police, an action seen as the first step toward forced conscriptions in this region. (Al Jazeera America) Yemeni Civil War (2015) Rockets fired by Houthi forces reportedly kill 14 people in city of Taiz, southwestern Yemen. (Reuters) Boko Haram insurgency According to a civilian vigilante, 20 people are killed after Boko Haram militants open fire on cars outside a village in Nigeria's restive northeast Borno state. (AFP via Yahoo) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season The death toll from Tropical Storm Koppu that battered the Philippines' main island this weekend climbed to at least 39. Koppu forced more than 100,000 villagers into emergency shelters and destroyed rice fields ready for harvest. (AP) (BBC) A U.S. F-18 fighter jet crashes into farmland near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk county, England, killing the pilot. (Sky News) Health and medicine The American Academy of Pediatrics calls for pregnant women to abstain completely from alcohol during the entire three trimesters of the pregnancy, saying no amount of any type of alcohol should be considered safe since the risks, to the baby in particular (such as fetal alcohol syndrome, among many others), are too great. This puts the U.S. alongside other Western developed countries- except Italy and the United Kingdom, which still allow occasional small amounts- in urging complete abstinence. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the two other U.S. agencies that comment most about this issue, already recommend total alcohol abstinence. (CNN) International relations Syrian Civil War The President of Syria Bashar al-Assad visits Moscow for talks with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in an unannounced visit. (BBC) Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approves the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and orders it to be implemented subject to certain conditions. The letter states the United States and European Union should clearly announce the elimination of sanctions against Iran. The imposition of sanctions at any level and under any pretext from any of the negotiating countries would violate the JCPOA. (Reuters) (Mehr News Agency) (Daily Mail) The Vatican denies an Italian newspaper report that Pope Francis has a benign brain tumour, saying the 78-year-old pontiff is in good health, and denounces the article as utterly reprehensible. (Reuters) (AP via Philly.com) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech yesterday that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem persuaded the Nazis to adopt their Final Solution to exterminate 6 million Jews is reproached by Holocaust experts and survivors, historians, world leaders, etc. Palestine Liberation Organization's Saeb Erakat and Israel's Zionist Union party's Isaac Herzog both blasted Netanyahu's claim. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, "All Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis that led to ... the Holocaust." Mehnaz Afridi, a Manhattan College professor who promotes Muslim-Jewish dialogue said, "this ... really is a terrible statement to make at this time." (Time) (Reuters) (CNN) Law and crime Two Chinese consulate staff are killed and a consul general injured after a gunman opened fire on a restaurant in the city of Cebu, the "second city" of the Philippines. Various reports named the gunman as Chinese national Li Qingliang. (The Telegraph) St. Louis' police chief announces officers are stepping up patrols following fires at six predominantly African-American churches in the past two weeks. No one has been injured in any of the fires. The reward for information leading to an arrest is now $4,000; the St. Louis Police Officers’ Association will match the $2,000 reward being offered by the St. Louis Regional Crime Stoppers and the ATF. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Anti-Defamation League suggest the fires may be arson sparked by racist motivations. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) (NBC News) Wikileaks releases U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director John O. Brennan's personal information after the top spy's personal email account was allegedly hacked by a 13-year-old and information sent to Wikileaks. All of the documents predate Brennan's time in the Obama administration and reveal no classified data. Among the information released are Social Security numbers, an incomplete questionnaire for security clearance, and addresses of his family and associates. (BBC) (CNN) A British lawyer and his wife are found dead by their gardener at their home on the Caribbean island of Tobago. The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service believe the couple were murdered during a suspected robbery. (Independent) Politics and elections United States presidential election, 2016 Vice President Joe Biden says that he will not be seeking the Democratic Party nomination. (Los Angeles Times blog) (Washington Post) Sport 2015 Major League Baseball postseason In Major League Baseball, the New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs 8–3, completing a four-game sweep of the 2015 National League Championship Series, and advance to the 2015 World Series. (Newsday) Current events of October 22, 2015 (2015-10-22) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War The Associated Press reports that Kurds in Syria established a new administration in the Sunni-Arab town of Tal Abyad, which the Kurds wrestled from ISIS last June. (U.S. News and World Report) Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least a dozen people, including health-care workers, were killed when Russian aircraft attacked a field hospital in Sarmin, Idlib. (AFP via Yahoo News) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present): A joint early-morning raid conducted by Iraqi and US forces on an IS-run prison in Hawija, Kirkuk Province has freed 70 hostages. One U.S. Delta Force soldier was reported killed – the first American combat death since the start of the US-led intervention against IS. (BBC) War in Afghanistan (2015–present) Taliban insurgents assassinate Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy, a district administrator in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province. (Voice of America) Sinai insurgency Egypt's military says it has gained "full control" over the North Sinai areas of Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid after successful raids on terrorist strongholds and weapons caches. (Ahram Online) At least 10 people are killed and 12 injured when a suicide-bomber attacks a Pakistani Shia Mosque and Imambargah during prayers in the District Bagh of Kachhi 300 Km from Quetta in Balochistan. (Pakistan Today) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific typhoon season The death toll for Typhoon Koppu (Lando) in the Philippines rises to 54 with more than 1.2 million affected. (Rappler) (The Guardian) 2015 Pacific hurricane season Hurricane Patricia strengthens to Category 4 ahead of making landfall in Mexico. (The Weather Channel) European migrant crisis Human Rights Watch says unidentified armed men have been disabling boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea traveling from Turkey toward the Greek islands. Witnesses have described eight incidents this month in which masked assailants intercepted and disabled the boats by damaging engines or fuel systems, and in the case of inflatable boats, attempting to puncture hulls. (UPI) (Human Rights Watch) In a pair of incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday, two migrants were killed, 16 are missing, and 48 were rescued from boats heading to Greece from Turkey that capsized in the Aegean Sea. (Hürriyet Daily News) International relations European migrant crisis Authorities in Slovenia say around 2,000 migrants from a refugee camp at the Croatian border are traveling in four trains toward Austria, three to the overloaded crossing at Šentilj and the other to Jesenice. (Washington Post) U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein accuses the Czech Republic of committing systematic human rights violations by detaining refugees for up to 90 days and strip-searching them for money to pay for their own detention. Czech President Miloš Zeman rejected Zeid's criticism "of his stance against migration and Islam." (Reuters) (NYSE Post) (The Guardian) Kuril Islands dispute Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announces Russia plans to build a new military base on the Kuril Islands, a group of Pacific islands it seized from Japan at the end of World War II. (Business Insider) Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met today in Berlin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the recent spate of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Kerry will meet on Saturday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman. (Washington Post) Law and crime Trollhättan school attack A teacher and a student are killed, and another student injured, in an attack at a high school in Trollhättan, Sweden. The attacker was shot dead by police. (BBC) (The Guardian) Chilean officers start to grant civil unions licences to both heterosexual and homosexual couples, marking the first time a same-sex relationship is officially recognized in the country. (BBC) (The Guardian) A shooting late Thursday on the Tennessee State University campus in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., injures three people, one critically. One of those wounded died later at a hospital. The victims were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (New York Daily News) (NBC News) Politics and elections West Lothian question The UK House of Commons passes an "English votes for English laws" bill by 312 to 270 votes giving English MPs a greater say over legislation that only applies to England. The bill has been fiercely opposed by the opposition Labour Party and the Scottish National Party. (BBC) U.S. President Barack Obama vetoes the $612 billion annual defense authorization bill because of the way it would sidestep budget limitations for the military and because it would restrict the transfer of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. This is the President's fifth veto since 2009. (Washington Post) (Reuters) Paul Ryan announces that he will run to succeed outgoing Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner after receiving the support of a significant majority of members of the Republican Party. (NBC) Sports Baruto Kaito, former sumo wrestler who once reached ōzeki, the sport's second-highest rank, announces he will compete in mixed martial arts and is set to make his debut at Rizin Fighting Federation. (Kyodo News) Current events of October 23, 2015 (2015-10-23) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks Boko Haram Two suicide bombings at mosques kill at least 33 people in the northeast Nigerian cities of Yola and Maiduguri. (Premium Times) (Reuters) (Media24) (AFP via Yahoo) War in North-West Pakistan A bomb detonates in a Muharram procession in Jacobabad killing twenty-four people, including 10 children & 6 women and several others injured. (Dawn)(Samaa News) Syrian Civil War Islamic State fighters take control of a section of road running between the towns of Khanaser and Ithriya, southeast of Aleppo, according to a monitoring group. This threatens the Syrian army's only supply route into the city. (Reuters) Libyan Civil War (2014–present) At least nine people are killed and dozens injured in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after several mortar shells hit a protest against a UN proposal for a unity government to end the four-year long crisis in the country. (Reuters) Arts and culture Adele returns from a three-year hiatus with the new single "Hello" from the album 25. (Forbes) (BBC) Business and economics Lockheed Martin embarks on corporate overhead cost cutting reviews, another initiative following business selloffs and personnel layoffs. In the face of U.S. budget constraints, Lockheed’s actions are in step with those of other major U.S. defense contractors. (Zacks) Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announces it will begin selling $1 doses of the antimalarial drug used for HIV patients, pyrimethamine (generic name for Daraprim), whose price was recently raised to $750 per pill by Turing Pharmaceuticals following Martin Shkreli's purchase of its marketing rights this year. Imprimis also plans to start making inexpensive versions of other generic drugs whose prices have skyrocketed. (Chicago Tribune) (Toronto Star) Disasters and accidents 2015 Pacific hurricane season Hurricane Patricia makes landfall at Playa Perula in Mexico's western Jalisco state . The storm strengthens into a powerful Category 5 hurricane with winds of 200 mph and gusts up to 245 mph. The NHC has called the storm "potentially catastrophic" for Mexico. Patricia is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches, through Saturday. These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides. (National Hurricane Center) (Reuters), (AFP via ABC News Australia) Hurricane Patricia becomes the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere with winds of 200 mph (320 km/h). (NBC) 2015 Puisseguin road crash At least 43 people die after a bus collides with a truck near the French town of Puisseguin. (The Guardian) International Relations Kuwait and France sealed a deal whereby the Gulf nation will upgrade its defense capabilities with $2.8 billion worth of military equipment. Defense experts cite the ongoing conflict in Iraqi Civil War, the June 2015 terror attack claimed by ISIS in Kuwait City, and a reluctance by the U.S. to supply Kuwait as reasons for the deal. (Vice News) The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is awarded the Confucius Peace Prize, sometimes characterized as a Chinese alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize. (The Guardian) Law and crime Trollhättan school attack Swedish police claim that the deceased attacker was driven by "racist motives". (Reuters via Daily Mail) European migrant crisis Police in Bamberg, Germany arrested three people said to be involved in a far-right extremist terror plot to attack refugee shelters, shelter staff and public officials supportive of refugees. (The Telegraph) School shootings in the United States Nineteen-year old Cameron Selmon died during last night's shooting on the Tennessee State University campus when a fight erupted during a dice game, in which a player pulled out a gun and started firing. One of the three injured 18-year-old female students remains hospitalized. The suspect fled the scene on foot and is still at large. The school is closed today but will re-open with Monday classes. (The Tennessean) (Fox News) Politics and elections United States presidential election, 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016, Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee announces his decision to end his campaign for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination in Washington, D.C. (NBC News) (Christian Science Monitor) Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016 Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, no longer a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, reduces the size of his Miami, Florida, presidential campaign operations, cuts staff salaries across the board, and refocuses efforts on the early voting states. The shake-up comes two days before Bush gathers with top political donors in Houston, Texas, and 100 days before the party’s first nominating contest in Iowa. (Bloomberg) (Miami Herald) (Washington Post) The U.S. Department of Energy cancels a shipment of 100 pounds of spent nuclear fuel (estimated value $200 million per year) to Idaho after failing to agree on terms that required a waiver to their 1995 agreement. (AP) The U.S. Department of Justice decides not to prosecute Lois Lerner or others in connection with the 2013 IRS targeting controversy. (CBS News), (FOX News), (The Wall Street Journal), (Reuters), (AP) Sports 2015 American League Championship Series The Kansas City Royals win the 2015 American League Championship Series, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 4–3 in Game 6 to take the best-of-seven series 4–2. (Los Angeles Times) The first World Indigenous Games begins in the Brazilian city of Palmas, Tocantins with the opening ceremony disrupted by a protest by native Brazilians. (AFP via Daily Mail) Current events of October 24, 2015 (2015-10-24) (Saturday) Armed conflicts and attacks A series of bomb blasts targeting Shia Muslims in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka kills at least one person and injures dozens more. Claims of responsibility by ISIS are discounted by Dhaka police who told AFP, "So far we have not found any link to any militant group." (Reuters) (Christian Science Monitor) Sinai insurgency, Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015 A first lieutenant and two soldiers have been killed in an explosion which targeted a police armored vehicle in the northern Sinai city of Al-Arīsh. (NY Times) Two suspected militants riding a motorcycle shoot and kill Mostafa Abdelrahman, the ultraconservative Salafi Al-Nour Party secretary, and parliamentary candidate for Al-Arīsh. Arish residents say militants have threatened candidates, accusing them of cooperating with the government. Al‑Nour is the only prominent Islamist party to emerge unscathed after the military's 2013 crackdown on Islamists. (Reuters) (AFP via Bangkok Post) Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) Violence continues while talks persist looking for a peaceful resolution. A 16-year old Palestinian is shot dead after he tried to stab an Israeli security guard at a West Bank border crossing. A 25-year old Palestinian protester died of wounds suffered last week when he was shot by Israeli troops during a border clash near the Gazan town of Khan Yunis. (Reuters) (AP) Syrian Civil War Al-Nusra Front's (Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria) leader Abu Suleiman al-Masri is reportedly killed in the Aleppo province during clashes with the Syrian Army. (Independent) Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen At least 40 people, including several fishermen, are reportedly killed following Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on two islands off Yemen's Red Sea coast. Local fisherman reported coalition aircraft and warships struck the Aqban and Kadman islands targeting Houthi forces but also destroyed several boats killing local fishermen. (Reuters) Arts and culture Actress Maureen O'Hara dies in her sleep at her Boise, Idaho, home. "She passed peacefully surrounded by her loving family as they celebrated her life listening to music from her favorite movie, The Quiet Man," said her family's statement. (AP) (ABC News) Close to 300 landmarks in 60 countries, from the Pyramids in Egypt, to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Empire State Building in New York, were lit up in blue — the official color of the United Nations — to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the world body. (New York Times) (UN) (Blue photos UN) The three-week synod on the family convened by Pope Francis at the Vatican concludes with traditional Catholic orientations toward marriage and the family intact. (New York Times) Disasters and accidents A Union Pacific freight train derails in flooded North Texas, near Corsicana, where the tracks washed away. The two crewmen on board swam to safety. (CBS News) (WFAA blog) 2015 Pacific hurricane season Hurricane Patricia, which hit the Mexican coast as a Category 5 storm, appeared to leave remarkably little damage as it moved rapidly inland over mountainous western Mexico and is now a tropical depression (35 mph/55 kph). The storm is currently centered northeast of Zacatecas, Mexico, moving northeast at 24 mph/39 kph. While there are no reports of casualties or substantial widespread damage, authorities warn deadly floods and mudslides remain possible. (ABC News) (CTV News) (NHC) 2015 Oklahoma State University homecoming parade crash A driver, arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI), plows into the Oklahoma State Homecoming parade in Stillwater, Oklahoma, killing four people and injuring 34 with eight in critical condition. The homecoming game with Kansas was played at 2:30 p.m. CT as scheduled. (USA Today) (KOCO) (AP via WFLX) (Stillwater News Press) Costa Rica's restive Turrialba Volcano erupts. (The Tico Times) International relations Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) Israel and Jordan agree to take steps to quell violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem which includes round-the-clock monitoring of new security cameras there. Israel reaffirms Jordan's historic role as formal custodian of what is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims. Yesterday, Israeli authorities lifted restrictions that had banned men aged under 40 from praying at al-Aqsa. (Reuters) (BBC) (Washington Post) 2015 anti-government protest in Montenegro Thousands protest and clash with police in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Milo Đukanović. Đukanović has rejected calls to resign and has accused the opposition of trying to prevent the country's NATO membership, saying he is convinced Russia is behind the unrest. (AFP via Yahoo) Law and crime Ahmed Adeeb, the Vice President of the Maldives, is arrested on suspicion of links to an explosion on the boat of President of the Maldives Abdulla Yameen last month. (AP via Washington Post) A cache of over 7,000 stolen firearms is discovered by law enforcement in the U.S. state of South Carolina. (Charlotte Observer) Politics and elections Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015 Voters in Louisiana go to the polls to elect its next governor. The winner will succeed Bobby Jindal, who is in his second and final term, and is a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. (Reuters) (Houma Courier) Current events of October 25, 2015 (2015-10-25) (Sunday) Armed conflicts and attacks Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015) Israeli border police shoot dead a 17-year-old girl after she approached them with a knife in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. (The New Daily AU) A Palestinian stabs an Israeli settler in Gush Etzion. 3 more stabbing attacks against Israelis resulted in no Israeli fatalities. (Ynet) Business and economics The United Parcel Service pilots’ union authorizes its executive board to call a strike at the board’s discretion as contract talks slog into a fifth year. This is in the wake of competitor FedEx pilots' approval of a new six-year contract. (Wall Street Journal) Danish A.P. Moller–Maersk Group announced smaller-than-expected earnings because of weak earnings by its bellwether container shipping unit, Maersk Line. (WSJ) Disasters and accidents At least 17 people are killed and 71 injured following a fire in a karaoke bar on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. (AP via Fox News) European migrant crisis The bodies of 40 migrants wash ashore on the Libyan coast with another 30 people missing. (AAP via SBS) At least five people are dead, one missing, and 21 rescued, from a tour boat carrying 27 people that sinks west of Vargas Island, off the coast of Tofino on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The RCMP is responsible for the missing person now that the search has been called off. (CTV) (CNN) (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) International relations European migrant crisis Eleven European and Balkan leaders meet about the migrant crisis at an emergency summit in Brussels, Belgium; Turkey did not attend. The Prime Minister of Slovenia says the EU will ‘start falling apart’ within weeks if the migrant crisis continues unchecked. Huge divisions remain among EU states over how to deal with the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants. (Chicago Tribune) (Radio New Zealand) (Daily Mail) Balkan and European leaders agree to work together implementing a 17-point action plan that includes United Nations-aided accommodation for 100,000 places in reception centers along the route from Greece towards Germany, half in Greece and half in the countries to the north. Some of the other measures: within a week, deploy 400 police officers to Slovenia; step up efforts to return migrants not needing international protection; and, reinforce support of the bloc’s border agency, Frontex', role in securing external borders between Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and Albania. (Reuters) (The Guardian) United States military and intelligence sources cite concerns about Russian activities near undersea cables that suggest plans to intercept or cut communication over these vital links. (New York Times) Law and crime 2015 Oklahoma State University homecoming parade crash Police have updated information on the casualties from this crash. Four died and 47 were injured; five remain in critical condition. (Q13 Fox) (Lethbridge Herald) The attorney for Adacia Chambers, the woman whose car plowed into a homecoming parade crowd, says he doesn't think his client was intoxicated at the crash. Tony Coleman said, "I don't believe right now that she was intoxicated. ... she's suffering from mental illness." (USA Today) (KFOR) More than 200 black bears are killed in a single day in the U.S. state of Florida after state officials allow the hunting of the animals for the first time in 21 years; supporters say the aim is to cut down on the animals' surging population, but animal rights activists have criticized the hunts as cruel and ineffective. (Sky News) Politics and elections Polish parliamentary election, 2015 Official results show Poland's conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by eurosceptic Jarosław Kaczyński and the new PM Beata Szydło, won more seats than any other party in today's general elections. Kaczyński is the twin brother of the late President Lech Kaczyński, who died in a 2010 jet crash. Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz has conceded defeat. (NDTV) (Newstalk) (AP via US News and World Report) Guatemalan general election, 2015 Voters in Guatemala go to the polls for the second round of voting in a presidential election with former TV comedian Jimmy Morales winning a landslide victory. (Wall Street Journal) (Reuters via ABC News Australia) Elections in the United States; Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015 Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter and Democratic state Representative John Bel Edwards top two Republican candidates for spots in the November 21 runoff election. Edwards wins 40 percent and Vitter 23 percent of the primary vote, according to unofficial returns. (AP) Haitian presidential election, 2015, Haitian parliamentary election, 2015 Unlike the first round of the Haitian parliamentary elections when balloting was cancelled in 22 constituencies, voting appeared orderly, and largely peaceful, with a large turnout in Sunday's presidential and parliamentary second round elections. Electoral officials said there might be partial results in 10 days but final results would not be ready until late November. Haitians faced lengthy ballots featuring 54 presidential hopefuls and significant numbers of legislative and municipal candidates. An expected runoff between the top two presidential candidates is scheduled for December 27. (Miami Herald) (AP via Washington Post) (AFP via Capital Broadcasting Network) Argentine general election, 2015 Voters in Argentina went to the polls Sunday to select a new President and legislature. The race to be Argentina's next president heads for a November 22 runoff. With 80 percent of polling places reporting, opposition, Republican Proposal (PRO) candidate Mauricio Macri, and ruling party, Justicialist Party (PJ) candidate Daniel Scioli each have 35 percent of the votes. (BBC) (AP via Washington Post) (CNN) Ivorian presidential election, 2015 Voters in the Ivory Coast go to the polls for a presidential election with incumbent Alassane Ouattara favoured to win. (AP via New York Times) Tanzanian general election, 2015 Voters in Tanzania, including Tanganyika and semi-autonomous Zanzibar, which also elects its own government, go to the polls for an election with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party) facing the greatest challenge to its dominance in over 50 years. (Washington Post) Sports Lewis Hamilton wins a third World Drivers' Championship in Formula One, as his team Mercedes secures the Constructors' Championship. (The Guardian) Current events of October 26, 2015 (2015-10-26) (Monday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Turkey–ISIL conflict Four Islamic State militants and two Turkish policemen are killed during a raid on a house used by militants in the city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Four other police officers were injured. (AP via Fox News) (Reuters) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports at least 120,000 people have been displaced in Syria this month because of fighting. These displaced Syrians need tents, basic household items, food, water and sanitation services. The agency's humanitarian partners are scaling up their response. (AP) Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War According to the Wall Street Journal an official from the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed it has deployed special forces to Syria over the past weeks supporting its mission to back-up the Bashar al-Assad regime. Alleged Russian Defence Ministry official added that the special forces, who are "akin to the Delta Force of the United States", had been operating in pro-Russian rebel held areas of Ukraine before being called off to Syria. (Business Insider) (The Wall Street Journal) A suicide-bomb attack at a Shia mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Najran accounts for over a dozen casualties. (BBC) Yemeni Civil War (2015) At least 50 people are killed, including seven civilians, in heavy fighting between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi near the city of Taiz. (Al-Jazeera) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), American-led intervention in Iraq, Syrian Civil War, American-led intervention in Syria United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter indicates a more robust role ahead for the United States military in bolstering indigenous forces countering ISIS and in response to Russia’s increasing role in Middle East conflicts. (WSJ) Colombian conflict (1964–present) At least 11 Colombian Army soldiers and one policeman have been killed in an ELN attack in northeast Colombia. (Colombia Reports) Business MTN Group is fined $5.2 billion by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to disconnect non-registered SIM cards. (BBC) Toyota is once again the world's largest carmaker with 7.5 million units sold thus far in 2015, compared to Volkswagen's 7.43 million and General Motors' 7.2 million. (BBC) Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone announced it would buy US auto parts retailer Pep Boys for $835 million. (Reuters) Duke Energy announced it would buy Piedmont Natural Gas for $4.9 billion. (Reuters) USAA, one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S., announced the ending of its long-term relationship with MasterCard. The tenth-largest credit card issuer in the U.S. will replace the old credit cards with Visa cards next year. (WSJ) Disasters and accidents 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Moment magnitude scale (MMS) strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northeastern Afghanistan, 158 miles from Kabul, in the remote province of Badakhshan, one of Afghanistan’s most inaccessible regions. Tremors reached as far as New Delhi, India. At least 263 are dead in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan with more than 1,000 injured. The death toll will likely climb since communications in much of the affected areas are cut, and rescue teams had not yet reached districts closest to the epicenter, including some that are controlled by Taliban insurgents. (BBC) (Financial Express) (USGS) (Dawn) (Reuters) (L.A. Times) (AP) International relations Saudi Arabia–United Kingdom relations Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, in an op-ed piece in the The Daily Telegraph, warns of "potentially serious repercussions" for the two countries' relationship unless a more respectful discourse developed. At issue is London's withdrawal from a £5.9m (US$9.1m) prison deal with Saudi Arabia which has been linked to London's concerns about a death penalty case and a case involving Karl Andree, a 74-year-old Briton who faces 350 lashes. Today, the Saudi Supreme Court confirmed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr's death sentence. (Arab News) (BBC) (Daily Telegraph) The United States is reportedly blocking a $400 million plan by South Korea to sell KAI T-50 Golden Eagle trainer jets, co-developed in 2006 with Lockheed Martin, to Uzbekistan, according to The Korea Times. The aircraft uses Lockheed Martin technologies -- including avionics -- and as such requires permission under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act for its sale to other countries. (UPI) (The Korea Times) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea The U.S. Navy plans to send guided missile destroyer USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea. This first freedom of navigation challenge to China's territorial claims in one of the world's busiest sea lanes may occur as soon as tomorrow, according to a U.S. defense official. (Reuters) (The Diplomat) Law and crime Indian fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan is arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. (BBC) Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upholds the death sentence of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was found guilty of sedition and other charges following his involvement in the 2011 Arab Spring Movement. (Jurist) A member of the Saudi Royal Family and four other people are detained in Lebanon for attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine on a private jet. This is the largest drug seizure in the history of Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. (Al Jazeera) (NBC News) Politics and elections Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a review of the status of certain Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu says he is considering revoking residency status for Palestinians living there, according to Israel's Channel 2. (AP) (UPI) Gun politics in the United States Leaders of nine national law enforcement groups, at the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago, Illinois, call on federal lawmakers to strengthen background checks on gun purchases. (USA Today) (Reuters) In the United Kingdom, the unelected House of Lords, Parliament’s upper house, delays by three years reductions in tax credits paid to working people that would have cost affected families an average of £1,300 ($2,000) a year. This is the first major setback for George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, since the general election. Osborne said the government will "lessen" the impact of tax credit cuts for those affected, while vowing to press on with changes designed to save billions from welfare. (Bloomberg) (BBC) Science A new study by scientists finds that areas around the Persian Gulf could become uninhabitable to humans in less than 100 years due to rising temperatures. (The Telegraph) Current events of October 27, 2015 (2015-10-27) (Tuesday) Armed conflicts and attacks Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen A Yemeni hospital in Saada run by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is destroyed by several Saudi-led coalition airstrikes overnight. The director of the hospital, Ali Mughli, reported "The air raids resulted in the destruction of the entire hospital with all that was inside - devices and medical supplies - and the moderate wounding of several people". Another airstrike hit a nearby girls school and damaged several civilian homes according to local media. UNICEF said the Saada hospital was the 39th health center hit in Yemen since March. The Saudi-led coalition denies that its planes had hit the hospital. (Reuters) Syrian Civil War, Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports the Islamic State, on Sunday, executed three detainees in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra by strapping them to pillars and blowing them up with the antiquities. ISIL has yet to tell locals the identities of the three individuals or say why they had been killed. (BBC) (USA Today) American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present), American-led intervention in Syria United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the U.S. will begin "direct action on the ground" against the ISIL forces in Iraq and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress against the militants remains elusive. The U.S. has done some special operations raids in Syria, e.g., last week's rescue operation with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to free hostages held by ISIL. Carter also said the U.S. would intensify the air campaign against ISIL with heavier airstrikes and will focus on Raqqa, the group's declared capital in Syria. (NBC News) (Al Jazeera) (AP via Boston Globe) Libyan Civil War (2014–present) A Libyan helicopter carrying cash for a local bank on the way out and returning to Tripoli with passengers is shot down near the coastal Almaya area west of the capital city, killing at least 14 of its 23 passengers including senior officers Hosein Bodaya and Duhain Al-Rammah, officials with Libya’s Dawn militias. (AP via ABC News) (BBC) (UPI) Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015) Three Palestinians are shot dead after attacking Israeli soldiers with knives in the occupied West Bank. Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital reports that 76-year old American-Israeli Richard Lakin, who was critically injured in a bus attack on October 13, 2015, died of his injuries. (Reuters) (Israel Hayom) War in North-West Pakistan Pakistan says seven of its soldiers have been killed in the South Waziristan tribal region by fire from across the border with Afghanistan. The soldiers belonged to the Frontier Corps; the attack targeted a checkpoint northeast of the border village of Angoor Adda. (UPI) (BBC) Business and economics In a plea bargain with U.S. federal prosecutors, Rohit Bansal, a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of using private information leaked by source inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has agreed to plead guilty. The leaked information was said to have given Goldman an undue advantage regarding client advisement. Goldman also faces fines from the New York State’s Department of Financial Services. (New York Times) Walgreens Boots Alliance agrees to buy Rite Aid for US$9.4 billion in a move which will create a retail pharmaceutical giant with 13,000 stores. (Dow Jones via Fox Business) Northrop Grumman, the developer of the Air Force's current bomber, the B-2, beats out the Boeing-Lockheed Martin team and is awarded the Pentagon contract to build a fleet of stealthy planes known as the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B). (Washington Post) (CNN) Disasters and accidents 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake Rescuers continue a search for survivors of the earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan including in areas controlled by the Taliban. The death toll from the earthquake is 339 with many thousands injured. (AFP via ABC News) (Himalayan Times) The Taliban, which effectively controls some of the worst-affected areas across multiple provinces, urged charity organizations not to hold back in delivering aid to Afghan victims of the quake, saying militants in the affected areas were ordered to provide "complete help." (Reuters) (Daily Star) 2015 Southeast Asian haze Indonesian forest fires have advanced into dense forest on Borneo and now threaten one third of the world’s remaining wild orangutans, say conservationists. (South China Morning Post) (ABC news) International relations Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China–United States relations A United States Navy ship, the USS Lassen, sails near the Spratly Islands, challenging Beijing's claim that the islands are Chinese territory. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the actions of the United States in the South China Sea, saying “China will firmly react to this deliberate provocation". (Wall Street Journal) (NPR) (The New York Times) Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summons US ambassador Max Baucus to protest a US naval patrol close to Beijing's man-made islands in the South China Sea. Zhang called the US patrol "extremely irresponsible" and urged Washington to cease actions that harm China's sovereignty and security. (Hong Kong Standard) (The Guardian) Greg Poling, a director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says the U.S. operation was aimed at testing control of the seas, not sovereignty over the disputed islands, to force a clarification of China's claims. Under maritime law, artificial islands were not usually afforded the 12-mile territorial zone, and that the U.S. Navy deliberately chose to send the destroyer near Subi Reef for this reason. (CNN) Humanitarian International Services Group, an NGO founded by evangelical Christian Kay Miramine, was part of a secret Pentagon program devised by Lt. Gen. William Boykin used to spy on North Korea, according to an investigation by the online publication The Intercept. The program, which started in 2004, was shut down in 2012 by now-retired Admiral William McRaven, concerned with pushback if this became public. Some current and former American NGO staff with experience in North Korea have expressed doubts about key claims in the report. (The Intercept) (Christian Post) (NK News) Vienna Conference on Syria, Syrian Civil War Iran is invited to attend the next round of talks over Syria's future, along with the representatives from the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations mediator for Syria, Staffan de Mistura. The next round of the "Vienna II" meeting is expected to start tomorrow and continue Friday in Vienna, Austria. (Irish Examiner) (Reuters) (Sputnik News) (New York Times) United Nations humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien tells the Security Council the worsening conflict in Syria has left 13.5 million people in need of aid and some form of protection, including more than six million children. (AP) (Arab News) The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly condemns the U.S. embargo of Cuba in its first vote on the matter since the start of normalization of relations between the two countries. The largely symbolic tally on the unenforceable resolution was 191 to 2 (U.S., Israel). (UPI) (AP via ABC News) President Benigno Aquino III says the Philippines doesn't have the capacity to permanently house Manus Island refugees from Australian-run detention camps. (AP via Washington Post) (Sydney Morning Herald) Law and crime Guatemala arrests 11 in a public hospital, medicine-buying kickback scheme. Two others remain at large, including Gustavo Alejos Cambara, the former private secretary to ex-President Álvaro Colom. A U.N. commission set up to tackle criminal networks in Guatemala participated in the investigation. (AP) Politics and elections Britain is reviewing the powers of the House of Lords after the unelected peers stalled legislation yesterday that would have eliminated some tax allowances for the nation’s poor. Senior Conservatives say the upper chamber of Parliament stepped out of their usual roles as technical overseers of legislation. However, Conservative MP David Davis warned that such a move was “bully politics” that would “disgust” the public. (BBC) (AP via Washington Post) Ivorian presidential election, 2015 Partial results from Sunday's election give Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara an overwhelming lead (83.18 percent) on the way to a second five-year term. This weekend's vote was judged to be peaceful and transparent by observers, making it the first in Côte d'Ivoire’s history not to be marred by serious rights violations or irregularities. (Reuters) (Financial Times) (Abidjan.net) Current events of October 28, 2015 (2015-10-28) (Wednesday) Armed conflicts and attacks War in Afghanistan (2015–present) Taliban insurgents seize the Darqad District in the northeast Takhar Province near the border with Tajikistan. At least six Afghan troops are killed in the fighting. (Reuters) (AP via The Daily Mail) Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence for the United Kingdom, announces that over 400 troops will remain in Afghanistan through 2016. The military personnel will train Afghan toops and support NATO operations in Kabul. (Military Times) Boko Haram insurgency Suspected Boko Haram militants kill 14 civilians in the southeast Diffa Region of Niger near the Nigerian border. The Nigerien government recently approved a law prolonging a 15-day state of emergency for the Diffa region by three months in a bid to boost security. (Reuters) 2015 Ankara bombings Ankara's Chief Prosecutor's office says it has "strong evidence" that an Islamic State group — based in Gaziantep, near the Syrian border — is behind the bombings at this month's Ankara peace rally that killed 102 people, as well as four previous attacks in Turkey since May that have mainly targeted supporters of a pro-Kurdish party. (AP) (AFP via NDTV) Disasters and accidents 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake Aid workers warn that survivors of the earthquake are at risk of dying of exposure as temperatures in Pakistan and Afghanistan fall to near freezing levels. (Time) The death toll from Monday's quake rises to 385. (AP via the Southern Illinoisan) A military JLENS blimp from the United States Army broke loose from its moorings at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and drifted over 16,000 ft above Pennsylvania. F-16 Fighter jets were scrambled to track the blimp that has since deflated, causing widespread power outages from a long cable it dragged along the ground. (NBC) (Washington Post) European migrant crisis The Greek coastguard says they rescued 242 migrants whose wooden boat sank north of the island of Lesbos, but at least three drowned, including two small boys. (Reuters) (AP via CBS News) International relations European migrant crisis Slovenia's prime minister, Miro Cerar says Slovenia is ready to build a fence on its border with Croatia if an EU plan to stem the flow of migrants across the Balkans fails. (AP via ABC News) Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, when discussing management of the flow of migrants with the press, talks about "technical security" measures but insists there will be "no fence" at the Slovenian border. This, in contrast to Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner who earlier spoke of plans for a "fence" on the border to Slovenia. Austria has been one of the more vocal countries criticizing Hungary's decision to build a fence along its border with Serbia. (AP) (BBC) The Government of Japan invalidates a decision by Takeshi Onaga, governor of Okinawa, to halt the expansion of a U.S. military base on the island. (Bloomberg Business) Health and medicine The World Health Organization reports tuberculosis has surpassed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as the leading cause of global death, despite the death rate from tuberculosis having been cut in half over the last 25 years. Most deaths from tuberculosis could be prevented, researchers said, but detection and treatment aren't happening fast enough. (UPI) The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), has evaluated the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat. After thoroughly reviewing the accumulated scientific literature, a Working Group of 22 experts from 10 countries convened by the IARC Monographs Programme classified the consumption of red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on limited evidence that the consumption of red meat causes cancer in humans and strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect. This association was observed mainly for colorectal cancer, but associations were also seen for pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. Processed meat was classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer. (Science Daily) Law and crime Censorship in Turkey Turkish police storm and shut down both Kanaltürk TV and Bugün, TV stations that have been critical of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of a general election on November 1. Baris Yarkadas, a lawmaker with the main-opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said “We are witnessing the police entering news organizations, delivering declarations and taking over journalists’ seats—just like junta periods, this is called a police state”. (The Wall Street Journal) (Today's Zaman) In Aberdeen, Scotland, one student has died of injuries, and another has been arrested, after a stabbing at Cults Academy (Independent) Dennis Hastert, former United States Speaker of the House of Representatives (1999–2007), pleaded guilty to a federal financial crime in a hush money case stemming from sexual misconduct allegations. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 29, 2016. The crime carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and $250,000 fine. Prosecutors recommend zero to six months imprisonment. (Reuters) (AP via ABC News) Politics and elections Ivorian presidential election, 2015 Official results from the presidential election held on Sunday show that President of the Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara has been reelected. (AFP via Daily Mail) In the Netherlands, the Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Environment Wilma Mansveld resigns following the publication of a damning report about the problems with the international high-speed rail service Fyra. (DutchNews) Members of the Republican party in the United States House of Representatives nominate Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to replace John Boehner of Ohio as Speaker of the House. There will be a formal vote Thursday on the House floor. (New York Times) Tanzanian general election, 2015 Tanzania's opposition Chadema party presidential candidate Edward Lowassa calls for a recount of Sunday's election for the presidency before official results are announced tomorrow. Meanwhile, the election commission chief of semi-autonomous Zanzibar nullifies their results, which opposition presidential candidate Seif Sharif Hamad of the Civic United Front announced he won on Monday. The United States said it's "gravely alarmed" and called for reversal of the annulment. (AP via ABC News) (Reuters) (Mail & Guardian Africa) Myanmar general election, 2015 A United Nations rights investigator raises concern whether Myanmar's election, scheduled for November 8, 2015, could be considered free and fair because dozens of candidates have been disqualified and hundreds of thousands of people denied the right to vote. (Reuters) (Council on Foreign Relations) Elections in Nepal The Nepalese Parliament elects the country's first female president, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) vice-chairperson Bidhya Devi Bhandari, by a vote of 327 to 214. (The Guardian) Science The Cassini probe makes a close flyby of Saturn's sixth-largest moon, Enceladus, coming within approximately 49 km (30 mi) of the surface and passing through the icy plume above the south pole. The transit of the plume was the deepest to date. Photographs and other data from the mission are expected within 48 hours. (BBC Online) (JPL Press Release) An article published in Nature reports high levels of molecular oxygen found by the Rosetta space probe on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This discovery could have implications for theories of the origin of the solar system. (Radio New Zealand Online) (BBC Online) (Nature Press Release) (Nature Article Synopsis) Current events of October 29, 2015 (2015-10-29) (Thursday) Armed conflicts and attacks Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) The death toll from a rocket attack on a camp containing members of an Iranian opposition group next to Baghdad International Airport rises to 23. (Jerusalem Post) Art and culture Adele's "Hello" beats Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" as the fastest video on Vevo to reach 100 million views and is also certified as the official Vevo Record holder. (The Daily Mail) Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi, who has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for insulting Islam and for cyber crime, wins the European Union's prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The Sakharov award ceremony will be held in Strasbourg, France on December 16, 2015 while the laureate remains imprisoned. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (EU) Business and economics The largest lender in Europe’s most robust economy, Deutsche Bank AG, will cut 35k jobs in an effort to counter falling profits. (WSJ) Sony announces $278.2 million in net profits for the quarter ending Sept. 30, beating market expectations. (WSJ) Google announces that Project Loon – to provide wireless access to four billion unconnected people around the globe in rural and remote areas via Internet-beaming helium balloons in the stratosphere – will be tested in Indonesia in 2016. Currently, one in three Indonesians are connected to the web, mostly via slow connections, in this 17,508-island archipelago of over 250 million people (and about 319 million mobile phones). The company, which also tested Loon-delivered internet in Chile, New Mexico (U.S.), and Sri Lanka, hopes to deliver LTE-speed to more than 100 million unconnected Indonesians in five years. (ZDNET) (AFP via Khmer Times) (AP via Chicago Tribune) (Google) Disasters and accidents European migrant crisis An extensive search is underway in the northeastern Aegean Sea off the Greek island of Lesbos for at least 34 people missing from a boat that sank yesterday. Some 242 people were rescued but eight died, five children, two men and a woman. (Reuters) (AP via Kathimerini) Britain's Ministry of Defence says the Royal Navy has rescued 541 people this week as they scoured the Mediterranean Sea in operations to counter refugee smugglers. The HMS Enterprise, a survey vessel, rescued 439 migrants, and HMS Richmond, a Type 23 frigate, rescued 102 migrants. The asylum-seekers were transferred to the Norwegian support ship Fiem Pilote. (AP via Houston Chronicle) A series of blasts at an ammunition depot in Svatove, Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine leaves four dead and eight injured. (Kyiv Post) (Interfax) An engine burst into flames on a Dynamic International Airways Boeing 767 passenger jet bound for Caracas, Venezuela, while taxiing for takeoff at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (Florida, U.S.). A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman said 15 people were taken to the hospital after the fire. There were 110 people, including crew, on board. (Reuters) (AP via Lompoc Record) International Relations Amnesty International accuses Australian border protection officials of illegally paying people smugglers and endangering lives in a bid to prevent boats of asylum seekers from reaching the country via Operation Sovereign Borders. Australia's government rejects Amnesty's report and denies any wrongdoing.(Sky News via Fox News) (International Business Times)(AI) Saudi Arabia–United Kingdom relations British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says 74-year old Karl Andree, who was facing 350 lashes in Saudi Arabia after being caught with homemade wine in his car, will be released within a week. (Sky News) (The Telegraph) South Sudanese Civil War A long-awaited report released by an African Union investigative team led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo describes atrocities and the discovery of mass graves in South Sudan, citing government forces and their allies as responsible parties. (Al Jazeera America) The European Union narrowly votes (285–281) to recommend that its 28 member nations drop criminal charges against Edward Snowden and protect him from U.S. extradition and to recognize him as a defender of human rights because of his revelations regarding U.S. and British spying. (UPI) (Foreign Policy) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China–United States relations As a result of talks between U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson and Chinese Commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy Admiral Wu Shengli about a U.S. warship's transit with 12 nautical miles of China's man-made islands in the South China Sea, the United States and China agree to maintain dialogue and follow Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea protocols, according to a U.S. official. (Reuters) (The International News) Lockheed Martin vice president of air and missile defense Mike Trotsky tells the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that the United States and South Korea are holding both formal and informal discussions on THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System deployment. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense deny the report. (UPI) (Yonhap News) The carrier USS Ronald Reagan, during a military exercise with South Korea in the Sea of Japan's international waters, scrambled four fighter jets to intercept approaching Russian warplanes, according to the U.S. Navy. IHS Jane's Defence Weekly said encounters such as these were common during the Cold War, subsided with its end but picked up again under current Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Reuters) (CNN) Law and crime One-child policy China has decided to end its controversial one-child policy after 36 years. It is to be replaced by a new two-child policy. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera English) The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says a drone carrying mobile phones, drugs, and hacksaw blades crashed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester before inmates could grab the contraband. This is fourth reported drone-attempt in the United States; the others were at prisons in Ohio, Maryland, and South Carolina. (Sky News) (UPI) Politics and elections The U.S. House of Representatives passes, by a vote of 266 to 167, a two-year federal budget that is both amenable to the White House and expected to pass in the Senate. (Defense News) Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, October 2015 The U.S. House of Representatives elects Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as the 62nd Speaker of the House replacing John Boehner of Ohio. (New York Times) The Parliament of Moldova passes a no-confidence vote against pro-EU incumbent prime-minister Valeriu Streleț's cabinet amidst growing political turmoil in the country. (Seenews) Science and technology Astronaut Scott Kelly sets another record; this time for the single-longest spaceflight (216 days) by an American. His ISS year long mission is a scientific research project to study the health effects of long term spaceflight. Astronaut Michael López-Alegría spent 215 consecutive days as Expedition 14 commander in 2006. Both are nowhere close to Valeri Polyakovs 437 days record. (NBC News) (NASA) The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announces that, earlier this month, the Antarctic ozone hole widened to one of its largest sizes on record. A colder than usual stratosphere widened the hole to a peak of 28.2 million square km (10.9 million square miles). (USA Today via WTSP) (Reuters) Sports In artistic gymnastics, Simone Biles of the United States becomes the first female gymnast to win three successive all-around championships at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Glasgow. (Reuters) (NBC News) In baseball, the 2015 Japan Series ends with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks beating the Tokyo Yakult Swallows by 4 games to 1 for their second consecutive Japan Series. (Japan Times) Current events of October 30, 2015 (2015-10-30) (Friday) Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian Civil War At least 65 people are killed and 250 injured in Syrian government airstrikes targeting a marketplace in the city of Douma, Syria. (WSJ) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera via Yahoo!) American-led intervention in Syria U.S. President Barack Obama is set to send Special Operations forces to regions in northern Syria under Kurdish control to help local forces fight the Islamic State. (New York Times) (Reuters) Andrew Parker, head of British security agency MI5, states that ISIS terrorists are planning attacks in Great Britain and current terror threat levels are the highest he’s witnessed in his career. (The Telegraph) Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) Two assailants are shot dead by Israeli police after knife-wielding Palestinians attacked Israelis in Jerusalem and in the West Bank. Another four people, including a Palestinian assailant, are injured in incidents at an Israeli checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus and at a tram station in East Jerusalem. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) The Iranian-funded Shi'ite Al-Mukhtar Army claims responsibility for Thursday's deadly rocket attacks near the Baghdad International Airport that killed 23 members of an exiled Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahedin of Iran. (Reuters) Arts and culture Happy Days actor Al Molinaro dies at 96. (Washington Post) Business and economics Quebec-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International cut all ties with Philidor Rx Services. This comes in the wake of recent revelations that Valeant was looking to acquire Philidor, a relationship that raised questions from various quarters. Valeant is the subject of U.S. federal investigations. (New York Times) America's two largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Health Corp. and Express Scripts, drop Philidor from their networks after an audit showed the company's "noncompliance" with its provider agreement. Bloomberg reports Philidor had written instructions to, in some cases, change codes on prescriptions so it would appear physicians required or patients desired Valeant’s brand-name drugs – not less expensive generic versions. (Reuters via Business Insider) (Bloomberg) Volkswagen emissions scandal U.K. transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin says Volkswagen has to start financially addressing this problem by compensating motorists with, the estimated total is £600m (US$925 million). (Sky News) (Bitterwallet) Disasters and accidents Colectiv nightclub fire At least 27 people are killed and more than 180 hospitalized with injuries after a fire in a nightclub in the Romanian capital Bucharest. Officials say a heavy metal band's pyrotechnical show sparked a fire inside the Colectiv nightclub. (Sputnik News) (BBC) (Fox News) 2015 North Indian Ocean cyclone season Cyclone Chapala intensifies in the Arabian Sea as it heads towards Yemen and Oman which rarely experience tropical cyclones. The cyclone is expected to dump two years worth of rain on the normally arid Arabian Peninsula in two days. (Sydney Morning Herald via WA Today) One construction worker dies and at least one more is under the rubble from the collapse of a building being demolished to make way for a Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide luxury boutique hotel in New York City. (AP via ABC News) (Reuters) European migrant crisis Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras lashes out at European "ineptness" in handling the continent's massive immigration crisis. The Associated Press reports 31 more people — mostly children — drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea near the islands of Kalymnos and Rhodes. Turkey's state-run agency says four children drowned and two others are missing after two new accidents with boats headed to Greece's Lesbos and Samos islands. The death toll in the Aegean Sea over the past three days is at least 50. The Greek coast guard says they rescued 600 people in the past 24 hours, while thousands more made it safely from Turkey to Greece's southeastern islands. (AP via Huffington Post) (Reuters) Storms hit the American state of Texas causing at least two deaths with one person reported missing. Rivers overflowed as more than a foot of rain fell in some areas while tornadoes ripped through buildings outside San Antonio. (NBC News) (Reuters) A building collapse in Henan province in central China leaves 17 workers dead and 23 injured. (Xinhua via iCrossChina) A Virginia (U.S.) school bus overturns after being struck by a van, sending 28 students to local hospitals with five seriously injured. (Inside Edition) International relations Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, is released. Aamer faces no charges in Britain; Scotland Yard detectives questioned him for three days during his detention. (BBC) (AP via Seattle Times) Territorial disputes in the South China Sea The European Union sides with the United States over Tuesday's U.S.-Chinese patrolling incident in the South China Sea. (Reuters) Syria peace talks in Vienna, Syrian Civil War Representatives from about 20 countries meet in Vienna, Austria, seeking a political solution to Syria's four-year civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people, including dozens more today. For the first time Iran is at the table, where diplomats seek peace through a ceasefire plan followed by a transitional government. (USA Today) (Payvand.com) Law and crime Territorial disputes in the South China Sea The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rules it has jurisdiction to hear the Philippines' case against China over maritime disputes in the South China Sea. (The Diplomat) (BBC News) U.S. Army judge Col. James Pohl denies Guantanamo detainee Walid bin Attash’s request to drop his legal counsel clearing the way for the trial’s continuation. (Military Times) Polish Judge Dariusz Mazur rules the law forbids film director Roman Polanski's extradition to the U.S. where he pleaded guilty nearly four decades ago to having sex with a minor. The prosecutors can appeal the ruling. (Sky News) (BBC) Current events of October 31, 2015 (2015-10-31) (Saturday) Armed conflicts and attacks 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) Business and economics 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) Disasters and accidents 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) International relations 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) Law and crime 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) A man marching down a street in Colorado Springs, Colorado (U.S.), shot and killed three people before being fatally shot in a gunbattle 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) Politics and elections 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) Science and technology 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) Sports 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)

<< October 2015 >> S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31  Ongoing events Political Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger Iraqi Civil War Military intervention against ISIL Iranian-led American-led Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015) Lebanese anti-government protests Nagorno-Karabakh conflict PKK rebellion Yemeni Civil War Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Second Libyan Civil War Sinai insurgency South China Sea disputes Syrian Civil War American-led intervention against ISIL (Syria) Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine Sports 2015 Rugby World Cup 2015 World Series 2015 Breeders' Cup 2015 League of Legends World Championship Environmental Southeast Asian haze More details on ongoing conflicts below  Recent deaths October 31: Ants Antson 30: Mel Daniels 30: Zehra Deović 30: Al Molinaro 29: Luther Burden 29: Ernesto Herrera 28: Diane Charlemagne 27: Philip French 27: Tshepo Ngwane 27: Gulam Noon 27: Rajendra Singh Rana 26: Ed Walker 25: Cao Ying 25: David Cesarani 25: Pijush Ganguly 25: Lisa Jardine 25: Flip Saunders 24: Ján Chryzostom Korec 24: Maureen O'Hara 24: Sandra Peterson 23: Murphy Anderson 23: Leon Bibb 23: Roger De Clerck 23: Thomas G. Stemberg 23: Paride Tumburus 22: Peter Baldwin 22: Willem Aantjes 22: Arnold Klein 22: Mark Murphy 22: Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy 21: France Bučar 21: Marty Ingels 21: Ian Steel death announced on this date 20: Makis Dendrinos 20: Michael Meacher 20: John Scott 20: Cory Wells 19: Leon Bramlett 19: Ron Greener 19: Ali Treki 18: Robert Dickerson 18: Gamal El-Ghitani 18: Robert W. Farquhar 18: Frank Watkins 17: Howard Kendall 17: Anne-Marie Lizin 16: Bevo XIV 16: Denis Cuspert 16: Irwin Schiff 15: Nate Huffman 15: Kenneth D. Taylor 15: Michael Stevens 14: Mathieu Kérékou 14: Bruce Mozert 14: Skip Yowell 13: Bruce Hyde 13: Rosalyn Baxandall 13: Rizzini Alexis Gomez 13: Sue Lloyd-Roberts 12: Sam de Brito 12: Duncan Druce 12: Hal Hackady 12: Joan Leslie 12: George Mueller 11: Dean Chance 11: David Hunt 11: Steve Mackay 10: Diepreye Alamieyeseigha 10: Richard F. Heck 10: Manorama 10: Sybil Stockdale 9: Ray Duncan 9: Gordon Honeycombe 9: Geoffrey Howe 9: Ravindra Jain 9: Dave Meyers 9: Koopsta Knicca 9: Jerry Parr 9: Larry Rosen 9: Robbin Thompson 8: Richard Davies 8: Jim Diamond 8: Hossein Hamadani 8: Lindy Infante 8: Paul Prudhomme 8: Elizabeth Ramsey 8: Hugh Scully 7: Elena Lucena 7: Gail Zappa 6: Kevin Corcoran 6: Árpád Göncz 6: Billy Joe Royal 5: Chantal Akerman 5: Joker Arroyo 5: Grace Lee Boggs 5: Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria 5: Anna Pump 4: Job de Ruiter 4: Henning Mankell 4: Edida Nageswara Rao 4: Neal Walk 3: Denis Healey 3: Barbara Meek 2: Brian Friel 2: Coleridge Goode 1: Don Edwards 1: Hadi Norouzi  Ongoing conflicts Africa Algeria, Tunisia and Niger Maghreb insurgency Central African Republic Civil war Democratic Republic of the Congo Kivu conflict ADF insurgency Katanga insurgency Ituri conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Libya Civil war Mali Northern Mali conflict Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger Boko Haram insurgency Somalia Civil war South Sudan South Sudanese Civil War Sudan War in Darfur South Kordofan conflict Americas Colombian conflict Internal conflict in Peru Mexican War on Drugs Asia Afghanistan War China Xinjiang conflict India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Insurgency in Northeast India India and Pakistan Kashmir conflict Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict Philippines CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Moro conflict Moro conflict in Sabah Southeast Asia Internal conflict in Burma Papua conflict South Thailand insurgency Europe Georgia Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Georgian–Ossetian conflict Chechen–Russian conflict North Caucasus insurgency War in Ingushetia Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Ukraine War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine Middle East Arab–Israeli conflict Gaza–Israel conflict Israeli–Lebanese conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Egypt Sinai insurgency Iran Iran–PJAK conflict Iraqi civil war American-led intervention in Iraq Iranian intervention in Iraq Syrian Civil War American-led intervention in Syria Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Turkey Turkey–PKK conflict Turkey–ISIL conflict Yemeni crisis Houthi rebellion Al-Qaeda insurgency South Yemen insurgency  Elections Recent October 4: Kyrgyzstan, Supreme Council 4: Portugal, Assembly of the Republic 11: Belarus, President 11: Guinea, President 17–19: Egypt, Parliament (1st phase) 18: Switzerland, Federal Assembly 19: Canada, House of Commons 25: Argentina, President, National Congress 25: Republic of the Congo, Referendum 25: Côte d'Ivoire, President 25: Guatemala, President (2nd round) 25: Haiti, President, National Assembly (2nd round) 25: Oman, Consultative Assembly 25: Poland, Parliament 25: Tanzania, President, National Assembly Upcoming November 1: Azerbaijan, National Assembly 1: Turkey, Grand National Assembly 4: Belize, House of Representatives 8: Croatia, Parliament 8: Myanmar, Legislature 16: Marshall Islands, Legislature 21–23: Egypt, Parliament (2nd phase)  Trials Recently concluded Australia: Brett Peter Cowan, Craig Thomson, Robert Hughes Brazil: Mensalão scandal Canada: Luka Magnotta China: Ji Jianye, Li Chuncheng, Jiang Jiemin, Liao Shaohua, Ni Fake, Chen Baihuai, Zhou Yongkang, Gu Junshan Croatia: Ivo Sanader Egypt: Hosni Mubarak, Peter Greste, Mohamed Morsi Germany: Bernie Ecclestone, Uli Hoeness, Christian Wulff Iran: Mohammad Reza Rahimi Israel: Hussam Qawasmeh Jordan: Abu Qatada Romania: Liviu Dragnea, Dan Diaconescu Russia: Leonid Khabarov, Eston Kohver, Vladimir Kvachkov South Africa: Shrien Dewani, Oscar Pistorius Turkey: Kenan Evren, Tahsin Şahinkaya United Kingdom: Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, Kweku Adoboli, Tony McCluskie, Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, Chris Huhne, Nicola Edgington, Vicky Pryce, Derek Rose, Mick Philpott, Mairead Philpott, Paul Mosley, Stuart Hazell, Mark Bridger, Andrew Lancel, Dale Cregan, Ray Wilkins, Liam Adams, R v Grillo and Grillo, Ian Watkins, William Roache, Dave Lee Travis, Nicholas Jacobs, Nigel Evans, Max Clifford, Stuart Hall, Dappy, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Rolf Harris, Tulisa Contostavlos, Chris Denning, Ray Teret, Gary Glitter, Fred Talbot United States: Abu Hamza al-Masri, Michael Grimm, Jesse Jackson Jr., Bob McDonnell, Vilma Bautista, Jared Lee Loughner, Lauryn Hill, Kermit Gosnell, George Zimmerman, Chelsea Manning, Ariel Castro, Whitey Bulger, Robert Bales, Nidal Malik Hasan, Jodi Arias, Anas al-Libi, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, James Eagan Holmes International ECCC: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan ICC: Germain Katanga ICTY: Momčilo Perišić, Mladen Markač, Ante Gotovina, Zdravko Tolimir Ongoing China: Yao Mugen, Guo Youming, Zhu Zuoli Germany: Beate Zschäpe Iran: Babak Zanjani, Jason Rezaian Philippines: Andal Ampatuan, Jr., Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Janet Lim-Napoles, Jovito Palparan, Joseph Scott Pemberton Romania: Darius Vâlcov, Dan Șova, Elena Udrea, Radu Mazăre, Gheorghe Nichita, Marian Vanghelie, Cătălin Voicu, Relu Fenechiu, Gheorghe Ștefan, Gabriel Sandu, Dorin Cocoş, Dumitru Nicolae Russia: Alexei Navalny South Korea: MV Sewol crew members International ICTY: Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić PCA: China Upcoming China: Wu Changshun, Ling Jihua Estonia: Edgar Savisaar Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Spain: Lionel Messi United States: Paul Anthony Ciancia, Javaris Crittenton, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Dylan Quick, Aaron Hernandez, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Rick Perry International ICC: Laurent Gbagbo

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