Portal:Current events/2015 November 8
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November 8, 2015 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- Houthi forces regain several positions across southern Yemen after launching a fresh offensive against loyalist and coalition forces. In Lahij province, which borders Aden, Houthi forces are now positioned on a hill overlooking the strategic Al Anad Air Base, which houses Sudanese forces. The Houthis also retook the Damt District in the Dhale province after besieging it for hours, at least 16 people were killed in the clashes. (AFP via Yahoo)
- At least nine people are killed after gunmen attack a bar in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura. (Voice of America)
- Boko Haram insurgency
- Two suicide bomb attacks in Ngouboua, a remote village near Lake Chad, kill three people, including the bombers, and injure four others, according to Chadian Communication Minister Hassan Sylla Bakari. (Shanghai Daily) (UPI)
- Syrian Civil War
- Syrian state news reports clashes between Syrian Armed Forces and the Islamic State in eastern Syria's Deir ez-Zor province result in the deaths of 58 militants. (UPI) (Zee News)
- Russian air strikes on areas in the town of Maaret al-Numan, Idlib, killing nine people, including a child, and on Saraqib in the same province, killing another two women. (Al Bawaba)
- At least 10 people were killed in Syrian government air strikes on Islamic State-held town of Al-Bab, including a woman and child. (France 24)[permanent dead link]
Arts and culture
- 2016 United States presidential election
- GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump hosts Saturday Night Live. According to NBC the show attained a 6.6 household rating, giving Saturday Night Live its best overnight ratings since January 2012 when Charles Barkley was the host. (NBC) (Entertainment Weekly) (AP)
- In the United States, University of Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel tweets his support for the 30 black football players who, because of racial tensions on campus, are boycotting team activities until the president of the University of Missouri System, Tim Wolfe, is removed. Pinkel and athletics director Mack Rhoades issue a statement that the Tigers will not resume football activities until Missouri student Jonathan Butler ends his hunger strike against Wolfe. (NBC Sports) (KTIC Radio)[permanent dead link] (AFP via Global Post) (KCSTAR via Sacramento Bee)
- John Lennon's guitar sells for over $2.5 million (BBC)
- The Detroit Free Press reports, following this week's election, Hamtramck, Michigan, will apparently be the first city in the United States to be governed by Muslims, three of Bangladeshi descent and one Yemeni. Community leader Bill Meyer, who is not Muslim, said the influx of Muslims to Hamtramck has "helped bring stability, security and sobriety while lessening the amount of drugs and crime in the city." (Detroit Free Press) (Christian Science Monitor) (New Civil Rights Movement)
Disasters and accidents
- A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying crude oil derails in Wisconsin; some of the 10 derailed cars are leaking oil. This is the second consecutive day for a freight train crash in the state. Yesterday, a BNSF Railway train wreck spilled thousands of gallons of ethanol. No injuries were reported in either accident. (AP via Houston Chronicle) (WBAY)
Health and medicine
- A 1-year-old from London with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who had undergone myriads of unsuccessful treatments since she was 14 weeks old is in remission thanks to gene-editing technology, used for just the second time, that allowed her to receive modified immune cells from another person. (Chicago Tribune) (Bangkok Post) (Nature)
International relations
- United States–Venezuela relations
- Venezuela says a U.S. Coast Guard intelligence plane violated its airspace on November 6. (Reuters via Yahoo)
- European migrant crisis
- Spain's interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz says the first of more than 1,400 refugees from Syria and Eritrea are being welcomed for resettlement in new homes across the country. (AP)
Law and crime
- Hossam Bahgat, an investigative reporter for the independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr is detained and is interrogated on charges of publishing false news that could harm the nation. (Middle East Eye) (NPR)
- Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announces over $800 million in grants available to various agencies across the U.S. for law enforcement-related initiatives such as testing of potentially expired rape kits, the funding of an international center devoted to monitoring cyber attacks, and a program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice dedicated to training prosecutors. The grants are funded from criminal penalties paid by several international banks accused of violating sanctions. (New York Times)
Politics and elections
- Croatian parliamentary election, 2015
- Early official results show the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the country's largest opposition party, has a slim lead over Prime Minister Zoran Milanović’s ruling Social Democrats (SDP) in today's elections. With 32 percent counted, the HDZ, has 61 of parliament’s 151 seats and the SDP is second with 53. The third place Most (Bridge of Independent Lists) party is likely to have the balance of power in the parliament. (Wall Street Journal) (Bloomberg) (The Guardian) After the votes were counted, HDZ had 59 seats and SDP 56, and with 3 additional seats from the regional IDS party, SDP amounted to 59 seats. The greatest surprise was MOST, who won 19 seats and will be the key in formation of the government. If MOST refuses coalition with the two main parties, the country will have to repeat the elections in January 2016. (EUROPP)
- Myanmar general election, 2015
- Voters in Myanmar head to the polls with the National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi, expected to win a majority of seats in Parliament and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party conceding defeat on Monday. Early indication is an 80 percent turnout of the more than 30 million people eligible to vote. (Los Angeles Times) (Ahmedabad Mirror)
- Bihar, India, Legislative Assembly election, 2015
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP Party concedes defeat to the grand alliance of Bihar sitting chief minister Nitish Kumar in the fifth and final phase of the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. (NPR) (FirstPost.com)
Science and technology
- Mysterious lights from an unidentified flying object spook people in Arizona, California, and Nevada. It was later confirmed as a test flight of a UGM-133 Trident II missile. (BBC)
- According to a new World Bank report, climate change could drive more than 100 million people into poverty by 2030 largely due to difficulties producing crops. (Time) (CNBC) (World Bank Report)