November 2006

67 die and about 300,000 people are affected by floods in Ethiopia's Somali Region of Ogaden after the Shabelle River bursts its banks. (Angola Press)
The UN Security Council votes unanimously to extend the mandate of Côte d'Ivoire's transitional government by one year, granting its Interim Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny sweeping powers over security forces. UNSC deadline for Elections, originally set for November 2006, was delayed to November 2007. (AP)
Arab League-sponsored talks between the Somali transitional government and the Islamic Court Union are postponed indefinitely after the latter seek a delay. A Somali Minister says that war appears likely. (Reuters)
Bolivian President Evo Morales retracts plans to nationalize the country's mining industry, promising to do so at an unspecified later date. (UPI)
Venezuela and Guatemala have agreed to withdraw from the race for a seat on the United Nations Security Council; both agreeing to support Panama after 47 rounds of voting. (The Canadian Press)
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in a statement that "We are therefore increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that the Syrian and Iranian governments, Hezbollah, and their Lebanese allies are preparing plans to topple Lebanon's democratically elected government," and that "We're making it clear to everybody in the region that we think that there ought to be hands off the [Prime Minister Fouad] Siniora government; let them go about and do their business."(Reuters)
The Swedish Ro-Ro ship M/S Finnbirch sinks in a blizzard in the Baltic Sea, killing two of its fourteen crew members. The vessel had some 260 tons of fuel and lubrication oil onboard which might present a hazard to the environment. (Helsingin Sanomat) (Reuters) (CNN)
Turkish archaeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig is acquitted of inciting religious hatred; a charge made after she published a book stating that the Muslim headscarf originated in the clothing of Sumerian priestesses who initiated young men into sex. (BBC News)
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attack a rural police command in Colombia, killing at least 16 officers as part of a two-week offensive. President Álvaro Uribe had earlier withdrawn from negotiations. (Reuters)
The government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army rebels sign a second truce as negotiations restart in Juba, Sudan. (IRIN)
An Israel Defense Forces soldier and six Palestinians were killed in an IDF operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. (Haaretz), (BBC News)
The Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase reportedly meets with his security chiefs this morning after yesterday trying to sack Fiji's military commander Frank Bainimarama. Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister of Australia, has raised concerns about a coup. (ABC News Australia)
The World Confederation of Labour and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions merge to form the International Trade Union Confederation. (International Herald Tribune)
Typhoon Paeng (Cimaron) kills at least 19 people, displaces some 65,000 families and damages more than 3,000 houses as it moves across Luzon. (Xinhua via ReliefWeb.int), (Sun.Star)

November 2, 2006 (Thursday)

Competing software manufacturers Microsoft and Novell hold a press conference to announce a collaboration on technologies for inter operation between Microsoft's Windows and Novell's SUSE Linux operating systems.
The governments of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles sign an agreement in The Hague, disbanding the Netherlands Antilles on July 1, 2007. The islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten become autonomous associated states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius become Dutch municipalities. (Nu.nl) (Dutch language)
The Rev. Ted Haggard resigns as head of the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States amidst allegations of a gay affair. (Fox Colorado)
The journal Science publishes a study by B. Worm et al. predicting the collapse of commercial fisheries in 2048, due to overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors. (The Washington Post)
Iran fires dozens of unarmed missiles to begin 10 days of military war games, with "ranges from 300 km to up to 2,000 km," some of which have "the capacity to carry 1,400 bombs," Iranian state television reported. (CNN).
The UK Office for National Statistics announces that, in 2005, 565,000 immigrants arrived in the UK, mainly from Poland, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, while there were 380,000 emigrants, over half of whom were UK citizens. The most popular emigration destinations were Australia, Spain, and France. The net immigration total, 185,000, was 17,000 less than 2004's record. (BBC)
Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly, intends to double the price it charges Georgia. This follows the 2006 Georgian-Russian espionage controversy in early October. (Civil Georgia)
Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, conveys the support of the Commonwealth of Nations to the Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase. He warned Fijian military commander Frank Bainimarama against staging a coup d'etat. (ABC News Australia)
The U.S. military identifies Ahmed Qusai al-Taai, an Iraqi-American translator, as the U.S. soldier kidnapped at gunpoint in Iraq on October 23, 2006. (CNN)

November 3, 2006 (Friday)

U.S. evangelical minister Ted Haggard is accused of methamphetamine use and engaging in homosexual sex acts. (AP via ABC News)
U.S. Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio resigns from Congress after having pleaded guilty to charges relating to Jack Abramoff. (AP via Pioneer Press)
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board states that a stiff wind blew the plane carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle off-course and into an apartment building in New York City. (Canadian Press)
The World Meteorological Organisation reports that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2005 and are still increasing. (Washington Post)
A draft European Commission report raises new doubts about Turkey's bid to join the European Union. (BBC)
Trevor Berbick's nephew Harold Berbick is charged with his uncle's murder along with another man in Jamaica. (BBC)
Jackson Pollock’s No. 5, 1948 becomes the world's most expensive work of art, after entertainment mogul David Geffen sells the work for US$140 million. (The Times)
Wu Shu-chen, the wife of the President of the Republic of China, is indicted on corruption charges by Taiwan prosecutors. President Chen Shui-bian is not indicted due to presidential immunity, but prosecutors say he will be charged once he is no longer president. (BBC)
The New York Times reports that a website created at the request of United States Representative Peter Hoekstra and Senator Pat Roberts was found to contain detailed information which could help nuclear-capable states produce nuclear weapons. The website was shut down on November 2 following questioning by The New York Times and protests by International Atomic Energy Agency officials. (The New York Times)
Australia dispatches two warships, HMAS Kanimbla and HMAS Newcastle, to Fiji to evacuate Australian citizens in the event of a coup. (Melbourne Age)
The Conference of Rulers elects Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu to be the future King of Malaysia from 13 December 2006 onwards. (JapanToday), (TimesOnline)

November 4, 2006 (Saturday)

The death toll in a fire at the historic Mizpah Hotel in Reno, Nevada rises to nine with not all of the ruins having been searched yet. (Las Vegas Sun)
Ted Haggard resigns after the New Life Church's investigative board finds him guilty of "sexually immoral conduct". (AP via WCBS)
Tomihiro Taniguchi, Deputy Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, announces that Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and possibly Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, will launch nuclear programs for desalination. A proliferation expert asserts the real reason behind the programs is for a "security hedge." (The Times)
The North Korean Foreign Ministry releases a statement calling for Japan to leave the six-party talks regarding DPRK's nuclear program because the Japanese officials involved in the talks are "imbeciles" and Japan is a state of the U.S. The Foreign Ministry accuses the United States of "warmongering." (ABC News)
Operation Autumn Clouds: Israeli forces have mounted a series of air strikes as part of an on-going Gaza offensive, killing at least eight.(BBC NEWS), (Al Jazeera)
Two women have been killed as Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of women gathered to help besieged gunmen flee a mosque in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. (BBC NEWS), (Al Jazeera)
Former Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon is admitted to the intensive care unit of the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv with a chest infection. (BBC)
Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China, promises to double foreign aid to Africa at a conference attended by many of the top African leaders. (CNN)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that the humanitarian crisis in Iraq is greater than at the beginning of the war on Iraq with 1.6 million Iraqis displaced internally and 1.8 million in overseas countries. (ABC News Australia)
Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase drops amnesty provisions for the leaders of the 2000 coup after threats from the military to remove him from office. (NZ Herald)

November 5, 2006 (Sunday)

Operation Autumn Clouds: Israel Defense Forces troops kill two Palestinians in a northern Gaza Strip operation. (Haaretz)
Trial of Saddam Hussein
- Sweeping curfews go into effect in Baghdad, Iraq, in anticipation of the reading of the verdict by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal in the trial of Saddam Hussein. (BBC News) (CNN)
- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is convicted of crimes against humanity by a Baghdad court and sentenced to death by hanging. Two senior Ba'ath party officials from Hussein's regime are also sentenced to death, one is jailed for life, three are jailed for 15 years, while a seventh is acquitted. (BBC News) (RTÉ News)
- Reactions to the verdicts against Saddam and his compatriots vary with approval from some areas, particularly Iran and Shi'a regions of Iraq, but condemnation of the trial and process from some other quarters of the Muslim world. United States officials called it "a good day for the Iraqi people". The European Union, while welcoming the guilty verdicts, expresses its opposition to the imposition of the death penalty on humanitarian grounds. (CNN) (Reuters)
Nicaraguans go to the polls to elect a new President and National Assembly, with the presidential race led by Sandinista Daniel Ortega and conservative Eduardo Montealegre. (BBC News)
A large area of Western Europe is affected by power cuts, starting when two high-voltage transmission lines fail in Germany, and causing a cascading failure which also knocks out power in areas of France and other surrounding nations. (BBC News)
The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, calls State Premiers to a crisis meeting to discuss the current drought and problems in the Murray-Darling Basin. (ABC Australia)

November 6, 2006 (Monday)

Somalian War: Heavy fighting has been reported between forces of Union of Islamic Courts and Puntland, the semi-autonomous region of Somalia. (Al Jazeera)
Felipe Pérez Roque, the Foreign Minister of Cuba, backs away from earlier predictions that Fidel Castro would return as the President of Cuba by December raising concerns about the progress of Castro's recovery from intestinal surgery. (USA Today)
The Iraqi government prepares a law that may see former Baath Party supporters restored to their former jobs. (ABC News)
Tony Blair opposes the death penalty for Saddam Hussein but says the trial had reminded the world of Hussein's brutality. (CNN)
Bombs explode at Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal, an opposition party's headquarters and a bank in the capital. (RTÉ News)
Operation Autumn Clouds: A female Palestinian suicide bomber has blown herself up in a Gaza Strip town, killing herself and injuring an Israeli soldier, the Israeli army says. (BBC)
The Polish President, Lech Kaczyński, proposes that there be a 100,000 man-strong EU Army designed to work with NATO. (RTÉ News)
Ariel Sharon is moved out of the intensive care unit at the Sheba Medical Center. (AP via Malaysia Star)
Daniel Ortega has an early lead over Eduardo Montealegre, according to partial results from the general elections in Nicaragua. (CNN)
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-12) opens in Nairobi, Kenya. (UNFCCC)
The legal challenge to President George W. Bush's ratification of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Conyers v. Bush) led by United States Congressman and member of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (together with ten other representatives of the House of Representatives) is dismissed due to lack of standing (ABC)

November 7, 2006 (Tuesday)

The World Trade Organization invites Vietnam to become the WTO's 150th member. [1] (BBC News)
Daniel Ortega is elected President of Nicaragua in the 2006 general election, after rival candidate Eduardo Montealegre concedes defeat. (BBC News) (CNN) (Reuters)
After 48 rounds of voting, Panama is elected to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. (DPA)
José Montilla becomes the new President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, renewing the left-of-centre tripartite pact between his PSC, the pro-independence ERC and the leftist ICV-EUiA alliance after the election held on 2006-11-01. (Monsters and Critics)
John Bolton, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, claims that United States diplomat Josette Shiner has been selected to head the United Nations World Food Programme. (ABC News)
Dhiren Barot of London is convicted of conspiracy to murder for developing al-Qaeda plots to kill thousands of people in the United Kingdom and United States in the 2004 Financial buildings plot. (BBC News)
United States general elections, 2006: Voters go to the polls today in the United States. (Scotsman)
- The Democrats regain control of the United States House of Representatives. Tony Snow, the White House Press Secretary, concedes that "Democrats will have control of the House". (ABC News Australia)
- While Democrats have gained at least 5 seats in the Senate, the majority is still unclear. In order to take control, Democrats would need to take the seat in Virginia; they are leading in that state. (CNN)
- Marie Steichen wins the election as county commissioner in Jerauld County, South Dakota, beating a Republican rival by 100 votes to 64, two months after she has died of cancer. (AFP via Yahoo), (MSNBC)
Trial of Saddam Hussein:
- The trial of Saddam Hussein for alleged genocide of Kurds during the Anfal campaign resumes today. (ABC News Australia)
- Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki states that he expects Hussein to be executed by the end of the year following conviction in his first trial, which Hussein is appealing. BBC
Operation Autumn Clouds: The Israeli Defense Forces began to pull its troops out of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, Palestinian officials said. Fifty-three Palestinians, including 16 civilians, and an IDF soldier have been killed since the operation began on October 31. (Haaretz)
A deadly tornado kills nine and injures twelve in Saroma, Hokkaido, Japan. (Sky News)

November 8, 2006 (Wednesday)

Legislators in the Jogorku Kenesh approve a new constitution amid fears of another revolution in Kyrgyzstan. (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty)
China has a record high surplus in its balance of trade of $23.8 billion as exports rise and imports fall. (AP via Newsvine)
United States general elections, 2006
- The Associated Press declares Democrat Jim Webb as the winner of the 2006 Senate elections in Virginia. This would give the Democratic Party of the United States an effective majority if Independents Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders caucus with the Democrats.(Yahoo), (CNN)
- Amy Klobuchar overwhelmingly defeats Mark Kennedy in the 2006 Senate elections in Minnesota, becoming the first female Senator in Minnesota history.(Minnesota Public Radio)
- United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announces he will step down from his cabinet position. Former Director of the CIA Robert Gates will replace Rumsfeld if confirmed by the Senate. (AP)
- Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, tells colleagues that he does not intend to run for the position of Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives. (AP via MSNBC)
- George W. Bush congratulates the Democrats on their success in the election and vows to try to find common ground with Nancy Pelosi, likely the next Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. (AP via Kane County Chronicle)
Dr. Margaret Chan, former director of Hong Kong Health Department, represented China to win the nomination to the Director-General of the World Health Organization. (Peoples' Daily Online), (BBC News)
At least 42 people die and 20 people are injured in a bomb blast outside an army training centre in north-west Pakistan. (BBC News)
Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident:
- Nineteen Palestinian civilians are killed in the Gaza Strip from Israeli tank fire according to medical officers. (Reuters), (BBC News)
- Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh states that talks between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas have been suspended. (News Limited)
- The United Nations Security Council agrees to let Arab and Muslim countries air their concerns about the incident. [2]
Five senior ministers in the Cabinet of the British Government are questioned by police as part of an investigation into alleged "cash for honours". (BBC News)
Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system is RTM (released to manufacturers). (Windows Vista Blog)

November 9, 2006 (Thursday)

Ken Mehlman is to step down as chairman of the National Committee of the United States Republican Party. (CNN)
Eight synchronized bombs hit car showrooms in Southern Thailand, nine injured. (Reuters)
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev formally signs the new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan. The Constitution drastically weakens the power of the executive branch in favor of the legislative. Bakiyev and Prime Minister Felix Kulov are expected to maintain their positions until 2010. (EurasiaNet)
United States general elections, 2006:
- Montana Senator Conrad Burns concedes his U.S. Senate race to Jon Tester. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- Virginia Senator George Allen to concede his U.S. Senate race to James Webb. This gives control of the U.S. Senate to the Democrats. (AP via Yahoo! News)
- A recount is reported to be underway in Florida's 13th congressional district, after Christine Jennings, who lost her bid for Katherine Harris's former House seat by 373 votes, alleges that touch-screen voter machine malfunctions failed to record 18,000 votes in Sarasota County, Florida, a Jennings stronghold. (AP via Yahoo! News)
BP settles the last remaining lawsuit from the 2005 explosion at its Texas oil refinery that cost 15 lives. (Reuters via Interactive Investor)
The Bank of England raises interest rates in the United Kingdom to five percent. (Daily Telegraph)
Israel braces itself for revenge attacks after yesterday's dawn barrage in the Gaza Strip leaves a family of 18 dead. The general in charge of Israel's Southern Command, Youav Galant, blames problems with the targeting device for the artillery strike. (The Times)
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack announces he will be running in the 2008 US Presidential Election. (CNN)
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, is hospitalized following a heart attack. (CNN)
France successfully performs the first flight test of its new nuclear missile, the M51. (AP via CBS)
Hundreds of young British Muslims are being radicalised, groomed and set on a path to mass murder, according to the head of security service MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. (The Times)

November 10, 2006 (Friday)

The Los Angeles Police Department holds an investigation after a video showing police officers beating a man is posted on YouTube. (BBC News)
NASA's Cassini spacecraft records a hurricane-like storm on the south pole of Saturn which is the first time such an event has been observed on another planet. (ABC News Australia)
Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, and activist Mark Collett are cleared of inciting racial hatred after a retrial at Leeds Crown Court. (BBC News)
Russia announces that it has reached an agreement with the United States over the terms of Russian entry to the World Trade Organization with a formal deal to be signed next week. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
Scientists at Rice University discover that using nanotechnology tiny particles of iron oxide, when placed under a strong magnet, bind with arsenic, a potentially important benefit for countries plagued with arsenic contamination of groundwater. (BBC News)

November 11, 2006 (Saturday)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that the Government of Turkmenistan has discovered a "super giant" field of 7 trillion cubic meters of natural-gas. President Saparmurat Niyazov wants companies from Germany and Russia to build a pipeline to carry the gas. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
The United States vetoes a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident and urging for a quick withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip. (BBC News) (Reuters)
Aung San Suu Kyi meets with a United Nations official Ibrahim Gambari in Myanmar. It is the first time she has left her house since having been placed under house arrest in May. (AP via NASDAQ)
Somali Civil War (2006-present):
- Somalia's Islamist leaders say they have agreed a deal to avoid hostilities with the transitional government. (BBC)
- Somalia's transitional government has dismissed as irrelevant an agreement struck between a group of Somali MPs and the Union of Islamic Courts. (BBC)
Iraq insurgency: At least eight people are killed and thirty injured in two simultaneous explosions in Baghdad, Iraq. (BBC News)
A 5.9 earthquake occurs near Papua New Guinea. No damage is reported. (The Star Online)
Five Shiite ministers resign from the cabinet of Lebanon, complicating the situation for Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. (CNN)

November 12, 2006 (Sunday)

Central African Republic Civil War: Rebels claim to have captured a second town in the Central African Republic during a two-week long offensive. (BBC News)
Iranian nuclear program: Israel threatens to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities "as a last resort", and the Iranian foreign ministry responds that it would "retaliate with a crushing blow" should Israel act. (BBC News)
Somali Civil War (2006-present): Heavy fighting broke out in central Somalia, officials said, a day after the transitional government rejected a peace initiative with the country's Islamic movement. (The Jerusalem Post)
An international treaty, the 2003 Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War, comes into force aiming to limit the impact of cluster bombs and other unexploded devices on civilian populations after a conflict ends. (BBC via ABC News Australia)
A suicide bomber kills at least 35 people and injures about 50 more at a police recruiting center in Baghdad. (AP via ABC News)
The former Soviet autonomous oblast of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia, heightening tension in the Caucasus. (BBC News)
The first round of the 2006 local elections for local mayors and local city councils takes place in Poland.

November 13, 2006 (Monday)

Voters in South Ossetia vote 98-99% in favor of independence from Georgia in a referendum. 78% of the vote has been counted. Neither Russia nor the West recognize the poll's legitimacy. (CNN)
Rwandan President Paul Kagame denies previous reports that quoted him as saying Rwanda would invade the Democratic Republic of Congo to deal with Hutu rebel groups responsible for the Rwandan genocide. (AlertNet)
South Korea says it won't participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative that aims to intercept North Korean ships suspected of carrying supplies for North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. (AP via ABC News)
A colliery explosion in Shanxi province in northern China kills at least 24 miners. (The Australian)
A train crash near Cape Town, South Africa, kills at least 27 people. (BBC News)
Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army terrorist organization in Uganda, meets with Jan Egeland, the United Nations' highest humanitarian official. (The Times)
Lebanese Environment Minister Yaacoub Sarraf, a Christian allied with Hezbollah, joins the rank of five other cabinet members who resigned on November 11, 2006. The cabinet later unanmously approved a UN-proposed international tribunal to try suspects over the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. (Canadian Press)
In a major development for the Free Software movement, Sun Microsystems releases the Java programming language under the GNU General Public Licence. (BBC) (ZDNET)
Harry Lamb was born in Whiston Hospital. Making his dad (ian) the happiest man alive.

November 14, 2006 (Tuesday)

The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he expects its nuclear enrichment program to be ready by February 2007. (CNN)
The first babies to have been screened for faulty genes by Preimplantation Genetic Haplotyping (PGH) have been born in London's Guy's Hospital. (The Times)
Gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms kidnap up to 100 people from a Higher Education Ministry building in Baghdad. (BBC News)
In Kenya, flash flooding in the Mombasa region claims at least 21 lives. The Kenyan Red Cross claims 60,000 people have been made homeless. (BBC News)
The European Union has renewed diplomatic sanctions for Uzbekistan. The sanctions, which have been violated repeatedly by the governments of Britain and Germany, prohibit the sale of weapons to the Uzbek government and visits from EU officials to Uzbekistan or vice versa. The sanctions were originally implemented after the Uzbek government would not allow an international investigation into the terrorist uprising in Andijan. (BBC News)
Australia and Indonesia sign a security treaty on Lombok strengthening cooperation against terrorism, enhancing joint naval border patrols and formalising military exchanges. It also supports Indonesia's sovereignty over its provinces notably Western New Guinea. (ABC News)
The Parliament of South Africa passes a law to legalize same-sex marriage. It must now be signed by President Thabo Mbeki to become law. The change was required by a constitutional court, which ruled last year that the current marriage law unconstitutionally discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. (CBC)
The UCLA Taser incident occurs when student Mostafa Tabatabainejad is stunned with a Taser multiple times, prompting public outcry. [3] [4]

November 15, 2006 (Wednesday)

General John Abizaid, head of the United States Central Command, tells the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services that he is optimistic that "we can stabilize Iraq." (CNN)
An earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurs at 11:14:19 UTC on the Pacific Ocean seafloor with an epicentre 390 kilometres (244 miles) east of Etorofu island (latitude 46.7 North, longitude 153.5 East). Tsunami warnings and watches are issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and the East Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. After expectations of a tsunami at least 2 metres (6 feet) high, the largest wave to hit Hokkaidō measures only 40 centimetres (16 inches).(BBC News) (CNN)
Joseph Kabila wins the presidential run-off election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 58% of the vote according to the electoral commission. His opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba claims that there were widespread instances of fraud. (BBC)
India and Pakistan agreed today to set up a panel to combat terrorism during the first peace talks between the countries in almost a year. However, there has been no progress in the core dispute over Kashmir, the mountain region both countries claim. (The Times}
Senator Mitch McConnell becomes the leader of the Republicans in the United States Senate. (Reuters)
Widespread flooding is reported in East Africa especially Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, with at least five reported dead in Mogadishu where the Shabelle and Juba rivers have burst their banks and more than 70,000 people reported displaced in total. SOS
A patient in southern Kazakhstan has been accidentally infected with HIV. Earlier this year 79 children were accidentally infected resulting in a political scandal and the dismissal of Health Minister Yerbolat Dosayev and several lower level officials. There was another widespread infection in 2005. (RIA Novosti)
Al Jazeera establishes a 24-hour English language news channel Al Jazeera English, formerly Al Jazeera International, and started broadcasting today. (Bloomberg)
Forests begin to revive as global devastation of trees is reversed. A new study offers hope for endangered species and climate change. (The Times)
United States Army soldier James P. Barker pleads guilty to raping and murdering a girl in the Mahmudiyah incident in March 2006, thus avoiding a possible death sentence. BBC News
Richard Causey, former Chief Accounting Officer at Enron is sentenced to 66 months or five and a half years in prison for his role in the collapse of the company. (Reuters)
A building collapses under the force of a British Columbia wind storm. The storm has also prompted the evacuation of West Vancouver neighbourhoods because of the forceful gusts. (CTV)

November 16, 2006 (Thursday)

2006 Tonga riots:
- Rioters smash windows, overturn cars and loot and burn buildings in Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa following a pro-democracy rally. (BBC)
Ségolène Royal wins the Socialist Party's nomination to run for President of France in next year's election; she becomes France's first-ever female presidential candidate representing a major party. (BBC)
Nancy Pelosi is unanimously nominated by the Democratic Party to become the next Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Steny Hoyer wins the election over Jack Murtha to become Majority Leader. (Reuters)
Democratic Republic of Congo presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba has rejected election results that gave victory to Joseph Kabila. (BBC)
The United Nations hold high-level talks in Ethiopia to find new ways for solving the crisis in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur. (BBC)
Fourteen security contractors are abducted as a supply convoy is ambushed at Nasiriya in southern Iraq. (CNN)
At least eight people die as a tornado hits Riegelwood, North Carolina as thunderstorms move through the southern United States. One other person died in the larger tornado outbreak. (AP via Yahoo! News (CBS News)
The European Commission plan to charge €39.60 ($51 / £27) green tax per return ticket on long haul flights from and to the EU by 2011, angering U.S. airline companies as they will need to buy permits to cover their European emissions. (The Times)
Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British citizen sentenced to death in Pakistan, has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment after intervention by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. (BBC)
The Chinese Government unblocks Wikipedia in China after banning the website for a year. (Reuters)

November 17, 2006 (Friday)

In an interview British Prime Minister Tony Blair says Iraq "is pretty much a disaster." (The Times)
The Government of the Netherlands announces it will introduce a bill banning the wearing of the burqa in public, stating that burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety. About 5% of the Dutch population is Muslim, but only a small percentage of those wear the burqa. (BBC)
Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant reports that officers of the Military Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands have physically abused prisoners in the Iraqi governorate of Al Muthanna. (BBC)
2006 Tonga riots:
- Australian and New Zealand military forces are on standby to fly to Tonga following riots in the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa yesterday. Eight people died in the riots. The Tongan government declares a state of emergency and passes emergency laws giving security forces the right to stop and search people without a warrant. (NZ Herald) (Radio NZ) (Radio NZ)
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev calls on the Government to switch the alphabet used in the Kazakh language from Cyrillic letters to Latin. (EurasiaNet)
Former Uruguayan dictator Juan María Bordaberry is arrested in connection with the 1976 abduction and assassination of two Congressmen. (BBC) (CNN)
President of the United States George W. Bush and Prime Minister of Australia John Howard discuss Iraq strategy over lunch. The two leaders are attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hanoi. (ABC News Australia)
The Government of the People's Republic of China blocks internet access to Wikipedia in China less than one week after a year-long ban was lifted. (CNN), (RSF)
Greg Anderson, personal trainer to U.S. professional baseball player Barry Bonds, is ordered to go to prison for the third time for contempt of a grand jury for refusing to testify against Bonds regarding alleged perjury in connection to an earlier steroids investigation. (ESPN)
A change to Nicaragua's abortion law bans abortion in all cases, removing an exception where the woman's life was in danger. (Guardian)
Sony releases its new console, the Playstation 3

November 18, 2006 (Saturday)

Turkmenbashi Saparmurat Niyazov schedules a second eye operation in Germany in January amid rumors that his health is poor. President Niyazov cannot be operated on in Turkmenistan because earlier this year he signed a decree that closed all hospitals outside of Ashgabat and replaced most healthcare staff with soldiers. (RFE/RL) (World Medical Association)
War in Chad (2005–present) and Central African Republic Bush War:
- Chad has offered to send troops to the Central African Republic to help fight rebels it claims are backed by Sudan. (BBC)
- Chad has imposed a 12-day curfew in its capital to counter growing tension between Arab tribes and local inhabitants. (Aljazeera)
The annual Leonid meteor shower could produce a strong outburst this weekend for residents of New York and New England in the USA, the Maritimes in Canada and in Western Europe. (Space.com)
2006 Tonga riots:
- About 150 soldiers and police officers from Australia and New Zealand have arrived in Tonga following an appeal for help to restore order after riots. (BBC)

November 19, 2006 (Sunday)

Muslim women in New York City want to start a Koran council to interpret strict sharia law. (Reuters)
The British Columbia Lions win the 94th Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League, game 25-14 over the Montreal Alouettes in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (CFL)
Gunmen abduct Iraq's Deputy Health Minister Ammar al-Saffar. (CNN)
Somali Civil War: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warns Somalia's neighbours to stay out, as UN experts paint an alarming picture of foreign and extremist intervention in a nation on the brink of all-out war that could engulf the Horn of Africa. (allAfrica)
Suspected assassination plot: Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who defected to Britain six years ago, is fighting for his life in a London hospital after being poisoned with polonium-210 in a sushi bar. (The Sunday Times)
India test fires a Prithvi missile, a surface-to-surface missile, capable of carrying a nuclear weapon. (NDTV)
Russia and the United States sign a key trade agreement paving the way for Russian membership of the World Trade Organization. (AP via ABC News)
A suicide bomb explodes in Hillah, Iraq, killing 17 and wounding 49. (ABC News)
2006 Tonga riots: A leader of the Tongan pro-democracy movement, MP Akilisi Pohiva, criticises the intervention of Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers following riots. (ABC News Australia)
An attempted military coup d'état in Madagascar announced by Général Andrianafidisoa appears to have failed. (BBC) (NY Times) (ABC News)
The 2006 meeting of the G20 industrial nations in Melbourne ends, with discussions centering on the global economy and climate change. Protesters clash with police during the event. (The Age - discussions) (The Age - protests)
The annual APEC meeting in Hanoi concludes with a call for the resumption of World Trade Organization talks, but references to climate change were removed from the final statement. (International Herald-Tribune)
Sri Lankan Army troopers opened fire on a group of minority Sri Lankan Tamil and Muslim students at an Agricultural College at Thandikulam close to Vavuniya in Sri Lanka. Five students were killed along with 10 injured. (Reuters)
Nintendo releases its 7th generation console, the Wii.

November 20, 2006 (Monday)

A fire in a marketplace in Guatemala City kills at least fifteen people. The fire started from a cigarette in a fireworks stall. (BBC)
Kremlin dismisses claims of Russian involvement in the poisoning of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko as "sheer nonsense". (RTT via NASDAQ)
An explosion on a train in East India at 1240 GMT kills 5 and injures 25 to 50 others. It occurs near a station in West Bengal, 550 kilometers (345 miles) north of the capital Kolkata. The cause of the explosion is unknown. (CNN)
Syria and Iraq will restore diplomatic ties during a visit by Walid Moallem, the Syrian Foreign Minister, to Iraq. (CBS News)
The Kazakh Government arrests 11 suspected terrorists in Stepnogorsk. (EurasiaNet)
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, accuses Home Secretary Jack Straw of participating in "demonization of Muslims only comparable to the demonization of Jews from the end of the 19th century" for his comments regarding veils. (JTA)
A Berlin underground train rear-ends a stationary maintenance vehicle at the busy Südkreuz station injuring 33 people, two of them seriously, officials said. (AP via Yahoo! News)
American stock exchange Nasdaq launches a formal bid of £2.7 billion to take over the London Stock Exchange. (The Times)
The President of the United States George W. Bush visits Indonesia to meet with the President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with large crowds protesting US foreign policy. (ABC News Australia)
An 18-year old armed man takes hostage several children and teachers of his former school in the German town of Emsdetten. He dies from bullet wounds. According to a police spokesman, these wounds were self-inflicted. Several hostages are injured. (German) (WDR) (Reuters)
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was narrowly defeated in the Mexican general election, is proclaimed "Legitimate President of Mexico" by his supporters and promises to set up a "parallel government". (BBC)
A school bus carrying high school students falls nose-first 40 feet to the ground off an Interstate 565 overpass in downtown Huntsville, Alabama, killing four teenage girls. (Reuters)

November 21, 2006 (Tuesday)

Same-sex marriage in Israel: The Supreme Court of Israel orders the Israeli government to recognize same-sex marriage performed abroad. (Wash Post)
Police in Sweden announce that they may have found the weapon used in the unsolved murder of prime minister Olof Palme in 1986. (BBC News)
A helicopter with 13 passengers and 4 crewmembers makes an emergency landing in the North Sea between Texel and Den Helder, The Netherlands. One passenger is taken to hospital with hypothermia. The passengers were being evacuated from an offshore oil rig after a power outage. (BBC News)
Lebanese Minister of Industry and Maronite Christian Pierre Gemayel is assassinated by a gunman in Beirut. (CNN)
President of the United States George W. Bush and the Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki announce plans to meet next week to discuss security issues in Iraq. (AP via Fox 31 Colorado)
Twenty-three miners are killed in a gas explosion in a coal mine in Ruda Śląska, Poland, approximately 1,000 meters below the ground. (BBC News)
Klaus Volkert, former chairman of the works council of Volkswagen, is arrested. He is suspected of attempting collusion and perfidy in the trial concerning Volkert's role in the corruption affair with the German car maker. (German) (NDR)
A collision between a passenger train and a freight train at Arnhem station in the Netherlands injures 31 people. The driver of the freight train, who is alleged to have ignored a red signal, is arrested by police. (Dutch) (Nu.nl)
American actor and comedian Michael Richards, best known for playing character Cosmo Kramer, apologizes on the nation's The Late Show this morning after referring to two African Americans as "niggers" at a Los Angeles area comedy club. (Newsday)
A British mother facing the death penalty in Vietnam for heroin smuggling will not have a defence in court - because her lawyer has been put under house arrest by the Vietnamese Government. (The Times)
An international consortium signs a deal formally launching ITER, a project to develop an experimental nuclear fusion reactor. (BBC News)
Syria and Iraq restore diplomatic relations and agree to cooperate on security issues. (AFP via New Strait Times)
Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, winner of five Olympic, eleven World Championship, and ten Commonwealth gold medals, announces his retirement at the age of twenty-four. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Part of the Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo burns down during a gunfight, thereby suspending the Court's review of electoral fraud and irregularities alleged to have taken place during the contested second round of the 2006 presidential election. (IRIN)

November 22, 2006 (Wednesday)

A gas pipeline explodes near the city of Surabaya in Java, killing seven people. (Reuters via ABC Australia)
Hinting at Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells Orthodox Union (OU) in Jerusalem: "Israel's main problem is threat that comes from those who openly talk about wiping us off the map; we have heard these voices in the past; we can't afford to listen and not to react." (Yedioth Ahronoth)
General elections in the Netherlands have resulted in a landslide gain for the Socialist Party. The Christian Democratic CDA remains the largest party, but no two parties can form a cabinet with a majority in the House of Representatives. (NOS) (AP via ABC News)
The Prime Minister of Lebanon has asked the United Nations for help in investigating the assassination of Pierre Amine Gemayel. (Reuters via The Age)
Flooding in southern Somalia causes 73 deaths. Up to 1.8 million people have been affected by the floods. (AFP via Mail and Guardian)
The United Nations claims that 3,709 Iraqi civilians died during October 2006 as sectarian violence worsens. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
United States district judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana Eldon Fallon rules that over seven thousand federal lawsuits against pharmaceutical company Merck claiming that its drug Vioxx caused heart problems could not be combined into one class action suit. (AP via Chicago Tribune)
Seven foreign oil workers are taken hostage in Nigeria. Four people die in a rescue effort including one hostage, a soldier and two of the kidnappers. (AP via ABC News)
According to UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, British troops stationed in the Iraqi city of Basra could hand over control to local authorities as early as next spring. (The Times)
The Prime Minister of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist guerilla leader Prachanda sign a peace treaty ending 11 years of civil war in Nepal. (Sydney Morning Herald)

November 23, 2006 (Thursday)

Sectarian war in Iraq: A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in the predominantly Shi'a Sadr City area of Baghdad kills at least 202 people and wounds another 257. The incidents comprise the deadliest coordinated attack since the Iraq War started. (BBC) (Reuters)
Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland, announces three days of national mourning for the twenty-three victims of the mining disaster at the Halemba mine in Ruda Śląska, Poland. (Stuff New Zealand)
Somali Civil War: Ethiopia has made preparations for a conflict with the Islamic Courts Union, whom control much of southern Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has told MPs. (BBC)
Hamas claims responsibility for a suicide bombing attack in which a 57 year old grandmother killed herself. She also admits to the use of women as human shields in order to save militant gunmen, (Breitbart)
Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian ex-spy poisoned in London last weekend, dies. He had previously been put on a ventilator after suffering a heart failure, while objects discovered in his body when he was x-rayed are not a "major concern", doctors say. (The Times) (News Limited)
Dick Cheney, Vice-President of the United States, is reported to have arrived in Iraq to spend Thanksgiving with US forces, though this is denied by his spokesperson. (BBC)
Don Brash resigns as leader of the opposition New Zealand National Party, saying ongoing speculation about his leadership is damaging to the party. (NZ Herald)

November 24, 2006 (Friday)

Convicted killer and loyalist Michael Stone is seized by security guards and police at Northern Ireland's parliament building, Stormont, while carrying a gun, knife and several possibly "viable" explosive devices. (BBC)
Rwanda breaks off diplomatic relations with France after a French judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, issues warrants for the arrest of President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and nine associates for their alleged involvement in the shooting down of a plane carrying former President Juvenal Habyarimana. The incident sparked the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. (Reuters)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel and Palestinians have agreed to a ceasefire.(BBC)
Campaigning has ended in Bahrain's parliamentary elections before tomorrow's vote. The International Herald Tribune says voter turnout is expected to be 'huge' after a divisive election campaign. (IHT)
In the last statement before his death, poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko accuses Russian president Vladimir Putin of his murder. (The Times)
Iraqi insurgency: Suicide bombers kill 22 people and wound 26 in the city of Tal Afar in northern Iraq. (Reuters)
The European Union (EU) hosts the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in a summit. Poland has vetoed the launch of EU-Russia partnership talks. (Reuters via Melbourne Age)
The Cole Inquiry delivers its report to the Australian Government to be tabled in the Parliament of Australia on Monday. It was inquiring whether Australian companies notably AWB Limited paid bribes to the Government of Saddam Hussein in order to sell wheat to Iraq. (The Australian)
In a poll conducted by the U.S. Agency for Development, following President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's signing of the controversial, new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, 62% of Kyrgyz citizens believe the country is moving in the right direction. (Angus Reid)
Maximo V. Soliven, O.B. Montessori Center chairman and veteran publisher and writer of the Philippine Star, dies of cardiac and respiratory arrest in Japan. (Max Soliven Passes)

November 25, 2006 (Saturday)

General Augusto Pinochet issues a statement accepting "political" responsibility for everything that happened in Chile during his rule. (BBC)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko calls for a "union" of foreign and energy policies between Belarus and Ukraine. At the same time, he says his government falsified the results of the last presidential election by reducing the size of his own majority. (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty)
Polling has been reportedly brisk in today's Bahraini parliamentary elections. The first results are expected later today. (CNN)
War in Chad (2005–present): Rebel fighters are reported to have entered the key eastern Chadian city of Abéché, following clashes with government troops. (BBC)
Police in New York kill an unarmed man, Sean Bell, on his wedding day. They fired more than 50 times. (BBC News)
BYU's football program beat Utah 33-31 on a game-winning touchdown catch by wide receiver Johnny Harline.

November 26, 2006 (Sunday)

Somali Civil War: The Islamic Courts Union that controls much of southern Somalia has dispatched thousands of troops to within 15km of the border with Ethiopia. (Al-Jazeera)
War in Chad (2005–present):
- Chad's armed forces have retaken Abéché with no major fighting being reported. (Aljazeera)
- Chadian forces have also claimed to have retaken Biltine, but rebel forces deny these claims. (BBC)
- After earlier reports from The French embassy in Chad saying a large column of rebel vehicles had been spotted heading towards the capital N'Djamena, the embassy now says the progression has stopped. (BBC)
Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland criticizes "murky murders" associated with Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia following the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
Sunni and Shia Islamists score big victories in Bahrain's parliamentary elections as results are announced from yesterday's poll (Gulf News). Liberals and the left win no seats in the first round. (Reuters via CNN)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- A ceasefire commences between Israeli and Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip. It followed negotiations between the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (MSNBC)
- Palestinian attacks on Israel continue, despite a ceasefire and subsequent Israeli pullout from Gaza, with militants firing a barrage of Qassam rockets on southern Israeli towns. (AP via Yahoo! News)
One NATO soldier and 57 insurgents are killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan. (The Boston Globe)
Fiji crisis of 2005-2006: The Fijian military calls up 1,000 as military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama states "my intention of removing this government is clear". (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Ecuadorian election: People in Ecuador go to the polls to choose a new president between Rafael Correa and Álvaro Noboa. Exit polls and unofficial polls indicate a victory for Correa. (BBC News), (Reuters)
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi collapses while giving a speech in Tuscany and has to be carried from the podium by his aides. Doctors treating him afterwards blamed a sudden drop in blood pressure. (BBC News)

November 27, 2006 (Monday)

Michael Grade, the Chairman of the BBC, is hired as the new boss of its biggest rival ITV. (BBC)
The Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirms that Joseph Kabila had won the 2006 presidential election. (Independent Online)
Iraq War:
- A U.S. F-16 fighter aircraft has gone down near the city of Fallujah in western Iraq. The United States Air Force said the plane's pilot was missing and an investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched. (Aljazeera)
- Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations warns that Iraq is close to civil war unless "something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation". (CNN)
Somali Civil War: The Islamic Courts Union that controls much of southern Somalia has revealed they would attack Ethiopian forces in Galkayo in Mudug province, central Somalia. (AllAfrica)
The British government rejects proposals to increase the length of sound recording's copyright protection from 50 years to 95 years. This means that Sir Cliff Richard's earliest songs will come out of copyright in 2008, and the earliest songs recorded by the Beatles in 2013. Songs composed and/or written will still have copyright for 70 years after the author's death. (BBC)
An airplane crashes in Tehran killing 28 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps including high-ranking officers. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock tables the multi-volume Cole Inquiry report. It finds that the Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, his ministers or Australian government departments were not aware of AWB Limited paying kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein to buy Australian wheat under the Oil for Food program. (AAP via News Limited)
John Key is elected leader of the opposition New Zealand National Party, with Bill English as his deputy. Both were unopposed. (NZ Herald)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Canadian House of Commons endorse a motion to declare that the Québécois form a nation within a unified Canada.

November 28, 2006 (Tuesday)

U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia James Robertson orders the U.S. Treasury Department to make paper currency more recognizable to blind people in American Council for the Blind v. Secretary of the Treasury. (FOXNews.com)
Speaker-designate of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announces that controversial Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings will not be the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 110th Congress. (Reuters via Washington Post)
Rafael Correa will be the next President of Ecuador after winning the election with 57 per cent of the vote (94% counted). He will not be officially confirmed until all the votes are counted. (Reuters)
The Canadian House of Commons supports a motion recognising the people of Quebec as a separate nation within a united Canada. (BBC)
Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve predicts that the US economy should undertake a moderate expansion but inflation risks are "primarily to the upside." (Reuters via USA Today)
War in Chad (2005–present):
- Chadian rebels said they shot down a government military plane with a captured ground-to-air missile in fighting near the eastern town of Abeche, which they briefly seized at the weekend. (Reuters)
- A Chadian government spokesman said his nation was in "a state of war" with Sudan after a Chadian rebel group said it shot down a government plane. (CNN)
Central African Republic Bush War:
- Government troops in the Central African Republic, backed by French forces, have launched an offensive to retake the northeast town of Birao from rebels, and have recaptured its airport, a French military spokesman said. (Reuters)
- French forces have clashed with rebels in the Central African Republic during a government offensive to regain control of the northern town of Birao. (BBC)
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Turkey at the start of a four day tour that has sparked protests. (The Guardian)
The Thai Government lifts martial law in 41 of the country's 76 provinces as recommended by coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin. (BBC)
Nuclear envoys from North Korea, China and the United States meet to discuss North Korea's nuclear program. (Voice of America)
The Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase flies to New Zealand to hold talks with Commodore Frank Bainimarama tomorrow as part of efforts sponsored by the New Zealand Government to avert a coup d'état. (AFP, AAP via News Limited)

November 29, 2006 (Wednesday)

Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, expresses concern about a resumption of fighting in Sudan between the army and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. (BBC)
Shibu Soren, a Cabinet Minister in India's coalition government, is convicted of murdering his secretary. The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh successfully demands Soren's resignation. (News Limited)
Three British Airways planes are grounded in London and Moscow due to positive traces of radiation as the investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko widens. British Airways will attempt to contact the thousands of passengers who have travelled on the planes recently. (CNN)
Turkmenbashi Saparmurat Niyazov fires Khojaberdy Byashymov, Governor of Mary Province. Niyazov has now fired every regional governor in Turkmenistan since the beginning of November. (RFE/RL)
United States District Court judge Richard J. Leon orders the Bush administration to resume making payments to thousands of people who lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
Brandon Mayfield, wrongly arrested after the 11 March, 2004 Madrid attacks settles a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation for $2 million. (USAToday)
Al-Qaida in Iraq condemns Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey as being part of a "Crusader campaign" against Islam. Vatican officials respond by saying that the comments illustrate the need for religions to fight "violence in the name of God". (AP via Los Angeles Times)
Former Prime Minister of Russia Yegor Gaidar is recovering in hospital in Moscow from a mystery illness contracted in Ireland prompting speculation of a connection with the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. (AFP via ABC)
After Islamists win a large number of seats in the first round of Bahrain's parliamentary election last Saturday, rumours sweep the Kingdom that leaders of the Shia opposition party, Al Wefaq, will join the government in a cabinet reshuffle. (Gulf News)
An Australian Army Black Hawk helicopter is lost at sea off the coast of Fiji where it had been operating from HMAS Kanimbla (L-51) preparing to evacuate Australian civilians in the event of a coup. The Fijian military is holding an exercise in the capital Suva claiming there are fears of a "foreign intervention". (News Limited), (BBC)
The United Nations Security Council unanimously passes a resolution that extends the mandate of the United States-led multinational force in Iraq until December 31, 2007. The new resolution requires a review of the mandate to begin by June 15, 2007, or sooner if the government of Iraq requests it. The government of Iraq can also revoke the mandate before its end if it chooses to do so. (Guardian UK)
The Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase meets with Fijian military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama in emergency talks in Wellington, New Zealand aimed at averting a coup. (News Limited)
In the United Kingdom, the News of the World newspaper's royal editor Clive Goodman pleads guilty to conspiring to intercept the voicemail messages of Prince William and Prince Harry. (BBC)
The Liberal Party of Canada opens its leadership convention, expected to be the most contentious in decades, with a keynote speech by Howard Dean. (CBC)

November 30, 2006 (Thursday)