Portal:Current events

Business and economy

• 2026 Bangladesh garment workers protests
  • Amid minimum wage protests by garment workers, 13 garment factories in Gazipur are shut indefinitely under the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 and over 50 remain closed in Savar and Ashulia, while 48 platoons of the Border Guard, Ansar, and Special Response Battalion deploy across industrial zones in Dhaka, Gazipur, and Narayanganj. (The Business Standard)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Cape Verdean presidential election
  • Cape Verdeans vote to elect a president, where the main two candidates are the incumbent PAICV candidate José Maria Neves and the MpD candidate Joana Rosa. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Sudanese civil war
  • Darfur campaign
    • Ahmed Abdallah Bishr, the general chief of staff for the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces (GSLF), is killed in a drone strike on his home in Nyala in Sudan's South Darfur state. (Sudan Tribune)
• 2026 Iran war
  • 2026 Iranian strikes on Bahrain
    • The iranian military attacks, with drones and missiles, an american military facility in Bahrain, in one of the largest attacks on the country in months.(The National News)

Arts and culture

• Eurovision Song Contest Asia
  • The Philippines, with the song "Sobra-Sobra" by Carmelle, wins the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia held in Bangkok, Thailand. (AFP) (AP)

Business and economy

• 2026 Bangladesh garment workers protests
  • The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association threatens to indefinitely close unrest-affected factories without pay under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, after ongoing wage protests force the shutdown of 55 units and halt production at 147 others. (AFP via The Straits Times) (The Business Standard)
• Canada–Philippines relations, Free trade agreements of Canada
  • Canadian prime minister Mark Carney announces that negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Philippines have concluded, with signing expected in 2027. The FTA would eliminate more than 90% of tariff lines. (AFP)

Disasters and accidents

• A bus overturns on the Garzón–Neiva highway in Colombia, killing six people and wounding eleven more. (AP)
• The Slagdijkstermolen windmill in Friesland, Netherlands, burns down. (Omrop Fryslân in Dutch)

Health and environment

• Eight more people in Bangladesh are reported to have died from dengue fever, bringing this year's outbreak's death toll to 491. (BSS)

Law and crime

• Crime in Bangladesh
  • Border Guard Bangladesh seize 48 high-power explosive gel sticks, 100 detonators, and 11 fuses during an operation along the Bangladesh–India border in Kanaighat Upazila, Sylhet District, Bangladesh. (BSS)
• Crime in Guatemala
  • The Guatemalan Army begins deploying a battalion to the departments of Zacapa, Izabal, and Chiquimula following an attack in the Zacapa Department the previous day that killed five people. (Prensa Libre (in Spanish))

Politics and elections

• 2026 European unrest
  • 2026 French civil unrest
    • Student protesters, unions, and the yellow vests hold another nationwide protest in France, with over 100,000 participants. (France 24) (Türkiye)
• 2027 South Sudanese general election
  • The South Sudanese election commission postpones the country's first presidential and parliamentary elections since independence in 2011 from December 22, 2026, to February 11, 2027, amid political tensions and continuing violence. (AFP via RFI)

Science and technology

• The Italian Data Protection Authority fines American technology company Meta for €805 million (US$887 million) after it was found that the Facebook Android app had access to users' photos and videos without specific consent or disclosure. (BBC News) (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • 2026 Iran war
    • 2026 Iranian strikes on Bahrain
      • Iran says it has destroyed an early-warning radar in Bahrain as a retaliation for a United States strike on telecommunication infrastructure on Sirik. (Türkiye)

Disasters and accidents

• 2026 New Orleans ship collision
  • A tanker and the cruise ship American Heritage collide in the Mississippi River of the United States. The cruise ship, carrying 130 people, sinks. All aboard the American Heritage survive, with some taken to local hospitals for treatment of minor injuries. (BBC News) (CNN)
• 2026 FAA ground stop
  • The United States Federal Aviation Administration issues a nationwide ground stop for all flights due to "extraordinary circumstances involving communications failures". It is later lifted. (Bloomberg) (Reuters)
• Twenty-six people are killed and eleven more are injured in a bus–truck collision in Golaghat, India. (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
• Six people are killed and five more injured after an under-construction building partially collapses in Nairobi, Kenya. (Xinhua)

International relations

• Guatemala–United States relations, Mexican drug war
  • The United States Department of State designates three Guatemalan criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations for providing material support to Mexican cartels. (AFP via Macau Business)
• Qatar–Turkey relations
  • Qatar and Turkey sign a defense pact in Istanbul. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Hungary
  • Hungary's National Asset Recovery and Protection Office recovers cash worth around US$19.5 million, including 5 billion Ft, from various locations around the country as part of a bribery investigation into Miklós Seszták, who served as Minister of National Development under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from 2014 to 2018. (Euronews) (Reuters)
• In the United Kingdom, Metropolitan Police announce a criminal investigation into actor David Walliams about "alleged serious sexual offences". The police say they are separate to those investigated by ITN and The Guardian. (AP) (BBC News)

Sports

• 2026–27 Segunda División
  • In association football, the Royal Spanish Football Federation suspends FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono for 12 matches following a collision with CD Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel during a November 2 match, which resulted in de Miguel's death. (Al Jazeera)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Haitian conflict
  • Salvadoran military intervention in Haiti
    • Haitian and Salvadoran soldiers take control of the Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince after two years of gang control. (France 24)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war, United States and the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United States special envoy Jared Kushner announce that European representatives will join future peace negotiations with Russia, which Russian president Vladimir Putin agrees to while maintaining his territorial demands and rejecting foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine. (AFP via New Straits Times) (Reuters)
• At least 10 people, including five with gunshot wounds, are injured in Munshiganj Sadar, Bangladesh, during a clash involving gunfire and crude bomb explosions between two factions of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party. (The Business Standard)

Arts and culture

• Guatemala receives the remains of 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Miguel Ángel Asturias from France, 52 years after his death. President Bernardo Arévalo attends a ceremony ahead of the writer's burial in Guatemala City. (AFP)

Business and economy

• Jensen Huang spying scandal
  • Jensen Huang resigns as chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Nvidia and leaves the company's board following reports of two extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese intelligence agent. Chief financial officer Colette Kress becomes interim CEO. (AFP) (Reuters)
• 2026 Bangladesh garment workers protests
  • Over 200 garment factories shut down as workers block the Dhaka–Tangail Highway in Gazipur, leading police to fire stun grenades at the protesting workers. (Prothom Alo) (New Age)

Disasters and accidents

• Fourteen people are killed and 30 more injured in a multiple-vehicle collision involving 18 cars and five trucks in the Emirate of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. (AFP via The Daily Star) (Al Jazeera)
• A passenger van plunges off a road in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, killing eleven people and wounding three more. (AP)
• A bus veers off a mountain road in Bhimphedi, Nepal, killing ten people and wounding five more. (AP)
• A military helicopter crashes in Malatya, Turkey, killing four soldiers. (AP)

Health and environment

• 2026 Bangladesh measles outbreak
  • Four more children in Bangladesh are reported to have died from measles, bringing the death toll past 1,299. (BSS)

Law and crime

• Iranian external operations
  • A British court convicts two Iranian men of spying on journalists from London-based broadcaster Iran International. One of them is also convicted of preparing a violent attack, while a third defendant is acquitted. (AFP via RFI) (AP)
• 2026 Logan Circle shooting
  • One person is killed and four more are injured in a shooting spree in Logan Circle, Washington D.C., United States. The suspected gunman later kills himself after barricading himself from police inside a nearby apartment. (Al Jazeera) (AP)
• Europol announces that Operation TorNado, an international investigation into illegal dark web marketplaces, resulted in 354 arrests across 14 countries and the seizure of approximately 5.7 tonnes of drugs, 209 firearms, and €211 million (US$234 million) in assets. (AFP)

Science and technology

• A major outage impacts multiple Microsoft services, including Microsoft 365, Copilot and Teams, worldwide. (BBC News)

Sports

• International sporting sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland–Russia relations, Norway–Russia relations
  • Finland announces visa restrictions preventing Russian athletes, including neutral competitors, from entering for sporting events beginning November 16. Norway also announces similar restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes and their support staff. (AFP via RFI)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • 2026 Iran war
    • 2026 Iranian strikes on Oman
      • Iran attacks ship navigation systems on Didamar Island, Oman. Unknown damage is caused. (Reuters)
  • Gaza war
    • Attacks on health facilities during the Gaza war
      • Israel launches an airstrike against the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, killing six Palestinians, including a surgeon, and wounding over 20 more. Four more people are also killed in other airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
• Allied Democratic Forces insurgency, Ituri war
  • At least 22 people are killed by Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces rebels across eight locations in Mambasa Territory, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AP)
• Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Three Central Reserve Police Force personnel are injured after militants open fire on a checkpoint near Mir Bazar in Kulgam district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Security forces launch a search operation to locate the attackers. (Gulf News) (The Hindu)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Pakistani Taliban carries out an ambush against police personnel in Kohat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing ten officers. Eighteen gunmen are also killed in the ensuing shootout. (AP)

Business and economy

• 2026 Bangladesh garment workers protests
  • At least 50 garment factories shut down in Savar and Ashulia, as police use tear gas and stun grenades to disperse striking workers blocking roads. (The Daily Star)
• 2026 Iran war fuel crisis, German economic crisis
  • The German cabinet approves draft legislation establishing a strategic natural gas reserve of 24 terawatt-hours, equivalent to approximately 10% of national storage capacity, to maintain gas supplies during emergencies. (AFP via France 24)
• 2026 Paraguay banking crisis
  • The Central Bank of Paraguay reports providing partial refunds to 1,812,348 eligible Ueno Bank depositors following the bank's collapse. (France 24)

Disasters and accidents

• 2026–27 European windstorm season
  • Portugal closes approximately 8,000 schools nationwide and suspends non-essential public services as Storm Charles approaches. The second day of the Web Summit in Lisbon is also cancelled. (AP) (Deadline)
• 2026 New York City building collapse
  • A 3-story apartment building collapses near a construction site in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, killing eight people and wounding 19 more. (AFP) (Reuters)

Health and environment

• 2026 Ebola epidemic
  • The Kenyan health ministry reports that the country has discharged its last Ebola patient from a hospital in Nairobi after eleven contact cases were treated. Kenya will be declared Ebola-free on December 23 if no one else exhibits symptoms. (DW)
  • The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo surpasses 11,000, with at least 5,387 deaths, affecting 8 of the country's 26 provinces. (Al Jazeera)
• The American ocean liner SS United States is sunk off the coast of Destin–Fort Walton Beach, Florida, United States, to become the world's largest artificial reef. (Pensacola News Journal) (Reuters)

International relations

• Argentina–Iran relations
  • Iran designates the Argentinian naval and air forces as terrorist organizations, in response to Argentina designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as such in March. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
• China–Germany relations
  • Germany announces that its military will discontinue using Chinese-made drones for military training and exercises, replacing them with German or other European models to address security concerns. (AP) (Reuters)
• France–Russia relations
  • Russia bans two French lawmakers, Arthur Delaporte and Sacha Houlié, and two journalists, Ariane Chemin and Paul Gogo, from entering the country for allegedly harassing Xenia Fedorova, the head of RT France, from 2017 to 2023. (Al Jazeera)
• Kenya–Sudan relations
  • Kenyan president William Ruto signs a deal for Sudan to lift its 20-month ban on imports of tea from Kenya. (Business Daily Africa)

Law and crime

• 2026 European infrastructure disruption
  • European bomb threat wave
    • More than 6,000 schools across Italy are evacuated following bomb threats. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• Colombian conflict
  • Two people are arrested in connection with an explosive attack on the headquarters of Colombian broadcaster RCN Televisión in Cali, Valle del Cauca. (AFP via Gulf News)
• Ten people are killed and 13 more injured during clashes between police and protestors after a patrol against illegal gold mining in Balato, Guinea. (AP)
• Former Red Brigades member Leonardo Bertulazzi escapes house arrest in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while awaiting extradition to Italy to serve a 27-year prison sentence for kidnapping and membership in an armed group. Argentine security forces launch a manhunt for him. (AFP via France 24)

Politics and elections

• 2026 United States Senate elections
  • 2026 United States Senate election in Mississippi
    • After a week of counting affidavit ballots, the Associated Press and CNN project the election to the U.S. Senate in Mississippi for Democratic candidate Scott Colom, defeating the incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and becoming the first black senator from the state since Blanche Bruce in the 1874–75 elections. (AFP) (AP) (CNN)
• 2026 Brazilian general election
  • The Brazilian Superior Electoral Court fines Meta Platforms R$7.5 million (US$1.34 million) for failing to comply with judicial orders concerning the 2026 presidential election, while finding insufficient evidence of deliberate electoral interference. (AFP via Le Monde)
• 2026 Spanish housing protests
  • Millions of workers across Spain launch a general strike to demand government intervention over the country's housing crisis, as an escalation of the ongoing protests. (Al Jazeera) (El País)
• Gibran Rakabuming Raka diploma controversy
  • Indonesian vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka submits his resignation amid questions about his educational qualifications. Bloomberg News reports that President Prabowo Subianto accepts the resignation, although the government has not publicly confirmed its acceptance. (Reuters)
• Independence March
  • Polish president Karol Nawrocki and at least 500,000 people participate in the annual patriotic march celebrating the National Independence Day in Warsaw, Poland. (Zero in Polish)

Science and technology

• Cyberwarfare by Russia
  • The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) reports that it stopped a December 2025 cyberattack against an unidentified government institution, attributing it to the Russia-linked trojan package Turla. The SRI finds no evidence that sensitive information was stolen. (Reuters)
• Cybersecurity firm CloudSek reports that the Kazakhstan-linked hacker group Silent Lynx used an autonomous agent to breach Tajikistan's government database and steal more than 2,000 national security-related documents. (The Record) (Reuters)

Sports

• 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup
  • The United States men's national under-17 soccer team withdraws from the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar, citing safety concerns related to the Houthi–Saudi conflict. (AFP) (ESPN)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war, United Arab Emirates in the 2026 Iran war, United States and the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • 2026 United States–Ukraine–Russia meetings in Abu Dhabi
      • A third round of United States-mediated talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations begins in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, focusing on the humanitarian impact of the war, prisoners of war, and security guarantees. Earlier in the day, the American and Ukrainian teams held a separate meeting with representatives of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the European Commission, and NATO. (AP) (DW) (The Guardian)
• Haitian conflict
  • Salvadoran military intervention in Haiti, El Salvador–Haiti relations
    • El Salvador announces it has launched a joint military operation with the Haitian police against the 400 Mawozo gang, killing 20 people and destroying a house linked to its leader, Wilson Joseph. (Al Jazeera)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • A military court in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, sentences 66 soldiers to death on charges of cowardice, mutiny, and failure to obey orders, after they were arrested following clashes with Front for the Refoundation of the Nation rebels. (DW)
• Terrorism in Kenya, Somali Civil War
  • Eight people, including five workers and two police reservists, are killed by suspected al-Shabaab militants in Mandera County, Kenya, near the border with Somalia, during an ambush against a vehicle. (AFP via AA) (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Energy crisis in Venezuela
  • The Venezuelan National Assembly unanimously approves a reform of the electricity law which allows private companies and joint ventures to invest in the nationalised electricity sector, which the government has controlled since 2007. (AFP via RFI)
• The Monetary Authority of Singapore launches a gold reserve service for foreign central banks, international financial institutions, and sovereign entities, and announces expanded tax exemptions for wholesale gold services. (AFP via The Daily Star) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2026 Trakia motorway crash
  • Twelve people are killed and 51 others are seriously injured in a multiple-vehicle collision involving 86 vehicles on the Trakia motorway near Yambol, Bulgaria. (Al Jazeera) (Plovdiv24)
• Five schoolgirls are killed and 21 others are injured when a school bus plunges into a pond in Kandal province, Cambodia. (AP)
• The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service kills a female grizzly bear and her three cubs after DNA evidence confirmed that the bears killed two people near Bella Coola, B.C., Canada. (AFP via ABS-CBN News) (BBC News)

Health and environment

• AI boom
  • The Thai cabinet approves new environmental regulations for data centers, including limits on noise and temperature increases, requirements for cooling-water recycling and testing, and industrial zoning for facilities consuming more than 20 megawatts. (AFP via The Straits Times)
• The United States Food and Drug Administration orders manufacturers of GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, originally intended for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but also commonly used for weight loss, to add warnings that use of such drugs may increase the risk of developing non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, an optic nerve disorder that can cause permanent blindness. (BBC News) (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2025–2026 Indonesian protests
  • Indonesian police detain 154 people following clashes with protesters in Yogyakarta, Java. The Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute reports that two people are hospitalized and 13 others remain missing. (AFP via New Straits Times)
• LGBTQ rights in Trinidad and Tobago
  • The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overturns colonial-era provisions criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual activity between adults in Trinidad and Tobago, ruling them unconstitutional following a legal challenge by activist Jason Jones. (CNN) (Reuters)
• United Kingdom–United States relations, Russia–United Kingdom relations
  • Police arrest an American soldier near Gloucester, England, on suspicions of espionage activity in connection with Russia. (DW)
• An explosive device kills a police officer and his K9 dog and injures another while they were responding to a shooting in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. (AP) (BBC News)
• British news outlets The Guardian and ITV News identify comedian and author David Walliams as the subject of sexual misconduct allegations after the High Court of Justice rejects his attempt to prevent their publication. Walliams denies the allegations. (CNN) (RTÉ News)

Politics and elections

• Gibran Rakabuming Raka diploma controversy
  • Indonesian vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka announces his intention to resign following controversies about the authenticity of his high-school diploma. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• AI boom
  • Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese announces plans to introduce mandatory safeguards for artificial intelligence companies, including security incident reporting and independent model evaluations, and establish a new regulatory body to oversee compliance. (AFP) (ABC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2026 Iran war
  • United Kingdom involvement in the 2026 Iran war
    • The Wall Street Journal reports that the United States has evacuated aircraft from the RAF Mildenhall base in the United Kingdom, citing threats from Iran. (Reuters)
• 2026 Kraków shooting
  • The 24-year-old man responsible for the drive-by mass shooting at the Main Square in Kraków, Poland, two days ago, which killed six people and injured 16 others, dies at a hospital after being seriously wounded in a shootout with police. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• 2026 Booker Prize
  • English author M. John Harrison wins the 2026 Booker Prize for his post-apocalyptic novel The End of Everything. (The Guardian)
• The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, United Kingdom, returns the remains of 39 Naga people, collected during the British Raj, to a delegation from Nagaland, India, following six years of discussions over repatriation. (AFP via France 24)

Business and economy

• 2026 Paraguay banking crisis
  • Paraguayan president Pedro Alliana appoints economist Jorge Schreiner to lead the central bank following Ueno Bank's collapse. The Senate approves Schreiner's appointment. (Reuters)
• China–United States trade war
  • The Chinese commerce ministry extends the suspension of export restrictions on certain rare earths, industrial diamonds, and lithium battery technology to January 10, 2027, amid ongoing trade negotiations with the United States. (Reuters)
• The South Korean Fair Trade Commission issues fines of ₩331.1 billion (US$247 million) for Woowa Brothers and ₩300.8 billion ($222 million) for Coupang, finding that their food-delivery platforms restricted competition by requiring restaurants to match rival platforms' terms. (AFP via France 24)

Disasters and accidents

• 2026 Aliağa factory explosion
  • Seventeen people are killed and twelve others are injured in an explosion at a factory in Aliağa, Turkey. (BBC News)
• At least five people are reported missing after two boats collide off the coast of Trinidad. Search and rescue operations are underway by the Trinbagonian Coast Guard. (AP)

International relations

• Cyprus problem
  • Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides and Northern Cypriot president Tufan Erhürman agree to establish two additional crossings across the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus and hold further peace negotiations. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• English actor Russell Brand is sentenced to 10 years and 6 months imprisonment for one rape and three counts of sexual assault. (CNN) (RTÉ News)

Politics and elections

• Censorship in Russia
  • Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta ceases operations as it closes its offices in Moscow, citing pressure from Russian authorities and security services, including restrictions on its operations, loss of media registration, and blocked donations. (AP)
• D.R. Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi signs a law allowing constitutional changes through referendums. (Reuters)

Sports

• In college football, the College Football Playoff announces it will expand from 12 to 24 teams starting in the 2027 season. (ESPN)