Portal:Current events/2010 November 21
November 21, 2010 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- At least six suspected Islamist militants are killed in a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan region. (Sify) (AP via Google News) (DNA India)
- Seven people are killed after a bomb planted by suspected Maoist rebels explodes in Aurangabad district, Bihar, northeastern India. (The Times of India) (BBC)
Arts and culture
- Pope Benedict XVI says his personal opinion is that condoms may be used "in exceptional cases" to combat HIV-AIDS, but the Vatican says it has not changed its policy on contraception. (The Australian) (The Telegraph) (AP via Google News)
- Canadian pop star Justin Bieber wins four awards at the American Music Awards. (BBC)
Business and economy
- North Korea unveils a new uranium enrichment plant. (The New York Times) (Arirang)
- Irish financial crisis
- Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, Jnr applies for an international bailout to deal with the Irish financial crisis. (RTÉ) (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (BBC)
- Protesters gather outside Government Buildings in Dublin. (The Irish Times)
- A ministerial car runs over a protestor who is then taken away in an ambulance. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- A chemical factory explodes in Yushe county, North China's Shanxi province, killing at least three. (Xinhua)
- A flood traps 28 people in a coal mine in Sichuan, southwestern China. (BBC) (China Daily)
- The death toll from the eruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia reaches 292. (CNN)
- Four Haitian presidential candidates call for the postponement of the Haitian elections set for November 28 as the country struggles with a cholera epidemic which has killed nearly 1,200. (AFP via Google News)
- Rescuers begin drilling a hole to analyse air inside the Pike River mine in New Zealand. There has been no communication with the 29 trapped miners. (TVNZ) (Adelaiden Now)
International relations
- Russia hosts the International Tiger Forum summit meeting of international wildlife experts and officials from 13 countries in St.Petersburg, to discuss the protection of tigers which could become extinct in 12 years if unprotected. (AP via Google News) (RIA Novosti) (AP via Google News) (Voice of America)
Law and crime
- Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy against Islam, appeals to President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her. (Sify) (The Washington Post) (Dawn) (The Nation)
- An Israeli military court demotes two Givati Brigade staff sergeants to sergeant after convicting them of forcing a nine-year-old Palestinian boy to open two bags thought to contain explosives. (Haaretz) (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Thirty five people are arrested in Salt, Jordan, to restore calm after four days of rioting following the police shooting of an alleged traffic violator. (The Washington Post)
- Iran delays the trial of two American citizens detained while hiking until 6 February 2011. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Voters in Burkina Faso go to the polls, with incumbent President Blaise Compaoré claiming victory with 75 per cent of the votes.(BBC News)
- Egypt restricts opposition before vote, with security forces arresting hundreds of opposition activists, and clamping down on the media ahead of parliamentary elections next week according to Amnesty International. (Reuters Africa) (CNN) (AP via Google News)
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects the country's once effective family planning program as an "ungodly Western import" and urges girls to marry at age of 16. (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post)
Sport
- US stock car racer Jimmie Johnson wins his fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, the first driver to do so. (New York Times)