Portal:Current events/2020 November 30

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • Al-Shabaab militants attack a military base in Baladweyne, Somalia, killing 21 people. Fifty-one militants also died during the attack. (Xinhua)
• Mali War
  • Rocket attacks are carried out in three northern Malian cities – Gao, Kidal and Ménaka – against French military bases. No one is killed or injured. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claims responsibility for the attacks. (Le Monde)
• Iraqi and local officials say a senior Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and three others have been killed in a drone strike near the Iraq–Syria border. The identity of the commander and who conducted the airstrike is currently unknown. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
  • British retail tycoon Philip Green's Arcadia Group collapses into administration, putting over 13,000 jobs at risk and becoming the United Kingdom's biggest corporate casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. Arcadia CEO Ian Grabiner blames the pandemic for the company's demise, saying "the obstacles we encountered were far too severe". (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta
        • Alberta reports 1,733 new cases in the past 24 hours, a new single-day record since the pandemic began. (CBC)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee
        • Tennessee reports a record 7,975 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of confirmed and probable case to 374,793. (WKRN-TV)
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois
        • Illinois reports 6,190 cases, the lowest in the state since October 28. (WBBM-TV)
      • Scott Atlas announces that he will resign from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. (The Washington Post)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Wales
        • First Minister Mark Drakeford announces that bars, pubs, restaurants and cafes will be banned from serving alcohol and will have to close for dine-in customers at 6:00 p.m. GMT. Indoor entertainment and visitor attractions will also be closed beginning December 4. (BBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia
      • Croatia reports a record 74 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 1,786. (Total Croatia News)
      • Prime Minister Andrej Plenković tests positive for COVID-19. (RTVBN)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
      • Turkey surpasses 500,000 total cases of COVID-19. (Anadolu Agency)
      • In response to a rise in cases, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces the most widespread restrictions in the country beginning tomorrow, including extending curfews to weeknights between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. local time and total weekend lockdowns from 9:00 p.m. on Friday to 5:00 a.m. local time on Monday. Grocery stores and food delivery services are exempt from the lockdowns within certain hours. (ABC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
      • The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority extends the travel restrictions until December 7 for domestic flights and December 14 for international flights in an attempt to reduce the second wave of the pandemic. (Ekathimerini)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
      • Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen bans wedding parties and gatherings of more than 20 people as part of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 after the country reported several cases of community transmission. (CNA)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
      • The Hong Kong government announces that they will limit the number of people in a gathering to two, close venues such as mahjong parlours and swimming pools and ask most civil servants to work from home for two weeks beginning December 2. Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland will also be closed. (The Straits Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Tokyo reports a monthly record of 9,857 cases in November, surpassing the previous record set in August. (Kyodo News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
      • Vietnam reports its first locally transmitted case in 89 days. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
    • COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo (state)
      • The state of São Paulo imposes stricter social distancing measures with restrictions on opening hours and capacity limits for bars, restaurants and shopping malls as it attempts to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • Victoria reports its first death in more than a month after a woman in her 70s who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in September dies from complications. (9 News)
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • Moderna announces that they will seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration and European regulators such as the European Medicines Agency for their potential vaccine after it showed a 94% effectiveness. (CBS News)
• 2020 H5N8 outbreak
  • South Korea reports an outbreak of pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza at a farm in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, killing over 19,000 ducks. (Reuters)

International relations

• Australia–China relations, Australia-Russia relations
  • Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demands an apology from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a spokesman tweeted a political cartoon of an Australian soldier killing an Afghan child in a post criticizing the Australian Defence Forces' recent war crimes in Afghanistan. (The Guardian)
  • The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed Australian soldiers accused of war crimes would not be "held accountable” while Australia accuse Russia of "hypocrisy". (ABC)
  • The Afghanistan Times welcomed China’s move to condemn and also react strongly over unlawful killings in Afghanistan. (Afghanistan Times)
• Israel–Saudi Arabia relations
  • Saudi Arabia agrees to allow Israeli commercial flights to cross its airspace for the first time, following high-level talks between Saudi officials and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Cannabis in the United States
  • Cannabis in Arizona
    • Arizona Proposition 207 comes into effect, making Arizona the 12th state to legalize recreational cannabis. (KSAZ-TV)
• 2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption
  • The government of New Zealand announce that charges have been filed against organizations and individuals following a volcanic eruption at White Island that killed 22 people in December 2019. (The New York Times)
• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prisons, COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka
  • Officials say eight inmates were killed and 52 others injured after guards opened fire during a prison riot on Sunday in Mahara, Sri Lanka. The unrest was sparked by a surge of COVID-19 infections in Sri Lankan prisons. (AP)
• Slovenia formally declares Lebanese Shia Islamist group Hezbollah a terrorist organization. (The Jerusalem Post)

Politics and elections

• Viktor Orbán surpasses Kálmán Tisza as the longest-serving Prime Minister of Hungary after 14 years and 145 days in office. (Index.hu)

Science and technology

• November 2020 lunar eclipse
  • A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs, with the full moon dimming slightly as it passes through the Earth's penumbral shadow. It is visible from most of North America, the Pacific Ocean, parts of East Asia, and New Zealand. (Space.com)