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Worldwide current events
Sports events

Topics in the news

In baseball, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters defeat the Hiroshima Toyo Carp to win the Japan Series.
Yazidi human rights activists Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar win the Sakharov Prize.
More than 60 people are killed in an attack on a police training centre in Quetta, Pakistan.
At least 70 people are killed and around 600 others injured in a train derailment in Cameroon.
Numerous media outlets, social networks, and retailers go offline in parts of North America and Europe during a large-scale denial-of-service cyberattack.

October 30, 2016 (Sunday)

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Disasters and accidents

October 2016 Central Italy earthquakes
- A 6.6 magnitude earthquake occurs in Central Italy 68 kilometres east southeast of Perugia. Many buildings are reported as having been destroyed. (Reuters via ABC Online), (BBC)
- The 14th century Basilica of St. Benedict in the town of Norcia is destroyed. (The Guardian)

Health

Zika virus outbreak timeline
- Vietnam reports its first microcephaly case likely to be linked to the Zika virus. (ABC Online)

International relations

Canada–European Union relations
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and EU officials sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). (BBC)
Boko Haram insurgency
- The United Nations and Nigeria come to an agreement to release 876 children being held due to suspicions that they are tied to Boko Haram. (Reuters)

Law and crime

The United States orders all civilian staff family members to leave its consulate in Istanbul, Turkey due to increasing threats from terrorist organizations. (CNN)

Politics and elections

2016 Turkish purges
- Turkey dismisses another 10,000 civil servants and closes 15 more media outlets for alleged ties to terrorist organizations and cleric Fethullah Gülen. (Reuters)

October 29, 2016 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Sectarianism in Pakistan
- Five people are killed and several other civilians injured as armed terrorists, targeting Shia Muslims, open fire on participants of a Majlis at a home in the Nazimabad district of Karachi, Pakistan. (Samaa TV) (The Express Tribune)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least eight people in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri. (AP)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Two prisons in Al Hudaydah, Yemen, are bombed by Saudi Arabian jets, leaving at least 60 dead. (Reuters) (AP via The New York Times) (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Rain and flooding in Egypt kills at least 18 people. (Naharnet)

International relations

Turkey-United States relations
- The U.S. State Department orders family members of employees at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul to leave as extremist groups threaten to kill or kidnap U.S. citizens and Westerners. (NBC News)

Law and crime

Choi Soon-sil gate
- South Korean prosecutors raid the presidential Blue House in Seoul amid continuing fallout over President Park Geun-hye's influence-peddling scandal involving cult leader Choi Soon-sil. (The Straits Times)
The New York City Metropolitan Opera cancels its Saturday performances as a man, during an afternoon intermission, sprinkled an unidentified powder into the orchestra pit. One person was exposed and requested medical attention. (Reuters) (CBS News/AP)

Politics and elections

2015–16 Spanish government formation
- The Spanish Parliament votes to allow Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to lead a People's Party minority government after a ten month interregnum. (BBC)
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2016
- With about 25 percent of the votes counted, the Independence Party is receiving about 30 percent of the ballots cast. The Pirate Party, which led in most of this month's polls, is getting about 13 percent. (AP)

Sport

2016 Japan Series
- In baseball, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters defeat the Hiroshima Toyo Carp to win the Japan Series. (Kyodo News), (The Japan Times)

October 28, 2016 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Battle of Mosul (2016)
  - The UN reports 232 civilians have been murdered in and near Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (CNN) (NBC News)
Syrian Civil War, Aleppo offensive
- More than 15 civilians are reported killed and another 100 injured as Syria's Army of Conquest and other jihadist rebels launch an offensive to break the government-led siege on eastern Aleppo. (Reuters) (ARA News)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects the Russian military’s request to resume airstrikes in eastern Aleppo, instead letting the humanitarian pause continue. (RT) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

American Airlines Flight 383 (2016)
- An American Airlines Boeing 767 catches fire after an aborted takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Seven passengers and one flight attendant were injured, and taken to area hospitals. (CNN)
A fire destroys the historic Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, Devon, which is described as the oldest hotel in England. (BBC)

International relations

At an annual meeting of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart, Australia, twenty-four countries and the European Union agree to create the world's largest marine park in Antarctica's Ross Sea. The marine park will cover more than 12 percent of the Southern Ocean, and will be protected from commercial fishing for 35 years. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Philippine Drug War
- Datu Saudi-Ampatuan mayor Samsudin Dimaukom, publicly accused by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of involvement in the illegal drug trade, is killed, along with nine others, by Philippine police at a highway checkpoint in what police describe as an anti-drug operation. (The New York Times) (The Philippine Star)
Bernard Madoff
- Irving Picard, a court-appointed trustee liquidating the Madoff asset management firm, says that he has reached a settlement with the family of the late Stanley Chais, in connection with monies that had been funneled from California investors, through Chais, into Madoff's Ponzi scheme. (Reuters)

Politics

Hillary Clinton email controversy
- James Comey informs Congress that "the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation." He says the FBI has not yet assessed the importance or significance of these emails. (CNN)
- Representatives in the Trump and Clinton campaigns call for Comey to reveal more information about this new investigation. (Observer)
- Law enforcement officials say the emails in question were found during the course of an investigation into illicit texts sent to a fifteen year old girl by former Congressman Anthony Weiner, on electronic devices formerly shared by Weiner and his estranged wife, Huma Abedin. (The New York Times)

October 27, 2016 (Thursday)

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Arts and culture

Japan's Prince Mikasa, the oldest member of the Imperial Family, dies at the age of 100. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

United States Republican Party vice presidential candidate Mike Pence's campaign plane skids off the runway at LaGuardia Airport with no injuries reported. The runway is said to have sustained damage causing the closure of the airport; a planned fundraiser was also canceled. (Reuters)(CNN)(ABC)

International relations

Canada–European Union relations, Belgium–Canada relations
- Belgian politicians, including those from the dissident Wallonia region, agree on Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement language that addresses Walloon concerns. This ends the deadlock on CETA, though the revised text must again be approved by the other 27 EU member states. (Reuters)
India-Pakistan relations
- India and Pakistan each expel a diplomat from the other country as tensions grow over Kashmir. (AP via The New York Times) (Reuters via SwissInfo.ch)

Law and crime

Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
- Seven members of the militia who occupied the wildlife refuge, including the leader Ammon Bundy, was acquitted of all federal charges related to the takeover. (New York Times) (BBC)

Science and technology

NASA announces the return of the final piece of data collected during New Horizons' flyby of Pluto in July 2015. The data, taking about five hours at light speed to travel across 5.5 billion kilometers (3.4 billion miles), arrived at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory on the morning of October 25. (NASA)

October 26, 2016 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Somalia (2009–present)
- A militant group affiliated with ISIL seizes the coastal town of Qandala in the autonomous Puntland region. (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Ghor Province Governor's spokesman claims ISIL insurgents killed 26-42 civilians in his governed province, Afghanistan. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Suspected Syrian or Russian warplanes conduct airstrikes on a residential area and a school in Haas village in rebel-held Idlib Governorate, killing at least 26 civilians, most of them children. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A series of earthquakes strikes a region of Central Italy already impacted by a major quake in August. Many buildings are damaged or destroyed across several towns. (CNN)

Health

A research team led by an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona publishes a paper in Nature on the genetic history of HIV proving that Gaëtan Dugas, the Canadian flight attendant who had been identified for years as "Patient Zero" of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., did not spread the virus to the country. The study indicates that HIV first spread to the U.S. from the Caribbean around 1970. (BBC) (The New York Times)

International relations

Gambia says it will join South Africa and Burundi in withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, accusing the court of ignoring "Western war crimes" like the Kunduz hospital airstrike. (BBC)
NATO–Russia relations
- Russia withdraws a request to refuel three of its warships, including the flagship of the Russian Navy, Admiral Kuznetsov, en route to Syria, at the Spanish port of Ceuta following NATO pressure on the Spanish government to not allow the warships to dock. (BBC)
For the first time in 25 years, the United States abstains in a United Nations vote calling for an end to its Cuban economic embargo. (Reuters) (NPR)

Politics and elections

2014–16 Venezuelan protests
- An unknown gunman shoots a Venezuelan police officer dead. Two other officers sustain injuries during protests against the Government of Venezuela. Approximately 120 Opposition supporters also sustain injuries during the protests. (Reuters)

October 25, 2016 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Quetta police training college attack
- Gunmen attack a Pakistani police training academy in the southwestern city of Quetta, leaving at least 59 people dead and 117 others injured. ISIL - Khorasan Province claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters), (AP via Yahoo!), (Al Jazeera Media Network) (BBC), (Dawn), (CNN)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- A militant from Al-Shabaab shoots dead an intelligence officer in Mogadishu. (Reuters)
A shooting in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, leaves two security officers dead. (Reuters)
Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for an attack on a hotel in Kenya, killing at least 12 people. (BBC), (Reuters)
2016 Uri attack
- Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba claims responsibility for the attack on the Uri military camp in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. (The Times of India)

Arts and culture

Paul Beatty becomes the first American author to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout. (ABC)
The Catholic Church announces that cremated remains must be kept in consecrated land, rather than scattered about or kept at home. The Church first permitted cremation in 1963, but still strongly favours burial. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Illegally stored explosives cause an explosion in a house in northwestern China that kills at least 14 people and injures 147 others in the town of Xinmin in Shaanxi province. (Reuters)
A fire breaks out in the ICU ward and Maternity ward of Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor, Malaysia, killing six patients and injured two others. All of the patients killed were dependent on ventilators in the ICU ward. (Mediacorp News Group)
An accident on board the Thunder River Rapids Ride at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, leaves four people dead. (News Limited)
Rockfall inside the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel causes an indefinite closure of the tunnel, closing the only road access to and from Whittier, Alaska, and halting freight train service between Whittier and interior Alaska. (KTUU-TV)

Law and crime

Ontario Provincial Police charge a former Canadian nurse, Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, in Woodstock, Ontario, with killing eight elderly patients between August 2007 and August 2014 at two Caressant Care Nursing and Retirement Homes facilities. (CBC)
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco approves German automaker Volkswagen $14.7 billion settlement with federal and California regulators and the owners of the 475,000 polluting diesel vehicles over diesel emissions cheating scandal. Volkswagen still faces billions of dollars more in fines and litigation. (Reuters)

October 24, 2016 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- ISIL recaptures the western Iraqi town of Ar-Rutbah, which it previously withdrew from in May. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

U.S. discount brokerage TD Ameritrade agrees to buy Scottrade for $2.7 billion. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2016 French Fairchild Metroliner crash
- A twin-prop Fairchild Metroliner Mark III light aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Malta International Airport, killing all five French nationals on board. Malta officials say that the aircraft was part of a French customs surveillance operation tracing routes of illicit trafficking, of humans and drugs on Libyan coasts, and that the flight was heading for the Libyan city of Misrata. (The Independent), (The Guardian)

International relations

France clears the Calais Jungle, relocating six thousand migrants. (AP)

Law and crime

Wendy Demchick-Alloy, a Montgomery County court judge in Norristown, sentences former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane to serve 10 to 23 months in county jail for leaking confidential grand jury information and then lying about it to investigators. Specifically, she was convicted on August 15 on charges of perjury, false swearing, obstruction of justice, official oppression, and conspiracy. (Reuters)

More October 2016 events...

Ongoing events
Business Panama Papers Volkswagen emissions scandal Yahoo! data breach Culture Nobel Peace Prize Disasters Atlantic hurricane season California wildfires Oklahoma earthquake swarms Pacific hurricane season Pacific typhoon season Southeast Asian haze Health Flint water crisis Zika virus pandemic Law 2016 clown sightings Black Lives Matter protests Philippine Drug War Timor Gap PCA arbitration Dakota Access Pipeline protests Political Aftermath of Brexit Austria presidential election Ethiopian protests European migrant crisis (timeline) Lebanese political deadlock South Korean political scandal and protests South China Sea disputes United States presidential election Venezuelan protests Zimbabwe protests More details on ongoing conflicts below Sport 2016 ATP World Tour 2016 Formula One season 2016–17 NBA season 2016–17 NHL season 2016 NFL season 2016–17 Premier League 2016 World Series 2016 WTA Tour edit sidebar

Recent deaths
October 29: Raymond Gilmour 27: Susan Lindquist 25: Bob Hoover 25: Carlos Alberto Torres 24: Jorge Batlle Ibáñez 24: Bobby Vee 23: Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani 23: Pete Burns 23: Tom Hayden 23: Jimmy Perry 22: Steve Dillon 21: Kevin Meaney 21: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer 20: Simone Schaller 20: Junko Tabei 19: Yvette Chauviré 16: Anthony Foley 16: Kigeli V of Rwanda 16: Arsen Pavlov 14: Klim Churyumov 14: Jean Alexander 14: Pierre Étaix 14: Helen Kelly 13: Bhumibol Adulyadej 13: Delia Davin 13: Dario Fo 13: Jim Prentice edit sidebar

Ongoing conflicts
Africa Algeria and Tunisia Maghreb insurgency ISIL insurgency in Tunisia Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria Boko Haram insurgency Central African Republic Civil war Democratic Republic of the Congo Kivu conflict ADF insurgency Ituri conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Libya Civil war Mali Northern Mali conflict Somalia Civil war South Sudan Ethnic violence (South Sudanese Civil War) Sudan War in Darfur South Kordofan conflict Sudanese nomadic conflicts Americas Mexico Mexican War on Drugs Peru Internal conflict in Peru Asia Afghanistan Afghanistan War China Xinjiang conflict India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Insurgency in Northeast India India and Pakistan Kashmir conflict Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Moro conflict Cross border attacks in Sabah Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua conflict Myanmar Internal conflict in Burma Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict Philippines CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Thailand South Thailand insurgency Europe Armenia and Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Georgia Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Georgian–Ossetian conflict Russia Chechen–Russian conflict North Caucasus insurgency Ukraine War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine Middle East Egypt Sinai insurgency Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria Arab–Israeli conflict Iran Iran–PJAK conflict Iraq American-led intervention in Iraq Iranian intervention in Iraq Iraq and Syria (map) Military intervention against ISIL Israel and Lebanon Israeli–Lebanese conflict Israel and Palestine Gaza–Israel conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Syria American-led intervention in Syria Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Turkish military intervention in Syria Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Turkey Turkey–PKK conflict Turkey–ISIL conflict Yemen Yemeni Civil War Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Al-Qaeda insurgency edit sidebar

Elections and Referendums
Recent October 7: Morocco, House of Representatives 8: Georgia, Parliament 9: Lithuania, Seimas 15: Afghanistan, House of the People 16: Montenegro, Parliament 23: Lithuania, Seimas (2nd round) 29: Iceland, Althing Upcoming October 30: Ivory Coast, Referendum 30: Moldova, President November 1: Palau, President, National Congress 6: Bulgaria, President, Referendum 6: Nicaragua, President, National Assembly 8: United States, President, Senate, House of Representatives 20: Haiti, President edit sidebar

Trials
Recently concluded Australia: Brett Peter Cowan, Craig Thomson, Robert Hughes, Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara Brazil: Mensalão scandal Canada: Luka Magnotta China: Ji Jianye, Li Chuncheng, Jiang Jiemin, Liao Shaohua, Ni Fake, Ling Jihua, Chen Baihuai, Zhou Yongkang, Gu Junshan, Yao Mugen, Guo Boxiong Egypt: Hosni Mubarak, Peter Greste, Mohamed Morsi Germany: Bernie Ecclestone, Uli Hoeness, Christian Wulff Iran: Mohammad Reza Rahimi Israel: Hussam Qawasmeh Jordan: Abu Qatada Philippines: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Romania: Liviu Dragnea, Dan Diaconescu, Gheorghe Ștefan, Gabriel Sandu, Dorin Cocoş, Dumitru Nicolae Russia: Eston Kohver South Africa: Shrien Dewani, Oscar Pistorius Spain: Lionel Messi Turkey: Kenan Evren, Tahsin Şahinkaya United Kingdom: Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, Ray Wilkins, Liam Adams, R v Grillo and Grillo, Ian Watkins, William Roache, Dave Lee Travis, Nicholas Jacobs, Nigel Evans, Max Clifford, Stuart Hall, Dappy, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Rolf Harris, Tulisa Contostavlos, Chris Denning, Ray Teret, Gary Glitter, Fred Talbot, Adam Johnson, Ched Evans United States: Abu Hamza al-Masri, Michael Grimm, Jesse Jackson Jr., Bob McDonnell, Vilma Bautista, Kermit Gosnell, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, James Eagan Holmes, Sheldon Silver, Javaris Crittenton, Dylan Quick International ECCC: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan ICC: Germain Katanga ICTY: Radovan Karadžić Ongoing China: Bai Enpei, Guo Youming, Pan Yiyang, Wan Qingliang, Yang Weize, Zhu Zuoli Germany: Beate Zschäpe Indonesia: Mary Jane Veloso Iran: Babak Zanjani Netherlands: Geert Wilders Philippines: Andal Ampatuan, Jr., Leila de Lima, Jovito Palparan Romania: Darius Vâlcov, Dan Șova, Elena Udrea, Radu Mazăre, Gheorghe Nichita, Marian Vanghelie, Cătălin Voicu Russia: Alexei Navalny South Korea: MV Sewol crew members United States: Paul Anthony Ciancia, Dean Skelos, Etan Patz International ICTY: Ratko Mladić Upcoming China: Wu Changshun Estonia: Edgar Savisaar Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi United Kingdom: Rolf Harris United States: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Aaron Hernandez, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Rick Perry, Bill Cosby International ICC: Laurent Gbagbo edit sidebar