Portal:Current events/2010 December 6

December 6, 2010 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali pirates hijack a Bangladeshi cargo ship off the coast of India. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Capital FM Kenya)^{[permanent dead link]}
The Washington Post reports that an FBI informant so frightened Muslim worshippers by referring to violent jihad while spying on an Islamic community centre in Irvine, California, that they reported him to the authorities. The FBI spy, a convicted fraudster, sues the FBI. (Washington Post)

Disasters

Egypt calls in international shark experts following recent attacks, one fatal, on tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh in the past week. (The Guardian)
Israeli firefighters douse the Mount Carmel forest fire which killed at least 41 people in the north of the country. (CNN)
Officials in Haiti say more than 2,000 people have died in the cholera outbreak. (USA Today)

International relations

Iran meets with six world powers in Geneva for talks concerning its nuclear program. (BBC)
United States diplomatic cables leak:
- Newly released cables from the United States indicate former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd suggested the use of force against China if it could not be "successfully integrated" into the international community. The Australian government refuses to respond to the release. (ABC News)
- A newly released cable from Hillary Clinton accuses rich people in Saudi Arabia of being "the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide" and that "it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority". (The Independent)
- Newly released cables reveal American distrust both of Qatar and the country's Al Jazeera international news network, prompting Al Jazeera to release a statement saying that it has resisted pressure from both regional and international governments and "has never changed its bold editorial policies which remain guided by the principles of a free press". (Al Jazeera) (The Independent)
- The cables also reveal that foreign envoys to China from India, Japan, the EU and some African countries complained about the country's "aggressive" nature and that it was "losing friends worldwide". (Indian Express)
Senior officials from Turkey and Israel meet in Geneva to resolve their differences following the Gaza flotilla raid in May. (BBC)

Law and crime

A French court finds Continental Airlines criminally responsible for the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in July 2000. (France 24)

Politics

The President of the United States Barack Obama says that a deal has been reached with the Republican Party to extend the Bush era tax cuts. (BBC)