Portal:Current events/2012 November 30
November 30, 2012 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- An unpublished list compiled by Mexico's Attorney General's Office is leaked showing that more than 25,000 people disappeared in Mexico's drug war, placing the probable death toll of the six-year conflict at around 100,000 deaths. (The Independent)
Disasters and accidents
- An Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane belonging to Aéro-Service, flying from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, crashes into houses near Maya-Maya Airport during a thunderstorm. Congolese Red Cross officials say at least 32 people are confirmed dead in the crash, including six crew members and a police officer on board, as the search for victims continues. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Australian) (BNO News)
- A railway bridge collapses over a creek in Paulsboro in southern New Jersey, causing a Conrail freight train to derail and spill hazardous chemicals into the air and water. (Reuters) (NY Daily News)
- Two people are killed and more than ten others injured in a gas explosion and fire in an apartment building in the Siberian city of Tomsk, Russia. (RIA Novosti) (ITAR-TASS)
- A freight train derails at the Stuttgart-Feuerbach station, Germany, after a collision with the railway platform. There were no reports of injuries. (Stuttgarter-Zeitung) (SWR)
Law and crime
- A murder–suicide attack occurs in Casper, Wyoming, United States. Two people are murdered, including a female computer science instructor (off campus), and a male faculty member that she'd been seeing (in a classroom) at Casper College, before the perpetrator, the male professor's son, killed himself in the classroom. (NBC News)
- A New Hampshire federal grand jury indicts David Kwiatkowski, 33, a former employee of Exeter Hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, on fraud and product-tampering charges in connection with an outbreak of hepatitis C that sickened more than 30 people and caused concern in 7 states. (CNN)
- Qatari author Mohammed al-Ajami is given a life sentence for a poem insulting emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. (The Washington Post) (RT) (AP via The New York Times) (BBC)
Media
- Time magazine editors announce their list of 38 contenders nominated as the 2012 Time Person of the Year, including Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Sheldon Adelson, Malala Yousafzai, Sandra Fluke, Felix Baumgartner, Curiosity rover, Bashar Assad, Mohamed Morsi, Psy, Pussy Riot, Higgs boson, Michael Phelps, and others. The winner of the people's choice will be announced on 14 December. (Time) (Reuters via MSN)
Politics and elections
- The Labour Party wins the three by-elections held in the United Kingdom on Thursday. Steve Reed is elected in Croydon North, Andy McDonald in Middlesbrough and Sarah Champion in Rotherham. The UK Independence Party achieve second place in Middlesbrough and Rotherham, beating the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. (BBC)
- Victims of press intrusion launch an online campaign to urge British Prime Minister David Cameron to fully implement the recommendations of the Leveson report. (BBC)
Science and technology
- A small humanoid robot that can talk will be sent into space to provide conversational company for Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on a six-month mission to the ISS during Soyuz TMA-11M in 2013. (AFP via France24)[permanent dead link]
- NASA debunks rumors of new evidence of life on Mars, but its Curiosity rover continues to make many smaller discoveries. (CBS News) (Space.com)
- The first direct photograph of DNA, by Enzo Di Fabrizio, a physics professor at Magna Graecia University in Catanzaro, Italy, is taken. He used an electron microscope (not the usual X-ray crystallography) and a nanoscopic landscape of extremely water-repellant silicon pillars (the water evaporated quickly and left behind the DNA). (MSNBC)
Sport
- The Russian Premier League is looking at setting up a pan-CIS football league, as analog of KHL in ice hockey or VTB United League in basketball, after several clubs expressed an interest. (RIA Novosti)
- Former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff makes his debut as a professional boxer, and wins his first fight against Richard Dawson. (BBC)
- Following Israel's recent assault on Gaza, some footballers sign a letter of condemnation against plans to hold the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in Israel next summer; among the signatories are Eden Hazard, Abou Diaby, Papiss Cissé, Cheick Tioté, Sylvain Marveaux, Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba and Frédéric Kanouté. (The Irish Times) (ESPN) (The Telegraph)