Portal:Current events/2006 November 29

November 29, 2006 (Wednesday)

Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, expresses concern about a resumption of fighting in Sudan between the army and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. (BBC)
Shibu Soren, a Cabinet Minister in India's coalition government, is convicted of murdering his secretary. The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh successfully demands Soren's resignation. (News Limited)
Three British Airways planes are grounded in London and Moscow due to positive traces of radiation as the investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko widens. British Airways will attempt to contact the thousands of passengers who have travelled on the planes recently. (CNN)
Turkmenbashi Saparmurat Niyazov fires Khojaberdy Byashymov, Governor of Mary Province. Niyazov has now fired every regional governor in Turkmenistan since the beginning of November. (RFE/RL)
United States District Court judge Richard J. Leon orders the Bush administration to resume making payments to thousands of people who lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
Brandon Mayfield, wrongly arrested after the 11 March, 2004 Madrid attacks settles a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation for $2 million. (USAToday)
Al-Qaida in Iraq condemns Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey as being part of a "Crusader campaign" against Islam. Vatican officials respond by saying that the comments illustrate the need for religions to fight "violence in the name of God". (AP via Los Angeles Times)^{[permanent dead link]}
Former Prime Minister of Russia Yegor Gaidar is recovering in hospital in Moscow from a mystery illness contracted in Ireland prompting speculation of a connection with the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. (AFP via ABC)^{[permanent dead link]}
After Islamists win a large number of seats in the first round of Bahrain's parliamentary election last Saturday, rumours sweep the Kingdom that leaders of the Shia opposition party, Al Wefaq, will join the government in a cabinet reshuffle. (Gulf News)^{[permanent dead link]}
An Australian Army Black Hawk helicopter is lost at sea off the coast of Fiji where it had been operating from HMAS Kanimbla (L-51) preparing to evacuate Australian civilians in the event of a coup. The Fijian military is holding an exercise in the capital Suva claiming there are fears of a "foreign intervention". (News Limited), (BBC)
The United Nations Security Council unanimously passes a resolution that extends the mandate of the United States-led multinational force in Iraq until December 31, 2007. The new resolution requires a review of the mandate to begin by June 15, 2007, or sooner if the government of Iraq requests it. The government of Iraq can also revoke the mandate before its end if it chooses to do so. (Guardian UK)
The Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase meets with Fijian military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama in emergency talks in Wellington, New Zealand aimed at averting a coup. (News Limited)
In the United Kingdom, the News of the World newspaper's royal editor Clive Goodman pleads guilty to conspiring to intercept the voicemail messages of Princes William and Harry. (BBC)
The Liberal Party of Canada opens its leadership convention, expected to be the most contentious in decades, with a keynote speech by Howard Dean. (CBC)