Portal:Current events/2010 December 5

Summary

Armed conflicts and attacks
  • Attacks against WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and his lawyers:
    • The WikiLeaks website is forced offline again. (OneIndia News)
    • Lawyers representing WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange speak of being surveilled by members of the security services outside their own homes and say the United States Department of State is behaving "inappropriately" in its failure to respect attorney-client protocol. (The Guardian)
    • Bank officials attempt to shut down an account opened by Assange in Switzerland. (The Times of India)
    • Political science students at one American university are warned that their possibility of receiving state department jobs is under threat if they access the WikiLeaks website. (The Guardian)
    • Newly released cables quote President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy's belief that American and NATO forces are destined to ultimately fail in the War in Afghanistan and that European troops are deployed there only in "deference" to the United States - "And if a Belgian gets killed, it would be over for Belgium right then". (Al Jazeera)
  • A blast at an army base in eastern Afghanistan kills at least two soldiers and two civilians. (rferl)
  • The Nigerian military acknowledges that raids to root out armed gangs in the Niger Delta may have killed civilians. (CNN) (AFP)
  • Over 100 people are killed in battles throughout Somalia between Islamist rebels and African Union forces over the past three days. (Press TV)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

Disasters and accidents
  • At least 174 people are dead and 1.5 million homeless following floods in Colombia. (ABC)
  • 22 people are killed in a prairie fire in Daofu County, Sichuan, China. (China Daily)
  • At least 6 people are killed and 36 wounded after an explosion in the city of Kaili, Guizhou province, China. (BBC) (IOL) (China Daily)
  • 8 people are killed after a car collides with a group of cyclists in Italy. (BBC)
  • Hundreds of people evacuate the Australian town of Wagga Wagga as flood waters rise throughout New South Wales. (AAP via The Australian)
  • 7 people are rescued after becoming stranded for 8 days in a pub in England. (BBC)
  • Israeli and Palestinian firefighters say they have brought the 2010 Israel forest fire "under control". (Al Jazeera)
  • The corpse of a partially eaten 70-year-old female German tourist washes up on Sharm el-Sheikh, believed to have been killed by sharks in the fifth attack this week. (Al Jazeera)

International relations

Politics and elections

Science

Sport