Portal:Current events/2023 November 16

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • Israel–Hamas war
    • Siege of Gaza City
      • The Israel Defense Forces surround Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City with tanks. (Middle East Monitor)
    • Israeli Police kill three gunmen who attacked a checkpoint near Jerusalem, injuring six security forces. (AFP via RFI)
  • 2024 Iran–Israel conflict, Israel–Hezbollah conflict
    • Hezbollah launches eight missiles targeting Israeli towns and IDF sites in Shtula and Hadab Yaron. (UnderstandingWar)
    • IDF launches heavy airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. (UnderstandingWar)
• Myanmar civil war
  • Operation 1027
    • The Arakan Army captures the town of Pauktaw, Rakhine State. The military responds by bombing the town with helicopters and warships. (The Irrawaddy)
  • India reports that over half of the estimated 5,000 refugees who fled heavy fighting in Myanmar's Chin State for northeastern India are returning home after the military and rebels from the Chin National Front reach a ceasefire agreement. (AP)
• Sudanese civil war
  • The Sudan Liberation Movement, the Justice and Equality Movement and other smaller rebel factions declare war on the Rapid Support Forces, having previously remained neutral in the conflict. (Sudan Tribune)

Arts and culture

• 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards
  • The general categories are dominated by female winners. (Billboard)

Disasters and accidents

• Lüliang office fire
  • Twenty-six people are killed and 63 others are injured in a fire at an office building in Lüliang, Shanxi, China. (BBC News)
• Four Indonesian Air Force personnel are killed when their military planes crash in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia. (Asia Today)
• Twenty-three people are injured when a Chicago "L" commuter train crashes into snow removal equipment in Chicago, Illinois, United States. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• The European Commission renews its authorisation of the systemic herbicide glyphosate for 10 years, following the failure of the European Union member states to reach a consensus on the renewal. (AFP via France 24)

International relations

• Enlargement of NATO
  • Sweden–NATO relations, Sweden–Turkey relations
    • The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission delays a vote on Sweden's NATO membership bid. (Reuters)
• Haitian crisis
  • The Parliament of Kenya approves the deployment of its police officers to Haiti as part of a United Nations-backed multinational security mission to combat the gang war in Haiti. (AFP via TOI)

Law and crime

• Russian activist Aleksandra Skochilenko is sentenced to seven years in prison on charges related to her protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Guatemalan general election
  • The Guatemalan Attorney General's Office requests that the immunity of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and Vice President-elect Karin Herrera be lifted for their alleged participation in the seizure of the facilities of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. If the request is successful, Arévalo and Herrera could be arrested. (Bloomberg)
• 2023 Malagasy presidential election
  • Citizens of Madagascar vote for their president. (Africanews)
• 2023 Spanish government formation
  • Pedro Sánchez is re-elected as prime minister of Spain, forming his third government. (The Guardian)

Science and technology

• A Norse Atlantic Airways Boeing 787 lands at Troll Airfield in Antarctica, making it the first time that this type of aircraft has landed in Antarctica. (Flightradar24)
• Casgevy, a world-first gene therapy that aims to cure sickle-cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, is approved by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, becoming the first drug using CRISPR to be licensed. (BBC)