Nov 1: European Union
The EU’s European Data Protection Board bans Meta from collecting users’ personal data for targeted advertising in the European Economic Area. (Agence France-Presse via Economic Times)
Nov 2: Italy, Russia, Ukraine
Russian pranksters posing as a senior African Union official call Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who reveals to the pranksters that European leaders “need a way out” of the Ukrainian conflict. (The Telegraph)
Nov 7: Tennessee, U.S.
Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear maintains his popularity in a traditionally red state, defeating rival Daniel Cameron in the gubernatorial election. (New York Times) Nov 7: Ohio, U.S. Ohio voters head to the ballot, legalizing recreational marijuana usage in the state. (The Columbus Dispatch)
Nov 8-11: Vatican City; Texas, U.S.
The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, a department of the Holy See, says it approves of baptizing transgender Catholics “if there is no situation in which there is a risk of generating public scandal or uncertainty among the faithful.” It also raises no objections to baptizing children of same-sex couples, although Pope Francis still considers homosexuality a sin. On November 11, Pope Francis removes Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler in Texas, U.S., for his criticism of the Pope’s allegedly progressive policies. (Agence France-Presse via Times of India, Associated Press)
Nov 9-12: Spain
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez strikes an amnesty deal with the Catalan separatist Together for Catalonia party to secure needed support for another term. This news has been met with protesters around the country as of November 12 and criticism of the Prime Minister by his rivals. (British Broadcasting Corporation)
Nov 12: U.S., Japan, Korean Peninsula
The U.S., Japan, and South Korea agree to begin to facilitate real-time data sharing to monitor North Korea’s missile tests. (Agence France-Presse via The Manila Times)
Nov 13: Austria
Austria announces a compensation plan of 33 million euros (about $35M) for about 11,000 LGBT people negatively impacted by the country’s historical discriminatory laws. (Agence France-Presse via ABS-CBN News)
Nov 14: Liberia
In the closest runoff election in Liberia’s electoral history, opposition leader and former vice president Joseph Boakai defeats incumbent George Weah, former soccer player, to become the president-elect. (U.S. Department of State)
Nov 15: China, U.S.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden meet for the first time in over a year in San Francisco. Drug trafficking and artificial intelligence are among the topics mentioned as the leaders engaged in what have been described as positive talks. (Reuters)
November 17 – November 21: U.S.
On November 21, Sam Altman reclaims his position as CEO of OpenAI after the board of directors pushed him out on November 17. The removal is believed to be a sign of heightened tension between business focused investors and the scientific research focused original board members. After receiving major pushback from investors including Microsoft and after the majority of the OpenAI employees threatened to leave, the original board resigned and was replaced by members including Sam Altman. The revolutionary AI research and products created by the company, and the unique governance structure of the company, in which the investors have no direct influence, also contributed to the disruption. (NYT)
November 18: U.S.
SpaceX launches their twostage super heavy lift launch vehicle and spacecraft, Starship, again after the failed first flight on April 20, 2023. The rocket lifted off the pad with all 33 engines working and performed stage separation successfully. The first stage exploded soon after separation and the second stage terminated itself after running out of fuel after reaching outer space. Starship broke its own record as the largest rocket ever and set a new record for heaviest single manmade object to reach outer space at over 1000 tons. (SpaceX)
November 24 – December 1: Palestine (Gaza), Israel
On November 22, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement for a four-day truce starting on November 24. The agreement, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, was further extended for two days twice and finally ended on December 1. Both sides blamed each other for the breakdown of the truce. The cease-fire allowed the exchange of hundreds of prisoners, but 137 hostages still remain in Gaza. The fighting resumed minutes after the truce ended on Friday. (AP, NYT, Reuters)
November 28: U.S.
Charles T. Munger, Warren Buffett’s partner and vice chairman of Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway died on November 28 at the age of 99. His partnership with Warren Buffett created one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in the world. (NYT)
November 29: U.S.
Henry Kissinger, the most influential U.S. diplomat of the Cold War era, died on November 29 at the age of 100. The controversial diplomat helped normalize relations with China, negotiate arms control deals with the Soviet Union, and end the Vietnam War. However, Kissinger was also criticized by human rights activists because of his involvement in the secret U.S. bombings of Cambodia, the Bangladesh Liberation War, and the U.S. intervention in Chile, overthrowing the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. (Reuters)
November 30: Russia
In a landmark ruling on November 30, the Russian Supreme Court labeled the LGBTQ+ movement as an extremist organization and banned it, effectively outlawing LGBTQ+ activism in the increasingly conservative country. The case was classified and no evidence was disclosed outside of the closed-door hearing. This ruling grants Russian authorities freedom to interpret the ruling. (AP)
November 30 – December 12: United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The annual United Nations climate change conference began on November 30 in Dubai, UAE. The agenda centers on creating tangible action regarding clean energy, climate justice, and fossil fuels. The meeting also included other targets and agreements made in the Paris Agreement in 2015. The decision to hold the meeting in the UAE, one of the top oil producers, and to appoint the chief executive of the country’s state owned oil company as the president of the forum has sparked controversy. (BBC)
December 6: U.S.
Google announced its competitor to the rival GPT models and Google’s most advanced AI model to date, Gemini. With capability similar to ChatGPT, the new model powering Google’s AI chatbot, Bard, can also process text, images, sound and videos. (CNN)
December 8: U.S.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first human treatment with the Nobel Prize-winning genetic editing tool CRISPR to treat sickle cell disease. CRISPR technology, invented just over 10 years ago, allows sections of DNA to be mutated and promises to cure many genetic diseases such as sickle cell disease, a chronic debilitating blood disease caused by a single gene mutation previously usually not curable, but the technology comes with huge ethical ramifications. Genetic editing, while allowing genetic diseases to be cured, also allows programming genetic advantages such as more strength, intelligence, and different appearance, and can lead to practices similar to eugenics. In 2018, biophysicist He Jiankui edited a gene in three human embryos to become resistant to H.I.V. and was sentenced to three years in prison for the illegal human genetic editing testing. The three babies were born and little information is known about them. (NYT)
December 10: Iran
Kiana and Ali Rahmani, the teenage twins of jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammed, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ms. Mohammed on her behalf. Ms. Mohammed won this year’s prize in recognition for her advocacy on women’s rights in Iran and is currently serving a 10 year sentence in Tehran for “spreading propaganda.” In a speech written by Ms. Mohammed and delivered by her children, Ms. Mohammed claimed, “The resistance is alive and the struggle is not weakening. Resistance and nonviolence are our best strategies it is the same difficult path that Iranians have walked until today, thanks to their historical consciousness and their collective will.” (BBC)