Portal:Current events/2010 December 5

• 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)

• Festivities are held for the 83rd birthday of King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest reigning monarch in the world. (Al Jazeera)
• An unpublished poem by Philip Larkin is found. (BBC)
• Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer wins six prizes at the European Film Awards in Estonia, with the director appearing from Paris via Skype. (BBC)
• 20-year-old Nicole Faria from Bangalore, Miss India, wins the Miss Earth 2010 crown in Vinpearl Land, Nha Trang, Vietnam. (Tuoitre) (OneIndia)

• The International Labour Organisation asks Gulf states to reform labour laws related to millions of foreign workers and urges the introduction of a minimum wage. (Al Jazeera)

• 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)

• Brazil recognizes the State of Palestine based on borders at the time of Israel's 1967 conquest of the West Bank. (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz)
• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables show the United States lobbied Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, causing Rolls-Royce to lose an important contract. (BBC)

• Hundreds of people march in Hong Kong to demand the release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo ahead of the Nobel Prize ceremony on Friday. (RTHK) (IOL South Africa) (Sify India)
• Former South African President Thabo Mbeki begins mediation efforts in the Ivory Coast following the disputed presidential election. (France 24) (Times Live South Africa) (Al Jazeera)
• Egypt holds parliamentary runoff elections following alleged electoral fraud in last week's first round. (Al Jazeera) (Associated Press)
• Thousands of supporters of the Opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia protest against the government in Skopje and demand early elections. (Al-Jazeera)

• Three Russian satellites fail to achieve orbit after launch from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome; experts suggest they probably crashed into the Pacific Ocean. (BBC) (RIA Novosti)

• Serbia wins the 2010 Davis Cup, beating France, after Viktor Troicki beats Michaël Llodra in the decisive match, the first time Serbia has won the cup. (BBC) (Daily Mail)
• Mayor of London Boris Johnson withdraws his offer to FIFA executives, including Sepp Blatter, of free accommodation in London's exclusive Dorchester Hotel during the 2012 Summer Olympics in the city, as the fallout from the failed England 2018 FIFA World Cup bid continues. (BBC News) (Daily Mail)
• UEFA Champions League debutants Tottenham Hotspur become the first ever club to score more than two goals in all group stage matches. They are also the only competition debutants through to the last 16.