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Worldwide current events
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Cyclone Ockhi

U.S. President Donald Trump announces that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Cyclone Ockhi (satellite image shown) strikes India and Sri Lanka, killing at least 39 people and leaving hundreds of others missing.
The International Olympic Committee bans Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics, following investigation into doping at the 2014 Games.
Former President of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh is killed amidst the ongoing conflict in Sana'a.
In sumo, yokozuna Harumafuji Kōhei retires amidst investigations into an assault on fellow wrestler Takanoiwa Yoshimori.

December 7, 2017 (Thursday)

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International relations

Positions on Jerusalem
- The Czech Republic recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel's capital. (Jerusalem Post)
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expresses interest in moving his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (Haaretz)
Greek–Turkish relations
- Amid tight security, the President of Turkey embarks on a two-day state visit of Greece. M. Erdoğan's démarche is a first in 65 years. (The Guardian) (Reuters)
The United Nations Security Council meeting described on December 6 is expected for December 8. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Same-sex marriage in Australia
- The Parliament of Australia votes to make same-sex marriage legal in Australia. (The Australian)

Politics and elections

Nepalese legislative election, 2017
- Voters in Nepal go to the polls for the second round of a legislative election. (Washington Post)

Sports

UEFA Euro 2020
- Eurostadium in Brussels, Belgium, is unselected as a host for the UEFA Euro 2020 football competition, ceding its place for group stage matches to Wembley Stadium in London, England. Prime Minister of Belgium Charles Michel says the city made the error of wanting to build a stadium outside its territory. (voetbalnieuws.be) (VRT)

December 6, 2017 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- President Vladimir Putin declares victory over the Islamic State terror group across both banks of the river Euphrates. (TASS)

Arts and culture

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is brought to reply to an online petition signed by thousands of people. The museum refuses to stop displaying a Balthus painting, Thérèse rêvant. (The Telegraph) (Le Nouvel Obs)
Finland celebrates its 100 years of independence. (Yle News)
Michelin unveils its first Michelin Guide for Bangkok, Thailand, which is the sixth city in Asia and second in Southeast Asia after Singapore. (CNN)
Weinstein effect
- The "Silence Breakers", including those involved in the #MeToo movement are named Time Magazine's 2017 Time Person of the Year. (Time) (AP)

Health and environment

UNICEF reports that as many as 17 million babies worldwide face potential brain development issues due to their exposure to toxicity levels more than six times higher than considered safe in air. (BBC)

International relations

Positions on Jerusalem, Israel–United States relations
- U.S. President Donald Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and says the U.S. starts the process of moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The U.S. State Department issues an internal travel warning to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank until December 20. The U.S. embassy in Amman temporarily suspends routine public services and stops embassy travel around Jordan. Embassies in Berlin and London issue vigilance warnings to U.S. citizens. (CNN) (Reuters) (BBC)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises the announcement as a "historic landmark." (BBC)
- President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas says the move undermines the U.S. position as a peace mediator while the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas says that the decision would "open the gates of hell on U.S. interests in the region." (BBC)
- The Arab League calls it "a dangerous measure that would have repercussions" and also questions the future role of the U.S. as a "trusted mediator" in peace talks. (BBC)
- Protests against the decision break out in Jordan, Palestine and Turkey. (BBC), (Reuters)
- The decision draws critical reaction from key U.S. allies that include the EU, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. (Chicago Tribune)(BBC)
- Pope Francis urges respect for the status quo for Jerusalem and calls for "wisdom and prudence" to avoid further conflict. (ABC News)
- Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres criticizes the announcement, saying that it "would jeopardise the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians".(BBC)
- 8 of the 15 current United Nations Security Council members hold an urgent meeting on the U.S. decision. (BBC)
Suspected sonic attack on the United States Embassy in Havana
- Investigators discover brain abnormalities in the victims. They are now carefully not using the term "sonic" to describe the attacks and there is growing skepticism it was caused by a sonic device, with the sound heard by victims being a by-product of the brain damage. The white matter of the brain showed changes which doctors believe could not be caused by sound. (Yahoo News)
Sanctions against North Korea
- An Institute for Science and International Security study indicates that (between March 2014 and September 2017 and to varying degrees) a total of 49 countries violated United Nations sanctions against North Korea. (CNN)

Law and crime

Crime in France
- A French court does not order the custody of Suleyman Kerimov but sets a €40 million bail and tighter controls. Kerimov was arrested on November 21 in a money laundering and tax fraud case. (TASS)

Politics and elections

Politics of Lebanon
- The Lebanese cautiously welcome a political agreement that enables Prime Minister Saad Hariri to officially withdraw his unexpected November 4 resignation. (The Daily Star)
Ukrainian crisis
- Police raid the wrong tent of an activist camp in Kiev and fail to arrest the stateless opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili. A police source says police are preparing a special operation and will be let off the leash "in the near future". (The Daily Star) (TASS)
Politics of Russia
- President Vladimir Putin announces his participation in the 2018 presidential election. (The Western Journal)

Science and technology

Rail freight transport
- The U.S. Government Accountability Office starts a study into the (currently unregulated) length of freight trains. (Reuters)
ULAS J1342+0928
- A study published in Nature and the Astrophysical Journal Letters describes the discovery of the most distant supermassive black hole ever, around 13.1 billion light years away. (The Verge)

Sports

2017–18 UEFA Champions League
- In football, Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the shared all-time top scorer in the UEFA Champions League group stage and he is the first person to score in all six group stage matches, by adding to Real Madrid C.F.'s 3–2 win against Borussia Dortmund. With a 7–0 victory over FC Spartak Moscow, Liverpool F.C. is the fifth English club to qualify for the knockout phase; a first too. (De Standaard) (Gazet van Antwerpen)

December 5, 2017 (Tuesday)

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Arts and culture

The last King of Romania, Michael I, dies at the age of 96. (BBC), (Reuters)
A summer 1941 Simon Templar (The Saint) novel by Leslie Charteris, titled The Saint's Second Front, describing a military attack by Japan on America—and subsequently rejected from publication for political reasons—emerges at a private auction after the work was presumed lost. (The Sun)

Business and economy

Eurofighter GmbH offers Belgium a national cyber defense network—suggesting telecommunications security on par with United Kingdom intelligence, which would save Belgium €1.6 billion per year—in exchange for buying 34 of their multirole combat aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhoon. (Het Laatste Nieuws)

Disasters and accidents

2017 California wildfires
- Thomas Fire
  - Due to persistent high winds, a fire begins and quickly spreads—at a rate of up to one acre per second—near Santa Paula, California, covering now at least 50,000 acres (200 km²), crawling into the edges of Ventura and cutting power to 260,000 homes. 7,700 houses are under mandatory evacuation. (LA Times) (CNN)
Cyclone Ockhi
- Gujarat and Maharastra are on high alert because of Cyclone Ockhi. (Times of India)
Meerbusch train crash
- A passenger train runs into the rear of a freight train at Meerbusch, Germany. Forty-seven people are injured, three seriously.(BBC)

International relations

Positions on Jerusalem
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tells Donald Trump that Turkey might cut ties with Israel if the United States unilaterally recognizes Jerusalem as its capital. (BBC)
- According to a Palestinian spokesman, Donald Trump calls Mahmoud Abbas, "outlining his intentions" to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. The Palestinian President warns him against the dangers of such a step and says that he will continue reaching out to world leaders to prevent it from happening. (CNN)

Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatar–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
- At a GCC summit in Kuwait City, the United Arab Emirates announce a political and military alliance with Saudi Arabia. (The Guardian)
Russia–United States relations
- Russia names Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and seven affiliated news media as foreign agents. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

Ukrainian crisis
- As police arrive at the stateless Mikheil Saakashvili's house in Kiev to detain him, Saakashvili goes up on the roof to protest verbally. Police then detain him and try to take him away in a blue minivan while hundreds of people block the street. Finally the supporters free him out of the van. Bespeeching the cameras again, he rails against corruption, against Petro Poroshenko and urges Ukrainians to "be afraid of nothing". (The Guardian) (U.S. News & World Report) (Reuters) (Interfax Ukraine)
- Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko claims in a briefing that Saakashvili received $500,000 from the fugitive Serhiy Kurchenko for his activities in Ukraine. He also says Severion Dangadze, an associate of Saakashvili's Movement of New Forces, had been arrested. (Interfax Ukraine)
2017 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Spain withdraws the international arrest warrant for five former Catalan officials now residing in Belgium. The charges of sedition and rebellion, however, remain. (BBC)
2017 Special Counsel investigation
- Reuters and Handelsblatt cite a source claiming that, weeks ago, Deutsche Bank received a subpoena from special prosecutor Robert Mueller to turn over Donald Trump's personal banking information. (Deutsche Welle)
Recognition of same-sex unions in Austria
- Austria's Constitutional Court rules that the government cannot discriminate against same-sex couples' right to marry. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

Aftermath of the Honduran general election, 2017
- After several days of violent protests due to allegations of electoral fraud, Honduran police have announced that they will not enforce a government-mandated curfew. (The Guardian)
Weinstein effect
- U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) steps down amid allegations of sexual harassment. (NPR)

Sports

Sri Lankan cricket team in India in 2017–18, Smog in Delhi
- Sri Lankan fast bowler Suranga Lakmal vomits and is taken off the field while levels of harmful pollutants exceed World Health Organization safe limits 12 times. Later in the game Indian pacer Mohammed Shami also vomits. December 3 already saw the first forced break in play in international cricket history. (The Guardian)
2018 Winter Olympics, Doping in Russia
- A 14-person International Olympic Committee panel bans Russia from the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, after a report finds evidence of systemic doping cheating in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Any "clean" Russian athletes will compete under the name "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR) and the Olympic flag. (Yahoo! Sports)

December 4, 2017 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen; Yemeni Civil War
- Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is killed by Houthi forces in a roadside attack outside Sana'a after an earlier attack on his house. (BBC) (NPR)
Israeli intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- For the second time in three days, Israel carries out a missile strike on military facilities near Damascus. (Daily Star UK)

International relations

Positions on Jerusalem
- Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi has warned the U.S. of "dangerous consequences" if it recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (BBC)
- Hamas calls the U.S. government's plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel "a flagrant attack on the city by the American administration" and threatens to start a Third Intifada. (France 24)
- Turkey's deputy foreign minister Bekir Bozdağ warns of a "major catastrophe" if the U.S. moves its embassy to Jerusalem as planned in the Jerusalem Embassy Act. The last six-month presidential waiver delaying the move was signed on June 1. (Deutsche Welle) (The Daily Mail)
2017 North Korea crisis
- South Korea and the United States launch their largest-ever annual joint aerial drill. (The Australian)
- A high-level United Nations delegation led by Department of Political Affairs head Jeffrey D. Feltman travels to North Korea for talks this week. It will be the first such diplomatic visit in six years. (The Guardian)
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
- France puts the concern on the E.U. Ecofin agenda that the current version of the United States fiscal act would unduly penalize E.U. companies by taxing their U.S. operations beyond locally produced value added. (Le Figaro)
Executive Order 13769
- The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the act banning most people from eight countries, six of them Muslim-majority, to travel to the United States can take full effect pending legal challenges. (U.S. News & World Report)

Law and crime

Syrian Civil War
- The British government suspends payments to the so-called Free Syrian Police after a BBC Panorama investigation revealed that the cash has been diverted to the Salafist rebel groups of Nour al-Din al-Zenki and Jabhat al-Nusra, police officers being hand-picked by these groups, dead people appearing on the payroll and some police officers participating in summary executions. (BBC)
Murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia
- Malta arrests 10 people over the investigative journalist's murder on October 16. (CNN)
2017 Spanish constitutional crisis
- The prosecutor in a Brussels court repeats the demand to extradite Carles Puigdemont and four other former Catalan officials to Spain. The defense says that the adduced facts are "not punishable" under Belgian law. The judge delays the decision until December 14. (Politico.eu)
- The Supreme Court of Spain grants six former Catalan officials bail of €100,000 each. Four other people, Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn and two leading activists, remain in jail over the "risk of re-offending". (Bloomberg)
Investigation of Apple's transfer pricing arrangements with Ireland
- Apple Inc. and Ireland agree on an interim deal to put €13 billion in an escrow fund for the repayment of back taxes, starting early 2018. Still, both parties refute that the alleged "sweetheart" corporate tax deals were illegal. In 2016, the European Commission found that an unfair advantage of €13 billion is to be reimbursed. (SiliconRepublic)

Politics and elections

The Eurogroup selects Mário Centeno, Portugal's Minister of Finance, to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem as their next president. (Chicago Tribune)
Federal lands in Utah
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders shrinking the Bears Ears National Monument area by 85% and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by half. (Fox News)
Roy Moore sexual abuse allegations
- Debbie Wesson Gibson, one of the women accusing Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, shares evidence of their relationship when she was 17 to the press. (Washington Post)

December 3, 2017 (Sunday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Battle of Sana'a (2017)
  - The Royal Saudi Air Force bombs Houthi positions in southern Sana'a in support of Ali Abdullah Saleh-headed General People's Congress. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announces the creation of the petro cryptocurrency in a bid to ease the country's ongoing socioeconomic crisis. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

A 10-tonne fishing boat collides with a 336-tonne fuel tanker near Yeongheung Island, South Korea, killing 13 of the 22 people on board the fishing boat. Two people remain missing. (Radio New Zealand)

International relations

History of the Communist Party of China
- General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping concludes a two-day "high-level dialogue" with party leaders from 120 countries. The program he announces includes the full funding by the Communist Party of China of 15,000 visits from foreign party leaders over the next five years "to deepen exchanges". (The Australian)

Law and crime

In Tel Aviv, up to 20,000 people demonstrate in front of the home of the Attorney General of Israel, Avichai Mandelblit, against the slow pace of corruption investigations against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. (Newsweek)
The lawyer of Ahmed Shafiq, a candidate for the spring 2018 presidential elections in Egypt, says she met him in a hotel room in Cairo following his arrest the day before in Dubai, U.A.E., after saying earlier today that his family didn't know his whereabouts. (Ahram Online) (BBC)

Politics and elections

Corsican territorial election
- The pro-autonomy coalition party Pè a Corsica obtains 45% of the votes in the first round of the Corsican Assembly elections preceding the replacement of the departments of Haute Corse and Corse-du-Sud and the region of Corsica, France, with a single territorial collectivity. Two "miscellaneous right" parties and La République En Marche! also achieve the 7% election threshold to reach the secound round. (France TV Info) (France 3) (Los Angeles Times)
Ukrainian crisis
- Several thousand opposition supporters demonstrate in central Kiev, calling for the parliament to adopt legislation on presidential impeachment. (RFE/RL)

Sports

Sri Lankan cricket team in India in 2017–18
- Sri Lanka cricket players take to wearing masks to combat smog pollution that disrupts the third Test against India in Delhi. (BBC)
The Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the NFL's Detroit Lions and the NBA's Detroit Pistons, was to be partially imploded as part of its planned demolition; however, approximately 10% of the explosives do not detonate, and the attempted implosion fails. (NBC) (New York Times)

December 2, 2017 (Saturday)

edithistorywatch

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War
- Israel launches surface-to-surface missiles at a military installation outside the Syrian capital Damascus overnight, Syrian state TV reports. (BBC)

Arts and culture

ABC News suspends journalist Brian Ross for four weeks without pay as a consequence for an erroneous report on Michael Flynn. (CNBC)

Disasters and accidents

Heavy rainfall causes flooding in southern Albania. At least one person has died and 3,000 houses have been flooded. (Fox News)
2017 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Cyclone Ockhi hits southern India causing 13 deaths in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The cyclone kills 15 people and displaces another 200,000 persons in Sri Lanka. (NDTV) (Economy Next)

International relations

Bangladesh–Holy See relations, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
- Pope Francis ends his six-day trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh by visiting the Rohingya refugees in Dhaka. (AFP)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- The former president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh suggests that he is open to talking to the Saudi-led coalition that his forces have been fighting for years. (BBC)
United States and the United Nations
- The Trump administrations withdraws the United States from the Global Compact on Migration of the United Nations. (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
- The United States Senate passes the Republican tax reform bill with a 51–49 vote. (CNN)

Science and technology

Voyager program
- Voyager 1 successfully fires backup maneuvering thrusters, that had previously remained inactive for 37 years. Those thruster firings are to keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth, which is vital to maintain communications. (Ars Technica)

December 1, 2017 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

2017 Peshawar Agriculture Directorate attack
- Four attackers storm the Directorate of Agricultural Training Institute in Pakistan and exchange fire with police and army personnel. The four attackers are killed in the attack, and at least 12 people are killed and 35+ are injured. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claims responsibility. (Arab News)

Business and economy

Economics of bitcoin
- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission gives a go-ahead for Bitcoin futures to trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange. (Fortune)

Health and environment

2017 Philippine dengue vaccination crisis
- The Philippine Department of Health temporarily suspends a school-based dengue vaccination program after Dengvaxia vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur made a statement that its product poses higher risks to people without prior dengue infection. (Rappler) (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Law and crime

Links between Trump associates and Russian officials
- Michael Flynn, former U.S. National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, pleads guilty to one count of making a false statement to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials. It is also announced that Flynn will cooperate with Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation. (The New York Times) (New York Daily News)

Politics and elections

Aftermath of the Honduran general election, 2017
- The government of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is seeking re-election, imposes a ten-day curfew after allegations of electoral fraud and calls for an election recount resulted in violent protests across the country. (AP via ABC News)
Abdication of Emperor Akihito
- Emperor Akihito announces his intentions to abdicate the throne on April 30, 2019. (CNN)