December 4, 2010 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts
- Dozens of Easter Islanders are injured in conflict over ownership as riot police evict islanders from their ancestral home. (Al Jazeera)
Business and economy
- The Spanish government imposes emergency measures unused since the end of military rule in 1975, threatening workers seeking better pay and working conditions with prosecution if they do not return to work. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Xinhua)
Disasters
- Authorities in Ecuador order the evacuation of people from the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano after it begins spewing ash. (BBC) (AFP via Google News)
- An aircraft crashes at Domodedovo airport in Moscow after undergoing multiple engine failure, with at least 2 deaths and 80 injuries. (RIA Novosti) (The Guardian) (The Hindu) (Xinhua) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
- 10 Chinese sailors are missing and 14 others are rescued after the cargo ship MV Hong Wei founders off the southeast coast of China. (CNN)
- Israeli police say negligence caused a large forest fire burning out of control in the north of the country that killed at least 40 people. (CBC)
International relations
- United States diplomatic cables leak:
- Reporters Without Borders condemns "the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure" against the WikiLeaks website, describing it as the first "attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency" and comparing the behaviour of France and the United States to that of China. American payment service provider PayPal cuts off the account the WikiLeaks website uses to collect donations. (Al Jazeera)
- Wikileaks Facebook's fan page recently grew by about 100,000 fans daily, going from 300,000 to 700,000 fans in 4 days.(Beehivecity.com)
- Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi flies to Sochi for unscheduled talks with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. This occurs hours after the release of U.S. cables focusing on the pair's relationship. (The Age)
- New cables say Yemen allowed the United States access to its soil. (Al Jazeera)
- New cables discuss "paranoia" concerning the UK's alleged "special relationship" with the United States. (BBC)
- New cables allege that the Communist Party of China was paranoid about the Internet with Li Changchun, the party's propaganda chief, stepping up pressure on Google after finding material critical of him in a search. The same source also claims that CCP is active in hacking against its rivals, especially the United States. (The New York Times)
- President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas speaks of the possibility of dissolving the Authority if Israel continues its construction on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, saying there is little point remaining "the president of an authority that doesn't exist". (Al Jazeera)
- The Iranian government says the International Atomic Energy Agency spies on its nuclear program and reiterates its belief that the CIA, Mossad and MI6 murdered Majid Shahriari earlier this week. (BBC)
Law and crime
- A proposed law in South Korea is to ban online gaming after midnight for young people amid concerns over Internet addiction. (Times of India)
- The China Academy of Telecommunication Research tells China Daily that China should merge identity management systems, currently run by different ministries, in order to fight online fraud and hacking. (People's Daily)
- Three people are arrested in China's Guangdong Province in relation to a $90 million gold heist, the biggest in Hong Kong history. (Radio Australia)
Politics and elections
- Ivorian political crisis:
- A swearing-in ceremony for Laurent Gbagbo takes place in Côte d'Ivoire, although world leaders and the election commission back Alassane Ouattara as winner of the presidential election. (BBC) (The Times of India) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- Côte d'Ivoire experiences a major political crisis. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Sport
- FIFA executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer says Qatar ought to be allowed to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first in the Middle East and in an Arab country, during winter in an unusual move. The event is usually held during summer months. (Al Jazeera)