RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/November 2022

November 2022
 Explosion at Ukraine embassy in Madrid injures one person, officials say.  Federal jury convicts Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath-Keepers, of seditious conspiracy and other offenses in connection with January 6th.

 Data from the 2021 census has revealed that the UK, for the first time ever, is less than 50% Christian and that the urban areas of Leicester, Luton and Birmingham are the first minority-majority cities. It has also revealed that Wales has more irreligious people than Christians.  President Biden has asked Congress to block a planned railroad workers strike  [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/25/far-right-extremist-itamar-ben-gvir-to-be-israel-national-security-minister Netanyahu will appoint far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, previously convicted for racist agitation against Arabs, as Israel's security minister. The posting will give Ben-Gvir significant control over the West Bank]. Ben-Gvir has also said he wants to allow Israeli forces to shoot anyone holding stones or Molotov cocktails, but only if they "hate Israel".  While people in China and Iran protest against dictatorships, in democratic Brazil, useful far-right idiots ask for a military coup,  Protests rise in China; including public calls for President Xi to resign over the country's Zero-Covid policies.  Elon Musk takes Twitter ban requests directly from Andy Ngo under the guise of combating child porn and violent content. Many anti-fascist accounts subsequently receive bans; a journalist who posted about Ngo's own associations with known pedophiles was banned. Heartened, someone compiles a list of 5,000 accounts to deplatform, that includes Britney Spears, Nirvana, and even @dril, a humor account.  [https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-2f78d23023c96e7e862e898128eef7f4 The Taliban whipped 3 women and 9 men in a stadium in front of hundreds of spectators for theft and adultery, a major sign the Taliban is doubling down on enforcing Islamic law in spite of international criticism. Those punished received between 21 and 39 lashes each.]  The European Parliament has passed a resolution by 494 to 58, declaring that Russia is a state sponsor of terrorism.  Plus it has put the  on the list of terrorist organisations, giving it the same status as Hamas, Al-Qaida and ISIL.  The Scottish government loses its Supreme Court bid to hold a second independence referendum without the consent of the UK government.  It has been revealed in an investigation by The Markup, that several major American tax filing websites such as TaxAct and H&R Block have been sharing their data with Facebook. Such data includes names, incomes and health savings account usages.  President Bukele's obsession with cryptocurrency has forced El Salvador to negotiate with China about a joint bond-free trade agreement over the country's debts. Despite this, he still has Bitcoin-fever and has said he is swapping treasury reserves for Bitcoin at 1 Bitcoin per day.  Sadly, players from Belgium, Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Wales will now not be wearing rainbow "OneLove" armbands in support of LGBTQ rights at the Qatar World Cup because FIFA has told them they'll be heavily sanctioned if they do.  Donald Trump's Twitter account has been reinstated.  Twitter faces possible collapse after over one thousand employees leave the company, leaving core services with little to nobody to maintain them. This has included their payroll department. Reportedly their entire US tax team and financial reporting team are also gone. This of course follows the takeover of the company by Elon Musk. Update: the copyright strike system is also broken. <vote poll=world202093350480> Rishi Sunak "must now sell Britain on austerity". Meanwhile, Keir Starmer pledges to abolish the House of Lords. It does not take a rocket scientist to find out who would win a general election at this time. <vote poll=world202093350479> is unbanned from Twitter. And likely Trump too. <vote poll=world202093350478> Millennial whataboutism from FIFA president regarding complaints regarding Qatar World Cup. In short; any nation (or people within) which hasn't had three thousand years of morally blameless existence should shut up and sit down. <vote poll=world202093350477> Residents of Kherson tell of torture, ethnic persecution, and terror under Russian occupation. <vote poll=world202093350476> Big slate of anti-trans bills introduced in Texas: HB42 would classify gender-affirming care as child abuse, HB631 would ban any teaching of LGBT issues in classrooms until fifth grade, HB643 would ban minors from any business offering drag performances or trans performers, and HB122/41 would ban any gender-affirming care for anyone younger than 18. <vote poll=world202093350475> As unrest continues in Iran, protesters have set Ayatollah Khomeini's house on fire. The government has blamed the Kurds minority (who are present in both Iraq and Iran) for the unrest, and has threatened to invade Iraq in response. <vote poll=world202093350474> The Financial Times has revealed that, [https://www.ft.com/content/4e709f78-48fc-4713-8904-cf1d8588116c the founder and CEO of Japanese investor fund SoftBank, personally owes the company around $4.7 billion. This has led to worries that the company itself is built on sand.] It should be noted that SoftBank was a major investor in FTX and WeWork. <vote poll=world202093350473> 2 people killed when a missile lands in Poland near the Ukraine border. Lots of finger pointing, but Polish government has identified that the missile was "made in Russia" - pointedly not made in USSR which might indicate Ukrainian origin. Update: U.S. says missile was a Ukrainian Defense missile. <vote poll=world202093350472> Enough is enough; violent protests in Guangzhou reveal increasing resistance to China's 'Zero Covid' policies. <vote poll=world202093350471> Another crypto Ponzi scheme fails spectacularly, vaporizing US$10 billion. A Reckoning Awaits FTX. And as if this situation couldn't get any worse, OMG WE'VE BEEN HACKED!!!!1! <vote poll=world202093350470> Russia is withdrawing from the major city of Kherson, but Ukrainian officials fear Russian forces have laid land mines to turn it into a "city of death". Also: US military estimates the war has caused 40,000 Ukrainian civilian casualties and 100,000 Russian military casualties. <vote poll=world202093350469> KFC Germany apologizes after telling customers to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht by enjoying cheesy chicken. <vote poll=world202093350468> France's far right replaces Le Pen with Jordan Bardella: The 27-year-old is the first party chief who is not a member of the Le Pen family. <vote poll=world202093350467> Dutch authorities bar entry to UK conspiracy theorist: A Dutch decision not to allow David Icke into the country also bars him from all of the 25 Schengen nations for two years.