November 5, 2009 (Thursday)
- The Swedish and Finnish authorities give a permit to build the controversial Nord Stream gas pipeline in their exclusive economic zones. (Reuters)
- A U2 concert held at the Brandenburg Gate to mark the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall is controversial when a wall is built around the venue. (BBC) (The Irish Times)
- Saudi Arabia lifts a nine-year ban on Somali livestock imports, reopening Somalia's main export market. (BBC) (afrol News) (Voice of America)[permanent dead link]
- An international team of scientists announces that the genome of the domestic horse has been successfully sequenced. (BBC) (CBC) (The Himalayan Times)
- Venezuela deploys 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia. (AP)
- 13 people die and 30 people are injured in a shooting at the Fort Hood U.S. Army base in Texas. (BBC)
- The International Criminal Court is to open an investigation into the 2007 Kenyan post-election violence in which more than 1,000 people died. (AP) (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)[permanent dead link]
- A United Nations court imposes a defense lawyer on former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, and postpones his trial until March 2010. (Al Jazeera) (Daily Telegraph)
- Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai ends his boycott of the unity government. (IOL) (Xinhua)
- Thailand and Cambodia recall their ambassadors over the Cambodian government appointment of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (Thai News Agency) (Xinhua)
- Hurricane Ida makes landfall in Nicaragua. (Reuters) (CNN)
- The United Nations is to pull non-essential staff out of Afghanistan after an increase in violence in the country. (Times of India) (The Times) (Al Arabiya)
- France's Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche describes the UK's Conservative Party pledge to return powers from Brussels to London as "pathetic". (France 24) (The Times) (Bloomberg)
- Two senior Indonesian officials resign over a plot to weaken the anti-corruption agency. (Jakarta Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
- Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo replaces top military commanders amid rumours of a coup d'état. (CNN)
- China postpones a plan to raise the Three Gorges reservoir to its ideal height due to lack of water. (BBC)
- Ratu Epeli Nailatikau is sworn in as President of Fiji, succeeding Ratu Josefa Iloilo who retired in July 2009. (Fiji Times) (Radio New Zealand International)
- South Africa's Olympic governing body suspends Leonard Chuene, the President of Athletics South Africa, and apologises to Caster Semenya over the controversy it generated over her gender. (BBC) (The Times)