October 29, 2012 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- Bahraini uprising: Anti-government protests are banned and legal action is threatened against those backing the protests. (Al Jazeera)
- Police attack thousands of demonstrators with tear gas and water cannons in Ankara during the celebrations of the anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. (Al Jazeera)
Business and economics
- Penguin and Random House agree to merge to form Penguin Random House, the world's largest publisher. (The Guardian) (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- Hurricane Sandy strikes New York City.
International relations
- Human Rights Watch and other rights groups issue a report rejecting the Israeli government’s arguments against accepting Africans migrants seeking asylum in Israel and criticizing it for using force to deter them from entering the country, stating that the migrants face extreme violence if denied entry into Israel. (Al Jazeera) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Activists descend on the city of Paju to float 50,000 propaganda leaflets on balloons into North Korea, despite protests from local South Korean residents concerned at provoking a military response. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Damian Rzeszowski is sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing six people—including his wife and children—in Jersey. (BBC)
- The U.S. Supreme Court declines to take on the review of an abortion-related appeal. The case, which is a proposed measure to amend the Oklahoma state constitution that was unanimously struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, dealt with the constitutionality of state "personhood" laws that endorse the viewpoint that human life begins at conception, and would give human embryos rights and privileges given to citizens, which could have made it more difficult to have abortions for non-emergency reasons. (CNN)
- Registered child sex offenders in Simi Valley, California, will not have to post a sign outside their home this Halloween reading in part "no candy," but they still are prohibited from decorating their houses and handing out candy, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ruled Tuesday, in a partial victory for the suing offenders and their wives before Halloween. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Fernando Haddad is elected mayor of São Paulo, giving the governing Workers' Party control of Brazil's financial capital and biggest city. (BBC) (Los Angeles Times)
- A shortlist of successors to the Coptic Pope is drawn up; a blindfolded child is then expected to pick from a list of three. (BBC)