Portal:Current events/2020 December 1

December 1, 2020 (Tuesday)

Disasters and accidents

2020–21 Australian bushfire season
- A bushfire on Fraser Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the coast of Queensland, has burned across half the island and may irreversibly damage its unique ecosystem. Extinguishment has been ruled unlikely. (The Guardian)
Arecibo Observatory
- The Arecibo Observatory's telescope receiver collapses into the reflector dish, according to the National Science Foundation. The radio telescope was due to be decommissioned and dismantled after support cables broke on August 10, 2020. (The Guardian)
Semeru, the highest mountain on the Indonesian island of Java, erupts. (detikNews)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
      - Florida surpasses one million cases, becoming the third state to do so after California and Texas. (Newsweek)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi
      - Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves issues a mask mandate for 13 additional counties in the state in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. (AP)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Oregon
      - Oregon reports 24 new deaths in the past 24 hours, a new single-day record since the pandemic began. (KEZI-TV)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
      - Texas reports 15,182 new cases in the past 24 hours, a new single-day record since the pandemic began. (The Dallas Morning News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario
      - COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto
        Toronto reports 761 cases, a new single-day record in the city. (Toronto Star)
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Yukon
      - Yukon officials announce a mask mandate and urge people to stay at home amid an increase in cases. (CBC)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
    - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan tests positive for COVID-19, a day after vice-governor Ahmad Riza Patria tests positive. (The Straits Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the State of Palestine
    - Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar tests positive for COVID-19. A spokesman for the group says he is "following the advice of health authorities and taking precautionary measures". (Reuters)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
    - Turkey reports a record 190 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the national death toll to 13,936. (Anadolu Agency)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
  - Queensland reopens its land border with Greater Sydney and Victoria. Travellers from both areas will now be allowed into the state without needing to quarantine. (7 News)
- COVID-19 vaccine
  - Pfizer and BioNTech announce that they will ask the European Medicines Agency to approve their potential vaccine candidate. (ABC News)

International relations

Canada–United States relations, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that the country will not reopen their borders with the United States until COVID-19 is significantly under control. (San Francisco Chronicle)
ASEAN–European Union relations
- The European Union and the ASEAN form a strategic partnership. (Reuters)

Law and crime

2020 Trier attack
- Five people are killed and 18 others injured in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, when a man drives an SUV into a pedestrian zone. The driver, a 51-year-old male German national, was arrested and was reportedly drunk at the time of the crash. (BBC News)
A group of gunmen attack a bank and block roads in Cametá, Brazil, taking several hostages and stealing money. The attackers kill a hostage with a gunshot to the head, while a security guard and a policeman are injured. Several shots and explosions were also reported. It appears that the target of the attack was a branch of Banco do Brasil, the same bank robbed in Criciúma the previous night. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

Papua conflict
- The United Liberation Movement for West Papua declares a provisional "government-in-waiting" and nominates Benny Wenda as interim president. (The Guardian)

Science and technology

2020 SO
- Unknown astronomical object 2020 SO makes its closest approach to Earth at a perigee distance of approximately 0.13 lunar distances (50,000 km; 31,000 mi). Researchers, who discovered 2020 SO on September 17, 2020, are still unsure whether the object is a small near-Earth asteroid or an artificial object. The booster of Surveyor 2's Atlas-Centaur rocket, launched by NASA in 1966, is suspected by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (CNET)
Chang'e 5, Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
- China National Space Administration probe Chang'e 5 successfully lands at Mons Rümker on the Moon for the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24. (The New York Times) (BBC News)