1. Greece Could Undermine Eurozone Bailout. Greece announced that it planned to hold a referendum on its bailout package, offered by members of the European Union in exchange for budget cuts. The Greek Prime Minister later said that he was prepared to drop plans for a referendum, but not before French and German officials threatened to expel Greece from the Eurozone, the group of nations that use the euro as currency. Greek citizens have fought the budget cuts with general strikes and clashes with police, and would be likely to reject further cuts. Greek debt is in danger of devaluing the euro, with a number of economists fearing that the currency might collapse. (Source: CNN)

2. UNESCO Recognizes Palestine as Full Member. The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has admitted Palestine as a full member, prompting the United States and Israel to freeze their financial contributions to the organization. The admission comes as Palestine petitions the UN for full membership in the General Assembly. Currently, Palestine is only an observer state, and is not allowed to vote on UN resolutions. The United States has repeatedly said that Palestinian statehood can only come about through negotiations with Israel, and will block any effort by Palestine to achieve statehood by any other means. (Source: CNN)

3. Seventeen Dead in Afghanistan Blast. A suicide bomber drove a car filled with explosives into a military transport bus in the Afghan capital city of Kabul, killing seventeen people. The U.S. reported that five of its soldiers and eight civilians died in the bombing. Kabul is rarely the scene of such deadly attacks due to the heavy security in and around the city. There have been, however, a number of high-profile attacks in Kabul last year, including a nearly day-long attack on the U.S. embassy. American troops are expected to have withdrawn from Afghanistan completely by 2014, when the Afghan government will be fully responsible for its own security. (Source: BBC)

4. “Merchant of Death” Convicted for Arms Trafficking. Viktor Bout was convicted on Nov. 2 for conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles and providing material support to a terrorist organization. The Russian businessman and former Soviet Air Force officer was arrested by federal agents posing as Colombian rebels. Bout was prepared to sell hundreds of handheld anti-aircraft missiles and thousands of Soviet-era assault rifles. He is believed to have sold weapons to support civil conflict in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as to criminal organizations around the world. Bout faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. (Source: BBC)

5. Chinese Complete First Space Docking. China’s Shenzhou 8 space capsule successfully docked with a module in space on Nov. 3. The unmanned capsule was the first Chinese spacecraft to successfully dock with another, making the event a major milestone in China’s space program. China intends to repeat the maneuver with astronauts before pursuing further goals in its space program. A spokesperson for China’s space agency noted that all of the research related to the project was independently researched and developed by Chinese scientists, without any official international aid. China intends to land on the moon and launch its own space station by the end of the decade, which would make China the second nation to explore the moon and the third to operate a space station. (Source: The New York Times)