November 1 – South Asia: AFGHANISTAN
In its Survey on Afghanistan’s opium, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that in 2014 total area under opium cultivation increased by 7 percent from the previous year, while opium production was up by 17 percent. Total eradication of opium poppy decreased by 63 percent in 2014. Helmand province remains Afghanistan’s major opium-cultivating region. Currently, Afghanistan produces more than 80 percent of the world’s opium.

November 2 – Europe / Former Soviet Republics: UKRAINE
Pro-Russian separatists in self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine hold elections independently from Kiev. The elections are denounced as illegitimate by Ukraine as well as the European Union and the United States. For its part, Russia recognizes the elections. According to the Minsk ceasefire conditions agreed with Russia, the separatist regions are supposed to hold local elections under Ukrainian law in December.

November 4 – North America: UNITED STATES
Voters across the United States go to the polls to vote in mid-term elections. At stake is the entire House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate seats, 36 of 50 state governors, and various local offices. As a result of the elections, Republicans win a Senate majority and pick up more seat in the House, gaining control of both houses of Congress. The Republicans also win 24 of the 36 state governorships (gaining two seats). The final total is 31 Republican governors, 18 Democratic, and one Independent governor in Alaska.

November 9 – Europe: SPAIN
Eighty percent of voters in Spain’s north-eastern autonomous region of Catalonia approve the region’s independence from Spain in a non-binding self-determination referendum. The Spanish government fiercely opposes a formal vote on this issue and the constitutional court ruled that a formal referendum would be illegal.

November 12 – Europe / Middle East: RUSSIA / IRAN
Russia will build several nuclear reactors in Iran, which might ease Iran’s demands to enrich its own uranium it claims it needs for its civilian nuclear program. The stipulation is that Russia will supply nuclear fuel for the reactors and retrieve the spent fuel back to Russia for re-processing. This will ensure that Iran does not use the fuel to build nuclear weapons.

November 17 – Africa: BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso’s military appoints former Foreign Minister Michael Kafando the country’s interim president until elections next year. The military forced President Blaise Compaore to resign in October amid mass protests against his plans to change the constitution that would allow him to stay in power. Compaore seized power in a coup in 1987 and since then won four disputed elections.

November 17 – Europe: ROMANIA
Mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, who is also an ethnic German, wins a surprising victory in Romania’s presidential election run-off. He defeats Prime Minister Victor Ponta who was leading after the first round of voting. Iohannis, who has been reelected four times as mayor, ran his campaign on an anti-corruption platform. As president, he will have to work with Ponta’s Social Democratic party that has majority in the parliament.

November 20 – Latin America / North America: MEXICO
Thousands of protestors gather in Mexico City for a national rally in memory of the 43 students who disappeared on September 26 after a protest and a confrontation with police in the city of Iguala in the Mexican State of Guerrero in Southwestern Mexico. In October, the authorities found a mass grave with human remains believed to be the students.  Iguala’s mayor and his wife were arrested suspected of being the masterminds behind the kidnappings, as well as dozens of other suspects, half of them police officers. The massacre sparked mass protests against widespread political corruption and violence.  In response, Mexico’s President Pena Nieto announces plans to bring regional government and police under federal control.

November 21 – North America: UNITED STATES
U.S. President Barack Obama bypasses the Republican Congress and signs two executive actions that will allow several million illegal immigrants to apply for work permits and will delay their deportations. The orders apply to parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents who have been in the country for five years, and young people brought into the country illegally as of 2010. Those who qualify will be granted protection for three years. The US Department of Homeland Security estimates that in 2012 there were about 11.4 million of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. Fifty-nine percent of them are from Mexico followed by El Salvador (6%), Guatemala (5%), Honduras (3%), and the Philippines (3%).

November 24 – North America: UNITED STATES
After deliberating for three months, a Missouri grand jury decides not to indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed armed black teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9. The shooting sparked weeks of unrest and clashes with police mostly in Ferguson, but also in other major U.S. cities. President Barack Obama appeals for calm, calling for Americans to accept the ruling of the grand jury.

November 30 – Europe / Former Soviet Republics: MOLDOVA
In Moldova’s parliamentary elections, three pro-EU parties win together 44 percent of the vote and get majority of seats in parliament; however, a previously small pro-Russian Socialist Party, with 21 percent of vote, becomes the largest single party in the parliament. The election poses a significant setback for the communists who receive only 18 percent of the vote and face a reduction of parliamentary seats from 31 to 21.