Portal:Current events/December 2009

Ongoing conflicts
	Africa / Middle East Chadian Civil War; Iraq War; Israeli–Palestinian conflict; Maghreb insurgency; Niger Delta conflict; Shia insurgency in Yemen; South Yemen insurgency; Somali Civil War; Turkey–PKK conflict; Asia War in Afghanistan; Balochistan conflict; Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir; Insurgency in the Philippines; Ethnic conflict in Nagaland; Naxalite–Maoist insurgency; War in North-West Pakistan; South Thailand insurgency; Americas Colombian conflict; Mexican drug war;

Recent deaths
	December 30: Abdurrahman Wahid; 29: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams; 29: Akmal Shaikh; 28: The Rev; 27: Maryam Babangida; 26: Jacques Sylla; 26: Dennis Brutus; 24: George Michael; 24: Rafael Caldera; 23: Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme; 22: Luis Francisco Cuéllar; 22: Albert Scanlon; 21: Craigie Aitchison; 20: Arnold Stang; 20: Brittany Murphy; 19: Hussein-Ali Montazeri; 19: Kim Peek;

Ongoing events
	Economic Automotive industry crisis; Financial crisis; Worldwide recession; Medical H1N1/09 flu pandemic; West African meningitis outbreak; HIV/AIDS in Africa; Political Honduran constitutional crisis; Nigerien constitutional crisis; U.S. health care reform debate; Scientific Expedition 22;

December 2009 was the twelfth and final month of that common year. The month, which began on a Tuesday, ended on a Thursday after 31 days. It was the last month of the 2000s decade.

Portal:Current events

This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from December 2009.

December 1, 2009 (Tuesday)

Porfirio Lobo Sosa is elected President of Honduras. Turnout increases dramatically despite ousted former President Manuel Zelaya's plea for a boycott. (Huffington Post)
In a major policy speech, South African President Jacob Zuma announces the country will treat all HIV positive babies and expand testing. (IOL) (AP) (Al Jazeera)
U.S. President Barack Obama announces that he will send 30,000 extra American troops to Afghanistan within the next six months and start withdrawal in 19 months. (The New York Times)
U.S. golfer Tiger Woods announces that he will not be attending his own charity golf tournament, the Chevron World Challenge, or any other tournaments in 2009. (AP via Google News)
Maurice Clemmons, suspect in the 2009 shooting of Lakewood, Washington, police officers, is shot dead by police in Seattle. (BBC)
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office says efforts are continuing to secure the release of sailors captured by the Iranian Navy on November 25, while Iran warns it will deal with them seriously if it exposes "malicious intent". (BBC) (Press TV) (Al Jazeera)
The International Court of Justice begins hearings into the legality of the Kosovan declaration of independence from Serbia. (AFP) (BBC)
North Korea raises the value of its currency for the first time in 17 years. (Chosun Ilbo) (Yonhap) (Financial Times)
Tony Abbott becomes the leader of the Federal Liberal Party of Australia and Leader of the Opposition defeating Malcolm Turnbull by 42 votes to 41 following a party revolt over its position on the Rudd government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. (ABC News Australia) (BBC)
The Treaty of Lisbon enters into force:
- The European Union now has legal personality and has acquired the competences previously conferred on the European Community. Community law therefore becomes European Union law. (ECJ)
- The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enters into force. (AFP via Google News)
- The European Court of Justice acquires general jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings in the area of freedom, security and justice. (ECJ)
- The first permanent President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, officially takes office. (AFP via Google News)
- The first EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, officially takes office. (AFP via Google News)

December 2, 2009 (Wednesday)

FIFA, the world governing body for association football, announce after an emergency session of their Executive Committee, that following the controversy over the Thierry Henry handball incident, it will set up an inquiry into the use of extra officials or technology, but any changes will not be implemented for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Wikinews
Indonesia bans the Australian film Balibo, which follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists killed during the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor. (Jakarta Post) (AFP) (BBC) (Reuters)
The body of German-Austrian billionaire Friedrich Karl Flick, stolen from the grave in 2008 and held for ransom, is returned to his family. (AP) (BBC)
More than 50 prominent Nigerian public figures call for President Umaru Yar'Adua to resign, saying his health is impairing his judgment. (NEXT) (BBC) (Xinhua)
An Islamist group in the North Caucasus claims the bomb attack on a Nevsky Express train in Russia was conducted on orders of "Emir of the Caucasus Emirate" Dokka Umarov. (Al Jazeera) (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua)
The trial of suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk is postponed after he is taken ill. (Deutsche Welle) (AFP)
Wikipedia is ordered by a senior British judge to breach its confidentiality after a woman pleaded for help in identifying an alleged blackmailer. (Daily Telegraph)
Five British yachtsmen held by Iranian Revolutionary Guards are released. (BBC) (Press TV)
Cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs provides evidence to reporters that she had an affair with golf legend Tiger Woods. (The Sun) (Radaronline) (Huffington Post)

December 3, 2009 (Thursday)

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits in United States commercial banks, is running a deficit of $US8.2 billion. (New York Times)
The Royal Netherlands Navy seizes 13 Somali pirates and frees two Tanzanians from a vessel that attacked a German ship off the southern cost of Oman. (Reuters South Africa) (AP) (IOL)
Nigerian farmers sue Shell at a court in The Hague over claims that the oil firm polluted their land in the Niger Delta region. (NEXT) (Forbes) (The Independent)
A further five people are sentenced to death over their involvement in the July riots in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, in northwestern China. (Global Times) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Indian activists mark the 25th anniversary of the industrial disaster that took place in Bhopal which led to 3,787 deaths. (IBN Live) (Times of India) (The Times)
Three Somali cabinet ministers are amongst dozens killed in a bomb blast at a university graduation ceremony at a hotel in Mogadishu. (Al Jazeera) (CCTV) (AFP)
Three Iranian pilgrims are killed after their bus exploded at a petrol station in the Syrian capital Damascus. (The Guardian) (BBC) (Alalam News Network)
Nathan Rees is replaced as leader of the New South Wales Australian Labor Party and Premier of New South Wales by Kristina Keneally. (Sydney Morning Herald)

December 4, 2009 (Friday)

US Marines and Afghan troops launch Operation Cobra's Anger in northern Helmand province. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision closes down the Cleveland based AmTrust Bank. (Dow Jones via NASDAQ
An explosion at a nightclub in Perm, Russia, kills at least one hundred and injures around a hundred people. (RIA Novosti) (BBC) (MSNBC)
A fire at a nightclub in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, Indonesia, kills at least 20 people. (AFP) (Jakarta Post) (BBC)
Namibian incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba is reelected along with the ruling SWAPO party after elections last week. (Al Jazeera) (AFP)
At least 50 people are missing after two ferries collide on the River Nile near Rashid (Rosetta) in Egypt. (BBC) (AFP) (Ynetnews)
Two Rwandan soldiers are killed while on a peacekeeping mission in Darfur. (Reuters) (BBC)
Security forces in the Philippines raid the compounds of clans suspected of being involved in the Maguindanao massacre. (AP) (Philippine Inquirer)
An Italian jury finds Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito guilty in the case of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia. Knox is sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. (CNN)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation announces that 25 member countries will contribute a further 7,000 troops to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in addition to 30,000 additional American and 500 British troops previously announced. (BBC)
2010 FIFA World Cup draw:
- The final draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup takes place in Cape Town, South Africa. (AP via Yahoo sports) (The Korea Times)
- The venue, Cape Town International Convention Centre, is sealed off after two bomb scares. (The Times) (The Guardian)
Nepal's cabinet meets on Mount Everest to highlight the impact of climate change in the Himalayas. (CNN) (Hindustan Times)
Guinea's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara is flown to Morocco for medical treatment after being shot by an aide in an assassination attempt. (BBC) (AP) (Xinhua)
At least 47 people drown after a ferry capsizes in Kishoreganj District, Bangladesh. (The Daily Star) (AFP) (BBC)
At least 30 people are killed in an attack at a mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (Dawn) (Al Jazeera) (Press Trust of India)
A further three people are sentenced to death for their involvement in the July riots in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, in northwestern China. (New York Times) (Xinhua)
Militants in southern Thailand kill a Muslim family of three while a bomb attack injures two in Pattani Province. (AFP) (Bernama) (RTÉ)

December 5, 2009 (Saturday)

CNN issues an apology to The Irish Times after accusing the newspaper of publishing fake nude photographs of the world's number one golfer Tiger Woods. CNN also alleged The Irish Times had paid damages as a result. (The Irish Times)
Irish Independent Member of Parliament Noel Grealish withdraws his support for the country's government over the issue of pay cuts in the public sector. The move reduces the administration of Taoiseach Brian Cowen to a minority government. (Irish Independent)
More than one million tickets for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa go on sale globally. (BBC)
Thousands of people attend the funeral of Chilean singer and national icon Víctor Jara in Santiago, reburied 36 years after his death via torture in the 1973 military coup carried out by Augusto Pinochet. (BBC)
Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, returns to his hospital bed in Bangkok after making a brief public appearance to mark his 82nd birthday. (RTÉ) (The Jakarta Post) (BERNAMA) (Sky News)
Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in London and other European capitals ahead of a United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen. (AFP) (BBC) (The Times)
Tens of thousands of people take to the streets of Rome in a national "No B Day" demonstration demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. (France 24)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declares a national day of mourning on December 7 following a nightclub fire which resulted in 109 deaths yesterday. (ITAR-TASS) (Xinhua)
Guinea's vice-president and defence minister Sekouba Konaté of the ruling National Council for Democracy and Development takes charge of the country after leader Moussa Dadis Camara was shot in an assassination attempt. (BBC)
The President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares martial law in Maguindanao following the Maguindanao massacre. (Al Jazeera) (Philippine Inquirer)
Six doctors in the United Kingdom are taking legal action to demand a formal inquest into the death of government scientist David Christopher Kelly. (BBC)

December 6, 2009 (Sunday)

Flamengo wins its sixth Brazilian national football title, following a 2-1 win over Grêmio in the last round of 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. (Globo)
Restrictions on internet access and foreign media are put in place ahead of the Student's Day in Iran, as former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urges "freedom" in the country. (Al Jazeera) (CNN) (AP)
There are violent riots and protests in Athens between police and protesters as the city commemorates the first anniversary of the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a police officer. (BBC) (Sky News) (The Guardian)
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan makes large gains in local elections against the Kuomintang. (Taiwan News) (Al Jazeera) (Daily Telegraph)
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom firmly warns newspaper editors in a letter to cease publication of personal pictures of the British Royal Family after years of being "hounded" by paparazzi. (BBC) (ABC News)
An HIV-positive man is accused of attempting to intentionally infect his wife with the virus, the first case of its kind in New Zealand. (Sunday Star Times) (BBC) (IOL) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Voters in Bolivia go to the polls for a general election with exit polls indicating that the President of Bolivia Evo Morales has won. (BBC), (AP via Google), (AFP)
Romanians take part in the 2nd round of a presidential election. (HotNews.ro) (AP)
Legislative elections take place in Comoros. (Reuters) (AFP)
Archaeologists discover evidence of mass cannibalism in Europe during the Neolithic period at a 7,000-year-old burial site in Germany. (BBC)

December 7, 2009 (Monday)

Pakistan’s Raffatullah Momand and Aamer Sajjad set a new world record for a second wicket partnership scoring 580 runs in a first-class Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match, breaking the previous record of 576 held by Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama.(Dawn)(Cricinfo)
Incumbent President of Romania Traian Băsescu is declared the winner of Sunday's presidential election run-off, with the opposition demanding that the Constitutional Court annul the vote due to electoral fraud. (Associated Press) (realitatea - official final results) (Bloomberg)
Incumbent Northern Mariana Islands Governor Benigno Fitial of the Covenant Party is declared the winner of the 2009 gubernatorial election and runoff over Republican Rep. Heinz Hofschneider. (Saipan Tribune)
President of Guinea Moussa Dadis Camara is reportedly unable to communicate following surgery due to an assassination attempt. (France 24)
At least seven soldiers are shot to death and at least three others are wounded in an ambush at Reşadiye, Tokat Turkey, in the region's deadliest attack this decade. (The New York Times) (Radio Netherlands) (Al Jazeera) (Reuters South Africa) (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua)
Bishop Dermot O'Mahony resigns as patron of The Irish Pilgrimage Trust after his response to child sexual abuse was described as "worse than that of any other living auxiliary bishop of Dublin". (RTÉ) (Press Association)
The United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Copenhagen. (CNN) (Indian Express) (Bernama) (Times LIVE)
Iranian police clash with thousands of opposition supporters at the annual Student's Day in Tehran, with reports of gunfire being heard. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Times of India) (Press TV)
At least five people are killed in a blast outside a court complex in Peshawar, Pakistan. (Hindustan Times) (Financial Times)
Sudanese police detain three senior figures from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the ruling party in South Sudan, at a demonstration calling for electoral reform in Khartoum. (Sudan Tribune) (AFP) (BBC)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan begins hearing a case against the National Reconciliation Ordinance which protected President Asif Ali Zardari and other key political figures against graft charges. (AP) (Dawn) (Xinhua)
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates admits that the United States has had no information on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden for many years. (Dawn) (The Independent)
The English town of Swindon becomes the first ever Twin Town of Walt Disney World in the U.S. state of Florida. (BBC) (The Independent)
At least eight people are killed, mainly children, and at least 41 others are wounded due to a school bombing in Baghdad. (Al Jazeera)

December 8, 2009 (Tuesday)

Japan unveils a new ¥7.2 trillion (US$80.6 billion) stimulus package to strengthen the country's economy amid signs it is weakening. (BBC) (Japan Times) (Press TV)
Anti-government protests in Iran continue at universities for a second day, with over 200 arrests. (Press TV) (UPI) (Lebanon Daily Star)
Gunmen in Honduras shoot dead the head of the country's anti-drug trafficking unit, Julian Aristides Gonzalez. (Latin American Herald Tribune) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
For the second time in as many years, CBS cancels a United States-produced soap opera, this time As the World Turns after 54 years, in effect putting Procter & Gamble, the creators of said genre, out of that business. (Bloomberg News)
President of Serbia Boris Tadić, his sports minister and ФСС/FSS chief Tomislav Karadzic are punished for breaking FIFA's strict no-alcohol policy at the Stadion Crvena Zvezda on 10 October. (RTÉ) (The Belfast Telegraph)
The ruling junta in Guinea announces it has arrested 60 people so far for attempting to kill leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. (BBC) (African Press Agency)
Eight children are killed and a further 26 injured in a stampede at a school in Xiangtan, Hunan, in central China. (China Daily) (The Times) (Indian Express)
A series of earthquakes and aftershocks kill a 1 year old child and injure several other people in northern Malawi. (Reuters) (BBC)
A Cambodian court sentences a Thai man on charges of spying for Thailand to 7 years imprisonment. (Thai News Agency) (Financial Times)
Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo, the world's first commercial spacecraft, is officially unveiled in the Mojave Desert, California. (The Daily Telegraph)
Bombings in Iraq kill over 100 people. (Wall Street Journal) (Al Jazeera)
Burmese authorities burn US$93 million worth of seized narcotic drugs at a ceremony in eastern Shan State. (Xinhua) (Times of India)

December 9, 2009 (Wednesday)

An unexplained spiral light seen in the sky across large parts of Northern Norway confounds spectators. Authorities speculate that the light could come from a misfired Russian rocket, but Russian authorities deny this. (Daily Mail) (The Daily Telegraph)
Thousands of Jewish settlers stage a protest at the curbs on settlement building in the West Bank. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Times of India)
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling delivers the pre Budget report, with tax rises and spending cuts to reduce the government debt. (BBC) (Wall Street Journal)
Irish Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan delivers the nation's Budget for 2010. (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (BBC)
The Irish Bishops Conference apologises for the sexual abuse suffered by its children after spending the first day of its winter conference examining the Murphy Report. (RTÉ) (Irish Independent) (Javno) (BBC)
24 people are charged with rebellion after 57 people were killed during the Maguindanao massacre in the southern Philippines last month. (Manila Bulletin) (Straits Times)
A legal challenge to Ireland's abortion laws takes place at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. (RTÉ) (BBC)
The Australian government is accused of "censorship" after it refuses visas to several North Korean artists who were to attend an international exhibition displaying their work. (The Times) (BBC) (AFP)
India plans to secure its naval harbours with electric fences "against clandestine threats from the sea". (BBC)
Chinese police recommend that prosecutors formally charge dissident Liu Xiaobo for "subversion of state power" after he was detained for a year without trial. (BBC) (Radio Television Hong Kong) (New York Times)
Tens of thousands of people rally in several cities in Indonesia demanding the government do more to tackle political corruption. (CNN) (Xinhua) (Jakarta Post)
Aung San Suu Kyi meets with an official from the military junta for the third time, as Burmese state media accuse her of being "dishonest". (Bangkok Post) (AP) (BBC)
The United States government agrees to pay $3.4 billion to settle Cobell v. Salazar, a class-action lawsuit brought by Native American representatives who claimed that it has incorrectly accounted for Native American trust assets. (Los Angeles Times) (Xinhua) (Voice of America)
For the first time since the return of democracy in 1986, the Congress of the Philippines is debating in a joint session to discuss whether to approve, revoke or extend the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao. (ABS-CBN News)
North Korea announces for the first time an outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus in the country. (Yonhap) (Channel News Asia)

December 10, 2009 (Thursday)

The credit rating of Greece is downgraded, leading to increased pessimism regarding the Greek economy. (BBC)
Pakistani officials arrest five US citizens wanted by the FBI on suspicion of terrorism. (BBC)
Thousands of "red shirt" anti-government protesters demonstrate in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for new elections. (Thai News Agency) (AFP) (Xinhua)
In what has been described as a landmark case, the Supreme Court of Ireland rules that a gay man, identified as "A", who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple shall have access to the resulting boy child, overturning the original High Court decision. GLEN expresses concern at the Supreme Court's rejection of the lesbian couple as a "de facto family". (RTÉ) (Irish Examiner) (The Irish Times) (BBC)
It is revealed that Egypt is building an iron wall up to 100 feet deep along its border with Gaza. (The National) (Xinhua) (The Daily Telegraph)
New 4,000-page Spanish grammar guidelines, produced by the Spanish Royal Academy and 21 organizations in Spanish-speaking countries, are unveiled. (AP)
India announces it is to create a new state, Telangana, out of Andhra Pradesh, with some officials resigning in protest. (Indian Express) (BBC) (Reuters)
18 hostages are released after at least 65 people are kidnapped by gunmen in Agusan del Sur, Mindanao, the Philippines. (Philippine Inquirer) (CNN)
A failed launch of an intercontinental missile RSM-56 Bulava by Russia is reported to be the cause of the mysterious spiral light seen over Northern Norway yesterday. (BBC) (South Africa Mercury) (ITAR-TASS)
U.S. President Barack Obama accepts the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. (CNN) (New York Times) (BBC)

December 11, 2009 (Friday)

Papua New Guinea's chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek is wounded in an apparent assassination attempt.(ABC Radio)
Judges in the Constitutional Court of Turkey vote unanimously to ban the country's Democratic Society Party because of its alleged links to Kurdish terrorists. (The Guardian)
Vasily Khristoforov, the head archivist for Russia's Federal Security Service confirms for the first time that the Soviet Union's KGB cremated Adolf Hitler's body in 1970 and scattered his ashes in the Biederitz River. (CNN)
Oil company Royal Dutch Shell wins the right to develop Iraq's Majnoon oil field in a joint venture with Petronas after the first such auction since the 2003 invasion. The field is expected to generate $900 million a year. (BBC) (Forbes)
Pope Benedict XVI releases a statement stating that he shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by the Irish people over the findings of the Murphy Report into sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy in Dublin. (RTÉ) (BBC) (CNN)
The United States threatens Iran with "significant new sanctions" over the country's nuclear programme according to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. (BBC)
The body of the former President of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos is stolen from the grave, a day before the first anniversary of his death. (Cyprus News Agency) (BBC) (Daily Telegraph)
Former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei says that if he decides to run in the presidential election in Egypt in 2011, he will run as an independent candidate instead of running as a candidate of any of the political parties in Egypt. (Reuters)
The discovery of the Triassic theropod dinosaur genus Tawa is announced. (AP) (Scientific American) (Times Online)
North Korea acknowledges "the need to resume" the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear program, after talks with U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth. (Yonhap) (AP) (BBC)
The Airbus A400M from Airbus Military performs its maiden flight in Seville, Spain. (Reuters)

December 12, 2009 (Saturday)

Annise Parker is elected Mayor of Houston, which becomes the largest United States city with an openly gay person elected mayor. (CBS News) (New York Times)
Police in Denmark detain 900 people after thousands gather in Copenhagen to demand more action on climate change and global warming by leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Economic Times)
Police in Thailand seize a plane carrying weapons from North Korea to an unknown destination, detaining 5 crew. (Bangkok Post) (BBC)
The leaders of Cuba and Venezuela sign over US$3.2 billion worth of trade and cooperation agreements. (Channel News Asia)
The Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia holds its first presidential elections. (euronews) (UPI) (Al Jazeera) (The Georgian Times)
President of the Philippines Gloria Arroyo lifts martial law in Maguindanao in the south of the country, where 57 people were killed in political violence there last month. (The Philippine Star) (AP)
Golfer Tiger Woods announces he is taking an indefinite break from the sport after a scandal over his infidelity in order to focus on "being a better husband, father, and person". (ABC)
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has cancelled the contract of its private security firm with Xe Services LLC, previously known as Blackwater, for its services related to Drone operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Dawn)

December 13, 2009 (Sunday)

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair states in an interview that he would have gone to war in Iraq even if he had known that it had no weapons of mass destruction. (The Times) (The Daily Telegraph)
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown makes an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to support British forces deployed as part of the International Security Assistance Force and to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. (BBC)
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Danish police arrest 200 protesters heading for Copenhagen harbour, on the second day of demonstrations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. (The Times) (AP)
- Campaigners in Copenhagen criticise "heavy handed" tactics by Danish police after 968 people are arrested as a result of protests surrounding the United Nations Climate Change Conference (BBC) (BBC:In Pictures)
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accuses the pro-reform opposition of breaking the law after state television allegedly showed opposition supporters destroying images of founder Ruhollah Khomeini.
Joe McElderry wins the sixth series of the UK version of ITV's The X Factor produced by FremantleMedia's talkbackTHAMES and Simon Cowell's Syco TV. This meant that Cheryl Cole was the first mentor to win two consecutive series. (AP) (Press TV) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Voters in Chile go to the polls in presidential and parliamentary elections. (Xinhua) (Reuters)
Over 100 suspected Islamic militants break into a prison in the Philippine city of Isabela, freeing at least 31 inmates and killing two, including a prison guard. (Philippine Star) (BBC)
Chinese President Hu Jintao opens the Kazakhstan–China oil pipeline connecting central Asia to China. (Press TV) (BBC)
The Sarejevo-Belgrade rail link resumes between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia after 18 years. (BBC) (AP)
Violence erupts in Turkey after the Constitutional Court of Turkey bans the Democratic Society Party over its alleged terrorist links. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
India successfully test fires its nuclear-capable "Dhanush" missile off the Orissa coast. (Press Trust of India) (China Daily) (The Hindu)
Global consulting firm Accenture and multinational corporation Procter & Gamble end their endorsement deals with golfer Tiger Woods following a marital infidelity controversy. (Wall Street Journal) (BBC News) (Bloomberg)
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is hit in the face and knocked to the ground after a political rally in Milan. (BBC News) (CNN)
Leaders of north and south Sudan reach a deal on a referendum for the south's independence in 2011. (AFP) (Reuters)

December 14, 2009 (Monday)

The Group of 77 (including China, India, UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) suspends participation in treaty negotiations at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, citing the unwillingness of developed nations to live up to the Kyoto Protocol and what they view as a lack of open negotiations. (BBC) (AP)
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, claims that some banks were rescued during the recent global financial crisis by billions of dollars that originated from the illegal drug trade. (Press TV) (Press Trust of India)
Researchers report that the Veined Octopus retrieves coconut shell halves to use as shelter, becoming the first invertebrates recorded to use tools. (AP) (Times Online)
The Eritrean national football team goes missing in Kenya, with the intention of seeking asylum. (AFP) (Jimma Times) (BBC)
Cabin crew at British Airways vote overwhelmingly in favour of a planned 12 days of strike action over Christmas and the New Year in a dispute over job cuts and changes to staff contracts. (BBC)
Centre-right candidate Sebastian Piñera wins the first round of the presidential election in Chile, and will face a run off with centre-left candidate Eduardo Frei on January 17. (The Santiago Times) (The Independent) (AP)
Dubai receives a US$10 billion bailout from Abu Dhabi to help fund troubled Dubai World. (Gulf News) (Al Jazeera) (CCTV)
Guinea's military junta reject a proposal by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of sending an "intervention force" to the country. (AP) (Xinhua)
Sudanese police fire tear gas and detain some 38 protesters in clashes at a planned pro-democracy rally in Omdurman. (AFP) (IOL) (BBC)
A Bangkok court extends the detention of the crew of the seized Ilyushin Il-76, a cargo aircraft loaded with 35 tonnes of arms from North Korea, charging them with the illegal possession of weapons. (Thai News Agency) (BBC)
It is revealed that China's People's Liberation Army has built a massive underground tunnel in the Hebei region to protect its nuclear weapons. (The Chosun Ilbo)
Austrian bank Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International is nationalised to avert a bank collapse. (Reuters)
TeliaSonera opens the world's first 4G LTE cellular network for public in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden. (The Inquirer) (Wall Street Journal)

December 15, 2009 (Tuesday)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish hosts urge countries on to compromise to salvage agreement on a new U.N. pact aimed at averting dangerous climate change and global warming. P:GW (Reuters)
Nauru recognizes the independence of Abkhazia and establishes formal diplomatic relations in exchange for aid from Russia. (New York Times)
Two protesters are killed and several injured at a demonstration in opposition to the banning of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey. (CNN) (Xinhua) (Today's Zaman)
The Boeing 787 'Dreamliner' widebody passenger airliner takes its maiden flight, travelling from Paine Field to Boeing Field, in Washington State, U.S.A. (BBC) (Reuters) (USA Today)
Chile receives an official invitation to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (Wall Street Journal)
Evacuations begin in the Albay province of the Philippines as the Mayon Volcano oozes lava, with an eruption possible. (Philippine Inquirer) (AP via Fox News)
Canadian sports medicine specialist Anthony Galea, who helped Tiger Woods recover from knee surgery, is accused of providing top athletes with performance-enhancing drugs. (New York Times)
Israel condemns the issuing of a war crimes arrest warrant in the United Kingdom for former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. (Jerusalem Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

December 16, 2009 (Wednesday)

Mexican drug lord Arturo Beltrán Leyva, leader of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, is killed by personnel of the Mexican Navy during a shootout in Cuernavaca, Morelos. (The Times)
Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen replaces Connie Hedegaard in a "procedural move" as president of the U.N. climate talks, as further clashes take place around the perimeter of the summit. (BBC News) (The Times) (Al Jazeera)
Kelly Kwalik, leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), is fatally shot by police in Indonesia. (BBC) (The Jakarta Globe) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
An unarmed 26-year-old man is detained after attempting to enter the hospital room of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as he recuperates from the recent assault. (CNN) (The Daily Telegraph)
Roy E. Disney, head of Disney Animation and responsible for guiding the studio through a golden age of animation, dies in a California hospital in the United States. (CNN)
Malawi recognizes the independence of Kosovo (Kosovo Foreign ministry) (New Kosova Report)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan declares NRO as unconstitutional, paving way for the reopening of the corruption cases involving the President and other senior officials. (The News) (BBC News)
Archaeologists in Jerusalem say they have discovered a burial shroud from around the time of Jesus in a tomb. (Jerusalem Post) (Irish Times) (Zee News)
Toumba Diakite, an aide to Guinea's military leader Moussa Dadis Camara admits to shooting him after the junta leader wanted him to take responsibility for the massacre of opposition protesters in September. (AP) (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) (Xinhua)
The Philippine province of Albay is put under a "state of imminent disaster" as activity at the Mayon Volcano increases. (GMA News)
North Korea reportedly bans all foreigners from entering the country until early February 2010, for unknown reasons. (The Chosun Ilbo) (Bloomberg)
Russian economist Yegor Gaidar, the architect of the neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s as the first finance minister of post-Soviet Russia, dies unexpectedly in his home. (BBC News) (New York Times) (RIA Novosti)
Nauru recognizes the independence of South Ossetia, one day after also establishing diplomatic relations with Abkhazia. (Moscow Times)
UK airline Flyglobespan goes into administration, with the cancellation of all scheduled flights. (BreakingNews)

December 17, 2009 (Thursday)

Europe is hit by heavy snowfall leading to disruptions in France, Germany, Poland and Spain. (BBC)
The Panamanian livestock transporter MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon while travelling from Uruguay to Syria with 83 people on board. (France 24) (The Times)
Ireland exits "one of Europe's worst recessions". (BBC) (The Irish Times) (France 24)
Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray resigns following allegations contained within the Murphy Report. The Vatican accepts his resignation. (Limerick Leader) (RTÉ) (Miami Herald) (BBC) (Channel News Asia)
A Nigerian court throws out corruption charges against the former governor of the country's Delta State, James Ibori, saying there was no clear evidence. (NEXT) (AFP) (BBC)
Egyptian archaeologists recover from the Mediterranean Sea an ancient temple pylon belonging to the palace complex of Cleopatra. (AP)
It is revealed that Iraqi militants intercepted live video feeds from U.S. MQ-1 Predator drones, potentially acquiring information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations. (Wall Street Journal)
The Pakistani opposition calls on President Asif Ali Zardari to resign after the Supreme Court declared void an amnesty protecting him and other senior officials from corruption charges. (Dawn) (Al Jazeera) (Hindustan Times)
Yemen authorities say 34 suspected Al-Qaeda militants have been killed and 17 captured in raids at hideouts and training camps in the west of the country. (Yemen News Agency) (AP) (Dawn)
Two of Colombia's main rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), announce they are to unite. (Latin American Herald Tribune) (BBC)
The collapse of UK airline Flyglobespan leaves thousands of travellers stranded. (BBC)
Sahwari activist Aminatou Haidar is hospitalized in Tenerife, Spain, after 32 days of hunger strike protesting against her expulsion by the Moroccan authorities. (BBC) (CNN) (France24) (The Age)
The Catholic Church condemns as "inappropriate" and "disrespectful" a New Zealand billboard involving nudity and the birth of Jesus Christ. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Japan Today)
The English High Court grants British Airways an injunction against a proposed twelve day strike by cabin crew represented by trade union Unite scheduled to occur over Christmas. (BBC)

December 18, 2009 (Friday)

Thirty world leaders present in Copenhagen for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change agree on a draft accord. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Forbes.com "Silver Lining In Copenhagen 'Fiasco'") (AllAfrica.com "Copenhagen Accord Politically Significant But Not Legally Binding") (Associated Press "China, India, South Africa vital for climate deal")
The Catalan Parliament votes to ban bull fighting in the Spanish region. (The Times)
Russian television news channels air repeated coverage of a UFO, shaped like a pyramid and similar to an Imperial Cruiser from Star Wars. (The Daily Telegraph) (Sky News)
The Vatican dismisses Zambia's controversial Roman Catholic Church archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. (African Press Agency) (ZBC) (BBC)
A Paris court rules that Google is infringing copyright, sentencing it to pay 300,000 euros in damages and interest to French publisher Editions de la Martinière, and 10,000 euros a day until it removes extracts of the books from its database. (BBC) (PC World)
The BBC apologises for offence caused when it used the headline: "Should homosexuals face execution?" (The Age) (The New Zealand Herald) (The Daily Telegraph)
Irish priest Father Seán Sheehy withdraws from work in his parish of Castlegregory over a controversy which followed his shaking the hand of a convicted sex offender in court days earlier. Bishop of Kerry William Murphy disassociates himself from Sheehy and his actions. (RTÉ) (BBC) (Irish Examiner)
General Motors announces that it will begin shutting down operations at the Swedish carmaker Saab automobile. (New York Times) (Wall Street Journal)
After 27 years, Terry Wogan presents his last edition of Wake Up to Wogan on BBC Radio 2, receiving farewell messages from Gordon Brown and David Cameron. (The Times) (RTÉ) (BBC highlights)
The Arbeit macht frei sign is stolen from Auschwitz concentration camp. (JTA) (Deutsche Welle) (RTÉ) (The Daily Telegraph)
Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, recants his confession, claiming that police tortured him into admitting his role in the attacks. (AP) (Press Trust Of India)
Twitter, a popular micro-blogging service, temporarily goes offline after a group calling itself the "Iranian Cyber Army" manages to change its DNS records. (PC World) (CNN)
A large crater, dubbed the "Fried Egg" because of its shape, is discovered off the coast of The Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, prompting speculation that it may have been caused up to 17 million years ago by meteor impact. (BBC)
Lava flows and ash explosions continue to emerge from Philippine volcano Mount Mayon while scientists predict a major eruption in the coming weeks and 30,000 people remain in temporary shelter. (BBC)
In a reversal of a previous decision, Sir John Chilcot insists that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will give the majority of his evidence to The Iraq Inquiry in public. (BBC)
Snowfall across the east of England disrupts transport and power supplies. (BBC)
The Iraqi government demands the withdrawal of Iranian soldiers that it claims seized an oil well in Fakkah, in the Maysan Governorate in southern Iraq. (CNN) (Gulf Daily News) (Al Jazeera)(NYT)

December 19, 2009 (Saturday)

The North American blizzard of 2009 produces record snowfall, causing power outages, deaths, and impacting retail sales. (The Weather Channel) (BBC)
Iraq deploys troops on its border with Iran to monitor a disputed oil well seized by Iranian troops, while an arbitration commission is established to resolve the dispute. (Al Jazeera) (AP) (Press TV)
NASA releases the first ever photo of liquid outside of Earth, in the form of sunlight reflecting on a lake on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. (CNN)
Serbians, Macedonians, and Montenegrins are able to travel to continental Europe without a visa from this day on. (The Independent)
Pope Benedict XVI declares two of his predecessors, John Paul II and Pius XII to be Venerable, the second step toward sainthood. (BBC) (The New York Times) (Deutsche Welle)
A 6.4 M_w earthquake strikes Taiwan collapsing one building. (Central News Agency) (Reuters)
Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina dismisses his Prime Minister, Eugène Mangalaza, whom he appointed in October. (Al Jazeera)
The Fatah movement in the West Bank rejects local mediation between itself and Hamas. (Xinhua)
Iran's military prosecutor charges three officials with killing three people at a detention centre used to house post-election protesters. (AFP) (BBC)
A faction from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it carried out an attack on an oil pipeline, breaking a ceasefire agreed upon with the Nigerian government. (Times of Nigeria) (BBC) (Xinhua)
The Cambodian government expels 22 Chinese Muslim Uyghurs who arrived in the country back to China, despite criticism from the UN. (Press TV) (BBC) (The Straits Times)
Freezing conditions cause electrical faults in the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France, isolating 2,000 passengers in five trains. The situation is coupled with disruptions at London Heathrow Airport and traffic delays due to snowy conditions in the south-east of England. (BBC) (Sky News) (The Financial Times)
Police recruit sniffer dogs and detectives in their hunt for the Arbeit macht frei sign missing from Auschwitz as appeals for its return are made by Israel, Poland and the European Union. (BBC) (The Times)
Scientists announced the discovery of GJ 1214 b, an ocean planet orbiting a star in the Ophiuchus constellation. (Nature)
In association football, FC Barcelona sets a new record by winning all 6 possible competitions (The Sextuple) in one year. (The Guardian)

December 20, 2009 (Sunday)

Tanzania is hit by an earthquake measuring 6.2 magnitude. (Xinhua) (Press TV)
A crisis state of emergency is declared when at least three people are killed, hundreds are wounded and buildings collapse when an earthquake strikes Malawi. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Washington Post) (The New York Times)
Shi'ites say Saudi air attacks on northern Yemen have led to the deaths of 54 people, including women and children. (Reuters)
Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina appoints Colonel Vital Albert Camille as the new Prime Minister, days after sacking former Prime Minister Eugene Mangalaza, who had been appointed as part of a power sharing agreement. (BBC)
United States Army Major General Anthony Cucolo makes pregnancy a court-martial offense for both female and male troops under his command in northern Iraq. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Gerry Adams, in an interview with RTÉ, speaks for the first time about the abuse his father inflicted on his family. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Observer)
A runaway truck kills up to 100 people at a market in Kogi State, Nigeria. (Vanguard) (BBC) (Xinhua)
Snowfall disrupts transport services and kills at least 18 people across Europe. (Deutsche Welle) (BBC) (Straits Times) (Ireland Online)
Mourners pay their respects to drug baron Marcos Arturo Beltrán-Leyva days after he is shot dead by authorities. (Reuters)
Hundreds of riot police and Maoist protesters clash in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on the first day of a three-day general strike. (Kantipur) (AFP)
Colombia and Venezuela move closer to war. (Reuters)
Philippine officials warn an eruption at the Mayon Volcano could happen within the next few days. (Manilla Bulletin) (AP)
Two people are killed and four people are wounded by flying concrete during a huge demolition of a Soviet war memorial in Georgia. (BBC) (The Washington Post)
American band Rage Against the Machine top the UK Christmas Singles Chart with 1992 song "Killing in the Name". Its popularity arose from an internet campaign to prevent X Factor winner Joe McElderry from topping the charts. (CNN)
Actress Brittany Murphy dies at age 32 of Pneumonia and iron deficiency

December 21, 2009 (Monday)

A police officer in Washington, D.C, draws a gun during a snowball fight. (BBC)
Mexico City's Legislative Assembly legalizes same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption. (BBC) (Guardian)
Remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus have been found by Israeli archaeologists. (The Jerusalem Post)
At least 29 people freeze to death in Poland. (BBC)
At least 30 people have been killed in violence in the Nigerian state of Nasarawa. (BBC) (AFP) (allAfrica.com)
North Korea establishes a "peacetime firing zone" on the Northern Limit Line maritime border with South Korea, threatening to fire shells in South Korean territorial waters. (Yonhap) (RIA Novosti) (AFP) (UPI)
The United Nations Security Council lifts an arms embargo on Liberia imposed during the reign of Charles Taylor in 2003. (Liberian Observer) (African Press Agency)
Mister Bolivia wins Mister International 2009 at the end of the two-week event in Taiwan. (BBC)
Two firefighters are hurt fighting a fire as St. James's Gate Brewery is engulfed by flames which send clouds of smoke across Dublin. (RTÉ) (Sky News) (Reuters)
At least 10 people are killed in a rain of mortar shells during the first meeting of MPs in Mogadishu since August 2009. (BBC) (AFP)
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the ruling party in Southern Sudan, criticises a new security law passed by the central government, saying it could undermine the 2010 elections. (Sudan Tribune) (BBC)
Unknown gunmen in Lebanon open fire on a bus carrying Syrian workers, killing one person. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV) (Al Bawaba)
Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina abandons the power sharing agreement after appointing a new military Prime Minister, Colonel Vital Albert Camille. (BBC) (Reuters India)
Burma's Supreme Court agrees to review the extension of the house arrest on National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (AP) (IOL)
The funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hosein-Ali Montazeri takes place in the Iranian city of Qom, as anti-government protests and clashes take place. (BBC) (Angola Press) (AP) (Press TV)
Eurostar is suspended indefinitely due to the heavy snowfall affecting continental Europe. (BBC) (CNN)
Polish police arrest five men and recover the stolen Arbeit macht frei sign that hung over the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz where millions were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust (The Guardian) (The Jerusalem Post)
Severe Tropical Cyclone Laurence becomes a category 5 and strikes the Australian coast with winds of 285 km/h (177 mph). (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (Bureau of Meteorology bulletin)
The leaders of the three main UK political parties agree to stage the country's first ever live televised election debates ahead of the 2010 General Election.(BBC) (Telegraph.co.uk)

December 22, 2009 (Tuesday)

Sudan's parliament approves a law on a possible referendum on Southern Sudan's independence. (Al Jazeera) (AFP)
Maoist supporters in Nepal set a one month deadline for the formation of a unity government, vowing to launch an indefinite strike if the demand was not met. (AFP) (Asian Tribune)
A suicide bomb attack in Peshawar, north-western Pakistan, kills three and injures at least seventeen. (BBC)
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation releases more than 300 pages of previously classified documents belonging to pop icon Michael Jackson who died earlier in the year. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
Eight Russian circus tigers and a lioness are found dead in Yakutsk having succumbed to intense heat while embarking on a 20-hour drive across Siberia. One dog survives. (BBC)
Eurostar finally resumes services after three days of continent-wide weather-related outages. (Financial Times)
Serbia formally submits its application to join the European Union. (Tanjug) (BBC)
It is revealed that the fugitive brother of Gerry Adams has been located in County Sligo after the politician appeals for him to make his whereabouts known. (RTÉ) (BBC)
Two sheriff's deputies are injured and a suspect dies in a shooting in Pierce County, Washington, United States. (San Francisco Chronicle)
An armed conflict in Dungu (Dongo), Équateur Province of Democratic Republic of the Congo has escalated. By 10 December the conflict has left 100 dead and forced 115 000 people to flee their homes. (Algoa FM)
A priest in York causes controversy when he says shoplifting from large national chain stores is acceptable in certain circumstances. (The Irish Times)

December 23, 2009 (Wednesday)

Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin Jim Moriarty resigns, the second bishop to do so following the publication of the Murphy Report. (RTÉ) (BBC) (Bangkok Post)
39-year-old Russian Orthodox priest Father Alexander Filippov is fatally shot in the back outside his home in Satino-Russkoye after challenging a group of drunks who were urinating in his hallway. (BBC) (Radio Free Europe) (The Age)
Gävle's giant straw goat — a traditional symbol of yuletide in Scandinavia — is burned down for the 24th time. (The Daily Telegraph) (Reuters Africa) (BBC) (USA Today)
President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf voluntarily imprisons herself in Bella Yalla prison, an old maximum security prison in the northern jungle, which is to be renamed and turned into a museum. (BBC)
Farouk Adamu Aliyu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party initiates legal action in a bid to tempt the unwell President of Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua, who is hospitalised in Saudi Arabia, to resign the position on health grounds. (BBC)
Clashes between police and protesters take place in the Iranian city of Isfahan at a memorial service for Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri. (Al Jazeera) (The Times)
American Airlines Flight 331, with 154 people onboard, overshoots the runway at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, injuring 44. (Jamaica Observer) (AFP) (China Daily)
The trial of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on charges of subversion begins. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Times of India)
A Dutch court hears a case taken by Kurdish survivors of poison gas attacks in Halabja against businessman Frans van Anraat, who sold chemicals to Saddam Hussein during the 1980s. (BBC) (Radio Nederland Wereldomroep)
Shia insurgency in Yemen led to the deaths of 73 Saudi soldiers, while more than 100 Houthis have been killed in recent days. (The New York Times) (The Christian Science Monitor) (AFP) (Press TV) (The Christian Science Monitor)
The body of Luis Francisco Cuéllar, the governor of Caquetá department in Colombia kidnapped the previous day, is found. (Colombia Reports) (BBC) (Reuters)
Afghan senator Mohammed Yunos Shirnagha and his son/driver are fatally shot by police in Puli Khumri, Baghlan Province. (BBC) (The New York Times) (Press TV) (CBC News)
Authorities in Uzbekistan fell trees, some of which are more than a century old, in the capital Tashkent, in a controversy which has drawn protests. (BBC)
Soyuz TMA-17, carrying an international crew of one Russian, one American and one Japanese astronaut, docks with the International Space Station. (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
The United Nations imposes sanctions of a ban on arms importation and frozen bank accounts on Eritrea for supporting Somali rebels. (Reuters) (The Times) (RIA Novosti)
The Supreme Court of Pakistan orders the government to recognise hijras (eunuchs and transgender individuals) as a distinct gender. (BBC News)

December 24, 2009 (Thursday)

Pope Benedict XVI is knocked down by a woman during a procession before the Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. He is uninjured, but Roger Cardinal Etchegaray suffers a hip fracture. (Sky News) (BBC)
At least 40 people are killed and many injured after a tour bus plunges into a ravine near Cuzco, Peru. (CNN) (UPI) (Xinhua)
Iran says it is to invalidate banknotes which have been pasted with slogans in the name of the Opposition by 8 January 2010. (BBC)
The Indian Army kills nine members of the Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak and Kanglei Yana Kan Lup during three incidents in Manipur. (Times of India) (BBC)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signs a decree ordering a 20% cut of staff at the Interior Ministry after a series of scandals involving the police. (RIA Novosti) (Reuters)
China sentences a further five people to death over riots in Ürümqi, Xinjiang in July, bringing the total number of people sentenced to death to 22. (Al Jazeera) (IOL)
Vietnamese authorities charge human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh with attempts to "overthrow the state". (BBC) (MSN Malaysia)
Turkish police arrest over 43 campaigners and members of the banned Kurdish Communities Union in raids. (Today's Zaman) (Deutsche Welle)
At least three bodies have been recovered and 23 are missing after a collision between a ferry and a fishing boat in the Philippines. (Philippine Star) (CBC)
A suicide bomb attack kills at least eight people in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (BBC)
Bomb attacks in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Hilla leave 23 dead. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Thousands of Christian pilgrims gather in Bethlehem in the West Bank to mark Christmas. (BBC) (Reuters) (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Niger issues arrest warrants for three opposition leaders including a former President, as it condemns the Economic Community of West African States' refusal to recognise the legitimacy of President Mamadou Tandja. (BBC) (African Press Agency) (allAfrica.com)
The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu speaks out against a bill being debated in Uganda that would outlaw homosexuality. (BBC)
The United States Senate passes a health-care bill expected to extend insurance coverage to 30 million additional Americans, in a party-line vote, 60-39. (BBC)(CNN)
An Israeli man is shot dead by Palestinian gunmen in the northern West Bank. (The Jerusalem Post)
At least 30 suspected Al-Qaeda militants are killed in an airstrike in Shabwah Governorate, Yemen. (Yemen News Agency) (AFP) (BBC)
Venezuela orders businesses to cut electricity consumption by 20% as droughts threaten generation capacity at the 10.2 gigawatt Guri hydroelectric power station. (BBC News) (Merco Press)
The Greek parliament approves emergency cuts in government spending for 2010 in an attempt to reduce the country's budget deficit. (Financial Times) (BBC News)
A lawsuit is threatened against the Indonesian Navy and International Organization for Migration after a 29-year-old Sri Lankan asylum seeker is allowed to die through medical negligence after vomiting blood and having a seizure in Indonesia. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Hewlett-Packard admits face detection software on its laptops has trouble detecting dark-skinned faces, leading to casual claims of racism by some. (Christian Science Monitor) (BBC) (TechWeb)

December 25, 2009 (Friday)

A Viva Palestina supply convoy is stranded in Aqaba due to actions of the Egyptian government. (Al Jazeera)
The number of suicides in Japan exceeded 30,000 in 2009 according to officials, for the twelfth consecutive year. (Times of India) (Japan Today) (Straits Times)
China sentences activist Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for "subversion of state power". (UN News Centre) (Al Jazeera) (Press Trust of India)
China's National Bureau of Statistics revised the growth rate of its gross domestic product (GDP) for 2008 to 9.6 percent from 9 percent. (Xinhua)
The 19th century St Mel's Cathedral of Longford in Ireland is destroyed by an ongoing fire in the town. (RTÉ) (Longford Leader)
Two more bishops — Eamonn Oliver Walsh and Raymond Field — resign due to child sex abuse allegations contained within the Murphy Report. They were Dublin's only remaining two serving auxiliary bishops. (RTÉ) (BBC)
The death by gunshot wound of Expresiones de Tulum journalist Alberto Velázquez, the 12th journalist to be killed in Mexico in 2009, is announced. (The Washington Post)
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom remembers the dead soldiers of Afghanistan in the Royal Christmas Message. (BBC) (Boston Globe) (Full text from The Daily Telegraph)
Six Filipino sailors and three Greek officers are missing after fire engulfs a ship in an incident off the coast of Venezuela. (Athens News Agency) (Press TV) (Xinhua)
American officials investigate a possible attempted terrorist attack after an incident on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. MSNBC BBC

December 26, 2009 (Saturday)

A bomb squad in Reykjavík, Iceland, searches a diverted Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Detroit, Michigan, United States, that carries a bag whose owner did not make it onto the plane. (Reuters)
A bomb explodes under the car of a suspected Hamas member in southern Beirut, Lebanon, killing at least one person and injuring two others. (Lebanese National News Agency) (Al Jazeera)
Countries around the Indian Ocean hold commemorations on the fifth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that killed around 250,000 people. (BBC) (euronews)
A bridge over the Chambal River in Kota, India, collapses with 45 people thought to have been killed. (CNN)
It is confirmed that all nine missing crew members — six Filipinos and three Greeks — from yesterday's ship fire disaster off the coast of Venezuela are dead. (BBC)
Ten people die and two more receive injuries after being pierced by a metal guard rail during a bus crash on a major highway in Ipoh, Malaysia. (Malaysian Star)
Five Chinese are sentenced to execution by firing squad before a court in Vietnam for their roles in one of the largest drug seizures in the country's history. (Press Association)

December 27, 2009 (Sunday)

A consortium led by Korea Electric Power gets a US$20.4-billion contract to build nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates, the largest-ever energy deal in the Middle East. (The Wall Street Journal) (Korea Times)
Officials in Yemen say top Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has been killed during an offensive in the north of the country. (Yemen News Agency) (Reuters)
At least six people are dead and many missing after a ferry sinks off Verde Island near Batangas, Philippines, the second such disaster in as many days. (GMA News.tv) (China Daily)
Iran anti-government protest:
- The nephew of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi is killed by security forces in clashes with protestors. (Reuters)
- Iranian police clash with opposition protesters in central Tehran and other cities, with reports of some deaths. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Uzbekistan holds a parliamentary election to elect members of the Supreme Assembly. (Al Jazeera) (Uzbekistan National News Agency) (Reuters)
Croatia holds a presidential election. (BBC News) (AFP)
A tomb, believed to be that of Cao Cao, one of the Chinese leaders during the Three Kingdoms period, is discovered in Henan Province. (Xinhua) (ABC)

December 28, 2009 (Monday)

77-year-old Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii is hospitalised after suffering from high blood pressure and fatigue. (The Straits Times)
Two Argentine men become the first gay couple to legally marry in Latin America at a civil ceremony. (Buenos Aires Herald) (BBC)
Xinhua News Agency says China has rescued 25 sailors and the De Xin Hai, the hijacked Chinese cargo ship, two months after they were seized off Somalia. (The New York Times) (Al Jazeera)
A mine explosion in Shuangbai County, Yunnan causes more deaths to add to those from a similar incident in Jiexiu, Shanxi yesterday, bringing the total deaths for the two incidents to 17, with six other people still trapped. (The Straits Times)
China donates 1.1 million dollars to an irrigation project in Guantánamo Province, Cuba. (AFP)
Construction begins on China's largest civil aircraft final assembly base in Shanghai. (Xinhua News Agency)
Authorities in Guangdong, China shut down a battery factory and commence health checks of all children in the region after it is discovered that dozens of poisoned children had high levels of lead in their blood. (The Straits Times) (Hindustan Times) (China Daily)
Clashes between joint military-police forces and an Islamic sect in Bauchi, Nigeria, result in at least 35 deaths. (The Guardian Nigeria) (IOL) (AFP)
Iran declares martial law in Najafabad following a week of protest and 2 days of violence. (WashingtonTV)
Ireland's most senior Cardinal, Cahal Daly, is reported to be "seriously ill" in hospital. (BBC) (RTÉ)
25 dead and dozens injured in a suicide bombing on a Shia procession on the day of Ashura, in Karachi, Pakistan. (BBC News)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opens the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline. (RIA Novosti) (AFP)
At least 2,000 hectares and 20 homes are destroyed and hundreds of people are evacuated after a suspected arson causes forest fires in Valparaíso, Chile. (BBC)
President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez quotes Mary and Karl Marx in a New Year message broadcast by state media, describing an end to the "illusion" of Barack Obama and predicting a global ecological disaster. (Reuters)
At least 25 people are confirmed wounded after battles over a fatal stabbing between local people and gold miners from Brazil in Albina, Suriname. (BBC)
Seven people die in a series of avalanche incidents in Italy. (BBC) (Xinhua)
At least 10 people die and 19 others are injured when more than 100 vehicles smash into each other near Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, China. (The Straits Times) (Melbourne Herald Sun) (Xinhua News Agency) (Press Trust of India)
One woman dies and at least 18 people are injured after a bus overturns in Gorey, Ireland. An ambulance also overturns. (RTÉ) (BBC)
Security forces in Iran arrest several opposition figures after recent demonstrations. (Al Jazeera)
Thailand begins repatriating 4,000 Hmong to Laos against their will, despite international protest. (BBC News) (Bangkok Post)
Three people are dead and two are seriously injured following a fuel tanker crash and explosion near Batemans Bay, on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. (ABC-Australia) SMH
A Vietnamese court sentences a former dissident army officer, Tran Anh Kim, to five years in prison on charges of subverting the government. (VOV News.vn) (AFP)
Three people die and two others are injured when a bomb suspected to have come from Nepal's civil war explodes in Chitwan, southwest of Kathmandu. (The Straits Times)
American musician, James "The Rev" Sullivan, found dead in his home in Huntington Beach, California, from an accidental overdose at age 28.

December 29, 2009 (Tuesday)

Akmal Shaikh becomes the first EU native to be executed in China in 50 years. Gordon Brown releases a statement indicating that he is appalled. (BBC) (China Daily)
The Sudanese parliament approves legislation for a referendum on the independence of South Sudan. (BBC News)
A Turkish court sentences a Kurdish man to life in prison for a minibus bombing in 2005 that killed five people. (BBC) (Ireland Online)
Bangladesh says it will repatriate 9,000 Rohingya refugees staying at camps in the country back to Burma. (The Daily Star) (Zee News) (Xinhua)
Iran's Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi says her sister Nooshin, a medical professor and human rights activist, was arrested by authorities the previous evening. Sources indicate journalists have also been detained. (BBC) (UPI)
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, believed to have held Malawi's first gay engagement ceremony, are arrested and expected to be charged with gross public indecency. (BBC) (IOL)
Serbia's Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Affairs Rasim Ljajić resigns a job due to his inability to keep his promise to locate Ratko Mladić by the end of 2009. (BBC) (Houston Chronicle) (Reuters)
Thailand completes its repatriation of over 4,000 Hmong refugees to neighbouring Laos. (Bangkok Post) (Al Jazeera)
Somali pirates seize UK and Panamanian-flagged ships with international crews on board in the Gulf of Aden. (CNN) (New York Times)
China displaces the U.S. as the largest overall buyer of Japanese goods in 2009. (Marketwatch) (Wall Street Journal)
An American Christian activist is reportedly arrested after crossing into North Korea from China, according to North Korean media. (BBC) (Yonhap) (Reuters)
Two Italians are injured and one American is killed in a shooting incident in Badghis Province, Afghanistan. (BBC)

December 30, 2009 (Wednesday)

Seven American CIA agents are killed by a suicide bomb attack in a US military base in Khost Province, Afghanistan. Two of the seven killed are contractors for Blackwater Worldwide. The CIA considers contractors to be officers. (BBC)(CNN)
Four Canadian soldiers and a journalist, Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald, are killed in a vehicle explosion in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (BBC) (CBC)
Hundreds of protesters gather outside Allende prison in Veracruz, Mexico, objecting to the removal of inmates to allow U.S. film director Mel Gibson to shoot a controversial movie. (ABC News) (BBC) (France 24)
Two people are found dead following three separate avalanches in Scotland, while a third person who was rescued dies later in hospital. (BBC) (The Press Association)
A British hostage is released alive in Iraq following over two and a half years of captivity in Iraq and Iran. (BBC) (ABC News) (The Daily Telegraph) (Guardian)
Former President of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid dies at the age of 69. (Kompas) (Jakarta Globe) (BBC)
The death toll in clashes in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi rises to 70, with 1,000 displaced. (Press TV) (This Day) (AFP)
Taiwan announces plans to reimpose a ban on certain U.S. beef products amid concerns over mad cow disease. (Radio Taiwan International) (Financial Times)
The Australian government predicts a 20% fall in the number of Indian students studying in the country, due to a series of racist attacks earlier this year. (BBC) (Press Trust of India) (ABC News Australia)
Thousands of pro-government supporters in Iran demonstrate against recent anti-government protests on Ashura. (AFP) (Al Jazeera)
A senior Chinese admiral says the country may build its first foreign naval base in the Middle East. (The Daily Telegraph) (AFP)
Bushfires consume 13,400 hectares (33,000 acres) of land and destroy at least 37 homes near Toodyay, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. (BBC News)
Police in Italy locate a wooden toy guitar sculpture which co-founder of Cubism Pablo Picasso made for his daughter Paloma. (BBC) (France 24) (The Daily Telegraph) (Philadelphia Inquirer)
The US applies tariffs on Chinese steel pipes, as part of a series of tariffs amid at Chinese produced goods. (BBC)

December 31, 2009 (Thursday)

A High Court in Malaysia rules that the country's Christians have a constitutional right to use the word Allah in reference to God, declaring the government's ban on the use of Allah by non-Muslims as unconstitutional. (BBC News)
Former Catholic Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Cahal Daly, "the hierarchy's foremost theologian and its most trenchant critic of politically-inspired violence", dies in Belfast aged 92. (RTÉ) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Irish Times) (Reuters)
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade issues an apology to "humiliated" Christians for comparing an "idolatrous" statue to Jesus Christ. (BBC) (Daily Nation)
Two French journalists and their translator are kidnapped in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan. (CNN) (Sky News) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
The Althing (Icelandic parliament) approves the payment of €3.8 billion to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as deposit insurance for the collapsed Icesave savings scheme. (BBC News)
The Government of Serbia decides to sue Croatia for genocide before the International Court of Justice. (B92)
The University of Cambridge successfully acquires a collection of Siegfried Sassoon's personal papers for £1.25 million, following a six-month fundraising campaign. (BBC) (Reuters)
At least six people are killed by a gunman at a shopping centre in Espoo, near Helsinki. (YLE) (BBC) (The Times) (Reuters)
Lithuania shuts the Baltic region's one and only nuclear power station in Visaginas. The Lithuanian nuclear power station provides 70% of the nation's energy and was traded for membership to the European Union. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
Les Choristes by Impressionist artist Edgar Degas mysteriously disappears from Marseilles's Cantini Museum. (BBC) (France 24) (Boston Globe) (Reuters)
Van Morrison tells RTÉ News at One that a baby his own website claimed he has fathered does not exist and that he has never met the alleged mother. (RTÉ) (The Times) (ABC News) (The Guardian) (Statement)
Patrick Stewart, the actor who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor X in X-Men, is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. (CNN) (News10) (The Guardian)
Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur. (CNN) (ABC News) (Space) (Wikinews) (RTÉ)

Elections
Recent December 12: Abkhazia, President 13: Catalonia, Query on Catalonia independence 13: Chile, President and Parliament 18: Dominica, Parliament 20: Comoros, Parliament (2^nd round, if necessary) 27: Uzbekistan, Parliament 27: Croatia, President (1^st round) Upcoming: January, 2010 10: Croatia, President (2^nd round, if necessary) 26: Sri Lanka, President

Trials
Recently concluded Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Canada: Larry O'Brien Italy: Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda Knox New Zealand: Clayton Weatherston Peru: Alberto Fujimori Sweden: The Pirate Bay Republic of China: Chen Shui-bian United States: James Charles Kopp, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Phil Spector, Bernard Madoff, William J. Jefferson Ongoing Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Tribunal China: Organized crime in Chongqing France: Church of Scientology Germany: Heinrich Boere, John Demjanjuk Iraq]]: Supreme Criminal Tribunal Netherlands: Thomas Lubanga (ICC), Radovan Karadžić (ICTY) Palau: Thomas Remengesau Jr. Russia: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev Sierra Leone: [Charles Taylor (Liberian politician)\|Charles Taylor]] (SCFSL) Singapore: Tak Boleh Tahan Thailand: Thaksin Shinawatra United States: Jena Six, Joseph Bruno, David Headley Upcoming Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim Sudan: Lubna al-Hussein United Kingdom: Allen Stanford United States: Viktor Bout, Noshir Gowadia, Ehren Watada, Sheila Dixon

Holidays and observances
December Ongoing 26 – January 1: Kwanzaa (African Americans) 31 – January 1: Hogmanay (Scotland) Current 31: New Year's Eve 31: Feast of Sharaf (Baháʼí Faith) 31: Solidarity Day (Azerbaijan) 31: Restoration of the Republic (Geneva) 31: Jonkonnu parades (Caribbean) January 2010 Upcoming 1: New Year's Day

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