Portal:Current events/2009 December 18

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)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (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)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (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)