Portal:Current events/2009 December 28

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)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
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.