Portal:Current events/2009 December 29

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