Portal:Current events/2009 November 9

November 9, 2009 (Monday)

World leaders mark the twentieth anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall, with the main celebrations taking place at the Brandenburg Gate. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (The Age) (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
A senior Burmese diplomat says the military government will release Aung San Suu Kyi soon. (The Guardian) (AP)
Somali pirates attack a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker with long range rocket-propelled grenades 1,000 miles east off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean. (Khaleej Times) (BBC) (AP)
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announces the formation of a unity government with Hezbollah. (Reuters) (Xinhua)
Northern Mariana Islands gubernatorial election, 2009
- The Northern Mariana Islands election commission sets November 23 as the guberntorial runoff election between Governor Benigno Fitial and challenger Heinz Hofschneider. (Saipan Tribune)
Iraq sets its next general election for January 21, 2010. (Washington Post)
A high speed rail link under construction, Gautrain, will not be ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. (BBC) (Times of South Africa)
Three American hikers detained on the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran are to be charged for espionage by Iranian authorities. (The Independent) (Fars News Agency)
Fifth outbreak of Shia insurgency in Yemen:
- Houthi fighters in Yemen say Saudi Arabia is using phosphorus bombs against them. (AFP) (Press TV)
- An Eritrean opposition leader claims weapons used by Houthi rebels are being supplied by Iran and transferred via Eritrea. (Yemen Post)
In China eight ethnic Uyghurs and one Han are executed for their role in the Urumqi riots in July, in the first executions to take place. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Radio Television Hong Kong)
MDC official Roy Bennett's trial on terrorism charges begins in Zimbabwe. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters South Africa)
The death toll in El Salvador's floods and mudslides reaches 140. (BBC) (Sky News) (Reuters)
Tens of thousands of people gather in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh to hear an address by the visiting Dalai Lama. (BBC) (Sify) (Radio Television Hong Kong)
Downing Street defends Prime Minister Gordon Brown's habits after the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan labels a misspelled letter she received from him as a "hastily scrawled insult". (BBC)
"House of Horrors" murderer Jason Somerville pleads guilty to strangling his wife Rebecca Somerville and neighbour Tisha Lowry before having sex with their corpses in Christchurch, New Zealand. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Radio New Zealand)
The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo alleges that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has six personal trains and 19 stations for his own use. (AP) (Chosun Ilbo) (AFP)
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell announces that she will not seek re-election in 2010. (New York Times)