Portal:Current events/2006 December 20
December 20, 2006 (Wednesday)
- The Home Office department of the United Kingdom Government announces plan to require foreign nationals living in Britain to have biometric ID cards. (Guardian Unlimited)
- Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, and Kosovo sign the Central European Free Trade Agreement extending the free trade zone to southeastern Europe. (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty)
- The Government of Kazakhstan is considering giving Kyrgyzstan USD $100 million in aid. (ITAR-TASS)
- The 2006 Malaysian floods caused by heavy monsoon rain force the evacuation of 26,000 people in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. Flooding is also reported in the southern states of Malacca and Negeri Sembilan but the situation there is not as serious. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- Somalia War: Heavy fighting breaks out on at least two fronts near the Somali interim government's base in Baidoa. Somalia's interim government and the Islamic Courts Union pledge to begin peace negotiations. (BBC) (Reuters)
- "Jack" Thomas will face a retrial under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 based on media interviews. He had earlier been jailed under the act before an Appeals Court freed him on the grounds that an interview with Thomas in Pakistan had been involuntary. (AAP via SBS News Australia)
- The United States military claims to have captured a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. (AP via ABC News)
- The €752 million, 5-kilometre Dublin Port Tunnel opens almost 2 years (23 months) after its originally planned date. (RTÉ)