Portal:Current events/2009 December 30
December 30, 2009 (Wednesday)
- Seven American CIA agents are killed by a suicide bomb attack in a US military base in Khost Province, Afghanistan. Two of the seven killed are contractors for Blackwater Worldwide. The CIA considers contractors to be officers. (BBC)(CNN)
- Four Canadian soldiers and a journalist, Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald, are killed in a vehicle explosion in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (BBC) (CBC)
- Hundreds of protesters gather outside Allende prison in Veracruz, Mexico, objecting to the removal of inmates to allow U.S. film director Mel Gibson to shoot a controversial movie. (ABC News) (BBC) (France 24)
- Two people are found dead following three separate avalanches in Scotland, while a third person who was rescued dies later in hospital. (BBC) (The Press Association)
- A British hostage is released alive in Iraq following over two and a half years of captivity in Iraq and Iran. (BBC) (ABC News) (The Daily Telegraph) (Guardian)
- Former President of Indonesia Abdurrahman Wahid dies at the age of 69. (Kompas) (Jakarta Globe) (BBC)
- The death toll in clashes in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi rises to 70, with 1,000 displaced. (Press TV) (This Day) (AFP)
- Taiwan announces plans to reimpose a ban on certain U.S. beef products amid concerns over mad cow disease. (Radio Taiwan International) (Financial Times)
- The Australian government predicts a 20% fall in the number of Indian students studying in the country, due to a series of racist attacks earlier this year. (BBC) (Press Trust of India) (ABC News Australia)
- Thousands of pro-government supporters in Iran demonstrate against recent anti-government protests on Ashura. (AFP) (Al Jazeera)
- A senior Chinese admiral says the country may build its first foreign naval base in the Middle East. (The Daily Telegraph) (AFP)
- Bushfires consume 13,400 hectares (33,000 acres) of land and destroy at least 37 homes near Toodyay, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. (BBC News)
- Police in Italy locate a wooden toy guitar sculpture which co-founder of Cubism Pablo Picasso made for his daughter Paloma. (BBC) (France 24) (The Daily Telegraph) (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- The US applies tariffs on Chinese steel pipes, as part of a series of tariffs amid at Chinese produced goods. (BBC)