Portal:Current events/2009 October 18
October 18, 2009 (Sunday)
- Yemen claims to have killed 18 Shia rebels in fighting in the north of the country.
- Iraq accuses neighbouring countries of stealing sections of its national archives, including centuries-old documents. (AFP)
- Ukraine commences its first presidential election campaign since the 2004 Orange Revolution. (Reuters)
- A Rwandan doctor working in a French hospital is suspended after a nurse locates an Internet Interpol arrest warrant, accusing him of a 1994 "genocide, war crimes". (Reuters)
- At least 60 Taliban militants are killed in an ongoing offensive in South Waziristan, northwest Pakistan. (The Guardian) (Xinhua)
- Jenson Button wins the 2009 Formula One World Championship in Interlagos, São Paulo, Brazil, by finishing fifth in the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.
- Germany and Israel complain about a Bangkok museum billboard depicting a salute by Adolf Hitler beside the slogan "Hitler is not dead". (BBC) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
- Hurricane Rick strengthens to a Category 5 storm, becoming the strongest hurricane in a decade in the eastern Pacific Ocean. (Associated Press) (Straits Times) (CNN)
- The Australian state of Queensland declares a state of emergency after more than 50 wildfires burn out of control. (TVNZ) (Al Jazeera) (The Australian)
- Eight people are jailed in Hubei, China, for "disrupting public order" after 10,000 people participated in riots following the controversial death of a chef in June. (BBC) (China Daily) (Bangkok Post)
- Scotland Yard investigates a complaint about an article by Jan Moir in the UK's Daily Mail tabloid concerning her views on the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately. (RTÉ)
- 2009 Pishin bombing:
- Senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards are among 35 people killed in a suicide bombing in the southeast of the country. (Zee News) (Press TV) (RIA Novosti)
- Iranian state television says Britain was directly involved in the attack and intended it as a distraction from problems it faces in Afghanistan. (Reuters)
- The Pakistani charge d'affaires is summoned after Iran says it has evidence the attack had been launched from Pakistani soil. (Press TV)
- Seven people are killed and 20 injured after gunmen open fire in a bar in Puerto Rico. (Associated Press)
- Two foreign aid workers Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki – one Irish and one Ugandan – working for the GOAL charity captured in Sudan's Darfur region more than three months ago are released. (Associated Press) (RTÉ) (BBC)
- A boat with 76 migrant workers on board headed for Canada is seized by the Canadian Navy and RCMP off its west coast in the Pacific Ocean. (CTV) (AFP)
- The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) assists Indonesian and Malaysian agencies with two distressed boats. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- The Icelandic government says it has come to a new agreement with the governments of the Netherlands and the UK over the repaying of $5bn. (BBC)