Portal:Current events/2009 December 16
December 16, 2009 (Wednesday)
- Mexican drug lord Arturo Beltrán Leyva, leader of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, is killed by personnel of the Mexican Navy during a shootout in Cuernavaca, Morelos. (The Times)
- Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen replaces Connie Hedegaard in a "procedural move" as president of the U.N. climate talks, as further clashes take place around the perimeter of the summit. (BBC News) (The Times) (Al Jazeera)
- Kelly Kwalik, leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), is fatally shot by police in Indonesia. (BBC) (The Jakarta Globe) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- An unarmed 26-year-old man is detained after attempting to enter the hospital room of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as he recuperates from the recent assault. (CNN) (The Daily Telegraph)
- Roy E. Disney, head of Disney Animation and responsible for guiding the studio through a golden age of animation, dies in a California hospital in the United States. (CNN)
- Malawi recognizes the independence of Kosovo (Kosovo Foreign ministry) (New Kosova Report)
- The Supreme Court of Pakistan declares NRO as unconstitutional, paving way for the reopening of the corruption cases involving the President and other senior officials. (The News) (BBC News)
- Archaeologists in Jerusalem say they have discovered a burial shroud from around the time of Jesus in a tomb. (Jerusalem Post) (Irish Times) (Zee News)
- Toumba Diakite, an aide to Guinea's military leader Moussa Dadis Camara admits to shooting him after the junta leader wanted him to take responsibility for the massacre of opposition protesters in September. (AP) (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) (Xinhua)
- The Philippine province of Albay is put under a "state of imminent disaster" as activity at the Mayon Volcano increases. (GMA News)
- North Korea reportedly bans all foreigners from entering the country until early February 2010, for unknown reasons. (The Chosun Ilbo) (Bloomberg)
- Russian economist Yegor Gaidar, the architect of the neoliberal reforms of the early 1990s as the first finance minister of post-Soviet Russia, dies unexpectedly in his home. (BBC News) (New York Times) (RIA Novosti)
- Nauru recognizes the independence of South Ossetia, one day after also establishing diplomatic relations with Abkhazia. (Moscow Times)
- UK airline Flyglobespan goes into administration, with the cancellation of all scheduled flights. (BreakingNews)