October 2009

• Around 150 Venezuelan students end a weeklong hunger strike protesting against alleged human rights abuses in Venezuela, after Organization of American States officials agree to meet the students and one of their leaders is released. (El Universal) (Reuters)
• Ateke Tom, militant leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante in the Niger Delta region, accepts an amnesty by the Nigerian government. (Vanguard) (BBC) (AFP)
• Treaty of Lisbon:
  • Ahead of the second Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, the Vatican issues a warning to Irish voters that the European Union threatens Ireland's "identity, traditions and history". (The Daily Telegraph)
  • Ireland's Taoiseach Brian Cowen rules out a third referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon if the second referendum due on 2 October is again rejected by the Irish people. (Irish Independent)
• The International Monetary Fund says the global economy is "recovering faster than expected", raising its forecast for global growth to 3.1% for 2010, up from 2.5%. (IMF Survey online)
• A second earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale occurs near Sumatra, Indonesia, following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake the previous day. (Reuters) (The Australian)
  • The death toll from the previous earthquake rises to at least 1100. (BBC) (Bloomberg)
• The Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are sworn into office, replacing the Law Lords as the final court of appeal in the country. (BBC) (The Times)
• Mass celebrations take place in Beijing to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. (Xinhua) (BBC)
• Iran agrees to allow inspections of a recently revealed nuclear facility near the city of Qom. (The New York Times)
• The Romanian coalition government collapses with the withdrawal of the Social Democratic Party, in protest at the sacking of one of its members. (Adevarul) (AFP) (Al Jazeera)
• The opposition in Guinea reject a call by the ruling junta to create a unity government. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
• 12 people are killed in fighting between rival Islamist groups for control of the port city of Kismayo in southern Somalia. (Associated Press) (The Nation)
• Paleontologists announced the discovery of an Ardipithecus ramidus fossil skeleton, deeming it the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor. (New York Times)
• The Dow Jones loses over 200 points by the closing bell. (CNN)
• Pakistan is to launch a greater campaign in South Waziristan against the Taliban. (New York Times)
• The Netherlands Antilles agrees to disband on October 10, 2010. Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will become Dutch municipalities within the Netherlands, whereas Curaçao and Sint Maarten will become self-governing countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. (NRC Handelsblad)

• Voters in Ireland go to the polls for a second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. (The Irish Times) (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Times) (The Vancouver Sun)
• Croatia resumes membership talks with the European Union after Slovenia lifts its 10-month embargo. (BBC)
• Rainstorms in Messina and other parts of Sicily sweep at least 18 people away to their deaths, wounding 40, causing 20 to disappear and surrounding the city with mud and rainwater. A state of emergency is declared by the Italian government. (ANSA) (RTÉ) (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
• Israel agrees with Hamas to swap twenty female Palestinian prisoners for a videotape proving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive. (Haaretz) (The New York Times)
• The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The other bidding cities were Chicago (United States), Tokyo (Japan) and Madrid (Spain). (Reuters)
• A Burmese court rejects Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended detention. (Bangkok Post) (Xinhua)
• Kenya says it will cooperate with the International Criminal Court over post-election unrest in 2007. (AFP) (Capital FM)
• Protesters storm and ransack the office of the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi, India, in protest at the alleged firing on Indian fisherman by the Sri Lanka Navy. (Times of India) (The Hindu)
• Pakistan's army probes a video posted on social networking website Facebook that appears to show soldiers abusing Taliban. (BBC) (The Hindu) (The Washington Post)
• Mexican authorities claim to have made their largest-ever seizure of chemicals used in the manufacture of the synthetic drug methamphetamine. (BBC)
• Typhoon Parma
  • Thousands of people are evacuated as Typhoon Parma approaches the Philippines. (CNN) (Associated Press)
  • President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the entire country in a "state of calamity". (Philippine Inquirer) (The Chosun Ilbo)
• Thousands of people gather at a mosque in Guinea's capital, Conakry, to identify those killed in Monday's opposition rally against military rule. (BBC)
• A bid to force publication of an internal BBC review of its Middle East coverage, EastEnders and Top Gear is rejected in the British High Court of Justice. (The Times) (BBC)

• Treaty of Lisbon:
  • Ireland approves the European Union’s Treaty of Lisbon by a margin of 67.1% to 32.9% in a second referendum. (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera) (Toronto Star)
  • Czech President Václav Klaus declines to say how he would proceed in ratification of the Lisbon Treaty after the second referendum is approved by Irish voters. (The Irish Times)
• The 19th anniversary of the reunification of Germany is marked by a special four-day puppet show in Berlin. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Jamaica Gleaner) (Reuters)
• Presidency of the European Council:
  • Tony Blair's former chief-of-staff, Jonathan Powell, has been touring European capital cities, including Brussels, Paris and Prague, in an undercover move to make him the first President of the European Council. Blair is supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (The Times) (The New Zealand Herald)
  • William Hague says Blair as EU president would be the worst option for Britain, saying "most people would be extremely annoyed" and that his appointment would "underline the lack of accountability and democracy that is our objection to the Lisbon treaty". (The Times)
• Typhoon Parma hits the Philippines, with early reports indicating at least four deaths as trees are uprooted and roofs torn off houses. (Philippine Inquirer) (Reuters)
• The death toll in Italy rises to 21 following sudden extreme spells of rain and mud showers in Messina and other parts of Sicily as the injured total reaches at least eighty. (BBC)
• Burmese National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets for talks with the military government for the first time since 2008. (BBC) (Bangkok Post)
• According to United Nations officials, as many as 4,000 people could be buried under the rubble in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes in Indonesia. (CNN) (Press TV)
• Senegalese rebels kill six soldiers in Casamance, using a rocket-propelled grenade on the vehicle of the soldiers after it sticks in mud by the border with Guinea-Bissau. (France 24) (BBC)
• Archaeologists discover a smaller prehistoric site near Stonehenge, dubbed as "Bluehenge", named after the hue of the 27 stones that formed it. (BBC) (Associated Press)
• Thousands of people demonstrate in defence of press freedom in Rome, Italy, amid concerns of government interference. (The New York Times) (BBC)
• It is revealed that the British security services kept a file on their former Prime Minister Harold Wilson throughout his time in office. (BBC)
• The 2009 Pacific Mini Games closes in the Cook Islands. Fiji comes in first with 78 medals, while New Caledonia wins 66 medals. (Solomon Times)

• Shōichi Nakagawa, the former Japanese Finance Minister who resigned over apparent drunken behaviour at the 2009 G7 meeting in Rome, is found dead in Tokyo. (Japan Today) (Al Jazeera) (The Times)
• Greek legislative election: Voters go to polls for a snap election. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • Socialists win national elections in Greece, defeating a center-right government crippled by corruption scandals and a growing economic crisis. (NY Times)
  • Prime Minister-elect and PASOK leader George Papandreou promises to support the green economy and to deploy a stimulus package, as PM and New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis concedes defeat. (BBC)(CBC)
• Pressure increases on the Czech and Polish nations to approve the Treaty of Lisbon; Polish President Lech Kaczyński is expected to sign it following the second Irish referendum but Czech President Václav Klaus continues to decline. (RTÉ) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Nicolas Sarkozy has reportedly told David Cameron that it was "stupid" of him to pull the Conservative Party out of the European People's Party, with other world leaders such as Angela Merkel and Barack Obama also expressing their surprise at the move. (The Sunday Telegraph)
• A strong 6.3 earthquake hits Taiwan in the middle of the night, waking people up in the capital Taipei. (Channel News Asia) (The Irish Times)
• Pope Benedict XVI opens a three-week synod of African bishops with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. (BBC) (The Washington Post)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao commences his three-day visit to North Korea, and is greeted at the airport by ailing leader Kim Jong-il. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Yonhap)
• The British and French governments announce a "historic" £2.5 billion allocation to the International Monetary Fund to help less wealthy countries. (BBC)
• One of the last prominent militant leaders in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), agrees to an amnesty with the government. (Daily Nation) (BBC) (Vanguard)

• The United States Federal Trade Commission issues regulations for writers of blogs. (Wired Magazine)
• The 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak, "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase". (AP) (Nobel Foundation)
• An early morning passenger train bound for Bangkok derails in Hua Hin, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens more. (The Hindu) (Malaysia Star) (The NZ Herald) (Reuters) (BBC)
• Samoans cram into churches and community halls to remember friends and relatives killed in a recent tsunami. (BBC)
• The Canadian province of Quebec is planning a lawsuit against tobacco companies to seek damages for healthcare costs. (Reuters)
• Five people are killed in a suicide bomb attack at a United Nations World Food Programme office in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Daily Times) (The New York Times)
• Honduran interim President Roberto Micheletti lifts a decree restricting civil liberties. (Al Jazeera) (CBC) (Xinhua)
• United States President Barack Obama delays a meeting with the Dalai Lama until after a visit to China. (The Washington Post) (The Times)
• The Deputy Chief Executive of France Télécom, Louis-Pierre Wene, resigns over a series of suicides at the company. (euronews) (CNN)
• Airline pilots in Europe stage demonstrations in several cities against working hours. (BBC) (The Times of India) (CNN)
• China pledges to strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea, nudging it to improve its economy. (Reuters)

• An "industry-wide phishing scheme" targets sites such as Google, Hotmail, Yahoo! and AOL, with passwords posted online and more than a quarter of a million accounts at risk. (BBC) (The Wall Street Journal) (The Guardian)
• Madagascar's political rivals agree on cabinet posts in a unity government; the President is Andry Rajoelina, the Vice-President is Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, and the Prime Minister is Eugene Mangalaza. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Ireland's Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue announces his resignation following a controversy over his expenses claims. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
• One of the most wanted suspects involved in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Idelphonse Nizeyimana, is arrested in the Ugandan capital Kampala. (BBC) (Press TV)
• Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith win the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for the achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication and for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor. (The Guardian)
• Typhoon Parma makes landfall at Luzon, the Philippines. (ABS-CBN)
• The death toll from floods in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka rises to 269, with a further 1.5 million people homeless. (Press Trust of India) (Outlook India) (AFP)
• Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe calls for improved relations with "hostile" countries at the opening of Parliament. (Xinhua) (Associated Press) (ZimOnline)
• Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall wins the 2009 Man Booker Prize. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Somalia's State Minister for Defence Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad is detained by security forces in Uganda. Siad's detention was originally reported as a kidnapping. (France 24)

• The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath, "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". (Nobel Foundation)
• European Union leaders again warn the Czech Republic of the costs which will be imposed by the further delaying of the Lisbon Treaty. (RTÉ)
• The discovery of a new ring around Saturn is announced. (BBC) (The Times) (Xinhua) (NASA)
• The Somali junior Defence Minister Youssuf Mohamed Siad, mistakenly detained in Uganda yesterday, is released. (Daily Monitor) (AFP)
• Typhoon Melor, forecast to be the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Japan for a decade, approaches the country. (Al Jazeera) (Japan Times) (euronews)
• The opposition in Guinea urges Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, head of the ruling junta, to resign. (Bloomberg) (CBC)
• A Saudi man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad, is sentenced to five years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes after bragging about sex on a TV talk show. (Associated Press) (IOL)
• Burmese National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets for a second time with the ruling junta after her offer to lobby for nations to lift sanctions on the country. (Reuters) (Associated Press) (New Light of Myanmar)
• Somali pirates attack the French Navy replenishment tanker Somme (A631) in error, believing it to be a cargo ship. (BBC) (The Times)
• More than a million people are affected in one of the worst droughts to affect Syria in decades. (BBC)
• Taiwan's National Palace Museum refuses to display two artifacts stolen from China 150 years ago. (Taiwan News) (AFP)
• The Constitutional Court of Italy overturns a law offering Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office, ruling it unconsitutional. (Adnkronos) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Ambassadors from Ireland and Uganda, along with the Sudanese minister overseeing negotiations, visit Al-Fashir in a renewed effort to win the freedom of aid workers Sharon Cummins and Hilda Kawuki, kidnapped since 3 July. (RTÉ)
• A 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Vanuatu, followed 15 minutes later by a 7.3 magnitude aftershock. A tsunami warning is issued. (USGS)
• The Red Book by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung is displayed for the first time in public. (BBC)

• The 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature goes to the Romanian-German novelist Herta Müller, "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed". She becomes the twelfth woman to win the literature prize and the fourth female Nobel Laureate of 2009, a record year for female achievers. (Nobel) (Deutsche Welle) (Realitatea) (The Australian) (The Times)
• A Taliban attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul kills at least 17 and injures 83. (The Hindu) (NDTV) (The Australian)
• A prominent Al-Qaeda leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, urges Muslims in Xinjiang to "prepare for holy war" after the riots in July. (Times of India) (CNN) (China Daily)
• The Government of Ireland announces Nicholas Kearns as its nomination for appointment as President of the High Court. (The Irish Times)
• Wallace Souza, former Brazilian television presenter accused of ordering murders to boost the ratings of Canal Livre, now a fugitive from justice, is at large following the end of his parliamentary immunity. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (RTÉ) (CNN)
• Yevgeny Dzhugashvili launches a court action claiming the Novaya Gazeta newspaper has defamed his grandfather, Joseph Stalin. (BBC) (The Independent) (Miami Herald)
• Guinea's military government announces it is setting up a commission to investigate the shooting of protesters last week. (BBC) (Bloomberg)
• At least two people are killed and dozens injured as Typhoon Melor makes landfall in Japan. (Al Jazeera) (Mainichi Shimbun)
• Treaty of Lisbon:
  • Polish President Lech Kaczyński announces his intention to sign the Treaty of Lisbon on Saturday October 10, completing the country's ratification process. The Polish ratification ceremony is due to be attended by President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. (Taiwan News)
  • Kaczyński's twin brother and political ally, Jaroslaw, denies this. (Xinhua)
  • In addition, Alexander Szczyglo, the president's head of security, tells the TVN24 television channel that President Kaczyński will sign the Lisbon treaty on October 11. (Al Jazeera)
  • Czech President Václav Klaus, during a telephone conversation with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, requests a new two-sentence footnote be added to the Treaty of Lisbon before signing it. (BBC) (The Times)
  • French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the Lisbon Treaty will not be changed to meet the demands of Klaus, accusing him of "inventing difficulties" and saying he has no doubt this behaviour will continue. (RTÉ) (Reuters India)
• DNA analysis reveals the identity of the "cursed blood" disorder that afflicted the British Royal Family in the 19th and early 20th centuries. (BBC)
• A new study reveals one in four people are Muslim, with the global Muslim population standing at 1.57 billion. (The Guardian) (RIA Novosti) (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
• Colombia's Administrative Department of Security to be dismantled and become newly named Agencia Central de Inteligencia (Central Intelligence Agency).(Colombia Reports)

• A United Nations plane from Uruguay attached to MINUSTAH monitoring the Haiti–Dominican Republic border crashes near Fonds-Verrettes, killing at least 11 people from Jordan and Uruguay. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Associated Press)
• General Motors finalizes a deal to sell Hummer to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company. (The Wall Street Journal)
• In an attempt to determine the extent of lunar ice, NASA crashes two unmanned spacecraft into the Moon's south pole. (Toronto Star)
• Treaty of Lisbon:
  • A statement on Polish President Lech Kaczyński's website says a signing ceremony of the treaty will take place on Saturday at 1000 GMT. (EuActive)
  • Czech President Václav Klaus, the last remaining leader against the Lisbon Treaty, says the country must negotiate an opt-out from parts of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union before it proceeds with the ratification process. (Bloomberg) (RTÉ)
  • Only the Czech government could make such a request, but Czech Prime minister Jan Fischer says that President Klaus had not given the cabinet any information about his latest demands.(BBC News)
• Aung San Suu Kyi is permitted to meet international diplomats to discuss international sanctions against Burma. (The Times) (Bangkok Post) (Irish Examiner) (CNN)
• U.S. president Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” (The New York Times) (Nobel Foundation)
• More than 181 people are killed in floods in the Philippines. (IOL) (Times of India)
• Six Vietnamese pro-democracy activists are sentenced to up to six years in prison for "spreading propaganda" against the government. (BBC) (UPI) (Reuters India)
• French police arrest a researcher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for suspected links to Al-Qaeda. (BBC) (Taiwan News)
• Wallace Souza, the former Brazilian state legislator and host of Canal Livre who faces accusations of drug trafficking and murder, surrenders to police after being a fugitive for four days. (CNN)
• India plans a new offensive against Maoist Naxalite rebels active in parts of the country. (AFP) (Outlook India)
• A suspected suicide car-bomber kills 49 people in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in an attack that the government said underscored the need for an all-out offensive against the Pakistani Taliban. (Reuters)
• Two people die after being overcome by sweat and about 19 others are hospitalised at a spiritual retreat in Arizona, USA. (BBC)
• Public amputations on three men accused of robbery occur in Somalia. (TVNZ)

• Ten to fifteen security personnel are taken hostage by militants after an attack on Pakistan's military headquarters in Islamabad. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (Xinhua)
• Armenia and Turkey normalise their relationship when their foreign ministers sign an accord in Zurich, Switzerland. (BBC) (The Sofia Echo) (Al Jazeera)
• President of Poland Lech Kaczyński signs the Treaty of Lisbon, leaving the Czech Republic as the last national opponent. (BBC News) (RTÉ) (Deusche Welle)
• At least 70 people are killed after a fuel tanker explodes in Nigeria. (AFP) (Xinhua)
• 186 people are killed by landslides in the Philippines. (CNN)
• Ireland's Green Party votes by 84% to endorse a new Programme for Government with government partners Fianna Fáil.(Reuters) (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
• Over 300 British MPs will be asked to repay or explain expenses after controversy earlier this year. (The Daily Telegraph)
• Three people are sentenced to death for being involved in forbidden groups after being arrested during protests against Iran's disputed presidential election earlier this year. (Al Jazeera)
• Unions in Guinea call for a two day strike in protest at the deaths of opposition supporters at a rally last month. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• United States President Barack Obama announces he will end the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy against homosexuals serving in the U.S. military. (Associated Press) (BBC)
• More than 40 people are arrested after clashes between anti-Islamic and anti-racist demonstrations in Manchester, England. (The Times) (BBC) (Times of India)
• The Argentine Senate passes a controversial media bill regarding the ownership of media outlets in the country. (Buenos Aires Herald) (AFP) (CNN)
• Thousands of protesters gather in St Petersburg, Russia, against a plan to build a 77 storey building for Gazprom. (The Guardian) (AFP)

• Luis Armando Pena Soltren, a suspect wanted for the 1968 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 281, is captured after more than 40 years. (The Associated Press) (CNN)
• Thousands of people attend the state funeral of Arturo "Zambo" Cavero in Lima, Peru. President Alan García posthumously awards him the Order of the Sun. (BBC)
• Mayoral, regional and district council elections take place in Moscow and 75 other regions across Russia. (RIA Novosti) (The Guardian) (BBC)
• Thousands of people march in protest for gay rights in Washington, D.C.. (BBC)
• An Irish priest, Michael Sinnot, is seized from a convent and taken away in a motorboat by gunmen in Pagadian City, Mindanao in the southern Philippines. (BBC) (RTÉ) (Miami Herald)
• At least 10 people die and seven are declared missing in a river ferry sinking on the Mekong in Kratié Province, Cambodia. (The News International) (Al Jazeera)
• Pope Benedict XVI canonizes five new saints: Father Damien, Rafael Arnáiz Barón, Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Francisco Coll Guitart, and Jeanne Jugan. (Reuters) (Times of India)
• A spate of car bombings kills 19 people and wounds dozens in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, in Anbar province. (MSNBC)
• Pakistani commandos storm an office building and rescue 39 people taken hostage by suspected Taliban militants after an attack on the army's headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi. (Reuters)
• The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) announces an end to violence in Northern Ireland. (Xinhua) (The Guardian) (ABC News)
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• The 60th International Astronautical Congress opens in Daejeon, South Korea, with approximately 3,000 space experts from more than 70 countries attending. (UPI)
• The death toll from a blast in Pakistan's Shangla District has reached at least 41, with a further 45 injured. (APP) (AFP)
• Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson win the Nobel Prize for Economics. (The Economic Times) (Bloomberg)
• Edgar Allan Poe receives a funeral in Baltimore, USA, 160 years after his death and 200 after his birth. (BBC)
• Kai Eide of Norway, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan, acknowledges "widespread fraud" took place during the recent presidential election in the country. (The Independent)
• Six Uyghurs are sentenced to death over riots in the western region of Xinjiang, China in July. (China Daily) (BBC) (Bernama) (RIA Novosti)
• A large fire sweeps through a shanty town in Sao Paulo, Brazil, leaving at least 200 families without homes. (BBC) (Associated Press)
• The government in East Timor faces a motion of no confidence after releasing an Indonesian militia member, Martenus Bere, accused of crimes against humanity a decade ago. (Jakarta Post) (AFP)
• The pro-Kremlin United Russia party wins around 80% of regional and local seats in elections held in 76 regions in Russia. Opposition alleges vote rigging (RTÉ) (Taiwan News) (Xinhua)
• Two people are injured in a bomb attack in Milan, Italy, after a Libyan man explodes a device at the entrance of an army barracks. (Adnkronos) (Associated Press)
• India test fires two medium range Prithvi II missiles in the eastern state of Orissa. (Press Trust of India) (BBC) (Press TV)
• Guineans observe an opposition strike to commemorate those who died at an opposition rally last month. (BBC) (Angola Press)
• North Korea fires five short range missiles into the Sea of Japan, after issuing a "no sail zone" for waters off its east and west coasts until October 20. (Yonhap) (BBC) (Xinhua)
• The body of two-year-old Aisling Symes, who disappeared last week in New Zealand, is located in a drain in Henderson, Auckland, near the place where she was last sighted. (TVNZ) (RTÉ) (Sky News) (The Daily Telegraph) (IOL)

• The planned 200 million US$ rebuilding and expansion of Stockholm's central library, built by architect Gunnar Asplund, is cancelled. (SR)
• Members of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize jury speak out in defense of selecting U.S. President Barack Obama for the award. (AP via Google News)
• Czech President Václav Klaus tells his supporters he will never sign the Treaty of Lisbon. (The Times)
• Séamus Kirk is elected the 16th Ceann Comhairle of Ireland following the resignation of John O'Donoghue. (RTÉ)
• An autopsy on the body of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately finds he died of natural causes. (The Irish Times) (CNN) (CBC) (The Times of India) (Sofia Echo)
• New Zealand police say an autopsy on two-year-old Aisling Symes reveals she drowned. She had initially been thought abducted but lay in a drain for one week as police searched. (news.com.au) (RTÉ) (The Daily Telegraph)
• A previously unrecognized painting, La Bella Principessa, is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci on fingerprint evidence. (BBC)
• The Philippines deploys soldiers and gunboats to surround the strongholds of suspected militants and pressure them to release an abducted Irish priest. (CBC)
• The Romanian government loses a motion of no confidence, the first government to fall in 20 years since the fall of communism in the country. (HotNews) (AFP)
• A Russian court rejects a libel suit by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, the grandson of Joseph Stalin, who claimed the Novaya Gazeta newspaper lied about Stalin personally signing death warrants. (RIA Novosti) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Spanish authorities arrest five members of the banned Basque political group Batasuna. (BBC) (Press TV)
• North and South Korea agree to hold talks on flood control and family reunions, after North Korea fired several short range missiles earlier this week. (Joongang Daily) (Yonhap) (BBC)
• Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo agree to stop deporting each other's citizens in a dispute between the two countries. (The New York Times) (BBC)
• More than 260 Sri Lankan asylum seekers threaten to blow up their boat if Indonesian authorities force them to disembark. (The Australian)
• South African police use tear gas to disperse protesters demonstrating against poor living conditions in several towns. (Al Jazeera) (Associated Press)
• The United States Senate Finance Committee approves a bill for major healthcare reform. (BBC News)
• An investigation begins into the deaths of two Irish Army Air Corps pilots in a plane crash in County Galway on Monday. (BBC) (RTÉ) (RIA Novosti) (Sky News)

• Negotiators in Honduras reach a deal to restore President Manuel Zelaya to office to end the political crisis in the country. (CBC) (AFP) (Xinhua)
• Opposition politicians walk out of the Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, alleging vote rigging at the weekend's elections which saw the United Russia party winning nearly every poll. (BBC) (The Malaysia Star) (RIA Novosti)
• Philippines:
  • Irish bishops and politicians request the release of 79-year-old Michael Sinnott, saying he needs urgent medical attention. (ABS-CBN)
  • The kidnappers are identified as notorious pirates, not the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as had been initially thought. (BBC) (Xinhua)
  • The Philippines asks the country's largest Muslim separatist group to help find and free the kidnapped Irish priest. (Reuters) (BBC) (The Belfast Telegraph)
• The United Nations warns that malnutrition is getting worse. (BBC)
• Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visits Turkey to attend a qualifying match between the nations for the FIFA World Cup. Turkish fans boo the Armenian anthem. (BBC)
• The Dow Jones closes above 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year. (The New York Times)
• Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon, holds a mass wedding ceremony for some 1,000 couples near Seoul. (Reuters)
• Tim Berners-Lee issues an apology for the unnecessary "//" in URLs he designed for the World Wide Web. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
• A Zimbabwean court orders a senior MDC official, Roy Bennett, back to jail on terrorism charges. (Al Jazeera) (South Africa Times)
• Iraq's Human Rights Ministry announces at least 85,000 Iraqis have been killed by bombs, murders and fighting between 2004 and 2008. (Associated Press) (Al Jazeera)

• Treaty of Lisbon:
  • Czech President Václav Klaus's disruption of the Treaty of Lisbon is deemed "absurd, irresponsible and damaging to the country" by his predecessor Václav Havel. (The Times)
  • President of Ireland Mary McAleese signs the Lisbon Treaty after returning from Luxembourg. (RTÉ) (Reuters) (Taiwan News)
• Ugandan MP David Bahati proposes creating a capital offence of "aggravated homosexuality" for gay sex with people under 18, disabled people or when the accused is HIV-positive. (BBC)
• The U.N. General Assembly elects Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria to the U.N. Security Council as non-veto-holding members. (Reuters)
• Narges Kalhor, the daughter of a senior adviser to President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, applies for asylum in Germany. (Reuters)
• Burma and Bangladesh send warships to a disputed area in the Bay of Bengal 50 nmi (93 km) west of St. Martin's Island. (Mizzima)
• Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee initially argued against awarding U.S. President Barack Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. (AFP via Google News) (Primary source: Verdens Gang)
• North Korea accuses South Korea of intruding into its territorial waters, further raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap) (Reuters) (AFP)
• Palestinians have urged the UN to act to punish Israel for its offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter. (BBC) (Ha'aretz)
• At least 37 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Pakistani cities by militants. (The News) (Bloomberg) (Indian Express)
• A further six people are sentenced to death over ethnic unrest in China's Xinjiang region in July. (China Daily) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• The International Criminal Court opens an investigation into the suppression of an opposition protest in Guinea, in which dozens of people were killed. (Associated Press)
• Finland becomes the first country in the world to declare Internet broadband access a legal right. (CNN)
• The ruling party in Malaysia, the United Malays National Organisation, announces internal reforms after a series of defeats in local elections. (Al Jazeera) (Bernama)
• Militants launch attacks on police in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, in Pakistan, killing 31 people after a week of violence in which more than 100 people died. (Reuters)
• Norwegian pop trio a-ha announce they are to split after 25 years together. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Independent)
• A worldwide media circus surrounds an incident in which a six-year-old boy is alleged to be flying in a homemade hot-air balloon; the boy was later found safe at home. (CNN)

• Voters in Botswana take part in a general election. (IOL) (Al Jazeera)
• The United States records a budget deficit of $1.42 trillion. (Bloomberg)
• Stephen Gately:
  • The surviving members of Boyzone fly to Majorca to escort the body of Stephen Gately home to Dublin. (RTÉ) (BBC) (The Belfast Telegraph) (The Irish Times)
  • The UK Press Complaints Commission's website crashes after receiving hundreds of complaints about a Jan Moir article in the Daily Mail concerning her views on the singer's death. Retailer Marks & Spencer withdraws advertising and Nestlé disassociates itself from her writing. (Daily Mail Primary Source) (The Guardian) (BBC) (The Irish Times) (The Huffington Post)
• Treaty of Lisbon:
  • Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer says President Václav Klaus's disruption of the Treaty of Lisbon is harming the country's credit. (Ceske Noviny)
  • An opinion poll shows that 65% of Czechs support President Václav Klaus’ refusal to sign the Lisbon Treaty. (Wall Street Journal)
• A strong earthquake hits Indonesia, causing mass panic and evacuations in Jakarta. (CNN)
• The United Nations Human Rights Council endorses the Goldstone report on the Gaza War, accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes. (Jerusalem Post) (AFP) (Al Jazeera)
• Five men are convicted in Sydney, Australia of plotting a terrorist attack. (news.com.au) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• One part of Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) ends a three-month ceasefire and resumes attacks on the oil industry in Nigeria. (BBC) (Reuters) (IOL)
• Guinea
  • Guinea's civil service minister Alpha Diallo resigns after a massacre of opposition supporters, following agriculture minister Abdourahmane Sanoh who resigned days earlier. (IOL)
  • The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon announces plans to establish a commission into the killing of unarmed protestors in Guinea last month. (AP via Google News)
• Australian pop singer, songwriter, and actress Kylie Minogue makes her Hindi cinema debut in Blue, thought to be the most expensive Bollywood production ever. (The Times)
• At least seven people are killed and at least ten are injured in an explosion at a mosque, police station and passenger bus in Peshawar, Pakistan. (Xinhua) (RTÉ) (BBC)
• In Berlin, the reconstructed Neues Museum officially reopens after 70 years. (Deutsche Welle) (The Times)
• Zimbabwe:
  • The MDC partially pulls out of the unity government with Zanu PF in Zimbabwe after one of their members, Roy Bennett is detained on terrorism charges. (Zim Online) (Associated Press) (Xinhua)
  • Roy Bennett is later released from jail on bail, ordered by the High Court. (Reuters) (Associated Press)
• North and South Korea fail to agree on further family reunions, after the North linked the prospect with humanitarian aid deliveries. (Korea Times) (Straits Times)
• Controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders arrives in the UK amid protests from the Netherlands, proclaiming "a victory for the freedom of speech". (CNN) (The Guardian) (Reuters)
• Uruguay becomes the first country to provide a laptop for every child attending state primary school. (BBC)
• German heavy metal band Rammstein releases their seventh album, Liebe ist für Alle Da in Germany.

• Czech President Václav Klaus compares the Treaty of Lisbon to "an unstoppable speeding train" that he is being forced to sign. (BBC)
• A report into dumping of toxic waste by Trafigura in Côte d'Ivoire is published. (BBC)
• Two police officers are killed after their police helicopter is shot down by drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ten drug traffickers were also killed in the violence. (Associated Press) (Brazzil Mag) (Al Jazeera)
• The sheriff in Fort Collins, Colorado advises that criminal charges will be laid over the balloon boy hoax. (AP via Minneapolis Star-Tribune) (Sky News)
• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposes an arms embargo on Guinea after the deaths of opposition supporters at a rally last month. (African Press Agency) (Reuters)
• A South Korean legislator claims North Korea is holding 154,000 of its citizens in gulags. (Yonhap) (AFP) (BBC)
• A Colombian military official claims that eight FARC guerrillas and five Colombian army soldiers have been killed in heavy fighting in Cauca Department. (AFP via Google News)
• Iran frees Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari on bail after four months in detention following the disputed presidential election. (Press TV) (IOL) (Associated Press)
• More than one million anti-abortion protesters march through Madrid in one of the largest demonstrations since 2003 and 2004 anti-war protests. (The Australian) (Reuters India)
• Thousands of fans, celebrities and politicians attend the funeral of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately in Dublin. (RTÉ) (The Guardian) (The Times) (ABC News)
• 30,000 troops from the Pakistan Army begin an offensive operation against the Taliban and their allies in South Waziristan. (BBC)
• The government of the Maldives, including President Mohamed Nasheed, holds the world's first underwater Cabinet meeting, to highlight the threat of global warming. (Miadhu News) (BBC)
• 32 people are killed in a fire at a fireworks warehouse in southern India, during the Diwali celebrations. (Hindustan Times) (CNN)

• Yemen claims to have killed 18 Shia rebels in fighting in the north of the country. (Pro Kerala)
• 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)

• Charles Wesley Mumbere is crowned king of the Bakonjo people in the Rwenzururu district of Uganda. (NPR) (AP via Google)
• United Nations–backed electoral fraud investigators throw out a third of President Hamid Karzai's votes leading to a runoff in the presidential election. (AP via Google)
• Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico says that he will also demand an opt-out in the Treaty of Lisbon if the Czech Republic is granted one. (Der Spiegel)
• Abraham Lauhenaspessy ("Captain Bram"), a suspected kingpin people smuggler, is detained in Indonesia. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Australian)
• The Opposition in the Australian Parliament demands details on the salary of high-profile Kerry O'Brien, presenter of The 7.30 Report for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• 32 Extra Solar planets are discovered and announced, this making the record of most exoplanets discovered in one day and in one month. (CNN)

• Afghanistan's election commission orders a run-off election for November 7 in the Afghan presidential election. (AP via Jamaica Observer)
• In a set of canon laws, the Vatican welcomes groups of Anglicans as "personal ordinariates" into the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI announces. (BBC) (CNN)
• A court in Yemen sentences 10 Shi'ite Houthi rebels to death and jailed five others over clashes which killed hundreds of people last year. (Al Jazeera) (Al Bawaba)
• Nine North Koreans who entered the Danish embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam last month leave for South Korea. (The Copenhagen Post)
• Richard Herman resigns as the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a result of an admissions scandal. (Chicago Tribune)
• Sun Microsystems announces plans to lay off up to 3,000 workers as it prepares for a merger with Oracle Corp. (Market Watch)
• The entire government of Kyrgyzstan resigns as President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announces a new reform campaign. (AFP) (BBC) (Taiwan News)
• Niger is suspended by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after its President Tandja Mamadou went ahead with a parliamentary election it had asked to be postponed over boycotts. (BBC) (Reuters)
• At least four students are killed and many injured in bomb explosions at an Islamic university in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP via Google)
• China pledges to rescue the crew aboard the Chinese ship De Xin Hai after it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The pirates threaten to kill the crew if there is any attempt to rescue them. (Xinhua) (CNN) (The Guardian)
• Detectives arrest a man in Belfast in connection with the Massereene Barracks shooting in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in March 2009. (RTÉ) (BBC) (Press Associaton)
• Iran buries its dead members of the Revolutionary Guard, killed in a suicide attack two days ago. Thousands of people attend the funerals. (BBC) (Press TV)
• The United States Supreme Court agrees to decide whether federal courts have the power to order prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay to be released into the country. (The New York Times)
• Nearly 100,000 Italian women sign a petition after Silvio Berlusconi says a female politician is "more beautiful than intelligent" on live television. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Rare footage of the abuse of suspected witches causes controversy in India. (BBC)
• The United States observes the National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) [1].

• The Philadelphia Phillies win the 2009 National League Championship Series 4 games to 1 after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 10–4. (New York Times)
• A report on the discovery of a new species of dinosaur, Fruitadens haagarorum, measuring around 70cm long, is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. (RSPB), (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
• After 10 hours, a man armed with a rifle and wearing military camouflage holding 8 people hostage in downtown Edmonton, Canada during the 2009 Workers Compensation Board of Alberta Hostage crisis surrenders peacefully to the Edmonton Police Service (Global Edmonton) (CTV Edmonton)
• Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev appoints former mayor of Bishkek, Daniar Usenov, as the new Prime Minister following the resignation of his predecessor, Igor Chudinov. (BBC) (Reuters)
• President of the Marshall Islands Litokwa Tomeing is ousted in the country's first successful vote of no confidence. Ruben Zackhras is appointed acting president until a new election on October 23, 2009. (AFP) (Yokwe)
• Hundreds of protestors gather in Lima, Peru, as a bill proposing the legalisation of some form of abortion is approved. (BBC)
• The United States is to send a rare mission to Burma for talks with the military government. (AFP) (Reuters)
• Several people are arrested over a bomb attack in southeastern Iran that killed 42 people, including members of the Revolutionary Guards. (Associated Press)
• Azza Transport Flight 2241 crashes on take-off from Sharjah International Airport, in the United Arab Emirates, killing all six crew. (Gulfnews) (Arabian Business) (Aviation Safety Network)
• Armed men take six people captive at a Lidl supermarket in Sevran, France. (BBC) (Euronews) (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) (Channel News Asia) (Jakarta Globe)
• At least thirteen people die in India's Rajasthan state after the Goa Express crashes into the stationary Mewar Express. (CNN)
• A goods train derails east of Poti, Georgia, in an incident described as "sabotage". (BBC) (The Times of India) (Khaleej Times) (RIA Novosti)
• The International Atomic Energy Agency propose draft agreement for Iran and three world powers to agree, aimed at reducing international concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme. (BBC)
• Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk agrees to station SM-3 missile interceptors from United States President Barack Obama's reformulated missile defense system on the territory of this NATO ally. (The New York Times)
• The crypt of Daniel O'Connell at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin is refurbished and opened to tourists . (RTÉ)
• A Japanese convict who served seventeen years in prison for the murder of a four-year-old girl pleads not guilty during a retrial. (BBC)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announces plans to curb the number of state companies by privatising some. (RIA Novosti) (Financial Times)
• Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela denies writing a foreword praising Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso's biography, Straight Speaking for Africa. (IOL) (The Guardian)

• Sweden's Lutheran Church decides to conduct same-sex marriages, becoming the first major church to do so. (Reuters)
• China's economy grows at 8.9% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in a year. (Bloomberg) (AFP) (CNN)
• In a change of policy, the British Broadcasting Corporation controversially gives a platform on Question Time to the far right British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin. (BBC) (Associated Press)
• The Microsoft operating system Windows 7 goes on retail sale worldwide. (CNET News)
• The Russian civil rights society Memorial is awarded the 2009 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. (EP press release) (RIA Novosti) (euronews)
• Ethiopia appeals for food aid for 6.2 million people facing starvation. (AFP) (CBC)
• Nearly 6,000 Tamil refugees are released from Sri Lanka's main camp for war-displaced people, to be re-settled over the next few weeks. (BBC)
• A U.S. State Department report to Congress alleges that war crimes were committed by the Sri Lankan Military and the rebel Tamil Tigers in the final months of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (AFP) (Guardian) (BBC)
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow Chinese and Russian tourists to travel to the Northern Mariana Islands without a visa. (Saipan Tribune)
• The Olympic Flame was lit during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece to start the 2010 Winter Olympics Torch Relay.(Gamesbids.com)
• The U.S. House Financial Services Committee approved a measure establishing a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.(Washington Post)

• At the end of their three-week synod in the Vatican, more than 200 African Roman Catholic bishops issue a 12-page document urging what they call corrupt political leaders on the continent to repent their sins or resign and criticising multinational companies who exploit and destroy the earth. (BBC) (Reuters) (CBC)
• Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, says that the Vatican is considering the possibility of converting the Lefebvrist group into a personal prelature. (Pakistan Christian TV)
• A universal mobile phone charger that works with any handset is approved by the International Telecommunication Union. (BBC)
• Jean Todt defeats Ari Vatanen in an election to become the new head of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, replacing former head Max Mosley, who held the position for 16 years. (BBC)
• The UK GDP contracts by 0.4% between July and September, meaning that the United Kingdom has been contracting for 6 successive quarters for the first time since records were kept in 1955. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• The Swiss Government says that the United States has formally requested the extradition of film director Roman Polanski for having unlawful sex with an underage girl in 1977. (AP via Washington Post)(Yahoo)
• A huge explosion rips through an upmarket area of Peshawar in Pakistan. (AFP via Google News & Yahoo News)
• A huge explosion occurs at an oil refinery in Cataño, Puerto Rico. (Reuters)
• Vitit Muntarbhorn, United Nations Special Rapporteur for North Korea, says the country should improve its "abysmal" rights record, adding it should provide food to over 8 million citizens. (Al Jazeera) (Taiwan News) (BBC)
• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launches its first human rights body, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). (Thai News Agency) (Associated Press)
• A white Kenyan, Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley, is released after five months of an eight month prison sentence for manslaughter. (Daily Nation) (BBC)

• The International Day of Climate Action occurred worldwide in prelude to the United Nations Climate Change Conference of 2009, with over 5,400 actions to raise awareness of the assertion that 350 ppm is the maximum safe level of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, and call for mitigation of global warming before Earth reaches a climatological tipping point. (New York Times) (CNN)
• Ten corpses with gunshot wounds thought to belong to a kidnapped Colombian football team are located in Venezuela. (BBC) (Latin American Herald Tribune)
• Pakistan reports re-gaining control of Kotkai, South Waziristan, birthplace of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and also the hometown of the Taliban's master trainer of suicide bombers, Qari Hussain, after a week of fierce fighting with the Taliban. (BBC)
• Morrissey, ex-frontman of The Smiths, is hospitalized after collapsing on stage while performing "This Charming Man" during his world tour. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Sky News)
• Rosanna Al-Yami, a female journalist in Saudi Arabia, is sentenced to sixty lashes and a two-year travel ban for her involvement in a controversial sex programme. (BBC) (CNN) (The New York Times) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (Reuters)
• Senior envoys from North Korea and the United States hold rare talks on North Korea's nuclear programme in New York City. (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
• At least 15 people are killed after two trains collide in Al-Ayyat, near Cairo, Egypt. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Less than a week after the release of GOAL aid workers Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirms one of its French employees has been abducted in Darfur. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Burma's Prime Minister Thein Sein tells the 15th ASEAN summit his government is prepared to relax the house arrest on National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Financial Times) (Bangkok Post)
• A magnitude 7.0 undersea earthquake strikes off the coast of eastern Indonesia. (Associated Press) (Jakarta Post)
• Thousands of people protest in London, England, demanding the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan. (BBC) (The Times) (AFP)
• The ruling National Movement for the Development of Society wins a controversial parliamentary election in Niger. (African Press Agency) (AFP)
• An assassination attempt on President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov is averted. (RIA Novosti) (Bloomberg)

club penguins 4th birthday

• The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in Game 6 of the 2009 American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series. (New York Times)
• Israeli police and Palestinians clash at Temple Mount, Jerusalem's holiest site, resulting in 12 arrests. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Associated Press)
• Bomb blasts kill 155 people and injure at least 500 in central Baghdad, the country's deadliest attack for two years. (BBC) (Reuters India) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• India tells China that the Dalai Lama is an "honoured guest" and will not be barred from visiting Arunachal Pradesh despite protests from China. (Associated Press) (Times of India) (Straits Times)
• Nigeria's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, declares an indefinite ceasefire. (NEXT) (African Press Agency) (Xinhua)
• Maksharip Aushev, human rights activist and opposition leader of Ingushetia, is shot dead while driving his car near Nartan in Kabardino-Balkaria. A female passenger is also attacked. (Xinhua) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (RIA Novosti)
• Tunisians vote in a general election. (Al Jazeera)
• Uruguayans vote in a general election. (Press TV) (Associated Press)
• Easter Islanders vote to restrict the number of immigrants in a referendum. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (BBC)
• The oil refinery fire continues to burn out of control in Cataño, Puerto Rico, two days after the initial explosion. (Washington Post)
• Buildings across the Netherlands—St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, Rotterdam's Euromast and Groningen's Martinitoren—dim their lights as clocks go back in Europe. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
• Inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), arrive in Iran to inspect a newly disclosed nuclear facility near the city of Qom. (CNN)
• It is revealed that composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. (The Guardian)

• President of Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali wins 90% of votes, his fifth term and a new five-year mandate in the country's general election. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (CBC)
• Jurelang Zedkaia is elected the 5th President of the Marshall Islands, following the ouster of Litokwa Tomeing in a no confidence vote last week. (Bernama)
• At least seven people are killed and at least four others are injured when a three-story building falls down in Palma, Majorca. The dead include at least three from Colombia. (BBC)
• Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić boycotts his own trial as it begins in The Hague. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Australian)
• The UN's court in Freetown, Sierra Leone sees its final case after seven years of investigating the country's civil war. (BBC) (Reuters Africa) (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation)
• The trial of Japanese singer and actress Noriko Sakai begins in Tokyo. (Xinhua) (BBC) (Japan Today)
• South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-Suk is convicted of fraud over his stem cell research. (BBC) (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) (The New Zealand Herald)
• King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia removes the sentence of 60 lashes for Rosanna Yami, female journalist involved in the Red Lines sex scandal. (BBC) (Al Arabiya) (CBC)
• A Sri Lankan court in Colombo releases Vetrivel Jaseeharan, the publisher of North Eastern Monthly, and his wife after they were charged with conspiracy against the government in March 2008. The editor was given a twenty year jail sentence in August 2009. (BBC) (Khaleej Times)
• It is announced that Silvio Berlusconi will stand trial on 16 November. (BBC)
• A court in Milan rules that Mediaset run by Silvio Berlusconi is being anti-competitive against News Corporation run by Rupert Murdoch. (BBC)
• The five surviving Conway sextuplets, the first sextuplets born on the island of Ireland, return home. (BBC)
• At least 10 patients from thirty-four operated on partially lose their sight after free cataract operations in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. (BBC)
• A crater found in northern Latvia, believed at first to be a meteorite strike, is revealed to be a hoax perpetrated by telecom operator Tele2. (Fox News)
• Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said: "This is not a real crater. It is artificial." (The Sun).
• Prof. Salamat Akhtar demands a repeal of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. (Pakistan Christian TV)
• Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with scarlet fever. (The Times)
• The composer and pianist Elton John cancels his third concert in several days due to flu. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (CBC)
• Yahoo! discontinues its free web hosting service GeoCities, ten years after purchasing it from David Bohnett and John Rezner. (The Los Angeles Times)
• Australian authorities offer a Aus$1 million reward in their search for a man suspected of ordering the murder of a vampire. (BBC)
• A police officer in Liverpool, England is hospitalised in a life threatening condition after undergoing a homophobic attack by a gang of twenty youths. (Sky News) (BBC)

• A report by the Australian government warns that global warming climate change threatens the coastal lifestyle of the country, with a prospect of a ban on coastal homes. (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Grassroots occupations of Austrian universities spread to several more in Vienna, Graz and Linz, demanding free education for everyone. (Boston Herald) (CNN iReport) (Austrian Times)
• Qatar inaugurates one of the world's largest LNG trains, operated by RasGas. (Al Bawaba) (The Peninsula) (Gulf Times)
• Pope Benedict XVI appoints Cardinal Peter Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana, to serve as the new head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (Pakistan Christian TV)
• NASA announces a delay in the launch of the Ares I-X test rocket, developed to replace the space shuttle, due to poor weather conditions. (New Scientist) (BBC)
• The Church of Scientology in France is convicted of organised fraud. (France 24) (The Times) (Al Jazeera)
• China confirms it has executed 2 Tibetans over unrest last year. (Angola Press) (The Guardian) (The Hindu)
• The son of ex-French President François Mitterrand, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand and an ex-government minister, Charles Pasqua, are convicted for their roles in illegal arms sales to Angola. (Associated Press) (Reuters)
• A nephew of Honduran interim leader Robert Micheletti and a high ranking army officer are found murdered. (Times of India) (BBC) (Press TV)
• A British couple are missing after their yacht is hijacked by Somali pirates off the Seychelles. (Bloomberg) (AFP) (Xinhua)
• North Korea says a South Korean man has defected to the North across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. (Yonhap) (Associated Press) (Xinhua)
• Burundi and Uganda tighten security after threats by the militant Somali Al-Shabaab, a group with links to Al-Qaeda, to attack their capitals. (Reuters India) (VOA)
• The autonomous Aceh province in Indonesia is to ban women from wearing tight trousers under a new law, while a law authorising the stoning to death of adulterers and the whipping of homosexuals will be reviewed. (Jakarta Globe) (Straits Times) (Reuters South Africa)
• Authorities in Venezuela arrest a number of people accused of being secret service agents from neighbouring Colombia, on charges of espionage. (El Universal) (Colombia Reports) (BBC)
• Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva backs autonomy for the restive southern provinces to bring an end to violence in the region. (The Nation) (Straits Times)

• Canadian folk singer Taylor Mitchell is mauled to death by coyotes at the age of 19. (CBC) (The Star)
• Voters in Mozambique go to the polls for the general election. (AFP via Google News) (IOL)
• A blast in Meena Bazar, Peshawar, Pakistan, kills at least 95 people while 110 are injured. (Geo TV) (The Times)
• 12 people – including six United Nations staff – are killed after Taliban militants assault an international guesthouse in the Afghan capital Kabul. (Associated Press) (New York Times)
• One of Germany's last Nazi war crimes trials begins, with Heinrich Boere charged with the killings of three civilians in the Netherlands. (The Local) (BBC) (Deutsche Welle)
• Ares I-X, the first test article for NASA's Ares I rocket, launches successfully from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a sub-orbital test flight. (CNN)
• The Lebanese army says it has found and deactivated four 107-mm rockets in the garden of a partly built house a day after a rocket fired from Houla hit the northern Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona. This is the fifth time rocket attacks have been used to try to break the cease-fire. (Reuters)
• Chinese police rescue over 2,000 children in a six month campaign against human trafficking. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Ireland and the United Kingdom agree to ensure drivers disqualified from driving are disqualified in all their countries. (RTÉ)
• The United Nations Torture Investigator, Manfred Nowak, is prevented last minute from entering Zimbabwe. (Al Jazeera) (Associated Press) (The Herald)
• Hamas orders Palestinians in the Gaza Strip not to vote in a January election called by West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)
• Mongolia's parliament approves the resignation of Prime Minister Sanjaagiin Bayar, who stepped down due to ill health. He was replaced by the Foreign Minister Sükhbaataryn Batbold. (AFP) (Xinhua)
• The main opposition Democratic Party wins three out of five seats in by-elections in South Korea. (The Seoul Times) (Bangkok Post)
• The Matthew Shepard Act, providing legal protection against hate crimes to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people, is signed into law in the United States by President Barack Obama. (Associated Press)
• Federal agents attached to the FBI fatally shoot the leader of a Sunni Muslim group wanted on firearm charges in Detroit, USA. (New York Times) (Al Jazeera)
• In an appearance before the House of Lords Communications Select Committee, BBC Director-General Mark Thompson denies that the appearance of British National Party leader Nick Griffin on Question Time was a bid for ratings. (The Daily Telegraph)

• The Haitian Senate votes to remove Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis. (AP via Google News)
• The de facto regime in Honduras files suit with the International Court of Justice over Brazil's continued harbouring of exiled president Manuel Zelaya in its Tegucigalpa embassy. (Guardian)
• English Premier League footballer Marlon King is convicted of sexual assault, imprisoned and sacked by his club Wigan Athletic F.C. (BBC) (The Times)
• India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announces a "new chapter" in the Jammu and Kashmir peace process, and withdraws some troops from the region. (AFP) (New York Times)
• The United States unofficially exits recession in the third quarter, growing at 3.5%. (Associated Press) (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
• Kenya is to carry out its first census on its gay population to combat HIV/AIDS, even though homosexuality is banned in the country. (BBC)
• Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen says a deal at a UN climate change summit in December is unlikely. (Haveeru) (BBC) (RTT News)
• 12 are killed by an IOC depot fire in Jaipur, Army is called. (The Times Of India)
• A Thai cargo ship is hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. (Xinhua) (IOL) (RIA Novosti)
• South Korea arrests a college lecturer accused of spying for North Korea, saying he was recruited by North Korean agents in India. (Bangkok Post) (The Canadian Press)
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the government is ready for a deal on its nuclear program. (Press TV) (Times of India) (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
• The African Union imposes a travel ban on the leader of Guinea's military junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, and 41 of his colleagues and freezes their bank accounts. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Rwandan man Désiré Munyaneza is given a life sentence in Canada for his role in the Rwandan genocide under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. (BBC) (CTV)
• A gunman opens fire at the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, United States, and wounds two people. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• The composer and pianist Elton John cancels his 30 October final date of The Red Piano Tour scheduled for The O2, Dublin, due to declining health. (Irish Independent) (Evening Herald) (BBC)

• European Union leaders agree a climate aid deal to help developing countries adapt to global warming. (CNN) (Xinhua)
• Typhoon Mirinae makes landfall in the Philippines. (Al Jazeera) (Philippine Inquirier)
• Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approves plans to allow non-Latin web addresses for the first time. (BBC) (CNET News)
• NASA reveals that a partial parachute failure resulted in damage to the Ares I-X test booster upon splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean following its test flight on Wednesday. (Spaceflight Now)
• A U.S. judge orders a trial for two doctors and a lawyer accused of providing American sex symbol Anna Nicole Smith with drugs. (AP via Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• African Union leaders agree to establish a hybrid court to end the Darfur conflict in western Sudan. (BBC) (Le Mali en ligne) (Sudan Tribune)
• Native tribesmen in the Amazon Rainforest discover a downed Brazilian military transport plane, finding nine survivors. (news.com.au) (Taiwan News)
• Former French President Jacques Chirac is ordered to stand trial on corruption charges. (France 24) (Deutsche Welle)
• Honduras' de facto leader Roberto Micheletti and ousted President Manuel Zelaya agree a deal to end the political crisis, reinstating Zelaya as President. (Times of India) (The Guardian) (Honduras This Week)
• South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, names North Korea's telecommunications ministry as responsible for a wave of cyber attacks in July. (Yonhap) (Mainichi Shimbun)
• A large fire at an oil depot on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, leaves six people dead and around 135 injured. (Press Trust of India) (Associated Press)
• Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou calls on China to remove missiles targeting the island. (Radio Taiwan International) (Straits Times)
• Burmese authorities arrest 50 people – including journalists, students and political activists, in a security crackdown, according to a Thailand based human rights group. (Reuters)

• Niger's opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou returns to the country to face charges of money laundering. (IOL) (AFP)
• More than 50 people are arrested in the Russian capital Moscow after holding an "unsanctioned" human rights rally. (RIA Novosti) (Reuters) (Press TV)
• A video of the kidnapped Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott is released by his captors in the Philippines. The kidnappers want a $2 million (€1.36 million) ransom. It is the first evidence that Sinnott is still alive since his abduction on 11 October. (RTÉ)