Portal:Current events/2009 September 18

September 18, 2009 (Friday)

Two people are killed and eight are hurt when a man confronted by police for scrawling graffiti at a Mexico City Metro station opens fire on passers-by. (CNN) (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A mine blast in Ruda Śląska, Poland, kills at least 13 miners and hospitalises at least 30 more. The country's worst mining disaster since 2006, two days of national mourning are declared the following day. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (The Irish Times)
Hong Kong sentences former Morgan Stanley managing director Du Jun to seven years in prison for his insider trading conviction in its most high-profile case. (BBC)
International Quds Day:
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls The Holocaust a "myth" and says that "the very existence of this regime is an insult to the dignity of the people" in referring to Israel at a Quds Day rally in Tehran. (RTÉ) (Xinhua) (The Guardian)
- Pro and anti-government protestors clash in Tehran during the annual International Quds Day rally. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Xinhua) (Press TV)
- Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemns Ahmadinejad's remarks, calling him a disgrace to his country. (Reuters)
30,000 Ivory Coast residents seriously affected by the dumping of toxic waste by Trafigura, which, according to the United Nations, has killed at least 15 people, say an undisclosed compensation deal offered by a London-based oil firm is not enough. (BBC)
Solidarity co-founder and former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa (in favour) and United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage (against) arrive in Ireland to campaign over the country's second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. (Euronews) (The Irish Times) (The Times)
Burma:
- Burma begins releasing 7,114 prisoners in an amnesty announced by the government. (Al Jazeera) (AFP)
- A Burmese court announces it is to reveal its verdict on an appeal by Aung San Suu Kyi in October. (The Straits Times) (Associated Press) (BBC)
The first ever Global Irish Economic Forum, modelled on Switzerland's World Economic Forum, begins in Farmleigh in Dublin's Phoenix Park. (The Belfast Telegraph) (The Irish Times) (RTÉ) (Forbes) (Reuters)
The Brazilian government announces a plan to ban sugarcane farming in the Amazon Rainforest and indigenous areas. (Latin American Herald Tribune) (BBC)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il tells a visiting envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao he is willing to engage in talks on his country's nuclear programme. (BBC) (Yonhap)
Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez calls for an integrated Mercosur with a greater number of countries to make it more competitive overseas, but also demands greater balance inside the group among members. (MercoPress)
Sri Lanka announces it will rehouse displaced Tamil refugees within the next four months. (Associated Press)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirms that serving PSNI officers provided training to the Libyan police force in the past twelve months. (RTÉ)
Two people are killed and a further 12 injured in a stabbing attack in Beijing. (China Daily) (Associated Press) (China Post)
At least 33 people die as a result of a suicide bomb attack in Kohat in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. (RTÉ) (AP via Google News) (BBC) (IOL)
Nicola Roxon, the Australian Minister for Health and Ageing, says that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved an Australian-made swine flu vaccine. (AP via Fox 59)
The Raptorex kriegsteini, a smaller version of the Tyrannosaurus rex, is discovered in northeastern China. (The Daily Telegraph) (The Washington Post) (The Guardian)
The African Union says a twin bombing that killed 17 peacekeepers on its base in Mogadishu, Somalia, was conducted in UN marked cars. (CNN) (IOL)
Michel Bagaragaza, former head of Rwanda's tea industry, pleads guilty to complicity in the 1994 genocide, altering his original not guilty plea. (BBC)
Singapore's best-known watercolour artist, Cultural Medallion recipient Ong Kim Seng, donates eight works to the country's new national art gallery. (The Straits Times)