Portal:Current events/2010 December 9

December 9, 2010 (Thursday)

Arts and culture

Dame Helen Mirren, speaking as she received an award in Beverly Hills, USA, criticises the intentions of Hollywood filmmakers who "worship at the altar of the 18- to 25-year-old male and his penis". (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
Governor of the U.S. state of Florida Charlie Crist posthumously pardons Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, for indecent exposure. (BBC)
An hour-long live episode of Coronation Street is broadcast on the soap opera's 50th anniversary. (Daily Mail) (The Guardian) (BBC)

Business and economy

Calisto Tanzi, the founder and former chief executive of multinational food corporation Parmalat, is sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for fraud. (BBC), (Dow Jones via the Australian)
Long-term unemployment sharply rises in Ireland. (RTÉ) (The Belfast Telegraph)

Disasters

A stretch of beach in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, re-opens after a series of shark attacks. (AP)
Floods across South America: Panama experiences its heaviest ever rains, with the Panama Canal shut for the first time due to weather. Millions of people are affected across the region, and there are deaths, including in Colombia and Venezuela. (Al Jazeera)
Residents are ordered to evacuate from the Australian city of Queanbeyan with Steve Whan, the New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services, declaring it a natural disaster area due to flooding. (ABC News)

International relations:

The African Union suspends Côte d'Ivoire following the disputed presidential election. (African Press Agency)^{[permanent dead link]} (BBC)
India is to complain to the United States after its ambassador, Meera Shankar, was pulled from a security line and patted down at an airport. (Indian Express) (BBC)
United States diplomatic cables leak:
- Thousands of WikiLeaks supporters launch further and more intense denial-of-service attack against companies who have blacklisted the website. (PA via Google News) (Al Jazeera) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
- Newly released cables report that oil giant Royal Dutch Shell had "access to everything" inside "all relevant ministries" of the Nigerian government. (Al Jazeera) (The Hindu) (IOL) (Brisbane Times) (The Daily Telegraph)
- Newly released cables reveal close U.S. monitoring of Chinese ties with Africa and the American belief that the Chinese are "a very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor with no morals" in their dealings with the Africans. (Al Jazeera) (AFP via iafrica) (BBC) (Times LIVE)
- Australia – United States relations:
  - Australian Sports Minister Mark Arbib is named as a confidential source for the U.S. embassy, passing on information on the Australian Government. Melbourne Ports MP Michael Danby and former MP Bob McMullan have also contacted the embassy. (Herald Sun) (The Age) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  - Arbib warned the United States about a possible challenge to Kevin Rudd's prime ministership as early as last year. (ABC News)
  - U.S. diplomats are reported to have observed in detail the rise of Julia Gillard, praising her for losing Labor Left allegiances and expressing the confident belief she would become Prime Minister of Australia over 8 months before she deposed Kevin Rudd. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  - Gillard hardens her stance against the WikiLeaks website. (The Australian)
- World media reaction to the diplomatic cables:
  - European media express disagreement with the fierce U.S. response to the release of the cables. (The New York Times)
  - The Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables which attack India. (The Guardian)
2010 Nobel Peace Prize:
- China blocks access to international news sites ahead of the ceremony for Liu Xiaobo on Friday. (BBC)
- China issues its new "Confucius peace prize" to former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan, though he refused to collect it, adding he knew nothing of the award. (Malaysia Star) (Taipei Times) (Hindustan Times)
- Colombia, Ukraine and the Philippines, who initially declined invitations to attend the ceremony, reverse their decision. (Times of India) (Colombia Reports)
A report by Transparency International suggests that corruption has worsened over the past three years worldwide. (Transparency International) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Deutsche Welle)

Law and crime

Detention of Julian Assange:
- It is reported that the two Swedish women who have accused WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange of committing "sex crimes" boasted about their "conquest" of him before calling police. (The Times of India)
- People brandishing Julian Assange masks gather in central Brisbane, Australia, to protest his detention by British police, with a message of support being read from journalist John Pilger. (Nine News)
- Assange's mother and son express concerns that he will not be afforded a fair trial. His mother says he had "come forward of his own free will but they have put him in the ring with his hands tied behind his back". (Daily Nation)
A national high-tech crime team in The Hague arrests a 16-year-old male they accuse of disrupting MasterCard and PayPal websites. Both companies previously cut off donations to the WikiLeaks website. (Financial Times) (AP via Toronto Star) (Herald Sun)
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announces that his country's justice department is "looking into" incidents which have disrupted websites opposed to WikiLeaks. (Bloomberg)

Politics

After popular demonstrations Haiti orders an immediate recount of the disputed result of its presidential election. (BBC)
Crowds gather in the South Sudan capital Juba to mark one month until the referendum on independence. (AFP)
Protests in London:
- Thousands of British students demonstrate as MPs vote to triple university tuition fees. (The Guardian) (Channel 4) (Al Jazeera)
- Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes vows to "definitely abstain" and possibly even oppose the government, while MP Mike Crockart quits. (Sky News)
- A siege is underway at the Houses of Parliament ahead of the vote. (The Hindu) (BBC)
- The coalition government passes legislation to raise the cap on university tuition fees to £9,000 with a majority of 21. (BBC)
- As it makes its way towards the London Palladium for a performance a car in which Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall are contained is reportedly attacked. (The Northern Echo) (BBC)

Science

South Korea reports its first two cases of the superbug New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase. (CTV) (Xinhua)