Portal:Current events/2008 October 10

October 10, 2008 (Friday)

Pirate spokesman threatens to blow up MV Faina, which has been held off the coast of Somalia since September 25, if $20 million is not paid by October 13. (BBC News)
The president of Peru accepts the resignation of his entire cabinet in response to an oil kickbacks scandal. (AP via Yahoo News)^{[permanent dead link]}
Gunmen kill 11 in a bar in Mexico in drug smuggling related violence. (Reuters via Irish Times)
27 people were killed by a suicide car bomb in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border during a tribal meeting planning the eviction of the Taliban from the area. (BBC News)
Dozens of bodies that washed ashore in Yemen are believed to be from the 130 migrants from Somalia thrown overboard by smugglers; prompting calls for action against human trafficking in the Gulf of Aden. (AP via Yahoo News)^{[permanent dead link]}
An Alaskan legislative committee finds that the Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her authority in terminating the Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. (AP via The New York Times)
The Connecticut Supreme Court rules that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry in Connecticut. (CNN)
Oxfam says those needing food aid in Ethiopia has risen to 6.4 million, nearly two million more than in June . (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
NATO ministers reach a deal after overcoming resistance from France, Italy and Germany by agreeing that only willing countries temporarily "act in concert with the Afghans, against [drug] facilities". (Deutsche Welle)
Nobel Prize:
- The Nobel peace prize is awarded to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari for mediation for the resolution of international conflicts who, as a UN special envoy, guided Namibia to independence in 1990, oversaw the 2005 reconciliation between the government of Indonesia and rebels in Aceh, and mediated a peace deal in Kosovo.(AFP via Yahoo News)
Former Russian cross country ski champion Alexey Prokurorov dies after he is hit by a car while crossing a road in Vladimir.(RIA Novosti)
A Swedish appellate court sentences Chilean opera tenor Ernesto "Tito" Beltrán to two years and six months in prison for raping an 18-year-old nanny and molesting a 7-year-old girl.(Associated Press)
North Korea draws nearer to a compromise in a nuclear deal that would prompt Washington to remove it from a list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. (Reuters via Yahoo News)
Global financial crisis of September–October 2008:
- European markets fall steeply upon opening. (BBC News)
- Fears of a global recession send Asian markets tumbling. (AP via Yahoo News)
- The Australian Stock Exchange suffers its greatest fall since the crash of 1987 (The Age).
- The Dow Jones finished down 128 points, after twice reaching down 700 points and below 8000 points. (CNN)
- The United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson says that the Bush administration will proceed with plans to buy stocks in United States financial institutions.(AP via USA Today)
- Group of Seven finance ministers who met in Washington with International Monetary Fund chief and World Bank president announce a plan to combat the crisis including the use of "all available tools" to support key institutions and prevent their failure. (NineMSN)
Leaders of the anti-government protests in Thailand surrender to thepolice. (BBC)
The Republic of China (Taiwan) celebrates its 97th National Anniversary on Double Ten Day, with its newly elected President Ma Ying-jeou. (The China Post)
Scores missing as migrant vessel sinks off the coast of northern Morocco in a route used by illegal migrants trying to reach Europe. (BBC News)
Fifteen killed when JEM rebels ambush a government convoy in west Darfur. (AFP via Yahoo News)