December 17, 2008 (Wednesday)
- Ruins of an entire ancient city belonging to the Wari culture are discovered in northern Peru. (BBC)
- South Korean actress Ok So-ri is given an eight-month suspended prison sentence for adultery after the Constitutional Court refused to strike down a law criminalizing adultery. (BBC)
- Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani announces his resignation because of chaos over the treatment of Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Al-Baghdadia TV journalist who threw his shoes at United States President George W. Bush. (Telegraph)
- A U.S. State Department panel recommends that Blackwater Worldwide should be dropped as the main private security contractor for American diplomats in Iraq. (BBC)
- The United Nations passes a resolution authorizing foreign countries to conduct military raids on land or by sea in pursuit of Somali pirates. (Washington Post)