December 21, 2009 (Monday)
- A police officer in Washington, D.C., draws a gun during a snowball fight. (BBC)
- Mexico City's Legislative Assembly legalizes same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption. (BBC) (Guardian)
- Remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus have been found by Israeli archaeologists. (The Jerusalem Post)
- At least 29 people freeze to death in Poland. (BBC)
- At least 30 people have been killed in violence in the Nigerian state of Nasarawa. (BBC) (AFP) (allAfrica.com)
- North Korea establishes a "peacetime firing zone" on the Northern Limit Line maritime border with South Korea, threatening to fire shells in South Korean territorial waters. (Yonhap) (RIA Novosti) (AFP) (UPI)
- The United Nations Security Council lifts an arms embargo on Liberia imposed during the reign of Charles Taylor in 2003. (Liberian Observer) (African Press Agency)[permanent dead link]
- Mister Bolivia wins Mister International 2009 at the end of the two-week event in Taiwan. (BBC)
- Two firefighters are hurt fighting a fire as St. James's Gate Brewery is engulfed by flames which send clouds of smoke across Dublin. (RTÉ) (Sky News) (Reuters)
- At least 10 people are killed in a rain of mortar shells during the first meeting of MPs in Mogadishu since August 2009. (BBC) (AFP)
- The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the ruling party in Southern Sudan, criticises a new security law passed by the central government, saying it could undermine the 2010 elections. (Sudan Tribune) (BBC)
- Unknown gunmen in Lebanon open fire on a bus carrying Syrian workers, killing one person. (Al Jazeera) (Press TV) (Al Bawaba)
- Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina abandons the power sharing agreement after appointing a new military Prime Minister, Colonel Vital Albert Camille. (BBC) (Reuters India)
- Burma's Supreme Court agrees to review the extension of the house arrest on National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (AP) (IOL)
- The funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hosein-Ali Montazeri takes place in the Iranian city of Qom, as anti-government protests and clashes take place. (BBC) (Angola Press) (AP) (Press TV)
- Eurostar is suspended indefinitely due to the heavy snowfall affecting continental Europe. (BBC) (CNN)
- Polish police arrest five men and recover the stolen Arbeit macht frei sign that hung over the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz where millions were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust (The Guardian) (The Jerusalem Post)
- Severe Tropical Cyclone Laurence becomes a category 5 and strikes the Australian coast with winds of 285 km/h (177 mph). (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (Bureau of Meteorology bulletin)
- The leaders of the three main UK political parties agree to stage the country's first ever live televised election debates ahead of the 2010 General Election.(BBC) (Telegraph.co.uk)