December 29, 2009 (Tuesday)
- Akmal Shaikh becomes the first EU native to be executed in China in 50 years. Gordon Brown releases a statement indicating that he is appalled. (BBC) (China Daily)
- The Sudanese parliament approves legislation for a referendum on the independence of South Sudan. (BBC News)
- A Turkish court sentences a Kurdish man to life in prison for a minibus bombing in 2005 that killed five people. (BBC) (Ireland Online)[permanent dead link]
- Bangladesh says it will repatriate 9,000 Rohingya refugees staying at camps in the country back to Burma. (The Daily Star) (Zee News) (Xinhua)
- Iran's Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi says her sister Nooshin, a medical professor and human rights activist, was arrested by authorities the previous evening. Sources indicate journalists have also been detained. (BBC) (UPI)
- Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, believed to have held Malawi's first gay engagement ceremony, are arrested and expected to be charged with gross public indecency. (BBC) (IOL)[permanent dead link]
- Serbia's Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Affairs Rasim Ljajić resigns a job due to his inability to keep his promise to locate Ratko Mladić by the end of 2009. (BBC) (Houston Chronicle) (Reuters)
- Thailand completes its repatriation of over 4,000 Hmong refugees to neighbouring Laos. (Bangkok Post)[permanent dead link] (Al Jazeera)
- Somali pirates seize UK and Panamanian-flagged ships with international crews on board in the Gulf of Aden. (CNN) (New York Times)
- China displaces the U.S. as the largest overall buyer of Japanese goods in 2009. (Marketwatch) (Wall Street Journal)
- An American Christian activist is reportedly arrested after crossing into North Korea from China, according to North Korean media. (BBC) (Yonhap) (Reuters)
- Two Italians are injured and one American is killed in a shooting incident in Badghis Province, Afghanistan. (BBC)