October 12, 2009 (Monday)
- The 60th International Astronautical Congress opens in Daejeon, South Korea, with approximately 3,000 space experts from more than 70 countries attending. (UPI)
- The death toll from a blast in Pakistan's Shangla District has reached at least 41, with a further 45 injured. (APP) (AFP)
- Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson win the Nobel Prize for Economics. (The Economic Times) (Bloomberg)
- Edgar Allan Poe receives a funeral in Baltimore, USA, 160 years after his death and 200 after his birth. (BBC)
- Kai Eide of Norway, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan, acknowledges "widespread fraud" took place during the recent presidential election in the country. (The Independent)
- Six Uyghurs are sentenced to death over riots in the western region of Xinjiang, China in July. (China Daily) (BBC) (Bernama) (RIA Novosti)
- A large fire sweeps through a shanty town in Sao Paulo, Brazil, leaving at least 200 families without homes. (BBC) (Associated Press)
- The government in East Timor faces a motion of no confidence after releasing an Indonesian militia member, Martenus Bere, accused of crimes against humanity a decade ago. (Jakarta Post) (AFP)
- The pro-Kremlin United Russia party wins around 80% of regional and local seats in elections held in 76 regions in Russia. Opposition alleges vote rigging (RTÉ) (Taiwan News) (Xinhua)
- Two people are injured in a bomb attack in Milan, Italy, after a Libyan man explodes a device at the entrance of an army barracks. (Adnkronos) (Associated Press)
- India test fires two medium range Prithvi II missiles in the eastern state of Orissa. (Press Trust of India) (BBC) (Press TV)
- Guineans observe an opposition strike to commemorate those who died at an opposition rally last month. (BBC) (Angola Press)
- North Korea fires five short range missiles into the Sea of Japan, after issuing a "no sail zone" for waters off its east and west coasts until October 20. (Yonhap) (BBC) (Xinhua)
- The body of two-year-old Aisling Symes, who disappeared last week in New Zealand, is located in a drain in Henderson, Auckland, near the place where she was last sighted. (TVNZ) (RTÉ) (Sky News) (The Daily Telegraph) (IOL)