Portal:Current events/2009 May 20

Current events of May 20, 2009 (2009-05-20) (Wednesday)

• The United Kingdom's House of Lords suspends Thomas Taylor and Peter Truscott until November for misconduct. (BBC)
• South East Queensland, Australia, is declared a natural disaster zone, following flooding. (ABC News Australia)
• Iran launches a Sajjil-2 medium-range surface-to-surface missile. (BBC)
• An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft crashes in Java, Indonesia, killing at least 98 people. (Reuters)
• The Globe and Mail refutes portions of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's testimony about his relationship with German arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber. (Globe and Mail)
• The International Security Assistance Force reports that the Taliban are using white phosphorus in the Afghanistan War. (CNN)
• Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond activates Whitelee Wind Farm, Europe's largest onshore wind farm. (BBC) (NCE)
• Three civilians die during combat between Islamist insurgents and the African Union Mission in Mogadishu, Somalia. (BBC)
• Japan's economy contracted by 4% during the first fiscal quarter of 2009. (BBC)
• Ireland's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse concludes that the Roman Catholic Church and the Department of Education knew sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys’ institutions. (RTÉ)
• A car bomb kills at least 34 people and injures 72 others in Baghdad, Iraq. (BBC)
• The Provincial Police of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, charge two people with abducting and murdering Victoria Stafford. (CTV)
• FC Shakhtar Donetsk defeat SV Werder Bremen to win the final UEFA Cup. (BBC) (UEFA)
• Kris Allen is crowned the new American Idol.