Portal:Current events/2013 December 9

• Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
  • Attacks around Iraq kill at least 18 people, including a car bombing at a cafe in the town of Buhriz which killed 12 people. (AP via Miami Herald)

• British singer Susan Boyle reveals she has Asperger syndrome. (BBC)

• American Airlines Group is formed from the merger of AMR Corporation and US Airways Group and begins trading on the NASDAQ. (Los Angeles Times)

• At least seven are dead following a train accident near Bintaro, Indonesia. (The Jakarta Globe)

• The Philippines and the Bangsamoro sign a power-sharing agreement, paving the way for the peace process. (Bloomberg)

• Iraqi Jewish artifacts that were rescued from Saddam Hussein's palace by a Jewish-American scholar and brought to the United States are scheduled to be returned to Iraq by the end of the summer in 2014, despite objections from American Jews citing instability in Iraq. (Los Angeles Times)

• 2013 Thai protests:
  • Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra announces that she plans to hold elections. (The Guardian) (Businessweek)
• Gustavo Petro, mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, is removed from office and banned from re-taking it for fifteen years, due to a failing city cleaning policy promoted by him. (The Wall Street Journal) (El Espectador)
• Euromaidan:
  • Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko sends a letter of support to Ukrainian protesters after they topple a statue of Lenin. (CNN)
• President of Russia Vladimir Putin announces that RIA Novosti, Voice of Russia, and the State Fund of Television and Radio Programs will immediately be shut down. Newly created Rossia Segodnya (Russia Today) will take RIA Novosti's place as the government news agency. (BBC) (Reuters) (The New York Times)

• The Florida State Seminoles and Auburn Tigers are scheduled to play the 2014 BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on January 6th, 2014. (ESPN)