Portal:Current events/2011 July 13

July 13, 2011 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

13 July 2011 Mumbai bombings:
- Several explosions shake Mumbai, India, killing 20 and injuring over 100 persons. (NDTV) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The Guardian)
- The blasts hit the Zaveri Bazaar, Dadar and Opera House areas of the central business district. (IBN)
Arab Spring:
- 2011 Syrian uprising: Fire damages a pipeline in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, according to regime officials and state media. (BBC)(SANA)^{[permanent dead link]}
- 2011 Egyptian revolution: Several hundred police officers are dismissed in concessions to protesters. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011 Libyan civil war: The President of the United States Barack Obama expresses support for Russia acting as a mediator in the uprising. (White House)
  - Anti-Gaddafi forces reclaim Qawalish from Gaddafi forces hours after they took it. (Al Jazeera)
In response to rocket fire into Israel, a Palestinian woman is injured in an airstrike on Gaza. (BBC)

Arts and culture

The house in Tutshill near Chepstow where J. K. Rowling grew up is for sale. (The Guardian)

Business and economics

Moody's threatens to cut the debt rating of the United States. (BBC)

Disasters

Sixteen people are killed when Noar Linhas Aéreas Flight 4896 crashes in Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. (BBC)
Five people are killed in an explosion at an industrial estate in Boston, Lincolnshire. (Channel 4) (BBC News) (The Guardian)

International relations

South Sudan is admitted to the United Nations, the first new member since 2006. (BBC News)

Law and crime

Sir Christopher Rose is to investigate reports that surveillance tapes recorded by UK police spy Mark Kennedy were suppressed by prosecutors. (The Guardian)
The High Court of Malaysia sets dates for the trial of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges from August 8 to 26. (The Star)
Sexual abuse scandal in Cloyne diocese:
- Ireland prepares for the release of a 400-page report into the sexual abuse of children by priests. (The Irish Times) (Irish Independent) (Irish Examiner)
- Bishop John Magee, a former private secretary of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II, is found to have deliberately misled an inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. (RTÉ) (The Belfast Telegraph)
- The Vatican is strongly criticised in the report. (The Guardian)
A Palestinian university student is killed as he attempts to defy arrest after residents throw stones at Israeli soldiers in a community north of Nablus. (BBC)
Mexican Drug War
- Mexico's federal police capture a man who was allegedly the top hitman for the Knights Templar drug cartel. (AP via Washington Post)
- Twenty-one people are killed in the town of Ciudad Juarez in an ongoing war between the Juárez Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. (Yahoo News)
U.S. senators call for a legal investigation into allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation hacked victims of the September 11 attacks as the phone hacking scandal continues. (The Guardian)
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, makes a statement to the House of Commons in relation to the judicial inquiry into the News of the World phone hacking affair, hours before the announcement that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation had withdrawn its bid to take full ownership of BSkyB. (BBC News) (The Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Norman Moore, a senior politician in the Australian state of Western Australia, calls on the state to consider secession. (Western Australia Today)
Thailand's Election Commission fails to endorse 142 prospective members of the House of Representatives including incoming Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. (Bangkok Post)^{[permanent dead link]}
Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan tells a news conference of his plans to wean the country off nuclear energy after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. (Al Jazeera)
The President of the United States Barack Obama reportedly walks out of negotiations with Republican Party leaders on tackling debt and deficits as Moody's Investor Services warns of a potential loss of a AAA credit rating. (Reuters)

Science

Two studies show that antiretroviral drugs taken to treat AIDS can also be used to prevent infection with HIV. (Washington Post)

Sports

North Korea announces that it would like to co-host the 2018 Winter Olympics which is scheduled to be held in the South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang. (Yonhap News)