Portal:Current events/2012 October 9
October 9, 2012 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- A suicide bomb attack takes place on an intelligence agency building in Damascus, reportedly killing dozens of people. The rebel al-Nusra Front claims responsibility. (BBC)
- Suspected Islamist insurgents kill 11 people in southern Thailand. (IOL)
- Mexican Drug War: The Mexican Navy confirms that Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, the top leader of the criminal organization Los Zetas, was killed in a shootout yesterday. The body is stolen by armed gunmen. (New York Times)
- Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old activist for women's education rights, is shot by Taliban gunmen in the Swat Valley. (New York Times)
International relations
- An estimated 25,000 protest in Athens as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Greece. (BBC) (CNN)
- Three North Korean soldiers have defected to South Korea through the militarised border since August. (Bangkok Post)[permanent dead link]
Law and crime
- Penn State child sex abuse scandal:
- An audio recording of Jerry Sandusky is released in which he "wonders what they've won". (AP via Boston Globe)
- After the court's declaration that Sandusky is a violent sexual predator, the presiding judge sentences him to at least 30 years imprisonment. During sentencing, the judge acknowledges Sandusky's "positive work" but further states that it served only to hide his true character. Sandusky's lawyer vows to lodge an appeal against the ruling. (The Patriot News) (CNN)
Science
- Serge Haroche and David Wineland win the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on quantum optics. (New York Times)