Portal:Current events/2013 August 12
August 12, 2013 (Monday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
- Nigerian Sharia conflict:
- The Tunisian Armed Forces launch air strikes on Islamist militants near the Algerian border. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Colombia announces that the capital city of Bogota will be the site of the third World Apostolic Congress on Divine Mercy, to be held Aug. 15-19, 2014. (Catholic News Agency)
Disasters and accidents
- Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, brother of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, dies aged 44 following complications from a skiing accident in 2012 which left him comatose for a year and a half. (CNN) (BBC) (Huffington Post) (ABC)
International relations
- India launches its first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. (The Times of India)
- The UK government threatens Spain with legal action over the imposition of additional border checks in Gibraltar. (BBC)
Law and Crime
- American mob boss Whitey Bulger is convicted of racketeering. (Boston.com)
- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in a major policy shift in the War on Drugs, announces that the federal government, following some states' stances, will direct its prosecutors to no longer insist on automatic mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent, low-level, non-repeat offender drug offenses where the defendant is not involved with gangs and/or cartels. (MSN)
Politics and elections
- Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta is elected as President of Mali. Although results have not yet been made official, his opponent Soumaïla Cissé has conceded defeat in the election. (BBC)
Sports
- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirms that it will punish athletes who support Russian LGBT rights at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games (instinct)