Portal:Current events/2013 June 13
June 13, 2013 (Thursday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- The United Nations estimates that the death toll was just under 93,000 as at the end of April. (New York Times)
- The United States establishes and concludes that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has used chemical weapons. (ABC News)
Business and economy
- Greek unions call for a general strike following the closure of public broadcaster ERT. (France 24)
Disasters
- A train collision in Buenos Aires, Argentina, results in three deaths and at least 150 injured. (CNN)
- A chemical plant explodes in Geismar, Louisiana, injuring 73 people and killing one. (Reuters)
- A tsunami hits the East Coast of the United States. [1]
Health and environment
- United States Supreme Court rules that isolated human genes are not patentable, invalidating BRCA gene patents held by Myriad Genetics. (WSJ)
Law and crime
- Kidnapped British engineer Malcolm Primrose is found safe in Indonesia. (BBC)
- Four people are killed in a murder-suicide at a home health care business in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, by the owner of the business, 59-year-old Ahmed Dirir. (CNN) (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Czech investigative authorities start a raid against organized crime, affecting the top levels of Czech politics, including Prime Minister Petr Nečas and his coalition government.(The New York Times)
- Gunmen ambush and kill eight police officers and kidnap the chief of police in Salcajá, Guatemala. (Al Jazeera)
- British gangster Dale Cregan is sentenced to a whole life tariff for the murders of four people, including two police officers. (BBC)
Politics and government
- The incumbent President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, determines that elections will be scheduled for 31 July 2013, however Mugabe's leading presidential contestant and primary political rival Morgan Tsvangirai rejects this as being "a unilateral and flagrant breach of the constitution". (allAfrica)