Portal:Current events/2013 March 9

March 9, 2013 (Saturday)

Armed conflict and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- Rebels free 21 United Nations peacekeepers who were held captive for four days. (BBC) (AP via Houston Chronicle)
War in Afghanistan:
- At least 19 people are killed by two suicide bombings in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in Khost Province, as Chuck Hagel, the United States Secretary of Defense, visits the city. (AP)
Nigerian Sharia conflict:
- Nigerian militant group Ansaru announces that it has killed seven foreigners that were being held hostage. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Telegraph)
Piracy in Somalia:
- The UAE-owned chemical tanker MV Royal Grace is released along with its crew of 20 for an undisclosed ransom amount after being held hostage for over a year. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A house fire kills five children and two adults (including a pregnant woman) in the Gray community of Knox County, Kentucky, United States, cause undetermined and under investigation. (NBC) (AP via The Huffington Post)
One man is killed and five others are injured after a sailboat breaks up and sinks off of San Clemente, California, United States. (Los Angeles Times)

Health and environment

Law and crime

Google will pay a $7 million penalty to settle an investigation into the collection of e-mails, passwords and other sensitive information sent over wireless networks from 2007–2010 in the United States. Google company cars taking street-level photos for its online mapping service also had been vacuuming up personal data transmitted over wireless networks that weren't protected by passwords. (SAPA via News24)
An Egyptian court reaffirms the death sentence for 21 football fans for their role in the 2012 Port Said Stadium riot and sentenced two security officers to 15 years in jail for negligence. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

Former South African President and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, aged 94, is hospitalized; officials say it is only for a routine checkup. (BBC) (NBC)
Results of the 2013 Kenyan presidential election indicate that Uhuru Kenyatta has won a victory in the first round with just over 50% of the vote. His leading opponent Raila Odinga says that he will challenge the results. (BBC) (Euronews) (The Guardian)
Voters in the state of Western Australia go to the polls for a state election with the coalition government of Colin Barnett winning a convincing victory. (AAP via SBS) (The Australian)
Voters in Malta go to the polls for a general election with polls showing the Labour Party set to win government. (BBC)

Science and technology

NASA's MRO spacecraft provides images allowing scientists for the first time to create a 3D reconstruction of ancient water channels below the Martian surface. (NASA) (Science)
A newly observed near-Earth asteroid 2013 ET with an estimated diameter of about 100 meters comes within 960,000 km from the Earth's surface. (Before It's News)

Sport