Portal:Current events/2013 October 15

October 15, 2013 (Tuesday)

Armed conflict and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
- A bomb in a mosque in Afghanistan's Logar Province kills the governor Arsala Jamal and results in other injuries. (Reuters via IOL)
Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
- A bomb detonates outside a Sunni mosque in Kirkuk, Iraq, killing 12 worshipers and injuring another 24. (The Irish Times)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- The Israeli army finds a second tunnel laden with explosives dug from the Gaza Strip into Israel and proceeds to destroy it. (AP via Fox News) (The Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

Business and Economy

United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2013:
- International credit rating group Fitch Ratings places the United States under a "Rating watch negative" in response to the looming financial crisis. (Reuters)
Glenn Greenwald, a reporter with The Guardian who has published information provided him by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is leaving the British newspaper to join a new journalistic enterprise to be bankrolled by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2013 Bohol earthquake:
- A magnitude 7.2 earthquake is reported in the Philippines near the town of Balilihan in Bohol province resulting in at least 74 deaths. (Reuters)
A state of emergency is declared in the New Zealand district of Whanganui due to flooding. (TV New Zealand)
Typhoon Nari hits central Vietnam with over 122,000 people being evacuated. (Reuters)

Law and crime

The former Liberian President Charles Taylor arrives in the United Kingdom to serve the remainder of a 50-year sentence after becoming the first head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II. (BBC)
The perpetrator of the 2013 Beijing Capital International Airport bombing Ji Zhongxing is sentenced to 6 years imprisonment by a Chinese court. (The Australian)