Portal:Current events/2013 October 9
October 9, 2013 (Wednesday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- Clashes between local militias and former Séléka rebels leave an estimated 60 people dead in Central African Republic. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- U.S. President Barack Obama nominates Janet Yellen to become the next chair of the Federal Reserve after Ben Bernanke leaves that office. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- A fire at a garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, kills 10 people. (AP via ABC)
International relations
- The United States government suspends military and cash aid to Egypt worth hundreds of millions of dollars. (CNN)
- The 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and 8th East Asia Summit are held in Brunei. (Russia India Report)
Law and crime
- The People's Republic of China arrests 139 people in Xinjiang for allegedly calling for jihad. (AFP via Euronews)
- Andrea Sanderlin, the Scarsdale "Pot Mom", admits to running a multimillion dollar marijuana operation. (NY Daily News)
- A retired policeman is killed after firing over a dozen rounds at the Wheeling Federal Building in Wheeling, West Virginia. (MSN)
- "Elmo" is sent to jail as Times Square characters raise concerns. A bogus costumed Elmo, who collected tips for cuddling children in family photos in New York's Times Square, is sent to jail for a year for trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts of the USA. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Voters in Azerbaijan go to the polls for a presidential election with incumbent President Ilham Aliyev expected to be elected amid concerns about the fairness of the election. (BBC)
- President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina successfully undergoes surgery to remove a subdural hematoma. Presidential duties will be carried out by Vice President Amado Boudou for the duration of Kirchner's estimated month-long recovery. (BBC)
Science
- The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel for their work on multiscale models for complex chemical systems. (BBC)
- Juno flies by Earth on its way to orbit Jupiter, but suffers a glitch during the fly-by that puts it in safe mode. (Space.com)