Portal:Current events/2014 August 13
August 13, 2014 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
- Associated Press journalist Simone Camilli, a freelance translator and four Gaza police officers are killed when police tried to defuse unexploded ordnance. (AP)
- Two hours before the end of a 72-hour ceasefire, rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel. One rocket landed in Egypt and one child died and several were injured. Despite the violations, the cease-fire has been extended. (The Daily Mail)
- An interview with Fatah militants in the Gaza Strip was aired on Lebanon TV in which they claim to be planning a "high profile" attack and claim to be moving rockets in order to be fired into Israel. (Memri)
- Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that 52 people have died as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Islamists gain control of eight villages between Aleppo and the Turkish border. (AFP via First Post)
Disasters
- Governor Eduardo Campos, a candidate in the upcoming Brazilian presidential election, dies in a plane crash in Santos, São Paulo, together with six other people on board the aircraft. It also sparks a large fire (Reuters), (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- The bodies of five missing climbers are found on Mont Blanc in France. (BBC)
- Three train cars derail and 11 people are injured after a landslide hits a mountain train in the Swiss Alps. (AP via Yahoo News)
- In the Philippines a southbound MRT Line 3 train heading to Taft Avenue station derailed and overshot to the streets. The train first stopped after leaving Magallanes station due to a technical problem. Later on, the train broke down altogether, so another train was used to push the stalled train. During this process, however, the first train got detached from the rails and overshot towards Taft Avenue, breaking the concrete barriers and falling to the street below. At least 38 people were injured. The accident was blamed on two train drivers and two control personnel for failing to follow the proper coordination procedures and protoco. (Rappler)
International relations
Law and crime
- Shooting of Michael Brown
- Protests against the shooting of Michael Brown by the Ferguson Police Department in the US state of Missouri turn violent. (AP)
Politics and elections
- Slovenian parliamentary election, 2014
- Miro Cerar secures an absolute majority of votes in parliament to become new prime minister of Slovenia after receiving an endorsement by the Pensioner's Party DeSUS, as well as by the outgoing PM Alenka Bratušek and her Alliance. (Slovenia Times)