Portal:Current events/2011 October 13

October 13, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A US drone attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan region destroys a Haqqani network militant compound, with four people reported killed. (AFP via Google News)
At least 16 people are killed by twin bomb blasts in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

Qantas passengers in Australia face long delays and flight cancellations, as another strike by the airline's ground crew begins. (News Limited)

Disasters

At least 88 containers fall from the stricken cargo ship MV Rena into the Bay of Plenty off New Zealand's North Island, including one containing the toxic chemical ferrosilicon. (AFP via SBS News Australia)
Vietnam's Mekong River delta suffers its worst flooding in a decade, with 43 people killed and 70,000 homes destroyed. (AP via Washington Post)
An earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale hits off the coast of the Indonesian island of Bali, injuring at least 50 people and causing significant property damage. (AAP via Herald Sun) (AP via USA Today)
At least 20 people die after an Airlines PNG de Havilland Canada DHC Dash 8-102 crashes on the north coast of Papua New Guinea between Lae and Madang. (ABC News Australia)
At least 41 people die after a bus drives off a narrow mountain road in Nepal's Sindhuli District. (BBC)
At least 29 people are killed in Central America and Mexico by a series of storms; five of the deaths are caused by Hurricane Jova. (ABC News Australia)

International relations

The President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, gives an address to a joint session of the United States Congress, emphasizing the importance of a recently-concluded free trade deal between South Korea and the United States, and expounding the need to improve relations with North Korea. (Yonhap)

Law and crime

Politics and elections

The first results of the Liberian general election are due to be announced, with a runoff election likely in the presidential race between incumbent President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and ex-diplomat Winston Tubman. (BBC) (VOA)
The Parliament of Slovakia passes a law providing for a parliamentary election on March 10, as part of a deal to allow the passage of the European Union's European Financial Stability Fund. (Xinhua)

Science

Researchers at the Universities of Texas, Wollongong, British Columbia and Hanyang announce that they have collaboratively developed carbon nanotube-based artificial muscle fibers with over 1,000 times the rotational power of previous designs. The invention is expected to have applications in the creation of nanoscale motors and electrical systems. (Science Daily)