October 3, 2012 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- Syrian refugees in rented houses say the Turkish police in Hatay Province faces them with the choice to either join a refugee camp or go back to Syria. (CNN)
- A series of bombings at the Saadallah Al-Jabiri Square in the northwestern city of Aleppo kill at least 34 people. The al Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra claims responsibility. (BBC) (Wall Street Journal)
- Turkish armed forces bombard targets in Syria in response to a Syrian Army shelling that hit the Turkish border town of Akçakale, killing five people. (Wall Street Journal)
- Several blasts strike an arms stockpile in the Hezbollah-controlled Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)
- Riot police in Iran clash with protestors demonstrating against the collapse of the country's currency, the rial. (Al Jazeera)
International relations
Politics and elections
- Politicians in the United States begin a probe into the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11. Walid Faraj, a surviving witness of the attack, has not yet been interrogated. (Bloomberg) (The Independent) (The Washington Post)
- Tens of thousands of India's poorest farmers march more than 300 kilometers to Delhi in a Jan Satyagraha to demand land reform under the banner of Ekta Parishad. (Zee News) (Asia One)
Science and technology
- A few days later than initially planned, ATV-3 burns up; remaining parts plunge in the Pacific Ocean. The next mission docking with ISS, the first commercial resupply mission, with SpaceX Dragon is planned to launch on 8 October at 12:35 AM GMT. Unberthing and splashdown are targeted for 28 October. Orbital Sciences plans two Cygnus dockings to the ISS; in April 2013 follows Albert Einstein ATV (ATV-4). ATV-5 is planned April 2014. (ESA) (RIA Novosti) (NASA) (Antares)
Transport
- The decision to award the rail franchise for the United Kingdom's West Coast Main Line to FirstGroup is scrapped by the government after what are described as "significant technical flaws" in the bidding process.(BBC)