Portal:Current events/2013 February 11

Current events of February 11, 2013 (2013-02-11) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Northern Mali conflict (2012–present):
  • Insurgents launch an attack on the strategic city of Gao, capturing a police station and sparking a day-long firefight that included Malian troops, as well as French attack helicopters. (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian civil war:
  • An explosion in a vehicle at the Cilvegözü border gate kills 14 civilians (eleven Syrians and three Turks), and injures more than 25 others in Reyhanlı district of Hatay Province, Turkey. The gate is on the Turkish–Syrian border. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Disasters and accidents

• Six top Guinean military officials, including the head of the Guinean armed forces, are killed in a plane crash in Liberia. (Reuters)
• 18 miners are killed in explosion at the Vorkutinskaya coal mine in Russia's Komi Region. (Al Jazeera) (RT)

Law and crime

• A mass shooting takes place at a courthouse in New Castle County, Delaware, United States, where a gunman shot and killed two women and injures two police officers. He is later found dead at the scene. (USA Today)

Politics and elections

• In Monaco's parliamentary elections, Horizon Monaco alliance wins 50.3% of the vote, 20 of 24 seats in the National Council. (Mairie de Monaco)
• Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands Benigno Fitial is impeached by the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives on 13 charges of felony, corruption, and neglect of duty. (Saipan Tribune)

Religion

• Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation, effective February 28 at 8pm CET (7pm UTC). He will become the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The New York Times)