09 July 2013 Current Affairs

• Syrian civil war:
  • Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, calls for a ceasefire during Ramadan. (Al Jazeera)
  • A car bomb targeting the office of the Shia militant group Hezbollah located in the Lebanese capital Beirut injures 53 people. (BBC) (The Independent) (The Guardian)
  • Russia blames Syrian rebels for a chemical attack after scientific analysis indictated that deadly projectile that hit a suburb of the Syrian city of Aleppo on March 19 contained the nerve agent sarin and was most likely fired by rebels says Russian envoy to the United NationsVitaly Churkin. (Reuters), (RT)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–present):
  • An Afghan soldier kills a Slovakian soldier and wounds six others. (BBC)
  • Seventeen people are killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan. (BBC)

Business and economy

• Greece secures an additional 6.2 billion euros from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Funddespite warnings that the Greek government is moving too slow to reform the government. (BBC)

Law and crime

• Francesco Schettino, former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, goes on trial in Italy for manslaughter and abandoning ship during the disaster on 13 January 2012. (AP via the Houston Chronicle)