Portal:Current events/2013 March 16

March 16, 2013 (Saturday)

British Lance Corporal James Ashworth, who died in southern Afghanistan in 2012 while protecting his colleagues from a grenade blast is to be awarded the Victoria Cross. (BBC)

A deal is reached between Cyprus and the EC-ECB-IMF troika. The terms of the €10 billion "bailout" package cause widespread anger among Cypriots who queue from early morning to withdraw their savings as it emerges that up to 10% of each citizen's deposits are to be wiped out to raise billions. (RTÉ News) (The Guardian)

At least 24 Pakistan Army soldiers are killed and five are injured after their bus crashes into a ravine. (AAP via News Limited)
A bus driver and a passenger are killed when a tour bus carrying lacrosse players from Seton Hill University veers off a road and strikes a tree near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States. (CNN) (USA Today)
A United States helicopter crashes in southern Afghanistan, killing one coalition service member and injuring another. (AP via News24)

The United States scraps the final stage of its European missile shield. (BBC)
The United States will spend $1 billion to deploy additional ground-based missile interceptors on the West Coast as part of efforts to enhance the nation's ability to defend itself from attack by North Korea. (CNN) (The New York Times)

A group of eight men allegedly rape a 39-year-old Swiss tourist and assault her husband in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. (SAPA via News24)

Giving his first audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis tells journalists he wants "a poor Church, for the poor". (BBC)

Cardiff University astrobiologists claim to have found evidence of extraterrestrial life in a Sri Lankan meteorite. (RT)
Three astronauts return safely to Earth from the International Space Station, aboard a Russian capsule which lands on the freezing Kazakhstan steppe. (AFP via News24)