What Happened? 2013 Headline News

Another year has passed with a mixed bag of events.

Depraved individuals

3 women were saved from a house in Cleveland after being imprisoned for more than a decade. The women had been kidnapped by a Ariel Castro who had repeatedly raped and abused the women. Later in the year Ariel Castro was found dead in his prison cell. Reports indicate that he had hung himself later being classified as a "sex act" gone wrong.

A former neighbour of Ariel Castro has admitted to numerous rapes and murders committed 2 decades ago. He has been sentenced to 445 years imprisonment with no chance of parole.

British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death after being hit by a car by his two assailants. The two responsible stood around talking to those gathered trying to excuse their cowardly actions.

Loss of lives

Militants attacked a mall in Kenya killing anyone in their way. The Kenyan military arrived on the scene and besieged the mall finally killing the remaining terrorists.

The UN investigated allegations of chemical weapons use by Syrian leader, Assad. An agreement was reached to destroy all chemical weapons.

Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines causing wide spread destruction with an estimated 10 000 people killed and more displaced.

Tornado's ravaged the United States over the course of the year with multiple tornado's killing people.

A New York City commuter train derailed killing 4 people injuring 60 when it ignored speed warnings.

Governments unrestrained

Fear spread earlier in the year when an earthquake in North Korea looked to be caused by nuclear testing. North Korea continued it's Sabre rattling putting rockets on standby after US stealth bombers where detected raising fears of war.

More revelations revealed the extent to which the NSA had spied on foreign nations. Many nations were outraged and approached the UN for a resolution.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford made headlines when he finally admitted to smoking crack cocaine but refused to step down.

The US nearly came undone when political posturing resulted in a shutdown raising concerns overs America's global standing.

Loss of a legend

The year ended on a sad note with the passing of Nelson Mandela. Madiba passed away at the age of 95 with leaders from around the world paying their respects.

Section Summaries

For more stories in specific sections of the news please read the following posts...

Business News from 2013

Sports News from 2013

Entertainment News from 2013

Technology News from 2013

Style News from 2013

Natural Disasters

The world has taken a beating recently with various natural disaster wreaking havoc.

Typhoon Haiyan

Footage from within the storm shows the power of the water as it forces its way into every building tearing down any barriers. After typhoon Haiyan made landfall there were initial estimates of 10,000 people killed

The UN stepped in to co-ordinate relief efforts with many nations, including the US and Britain, sending help.

Nearly 200 bodies had been lined up outside Tacloban City Hall awaiting burial. Survivors lucky enough to survive the initial disaster faced new threats with food and water growing even more scarce and over 49,000 people waiting to receive rice. As people grew more desperate 8 were killed while storming a government rice warehouse.

People have begun trying to rebuild their lives from the wreckage salvaging what they can.

Climate change was back on the agenda since the typhoon with AID agencies warning of more disaster if governments don't act soon.

Floods

Heavy rains in central Vietnam have resulted in 41 people reported dead and over 80,000 people forced from their homes.

Tornado's

6 people were killed as multiple tornado's ripped through Illinois on Sunday. A local game between Bears-Ravens game was abandoned with fans fleeing the area.

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

Since the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in 2011 the crippled nuclear power plant had been surviving on borrowed time. This week it was announced that fuel rods would begin to be removed in a step toward full cleanup.