Portal:Current events/2013 March 7

• 2013 Lahad Datu standoff:
  • The death toll rises to at least 60 persons in the conflict between the Sultanate of Sulu and Malaysian Armed Forces. (The New York Times)

• Hilary Mantel is awarded the 2013 David Cohen Prize for literature. (The Guardian)

• Six people are injured and four more could be hospitalized (none are believed critically injured) after a gas explosion at American Steel (part of Amsted Rail Co.), in the Greater St. Louis Metro East suburb of Granite City, Illinois. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

• Nuclear program of North Korea:
  • North Korea threatens its enemies with the possibility of a pre-emptive nuclear strike, amplifying its threatening rhetoric. (Fox News) (Reuters)
  • The United Nations Security Council approves unanimously new sanctions against North Korea for its recent nuclear test. (CNN)

• Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is convicted of arranging an illegal wiretap and is sentenced to a year in jail. (BBC)
• Vicky Pryce, ex-wife of former UK Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne is convicted of perverting the course of justice after accepting speeding penalty points on Huhne's behalf. (BBC)
• Hilton Botha, the former lead detective in the murder case involving Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, has resigned from the South African Police Service. (SAPA via News24)
• Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, alleged spokesman for al-Qaeda and said to be the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, is captured in Jordan and faces criminal charges in the United States. (Star Tribune)

• Denis Napthine is sworn in as the Premier of the Australian state of Victoria replacing Ted Baillieu. (ABC News Australia)
• In Kenya, Kalonzo Musyoka, the running mate of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, claims that votes in the Kenyan presidential election have been doctored. (BBC)
• In the United States, Senator Rand Paul ends a 13-hour filibuster to block voting on the nomination of John O. Brennan as the Director of the CIA, questioning President Barack Obama and his administration's use of drones, and the stated legal justification for hypothetical lethal use within the United States targeting against noncombatants. Attorney General Eric Holder states that combat drones would not be used to target and kill, without due process, Americans not engaged in combat on American soil. (Fox News)

• The first built Bombardier CSeries test aircraft is publicly presented during a program update event at the Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, where the manufacturer, Bombardier Aerospace, has its Final Assembly Line facility and flight test facility. (Reuters)

• The first legs of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League round of 16 are held across Europe. Gareth Bale helps Tottenham to a 3–0 defeat of Inter Milan. (BBC) (Eurosport)