Portal:Current events/2013 March 17

Current events of March 17, 2013 (2013-03-17) (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• A car bombing near a bus station near the Iraqi city of Basra kills at least ten people. (BBC)

Business and economy

• Following a train derailment, Amtrak temporarily suspends service along the busy New York-to-Boston route. (AP via Google News)

Law and crime

• An Albanian hitman serving time in Greece takes six people hostage in an apparent escape attempt. (BBC)
• Prominent French lawyer Olivier Metzner is found dead of an apparent suicide. (Bloomberg)
• Two members of the Steubenville High School football team have been found guilty of raping a sixteen-year-old girl in the U.S. town of Steubenville, Ohio. (Sky News Australia)

Religion

• Thousands of people gather in Rome's Saint Peter's Square to hear Pope Francis deliver his first Angelus prayer and blessing. (BBC)

Science and technology

• New data suggests that the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the World Ocean, is home to a large amount of bacterial life forms. (LiveScience)

Sport

• In Formula One, Kimi Räikkönen wins 2013 Australian Grand Prix, the first stage of the 2013 season, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. (BBC) (Reuters)
• In tennis, Rafael Nadal wins men's singles and Maria Sharapova wins women's singles at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, United States. (BBC) (NDTV)
• Greek football player Giorgos Katidis is banned from his national team for life after giving a Nazi style salute while celebrating a goal in the 2012–13 Superleague Greece match. (Daily Mail)
• In men's field hockey, Australia defeats Malaysia 3–2 in the final of the 2013 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. (NDTV)
• In basketball, the field for the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament is announced. (CNN)
• In snooker, Ding Junhui defeats Neil Robertson 4–3 to win the Grand Final of the Players Tour Championship 2012/2013. (BBC) (Eurosport)
• In biathlon, last stage of the 2012–13 Biathlon World Cup ends in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Martin Fourcade wins men's overall title and Tora Berger wins the women's overall title. (CBC) (AP via Yahoo! Sports)