Portal:Current events/2013 September 21

• Islamic insurgency in the Philippines:
  • Zamboanga City crisis: Six people die in the Philippines city of Zamboanga as fighting continues between the Army and Moro National Liberation Front insurgents. (AP via The Sun Herald)
• Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
  • Over 100 people are killed in a series of attacks across Iraq, most of them in a twin suicide bombing at a Shiite funeral in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. (BBC)
• Aftermath of Operation Linda Nchi:
  • A gun battle breaks out in a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi with "at least 39 dead and 150 wounded". A hostage situation is evolving. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility. (France 24) (CNN) (RTE)

• Exxon Mobil, BP and BG decline to take part in the upcoming international bidding for rights to explore Brazil's deep-water Libra oil field, one of the largest pre-salt fields yet to be explored in that country. (GloboNews)

• Typhoon Usagi hits the northern Philippines causing flooding and landslides and disrupting transport, communications and power supplies. (Reuters)

• Pakistan frees Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a cofounder of the Taliban in Afghanistan. (BBC)
• The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reports that Syria has handed over data on its chemical weapons program. (BBC)

• Police in the Indian city of Mumbai charge several people in connection with a cricket match fixing scandal, including umpire Asad Rauf, former Chennai Super Kings principal Gurunath Meiyappan, Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh and 15 bookies. (Hindustan Times)

• Voters in Sri Lanka go to the polls for provincial elections with the Tamil National Alliance doing well in the north. (AAP via SBS)