Top 10 news that shook the world in 2013

New Delhi: The year 2013 saw conflicts, terror strike, shutdowns, historic elections, military coups and scientific breakthroughs. As the year is about to end and 2014 is about to start we have compiled the 10 biggest stories of 2013 which affected the world at large:1. US federal govt shutdown of 2013From October 1 through 16, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown and curtailed most routine operations after Congress failed to enact legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014, or a continuing resolution for the interim authorization of appropriations for fiscal year 2014. Regular government operations resumed October 17 after an interim appropriations bill was signed into law.2. Syrian Civil WarThe Syrian unrest began on 15 March 2011, with popular protests that grew nationwide by April 2011.According to the United Nations, the death toll surpassed 100,000 in June 2013, and reached 120,000 by September 2013.The UN and Amnesty International's inspections and probes in Syria determined both in 2012 and 2013 that the vast majority of abuses are done by the Syrian government, whose are also largest in scale.More than four million Syrians have been displaced, more than two million Syrians fled the country and became refugees, and millions more were left in poor living conditions with shortage of food and drinking water. The situation is especially bad in the town of Muadamiyat al-Sham, where 12,000 residents are predicted to die of starvation by the winter of 2013 from a Syrian army enforced blockade.3. Tension in South China Sea In January the Philippines said it would take China to a UN arbitration court over heavily disputed claims — China considers the vast majority of the South China Sea (and likely the lucrative gas reserves beneath its waters) as its own immediate sphere of influence. That is hotly contested by a number of Southeast Asian states, especially neighboring Vietnam and the Philippines.The situation is perhaps even more intense between rivals Japan and China, where a long-simmering contest over a string of islands administered by Japan in the East China Sea ignited massive anti-Japan protests in 2012. The quarrel came to a head in November when China declared an “East China Sea air-defense identification zone” over the mostly bare islands, which the Japanese Foreign Minister said could “trigger unpredictable events.” The U.S. entered the fray by flying two B-52 bombers, unannounced, through the zone just days later.4. Philippines hit by Typhoon HaiyanTyphoon Haiyan is the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record,killing at least 6,069 people. Haiyan is also the strongest storm recorded at landfall, and unofficially the fourth strongest typhoon ever recorded in terms of wind speed.5. Garment factory disaster in Bangladesh It is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history.On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed in Savar, a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh. The search for the dead ended on 13 May with the death toll of 1,129. Approximately 2,515 injured people were rescued from the building alive6. Egypt military coup On 3 July 2013, the Egyptian army chief General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi removed the country's then-incumbent president Mohamed Morsi from power, declared Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour as the interim president of Egypt while suspending the Egyptian constitution. Morsi was put under house arrest and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested. 7. NSA snooping of world leaders' phone calls The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.This was revelaed after German chancellor Angela Merkel accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.8. Kenya shopping mall massacreOn September 21, 2013 masked gunmen stormed into a fancy, crowded mall in Nairobi and shot dead at least 39 people and wounded more than 150 in one of the most chilling terrorist attacks in East Africa since Al Qaeda blew up two American embassies in 1998.9. Iran's nuclear deal with West Iran has struck a historic agreement with the U.S. and five other world powers, accepting strict constraints on its nuclear programme for the first time in a decade in exchange for partial relief from sanctions.The deal, signed on 24th of November at 4.30 a.m.,marks arguably the most significant foreign policy achievement of Barack Obama's presidency, amounting to the most significant agreement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Iranian revolution.10. Resignation Of Pope Benedict XVI On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign—the first time a pope had done so since Gregory XII in 1415. He cited his “advanced age,” along with the physical and mental demands of the papacy, as the reason for his resignation.