October 23, 2011 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2011 Libyan civil war:
- Autopsy results reveal that former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed by a gunshot to the head. (CNN)
Disasters
- A 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocks the city of Van in eastern Turkey, killing at least 582 people. (CNN Türk), (MSNBC)
Politics and elections
- Voters in Tunisia go to the polls for the country's first election since the Tunisian Revolution. (Xinhua)
- Voters in Bulgaria go to the polls for a presidential election. (AP via Washington Post)
- Voters in Argentina go to the polls for a general election, with exit polls showing the President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner being reelected in a landslide. (The Guardian) (Bloomberg via Business Week)
- Voters in Switzerland go to the polls for a federal election, with the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland gaining the most seats compared to the 2007 election, and the Swiss People's Party losing eight seats but remaining the biggest party in the Federal Assembly. (Global Post), (The Guardian)
Sports
- 24-year-old Italian motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli dies after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Malaysian MotoGP, leading to the cancellation of the race. (ESPN), (The Australian)
- In horseracing, Orfevre becomes the seventh Japanese Triple Crown winner, after winning the Kikuka Sho. (Japan Times)
- In professional football, Manchester United lose to Manchester City 1-6 at Old Trafford.