February 12, 2013 (Tuesday)
International relations
- 2013 North Korean nuclear test:
- The South Korean officials report that an "artificial earthquake" has occurred in North Korea suggesting that a nuclear test has occurred. (The Australian) (CNN)
- North Korea confirms that it has successfully tested a nuclear device, claiming that it is small enough to be weaponized. (Reuters) (BBC) (AP via The Miami Herald)
Law and crime
- Two people are dead, including the perpetrator and one of his two victims, in a murder-suicide, in a home in College Park, Maryland, United States. The three were student roommates at the University of Maryland, College Park. (Reuters) (The Baltimore Sun)
- At Manchester Crown Court Dale Cregan pleads guilty to the murders of Police officers Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, but denies two other accounts of murder. (BBC)
- 2013 Southern California shootings: Christopher Dorner kills a sheriff's deputy and injures another in the Big Bear Lake, California, United States. He then barricades himself in a cabin, which catches on fire during a police assault. The suspect was killed in the fire. (AP via Huffington Post) (CNN)
- Three people are dead and 11 are wounded in a stabbing attack on the U.S. territory island of Guam. (CNN)
- Three people are killed in a drug-related shooting in a house in Midvale, Utah, United States. (CBS News)
- The UK government's back-to-work programme suffers a setback when judges at the Court of Appeal of England and Wales rule in favour of a university graduate's claim that unpaid schemes are legally flawed. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the governor of the Riyadh Province, dies at the age of 72 in Riyadh. (Al Arabiya)
Sport
- The International Olympic Committee drops wrestling from the 2020 Summer Olympics. (BBC) (AP via The Washington Post)
- Juan Ramón López Caro is named the new coach of Saudi Arabia's national football team, replacing Frank Rijkaard. (Al Arabiya)