Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and incidents

• A United States military judge at Guantánamo Bay rules that confessions allegedly forced via torture from Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen they accuse of terrorism after his 2002 capture at the age of 15, count as evidence in his trial. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (The Independent)
• Defense Minister of Israel Ehud Barak testifies before Israel's Turkel Commission investigating the country's role in May's Gaza flotilla raid, chaired by Israeli judge Jacob Turkel. His prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday testified that he had left Barak to "co-ordinate" the raid and response "in all of its aspects" while he visited North America. (The Jerusalem Post)
• The United Nations releases a report highlighting the deaths of civilians in Afghanistan. (BBC)
• Israel's Foreign Ministry alleges Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's press conference yesterday, in which he stated he has evidence that implicates Israel in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri and 22 others, was full of "ridiculous lies". (The Jerusalem Post)

Disasters

• A 7.6 magnitude earthquake and small tsunami hits the Pacific Ocean nation of Vanuatu. (AFP via Yahoo News Australia), (INO)
• Rescuers in China's Gansu province continue to search for 1,100 missing people in a recent landslide, as the death toll rises to 702. (BBC) (China Daily)
• A de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter seaplane crashes near Aleknagik, Alaska, killing five people. Former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, former Administrator of NASA Sean O'Keefe and O'Keefe's son were aboard the plane. It was confirmed via CNN and Reuters that Stevens had perished in the crash. (MarketWatch) (Reuters) (CNN)

International relations

• The United States defends its decision to appoint as Venezuelan ambassador Larry Palmer, who has expressed negative views of the country in the past, including insinuating that it has ties with Colombian rebels. (Aljazeera)
• The Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan apologises to South Korea for colonising the Korean peninsula for three decades in the early 1900s and promises to return cultural relics in the near future. (CNN) (BBC) (AP)

Law and crime

• Morocco is to close 1,250 mosques deemed to be unsafe following the collapse of a minaret at the Bab Berdieyinne Mosque in February. (BBC) (AFP)
• The United States convicts Noshir Gowadia, a former engineer who allegedly sold secrets to China, and who now faces life imprisonment. (BBC)
• The Israel Defense Forces arrest three wanted Palestinians during an operation in Tulkarm and Nablus in the West Bank. (The Jerusalem Post)
• A policy proposal by Google and Verizon regarding the way internet service is regulated comes under criticism from groups promoting net neutrality. (New York Times)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu testifies before Israel's Turkel Commission investigating the country's role in May's Gaza flotilla raid, chaired by Israeli judge Jacob Turkel. The testimony is scheduled to last five hours, with some of it closed to the media and public. (The Jerusalem Post) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Daily Telegraph) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gives a press conference in which he states he has evidence that implicates Israel in the 2005 assassination of then Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri, who was killed along with 22 others. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Haaretz) (Reuters)
• Commemoration of the the atomic bombing of Nagasaki:
  • Japan marks the 65th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The United States, which perpetrated the attack, upsets survivors by not sending an ambassador due to "scheduling reasons" this time, though France and the UK send representatives for the first time. (China Daily) (Yomiuri Shimbun) (BBC)
  • Mayor of Nagasaki Tomihisa Taue calls for the international elimination of nuclear weapons before representatives of a record 32 countries. (Japan Times)
• The Turkish government promotes two new generals. (BBC)
• Iraqi traffic police are allegedly given Kalashnikov assault rifles for their use in Baghdad. (BBC) (IOL) (Reuters via Arab News)
• At least 10 people die and dozens disappear after a passenger boat sinks off the coast of Indonesia. (BBC) (France24) (The News International) (The Age)
• South Korea claims that North Korea has fired more than 100 rounds of artillery into the Sea of Japan near the border highlighting the increase of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (Los Angeles Times) (China Daily)
• The International Assistance Mission suspends medical expeditions in Afghanistan following loss of personnel in the 2010 Badakhshan massacre. (The New York Times)

Arts and culture

• Clint Eastwood writes a letter to a UK politician calling on him not to axe the UK Film Council (UKFC) and expressing his "great concern". (BBC)
• Leading rabbis and yeshiva heads warn Israel's ultraorthodox students that they must continue studying the Torah and stay away from "the great danger, spiritually and concretely, of hitchhiking" during their summer break. (The Independent)
• Tunisian singer Saleem Bakkoush cancels a performance at the Carthage festival as a video, which Bakkoush indicates dates from several years ago, reveals him performing at a synagogue in Djerba. (BBC)
• Actress Patricia Neal, the wife of author Roald Dahl, dies. (BBC)
• Pras opines his former bandmate Wyclef Jean is not qualified for the presidency of Haiti. (BBC)

Business and economy

• Honda recalls more than 384,000 vehicles due to ignition difficulties. (BBC) (Japan Today) (The Age) (The Times of India) (Los Angeles Times)
• Mexicana de Aviación cancels flights to and from Europe and the Americas as it goes bankrupt. (BBC) (Mexicana de Aviación)
• Luxembourg's Skype files for an initial public offering in the United States. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Sky News)

Disasters

• The United Nations describes the ongoing 2010 Pakistan floods as the worst natural disaster in years - worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake - as the number of people affected reaches an estimated 15 million and the waters and landslides continue to swamp the country. (Aljazeera)
• The death toll in China following the recent mudslide rises to 337. 1,148 people are now missing. (BBC) (AFP via France24) (AP via The Times of India) (Reuters India)
• 33 miners are still trapped without any contact underground after days of rescue efforts at a collapsed mine near Copiapó in the Atacama Desert. (BBC) (Reuters India) (Aljazeera)
• Mumbai oil spill:
  • An oil spill becomes more serious three days after two ships, MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 collided off Mumbai, India. (The Times of India) (Aljazeera)
  • Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh orders an investigation. (BBC)
• The death rate in Moscow doubles to 700 a day due to poisonous smog from the 2010 Russian wildfires and an ongoing heatwave (AP via Google News), the hottest summer in Russian history.

International relations

• President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez announces that he has agreed to meet President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos tomorrow for talks to end strained relations between the two countries. (Aljazeera)
• The World Trade Organisation orders Australia to change restrictions on New Zealand apple imports imposed due to the fear of fire blight. (AFP via ABC Online)

Law and crime

• Journalists in South Africa launch a campaign to oppose possible legislation which may limit freedom of the press. (BBC)
• Israeli police examine office computers and issue a warrant to Channel 2 calling on it to surrender a military document they want. (The Jerusalem Post)
• A man from Israel is released after being detained as a suspected spy in Libya in return for the safe delivery to Gaza of 20 prefabricated houses, whose ship was forced to divert to Egypt in July. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• An anonymous transsexual is involved in a landmark case in Hong Kong to win the right to marry her boyfriend. (BBC)
• Recently resigned Zambian Defence Minister George Mpombo, a critic of President Rupiah Banda, is imprisoned for 60 days due to a bounced cheque. (BBC)
• More than 200 Mexican police suspend and hold their own commander at gunpoint in a Ciudad Juárez hotel over allegations of drugs-related corruption. (BBC)
• Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is arrested - along with his wife, the driver of the car he was in and another woman - by Indonesian police in Ciamis, West Java. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Reuters Africa) (Herald Sun)
• American politician Maxine Waters is formally charged with three counts of breaking ethics rules. (BBC)
• Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox calls for the legalisation of drugs in Mexico. (BBC)
• Actress Mia Farrow gives evidence in the trial of former President of Liberia Charles Taylor before the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (The Independent)
• Bangladesh bans beatings. (BBC)
• Sudan outlaws BBC Arabic in Khartoum and three other cities. (BBC) (Reuters) (News24)

Politics and elections

• Railway Minister of India Mamata Banerjee addresses a rally of thousands of people in West Bengal. (BBC) (The Hindu) (The Times of India)
• Voters in Rwanda go to the polls for the presidential election. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Voice of America)
• Vice-President of Colombia Angelino Garzón gets sick two days into his term. (BBC) (AFP via France24) (Reuters)
• Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Derek Sikua retains his seat in his North East Guadalcanal constituency as vote tallying continues in the general election. (Solomon Times)
• Husnu Suood, the attorney general of the Maldives resigns in protest. (BBC) (IOL)
• Guinea's presidential run-off is scheduled for 19 September. (BBC)

Armed conflicts and incidents

• North Korea detains a South Korean fishing boat with four South Koreans and three Chinese on board. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Aljazeera)
• At least 8 people are killed and 32 others injured during a car bomb outside a restaurant in Ramadi, Iraq. (Aljazeera)
• The death toll of Saturday's explosion in Basra, Iraq, rises to 43, with the number of injured people being over 100. Police say the explosion was as a result of a power generator short-circuiting but other sources claim it was due to a car bomb. (Aljazeeera) (Euronews) (BBC)
• Adaisseh incident:
  • United States Representative Ron Klein calls for an investigation into American military aid to Lebanon to determine whether the Lebanese soldiers involved used American-supplied military equipment or received American-funded training. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu orders his attorney-general to find out who leaked embarrassing details about a feud among some of his generals, one of whom is trying to smear his rivals. (Reuters India)
• The Anatolian Agency reports that two Turkish Army soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in Mardin Province near the Turkish border with Syria. (Canadian Press via Google News)
• A bridegroom accidentally shoots dead three relations and injures eight others while celebrating with an AK-47 at his wedding in Akcagoze, Gaziantep in Turkey; the man has been detained. (BBC) (News24)

Business and economy

• Mark Papermaster, who engineered the Apple iPhone, leaves the company due to the antenna issues associated with the iPhone 4. (Aljazeera)
• Ads website Craigslist faces allegations of "pay to rape" underage prostitution after a letter is published in The Washington Post. (The Guardian)
• It is revealed that Sarah, Duchess of York faces possible bankruptcy, which would make her the first Royal to suffer this. (The Guardian)

Disasters

• 127 people are killed and 2,000 missing in landslides in Gansu Province, China, due to ongoing flooding. (China Daily) (The Times of India) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• The death toll rises to 132 and injury toll is at least 400 as severe flash floods devastate Kashmir. (Press TV)
• 2010 Pakistan floods:
  • Torrential rains worsen the ongoing flood crisis across Pakistan, which has so far affected 14 million people, as rescue helicopters are forced to stay on the ground in the northwest of the country. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
  • Landslips wreak further destruction in Pakistan: 28 corpses retrieved so far in 2 villages. (BBC)
  • Food prices soar in Pakistan as the floods destroy one million acres of crops so far. (The Express Tribune)
• Flash floods in the Baltic and Central Europe:
  • Flash floods sweep across central Europe and the Baltic states, killing at least 15 people - 5 Czechs, 4 Lithuanians, 3 Germans, 3 Poles -, whilst 3 Czechs are also missing. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (IOL) (Reuters Africa) (The Age)
  • Poland's Vistula River breaks is banks, leading to the evacuation of thousands of people. Hungary is also in a critical situation. Slovakia experiences its worst floods in a century. (Deutsche Welle)
• There is a further cave-in at the mine near Copiapó, Chile where people have been working since Thursday to rescue 34 miners trapped underground; work is currently suspended in an incident that is rare in that part of the world. (BBC)
• Several countries evacuate staff from their embassies in Moscow due to the 2010 Russian wildfires including Germany, Austria, Poland and Canada, (RIA Novosti) as Russia experiences its hottest year on record. (Voice of America)

International relations

• President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir says the "mandate" of the United Nations, African Union and international aid organisations in Darfur is to "support government authorities" and that expulsion is the other option. (Aljazeera)
• There is "significant concern" after an investigation into the UK Border Agency (UKBA) reveals abuse and racial manhandlement of asylum seekers by staff. (The Guardian)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Abkhazia on his first visit there since the territory declared independence from Georgia two years ago. (RIA Novosti) (Xinhua) (AFP) (BBC)
• Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki visits Irbil to talk with President of Kurdistan Massoud Barzani. (Aljazeera)
• New President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez agree to meet for talks on Tuesday, following a recent diplomatic disagreement. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Cardinal Keith O'Brien who leads the Catholic Church in Scotland, defends the Scottish government's decison to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi for humanitarian reasons and attacks the United States's "culture of vengeance" for trying to coerce Scottish ministers into "crawling like lapdogs". (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (Daily Mail) (Reuters)
• President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai's senior adviser says the government has commenced talks with some Taliban leaders. (Aljazeera)

Laws and crimes

• Mordechai Vanunu, who spoke about Israel's nuclear ambitions to The Sunday Times in 1986 and was referred to as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International after Israel imprisoned him for that action, is released from prison again after serving three months for meeting foreigners, including his Norwegian girlfriend, in 2007. He requests that he be allowed to leave Israel. (Haaretz) (The Guardian)
• President of Mexico Felipe Calderón calls for a debate on the legalization of drugs. (The Observer)
• 18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi is sentenced to death for sodomy in Iran, without legal representation after human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei flees in the wake of the Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani case. (The Observer)
• Mohammad Mostafaei seeks asylum in Norway after his escape from Iran to Turkey by via car, horse and foot. (BBC)
• Saudi Arabia delays shutting off Research in Motion's BlackBerry instant messaging system allowing for test of a system allowing the Government of Saudi Arabia to monitor user data. (Bloomberg)
• Elena Kagan is sworn in as the fourth woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

• More than 1,000 journalists march through Mexico City in protest at the repeated killings and disappearances of their colleagues throughout Mexico. (Aljazeera)
• The President of South Korea Lee Myung-Bak replaces the Prime Minister of South Korea Chung Un-chan with Kim Tae-ho as part of a Cabinet reshuffle with seven other ministers also being replaced. (AFP via Google News)
• Protesters in Potosí, Bolivia, strengthen an anti-government protest by starting a hunger strike and cutting rail links to Chile. (AFP via Google) (Latin American Herald Tribune) (ABC News)
• Rwanda prepares for a presidential election, its second since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. (Aljazeera)

Sport

• Officials say the World Sauna Championships will not run again after the death yesterday of Russian competitor Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy in Heinola, Finland. (The Guardian)
• Australia defeats England 4-0 to win the Hockey Champions Trophy in field hockey held in Mönchengladbach Germany. (AP via USA Today)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announces Monday as the day he will present evidence reputed to implicate Israel in the 2005 car bomb assassination of then Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Israel announces that Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman have chosen Yosef Ciechanover, who formerly held posts in the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry and defence mission to the United States, to represent it on the United Nations panel to investigate May's Gaza flotilla raid. (The Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
• The MV Mavi Marmara arrives in Turkey; the remaining three non-Turkish flotilla vessels plus the MV Rachel Corrie cargo ship, which followed days later, remain in Israeli custody. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• 10 people, including 2 Afghan civilians and 8 International Assistance Mission aid workers, are killed in Nuristan Province. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Voice of America)
• 14 people die and 35 others are injured in Basra due to an explosion, possibly caused by a power generator. (BBC) (France24)
• 5 Iraqi policemen are killed in an overnight shootout in western Baghdad, while 1 policeman is killed at a checkpoint outside Fallujah. (AP via The Guardian)

Arts and entertainment

• Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, hospitalised after falling in the United States last month, is not released from hospital as had been initially expected due to a negative reaction to her morphine. (BBC)

Business and economy

• The Gulf of Mexico seafood industry starts to reopen after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (AP via News Times)

Disasters

• Pakistan issues a red alert as the worst floods in its history move south towards Sindh, with hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated, at least 10,000 cows killed and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani appealing on television for help from the international community. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
• Pollution hits record levels in Moscow as large wildfires continue to devastate Russia. (Aljazeera)
• At least 16 miners are killed during a fire at a gold mine in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, in China. 23 others are still trapped inside. (Aljazeera) (Xinhua)
• Efforts intensify to rescue at least 34 people trapped in a mine near Copiapó, Chile, in the Atacama Desert. (Aljazeera) (Bangkok Post) (People's Daily) (news.com.au)
• 3 people are killed as a result of storms and flooding in Saxony. (Deutsche Welle)
• At least 127 people have died and 1,300 missing following landslides caused by heavy rains in China's northwestern Gansu province. (AFP via Google News), (Bloomberg via Business Week)
• An oil spill stretching at least two miles long occurs in the Arabian Sea offshore Mumbai, India, after a vessel from Panama collides with another vessel from St. Kitts. The Panamanian ship was carrying 2,662 tons of oil, 283 tons of diesel and 88,040 liters of lube oil when it became grounded and started to leak. (CNN) (Sify)

International relations

• A poll of six countries, taken by the Brookings Institution, an American think tank, indicates that the popularity of the President of the United States Barack Obama has dropped significantly in the Arab World since "A New Beginning". (The Irish Times) (Asia Times Online) (Press TV)
• President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President of Guinea-Bissau Malam Bacai Sanhá meet in Tehran. (Press TV)
• President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, in his inauguration speech, vows to improve relations with Ecuador and Venezuela. (Xinhua)

Law and crime

• A Turkish court annuls an arrest warrant issued against 102 military officers over an alleged coup plot in 2003. (Aljazeera)
• An appeals court in Iran upholds a five year jail sentence against the owner of Mehdi Karroubi's opposition website. (IOL)
• A man accused by witnesses of domestic violence informs a New Zealand court that he and his wife were performing the Turkish kolbasti traditional dance at the time of the alleged incident in Hawera. (BBC) (Canadian Press) (The New Zealand Herald) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Age)
• Saudi Arabia Blackberry ban:
  • Saudi Arabia decides it will not ban Blackberry instant messanging after agreeing a deal to iron out security fears. (The Daily Telegraph)
  • According to Saudi officials, a deal is close to prevent the ban of the devices. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo is diagnosed with lymphoma. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Buenos Aires Herald)
• Juan Manuel Santos is sworn in office as 59th President of Colombia, succeeding Álvaro Uribe, at a ceremony attended by more than 100 international delegations. (BBC) (Aljazeera) (France24) (The Irish Times) (CNN)
• Fidel Castro delivers a short speech to the Cuban Parliament to warn about the risk of a nuclear war between the United States and Iran, accusing Barack Obama of provoking conflict with Iran and North Korea and urging him to prevent such a conflict. (Aljazeera) (BBC)

Science

• United States astronauts Douglas H. Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson fail on the International Space Station (ISS)'s longest spacewalk and sixth longest spacewalk to repair a cooling system, which means two more spacewalks are now required. (BBC) (TIME)

Sport

• New Zealand's All Blacks defeat the Australian Wallabies 20-10 to win the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations. (Radio New Zealand)
• The 2010 World Sauna Championships ends upon the death of Russian finalist Vladimir Ladyzhensky in Heinola, Finland. (BBC News) (The Age)

Armed conflicts and incidents

• NATO admits it killed at least 32 Afghan civilians in Nangarhar Province as a result of air strikes on August 5, including 26 people in two incidents in one area. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New York Times)
• Germany offers compensation of €3,800 to each family of 91 of the 142 people it killed and 11 it injured in an air strike near Kunduz, an incident which provoked outrage and led to political and military resignations. The Bundeswehr does not admit guilt and families say they may sue. (BBC) (Der Spiegel)
• Pakistan's Major-General Tariq Khan urges NATO to do more to control the border with Afghanistan, amid increasing UK and U.S. pressure for Pakistan to deal with it. (BBC)
• Israeli authorities shut down all crossings into Gaza for the day. (Bernama)
• An international aid ship, the Saint Mariam, bearing only female passengers from all backgrounds, including singer May Hariri and several Americans, is to leave Tripoli bound for Gaza after overcoming an Israeli diplomatic mission designed to prevent it from setting sail. (The Guardian)
• The United Arab Emirates says the incident in which the Japanese tanker, the MV M. Star, was damaged in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman last week involved an explosives-laden dinghy. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Emirates News Agency) (AFP)
• An explosion at Zamboanga International Airport in the southern Philippines kills two people and injures 24. (BBC) (Philippine Inquirer)
• French police dismantle Roma camps in Saint-Étienne by order of the president. (BBC) (Expatica France) (The Irish Times)

Arts and culture

• Reykjavík's mayor, Jón Gnarr of the Best Party, dresses in drag for the opening of the city's gay pride festival. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Chinese culture minister Cai Wu expresses dismay at the quality of cultural productions in his country. (China Daily) (France24) (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, bans export of flour and wheat from August 15 to December 31 due to the worst drought in Russian history. (Reuters)
• A 22-year-old Chinese woman falls from a building, becoming the thirteenth Foxconn employee to die in a spate of deaths at the company. (BBC)
• The Tata Group establishes a five-man panel in the search for Ratan Naval Tata's successor as its head of business. (BBC) (NDTV) (The Asian Age)
• Mark Hurd resigns as chief executive officer of computer company Hewlett-Packard following investigation of a sexual harassment claim. (AP via ABC America) (BBC)

Disasters

• At least 12 million people are now affected by the worst floods in the history of Pakistan with 1,600 people being killed and 650,000 homes being destroyed. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Sky News) (The Irish Times)
• Flash floods in the Ladakh region of India's Jammu and Kashmir state kill at least 113 people and leave lots of others missing. (Aljazeera) (The Times of India)
• Rescue efforts continue to save 34 people trapped in a mine after a rock collapse near Copiapó. (BBC) (Reuters via Mineweb) (Mining Weekly)
• China suspends traffic on the Yalu River and evacuates more than 40,000 people from Dandong over fears of flooding amid unprecedented levels of rainfall. (BBC) (BusinessWeek)
• Smoke from Russian wildfires covers famous landmarks and delays more than 140 flights at Moscow airports while official figures indicate that 14,340 people died in Moscow during July 2010; 4,824 more than the same month last year. (Sky News). (Bloomberg) (The Guardian)
• Mount Karangetang, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Siau, erupts. (AP via Seattle PI)

International relations

• Hiroshima marks the 65th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack; United States representatives attend in an official capacity for the first time. (BBC) (The Age) (The New Zealand Herald) (China Post)
• Venezuela's Hugo Chávez promises that his foreign minister will attend the inauguration of Juan Manuel Santos as Colombian president, two weeks after direct relations between the two countries were broken off, thanks to mediation efforts by President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (BBC)
• South Africa recalls its ambassador to Rwanda. (BBC) (iAfrica) (Reuters Africa) (The Mercury)
• It is impossible that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi could have pretended to have terminal prostate cancer, according to an oncologist who examined him. (BBC)
• Britain's High Commission in Colombo lifts travel advice restrictions on Sri Lanka for the first time in approximately 30 years. (BBC) (Daily Mail)
• Asif Ali Zardari and David Cameron meeting:
  • After meeting Pakistani President Zardari at Chequers UK Prime Minister Cameron speaks of an "unbreakable" friendship between Britain and Pakistan in his attempts to recover from remarks he made about Pakistan's alleged promotion of terrorism. (BBC)
  • Zardari reiterates his desire to combat terrorism and says he has secured a deal with Britain to lobby the European Union for funds for a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild Pakistan and Afghanistan. (The Guardian) (BBC)

Law and crime

• Saudi Arabia Blackberry ban:
  • Saudi Arabia's ban of online functions on BlackBerry mobile phones is implemented. (BBC)
  • Blackberry devices can be used again now across the country following a four-hour outage earlier today. (BBC)
• Thousands of people attend the public flagellation of 5 people in Aceh amid requests that the practice be banned. (BBC)
• A 25 year old Bosnian immigrant is arraigned in a Brooklyn United States District Court for involvement in an alleged terrorist plot to blow up New York City's subway system. (CNN)
• Jeremy Ractliffe, former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, admits he kept possible blood diamonds to protect the reputations of Mandela, Naomi Campbell and the fund but that he gave them to South African police and is willing to testify at Charles Taylor's trial. (The Guardian)
• At least 14 people are killed during a prison riot in Matamoros in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. (BBC)
• Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death in Iran, speaks out, saying Iran is "desperately trying to distract attention and confuse the media so that they can kill me in secret". (The Guardian)
• Police near Colombo arrest a suspected fraudster for whom they had previously appealed to Interpol; it is unknown if he denies the charges brought against him. (BBC)
• A woman is arrested following the discovery of baby corpses stored inside four suitcases in her attic in Nij Beets, Friesland. (BBC) (news.com.au) (Reuters) (Sky News)
• The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger files a motion calling for same-sex marriages to resume in the U.S. state immediately. (AFP via The Age)

Politics

• The Pentagon makes a demand to Wikileaks that it remove its collection of classified military documents from the internet. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Reuters)
• Brazil's four main presidential election candidates participate in their first televised debate. (BBC)
• Musician Wyclef Jean files his papers in his bid to become President of Haiti. (BBC)
• Pál Schmitt takes office as President of Hungary, succeeding outgoing president László Sólyom. (Politics.hu)
• Bronisław Komorowski is officially sworn in as President of Poland, following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash in April. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• Nepalese politicians unsuccessfully attempt to elect a new prime minister for the fourth time; they will try again on 18 August. (BBC)
• Swaziland's justice minister and senator Ndumiso Mamba resigns from both positions over allegations of an affair with a wife of King Mswati III; the wife has denied the allegations. (BBC) (Times LIVE) (IOL) (The Guardian)

Science

• According to scientists, one million little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have contracted white nose syndrome (WNS) and died in North America. (BBC)
• U.S. scientists plan to rotate the Confederate submarine, the H. L. Hunley, buried in the outer harbour of Charleston, South Carolina so that they can examine it more closely. (AP via Google News)
• American scientists announce an ice sheet has broken from Greenland's Petermann Glacier. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Sport

• Usain Bolt is professionally defeated for only the second time in the 100 metres by Tyson Gay in Stockholm. (BBC Sport) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Independent)

Armed conflicts and incidents

• South Korea begins a huge anti-submarine exercise in the Yellow Sea, near the disputed maritime border, in what it sees as a show of strength against North Korea and "to be fully prepared for combat"; North Korea disapproves of the exercise. (BBC) (The Jakarta Post) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Times of India)
• At least 25 or 32 Afghans, including civilians, are killed by NATO airstrikes in Nangarhar Province, many bombed by NATO planes while attending the funeral of a flood victim; relatives are displeased. (BBC) (France24) (The New York Times)
• At least 17 more people are killed during a third day of violence in Karachi, with police given orders to shoot on sight as buildings burn. Current death toll: At least 80. (BBC)
• Kyrgyzstan:
  • Troops in Bishkek fire shots as protesters travel to support Urmat Baryktabasov, an opposition politician who arrived back in Kyrgyzstan from overseas. (BBC) (UPI)
  • Tear gas is fired and 27 people, including Baryktabasov, are arrested. (France24) (China Daily)
• At least six Afghan policemen are killed during a suicide attack in Kunduz, by the Tajikistan border. (BBC) (The Asian Age) (IOL)
• Somali pirates seized a Syrian freighter flagged in Saint Vincent and Grenadines carrying sugar with 24 crew (22 Syrian and 2 Egyptian) in the Gulf of Aden. (AFP)
• Israel releases the MV Mavi Marmara, the aid ship which it impounded after killing nine activists during May's Gaza flotilla raid. (BBC) (Arab News) (Indian Express) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Arts and culture

• A Salvador Dalí exhibition in Atlanta, United States, is to feature items from Canada, Japan and Scotland. (BBC) (The Christian Science Monitor)
• A piano which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is thought to have played is discovered in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg. (The Age)
• A world-class example of a 17th-century ship's pass - dating from 1687 and signed by King James II and Samuel Pepys - is presented to the National Library of Ireland. (RTÉ)
• Russian pianist, conductor and composer Mikhail Pletnev cancels some appearances while he deals with accusations that he raped a 14-year-old boy in Thailand. (BBC)

Business and economics

• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sacks Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and suspends its chairman, Aliko Dangote. (BBC)
• Taiwan and Singapore agree to hold talks on a free trade deal. (Focus Taiwan News Channel) (Financial Times) (Xinhua) (BBC)
• Pham Thanh Binh, the former boss of Vinashin, one of Vietnam's largest state-owned companies, is arrested on suspicion of nearly bankrupting the company. (BBC)

Disasters

• The United Nations states more than four million people are now affected by the most severe flooding in Pakistan's history, while the death toll rises to at least 1,600. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• A Russian military garrison near Naro-Fominsk outside Moscow moves its artillery rockets to a safer location as the wildfires get nearer. (AP via Google News)
• At least 20 people die after a bus falls into the Jhelum River in Pakistan controlled Kashmir. (Peoples Daily)
• 18 children die after their boat capsizes on the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria. (News Limited)
• BP is authorized to pump cement into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site after a successful "static kill" procedure with drilling mud. (CNN)

International relations

• The Pacific Islands Forum meets in Vanuatu and discusses the situation in Fiji. (AFP via Google News)
• Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem sends a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in which he writes charges against three Israelis charged with spying for Syria are "baseless" and "fabricated". (Haaretz)
• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron commits another gaffe - with an erroneous statement that Iran possesses a nuclear weapon - just after apologising to an angered pensioner for his previous gaffe about the Battle of Britain. (BBC) (news.com.au) (The Guardian) (Sky News)

Law and crime

• Model Naomi Campbell gives evidence that she received several "dirty looking stones" after meeting the former President of Liberia Charles Taylor in his trial at the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone. (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• A Polish appellate court upholds the decision of a lower court to extradite an alleged Mossad agent to Germany to face trial for forging a passport used in the slaying of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. (AP via Google News) (BBC) (Press TV) (Haaretz)
• Israel charges three Arab men with spying for Syria; they deny the charges and one is alleged to be a human rights activist.^{[clarification needed]} (BBC)
• A woman who is alleged to have been raped by two police officers appears on Egyptian television where she is interviewed about the experience. (BBC)
• Supporters of California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage lodge an appeal against the decision of United States district court Vaughn R. Walker overturning it. (CNN)
• The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation upholds as constitutional a law allowing same-sex marriages in Mexico City. (BBC) (France24)
• British police issue an apology after one of them shot a 14-year-old female bystander with a Taser, sending an electric shock through her body. (BBC)
• Reported Japanese child abuse reaches its highest level since records were first taken a decade ago. (BBC) (The Age)
• Brazilian police discover a Rio de Janeiro prison is being run by some of the inmates; a guard is arrested. (BBC)
• The U.S. Government charges 14 people as participants in "a deadly pipeline" sending money and fighters from the United States to the Somalian insurgency group Al-Shabaab. (AP via Google News) (BBC)

Politics

• Kenyan constitutional referendum, 2010:
  • Preliminary results of the referendum on the new Constitution of Kenya show it has passed with 67 per cent of the vote following a peaceful election. (Aljazeera)
  • Those campaigning against the new Constitution concede defeat. (BBC)
• Rwanda:
  • The Rwandan government denies in a statement that it has been responsible for the deaths of any political opponents. (BBC)
  • Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo says the country is "committed to free expression" but that it does not favour "hate media". (IOL)
• Former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd joins Julia Gillard's election campaign while recovering from gallbladder surgery by attacking the opposition leader Tony Abbott. (BBC)
• The Ivorian presidential election, 2010 is set for 31 October. (BBC)
• Musician Wyclef Jean formally registers to stand for the presidency of Haiti. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
• The United States Senate confirms the nomination of Elena Kagan as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. (CNN)

Science

• Newly released files, which can be freely downloaded for the next month, show that the British government felt threatened by UFOs in the 1950s and that Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the cover-up of one unexplained encounter. (BBC) (France24) (News24) (Reuters) (The Times of India)

Sports

• Anil Khanna, treasurer of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, resigns the position due to corrupt allegations. (BBC Sport)
• Uruguay striker and 2010 FIFA World Cup player of the tournament Diego Forlán is a popular attraction among the inhabitants of Kolkata as he participates in a talent search. (BBC News)
• In United States baseball, a group led by Nolan Ryan buys the Texas Rangers at a bankruptcy auction. (MSNBC)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• About 70 Indian police personnel are reported missing in Chhattisgarh forests amid a major engagement with Maoist guerrillas; they are later found. No casualties have been reported. (The Times of India) (BBC) (Aljazeera)
• Lebanon arrests a man it suspects has spied for Israel. (Aljazeera)
• Israeli shellfire kills a Palestinian militant and wounds 1 other in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip as the search gets underway for further casualties. (Reuters)
• Corpses belonging to 59 migrants are located in a desert in the U.S. state of Arizona. (BBC)
• Police in Karachi arrest suspects in its investigation into a recent assassination, as the death toll in riots reaches 63. (BBC)
• At least 6 people are killed and around 50 others are injured in twin car bombings in Kut. (BBC)
• A suicide attack kills 4 people, a paramilitary commander Sifwat Ghuyur and three bodyguards, in Peshawar. (Aljazeera) (Reuters via ABC Online) (BBC)
• Adaisseh incident:
  • The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces assert that Israeli soldiers were attacked in Israeli territory while performing routine maintenance, leading to yesterday's deadly clash. (Boston Herald)
  • The United Nations Security Council agrees that Israel and Lebanon must show "utmost restraint" following the clash. (BBC)
  • Hezbollah's second in command Naim Qassem warns that the organisation will "retaliate" against Israel if there are further incidents. (AFP via Google News)
  • The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu warns both Hamas and Lebanon about further attacks on Israelis. (Jerusalem Post)
  • A Lebanese government official confirms that Israel was not in violation of international law. (ANSAmed)
  • Israeli troops uproot the very trees that caused the dispute. (Brisbane Times)
• Officials say more than 28,000 people have died in Mexican drug violence since December 2006, thousands more than previously thought. (BBC)
• India expresses deep regret that its police had to kill at least 28 people this week in Kashmir, with its Home Affairs Minister requesting that protesters stop. (BBC)
• New Zealand experiences its first combat fatality in Afghanistan; he was also the country's first military death in fighting anywhere for a decade. (BBC) (The New Zealand Herald) (The Washington Post)
• A man found dead in forest near Trongsa is thought to have been killed by a tiger, possibly Bhutan's first such death in 15 years. (BBC)
• A controlled explosion is carried out on a device discovered beneath the car of a serving soldier, believed to be an army major, in Bangor, County Down in Northern Ireland. (The Guardian)

Arts, culture and entertainment

• A vault containing non-words - those rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary - is uncovered. (The Daily Telegraph)
• Sharers of the Radiohead album In Rainbows, once offered by the band for nothing, are sent cease-and-desist letters by the RIAA and IFPI. (The Guardian)
• Musician Wyclef Jean confirms he is to announce plans to stand for the presidency in Haiti. (BBC)

Disasters

• 2010 Pakistan floods:
  • Nearly 1 million people are estimated to have been left homeless during the ongoing severe floods in Pakistan. (The Guardian)
  • Thousands of people flee their homes in Punjab due to flood fears. (Aljazeera)
  • Rain falls, causing more damage. (BBC)
  • The United Nations World Food Programme warns that parts of northwest Pakistan are facing urgent food shortages. (Sky News)
  • The Disasters Emergency Committee launches its appeal for donations. (BBC)
• Summer 2010 Russian wildfires:
  • President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev interrupts his summer holiday to return and fire several top military officials after wildfires destroy a naval base outside Moscow. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
  • At a meeting of the national Security Council Medvedev states: "By no means you may allow anarchy [...] You must not let the situation go out of local authorities' control". (Xinhua)
• The confirmed death toll from flooding in China rises above 1,000. (Associated Press)
• Eurotunnel has "apologised profusely" after train passengers brought to Calais, France, through the Channel Tunnel are locked into their carriages upon arrival and immediately returned to Kent, England. (The Guardian)
• Three barns collapse at the largest egg farm in the U.S. state of Ohio in Croton, with at least one worker dead. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• Admiral Thad Allen, the man in charge of the US Government's efforts to clear up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has given clearance for BP to pour cement into its Gulf of Mexico oil well. (Reuters)

International relations

• The Pacific Islands Forum discusses Fiji in Vanuatu. (BBC) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Law and crime

• Vaughn R. Walker, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, rules in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California is unconstitutional. (Los Angeles Times) (Reuters via New York Times) (CNN) (BBC)
• A journalist with The Sunday Times is arrested in South Africa.^{[clarification needed]} (News24) (The Sowetan) (Times LIVE) (iAfrica)
• A man with a knife embarks on a fatal slashing rampage in a kindergarten in Zibo, Shandong. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC)
• The prison sentence of Sabbar Kashur, a married Arab man convicted by Israel of "rape by deception" after telling the accuser that he's Jewish and single, is delayed as he attempts an appeal. (The Guardian) (Haaretz)
• Canadian Abdullah Khadr, charged with terrorism by the United States and jailed in Canada since 2005, is released from prison after a Canadian judge declines an extradition attempt by the United States. (Aljazeera)
• Mohamed Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who defended convicted adulterer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, is reported to be in Turkey, seeking asylum. (BBC) (France24)
• A decision by Malacca to allow under-age marriage is criticised by groups of women. (BBC) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Politics and elections

• President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Hamedan:
  • Ahmadinejad announces in Hamedan that Iran is ready to start talks this month about a possible nuclear fuel swap. (Xinhua)
  • Ahmadinejad denies rumors that he survived an assassination attempt while in Hamedan, and claims that a customary firecracker was set off to greet him. (Xinhua) (The Guardian) (BBC) (AFP via News Limited) (Press TV)
• Fidel Castro is expected to address the Cuban national assembly on Saturday for the first time in four years; his speech is anticipated to talk of a possible nuclear war involving the United States, Israel and Iran. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (The Star)
• Kenyans head to the polls to decide the fate of a potential new constitution. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (Reuters) (CNN)
• Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi survives a no-confidence vote. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Aljazeera) (France24) (The Irish Times)
• Dokka Umarov denies he has quit as head of Chechnya's armed separatist group. (Aljazeera)
• Cabinet formation in the Netherlands: Ivo Opstelten, the chairman of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, is appointed the new informateur, tasked with finalizing the formation of a right-wing minority coalition cabinet. (NOS)
• U.S. Rep. Don Young R-Alaska claims that he has been cleared in a United States Department of Justice corruption probe. (AP via Google News)

Sport

• 10,000 people arrive in Cologne for the opening ceremony of the 2010 Gay Games. (The Guardian)
• Surrey defeat Glamorgan by 39 runs on the Duckworth–Lewis method to achieve a world record for the highest score in 40-over cricket in the CB 40 at The Oval. (BBC Sport) (The Daily Telegraph) (Sky Sports)
• Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees becomes the seventh player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 600 home runs. (The New York Times)