Portal:Current events

Armed conflict and attacks

• Afghan War Diary
  • A Taliban spokesman warns Afghans listed in the Afghan War Diary published on Wikileaks that "we know how to punish them". (The Telegraph)
  • A United States Army private is transferred from Kuwait to a US Marines brig in Quantico, Virginia. (Fox News)
• At least 63 members of the US military have died in the War in Afghanistan during July 2010 making it the deadliest month for US forces in the history of the war. (The Guardian)
• The Israeli Air Force launches several air strikes on the Gaza Strip following a BM-21 Grad missile strike by the Aza Din al-Kassem Gazan militant group on the Israeli town of Ashkelon. (Jesusalem Post)

Arts, culture and entertainment

• Thousands of children in Gaza appear to have broken their own world record for the number of kites flown at the same time, the UN says. (BBC)

Disasters

• Flooding caused by monsoonal rain causes hundreds of deaths in northwestern Pakistan. (Al-Jazeera)
• At least 25 people have died as a result of forest fires in eastern Russia with thousands of Russians being evacuated in the hottest summer since records began. (Reuters via ABC Online)

Law and crime

• Multiple law-enforcement agencies seize a hoard of cannabis thought to be worth up to US$1.7 billion in the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern California, United States. (BBC)
• Former Prime Minister of Fiji Mahendra Chaudry appears in a Suva court to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Politics and elections

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Saudi King Abdullah, and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani visit Lebanon amid reports that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will indict members of Hezbollah (Iloubnan) (UN News Centre) (AFP)
• Vanuatu marks thirty years of independence. (Radio Australia)
• Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers block highways, attack factories and loot shops in Dhaka after rejecting a minimum wage increase offered by the Government of Bangladesh. (AFP via Google News)
• A split develops in Italy's governing People of Freedom Party after a dispute between the Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi and Gianfranco Fini, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. (Telegraph and agencies via Sydney Morning Herald)
• Cabinet formation in the Netherlands: The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal informed informateur Ruud Lubbers of a possible new right-wing coalition cabinet between the two parties to form a Minority government but with support of the Party for Freedom (PVV). (NOS)

Armed conflict and attacks

• The SITE Institute, a terrorist-monitoring organisation, states that the al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State of Iraq has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the offices of Al-Arabiya Television in Baghdad that killed four people and injured at least 10. (AFP via Google News) (Middle East News)
• An investigation is launched into the unexplained damage suffered by the Japanese oil tanker M/V M. STAR in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman. (BBC) (Aljazeera)

Arts and culture

• U.S. talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres announces that she is leaving the American Idol television show after one year as a judge. (People)

Business and economics

• The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifts interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to three per cent. (Wall Street Journal)

Disasters

• Heavy monsoon rains delay the salvage of the wreckage of Airblue Flight 202 near Islamabad, Pakistan. (Reuters) (Daily Times of Pakistan)

International relations

• The Arab League endorses direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel providing certain conditions are met. (Jerusalem Post)
• North Korean foreign minister Pak Ui-chun arrives in Burma in the first visit since the two countries restored ties in 2007, amid worries over nuclear cooperation. (AFP) (BBC)

Law and crime

• The Mexican Army kills Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Ignacio Coronel Villarreal in Zapopan, Jalisco, during a raid. (CNN), (AFP via Google News)

Politics and elections

• Greek police fire tear gas at demonstrating lorry drivers who were on strike in protest against new license charges. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• People in the U.S. state of Arizona protest the introduction of state immigration laws with demonstrators being arrested outside the office of Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio. (CNN)
• The United States House of Representatives Ethics Committee begins a public hearing into New York Democratic Congressman Charles B. Rangel. (CBS)
• Musician Wyclef Jean announces that he has taken formal steps towards running for President of Haiti in the 2010 general election but has not yet decided on a candidacy. (Reuters)

Science

• UNESCO's World Heritage Committee removes Ecuador's Galápagos Islands from its list of endangered World Heritage Sites. (New Zealand Herald)
• Google claims that its Chinese Internet search and mobile search is blocked. (Reuters)
• Moscow records its hottest temperature in recorded history with a heatwave expected to result in its hottest month on record. (CNN)

Armed conflict and attacks

• A bomb on a civilian bus in Nimruz Province in southwest Afghanistan results in at least 25 deaths. (Press TV), (samaylive)

Disasters

• An explosion at a plastics factory in Nanjing, China, kills at least 12 people and injures hundreds. (RIA Novosti), (Reuters)
• Airblue Flight 202 crashes in the Margalla Hills outside Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 152 people aboard. (New York Times), (Xinhua), (Reuters), (Voice of America)
• A United States Air Force Boeing C-17 crashes at the Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. (The News Tribune)
• A boat sinks on the Kasai river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing as many as 140. (BBC) (UPI)

International relations

• During a visit to India, British Prime Minister David Cameron warns Pakistan not to have any relationship with groups that "promote the export of terror". (BBC) (Indian Express)

Law and crime

• Around 300 Bedouins living in "illegal settlements" in Israel's Negev desert have been made homeless after police raided their village and razed their homes. They are to be resettled in Rahat. (BBC)
• United States federal judge Susan Bolton issues a ruling blocking Arizona from implementing sections of Arizona SB 1070 requiring police to check a person's immigration status and requiring immigrants to carry their papers at all times. (ABC Online)
• French police find the bodies of eight new-born babies in the village of Villers-au-Tertre in north-east of France. (BBC)
• Eight severed heads are discovered in four locations in the Mexican state of Durango. (UPI)

Politics and elections

• The ruling Grand National Party in South Korea wins five out of eight seats in a by-election to National Assembly seats left vacant by resignations or convictions. (Yonhap)
• Governor of the U.S. state of California Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a "fiscal state of emergency" requiring most state employees to take three days a month of unpaid leave until a new budget is enacted. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia bans bullfighting, the first region on the mainland to do so. (Los Angeles Times)

Armed conflict and attacks

• The Afghan War Diary claim that Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) orchestrated the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008, which left 40 dead. (samaylive).

Arts and culture

• Experts verify that photographic negatives bought at a garage sale are early works of the American photographer Ansel Adams. (CNN)

Business and economics

• BP announces that Tony Hayward is to step down as CEO following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and will be replaced by Bob Dudley on October 1st. (TV New Zealand), (Bloomberg)

Disasters

• South China floods
  • Flooding at the Three Gorges Dam is set to peak within the next 24 hours. (BBC) (Xinhua)
  • A landslide in China's Sichuan Province caused by heavy rains results in 21 people being missing. (AP via Google News)
  • A bridge collapse in Luanchuan County in Henan Province of China results in at least 37 deaths. (Reuters via Straits Times)
• BP sets aside $32.2bn to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (BBC)
• Lufthansa Cargo flight 8460, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, crashes upon landing in Saudi Arabia, injuring the pilot and the first officer. (BBC) (Reuters)
• An oil spill in Dalian, China, is contained from reaching international waters. (China Daily)

Law and crime

• Two police officers in Egypt go on trial for brutality over the death of a man in custody in Alexandria. (Aljazeera) (Reuters Africa)
• Following a court order, Israeli police demolished the Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb north of Beer Sheva , evicting 200 residents. (CNN)
• A Dutch court rules that sailor Laura Dekker can attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo. (BBC)

Politics

• David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, describes the Gaza Strip as a "prison camp" during a visit to Turkey. Israel's ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, describes the people of the Gaza strip as "prisoners of the terrorist organization Hamas". (CNN)
• The United States Congress provides funding for a troop increase for the War in Afghanistan. (Reuters)

Science

• The wreck of the 19th century Royal Navy ship HMS Investigator is found in Mercy Bay in northern Canada. (National Post)

Sport

• The Argentine Football Association decides not to renew Diego Maradona's contract as coach of the Argentina national football team. (The Telegraph)

Armed conflicts and incidents

• The President of France Nicolas Sarkozy confirms that Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has executed Michel Germaneau, a French hostage taken in Mali. (Al-Jazeera)
• The United States, European Union and United Nations pledge additional resources to the African Union's AMISOM peacekeeping force in Somalia. (Voice of America)
• Two car bombs explode near the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, killing at least twenty people. (BBC)

Disasters

• At least 26 people die after a bus crashes in the Daman District in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. (AP via Sydney Morning Herald) (samaylive)
• An Israeli Air Force helicopter crashes in Romania with six Israeli airmen and a Romanian military observer on board; all are feared dead. (Haaretz)

Law and crime

• Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch receives the verdict in his trial in Phnom Penh - the first of five surviving senior figures to do so. He is sentenced to 35 years in prison with 16 years off for time served. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (CNN)
• United States investigators associated with INTERPOL track 200 bank accounts associated with alleged North Korean drug smuggling, counterfeiting, money laundering and arms trafficking. (ABC News Australia)

Politics

• Release of The War Logs:
  • Wikileaks releases over 92,000 documents detailing unreported killings of hundreds of Afghan civilians and other incidents related to the war in Afghanistan to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel, in one of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Der Spiegel) (The New York Times)
  • The United States government condemns the release of the files, calling it a "risk" and a threat to their security. (Aljazeera) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Julian Assange defends the release, saying the publication was in the public interest, and saying that Wikileaks had withheld the documents from release until it could redact the names of individuals whose safety might be at risk. US Senator John Kerry says the documents "raise serious questions about the reality of America's policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan". (ABC)
• Opening of the 15th Congress of the Philippines: Channel NewsAsia
  • Juan Ponce Enrile is elected as Senate President
  • Feliciano Belmonte is elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  • President Benigno Aquino III delivers his first State of the Nation Address.

Science

• The Plastiki, a catamaran made out of recycled plastic, arrives in Sydney, Australia, after travelling across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco, United States, to raise awareness of environmental issues. (AP via Yahoo News)

Sports

• The opening ceremony of the 2010 European Athletics Championships takes place in Barcelona. Official website

Armed conflicts and incidents

• 1 person is killed and at least 10 are injured after a bombing at a bus stop in Bangkok following a parliamentary by-election. (Aljazeera) (Channel 4) (Bangkok Post)
• The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb announces it has killed a French hostage in Mali after a failed rescue attempt by French and Mauritanian troops. (BBC) (Aljazeera)
• There are reports that an airstrike on a village in Helmand Province has killed 45 civilians, including children, who were sheltering from violence. (BBC)

Disasters

• Love Parade stampede:
  • Survivors blame officials for yesterday's death stampede at the Love Parade in Duisburg. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle) (Der Spiegel)
  • The death toll rises to 19. (Reuters)
  • The event's founder axes the annual festival. (The Daily Telegraph) (Sky News)
• It is revealed that BP chief executive Tony Hayward is negotiating his terms of exit after being negatively criticised by politicians in the United States over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Economics

• United States Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner pushes for Congress to allow the tax cuts for high-income taxpayers in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 to expire at the end of 2010, while extending the act's tax cuts for middle- and lower-income taxpayers. (CNN)

Politics

• Iraq Inquiry witness Carne Ross alleges the British government is covering up "embarrassing testimony" about its decision to invade Iraq in 2003. (The Observer) (Channel 4)
• Burmese military ruler General Than Shwe begins a five-day visit to India. (BBC) (The Times of India)
• African Union summit:
  • At the African Union summit in Kampala, attended by 53 countries, its president, the President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika, states International Criminal Court indictments against the Sudanese president undermine African peace and security and calls for the issue to be solved in a different way. (Aljazeera)
  • Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says the fight against Somali militant group al-Shabaab must be stepped up. (BBC) (Daily Nation)
• Former President of Cuba Fidel Castro visits a mausoleum in Artemisa, his first reported appearance outside Havana since leaving office in 2006. (BBC)

Sport

• Alberto Contador wins the 2010 Tour de France, his third, as seven-times winner Lance Armstrong makes his final appearance. (BBC Sport)
• Fernando Alonso wins the German Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa at Hockenheim. (BBC Sport)
• The FIVB World League 2010 ends with Brazil becoming the first country to win the competition nine times.

Armed conflicts and incidents

• The United States and South Korea begin showing off their navy and air force by maneuvering dozens of ships and planes and thousands of troops in the Sea of Japan with intent to "rattle" North Korea. (BBC)
• The UK's Royal Air Force tests fighter jets with which it intends to use to shoot down any rogue passenger planes. (BBC)
• A mass grave containing at least 50 tortured and burned corpses is unearthed east of Monterrey, Nuevo León, in Mexico. (BBC)
• France states its joint effort with Mauritania to free a French hostage is over, but no word is released on the whereabouts of the hostage or if he is even still alive. (Aljazeera)

Arts, culture and society

• A massive stampede at the 2010 Love Parade in Duisburg kills 18 people and injures dozens more people. (Deutsche Welle) (Der Spiegel) (Aljazeera) (The Age) (BBC News)
• Rallies occur in Berlin, London, New York City, Paris, Ottawa and elsewhere, calling for the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman facing execution for adultery in Iran. (Aljazeera) (BBC)
• Beginning of the 2010 European Go Championship in Tampere, Finland. [1]

Disasters

• More than half of Peru enters a state of emergency due to unusually cold weather. (BBC)
• Chinese floods:
  • Premier Wen Jiabao wades through water in Wuhan to warn of further devastation. (BBC)
  • The Yangtze River's Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river reaches 158 metres and is about to overflow. (Aljazeera)
• BP announces it is to start drilling for oil off Libya. (BBC) (France24) (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The Age)
• The Lake Delhi Dam fails along the Maquoketa River in the U.S. state of Iowa. (CBS News)

Law and crime

• Two Spanish activists and a journalist arrested in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla file charges against Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (BBC)
• An investigation reveals that several dozen staff and contractors of the United States Department of Defense, some with high-level security clearances, allegedly downloaded child pornography; an undisclosed number did so on government-owned computers. (The Boston Globe) (The Guardian)

Politics

• In the United States House of Representatives, Republicans introduce Resolution 1553, which expresses United States support for Israeli use of any necessary military force to eliminate any threat it believes Iran poses. (Press TV) (Res. 1553)
• Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin meets the Russian intelligence agents who were swapped with the United States. (BBC)
• 15th African Union summit in Kampala:
  • African heads of state meet. (BBC)
  • President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak opts not to attend, increasing concerns for his health. (BBC) (CTV) (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Gordon Brown returns to make an appearance. (The Guardian) (BBC)

Science

• Iran begins researching the development of an, as yet, non-existent nuclear fusion reactor. (BBC)

Sport

• Snooker's "first television superstar" and two-times world champion Alex Higgins dies at the age of 61. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian) (The New Zealand Herald) (RTÉ) (Hindustan Times)