Shells fired by Houthi forces have killed at least 18 people near the southern port city of Aden, meanwhile United Nations officials have warned that a deadly dengue fever outbreak is rapidly gaining pace in the war-torn country. (Reuters)
Egypt's security forces kill nine 'terrorists' during a raid in a Western Cairo suburb. The group were among "the most dangerous terrorists" wanted in Egypt according to Giza deputy security director Magdy Abd El-Aal. It has also been reported that Nasser al-Hafi, a former MP and a leading lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood was among those killed. (Ahram)
Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund in the 71-year history of the IMF, unwinding decades of precedent and affecting consequences for the fund's future rescues. (Financial Times)(IMF)
Moody's Investors Service downgrades Greek bonds further to caa3 saying that it expects the country to default further without further support from official creditors. (Reuters)
Egypt vows to continue an offensive on the Sinai Peninsula until ISIL militants have been removed. A hundred people have been killed in fighting in the past two days. (BBC)
The Kim Nirvana ferry capsizes off the Philippines en route from the city of Ormoc to Camotes island with 173 people onboard; at least 33 people are confirmed dead while at least 50 people have been rescued. (AFP via ABC Online), (BBC)
A UBS whistle blower is assisting the government of Brazil in its investigation of currency manipulation by global banks, according to a Brazilian paper. (Reuters)
Dutch police detain 200 young people in The Hague for not following curfew as violence continues in the Schilderswijk district for a fourth night. (AFP via Daily Star)
A rally of war veterans in Kiev calls for Ukraine to abandon the Minsk II ceasefire agreement and to declare war on pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. Despite two ceasefire agreements since September, combat operations, including the use of heavy artillery and ballistic missiles, never stopped. (BBC)
Over 1,000 people in the Philippines are stranded temporarily by Severe Tropical Storm Linfa (Egay) as landslides occur in Palawan province. (GMA Network)
An Iraqi Air ForceSukhoi Su-25 jet, returning from a bombing raid against ISIL militants in the north, accidentally drops a bomb on Baghdad destroying several homes and killing at least 7 civilians. American officials claimed that as many as 65% of Iraqi air force bombers do not drop their bombs due to "lack of targets". (Sky News)
An air-strike by the Saudi-led coalition on the southern port city of Aden kills at least 30 people. It is unclear how many of the dead are civilians or Houthi rebels. (BBC)
In cycling, the 2015 Tour de France race is neutralized 100km into the third stage due to a major crash involving about 30 riders. Yellow jersey leader Fabian Cancellara is injured in the crash and is forced to withdraw from the Tour. The race is eventually stopped 50km from the finish with Briton Chris Froome taking the yellow jersey. (News24)[permanent dead link](BBC)
Eurozone leaders hold a crisis meeting to discuss options on Greek debt following the referendum as Greek banks are near to running out of cash. For the last week Greek banks allowed to withdraw only 60 euros a day. (Reuters)
The Government of Greece does not present any new proposals and Greek banks are unlikely to reopen this week. (AP)
The European Union gives Greece a deadline of Thursday to develop new proposals for discussion at an emergency summit on Sunday. (BBC)
A United States Air Force F-16 collides with a privately-owned Cessna to the north of Charleston, South Carolina. The pilot of the jet ejects safely, but the Cessna breaks up mid-air, killing the two unidentified occupants. (CNN)
At least 22 people are killed in clashes between Arab and Berber communities in Ghardaia, Algeria. (BBC)
Business and economy
The British bank Barclays fires Chief Executive Antony Jenkins for his failure to reduce head count and the pace of cost cutting with Chairman John McFarlane to act as interim CEO until a replacement is appointed. The bank was recently convicted of earning billions through fraud as part of the LIBOR scandal(BBC), (The Guardian)
Staff workers for the London Underground begin a 27-hour strike after management and labor unions were unable to reach a deal regarding overnight train services. (BBC)
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) imposes a six-month ban on stockholders owning more than 5 percent of a company's stock from selling those stocks, resulting in a 6 percent rise in stock markets. (Reuters)
A bailout plan is submitted two hours before the midnight deadline. The plan would raise a retirement age to 67 and cut pensions by 15% for those retiring at 62. (LA Times)(Money Control)
Ellen Pao resigns as the interim CEO of Internet site Reddit following a user backlash over the deletion of some subreddits for harassment and sacking of a popular admin. Site co-founder Steve Huffman will take her place. (WSJ)
Arts and culture
Egyptian actor Omar Sharif dies at the age of 83 after suffering a heart attack. BBC
Disasters and accidents
At least 23 people have been killed and 50 injured following a stampede at a free clothing drive in the northern Bangladeshi city of Mymensingh. (BBC)
US President Barack Obama signs an executive order picking Berryessa Snow Mountain (California), Waco Mammoth Site (Texas), and Basin and Range (Nevada) as three national monuments. (USA Today)
The Hellenic Parliament passes a package of economic reforms to end the current stage of the debt crisis. (BBC)
Steve Huffman is re-appointed as the CEO of Reddit as Ellen Pao steps down over a dispute with the website's users over the firing of a popular employee. (Irish Times)
Satoru Iwata, the CEO and President of Nintendo, dies due to a bile duct growth.
Hundred of villagers are evacuated from near the Colima volcano following recent eruptions. Authorities fear that it could be on the same scale as a 1913 eruption. (BBC)
The First Test of the 2015 Ashes Series between England and Australia ends with a 169-run victory for England after four days at the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff. (BBC)
Saudi-led coalition forces bomb Houthi targets in several provinces of Yemen, killing at least 15 people, despite a UN-brokered truce. (Business Standard)
A European Union leaders' summit to discuss the Greek debt crisis is cancelled due to failure of finance ministers to agree on Greek proposals. However, Eurozone leaders do meet, with discussions continuing into the night. (BBC), (Sky News)(The Guardian)
An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition kills 25 civilians and wounds 50 in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. Last week a ceasefire agreement was reached. (STL Today)(CTV News via AP)
All the missing 42 people have been found following the collapse of a Russian Army barracks in the Omsk Oblast of southwestern Siberia with 23 deaths. (TASS)
International relations
Georgia accuses Russia of violating its sovereignty by placing border markers on the edge of the South Ossetia region, leaving part of an international oil pipeline in territory under Russian control. The area was the site of the Russo-Georgian war in 2008. (Reuters)
PresidentBarack Obama commutes the sentences of 46 American prison inmates serving long sentences for drug related offences. (CNN)
Son of Boston police captain is charged with a foiled plot to bomb a university, inspired by Boston Marathon bombing, on alleged behalf of ISIS. He is scheduled Tuesday for a bail hearing at a federal court in Springfield. (AP)
The male defendant is found not guilty of death threats on US Majority Speaker of the House, John Boehner, by reason of insanity. He is still in jail and due for another trial on August 21 to determine his ability to adjust to society. (USA Today)
A helicopter belonging to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) with four people on board (two crew members, a patient, and a person accompanying the patient) crashes in the Persian Gulf. (Tasnim)
The Catholic Church in Taherpur, India is vandalized, and the caretaker is arrested. The church was desecrated on the night of July 9, according to Indian media reports. (India Express)
Scientists at Northumbria University in northeast England develop a computerized statistical model of the Sun's solar cycle (a measurement of the number of sunspots and solar flares, in this case between 1976 and 2008, and their intensity and activity). While preliminary, and not yet peer-reviewed, the data predicts irregularities in the cycle: the Northern Hemisphere could experience a slight lowering in temperatures in the 2030s. (CNN)(Washington Post)
A preliminary report from the Dutch Safety Board of the investigation of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) disaster points to pro-Russian rebels as being responsible for the shooting down of the passenger flight on 17 July 2014. (CNN)
The circumnavigation attempt of Earth by the solar-powered Solar Impulse plane, currently in Hawaii, has been suspended for the rest of 2015 in order to perform necessary repairs. (BBC)
The Nexen pipeline at the Long Lake facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta, spills 5,000,000 litres (1,100,000 imp gal; 1,300,000 US gal) of oil emulsion. (CBC)
Japan's lower house of parliament passes a pair of bills changing the country's security laws, allowing Japanese soldiers to fight overseas for the first time since the end of World War II under certain conditions, over strong protests from opposition lawmakers, who walked out of the vote.(BBC)(NHK)
Niger’s army killed at least 30 suspected Boko Haram fighters as it searched for militants in villages just over the border with Nigeria. (NewsDay Zimbabwe)
Typhoon Nangka passes through the western part of the main Japanese island of Honshu, causing at least two deaths, widespread flooding and the evacuation of 100,000 people. (Reuters)
Indonesian volcano eruptions
Thousands of Indonesians are stranded on the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan as five airports remain closed as a result of the eruption of the Raung and Gamalama volcanoes. (BBC)
At least five people are dead and three are missing after a coal mine in the Philippines province of Antique collapses. (AP)
Two commuter trains collide at the Booysens train station in Johannesburg, South Africa, injuring more than 250 people. (News24)
Ukraine expels Valery Shibeko, Russia's top envoy to Odesa, after declaring the consulate general "persona non grata" for conducting unnamed activities "incompatible" with his diplomatic work. (AFP)[permanent dead link]
A man goes on a shooting spree in Maine, U.S., killing two people and wounding three others in the towns of Lee and Benedicta. A manhunt is executed, and the suspect is arrested in Houlton. (CBC)
University marine scientists observe that a shipwreck discovered off the North Carolina Coast on July 12 may date back to the American Revolution. (NBC News)
In a failed suicide blast, a security guard intercepted a suicide bomber clad in female clothing attempting to enter Quetta’s Hazara town, who then detonated their device that contained 6 to 7 kg (13 to 15 lb) of explosive material, killing themselves and the guard. (Dawn).
The wildfire burning in San Bernardino County, California has burned over 3,500 acres, and destroyed 16 homes and other buildings. The fire has also burned over 60 passenger vehicles and tractor-trailers. (CBS-Los Angeles)
The sailor wounded in Thursday's shooting at two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, dies a little after 2 a.m. Saturday, bringing the death toll of the shooting to five. (Chattanooga Times-Free Press)
Fourteen Sufi mausoleums in the city of Timbuktu in northern Mali have been rebuilt, three years after they were destroyed by Islamist militants from Ansar Dine group. (BBC)
A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting The Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. Preliminary evidence suggests an ISISsuicide attack. (BBC)(The Daily Star)
Authorities in Waller County, Texas announce that the death of activist Sandra Bland in police custody will be treated as a murder investigation. (CNN)
Voters in Burundi go to the polls for a presidential election amidst gunfire and violence with PresidentPierre Nkurunziza seeking a third term and opposition parties boycotting the election. At least two people have been killed in election violence. (BBC), (Reuters via SABC)
Turkey scrambles fighter jets and Turkish tanks open fire on ISIS positions along the Syrian border following an exchange of fire which left one Turkish soldier dead and two injured. The clashes are the first direct combat between the Turkish military and ISIS forces. There are multiple reports of Turkish ground forces crossing the official border into Syria. (Telegraph)
Turkey agrees to allow the United States access to İncirlik Air Base, near the city of Adana (in close proximity to the Syrian border) for the US-led coalition forces' air strikes against ISIS. (Today's Zaman)
Five people are killed and a girl is wounded in a stabbing at a home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, U.S. that occurred the previous day. Two teenage suspects are arrested. (CNN)
Seven people are wounded, and three are dead (including the shooter) after a 58-year-old gunman opens fire at the Grand 16 Movie Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana during a showing of Trainwreck. (NBC), (CNN)
Turkish warplanes strike ISIS positions in northern Syria following an exchange of gunfire on the Turkish-Syrian border which left one Turkish soldier dead. The airstrikes are said to have killed as many as 35 ISIS militants. (Yahoo)
A large explosion, which triggers other explosions and a fire (which threatens a nearby forest) at a fireworks factory in southeastern Italy (Modugno, Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia Region) kills 7 people and injures several more, some seriously. Emergency vehicles were on the scene and the cause is being investigated; it is the peak season for fireworks in Italy because of the summer festivals there. (BBC)
Zhou Benshun, the Communist Party chief of China's Hebei province, is detained for investigation by the party's anti-graft body. He is first incumbent provincial leader to be investigated since the anti-corruption campaign began in 2013. (WSJ)
The Saudi-led military coalition announces that a 5-day humanitarian ceasefire has been agreed to, set to begin just before midnight Sunday. (Wall Street Journal)
A 13-year-old female suicide bomber attacks in the Cameroonian town of Maroua, killing 20 people and injuring another 70. (Voice of America)
Cameroonian officials order the closing of mosques and Islamic schools, and bar underage children from being at public places, following the recent strings of suicide bombings. (AP via Fox News)
A suicide bomber detonates a vehicle loaded with explosives at a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing 15 people. (CNN)
Verizon employees in nine states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia) and Washington, D.C. vote to go on strike on August 1 if disputes between the union and the company result in no new contracts. (New Haven Register)
Frenchfarmers protesting low prices within the country turn back hundreds of trucks suspected of carrying foreign agricultural products at the country's border with Germany. (AP)
Police in Santa Cruz, California, find what they suspect is the body of 8-year-old Madyson Middleton, who was last seen on footage on the afternoon of Monday, July 27, riding her new scooter. A 15-year-old male minor has been arrested on suspicion of homicide. (MSN)
Joyce Mitchell, who had smuggled hacksaw blades inside frozen meat to Richard Matt and David Sweat in prison, before withdrawing as their getaway driver, pleads guilty to a first-degree felony of promoting prison contraband and to a misdemeanor count of fourth-degree criminal facilitation. She faces up to 7 years in prison when sentenced. (MSN)
Barack Obama is the first US president to speak in front of the African Union (AU). He encourages the world to strengthen economic ties with the continent, but also criticises the lack of democracy. (WSJ)
Malik Ishaq, leader of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, is killed during a shootout in which supporters of the group ambushed a prisoner convoy. The shootout killed 13 of the attackers, injured six police officers, and also killed two of Ishaq's sons. (New York Times)
Disasters and accidents
The Wragg Fire in Northern California continues to burn at 80% containment with over 6,991 acres being destroyed and mandatory evacuations. (KQED)
At least 27 people are killed and 149 injured after a out of control truck runs into a religious procession in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. (AP via Washington Post)
Health
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announces that 8-year old Zion Harvey became the first pediatric patient to receive a double hand transplant earlier this month. (ABC)
Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell announces that Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, a 15-year-old will be tried as an adult in the murder of 8-year-old Madyson Middleton. (ABC News)
An ambush on a Turkish military convoy in the south-eastern Şırnak Province by PKK militants kills 3 Turkish soldiers. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
A heat wave hits the Middle East with Baghdad recording a top temperature of 50 °C (122 °F) and the Iranian city of Bandar Mahshahr recording a near world record heat index temperature of 74.0 °C (165.2 °F). (Washington Post)
At least 30 people are killed in a landslide that struck villages near Pokhara, Nepal. (Reuters UK)
Former Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman, General Guo Boxiong, is accused of taking bribes in exchange for the promotion of officers and expelled from the Communist Party of China. (BBC)
Two Turkish police officers and two PKK militants are killed following a PKK raid on a police station in the south-eastern town of Pozantı. Also, in the eastern province of Kars, PKK militants bombed a railway line and then fired at repair workers, leaving one dead. (BBC)
India and Bangladesh have swapped control of some 160 small pockets of land on each other's territory. Residents were asked to choose where they wanted to live and which nationality they would prefer. Most of them decided to change nationality and stay where they live. (BBC)