Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Naval mines, suspected to come from North Korea, wash ashore on a South Korean beach killing one man and injuring another. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• Eleven of Australia's most important convict sites including Hyde Park Barracks and The Domain in Sydney, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia and Port Arthur, Tasmania are added to the World Heritage List. (AAP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Arts and entertainment

• Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky get married in Rhinebeck, New York. (UPI)

Business and economy

• The United States Department of Commerce releases statistics showing that the United States economy shrunk by 4.1 per cent between the 4th quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2009, a deeper recession than previously thought. (Bloomberg)

Disasters

• The report of the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people in Victoria, Australia, is tabled in the Parliament of Victoria. It contains 67 recommendations including changes to evacuation policy and an increase in backburning. (ABC Online)
• The black box for Airblue Flight 202 which crashed near Islamabad, Pakistan, is found. (DAWN)
• The death toll from the 2010 Pakistan floods exceeds 900 and may climb further. (Bloomberg via San Francisco Chronicle), (AFP via Google News)
• Germany holds a memorial service for the 21 victims of the Love Parade disaster. (BBC)
• United States and Michigan government officials say it will take months to clean up an oil spill in the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan and considerably longer for the ecosystem to recover. (AP via New York Times)

Law and crime

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether civilians conspired with a US soldier to release classified information available on Wikileaks. (UPI)
• Mexican police rescue two television camera operators kidnapped by drug cartels on Monday. (Reuters via New York Times)

International relations

• Pakistani intelligence officials have cancelled a planned visit to the United Kingdom after British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Pakistan to avoid links with groups that "promote the export of terror". However, a visit by President Asif Ali Zardari will go ahead. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Police fire rubber bullets to disperse rioting garment workers as protests spread beyond the capital Dhaka to other Bangladeshi cities. (AFP via Google News)

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)
• Afghanistan
  • 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)
  • Two United States embassy vehicles are set alight in Kabul following a collision between a US vehicle and a civilian vehicle. (AFP via Google News)
• 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. A Hamas rocket maker is killed and 13 other people are injured. (Jesusalem Post), (Al Jazeera)

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)
• A wildfire forces the evacuation of thousands of homes in Palmdale California, United States. (AP via Google News)

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)
• Former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is cleared of claims that he assaulted a masseuse in Portland, Oregon in 2006. (Associated Press)
• Two Armenian men sue Turkey, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey and Ziraat Bankası bank in the United States district court in California for damages allegedly caused by the Armenian genocide in 1915. (Reuters via Yahoo News)

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 Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Gianfranco Fini, President of the 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 inform 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)

Science

• A Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute study suggests that the Nili Fossae area on the surface of Mars could be a good spot to search for evidence of past life on Mars. (MSNBC)

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

• Malawi adopts a new national flag, replacing the previous flag originally adopted in 1964. (The Nation)
• 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