Portal:Current events/July 2015

• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • 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)
• Sinai insurgency: July 2015 Sinai attacks
  • Militants launch attacks on Egyptian Armed Forces checkpoints in North Sinai, leaving dozens of security personnel and insurgents killed. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the assaults. (Times of India)(AP)
• 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)

• The Episcopal Church in the United States adopts its liturgy for same sex marriages. (General Convention), (NBC News)

• Greek government-debt crisis
  • 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)
  • The Prime Minister of Greece Alex Tsipras has written to creditors claiming he will accept a bailout but with conditions. (Daily Telegraph)
  • 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)
• The World Bank urges the People's Republic of China to undertake financial reforms to keep economic growth on track. (AP)

• 2015 Indonesia Hercules C-130 crash
  • The death toll from yesterday's crash in the Indonesian city of Medan rises to 141. (The Guardian)

• The Russian gas company Gazprom suspends shipments of gas to Ukraine following a payment dispute. (BBC)
• The United States and Cuba officially announce that embassies will be reopened in each other's countries for the first time since 1961. (BBC)

• The United States Department of Justice begins an investigation into whether US airlines entered into collusion to illegally keep ticket prices high. (BBC)
• A woman, Kathryn Steinle, is shot dead in a random attack at the busy Embarcadero district in San Francisco, California. A Mexican national is arrested in connection with her death. (CNN) (Yahoo News)

• Thousands of people are expected at a pro-democracy demonstration in Hong Kong on a holiday to mark the transfer from British to Chinese rule. (AP)
• Burundian legislative election, 2015
  • The President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza claims victory for his National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy coalition despite the fact that opposition parties did not contest the election. (African Media Agency via Mail and Guardian)
• The Constitutional Court of Russia rules that it is constitutional to hold the 2016 legislative election in September rather than early December. (AP via Fox News)

• The black hole in the Milky Way galaxy's V404 Cygni system wakes up (becomes energized, with a flow of gamma rays and very brief intense flashes of light) after 26 years. (MSN)

• Sinai insurgency: July 2015 Sinai attacks
  • 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)
  • Egyptian Air Force air strikes in the Sinai Peninsula kill at least 23 ISIS-linked militants a day after the deadliest clashes in the region in years. (Reuters)
• Boko Haram
  • Boko Haram gunmen kill scores of people in attacks on the Nigerian towns of Kukawa and Musarram in recent days. (Agencies via WA Today)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Airstrikes on Sanaa kill eight, according to Houthi officials. (AP)
• An attack on a convoy in northern Mali kills six UN Peacekeepers. (AP)

• Deepwater Horizon oil spill
  • London-based BP agrees, pending court approval, to pay $US18.7 billion to compensate the United States government and the five Gulf Coast states--Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas--for damages stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The settlement includes a civil penalty of $US5.5 billion under the Clean Water Act. (Fortune) (AP via Washington Post)
• According to a statement from Ukraine's nuclear energy authority, Yadernoye Toplivo, a private U.S. nuclear energy company, ConverDyn, could begin helping Ukraine in the production of enriched uranium, a day after Russia shut off natural gas supplies to the country after the two failed to reach agreement over Ukraine's unpaid gas debts to Russia.(MSN)

• Sinking of Kim Nirvana-B
  • 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 bridge collapses under a Pakistan Army train at Gujranwala, killing nineteen and injuring over 100.Dawn

• 2016 United States presidential election
  • Former Senator Jim Webb announces that he will seek the Democratic Party nomination. (Fox News)

• Health officials announced that a 21-year-old woman from Bishop, California had died June 20th at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada from cardiac arrest caused by the rare brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. (Reno Gazette-Journal) (Inquisitr.com)

• Syrian Civil War
  • Turkey deploys additional troops along its border with Syria as fighting intensifies. (france24 with Reuters)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • Toll of Boko Haram massacre in northeastern Nigeria rises to nearly 170.(News 24)(Naij)

• 2015 Sousse attacks
  • The United Kingdom holds a minute of silence at midday to commemorate the 38 people - including 30 Britons - killed in Tunisia a week ago. (BBC)
• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • A United States drone strike kills at least four militants in Yemen. (AFP via Frnce24)

• The XV International Tchaikovsky Competition concludes with a ceremony awarding top prizes to Dmitry Masleev in piano, Yu-Chien Tseng in violin, Andrei Ionuț Ioniță in cello, as well as Yulia Matochkina and Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar in voice. (medici.tv) (Reuters)

• American health insurer Aetna agrees to buy competitor Humana in a $37 billion deal. (AP)
• 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)

• Six people are dead following an explosion at a chemical plant in Ulsan in South Korea. (Yonhap), (AP via ABC News America)
• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Chan-hom strengthens as it heads towards the Pacific island of Guam. (Accuweather)
• At least four people are dead and 48 injured following a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Pishan County in China's Xinjiang region. (BBC)
• Sinking of Kim Nirvana-B
  • The death toll from yesterday's capsizing of the M/B Nivana off the coast of the Philippines rises to 56 as murder charges are filed against the owner and crew. (AP via USA Today), (AFP via Straits Times)

• Research shows that during the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test, developed by Corgenix, showed promise as a bedside rapid Ebola test, successfully detecting Ebolavirus. (Harvard), (Corgenix), (The Lancet)
• At least 29 people have died in a cholera outbreak in South Sudan. (AFP via Daily Star)

• Phil Walsh, the coach of the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, is stabbed to death in his home with his son charged with murder. (ABC News Australia)
• 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)
• Jeffrey Webb, a former Vice President of FIFA and President of CONCACAF, is reportedly charged with healthcare fraud in his native Cayman Islands. (Eurosport via Yahoo!)

• Danish general election, 2015
  • Pia Kjærsgaard becomes the first woman to be elected speaker of the Danish parliament, the Folketing. (Politiko.dk/Berlingske)

• The U.S. Air Force's outgoing chief scientist, Mica Endsley, announces plans for an unmanned hypersonic flying weapon by 2023, which could travel at least up to Mach 5. (CNN)
• Solar Impulse project
  • The solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 landed in Hawaii from Japan, completing the longest leg of its circumnavigation trip starting in Abu Dhabi. (BBC)

• War in Donbass
  • 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)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Yemen's Houthi rebels shell the Saudi Arabian cities of Jizan and Najran with claims of several Saudi soldiers being killed. (Reuters via Daily Star)
• Second Libyan Civil War
  • At least ten civilians are killed when three separate car bombs explode simultaneously in the eastern coastal city of Derna. (Yahoo news via AP)
• Sinai insurgency
  • A shell kills a woman and her two children as fighting continues on the Sinai Peninsula between the Egyptian Army and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (AFP via Times of India)
• Syrian Civil War
  • A mosque bombing in northern Syria kills 15 members of Al Qaida's affiliate Nusra Front. (Fox News via Associated Press)
  • The Syrian Army and Hezbollah launch an offensive to capture the rebel-held Syrian city of Zabadani. (Al-Arabiyah)
  • Kurdish People's Protection Units advance on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant de facto capital city of Raqqa. (ALJazeera)
  • ISIL militants execute 25 Syrian Army soldiers in the ancient city of Palmyra. (Al-Arabiya)
• Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  • The Azerbaijani military shoots down two Armenian drones over Azeri positions according to Azerbaijan's defense ministry. (TREND)

• The Republic of China (Taiwan) holds a large military parade in Taipei to commemorate World War II in support of its claims that Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-Shek played a leading role in the defeat of the Empire of Japan with the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Tse-Tung playing a minor role. (AP)
• UNESCO adds new sites to the World Heritage List: Tusi Sites (China), Susa, Cultural Landscape of Maymand (both in Iran), Singapore Botanic Gardens (Singapore), Baekje Historic Areas (Republic of Korea), Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding sacred landscape (Mongolia), and the French wine producing regions of Champagne and Burgundy. (AFP via Straits Times) (UNESCO)

• At least nine people have been killed and 30 injured following a factory collapse in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province. (AP via Star Tribune)
• A wildfire in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan forces 8,000 people from their homes. (CBC)

• A South Korean navy officer is charged with leaking confidential information to China. (RTHK) (AFP via Sky News)
• Abdul Gani Patail, the Attorney General of Malaysia, says that a probe of troubled state owned investment bank 1Malaysia Development Berhad has uncovered documents that show the transfer of money into private accounts of the Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Market Watch)

• 2015 Sousse attacks
  • Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi declares a state of emergency. (VOA News)
• Tupou VI is officially crowned as the King of Tonga. (BBC)
• Fidel Castro makes his first public appearance at a Cuban cheese factory since February 2015. (UPI)

• 2015 Tour de France
  • In cycling, the 2015 Tour de France gets underway in the Dutch city of Utrecht with an individual time trial. (The Guardian)
• 2015 Super Rugby season
  • The Highlanders from the New Zealand region of Otago defeat the Hurricanes from the New Zealand capital Wellington in the Super Rugby final, 21–14. It is the Highlanders' first Super 15 final. (The Age)
• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
  • In association football, England defeat Germany 1–0 through an extra time penalty goal by Fara Williams to win third place in the FIFA Women's World Cup. (BBC)
• 2015 Copa América
  • In football, the Chile national football team win the Copa América for the first time, defeating Argentina 4–1 in a penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw.(The Guardian), (BBC)

• American-led intervention in Syria
  • A United States bombing campaign against ISIL has killed at least 30 people in the Syrian city of Al-Raqqah. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
  • Iraqi government air strikes kill at least 73 people in the ISIL held cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. (Al-Jazeera)
• War in North-West Pakistan
  • A roadside bomb in North Waziristan kills at least three Pakistan Army soldiers and injures six others. (AFP via Daily Star)
• Boko Haram
  • A suicide bomber attacks a church in the Potiskum area of Nigeria's Yobe State, killing five and raising the toll of Boko Haram attacks for the past week to 200. (BBC) (DailyStar via AP)

• UNESCO adds more sites to the World Heritage List including the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in the US city of San Antonio, Texas and Scotland's Forth Bridge. (My San Antonio), (BBC)
• Pope Francis begans his tri-nation visit to Latin America arriving in Ecuador. Next he travels to Bolivia from July 8–10 and Paraguay from July 10–12, and returning to Rome on July 13. (Libreria Editrice Vaticana), (Catholic News Agency), (CNA), (CNA)

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Over 1,000 people in the Philippines are stranded temporarily by Severe Tropical Storm Linfa (Egay) as landslides occur in Palawan province. (GMA Network)
• Canadian wildfires
  • More than 60 wildfires start in the Canadian province of British Columbia over the weekend leading to several communities declaring a state of emergency. (CBC)
  • Nearly 1,000 military personnel are sent to fight wildfires in Saskatchewan. (CTV)

• Greek bailout referendum, 2015
  • Greek voters solidly reject (61.3 percent) the latest austerity proposal of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. (Sky News), (The Guardian) (Reuters)
  • The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and the President of France François Hollande call for an international summit of Eurozone leaders to discuss the next moves. (Bloomberg)
  • The Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras resigns as leader of his party, New Democracy; the new temporary leader is Evangelos Meimarakis. (To Vima)
• Several hundred Turkish people protest China's treatment of Uyghurs and burn Chinese flags at the Chinese consulate in Istanbul. (Al-Jazeera)

• A Russian space capsule reaches the International Space Station allowing resupply of provisions after the crash of the SpaceX space capsule last week. (CNN)

• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
  • The United States defeats defending champion Japan, 5-2, to win the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (BBC) (AP via Washington Post)
• 2015 British Grand Prix
  • In motorsport, Lewis Hamilton wins the race for the second consecutive year with team mate Nico Rosberg finishing second. (News24)

• Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
  • An Iraqi Air Force Sukhoi 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)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • 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)
• Boko Haram insurgency, Timeline of Boko Haram insurgency
  • Two bomb attacks on the central Nigerian city of Jos have left at least 44 people dead. (BBC)

• A Russian Su-24 military aircraft crashes while taking off from an airfield in the Khabarovsk region in Russian Far East on a nighttime training flight and both pilots are killed. (NY Times)

• Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, calls for a new investigation into the death of former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash after a panel he appointed uncovers new evidence. (New York Times)

• Greek bailout referendum, 2015
  • Yanis Varoufakis resigns as the Greek Minister of Finance despite the success of the "no" vote which supported his views. (AFR)
  • Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calls Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the referendum; Putin expresses his support for the Greek people in the call. Many western officials express concerns that, like Egypt, Greece may increase its ties to Russia at the expense of the west. Greece is a member of the NATO military alliance. (Yahoo)

• In auto racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the NASCAR 2015 Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway after a four-hour rain delay. On the final lap, a major crash sent Austin Dillon into the catch fence in front of the grandstands, causing minor injuries to five fans. Dillon himself walked away unhurt. (ESPN)
• 2015 Tour de France
  • 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) (BBC)
• In boxing, the World Boxing Organization strips Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the welterweight title he won in his fight with Manny Pacquiao for failing to pay a US$200,000 fee in time and failing to vacate a Light middleweight title he also held. (Reuters via MSN)

• Boko Haram insurgency, Timeline of Boko Haram insurgency
  • A bomb attack has killed at least 25 people and wounded 32 others in northern Nigeria's Zaria. (BBC)
• Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen
  • Air strikes and combat kill 200 in Yemen, highest daily toll so far. (Reuters via SANAA)
• Terrorism in Kenya, Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • Al-Shabaab militants kill 14 in northern Kenya. (US News)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • A NATO convoy is hit by a suicide car bomb in Kabul. Three or four civilians are injured; no fatalities have been reported. (NBC News)

• Greek debt crisis timeline
  • 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)

• 2015 Moncks Corner mid-air collision
  • 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)

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • Malaysian authorities order a freeze on six accounts associated with alleged payments by development bank 1Malaysia Development Berhad to the Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Wall Street Journal)
• The FBI, U.S. Postal Service, and Indiana State Police seize electronics and other items from the Zionsville, Indiana home of Subway commercial spokesman Jared Fogle. The seizure comes two months after the former head of Fogle's foundation was arrested on child pornography charges. (Indianapolis Star)

• Boko Haram insurgency, Timeline of Boko Haram insurgency
  • Suspected militants from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram killed 26 people in attacks on two villages on Lake Chad, Chad. (Daily Star via Reuters)
• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • The Yemeni government in exile announces that it has reached a truce with the Houthi rebels. (Al-Arabiya)
• At least 22 people are killed in clashes between Arab and Berber communities in Ghardaia, Algeria. (BBC)

• 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)
• Chinese stock market collapse: The Shanghai stock market falls 30% over the past three weeks as 1,400 companies, or more than half listed, file for a trading halt in an attempt to prevent further losses. (The Guardian)
• Microsoft announces another 7,800 job cuts primarily in its struggling phone division acquired from Nokia. (Wired)
• The New York Stock Exchange stops trading for nearly four hours due to a technical error. (CNN)
• 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)

• A ground stop of all U.S. airport-based United Airlines (UAL) mainline flights following a system-wide network connectivity issue is lifted after a 1 hour, 21 minute suspension of morning service. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is also investigating, says all of United Continental Holdings Inc. regional airlines are now unaffected. This follows a similar issue on June 2, 2015 due to automation problems. (Reuters, via MSN) (Los Angeles Times)
• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Chan-hom (Falcon) hits the Philippines with two people killed and two people injured. (Xinhua)

• Russia vetoes a UN resolution that would have condemned the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniaks as a genocide. (Reuters)
• Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from western Canada as firefighters continue to battle wildfires in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. (AP via Star Tribune)

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • Malaysian police raid the offices of government owned by 1Malaysia Development Berhad in relation to a corruption scandal. (The Star)
• Gunmen kill three, wound one, Tuesday evening near the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus in what police report was an apparently targeted shooting unrelated to the college. (AP via The Globe and Mail) (NBC News) (Reuters)
• 2015 Baltimore protests
  • The Mayor of the US city of Baltimore, Maryland Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fires the Commissioner of the Police Department, Anthony Batts. (Baltimore Sun)

• Gerald Bruce Lee, a United States District Court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, cancels the trademark of the Washington Redskins in the National Football League on the grounds that the team name may be offensive to Native Americans. (AP)
• Cuban international footballer Keiler García defects to the United States while in Chicago – the day before Cuba's match against Mexico at Soldier Field.(ESPN (UK))

• Chinese stock market crash
  • 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)
• Puerto Rican debt crisis
  • The United States Congress refuses to offer a bailout to Puerto Rico. (Politico)

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Hong Kong starts closing schools as Typhoon Linfa approaches. (South China Morning Post)

• Philippines v. China
  • The Philippines asks the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague to invalidate China's claims to virtually all of the South China Sea. The hearing was attended by observers from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. (AP viaThe Washington Post)
• Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warns that violence can explode into armed conflict in Burundi following events of the current presidential election. (AP via ABC News America)
• 7th BRICS summit
  • The event is concluded. (One India)

• The South Carolina House of Representatives agrees to a bill previously passed by the Senate to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds with Governor Nikki Haley signing the legislation into law. (AP via ABC News America), (NBC)
• Ugandan police arrest two presidential hopefuls, former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and opposition leader Kizza Besigye. (AlJazeera)
• Same-sex marriage in Puerto Rico
  • The US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit rules the ban in the region 2–1 unconstitutional, paving way for same-sex marriages. (Washington Blade)
  • The health department announces issuing licenses early next month. (AP)
• The European Parliament rejects a plan to abolish Freedom of Panorama. (Amateur Photographer)(NOS (Dutch)).
• The Thai consulate in Istanbul is attacked by Turkish protestors after about a hundred Uighurs were deported by Thailand back to China despite concerns over persecution. (BBC)

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • FIFA suspends former Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer for life for assorted ethical breaches including accepting bribes. (FIFA Governance)

• Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • Al Shabaab militants have stormed two hotels in Somalia's capital Mogadishu killing at least 10 civilians. (ABC News AU) (Business Standard via AFP)
• Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
  • Turkey arrests 21 people with alleged links to Daesh (ISIL). (New York Times)

• Greek government-debt crisis
  • 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)

• Egyptian actor Omar Sharif dies at the age of 83 after suffering a heart attack. BBC

• 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)
• 2015 Canadian Wildfires
  • Wildfires continue to rage throughout the western Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. (ABC News)
• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • China is dealing with two typhoons in a week. Typhoon Linfa lost power after making landfall in southern China's Guangdong province Thursday. Typhoon Chan-hom (Falcon) is headed for landfall in eastern China near Shanghai this weekend. (CNN) (CRI English) (Weather Channel)
• Indonesia closes four airports including Bali International Airport due to an ongoing eruption by the Raung volcano on Java. (Reuters via Trust)

• The United States State Department criticizes Thailand for deporting ethnic Uyghur back to China. The predominantly Uyghur Xinjiang province is the site of an ongoing political and religious crackdown in response to a wave of Muslim terrorist attacks in China. (NPR)

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation admits that Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Charleston church shooting, should not have passed a background check to obtain a gun licence. (ABC News)

• Katherine Archuleta resigns as the director of the United States Office of Personnel Management following the hacking of 21.5 million data records. (CNN)
• Following public outcry after the Charleston church shooting, the Confederate Battle Flag is lowered at the South Carolina State House after 54 years. (CNN)
• 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 Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches five commercial satellites for the United Kingdom. (IBN Live)

• 2015 Pan American Games
  • The Games officially commence following Friday's opening ceremony in Toronto. (Canadian Press via CP24)

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • A suicide bomber attacks the Nigerian city of Maiduguri killing at least one person. (Reuters)
  • A suicide bomber in a burqa kills 14 people in Chad's capital of N'Djamena. (Reuters) (Chron via AP)
• South Thailand insurgency
  • At least seven people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of attacks in southern Thailand. (AFP via The Daily Star)
• 2015 Bombing of the Cairo Italian Consulate
  • A car bomb explodes outside the Italian consulate in the Egyptian capital Cairo, resulting in at least one death and four people injured; ISIS claims responsibility. (The Daily Star) (BBC), (CNN)
• Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • At least six civilians and four militants are killed in attacks on two hotels in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. (Reuters)
• Yemeni crisis, Saudi-led intervention in Yemen (2015-present)
  • A truce brokered by the United Nations due to last for the remainder of Ramadan is broken within an hour with both sides exchanging blame. (AP via US News and World Report)

• Greek government-debt crisis
  • 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.

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Eastern China braces for the impact of Typhoon Chan-hom with the province of Zhejiang evacuating 865,000 people in coastal areas. (CNN), (Business Insider)
• Volcán de Colima
  • 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)

• Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić is pelted with stones and other objects as he attempts to pay respects to the victims of the Bosnian Genocide, Vučić is a former member of the Serbian Radical Party, a far right anti-Islam party. (AP via New York Times)
• Russian military intervention in Ukraine
  • Dozens of Russian soldiers face trial for fleeing a training ground in Maikop, fearing deployment to Ukraine. (Deutsche Welle)
• Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera escapes from a maximum security prison the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1. (AP)

• Aung San Suu Kyi announces that the National League for Democracy will participate in Myanmar's general election later this year. (Wall Street Journal)

• 2015 Wimbledon Championships
  • Serena Williams defeats Garbiñe Muguruza to win the 2015 Wimbledon Women's Singles title. (The Guardian)
• 2015 Ashes series
  • 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 Arabian–led intervention in Yemen
  • Saudi-led coalition forces bomb Houthi targets in several provinces of Yemen, killing at least 15 people, despite a UN-brokered truce. (Business Standard)
• 2015 Sousse attacks
  • Tunisia arrests 127 people suspected of being members of terrorist groups following last month's attack. (Al-Arabiya)
  • Tunisia's Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli claims that the country has targeted the al-Qaida-linked Oqba Ibn Nafaa brigade. (AP)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • A suicide car bomb kills 25 people and wounds 10 in southeastern Afghanistan close to a U.S. base. (Reuters)
• Colombian conflict (1964–present)
  • The Government of Colombia and FARC announce plans to negotiate a ceasefire to end the fifty year old dispute. (AP)

• Greek government debt crisis
  • 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)

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Chan-hom weakens as it heads to northeastern China. (Xinhua)

• War on Terror
  • An independent report reveals that the American Psychological Association was complicit in the participation of its members with the use of torture during the Iraq and Afghan wars, such as in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Many experts suspected that the bizarre torture and humiliation were not "a few bad apples" but meticulously planned techniques. (The Guardian)

• 2015 Wimbledon Championships
  • In tennis, Novak Djokovic defeats Roger Federer in the men's singles in four sets to claim his third title. (BBC), (BBC)

• Burundi's army kills 31 suspected rebels and captures 170 others in fighting in the country's north. (ABC News via AP)
• Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen
  • 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)

• Greek government-debt crisis, timeline
  • Eurozone leaders agree on a bailout deal for Greece providing the Hellenic Parliament passes reforms into law by July 15. (BBC)

• 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)

• 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)

• The Prime Minister of Romania Victor Ponta is charged in an on-going corruption scandal. (BBC)
• Former United Kingdom Independence Party Member of the European Parliament Ashley Mote is jailed for 5 years for fraudulently claiming almost £500k in European Parliament expenses. (BBC)
• Rapper Curtis James Jackson III, better known by his stage name 50 Cent, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (MarketWatch)
• President Barack 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)
• Alaa Bader Abdullah, 31, is executed in the United Arab Emirates for the murder of Ibolya Ryan, a Romanian-American teacher. (Reuters)
• 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)

• Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem was re-elected president of the Eurogroup for a second term. (Reuters)
• 2016 United States presidential election
  • Scott Walker, the Governor of Wisconsin, announces that he will be seeking the Republican Party nomination. (NBC News)

• Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics
  • The male New Zealand national under-23 football team are disqualified from the qualifying tournament by the Oceania Football Confederation for fielding allegedly ineligible player Deklan Wynne.(BBC)

• At least 27 people are killed in a stampede at the Godavari Maha Pushkaram Hindu festival in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. (NY Times)
• 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)
• Two people are dead and six are missing due to flash flooding in Kentucky. (NBC News), (Fox News)

• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • The Google Maps website removes the Chinese name for the Scarborough Shoal bitterly disputed by China and the Philippines from its maps service, following an outcry from Filipinos. (The Economic Times)
• Negotiation of a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran
  • A nuclear deal is reached in Vienna between Iran and P5+1. This Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action if signed by the entities involved, will cut off Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon whilst allowing for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, inspections, and the lifting of sanctions. (BBC) (CNN) (NY Times)

• North Korea announces a criminal amnesty in honor of the 70th anniversary of independence from Japanese rule. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• 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)

• Recent climate change would still cause a 6-meter (20-feet) sea-level rise even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced today per a scientific paper in Science.(Times of Malta), (Science)
• NASA's New Horizons spacecraft completes a historic flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons. Measurements, along with many high-quality photos and reams of data, were taken, including conclusive information regarding the diameter of Pluto and its moons.(Gizmodo) (CNN) (official NASA page)
• 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)
• Scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider announce discovery of the pentaquark. (BBC) (ABC News)

• A panel appointed by the Supreme Court of India recommends that two Indian Premier League cricket teams, the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals be suspended for two years due to a corruption scandal. (BBC)
• 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • In baseball, the American League defeats the National League 6-3 to win home-field advantage in the 2015 World Series. (Sports Illustrated via Twitter)

• Boko Haram
  • At least 33 people are killed in Boko Haram attacks in recent days in northeastern Nigeria. (CNN)
• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • Loyalists of exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi capture Aden International Airport after four months of being under Houthi control. (Al-Arabiyah)

• 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)

• Greek government-debt crisis, Greek government-debt crisis timeline
  • The Hellenic Parliament votes to approve the Greek bailout package despite many senior lawmakers from the ruling Syriza Party refusing to vote for the deal. (AP via New York Times), (BBC)
• Puerto Rico government debt crisis
  • Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating of Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank to 'CC', saying a near-term default is a virtual certainty. (Reuters)
• Pabst Brewing Company announces plans to brew again at their historic brewery located in Milwaukee. (JS)
• Spanish manufacturer Talgo announces Saudi Arabia's cancellation of a $201-million contract for six high-speed trains. (Reuters via Arabian Business)

• Two South Korean airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, will resume flights to Japan after suspending flights during the recent MERS outbreak. (TASS)

• Oskar Gröning, known as the "Auschwitz book-keeper", is sentenced to four years imprisonment for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews. (BBC)

• President of Russia Vladimir Putin signs a law that sets the date for an early parliamentary election on 18 September 2016. (Bloomberg)

• 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)
• NASA publishes the first close up photos of Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft. They show geologically young mountains made of water ice. (The Guardian), (Wired)

• 2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
  • India and Pakistan exchanged gunfire and mortar bombs along their disputed frontier, killing five civilians and injuring more than a dozen. (Reuters)
• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • Members of exiled President of Yemen Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's Cabinet tour the southern city of Aden for the first time in several months. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
• Sinai insurgency
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has claimed that it sank an Egyptian patrol boat in the Mediterranean, just off the coast of Rafah. The Egyptian military claimed the ship sank from a fire not caused by attacks. (Time) (Ahram Online)
• Boko Haram, Timeline of Boko Haram insurgency
  • Twin blasts at a market in Gombe, Nigeria kill at least 49 people. (BBC)
  • Boko Haram militants kill a dozen villagers in Niger. (Reuters)
• South Thailand insurgency
  • Two Thai Army soldiers are killed in an ambush in Thailand's Narathiwat Province. (Bangkok Post)
• At least 11 people are killed and many others injured in a tribal fight in a remote area of Papua New Guinea. (AFP via ABC Australia)

• Nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards are announced with Game of Thrones receiving 24 nominations. (Variety)

• The European Union launches an antitrust action against American semiconductor company Qualcomm, for possible abuse of a dominant market position, on the one hand, and predatory pricing, on the other hand. (European Union)

• Sixty-five thousand people in the Indian state of Assam are affected by floods and heavy rainfall. (NDTV)
• Ash from the Raung volcano closes five airports in Indonesia, while ash from the Gamalama volcano closes the Babullah Airport in Ternate. (Channel News Asia)
• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Nangka makes landfall on the Japanese island of Shikoku. (Weather.com)
• 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)

• 2015 Chattanooga shootings
  • A shooting occurs at a United States Navy recruiting office and a Navy operational support center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four U.S. Marines, a U.S. Navy Sailor, and the gunman, and wounding a police officer and a Marine Corps recruiter. (Reuters via MSN) (The Tennessean), (NBC News), (WRCB) (CNN)
• 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting
  • James Holmes, a former University of Colorado neuroscience student, is found guilty of first-degree murder in relation to a mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, which killed 12 and injured 70; he had pled not guilty by reason of legal insanity. (Reuters, via MSN)

• 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)

• Boko Haram, Timeline of Boko Haram insurgency
  • Suicide bombers killed at least 64 people in multiple blasts in the northeastern towns of Gombe and Damaturu, Nigeria. (WSJ via AP)(Local 10) (BBC)
  • 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)
• At least six people are killed in clashes between supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian police. (BBC)
• 2015 Khan Bani Saad massacre, Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
  • A car bomb in Khan Bani Saad City massacres more than 100 people, mostly Shias, celebrating the Eid after end of Ramadan. ISIL claims responsibility. (Reuters)
• Tolikara riot
  • 12 people injured, 1 boy killed, and several home and kiosk burned in Tolikara Regency, Papua, Indonesia. (Solopos)

• Australian artist Nigel Milsom wins the 2015 Archibald Prize for a portrait of barrister Charles Waterstreet who represented Milsom when he was sentenced for armed robbery. (ABC News Australia)
• Holy Trinity University, Puerto Princesa, Philippines has been named as a new center to research ancient Palawan man, Tabon Caves, and large sculptures found along Palawan's coast. (Palawan-News)

• Greek government-debt crisis
  • Bundestag, the German lower house of parliament, approves Greece's bailout plan by 439–119 with 40 abstained. (Reuters)

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • 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)
• Formula One driver Jules Bianchi passes away at his hospital in Nice, France due to head injuries from his accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. (ESPN)

• The People's Republic of China releases 10 South African tourists held for allegedly distributing terrorist material. (News 24)
• 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)
• Liza Maza, a human rights activist and former Filipino congresswoman, and the Center for Women's Resources criticized the United States and the Philippines governments for preventing Maza's boarding of a July 9, 2015, Korean Air flight destined for Washington, D.C. Maza, who has a U.S. visa valid until 2018, was scheduled to speak before a left-wing conference on U.S. activities in the Philippines. (Bulatlat) (Bulatlat) (Philippine Daily Inquirer) (CommonDreams.org)

• Protests are held, and social media amasses over 200,000 #SandraBland tweets after the Death of Sandra Bland, an activist against police brutality, while she is imprisoned in Waller County, Texas. (The New York Times), (WSWS)
• The Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary group, raid the Karachi headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party on the grounds that it had allegedly been producing hate speech, and arrest two people. (Reuters via Business Insider)
• 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)

• List of world records in athletics
  • Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia breaks the world record for women's 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) at the Herculis IAAF Diamond League event in Monaco running 3 minutes, 50.08 seconds. (BBC)

• 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)

• Persecution of Hazara people in Quetta
  • 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).
• Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
  • The Kurdish's People's Protection Units and independent monitors accuse ISIL of using poison gas while fighting in northern Syria late in June. (Reuters)
  • Saudi Arabia arrests 431 people accused of links to Islamic State. (Al-Arabiyah)
  • ISIL claims responsibility for kidnapping three African Christians in Libya. (Reuters via Trust)
• War in Donbass, Timeline of the war in Donbass (July 2015–present)
  • Three civilians have been killed by shelling in the Donbass town of Avdiivka, within government-held territory. (Reuters)
• Sinai insurgency
  • Militants kill at least five soldiers in attacks on two Egyptian Army checkpoints. (AP via ABC America)

• At least four people are dead, seven injured and a girl trapped as a four story building collapses in West Delhi in India's National Capital Territory of Delhi. (NDTV)

• 2015 Cajon Pass wildfire
  • 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)

• 2015 Chattanooga shootings
  • 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)

• British police resume the search for four people missing after an explosion at a mill in Cheshire. (BBC)

• 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)

• 2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes, India–Pakistan relations
  • The Pakistan Foreign Office lodges an official report with India over what it calls a series of "unprovoked ceasefire violations" in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. (AP via Asian Correspondent)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • In a friendly fire incident, a NATO air strike hits an Afghan National Army outpost in Logar Province, about 30 miles east of Kabul, with at least seven soldiers killed and five wounded. (CNN) (The Independent - UK)
• Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Suruç bombing
  • 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 ISIS suicide attack. (BBC) (The Daily Star)

• Greek government-debt crisis timeline
  • Greek banks reopen for the first time in three weeks with strict capital controls. (AP)
• Lockheed Martin agrees to buy United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky Aircraft for $9 billion. (Reuters)
• Venezuela orders producers to divert supplies to state stores amid a chronic shortage of goods. (AP)

• Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
  • The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves the Nuclear Pact between Iran and a group of six world powers in return for sanctions relief. (Voice of America) (Reuters)
• The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. (AP)

• Rosetta mission:
  • The Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has lost contact with the European Space Agency (ESA) ground control. (DW), (CNN)

• Anti-corruption campaign in China:
  • Ling Jihua is expelled from the Communist Party of China after an investigation and arrested to faced criminal charges. (New York Times)

• 2015 Open Championship
  • In golf, the final round of The Open Championship is played at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland with Zach Johnson winning a four hole playoff with Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen. (The Guardian), (The Independent)
• FIFA announces it will hold an extraordinary session on February 26, 2016, in order to elect a new president to replace Sepp Blatter. (BBC)

• The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and human rights organizations say that YPG fighters have captured one juvenile prison and a power station south of Al-Hasakah. (kurdpress)

• Greek government-debt crisis timeline
  • The government of Greece submits more legislation to the Hellenic Parliament required by its creditors to start a bailout package. (Reuters)
• Hisao Tanaka stands down as the CEO of Japanese company Toshiba following a $1.2 billion accounting scandal. (Financial Times)

• The Philippines announces plans to increase its defense budget by 25% amid ongoing tension in the South China Sea. (AFP via Straits Times)

• Authorities in Waller County, Texas announce that the death of activist Sandra Bland in police custody will be treated as a murder investigation. (CNN)

• Burundian presidential election, 2015
  • Voters in Burundi go to the polls for a presidential election amidst gunfire and violence with President Pierre 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)
• 2016 United States presidential election
  • The Governor of Ohio John Kasich becomes the 16th person to seek the nomination of the Republican Party. (NBC News)

• The National Hockey League announces that it has received formal applications for expansion teams from ownership groups in Las Vegas and Quebec City. If granted, the expansion teams would begin play in the 2017–18 season. (CBC)

• A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people in northern Afghanistan. (CNN)
• Two explosions in the Nigerian city of Gombe killed at least 29 people. (Reuters)

• The University of Oxford has radiocarbon dated fragments, of what apparently is the world's oldest Quran, to between 568 A.D. and 645 A.D. The animal skin parchment was found hidden inside the pages of another book in England's University of Birmingham library. (Daily Mail) (Deutsche Welle)

• The European Central Bank provides an extra 900 million euros to the Greek banks. (The Independent)

• 2015 Studénka train crash
  • Three people die in a collision between a Pendolino train and a lorry that occurred near Studénka, north Moravia, in the Czech Republic. (Yahoo news) (ABC news) (ČTK)

• Charleston church shooting
  • Dylann Roof, the suspect in the murder of nine people in the American city of Charleston, South Carolina, is indicted on dozens of federal offenses including hate crimes. (The Guardian)
• The former prime minister of Egypt, Ahmed Nazif, is sentenced to five years in prison after losing appeal against 3-year prison sentence for corruption. (Cairo Post)
• Broken Arrow murders
  • Perpetrators Robert and Michael Bever murder their family in preparation for their Mass shooting plot.^[1]

• The finals of the robot football World Cup are held. A Chinese team defeats the Netherlands in the finals of the middle-weight non-humanoid league, while another lost in the final of the small humanoid class to a team from Japan. (DutchNews) (BBC)

• Scientists at the U.S. NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases report a major breakthrough toward finding a new universal flu vaccine by using non-infectious H-proteins instead of whole viruses.(NIAID)

• Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
  • 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)
• China's People's Liberation Army conducts a series of military exercises simulating an attack on Taiwan's Presidential Office Building. (Focus Taiwan) (Quartz) (Wall Street Journal)

• Greek government-debt crisis timeline
  • A majority in the Greek parliament votes to approve a second bailout reform package. (Euronews)
• Pearson PLC agrees to sell Financial Times Group to Nikkei Inc. for £844 million. (BBC)

• At least 35 people are killed in a boat crash on Egypt's Nile. (BBC), (Yahoo)

• Broken Arrow killings
  • 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)
• 2015 Lafayette shooting
  • 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)

• Discoveries of exoplanets
  • NASA scientists announce the discovery of Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth sized exoplanet discovered orbiting the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. (NASA), (BBC)

• Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
  • 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)

• Health insurance company Anthem Inc. agrees to buy Cigna in a deal worth $48 billion. (Wall Street Journal)
• Greek government-debt crisis timeline
  • Greece has formally requested a new bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund. (Deutsche Welle)

• 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)

• The United States Department of Transportation opens an investigation into whether airlines engaged in price gouging by raising ticket prices in the Northeastern United States following the 2015 Philadelphia train derailment in May. (AP)

• Burundian presidential election, 2015
  • The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, is elected for a third consecutive term. (BBC)
• Anti-corruption campaign in China:
  • 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)

• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • 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)
• Two suicide bombings at a swimming pool in northern Iraq kill at least 12 people. (Reuters)

• Chris Brown leaves the Philippines after he is prevented from leaving for four days due to a financial dispute between Brown and the Christian sect Iglesia ni Cristo. (The New York Times)

• A large fire 12 miles (19 kilometres) west of the French city of Bordeaux ravages more than 350 hectares (860 acres) of forest. (The Daily Star)

• The Tunisian parliament approves a new anti-terror law that allows the death penalty for terrorists. (Reuters)

• Dutch cyclist Niek Kimmann wins his first UCI BMX Supercross series world title, while Venezuelan Stefany Hernandez finished first at the elite women's race. (British Cycling)

• Boko Haram insurgency in Cameroon
  • 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)
• A bomb detonates on a bus carrying Egyptian military conscripts in Arish, injuring 18. (Daily News Egypt)

• German marketplace organizer Deutsche Börse agrees to purchase trading platform 360T for €725 million. (Wall Street Journal)
• 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)
• Nike agrees to pay a combined $2.4 million to consumers of Nike+ FuelBand over false advertising. (Times Gazette)

• Bobbi Kristina Brown, age 22, daughter of American entertainer Whitney Houston and heiress to the Houston estate, dies approximately 6 months after having been put in a medically induced coma since being found face-down in a bathtub in her Roswell, Georgia home near Atlanta on January 31, 2015. (CNN), (MSN)

• A light plane crashes in the Tokyo residential area of Chōfu, killing three people. (ABC Online)

• Palestinian youth and Israeli riot police clash at the Al-Aqsa Mosque as the Muslims attacked Jews celebrating Tisha B'Av with rocks and firecrackers and barricaded themselves inside the mosque. (New York Times)
• At least 20 people are killed as gunmen open fire at a wedding celebration in Afghanistan's Baghlan province. (Al-Jazeera)

• John Sewel, Baron Sewel steps down from his position as Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords following a drug scandal. (BBC)

• At least 7 people are killed and many injured after gunmen attack an Indian police station in Punjab. (The Hindu)
• Syrian Civil War, Battle of Sarrin (June–July 2015)
  • YPG led forces capture the strategic town Sarrin from ISIL after a month-long offensive. (The Daily Star)

• 2015 Chinese stock market crash
  • The Shanghai Composite Index drops 8.5%, the largest one-day decline in the index since 2007. (Bloomberg)

• The Turkish National Police warns of possible bomb attacks on crowded places in central Istanbul, including metro stations and bus stops, following the escalation of Turkey–ISIL conflict. (Hürriyet Daily News)

• Philippines President Benigno Aquino III holds his final State of the Nation Address before stepping down in 2016. He advocates the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and an anti-dynasty bill. (CNN Philippines), GMA News Online
• French farmers 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)
• A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,former President of India dies aged 83.

• Boko Haram attacks in multiple northern Nigerian villages leaves at least 29 dead. (Bloomberg)

• Dutch aerospace company Fokker Technologies is acquired by the British multinational GKN. (GKN)

• Rescuers find 13 dead migrants in a boat off the Libyan coast. (Al-Arabiyah)
• Florida law enforcement and civilians continue the search for two boys, both aged 14, who were intending to travel to the Bahamas by boat. (USA Today)
• At least 25 people have been killed and 22 injured at a fire in a furniture factory in Obour City near the Egyptian capital Cairo. (Reuters via Egypt Independent) (BBC)
• At least six people have been killed and several are missing following a building collapse in the Indian city of Thane. (CNN)
• Heavy rain in last three days resulted in widespread flood in north Gujarat resulting in more than 70 deaths.[1]

• A Libyan court sentences Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to death in absentia for alleged atrocities in 2011. (AP via Fox News)
• 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)
• 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape
  • 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)

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad
  • Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak fires Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. (The New York Times)
• 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)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • The Afghan government claims that Taliban leader Mohammad Omar died in April 2013 in Pakistan of natural causes. (BBC) (Reuters)
• War in North-West Pakistan
  • 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)

• The Wragg Fire in Northern California continues to burn at 80% containment with over 6,991 acres being destroyed and mandatory evacuations. (KQED)
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • Debris found near the Indian Ocean island of Réunion is consistent with material from a Boeing 777 and is being examined to confirm whether it is from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. (CNN)
• 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)

• 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)

• Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari visits neighboring Cameroon to bolster support for a multinational army to fight Boko Haram. (AP via Washington Post)

• University of Cincinnati Police officer Ray Tensing is charged with murder for the July 19, 2015 shooting death of Samuel DuBose. (Yahoo News)
• 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)

• Turkey–PKK conflict
  • An ambush on a Turkish military convoy in the south-eastern Şırnak Province by PKK militants kills 3 Turkish soldiers. (BBC)

• 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)

• A Taiwanese high school student commits suicide by charcoal fumes after a protest against controversial Sinocentric revisions in a curriculum guideline; hundreds storm the education ministry in response. (AFP via Yahoo) (Taipei Times) (BBC) (AP via Yahoo) (Los Angeles Times)
• Russia vetoes a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have established an international criminal tribunal to investigate the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. (WSJ)

• The Israeli Knesset passes a controversial law that legalizes forced-feeding of Palestinian prisoners. (Middle East Eye)
• India executes Yakub Memon for his role in the 1993 Bombay bombings. (BBC)

• After days of debate, the Taliban announce Mullah Akhtar Mansoor as the successor to Mullah Omar over his son, Yaqoob Omar. (BBC)
• Anti-corruption campaign in China:
  • 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)
• Chen Min'er replaces Zhao Kezhi as the Communist Party Secretary of Guizhou province, China. Zhao awaits assignment. (CRI)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani Network, is reported as having died in 2014. (BBC)
• Turkey–PKK conflict
  • 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)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Houthi shelling kills four Saudi Arabian soldiers and wounds eight others in the Saudi town of Aseer near the volatile Yemeni border. Jazeera)

• Swiss National Bank reports a first half loss of 50 billion CHF as a result of the franc to euro peg removal earlier this year. (BBC)
• Russian financial crisis (2014–present)
  • The Central Bank lowers interest rate to 11%, while the ruble falls 1.5% on the day to close at 60.60 against the dollar. (Reuters UK)

• Four people including members of the Bin Laden family are killed in a business jet crash close to Blackbushe Airport in the United Kingdom. (BBC), (BBC)
• More than 21 people are killed in flooding in Myanmar and up to 150,000 people are displaced.

• 2015 West Bank Arson attack
  • Suspected Jewish settlers set fire to a West Bank home and burned a sleeping Palestinian toddler to death in an attack that drew Palestinian rage and widespread Israeli condemnation. (KLTV)(NY Times)

• 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)
• France agrees to pay Russia €1.16bn in refund and compensation after the cancellation of the sale of two warships following the military intervention in Ukraine. (BBC)

• Philippine presidential election, 2016:
  • President Benigno Aquino III endorses the presidential candidacy of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas in 2016. (Rappler), (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas announces his presidential candidacy in 2016. (Rappler)

• The International Olympic Committee selects Beijing as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Lausanne in Switzerland is chosen as the host city for the 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games. (The Guardian). (USA Today)