The
United Arab Emirates will suspend some
BlackBerry mobile services from October amid concerns that data from some equipment is being exported offshore and managed by foreign organisations.
Saudi Arabia plans to suspend some services later this month.
(BBC)(Aljazeera)
Disasters
Thousands of troops are mobilised in
Russia to tackle
forest fires spreading in 17 regions, the worst in decades, as the death toll rises to 30.
(Voice of Russia)(AFP)
Colombia denies claims by
Venezuela that it is planning a military attack, a day after Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez said he was sending troops to their mutual border.
(CNN)(Xinhua)
United Kingdom -
Sarah's Law, a scheme which allows parents to check if someone with access to their children is a sex offender, will be extended to cover the whole of
England and
Wales by Spring 2011 after proving successful in four pilot areas.
(BBC)
An antiques dealer is imprisoned for handling a copy of the First Folio by poet and playwright
William Shakespeare, though cleared of actually stealing it, in the UK.
(BBC)
The
European Union announces it will end its mission to reform security forces in
Guinea-Bissau due to the deteriorating situation in the country.
(BBC)(News24)
Police fill the streets of Karachi and
Hyderabad is also deserted.
(Reuters)
Twin explosions kill at least 3 people and injure at least 50 others in a crowded shopping area in
Kut,
Wasit; women and children are seen bleeding in the streets.
(BBC)
Authorities shoot dead at least 2 people for protesting on a highway near
Srinagar in
Kashmir.
(Aljazeera)
The daughter of former Alaska Governor
Sarah Palin,
Bristol Palin and
Levi Johnston once again call off their engagement after it's revealed that Johnston fathered a child with another woman.
(ABC)
A letter is unveiled demonstrating how
Robert Burns was "reduced and shattered" in his final days; it will soon be exhibited in
Edinburgh,
Scotland.
(BBC)
Tokyo's "oldest woman" cannot be located, casting doubts upon her claim to the title.
(BBC)(The Guardian)
Nearly £2 billion of savings are revealed to have been removed from the UK's nationalised
Northern Rock bank.
(The Guardian)
Ecuador says it will not
drill for oil in the
Yasuni National Park for at least a decade after being provided with $3.6 billion (£2.26 billion) - half the money it would receive from selling the oil - in a deal signed with the
United Nations.
(BBC)
Seven people go on trial in
Kuwait accused of spying for
Iran against Kuwait and the
United States; they deny all charges and say they were tortured into confessing.
(BBC)
The first major
Earth-directed
solar eruption in a decade will generate aurorae visible in non-polar areas from early August 4th to August 5th.
(Foxnews.com)(CNN)
Officials say more than 28,000 people have died in Mexican drug violence since December 2006, thousands more than previously thought.
(BBC)
India expresses deep regret that its police had to kill at least 28 people this week in
Kashmir, with its Home Affairs Minister requesting that protesters stop.
(BBC)
At a meeting of the national Security Council Medvedev states: "By no means you may allow
anarchy [...] You must not let the situation go out of local authorities' control".
(Xinhua)
At least 17 more people are killed during
a third day of violence in
Karachi, with police given orders to shoot on sight as buildings burn. Current death toll: At least 80.
(BBC)
Russian pianist, conductor and composer
Mikhail Pletnev cancels some appearances while he deals with accusations that he raped a 14-year-old boy in
Thailand.
(BBC)
Pham Thanh Binh, the former boss of Vinashin, one of
Vietnam's largest state-owned companies, is arrested on suspicion of nearly bankrupting the company.
(BBC)
Israel charges three Arab men with spying for
Syria; they deny the charges and one is alleged to be a human rights activist.[clarification needed](BBC)
A woman who is alleged to have been raped by two police officers appears on
Egyptian television where she is interviewed about the experience.
(BBC)
Preliminary results of the referendum on the new
Constitution of
Kenya show it has passed with 67 per cent of the vote following a peaceful election.
(Aljazeera)
Those campaigning against the new Constitution concede defeat.
(BBC)
Germany offers compensation of
€3,800 to each family of 91 of the 142 people it killed and 11 it injured in an air strike near
Kunduz, an incident which provoked outrage and led to political and military resignations. The
Bundeswehr does not admit guilt and families say they may sue.
(BBC)(Der Spiegel)
An international aid ship, the Saint Mariam, bearing only female passengers from all backgrounds, including singer
May Hariri and several Americans, is to leave
Tripoli bound for
Gaza after overcoming an
Israeli diplomatic mission designed to prevent it from setting sail.
(The Guardian)
Smoke from
Russian wildfires covers famous landmarks and delays more than 140 flights at
Moscow airports while official figures indicate that 14,340 people died in
Moscow during July 2010; 4,824 more than the same month last year.
(Sky News)(Bloomberg)(The Guardian)
After meeting
Pakistani President Zardari at
Chequers UK Prime Minister Cameron speaks of an "unbreakable" friendship between Britain and Pakistan in his attempts to recover from remarks he made about Pakistan's alleged promotion of terrorism.
(BBC)
Zardari reiterates his desire to combat terrorism and says he has secured a deal with Britain to lobby the
European Union for funds for a "
Marshall Plan" to rebuild Pakistan and Afghanistan.
(The Guardian)(BBC)
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death in
Iran, speaks out, saying Iran is "desperately trying to distract attention and confuse the media so that they can kill me in secret".
(The Guardian)
Police near
Colombo arrest a suspected fraudster for whom they had previously appealed to
Interpol; it is unknown if he denies the charges brought against him.
(BBC)
Hungarian actress
Zsa Zsa Gabor, hospitalised after falling in the
United States last month, is not released from hospital as had been initially expected due to a negative reaction to her
morphine.
(BBC)
An
oil spill stretching at least two miles long occurs in the
Arabian Sea offshore
Mumbai,
India, after a vessel from
Panama collides with another vessel from
St. Kitts. The Panamanian ship was carrying 2,662 tons of oil, 283 tons of
diesel and 88,040 liters of
lube oil when it became grounded and started to leak.
(CNN)(Sify)
At least 8 people are killed and 32 others injured during a car bomb outside a restaurant in
Ramadi, Iraq.
(Aljazeera)
The death toll of Saturday's explosion in
Basra,
Iraq, rises to 43, with the number of injured people being over 100. Police say the explosion was as a result of a
power generator short-circuiting but other sources claim it was due to a
car bomb.
(Aljazeeera)(Euronews)(BBC)
United States Representative
Ron Klein calls for an investigation into American military aid to
Lebanon to determine whether the Lebanese soldiers involved used American-supplied military equipment or received American-funded training.
(The Jerusalem Post)
A bridegroom accidentally shoots dead three relations and injures eight others while celebrating with an
AK-47 at his wedding in Akcagoze,
Gaziantep in
Turkey; the man has been detained.
(BBC)(News24)
Torrential rains worsen
the ongoing flood crisis across
Pakistan, which has so far affected 14 million people, as rescue helicopters are forced to stay on the ground in the northwest of the country.
(Aljazeera)(BBC)
Landslips wreak further destruction in
Pakistan: 28 corpses retrieved so far in 2 villages.
(BBC)
Food prices soar in Pakistan as the floods destroy one million acres of crops so far.
(The Express Tribune)
There is a further cave-in at the mine near
Copiapó,
Chile where people have been working since Thursday to rescue 34 miners trapped underground; work is currently suspended in an incident that is rare in that part of the world.
(BBC)
There is "significant concern" after an investigation into the
UK Border Agency (UKBA) reveals abuse and racial manhandlement of asylum seekers by staff.
(The Guardian)
More than 1,000 journalists march through
Mexico City in protest at the repeated killings and disappearances of their colleagues throughout
Mexico.
(Aljazeera)
Japan marks the 65th anniversary of
the 1945 atomic bombing of
Nagasaki. The United States, which perpetrated the attack, upsets survivors by not sending an ambassador due to "scheduling reasons" this time, though France and the UK send representatives for the first time.
(China Daily)(Yomiuri Shimbun)(BBC)
Mayor of Nagasaki
Tomihisa Taue calls for the international elimination of nuclear weapons before representatives of a record 32 countries.
(Japan Times)
The Turkish government promotes two new generals.
(BBC)
Israeli police examine office computers and issue a warrant to
Channel 2 calling on it to surrender a military document they want.
(The Jerusalem Post)
A man from
Israel is released after being detained as a suspected spy in
Libya in return for the safe delivery to
Gaza of 20 prefabricated houses, whose ship was forced to divert to
Egypt in July.
(BBC)(The Sydney Morning Herald)
An anonymous
transsexual is involved in a landmark case in
Hong Kong to win the right to marry her boyfriend.
(BBC)
More than 200
Mexican police suspend and hold their own commander at gunpoint in a
Ciudad Juárez hotel over allegations of drugs-related corruption.
(BBC)
The
United States and
Vietnam celebrate the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations by conducting what the United States describes as a "series of naval engagement activities" in the
South China Sea, risking a disagreement with China.
(BBC)(China Daily)
The
United States defends its decision to appoint as
Venezuelan ambassador
Larry Palmer, who has expressed negative views of the country in the past, including insinuating that it has ties with
Colombian rebels.
(Aljazeera)
Saudi Arabia permits the use of
BlackBerry devices for now, having previously considering banning them as they were unable to intercept and decrypt communications on that platform.
(BBC)
Guatemala issues arrest warrants for 18 former senior officials and policemen who killed 7 prisoners in 2006.
(BBC)
An American museum launches an appeal designed to restore 5 dresses that actress
Vivien Leigh wore in the film Gone with the Wind (1939) ahead of 2014's 75th anniversary.
(BBC)
The internet parody video "
Newport State of Mind", which had received hundreds of thousands of hits, is taken off
YouTube due to a "copyright claim" by EMI Publishing.
(BBC)
The
Bank of England's governor
Mervyn King admits the economy will not grow very much and
inflation will stay higher for longer in the UK, describing as a "choppy recovery" being ahead over the next two years.
(BBC)
Fidel Castro agrees with former U.S. intelligence agents who say
Israel is planning for a sudden attack on
Iran, but states that Israel won't start the war as it would be outnumbered.
(Xinhua)
Former Kyrgyz prime minister
Igor Chudinov is arrested and charged with abuse of power during his 2007-2009 reign.
(Xinhua)
The Women's Commission of
West Bengal says there will be an inquiry into the case of a tribal woman who is reported to have been paraded naked around several villages and filmed in this act via a mobile phone.
(BBC)
NATO forces kill three civilians in a raid on a house in
Wardak Province, prompting hundreds of angry people to block a main road to express their frustration with the
United States.
(Aljazeera)
At least two people are killed, including one case of
self-immolation from a balcony, while more than 80 sustain wounds after troops interrupt a protest against poor conditions with
batons and
flashbangs at a prison in
Astana,
Kazakhstan.
(BBC)
Charles Taylor's defence lawyer Courtenay Griffiths is told not to speak, on a temporary basis, at Taylor's trial due to loss of temper; Griffiths apologises and is permitted to continue.
(BBC)
Anti-government protests in
Potosí,
Bolivia enter their third week, affecting mining production, blocking road and air transport, stranding tourists and reducing food supplies.
(BBC)
Scientists announce the discovery of a
chemical compound which destroys the reproduction capabilities of bacteria that are antibiotic-resistant.
(FierceBiotech)
The
eurozone economy grows by 1% in the second quarter of 2010, with the
German economy growing by 2.2%, its fastest quarterly growth in more than 20 years.
(BBC)(Aljazeera)(MarketWatch)(AP)
Peru's health ministry is deployed into the
Amazon to battle the
vampire bats blamed for the deaths of four children from
rabies.
(BBC)
India's health ministry completely rejects as "unscientific" and a "conspiracy" claims by researchers that medical tourists are spreading a new "superbug" that is alleged to have originated in the country. India states that its hospitals are safe.
(Aljazeera)
A rally takes place outside
Google's offices in the
U.S. state of
California against a proposal to change online data treatment.
(BBC)
Gabon signs over
US$4 billion of contracts with
Indian and
Singaporean companies for infrastructure projects, on the eve of the country's 50th anniversary since independence.
(AFP)(Xinhua)(Press TV)
China announces a national day of mourning for the victims of
mudslides in the northwest of the country, as the death toll rises to 1,239 people.
(China Daily)(BBC)(Aljazeera)
Several political parties in
Azerbaijan release a statement criticising the ruling of Baku Yasamal Court against 15
Shia Muslims, arrested in February while practising their religion in
Baku.
(Press TV)
Inspections of Israel's nuclear programme are urged by some concerned countries in a letter sent to Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
(Aljazeera)
In
Baghdad,
Iraq multiple suicide bombings go off during mid-day rush hour, killing 4 and injuring about 16, another strike at 7:15am hits a mini-bus heading from
Sadr City into downtown Baghdad, killing 3 including a police officer, and 9 others are wounded. Also, three other bombs go off simultaneously in a business district killing 1 and injuring 7.
(AFP via Google News)
Romani evictions and deportations from illegal campsites by French authorities:
A major road bridge is barricaded near
Bordeaux during a holiday weekend by
Romani objecting to forced evictions by French authorities.
(BBC)
Politicians, some from within
PresidentNicolas Sarkozy's own party, object to the treatment of the Romani as "reminiscent of roundups during the war".
(Deutsche Welle)
Israeli courts deem that its
government was "responsible" for the death of a female Palestinian child, who was hit by a rubber bullet in 2007.
(BBC)(Aljazeera)
Former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair is to give the £4.6 million advance and all royalties from his forthcoming memoirs, A Journey, to a sports centre for badly injured soldiers;
pacifists and the families of soldiers killed under his leadership call it "blood money".
(BBC)(Sky News)(The Guardian)
Fiji officially designates the word "
Fijian" as the term for the nationality of all the people of the islands including
Indo-Fijians. The word was previously used only for indigenous inhabitants.
(People's Daily)(Fijivillage)
A train derails in Sudbury, Suffolk, UK after hitting a sewage truck on a level crossing, injuring 18 people. Main article:
2010 Sudbury train accident.
A U.S. report claims that the
Chinesemilitary has been secretly expanding; the U.S. asks for dialogue with China to avert a "miscalculated" response.
(BBC)(Al Jazeera)
Julian Assange of
Wikileaks says the
United States has approached the website to try to negotiate the release of a further 15,000 Afghanistan war documents which the military desires to keep secret; the United States denies this.
(Aljazeera)
A
North Koreanfighter plane crashes in
China near the border, killing the pilot and possibly a second pilot bailing out. Pictures posted by local residents show a
Soviet plane design which were used in the
Korean War. It is suggested to have been a defection attempt.
(BBC)(Yonhap)
Scientists blame a peculiar double earthquake for
the deadly tsunami responsible for the deaths of 192 people in the
South Pacific last September, and described as "unlike anything
seismologists have seen before".
(BBC)
A court in
Israel court jails a man who broke into the
Turkish embassy in
Tel Aviv and asked for asylum; his lawyer says the man was once an Israeli informer whose life is now under threat.
(BBC)(News24)(Citizen.co.za)
A court in
Colombia declares as
unconstitutional a controversial deal allowing the
United States to freely use its military bases and says it will have to be redrafted; other Latin American countries have expressed concern that the United States is exerting excessive influence on the region.
(BBC)(The Age)(The Sydney Morning Herald)
Venezuela's
government begins a trial
ban of the publication of "violent, bloody or grotesque" photographs in newspapers, as a result of controversy over pictures of bloodied corpses riddled with bullets appear on the front page of newspapers.
(BBC)
The
Philippines is shocked by mobile phone footage apparently demonstrating police torture of a naked man charged with theft; many suspensions occur.
(BBC)
The
United Nations issues a report stating that
Israel restricts with live ammunition access to land used for farming and fishing by Palestinians, causing a loss of livelihood for tens of thousands of Palestinians.
(BBC)(United Nations Report)
Former chief of the
Sri Lankan armed forces
Sarath Fonseka admits he expects to be jailed after being charged with corruption and believes the verdict has been decided in advance; Fonseka has been elected to the
Sri Lankan parliament since the charges were pressed.
(BBC)
Mexico City legalises the fining of shops which give away free
plastic bags in an environmental initiative.
(BBC)
Canada Post advises customers that it cannot accept mail to
Gaza until further notice.
Israel Post continues to inform postal services around the world that mail service to Gaza is unavailable.
(Reuters)
South African health minister
Aaron Motsoaledi accuses of murder public sector workers who disrupt important treatment of patients while striking for better pay.
(BBC)(News24)
Remains of a 104-year-old woman's body are discovered in her son's backpack during a nationwide search in
Japan for missing
centenarians. It is thought they may have been there for a decade.
(AFP)(BBC)
An Irish-born Australian man who admitted after initially pleading innocence to breaching the state of emergency during
the anti-government protests in
Thailand is deported to Australia; he says he was beaten, was treated harshly and was not shown an arrest warrant.
(The Sydney Morning Herald)
A
quadriplegic man leaves hospital in
Hong Kong for his own home after 19 years, having written to the country's leader 6 years ago to ask that he be allowed to die.
(BBC)
The last remaining free inmate to have escaped from a prison in the
U.S. state of
Arizona is captured alongside his accomplice.
(The New York Times)
A man sues game-maker
NCsoft, stating he would not have begun to play one of their games,
Lineage II, if he had known it was addictive and claims it has left him unable to function.
(GameSpy)
An injunction prevents public sector workers from continuing their national strike for better pay in
South Africa; the army had previously been deployed and the country's health minister accused strikers of murder.
(BBC)
Relatives accuse authorities of not doing enough to save 33 miners who have spent the past 15 days trapped in a collapsed mine near
Copiapó in the
Atacama Desert.
(BBC)
The
United States is hit by a
salmonella scare, with hundreds of people now thought to be ill across the country due to bad
eggs; poisoning is expected to increase in the coming weeks.
(The Age)
Iran unveils a long range unmanned bomber, the Karrar
drone their latest addition in a number of recently disclosed military hardware.
(The Guardian),
(Los Angeles Times)
South African trade unions state that a court injunction successfully sought by the government is intended to "intimidate" workers who are striking in the hope of receiving better pay.
(BBC)(News24)
After a federal investigation by the
United States, 47 foreign-born gang members are arrested in
New England, including members of the "True Somali Bloods", "True Sudanese Bloods" and the "Asian Boyz". Over half are arrested in the
U.S. state of
Maine.
(Portland Press Herald)
4 mutilated and decapitated corpses are located by police hanging by their ankles from a bridge outside
Cuernavaca,
Morelos.
(BBC)
The
al-Shabaab rebel group in
Somalia says it has called 11 truckloads of reinforcements to take over the capital
Mogadishu after a week-long battle.
(Al Jazeera)
At least 43 people are killed in the violence.
(Press TV)
Sri Lanka urges
Saudi Arabia to investigate the case of a Sri Lankan maid who had nails and needles pushed into her by her employers as a "punishment". Doctors later remove 24 nails and needles from her body.
(Arab News)(Lanka Business Online)(BBC)
Suspected
Taliban insurgents attack two coalition allied military bases in eastern
Afghanistan; both attacks are repelled by coalition forces, killing 24 militants while taking no casualties.
(BBC)
Business and economy
Cuba eases property laws, allowing foreign investors to lease government land for up to 99 years.
(AP)(Al Jazeera)
International relations
China and
India state that the military ties between the two countries will not be affected despite the recent visa dispute.
[2][3]
A small semi-train is driven through the streets of
Gaza after six months of construction, to the delight of children living in harsh conditions.
(Xinhua)
At least 38 people, including the driver, are killed in
Ecuador when a bus falls down a cliff outside the capital
Quito, reportedly after the driver fell asleep.
(Reuters Africa)(Sky News Australia)
Four
Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, are shot dead in a shooting outside
Kiryat Arba, when a gunman opens fire on their car.
Hamas claims responsibility for the murder.
(Haaretz)
3,200 police officers have been fired so far this year by
Mexico's federal police force due to extracurricular activities.
(BBC)(AP via France24)(Aljazeera)
The
Indian government decides not to ban the controversial
BlackBerry devices for at least two months after the North American manufacturer allows "lawful access" to encrypted data it had been feared would be a security threat.
(Aljazeera)(BBC)
Talks begin between the government and workers striking for better conditions in
South Africa in the third week of a conflict which has seen troops deployed.
(BBC)(TIMES Live)(Reuters)
Following an Israeli-course on
editingWikipedia to further a national agenda, a Palestinian group initiates a plan to establish its view on the encyclopaedia.
[5][6]
Law and crime
The Danish-based Kurdish TV station
Roj TV faces terror charges for supporting PKK.
(Denmark.DK)
The
South African government improves a pay offer to more than a million striking public sector workers in an attempt to end the two-week-long strike.
(AllAfrica.com)(BBC)(CNN)