Three heavily armed gunmen who hijacked a helicopter help
Rédoine Faïd, one of
France's most notorious gangsters, escape from a prison in
Réau,
Île-de-France. Police later discovered the abandoned helicopter in
Gonesse. Faïd previously escaped prison in 2013 and was briefly France's most wanted criminal.
(BBC)
A man stabs multiple people celebrating a three-year-old's birthday party at an apartment complex housing refugees in
Boise, Idaho. Nine people are injured, including the birthday girl and five other children; the birthday girl dies the next day.
(Reuters)
Malta detains
German migrant rescue boat MV Sea Watch 3, which had been docked in
Valletta for repairs, as it attempts to head into the
Mediterranean Sea to rescue migrants off the
Libyan coast.
(Reuters)
The captain of MV Lifeline, a German migrant rescue ship that docked in Malta last week with 130 rescued migrants after
Italy refused access, makes an initial court appearance in Valletta. He is charged with operating his ship illegally.
(Reuters)
Antonio Halili, the mayor of
Tanauan,
Philippines, is shot dead by a sniper during a flag raising ceremony outside the city hall. Halili was known for parading people arrested on drug offenses through the city's streets.
(CNN)
The
Bataan Coast Guard detains cruise ship MV Forever Lucky on suspicion of involvement in
human trafficking. The National Bureau of Investigation rescues 139 alleged victims from the vessel and charges Johnny Cabrera, the alleged lessor of the ship.
(Inquirer)
Authorities call off the search for 164 missing after the ferry sank in
Lake Toba. Only three bodies have been recovered after the disaster. Although the wreck has been located, rescuers lack the equipment to raise it or attempt to retrieve any bodies inside.
(Inquirer)
Ferry MV KM Lestari Maju sinks while en route to Pamatata in
Selayar,
South Sulawesi,
Indonesia, with 48 vehicles and 139 passengers on board. At least 12 fatalities are reported.
(Channel NewsAsia)
Azerbaijan's largest blackout since 1991 affects most of the country.
(AP)
A pedestrian bridge collapses onto railway lines in
Mumbai, injuring five. An approaching train is able to perform an emergency stop before colliding with the wreckage. Thousands of commuters are left stranded throughout the city.
(BBC)
Health and environment
Seattle becomes the first major
U.S. city to ban plastic straws and utensils in all bars and restaurants.
(CBC)
Philippinesoldiers clash with militants from the
ISIL-affiliated
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), in the southern province of
Maguindanao. The fighting began when BIFF militants attempted to occupy a town center, and lasted for 12 hours until the BIFF militants withdrew to the hills. Four militants were killed, while two militants, a Philippine soldier and a local militiaman were wounded.
(Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
Survivors trapped overnight on a stricken ferry are rescued off the
Indonesian island of
Sulawesi after the ferry began sinking the day before. Out of the 139 passengers aboard, 31 have been confirmed dead, while three remain missing.
(AP via ABC News)
At least six people are arrested for hanging a sign that read "Abolish
ICE" from the base below the
Statue of Liberty, where no banners are permitted hung under federal law. Another is arrested after scaling the base of the statue, prompting an evacuation of
the island on the busy
Fourth of July holiday.
(The Washington Post)(ABC News)
Two explosions at fireworks workshops in
Tultepec,
Mexico, kill at least 19 people, including rescue workers, and injure dozens more. Tultepec is home to a major fireworks industry.
(Reuters)
Iran threatens to close the
Strait of Hormuz to shipping if the
U.S. re-applies sanctions to the country after the U.S withdrew from the
JCPOA deal earlier in the year.
(The Guardian)
In the Avenfield corruption case, the court announced a 10 year sentence and 8 million pound fine for the former
Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Nawaz Sharif. His daughter and political heir,
Maryam Nawaz, was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment and a 2 million pound fine. Sharif's son-in-law,
Muhammad Safdar Awan, received a one-year sentence.
(DAWN)
About 50 students are poisoned by inhaling a toxic gas, due to an explosion near their school of the locality of Chosica, in Lima, Peru. Spokespeople from local municipality say that this poisoning is due to the leakage of gas from a chlorine cylinder, although the place where the explosion began and the origin of the product has yet to be determined.
(El Comercio)(La República)
A court in
Myanmar charges two
Reuters journalists with obtaining secret state documents in violation of the
colonial-eraOfficial Secrets Act, taking the landmark press freedom case to trial after a period of preliminary hearings that lasted six months. The two journalists were investigating mass graves in the village of
Inn Din in northern
Rakhine State prior to their arrest and imprisonment on 12 December 2017.
(Reuters)(Al Jazeera)
Eugene Gu, a doctor famous for successfully suing President
Donald Trump for blocking him on
Twitter, has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who says she’s his ex.
(Daily Dot)
Former
NFL cornerback
Brandon Browner is arrested after allegedly breaking into a home of an ex-girlfriend who has a restraining order against him.
(UPI)
A film on
IRIB TV1 showing social media users being scolded and tearfully apologizing for promoting dance online angers reformists.
(AFP via Yahoo! News)
Shaparak Shajarizadeh, one of the Iranian women in the
Girls of Enghelab Street protest against the hijab rule, says that she has left
Iran after being sentenced to two years in prison and an 18-year suspended prison term.
(RFE/RL)
The
Trump Administration misses a court mandated July 10th deadline to reunite some of the youngest of the separated children with their families, citing "legitimate logistical impediments".
(BBC)
According to officials, an attack by the
Taliban near
Kunduz kills 29
Afghan Army soldiers. Air strikes kill dozens of militants elsewhere in the country.
(Reuters)
In
Germany, the accused members and supporters of the
Neo-Naziterrorist group
National Socialist Underground are found guilty of the murders of nine
immigrants and one policewoman, assistance in said murders, bomb attacks, attempted murders, and robbery. The main defendant and last surviving member of the terrorist group,
Beate Zschäpe, is sentenced to life imprisonment.
(Deutsche Welle)
At least ten people are killed and many others still missing after a landslide breaks the banks of a natural dam in
Panjshir Province,
Afghanistan.
(TOLO News)
A suicide bomb attack near
Mastung, Pakistan, kills 129 people, including political party candidate Siraj Raisani, during a political campaign. This is the third consecutive attack on a political rally.
(RTÉ.ie)
Widespread unrest erupts in
southern Iraq as protesters, frustrated by shortages of electricity, water and jobs vent their anger, setting fire to political offices, attacking government infrastructure and deepening uncertainty about the country’s shaky political future.
(Washington Post)
In data collected by
NASA's Juno spacecraft, an
INAF team discovers suggestions of a new volcano close to the south pole of
Jupiter's moon
Io.
(Tribune)
An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude strikes off
Yemen, but there are no reports of any damage or casualties.
(The New York Times)
MV Shunqiang 2 collides with another ship off
Shanghai, causing thirteen to fall overboard and the ship to sink.
Search and rescue operations commence for the missing seafarers.
(Xinhua)
New details from
Iranian nuclear documents stolen by
Israeli spies show that
Tehran obtained weapons-design information from a foreign source and was on the cusp of mastering key bombmaking technologies when the research was ordered halted
15 years ago.
(The Washington Post)
An
ISIL suicide bomber killed 20 people in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, including a
Taliban commander. In southern
Kandahar province, the Taliban attacked a police checkpoint in
Arghistan district late on Monday night, killing nine policemen and wounding seven. 25 Taliban fighters were killed and 15 were wounded in the ensuing battle.
(AP)
Iran files a lawsuit against the
United States in the
International Court of Justice alleging its decision in May to impose sanctions after pulling out of a
nuclear deal violates the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights between the two countries.
(Reuters)
Ten new moons are discovered around
Jupiter, raising the count to 79 confirmed moons. One of these new moons,
S/2016 J 2, nicknamed Valetudo, is notable for orbiting backwards compared to the other moons in its vicinity, and may collide with one of them in the future.
(Science Magazine)
Archeologists in
Jordan find baked flatbread dating to 12,500 BC, making it the oldest surviving bread ever discovered, surpassing a Turkish loaf which was estimated to be 9,100 years old. The bread was found in a stone oven which was apparently built during the formative years of the
Natufian culture. The bread is also notable for predating the
Neolithic Revolution by 4,000 years.
(Reuters)
The
European Commission fines
Google€4.34 billion for breaching
EU antitrust regulations, claiming that Google abused the dominant position of
Android to promote their search product. Google announces it will appeal the ruling.
(European Commission)(NPR)
A migrant boat capsizes off the northern coast of
Cyprus, killing at least 19 people, while 25 are reported missing, and the Turkish coast guard rescues 103.
(AP)
Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, is convicted of
terror offences after attempting to kill guards, attack
Theresa May, and blow himself up on
Downing Street using fake explosives provided to him in a sting operation.
(The Independent)
Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator
Andrew R. Wheeler announces coal-burning power plants may dispose of
fly ash in unlined ponds for another 18 months beyond a previously-set April 2019 deadline. Testing standards for hazardous elements in adjacent waters are also weakened. While the move would theoretically save an estimated $28-31 million annually in regulatory costs, there are concerns drinking water could be affected.
(NBC News)
Sports
Formula 2 driver
Santino Ferrucci is sacked by
Trident Racing for deliberately crashing into
Arjun Maini at a race in
Silverstone earlier this month and for his sponsor's non-payment. He was previously fined for a number of other incidents, including holding a mobile phone as he drove from a paddock.
(ESPN)
An
Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation into the collision between
container ship MV Beijing Bridge and
trawler FV Saxon Onward concludes both vessels saw each other in the lead-up to the collision but neither took appropriate avoiding action in time, with evasive manoeuvres by the cargo ship increasing the collision risk.
(The Maritime Executive)
A man attacks people on a bus in
Lübeck,
Germany, prompting an evacuation of the vehicle. Six people are hurt by a knife, one is punched and two fall down; three are critically wounded. Police find a smoldering non-explosive backpack at the scene. The Iranian-born suspect is arrested.
(BBC)(CBC)(RFERL)
Outside President
Hassan Rouhani's office in
Tehran, a group of
Iranian girls severely burned in a 2012 school fire protest unequal
diyah by the government toward their medical bills, which some say is an inalienable right. Their lawyer says Iran's policy of paying half diyah to women is "unfair and discriminatory".
(PayvAnd)
The
Philippines immigration authority has ordered the deportation and blacklisting of an Australian nun who was investigated, under instruction from
PresidentRodrigo Duterte, for her political activism.
(Business Insider)
A mass shooting in
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada, occurs, leaving two people dead and 13 others injured. The shooter is found dead nearby after exchanging gunfire with police and fleeing.
(AP)
Arsenal and
German professional footballer
Mesut Özil announces his retirement from international football, citing racism and disrespect.
(The Guardian)
Heavy rains cause the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam in southern
Laos to collapse, releasing a reported five billion cubic metres of water. As a result, 20 people are confirmed dead, over a hundred are missing, and 6,600 have been displaced.
(BBC)(The Guardian)
Police identify the gunman in a deadly
mass shooting in
Toronto,
Canada. Investigators are still determining a motive. His family claims he had severe mental health problems.
(CBC)
Femen co-founder and activist
Oksana Shachko is found dead in her
Paris apartment in an apparent suicide.
France granted her political refugee status in 2013.
(RFE/RL)
Caitlan Coleman, the wife of former
Taliban hostage Joshua Boyle, returns to the
United States with her children after a family law court in
Ottawa approved her request.
(CTV News)
Facebook stocks drop 20% (
US$118 billion), setting a record as the biggest single stock market loss in one day, and marking the first time that a stock lost over $100 billion in one day.
(CNBC)
Disney announces plans to eliminate all plastic straws and plastic stirrers from their parks by mid-2019.
(NOLA)
Hundreds of
Sub-Saharan African migrants storm a border fence in
Spain's
North African enclave of
Ceuta, using home-made flamethrowers and other improvised weapons. The
Spanish Civil Guard reports that 602 people succeeded in reaching Ceuta, of whom 586 were taken to a temporary reception centre, while 16 others are being treated in a hospital. Fifteen border guards were also hurt.
(The Guardian)
The
UKHome SecretarySajid Javid announces that
medicinal cannabis products are to be legalized by the end of this year, allowing cannabis treatments to be legally prescribed by specialist doctors following several high profile cases.
(BBC)(Reuters)
The longest total
lunar eclipse of the 21st century colours the moon reddish orange in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe for about one hour and 42 minutes.
(ABC News)
Typhoon Jongdari hits central and western
Japan, injuring at least 21 people and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes. The typhoon is the latest in the series of weather events to affect the country, following devastating
floods and a fatal
heat wave earlier in the month.
(BBC)
Four cyclists, two
Americans, one
Dutch national and one
Swiss national, are killed in the
Khatlon Region,
Tajikistan by a hit-and-run driver while three others are injured. A 21 year old male suspect has been arrested.
(RFE/RL)(NU.nl)
Voters in
Zimbabwe go to the polls to elect a new president and members for both houses of the
Parliament, the first election to not involve longtime former president
Robert Mugabe.
(The Guardian)
Gunmen attack a convoy carrying election materials in the
Ségou Region. The attack and the ensuing shootout kill four soldiers and eight attackers.
(SBS News)
A shooting at a
billiard hall in
El Tarra,
Colombia, kills nine people. Local media blames a feud between two left-wing rebel groups, who both deny responsibility.
(BBC)