A peace deal is signed between the leaders of
Renamo and the ruling party
Frelimo in
Mozambique, officially ending a conflict that plagued the country for years.
(DW)
The town of
Whaley Bridge in
Derbyshire, England, is evacuated after heavy rain and flooding causes structural damage to the nearby dam at the
Toddbrook Reservoir amid fears the dam could collapse. A severe flood warning has been issued for communities situated along the
River Goyt.
(BBC News)
A gunman opens fire in the home of his ex-wife in
Zagreb,
Croatia, killing six, including a ten-year-old child. He later committed suicide after a manhunt.
(Reuters)
Saudi Arabia grants women the right to travel without permission from
a male guardian, and expands their marriage and custodial rights in a series of royal decrees.
(Reuters)
Japan carries out the first executions this year,
hanging Koichi Shoji, 64, who killed two women in 2001, and
serial killer Yasunori Suzuki, 50, who killed three women between 2004 and 2005 in
Fukuoka Prefecture.
(Kyodo News)
Indian authorities issue evacuation orders for thousands of people, including tourists and
Hindupilgrims heading to the
Amarnath Temple for
yatra (which has been cancelled) to immediately leave
Jammu and Kashmir because of security alerts about possible militant attacks. Also, the pilgrimage to
Machel Mata for yatra, which also began on 1 July, has been suspended.
(BBC News)(CNN-News18)
The
African Union announces the
Sudanese military council and the opposition agreed to a constitutional declaration that will pave the way to a new transitional government. It calls for the new government to be headed by six civilians and five generals, and formally places the
Rapid Support Forces under military command.
(BBC News)
Several hundred people are detained by
Russian police at unauthorized protests in Moscow. The protests occurred because several opposition candidates were disqualified from running in the upcoming
Moscow City legislative election.
(RT)
A car drives into three other cars causing an explosive crash outside the
National Cancer Institute Egypt campus in central
Cairo, killing 20 people and injuring 47 others. The
Interior Ministry says that the car that hit the others contained explosives and was to be used in a
terrorist operation. The driver fled the scene before the explosion. The minister accuses the
IslamistHasm Movement of being behind the attack.
(Reuters)
A
Libyan National Army airstrike on the southern
Libyan town of
Murzuk reportedly kills at least 43 people and injures 51 others, according to local officials. An LNA spokesperson says the raid had targeted "
Chadian mercenaries".
(France 24)
Harland and Wolff, known for constructing several famous ships, including the
RMS Titanic and
HMS Belfast, collapses into administration. All 130 employees have been given redundancy notices, and the company is expected to cease trading after 158 years.
(BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
A bus carrying volunteer doctors from
La Paz towards the north of
Bolivia crashed, leaving 14 dead and 21 injured.
(NDTV)
Colombia grants national citizenship to all children born in the country to
Venezuelan parents since August 2015. The measure will be in force for two years.
(Reuters)
Hong Kong citizens call for a city-wide
general strike with various
sit-ins in seven districts. With around 2 million residents participated in the strikes, thousands of workers announcing their participation, over 200 flights were cancelled,
MTR lines halted and the
Hang Seng Index dropped sharply. Chief Executive
Carrie Lam blamed protesters for "destroying Hong Kong" and rejected their demands.
(Bloomberg)(Hong Kong Free Press)
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump signs an executive order freezing all assets and interests of the
Venezuelan government as contained within the United States, a severe escalation from recent industry sanctions and verbal rhetoric. Twenty-one exceptions are issued, for companies providing services including oil, aid, and telecommunications. The expanded sanctions are widely criticized as likely to worsen the conditions for people in Venezuela.
(Reuters)(BBC News)
The Argentine government says it has already received "hundreds" of reports of
human rights abuses and criminal accusations against the Venezuelan government, days after Argentina invited Venezuelans in the country to file reports against the Venezuelan government.
(La Nación)
The death toll of the heat wave in
Japan rises to 57, while 18,347 others are hospitalized.
(Japan Times)
Law and crime
2019 California stabbing rampage
A
Garden Grove, California, man stabs and kills four people and wounds two others in a two-hour crime spree at a series of
Orange County locations. Both injured victims are expected to survive. The motive of the 33-year-old suspect, who was arrested at the last scene, appears to be robbery as well as "anger and hate."
(CNN)(AP via KESQ-TV)
Kyrgyzstan's
security forces storm the compound of former
PresidentAlmazbek Atambayev on the outskirts of
Bishkek for the second time after a failed overnight raid left one officer dead. Atambayev and his loyalists are "putting up severe armed resistance", according to President
Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Atambayev is detained, ending a two-day standoff. One officer was killed, while 80 people were injured.
(Reuters)(BBC News)
Marek Kuchciński, speaker of the
Sejm in
Poland, announces his resignation after admitting the use of a government jet for 23 personal flights.
(Euractiv)
The
International Monetary Fund finds that China's currency, the
yuan, has been "broadly stable" against other currencies over the last year. The yuan is pulled down by market pressures due to the slowing economy. Suggesting little intervention by
China's central bank, the IMF position is at odds with the designation of China by the U.S. as a
currency manipulator.
(AP News)
Israeli forces shoot dead four
Palestinian militants near the border with
Gaza, the Israeli military say. Israel Defense Forces say the men were armed with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and hand grenades.
(The Guardian)
The death toll due to the
monsoon flooding in southern and western
India rises to 147, while hundreds of thousands have been evacuated from their homes.
(Al Jazeera)
At least 56 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes as
Typhoon Lekima hits eastern
China.
(BBC News)
Five people are confirmed dead and three injured following an accidental
rocket explosion on a naval test range near
Severodvinsk,
Russia on Thursday August 8th. The rocket used an experimental
nuclearisotope liquid fuel source, causing a brief localized spike in
radiation. 9500 nearby residents were evacuated.
(BBC News)
In a letter sent by
North Korean leaderKim Jong-un to
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump, Kim apologizes for the testing of short-range missiles. Trump says he expects to meet Kim soon and see a denuclearized North Korea as "one of the most successful countries in the world".
(Clarín)
As many as 50,000 people gathered at ongoing protests in
Moscow against the
Russian authorities preventing several opposition candidates from running in the election, which turned into a protest against the government in general. It is the biggest such event since the
2011 protests.
(ABC News)
Israeli riot police clash with Palestinians at the
Al-Aqsa Mosque and
Temple Mount site in
East Jerusalem. With holidays coincidentally falling on the same day (11 August) this year for both Judaism and Islam, some Palestinians began protesting the admittance of Jewish visitors to the site, despite a longstanding agreement barring Jewish visitors. Following the agreement, the Al-Aqsa police barred Jews from the site. Israeli forces then fired rubber bullets and tear gas at people inside. The Jews were then admitted, which caused further tensions on both sides of the dispute.
(Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
Pope Francis recalls the 70th anniversary of the
Geneva Conventions after his Sunday afternoon
Angelus address. The 1949 conventions concern the treatment of the sick, the wounded, prisoners, and civilians in war.
(Vatican News)
At least 24 people die after floods strike across
Vietnam. In the south, nearly 3,900 houses and more than 22,000 hectares of crops are submerged, mostly in
Lam Dong Province. Floods also damage more than 30km of national roads, including the road leading to the tourist city of
Dalat and destroy 142 hectares of aquarium farming and 4,300 cages of river-raised fish.
(Al Jazeera)
The
United States Trade Representative announces a delay until December 15 on a significant number of products affected by 10% import tariffs announced on August 1 and set to be imposed in September.
(CNBC)(Reuters)
According to
Interfax, the governor of
Arkhangelsk Oblast dismisses as "complete nonsense" the advice by authorities in
Severodvinsk to residents of
Nyonoksa to evacuate on August 14. This follows the accidental explosion on Thursday of what is speculated to be a nuclear-powered missile. Russian nuclear agency
Rosatom says the failed test involved a "nuclear isotope power source" for a liquid-propelled rocket engine.
(The Independent)(CBS News)
A new poll from Consultores 21 suggests that at least 4.7 million Venezuelans are living outside of the country, with the range going up to 6 million — 19% of the nation's entire population in 2017.
(Miami Herald)
Hundreds of thousands of students, schoolteachers and university professors hold demonstrations across
Brazil against sweeping cuts in the education budget. Protestors also voice opposition to the government's plan to delegate the administrative and financial management of federal universities and institutes to a privately-held fund.
(Agência Brasil)(Telesur English)
Earlier in the day, over a thousand
Indigenous Brazilian women, representing over 100 ethnic groups, march on
Brasília after an overnight occupation of the headquarters of the
Ministry of Health's Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health. Protestors chanted against the government's recent attempts at municipalization and privatization of the Indigenous health subsystem, and called for stricter environmental regulations.
(BBC News)(Telesur English)
Six police officers are shot, sustaining non-life threatening injuries, by a gunman in
Philadelphia; a seventh officer is injured in a related automobile accident nearby.
(CNN)(NBC News)
In response to reports that
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump expressed interest in the
United States acquiring
Greenland, Greenland's Foreign Minister Ane Lone Bagger dismisses the idea, noting on
Twitter that "a better and more equal partnership with
Denmark should be the way forward for a stronger and longer-term free Greenland".
(BBC News)(Reuters)
According to Israel's Interior ministry, U.S. Congresswoman
Rashida Tlaib sends a letter to Israeli Interior Minister
Aryeh Deri, asking for permission to visit her elderly grandmother in the
West Bank. Tlaib's request was approved on the condition that she "not advance boycott activities for the duration of her visit". Tlaib later declines to come, saying she won't let Israel impose "oppressive conditions" on her.
(CNN)
The death of accused sexual trafficker
Jeffrey Epstein is ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Epstein's attorneys say they will be conducting their own investigation into his death.
(CNN)
63 people are killed and 182 wounded in a suicide attack at a wedding party in
Kabul, Afghanistan. The attacker set off explosives among the invitees.
(Al Arabiya)
The
ruling military and the
civilian opposition formally sign a power-sharing deal establishing a three-year transition period towards the election of a civilian government.
(Al Jazeera)
ISIL claims responsibility for a terrorist attack against a wedding party in Afghanistan the day prior, which left 63 people dead and over 200 injured.
(The Guardian)
Gibraltar authorities reject the request by the U.S. to seize the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1. They argue that EU, not U.S. law, is applicable in Gibraltar. The tanker is also renamed.
(Al Arabiya)
The organizers claim that at least 1.7 million people join a peaceful rally in
Victoria Park,
Hong Kong. Protesters spill into nearby streets, with train service intermittently suspended due to the sheer number of people.
(The Guardian)
Syrian Air Force warplanes repeatedly strike a
Turkish military convoy driving through the rebel-held region of
Idlib, reportedly causing several casualties and forcing it to stop. Turkey claims the convoy was aiming to supply observation posts, while Syria accuses it of carrying weapons and ammunition to rebel groups.
(BBC News)(The National)
66 people, including children, have been wounded after a series of ten explosions in restaurants and public squares hit the eastern
Afghan city of
Jalalabad, as the country marked the 100th anniversary of its independence from British rule. No group claimed responsibility for the bombings. Even if many bombs exploded and several people were injured, no one died in the attacks.
(Al Jazeera)
Suspected Islamist militants launch an attack on a
Burkina Faso Armed Forces unit, killing 24 Burkinabé soldiers and wounding 7 others, the heaviest loss for the army in its fight to contain Islamist terrorism. The army said it had launched a land and air operation in response to the attack.
(Reuters)
After fifteen days of raging fires in the
Amazon Forest in
Rondônia, thick smoke clouds cover the
Brazilian city of
São Paulo in darkness. Street lamps had to be lit in the city around 2PM. The fires, suspected to be intentional, are still burning the forest.
(G1)
Twitter says it has suspended more than 200,000 automated accounts on the
social media site that it believes were part of a
Chinese government-run campaign to spread misinformation about the
protests in
Hong Kong.
(ABC News)
Evelyn Hernández is acquitted of murder after her newly-born child was found deceased in a toilet. The ruling is being held as a landmark case decision for women's rights in
El Salvador, which has one of the strongest
anti-abortion laws in Central America.
(BBC News)
Media close to the government reports that the
Syrian Army enters the northern sector of the town of Khan Shaykhun, following the reported HTS withdrawal.
(Al-Masdar News)
Nicolás Maduro confirms United States reports that top Venezuelan officials are having secret meetings with members of the
Trump administration. Maduro claims that the talks encourage Trump to listen to him; United States sources claim that the talks encourage Maduro supporters to defect.
(The Guardian)
Thirty-seven passengers on a bus over
Rio–Niterói Bridge,
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, are held hostage before police fatally shoot the armed hijacker. After closer inspection, police discover that the hijacker used a fake plastic gun.
(BBC News)(Extra)
A modification of the
Volcker rule is approved by the
OCC and the
FDIC. The new version eases rules on
proprietary trading by Wall Street banks. Consumer groups criticize the rule change, claiming that it removes protections from taxpayers.
(Reuters)
Major League Soccer, the top level of the men's
sport in the U.S., announces that
a team in
St. Louis,
Missouri will become the league's 28th team, most likely in 2022. The ownership group, led by several female members of the Taylor family that controls the
Enterprise Holdings car rental company, is the first in MLS in which women hold a majority interest.
(ESPN)
U.S. officials confirm that an airstrike on an
Iranian weapons depot in
Amirli,
Iraq on July 19 that killed two Iranian military commanders was conducted by
Israel. The strike is the first known Israeli attack inside Iraq since
Operation Opera in 1981.
(Voice of America)
Al-Qaeda accuses "treacherous Pakistani forces" of detaining the wife and two other relatives of the group's leader
Ayman al Zawahiri for over a year.
(Al Arabiya)
President Trump announces an increase in the tariffs set to take effect on September 1, October 1 and December 15, from 10% and 25% to 15% and 30%, respectively. The
Office of the United States Trade Representative says it will "begin the process of increasing the tariff rate to 30% effective October 1 following a notice and comment period".
(CNN)
Crowds gather in
Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea, to show solidarity and to campaign for the freedom of
West Papua, which is under Indonesian control. Meanwhile, churches push the government of Papua New Guinea to take a firm stand on the situation.
(Radio New Zealand)
Voters in
Nauru go to the polls to elect new members of
parliament.
PresidentBaron Waqa loses his parliamentary seat so he is not able to be re-elected in the office he has been holding since 2013.
(ABC News)(ABC News)
Hezbollah says two
Israelidrones went down in the Moawwad neighborhood of
Dahieh (South
Beirut),
Lebanon, and they did not shoot them. A small
reconnaissance drone fell on the roof of the Hezbollah media building, then another drone exploded nearby, causing damage to the building. Residents report a loud blast. The
Israeli Army says it does not comment on "foreign reports". The
Lebanese Army confirms the drones as Israeli.
(AP News)(Al Jazeera)(Reuters)
In an escalation of the ongoing protests, a police officer fires a gun whilst clearing protesters; this is the first time a gun has been fired by a police officer in Hong Kong since 1967.
(The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
A helicopter and an
ultralight airplane plane collide near the town of
Inca, on the island of
Mallorca,
Spain, killing seven people including two children, according to regional government officials.
(Sky News)
Lightning strikes on at least two
Alaska Airlines planes force them to make emergency landings in
Southeast Alaska. Lightning also knocked out electrical service to the state capital,
Juneau.
(Kfsk)
Lebanese media claims Israeli aircraft targeted a
PFLP-GC military site in Qousaya town, making it the second attack in
Lebanon since the
2006 war after the
alleged attack in Beirut yesterday.
The
Federal Cartel Office in Germany announced that it will appeal a decision by a regional court that suspended its restrictions on
Facebook's activities. The appeal will bring the dispute, over underlying privacy issues, to the attention of the country's highest court.
(Reuters)
An
Oklahoma district court finds
Johnson & Johnson liable for exacerbating opioid addiction in the state, and fines them
US$572 million. The company announces it will appeal.
(Reuters)
The Brazilian government through President
Jair Messias Bolsonaro is open to accepting financial aid from organizations and foreign countries to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest on the condition that the funds must be under the country's control.
(Gulf News)
Russian aircraft leasing firm Avia Capital Services, which has ordered 35
Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, sues
Boeing in an
Illinois court in the first legal action taken by a 737 MAX customer in the wake of the groundings. Avia seek damages and a cancellation of the order, claiming Boeing were fraudulent, breached their contract with Avia, and negligently introduced design flaws to the aircraft and made negligent representations to the
Federal Aviation Authority seeking the plane's certification. With nearly 400 jets grounded worldwide since March, lawyers representing Avia say they are discussing the possibility of joining the litigation with other companies.
(CityNews Vancouver)
An appeals court in
Ontario,
Canada overturns the terror convictions of Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, citing an error by the trial judge regarding jury selection. A new trial is expected to take place.
(BBC News)
English
association football club
Bury F.C., who were in
EFL League One, are expelled from the
English Football League (EFL) after a takeover bid to save the club collapses. Fellow EFL League One club and local rivals
Bolton Wanderers F.C. are given an extra 14 days to avoid being expelled due to financial difficulty. EFL executive chair
Debbie Jevans calls the expulsion of Bury F.C. "one of the darkest days in the league's recent history".
(BBC News)
Three people are killed amidst heavy rains in southwestern
Japan. Authorities ask almost one million people to evacuate, warning "unprecedented" levels of rainfall could cause the flooding of rivers, trigger landslides, and submerge houses.
(BBC News)
The Civil Aviation Authority of
South Africa concludes its investigation with a final report indicating the accident was caused by poor maintenance and errors by unqualified pilots.
(The Aviation Herald)
New Zealand bans tourists from swimming with
bottlenose dolphins, saying dwindling numbers are linked to excessive interaction with tourists, as the animals choose socialising with people over necessary biological functions. Authorities say the species risks "being loved into extinction".
(The Independent)
Through a spokesman, Lopeti Senituli, for the government, Tonga blames the
World Bank over the situation of their schools in
Tongatapu, which are still in tents 17 months after
Cyclone Gita.
(Radio New Zealand)
Pretoria, the administrative capital of
South Africa, experiences widespread
looting and violent attacks by
rioters focused on foreigners. Police are currently outnumbered and many businesses have been set on fire. The riots follow the death of a
taxi driver reportedly shot by
Nigeriandrug dealers after they realized he had seen them complete a drug deal and had also seen their supplier. Bus services are suspended and authorities say the capital is currently unsafe.
(Radio 702)(ZimEye)
Archaeologists in
Huanchaco,
Peru unearth 227 sets of human remains aged between five and fourteen, and believed to be sacrificed over 500 years prior. The discovery is the largest known child sacrifice in history.
(BBC News)
Tensions escalate between
Indonesia and Pacific Island nations as the situation in the province of
West Papua worsens after an
Indonesian soldier and a West Papuan are killed in clashes.
Vanuatuan Foreign Minister
Ralph Regenvanu said "something must be done", amid calls to invite United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Michelle Bachelet to investigate murders and torture in the area.
(Radio New Zealand)
Hamas says it has captured an
ISIL cell responsible for Tuesday's suicide bombings that killed three policemen. Hamas says ten are in custody.
(The Times of Israel)
The
Supreme Court of Thailand upholds death sentences against two migrant workers convicted of murdering two
UK tourists and
raping one. Rights groups say that the men are scapegoats and tortured into false confessions by police under pressure to solve the crimes, which attracted international attention.
(The Guardian)
Hong Kong police ban a planned Saturday march by the
Civil Human Rights Front, saying there is "a high chance that certain violent protesters will hijack this event". The CHRF plans to appeal.
(Bloomberg)
Six
Pakistani men are found guilty of abusing and raping teenage girls between 1998 and 2002 in
Rotherham,
England. The
National Crime Agency believes as many as 1,510 teenagers were sexually exploited in the town during the same period.
(BBC News)
A
French court jails several members of
Generation Identity and fines the organisation over an anti-immigration operation in the
Alps. They were found guilty of "exercising activities in conditions that could create confusion with a public function". The case was that the operation could be mistaken for a government action.
(The Independent)
Israeli Defense Forces name three senior
Iranian officers and point out that the leader of the
Quds Force is in Lebanon "with his family". Amid the campaign for the 17 September
legislative election, Israel says Iran is moving to convert
Hezbollah's arsenal of what Israel says is more than 100,000 rockets into precision-guided missiles.
(CNN)
International relations
Pope Francis sends a video message to the people of
Mozambique before his visit to the African country next week. He stresses reconciliation after years of conflict. The Pontiff says that “although I will be unable to travel beyond the capital, my heart reaches out and embraces you all, with a special place for those who live in difficulty.”
(Holy See Press Office)
A
Court of Session judge refuses to grant an interdict, the
Scottish equivalent to an injunction, preventing the upcoming suspension of the
UK Parliament. The judge rules there is "no cogent need" for such an emergency measure as the suspension is not scheduled until September 9. However, a full hearing on the lawfulness of the suspension is brought forward to Tuesday. The case against the UK government is being brought by
Members of the
Scottish Parliament.
(BBC News)
Former
Prime Minister Sir
John Major announces he will join a case brought by anti-Brexit campaigner
Gina Miller seeking
judicial review of Parliament's suspension in the
High Court under
English law. The case challenges the lawfulness of current UK Prime Minister
Boris Johnson's advice to
Queen Elizabeth II in asking her to suspend the UK Parliament. The case is due for a preliminary hearing next Thursday with a full hearing the following day if the High Court approves one.
(BBC News)
The
Hamas-run Health Ministry of
Gaza says a 25-year-old man died in hospital there today after being struck by an
Israeli bullet during protests at the Gazan-Israeli border yesterday. It further says Israeli soldiers wounded 42 protesters. Israel says
Palestinians threw grenades at the fence, damaging a vehicle and injuring a soldier.
(Yahoo!)
Taliban fighters storm
Kunduz city, apparently killing three civilians and dozens of soldiers. A suicide bomber kills ten municipal police.
(BBC News)(Tolo News)
India releases the final version of the
National Register of Citizens for the state of
Assam. Up to 1.9 million residents risk losing their
citizenship if they are not on the list and can not prove their residency. The move is criticized for disproportionately affecting the local
Bengali community.
(BBC News)
At least seven people are killed and 21 others wounded in a mass shooting in
West Texas, between the cities of
Midland and
Odessa. The shooter is shot and killed in Odessa. Police continue to investigate for other possible suspects.
(BBC News)(CNN)(Reuters)(MST)
A truck driver involved in the accident, which killed thirteen when two vehicles collided in
California, pleads guilty to 42 crimes including
vehicular manslaughter. The sleep-deprived driver fell asleep during a temporary halt to traffic; when traffic moved off again he remained stationary and the bus ran into the rear of his vehicle.
(ABC News)
A peace deal is signed between the leaders of
Renamo and the ruling party
Frelimo in
Mozambique, officially ending a conflict that plagued the country for years.
(DW)
The town of
Whaley Bridge in
Derbyshire, England, is evacuated after heavy rain and flooding causes structural damage to the nearby dam at the
Toddbrook Reservoir amid fears the dam could collapse. A severe flood warning has been issued for communities situated along the
River Goyt.
(BBC News)
A gunman opens fire in the home of his ex-wife in
Zagreb,
Croatia, killing six, including a ten-year-old child. He later committed suicide after a manhunt.
(Reuters)
Saudi Arabia grants women the right to travel without permission from
a male guardian, and expands their marriage and custodial rights in a series of royal decrees.
(Reuters)
Japan carries out the first executions this year,
hanging Koichi Shoji, 64, who killed two women in 2001, and
serial killer Yasunori Suzuki, 50, who killed three women between 2004 and 2005 in
Fukuoka Prefecture.
(Kyodo News)
Indian authorities issue evacuation orders for thousands of people, including tourists and
Hindupilgrims heading to the
Amarnath Temple for
yatra (which has been cancelled) to immediately leave
Jammu and Kashmir because of security alerts about possible militant attacks. Also, the pilgrimage to
Machel Mata for yatra, which also began on 1 July, has been suspended.
(BBC News)(CNN-News18)
The
African Union announces the
Sudanese military council and the opposition agreed to a constitutional declaration that will pave the way to a new transitional government. It calls for the new government to be headed by six civilians and five generals, and formally places the
Rapid Support Forces under military command.
(BBC News)
Several hundred people are detained by
Russian police at unauthorized protests in Moscow. The protests occurred because several opposition candidates were disqualified from running in the upcoming
Moscow City legislative election.
(RT)
A car drives into three other cars causing an explosive crash outside the
National Cancer Institute Egypt campus in central
Cairo, killing 20 people and injuring 47 others. The
Interior Ministry says that the car that hit the others contained explosives and was to be used in a
terrorist operation. The driver fled the scene before the explosion. The minister accuses the
IslamistHasm Movement of being behind the attack.
(Reuters)
A
Libyan National Army airstrike on the southern
Libyan town of
Murzuk reportedly kills at least 43 people and injures 51 others, according to local officials. An LNA spokesperson says the raid had targeted "
Chadian mercenaries".
(France 24)
Harland and Wolff, known for constructing several famous ships, including the
RMS Titanic and
HMS Belfast, collapses into administration. All 130 employees have been given redundancy notices, and the company is expected to cease trading after 158 years.
(BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
A bus carrying volunteer doctors from
La Paz towards the north of
Bolivia crashed, leaving 14 dead and 21 injured.
(NDTV)
Colombia grants national citizenship to all children born in the country to
Venezuelan parents since August 2015. The measure will be in force for two years.
(Reuters)
Hong Kong citizens call for a city-wide
general strike with various
sit-ins in seven districts. With around 2 million residents participated in the strikes, thousands of workers announcing their participation, over 200 flights were cancelled,
MTR lines halted and the
Hang Seng Index dropped sharply. Chief Executive
Carrie Lam blamed protesters for "destroying Hong Kong" and rejected their demands.
(Bloomberg)(Hong Kong Free Press)
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump signs an executive order freezing all assets and interests of the
Venezuelan government as contained within the United States, a severe escalation from recent industry sanctions and verbal rhetoric. Twenty-one exceptions are issued, for companies providing services including oil, aid, and telecommunications. The expanded sanctions are widely criticized as likely to worsen the conditions for people in Venezuela.
(Reuters)(BBC News)
The Argentine government says it has already received "hundreds" of reports of
human rights abuses and criminal accusations against the Venezuelan government, days after Argentina invited Venezuelans in the country to file reports against the Venezuelan government.
(La Nación)
The death toll of the heat wave in
Japan rises to 57, while 18,347 others are hospitalized.
(Japan Times)
Law and crime
2019 California stabbing rampage
A
Garden Grove, California, man stabs and kills four people and wounds two others in a two-hour crime spree at a series of
Orange County locations. Both injured victims are expected to survive. The motive of the 33-year-old suspect, who was arrested at the last scene, appears to be robbery as well as "anger and hate."
(CNN)(AP via KESQ-TV)
Kyrgyzstan's
security forces storm the compound of former
PresidentAlmazbek Atambayev on the outskirts of
Bishkek for the second time after a failed overnight raid left one officer dead. Atambayev and his loyalists are "putting up severe armed resistance", according to President
Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Atambayev is detained, ending a two-day standoff. One officer was killed, while 80 people were injured.
(Reuters)(BBC News)
Marek Kuchciński, speaker of the
Sejm in
Poland, announces his resignation after admitting the use of a government jet for 23 personal flights.
(Euractiv)
The
International Monetary Fund finds that China's currency, the
yuan, has been "broadly stable" against other currencies over the last year. The yuan is pulled down by market pressures due to the slowing economy. Suggesting little intervention by
China's central bank, the IMF position is at odds with the designation of China by the U.S. as a
currency manipulator.
(AP News)
Israeli forces shoot dead four
Palestinian militants near the border with
Gaza, the Israeli military say. Israel Defense Forces say the men were armed with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and hand grenades.
(The Guardian)
The death toll due to the
monsoon flooding in southern and western
India rises to 147, while hundreds of thousands have been evacuated from their homes.
(Al Jazeera)
At least 56 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes as
Typhoon Lekima hits eastern
China.
(BBC News)
Five people are confirmed dead and three injured following an accidental
rocket explosion on a naval test range near
Severodvinsk,
Russia on Thursday August 8th. The rocket used an experimental
nuclearisotope liquid fuel source, causing a brief localized spike in
radiation. 9500 nearby residents were evacuated.
(BBC News)
In a letter sent by
North Korean leaderKim Jong-un to
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump, Kim apologizes for the testing of short-range missiles. Trump says he expects to meet Kim soon and see a denuclearized North Korea as "one of the most successful countries in the world".
(Clarín)
As many as 50,000 people gathered at ongoing protests in
Moscow against the
Russian authorities preventing several opposition candidates from running in the election, which turned into a protest against the government in general. It is the biggest such event since the
2011 protests.
(ABC News)
Israeli riot police clash with Palestinians at the
Al-Aqsa Mosque and
Temple Mount site in
East Jerusalem. With holidays coincidentally falling on the same day (11 August) this year for both Judaism and Islam, some Palestinians began protesting the admittance of Jewish visitors to the site, despite a longstanding agreement barring Jewish visitors. Following the agreement, the Al-Aqsa police barred Jews from the site. Israeli forces then fired rubber bullets and tear gas at people inside. The Jews were then admitted, which caused further tensions on both sides of the dispute.
(Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
Pope Francis recalls the 70th anniversary of the
Geneva Conventions after his Sunday afternoon
Angelus address. The 1949 conventions concern the treatment of the sick, the wounded, prisoners, and civilians in war.
(Vatican News)
At least 24 people die after floods strike across
Vietnam. In the south, nearly 3,900 houses and more than 22,000 hectares of crops are submerged, mostly in
Lam Dong Province. Floods also damage more than 30km of national roads, including the road leading to the tourist city of
Dalat and destroy 142 hectares of aquarium farming and 4,300 cages of river-raised fish.
(Al Jazeera)
The
United States Trade Representative announces a delay until December 15 on a significant number of products affected by 10% import tariffs announced on August 1 and set to be imposed in September.
(CNBC)(Reuters)
According to
Interfax, the governor of
Arkhangelsk Oblast dismisses as "complete nonsense" the advice by authorities in
Severodvinsk to residents of
Nyonoksa to evacuate on August 14. This follows the accidental explosion on Thursday of what is speculated to be a nuclear-powered missile. Russian nuclear agency
Rosatom says the failed test involved a "nuclear isotope power source" for a liquid-propelled rocket engine.
(The Independent)(CBS News)
A new poll from Consultores 21 suggests that at least 4.7 million Venezuelans are living outside of the country, with the range going up to 6 million — 19% of the nation's entire population in 2017.
(Miami Herald)
Hundreds of thousands of students, schoolteachers and university professors hold demonstrations across
Brazil against sweeping cuts in the education budget. Protestors also voice opposition to the government's plan to delegate the administrative and financial management of federal universities and institutes to a privately-held fund.
(Agência Brasil)(Telesur English)
Earlier in the day, over a thousand
Indigenous Brazilian women, representing over 100 ethnic groups, march on
Brasília after an overnight occupation of the headquarters of the
Ministry of Health's Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health. Protestors chanted against the government's recent attempts at municipalization and privatization of the Indigenous health subsystem, and called for stricter environmental regulations.
(BBC News)(Telesur English)
Six police officers are shot, sustaining non-life threatening injuries, by a gunman in
Philadelphia; a seventh officer is injured in a related automobile accident nearby.
(CNN)(NBC News)
In response to reports that
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump expressed interest in the
United States acquiring
Greenland, Greenland's Foreign Minister Ane Lone Bagger dismisses the idea, noting on
Twitter that "a better and more equal partnership with
Denmark should be the way forward for a stronger and longer-term free Greenland".
(BBC News)(Reuters)
According to Israel's Interior ministry, U.S. Congresswoman
Rashida Tlaib sends a letter to Israeli Interior Minister
Aryeh Deri, asking for permission to visit her elderly grandmother in the
West Bank. Tlaib's request was approved on the condition that she "not advance boycott activities for the duration of her visit". Tlaib later declines to come, saying she won't let Israel impose "oppressive conditions" on her.
(CNN)
The death of accused sexual trafficker
Jeffrey Epstein is ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Epstein's attorneys say they will be conducting their own investigation into his death.
(CNN)
63 people are killed and 182 wounded in a suicide attack at a wedding party in
Kabul, Afghanistan. The attacker set off explosives among the invitees.
(Al Arabiya)
The
ruling military and the
civilian opposition formally sign a power-sharing deal establishing a three-year transition period towards the election of a civilian government.
(Al Jazeera)
ISIL claims responsibility for a terrorist attack against a wedding party in Afghanistan the day prior, which left 63 people dead and over 200 injured.
(The Guardian)
Gibraltar authorities reject the request by the U.S. to seize the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1. They argue that EU, not U.S. law, is applicable in Gibraltar. The tanker is also renamed.
(Al Arabiya)
The organizers claim that at least 1.7 million people join a peaceful rally in
Victoria Park,
Hong Kong. Protesters spill into nearby streets, with train service intermittently suspended due to the sheer number of people.
(The Guardian)
Syrian Air Force warplanes repeatedly strike a
Turkish military convoy driving through the rebel-held region of
Idlib, reportedly causing several casualties and forcing it to stop. Turkey claims the convoy was aiming to supply observation posts, while Syria accuses it of carrying weapons and ammunition to rebel groups.
(BBC News)(The National)
66 people, including children, have been wounded after a series of ten explosions in restaurants and public squares hit the eastern
Afghan city of
Jalalabad, as the country marked the 100th anniversary of its independence from British rule. No group claimed responsibility for the bombings. Even if many bombs exploded and several people were injured, no one died in the attacks.
(Al Jazeera)
Suspected Islamist militants launch an attack on a
Burkina Faso Armed Forces unit, killing 24 Burkinabé soldiers and wounding 7 others, the heaviest loss for the army in its fight to contain Islamist terrorism. The army said it had launched a land and air operation in response to the attack.
(Reuters)
After fifteen days of raging fires in the
Amazon Forest in
Rondônia, thick smoke clouds cover the
Brazilian city of
São Paulo in darkness. Street lamps had to be lit in the city around 2PM. The fires, suspected to be intentional, are still burning the forest.
(G1)
Twitter says it has suspended more than 200,000 automated accounts on the
social media site that it believes were part of a
Chinese government-run campaign to spread misinformation about the
protests in
Hong Kong.
(ABC News)
Evelyn Hernández is acquitted of murder after her newly-born child was found deceased in a toilet. The ruling is being held as a landmark case decision for women's rights in
El Salvador, which has one of the strongest
anti-abortion laws in Central America.
(BBC News)
Media close to the government reports that the
Syrian Army enters the northern sector of the town of Khan Shaykhun, following the reported HTS withdrawal.
(Al-Masdar News)
Nicolás Maduro confirms United States reports that top Venezuelan officials are having secret meetings with members of the
Trump administration. Maduro claims that the talks encourage Trump to listen to him; United States sources claim that the talks encourage Maduro supporters to defect.
(The Guardian)
Thirty-seven passengers on a bus over
Rio–Niterói Bridge,
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, are held hostage before police fatally shoot the armed hijacker. After closer inspection, police discover that the hijacker used a fake plastic gun.
(BBC News)(Extra)
A modification of the
Volcker rule is approved by the
OCC and the
FDIC. The new version eases rules on
proprietary trading by Wall Street banks. Consumer groups criticize the rule change, claiming that it removes protections from taxpayers.
(Reuters)
Major League Soccer, the top level of the men's
sport in the U.S., announces that
a team in
St. Louis,
Missouri will become the league's 28th team, most likely in 2022. The ownership group, led by several female members of the Taylor family that controls the
Enterprise Holdings car rental company, is the first in MLS in which women hold a majority interest.
(ESPN)
U.S. officials confirm that an airstrike on an
Iranian weapons depot in
Amirli,
Iraq on July 19 that killed two Iranian military commanders was conducted by
Israel. The strike is the first known Israeli attack inside Iraq since
Operation Opera in 1981.
(Voice of America)
Al-Qaeda accuses "treacherous Pakistani forces" of detaining the wife and two other relatives of the group's leader
Ayman al Zawahiri for over a year.
(Al Arabiya)
President Trump announces an increase in the tariffs set to take effect on September 1, October 1 and December 15, from 10% and 25% to 15% and 30%, respectively. The
Office of the United States Trade Representative says it will "begin the process of increasing the tariff rate to 30% effective October 1 following a notice and comment period".
(CNN)
Crowds gather in
Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea, to show solidarity and to campaign for the freedom of
West Papua, which is under Indonesian control. Meanwhile, churches push the government of Papua New Guinea to take a firm stand on the situation.
(Radio New Zealand)
Voters in
Nauru go to the polls to elect new members of
parliament.
PresidentBaron Waqa loses his parliamentary seat so he is not able to be re-elected in the office he has been holding since 2013.
(ABC News)(ABC News)
Hezbollah says two
Israelidrones went down in the Moawwad neighborhood of
Dahieh (South
Beirut),
Lebanon, and they did not shoot them. A small
reconnaissance drone fell on the roof of the Hezbollah media building, then another drone exploded nearby, causing damage to the building. Residents report a loud blast. The
Israeli Army says it does not comment on "foreign reports". The
Lebanese Army confirms the drones as Israeli.
(AP News)(Al Jazeera)(Reuters)
In an escalation of the ongoing protests, a police officer fires a gun whilst clearing protesters; this is the first time a gun has been fired by a police officer in Hong Kong since 1967.
(The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
A helicopter and an
ultralight airplane plane collide near the town of
Inca, on the island of
Mallorca,
Spain, killing seven people including two children, according to regional government officials.
(Sky News)
Lightning strikes on at least two
Alaska Airlines planes force them to make emergency landings in
Southeast Alaska. Lightning also knocked out electrical service to the state capital,
Juneau.
(Kfsk)
Lebanese media claims Israeli aircraft targeted a
PFLP-GC military site in Qousaya town, making it the second attack in
Lebanon since the
2006 war after the
alleged attack in Beirut yesterday.
The
Federal Cartel Office in Germany announced that it will appeal a decision by a regional court that suspended its restrictions on
Facebook's activities. The appeal will bring the dispute, over underlying privacy issues, to the attention of the country's highest court.
(Reuters)
An
Oklahoma district court finds
Johnson & Johnson liable for exacerbating opioid addiction in the state, and fines them
US$572 million. The company announces it will appeal.
(Reuters)
The Brazilian government through President
Jair Messias Bolsonaro is open to accepting financial aid from organizations and foreign countries to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest on the condition that the funds must be under the country's control.
(Gulf News)
Russian aircraft leasing firm Avia Capital Services, which has ordered 35
Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, sues
Boeing in an
Illinois court in the first legal action taken by a 737 MAX customer in the wake of the groundings. Avia seek damages and a cancellation of the order, claiming Boeing were fraudulent, breached their contract with Avia, and negligently introduced design flaws to the aircraft and made negligent representations to the
Federal Aviation Authority seeking the plane's certification. With nearly 400 jets grounded worldwide since March, lawyers representing Avia say they are discussing the possibility of joining the litigation with other companies.
(CityNews Vancouver)
An appeals court in
Ontario,
Canada overturns the terror convictions of Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, citing an error by the trial judge regarding jury selection. A new trial is expected to take place.
(BBC News)
English
association football club
Bury F.C., who were in
EFL League One, are expelled from the
English Football League (EFL) after a takeover bid to save the club collapses. Fellow EFL League One club and local rivals
Bolton Wanderers F.C. are given an extra 14 days to avoid being expelled due to financial difficulty. EFL executive chair
Debbie Jevans calls the expulsion of Bury F.C. "one of the darkest days in the league's recent history".
(BBC News)
Three people are killed amidst heavy rains in southwestern
Japan. Authorities ask almost one million people to evacuate, warning "unprecedented" levels of rainfall could cause the flooding of rivers, trigger landslides, and submerge houses.
(BBC News)
The Civil Aviation Authority of
South Africa concludes its investigation with a final report indicating the accident was caused by poor maintenance and errors by unqualified pilots.
(The Aviation Herald)
New Zealand bans tourists from swimming with
bottlenose dolphins, saying dwindling numbers are linked to excessive interaction with tourists, as the animals choose socialising with people over necessary biological functions. Authorities say the species risks "being loved into extinction".
(The Independent)
Through a spokesman, Lopeti Senituli, for the government, Tonga blames the
World Bank over the situation of their schools in
Tongatapu, which are still in tents 17 months after
Cyclone Gita.
(Radio New Zealand)
Pretoria, the administrative capital of
South Africa, experiences widespread
looting and violent attacks by
rioters focused on foreigners. Police are currently outnumbered and many businesses have been set on fire. The riots follow the death of a
taxi driver reportedly shot by
Nigeriandrug dealers after they realized he had seen them complete a drug deal and had also seen their supplier. Bus services are suspended and authorities say the capital is currently unsafe.
(Radio 702)(ZimEye)
Archaeologists in
Huanchaco,
Peru unearth 227 sets of human remains aged between five and fourteen, and believed to be sacrificed over 500 years prior. The discovery is the largest known child sacrifice in history.
(BBC News)
Tensions escalate between
Indonesia and Pacific Island nations as the situation in the province of
West Papua worsens after an
Indonesian soldier and a West Papuan are killed in clashes.
Vanuatuan Foreign Minister
Ralph Regenvanu said "something must be done", amid calls to invite United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Michelle Bachelet to investigate murders and torture in the area.
(Radio New Zealand)
Hamas says it has captured an
ISIL cell responsible for Tuesday's suicide bombings that killed three policemen. Hamas says ten are in custody.
(The Times of Israel)
The
Supreme Court of Thailand upholds death sentences against two migrant workers convicted of murdering two
UK tourists and
raping one. Rights groups say that the men are scapegoats and tortured into false confessions by police under pressure to solve the crimes, which attracted international attention.
(The Guardian)
Hong Kong police ban a planned Saturday march by the
Civil Human Rights Front, saying there is "a high chance that certain violent protesters will hijack this event". The CHRF plans to appeal.
(Bloomberg)
Six
Pakistani men are found guilty of abusing and raping teenage girls between 1998 and 2002 in
Rotherham,
England. The
National Crime Agency believes as many as 1,510 teenagers were sexually exploited in the town during the same period.
(BBC News)
A
French court jails several members of
Generation Identity and fines the organisation over an anti-immigration operation in the
Alps. They were found guilty of "exercising activities in conditions that could create confusion with a public function". The case was that the operation could be mistaken for a government action.
(The Independent)
Israeli Defense Forces name three senior
Iranian officers and point out that the leader of the
Quds Force is in Lebanon "with his family". Amid the campaign for the 17 September
legislative election, Israel says Iran is moving to convert
Hezbollah's arsenal of what Israel says is more than 100,000 rockets into precision-guided missiles.
(CNN)
International relations
Pope Francis sends a video message to the people of
Mozambique before his visit to the African country next week. He stresses reconciliation after years of conflict. The Pontiff says that “although I will be unable to travel beyond the capital, my heart reaches out and embraces you all, with a special place for those who live in difficulty.”
(Holy See Press Office)
A
Court of Session judge refuses to grant an interdict, the
Scottish equivalent to an injunction, preventing the upcoming suspension of the
UK Parliament. The judge rules there is "no cogent need" for such an emergency measure as the suspension is not scheduled until September 9. However, a full hearing on the lawfulness of the suspension is brought forward to Tuesday. The case against the UK government is being brought by
Members of the
Scottish Parliament.
(BBC News)
Former
Prime Minister Sir
John Major announces he will join a case brought by anti-Brexit campaigner
Gina Miller seeking
judicial review of Parliament's suspension in the
High Court under
English law. The case challenges the lawfulness of current UK Prime Minister
Boris Johnson's advice to
Queen Elizabeth II in asking her to suspend the UK Parliament. The case is due for a preliminary hearing next Thursday with a full hearing the following day if the High Court approves one.
(BBC News)
The
Hamas-run Health Ministry of
Gaza says a 25-year-old man died in hospital there today after being struck by an
Israeli bullet during protests at the Gazan-Israeli border yesterday. It further says Israeli soldiers wounded 42 protesters. Israel says
Palestinians threw grenades at the fence, damaging a vehicle and injuring a soldier.
(Yahoo!)
Taliban fighters storm
Kunduz city, apparently killing three civilians and dozens of soldiers. A suicide bomber kills ten municipal police.
(BBC News)(Tolo News)
India releases the final version of the
National Register of Citizens for the state of
Assam. Up to 1.9 million residents risk losing their
citizenship if they are not on the list and can not prove their residency. The move is criticized for disproportionately affecting the local
Bengali community.
(BBC News)
At least seven people are killed and 21 others wounded in a mass shooting in
West Texas, between the cities of
Midland and
Odessa. The shooter is shot and killed in Odessa. Police continue to investigate for other possible suspects.
(BBC News)(CNN)(Reuters)(MST)
A truck driver involved in the accident, which killed thirteen when two vehicles collided in
California, pleads guilty to 42 crimes including
vehicular manslaughter. The sleep-deprived driver fell asleep during a temporary halt to traffic; when traffic moved off again he remained stationary and the bus ran into the rear of his vehicle.
(ABC News)