Six people are killed and ten others injured in Shenzhen after a Space Shuttle simulator ride plunged to the ground at a popular amusement park. (ntdtv)
The Afghan government calls for an international inquiry amid what it sees as "unjust" claims made by Nita Lowey, current chair of the House Appropriations Committee in the United States, that suitcases of cash are being flown out of the country. The United States blocks billions of dollars of aid due to Lowey's claims. (AFP via Daily Times)
The United Kingdom's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) reports there has been a surge in cases of gay and bisexual men in some communities being forced to marry by their families. (The Guardian)
A series of studies published by Palestinian scientists in The Lancet claims that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip threatens to cause long-term health damage, malnutrition and stunted growth in children. (Reuters)
Poland and the United States sign a deal in Kraków allowing the United States to position an American anti-missile shield in Poland to defend Europe from the perceived threat of Iran and other countries: Russia objects. (Aljazeera)
Guillermo Fariñas, a hunger striker in Cuba, is reported to be "close to death" by authorities, in his latest hunger strike attempt. BBC News
At least four people are killed and dozens of others are wounded in a bombing at Ramadi's provincial government building. (Aljazeera)
Women and children march towards Mahmoud al-Zahar's house in Gaza to hand him a letter calling on Hamas to insist on the release of 1,000 Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners during their talks with Israel. (Xinhua)
Polish voters head to the polls for the second round of presidential voting.
Jarosław Kaczyński initially concedes defeat after exit polls show Bronisław Komorowski winning, but later withdraws his concession as exit polls show the result narrowing. (BBC)
Initial test results from A Whale, an oil tanker retrofitted to skim oil from the sea, were inconclusive, due to rough seas. An additional test of the vessel has been ordered. (BBC News)
Human rights groups say at least 52 prisoners have disappeared from Saidnaya Military Prison in Syria, following disturbances in 2008 that led to the deaths of 22 people. (Al Jazeera)(Khaleeej Times)
Protesters try to enter the United Nations compound in Colombo, Sri Lanka, calling for the United Nations to abandon an inquiry into alleged human rights abuses in the final stages of the civil war between the government and Tamil rebels that ended last year. Staff are unable to leave until being assisted by Sri Lankan police. (Aljazeera)(CNN)
Researchers publish in Nature their discovery of stone tools in Norfolk suggesting that humans landed there almost a million years ago. (BBC)
A study shows that a married person's risk of encountering marriage troubles increases by up to 75% if a co-worker, friend, or a family member gets a divorce. (Vitals)
Two men from Cameroon and Iran "unanimously" win asylum in the UK in a landmark ruling after initially being rejected and told they could hide their homosexuality by "behaving discreetly". (BBC)(Reuters)(The Scotsman)(Daily Express)
The Constitutional Court of Turkey annuls key parts of government-backed constitutional reforms designed for possible European Union membership, rejecting opposition calls for the rest to be rejected as well and permitting the rest to be put to a national referendum in September. (BBC)
Cuba releases 52 political prisoners in its aim to improve its human rights record, the largest number the country has released for decades. (BBC)(Aljazeera)
Tunisia jails Fahem Boukadous, the journalist who covered violent protests in Gafsa in 2008. Boukadous was already in hospital with breathing problems before his jailing. (BBC)(News24.com)
The Ghanaian Sports Minister asks FIFA to change its rules after the elimination of their national team, and calls for the African Union to campaign against the "allegedly unfair treatment" of African teams. (BBC News)
Los Angeles Police announce that they have arrested Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., suspected to be the serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper, yesterday. He is arraigned on various murder charges. (CNN)
10 people uncovered by the FBI as Russian spies plead guilty in court to conspiracy to act as foreign agents. (BBC News)
The spies are sentenced to time served, and deported from the United States in exchange for 4 people imprisoned for alleged contact with Western intelligence bodies. (MSNBC).
British researchers publish the results of an 11-year study, challenging the traditional notion that childhood obesity is a result of inadequate exercise, arguing instead that obesity leads to inadequate exercise. (BBC News)
Johnson & Johnson recalls 3 million bottles of medicines, including Tylenol, Benadryl, and Motrin, because of odors traced to a chemical in pallets used to transport and store the medicines. (Reuters)
A painting in a Johannesburg shopping centre depicting an autopsy on the corpse of Nelson Mandela surrounded by nosy world leaders attracts controversy as the topic of Mandela's eventual death is taboo in South Africa. (BBC)
The American-born Australian actor is being called a "potential suspect" in a domestic violence investigation. (MSNBC)(IMDB)
An audio tape reportedly containing the voice of the actor surfaces online, with the actor allegedly making bigoted remarks against Latinos. (New York Daily News)
The actor is reportedly dropped by his talent agency. (Reuters)
Science
American researchers discover that some fruits and vegetables grown today have less nutritional value than those grown in the 1950s. (MSNBC)
Sport
19-year-old French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre sets a national record of 9.98 seconds and becomes the first genetic European to run 100 metres in less than 10 seconds. (France24)
An aid ship trying to carry aid to Gaza is forced to dock at el-Arish in Egypt, after coming under heavy Israeli pressure to not break Israel's Gaza blockade. (BBC News)
A new bill is introduced in the IsraeliKnesset that would force Haredi Jewish schools to teach core subjects such as mathematics, science, English, and civics, or lose state funding. (Haaretz)
BP is set to remove the containment cap over the destroyedDeepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, and replace it with a bigger cap. Oil and gas will spew unrestricted from the well for an estimated four to seven days until the new cap is in place. (BBC News)(Al Jazeera)
Libyan ship, Amalthea, carrying activists and 2,000 tonnes of food and medicine to Gaza, is met with a cold response by Israel which launches intense efforts to prevent it reaching its destination. (The Guardian)
Armed conflicts and incidents
Ten Colombian soldiers are killed after entering a minefield while pursuing FARC rebels trying to blow up electrical towers. (The Jerusalem Post)
Liberian deputy parliamentary speaker Togba Mulbah is released after briefly being held under house arrest in Monrovia for allegedly ordering the beating unconscious of a policeman. (BBC)
A new cap on the destroyed oil well is put in place, and will undergo more than 2 days of testing. (AP via MSNBC)
Armed conflicts and incidents
Afghan rights group Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) releases its report stating that 2010 has been the most violent in the landlocked country since the United States led an invasion in 2001, though notes a reduction in airstrikes - a policy favoured by former GeneralStanley A. McChrystal - has led to less civilian deaths via this method in 2010. (Aljazeera)
Italian military police general Giampaolo Ganzer is sentenced to 14 years imprisonment and fined €65,000 for drug smuggling between 1991 and 1997. (BBC)
Two Russian men, Andrei Yerofeyev and Yuri Samodurov, are convicted of inciting hatred for setting up a Forbidden Art exhibition at the Sakharov Museum. (BBC)(The Independent)
82 police officers are injured overnight in riots across Northern Ireland, sparked by the annual Orange march through Catholic neighborhoods. (BBC News)
Pakistani embassy officials confirm missing Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who was reported to have been kidnapped by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, is taking refuge in the country's Washington, D.C. embassy. (Aljazeera)
Chile tests a package marked "anthrax" delivered to the country's foreign ministry. (Reuters)
Farmers in Gaza are shot at by Israeli militants as they attempt to harvest their crops. (Aljazeera)
Data collected by the United States Federal Reserve System suggests that the country's financial market, while still fragile, is showing signs of improvement. (Reuters)
President of the United States Barack Obama unveils his country's first national strategy to cut HIV/AIDS infections and improve care for those with the disease. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Law and crime
Six more New Orleans police officers are charged with: shooting dead two civilians, injuries caused to four other civilians, and conspiracy to cover up the incidents on a bridge in the aftermath of the deadly Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (BBC)(Reuters)(CBC News)
The United Kingdom strips Russian spy Anna Chapman of her citizenship after the United States deports her. (Aljazeera)(BBC)
Colton Harris-Moore, otherwise known as the "Barefoot Bandit", pleads guilty to illegally landing a plane in The Bahamas, and currently faces jail or deportation. (CNN)
Spain receives a group of seven dissidents freed by Cuba for human rights reasons. (Aljazeera)(BBC)
A strike in Kashmir in protest at lack of independence from India leads to the closure of shops and businesses on Martyrs' Day, for a third successive day. (Aljazeera)
Tens of thousands of surviving Africans in 12 former colonies who served France in two world wars and Algeria's war of independence are to have their war pensions raised to the same level as those of their French comrades, according to Nicolas Sarkozy. (BBC)
The French government approves a draft law that would raise the retirement age to 62 from the age of 60 that has been enshrined since 1982. (BBC)(France24)(RTÉ)
The Philippines' first typhoon of the year moves toward the country's eastern coast, with 33 of the country's 81 provinces and the capital Manila being placed under storm alert. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The corpse of senior Rwandan opposition politician Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, who was recently reported missing, is found near his car with the head almost entirely severed off. (BBC)
Previously secret papers released as a result of civil proceedings brought by six former Guantánamo Bay inmates against MI5 and MI6, the Home Office, the Foreign Office, and the Attorney General's Office reveal the British government was involved in the abduction and torture of its own citizens following the September 11 attacks. (The Guardian)
UK Athletics (UKA) requests changes to Britain's tax laws after sprinter Usain Bolt declines to appear at a meeting in London for financial reasons. (BBC Sport)
A man claiming to be the killer of three British soldiers in Helmand contacts the BBC to say he was angered at what he described as the murder of civilians, including children, by British troops. (BBC)
Gunman Raoul Moat, who spent last week as a fugitive before being fatally cornered by UK police, repeatedly requested assistance from social workers and psychiatrists months before he committed murder but was ignored. (BBC)(ITN)(The Daily Telegraph)
Singer P!nk is hospitalised without serious injury after falling out of a harness and colliding with a barricade during a concert in Nuremberg. (BBC)(CBC News)(USA Today)
Philip Alston expresses concern at the rise in murders in Ecuador and the declining number of murderers being caught. (BBC)
Three Chechens are charged by France in connection with a conspiracy to attack Russia; another man is released. (BBC)
Maria Jepsen, the world's first female Lutheran bishop, resigns due to her handling of an alleged case of sexual abuse. She is the third German bishop to resign in recent months. (BBC)
Photos taken on Mount Everest from the same spot where similar pictures were taken by George Mallory in 1921 reveal what is described as an "alarming" loss of ice. (BBC)
Thousands of mourners gather in Zahedan for a mass funeral for those killed in recent bombings; Iranian officials indicate that they believe the West carried out the atrocities. (The Age)(BBC)
Tens of thousands of people take part in a landmark Europeangay rights rally in Warsaw, the first time Europride is being held in Central and Eastern Europe. (BBC)
British tour operator Goldtrail collapses, stranding thousands of holidaymakers abroad. (BBC)(The Age)
Disasters
Israeli settlements dump untreated chemical waste directly into a sewage canal that runs through agricultural land in the West Bank, giving Palestinians skin and respiratory illnesses. (Aljazeera)
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle criticises a reported Israeli plan that would lead to Gaza's separation from the rest of the Palestinian territories becoming final. (The Hindu)
German minister Ilse Aigner expresses annoyance at Facebook's privacy policy, saying the website is breaking the law by collecting information such as phone numbers. (The Age)
Bangladeshi police arrest an army major who allegedly possessed hundreds of bottles of Phensedyl, an illegal cough syrup. (BBC)
NATO forces claim to have foiled a plot to attack an international donor conference in Kabul due to feature leaders from more than 60 nations. (Aljazeera)
At least three people are killed by a suicide bomber on a bicycle in Kabul. (BBC)
At least 17 people are killed and at least 10 others are wounded during a pre-dawn gun attack on a birthday party in Torreón, Coahuila state in Mexico, across the border from Texas. (BBC)(Aljazeera)
At least 14 people are killed and at least 12 others sustain wounds after a bus plummets off a cliff in Pukë, Albania; a national day of mourning is declared. (BBC)
Omar Deghayes, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee and one of six suing the British government, says notes taken during his interrogation by British security service officers have been censored to hide the fact that he was tortured by agents and to avoid potentially embarrassing questions. (The Guardian)
Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister Tariq Aziz and other senior members are summoned and appear in an Iraqi court charged with "squandering the public wealth". (Aljazeera)
Women rights groups in Pakistan say the life of a woman convicted of adultery is now in grave danger; she faces death by stoning as her man has abandoned her to the courts. (The Guardian)
Health experts condemn tobacco companies for openly flouting European Union laws against advertising by using glitzy sales teams and techniques to promote cigarette brands at young people on Facebook and at music festivals. (The Observer)
Rhinoceros experts worry after the last female in the Krugersdorp game reserve near Johannesburg is attacked by helicopter, shot with tranquiliser guns, and has her horn hacked off by poachers, slowly bleeding to death. (The Observer)
A Tel Aviv judge orders the opening of safe deposit boxes believed to contain manuscripts and drawings by Bohemian writer Franz Kafka at a bank in Zürich. (BBC)
A collection of posters is released to mark the 31st anniversary of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. (BBC)
A two-year "Top Secret America" investigation by The Washington Post concludes that United States intelligence gathering has grown so much since the September 11 attacks that neither its true cost, size nor effectiveness in keeping the country safe is actually known. (BBC)(Aljazeera)
A former British Army commanding officer is accused of lying to a public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi civilian in his soldiers' custody. (BBC)
Kenyan pastor John Kamau Mbugua pleads not guilty to two charges over an alleged plot to bomb a campaign rally for next month's constitutional referendum. (BBC)
David Cameron opts not to meet four United States senators to discuss allegations BP lobbied for the release of the terminally ill Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, though they may meet the ambassador instead. (BBC)
Turkey says six of its soldiers were killed and fifteen wounded in an attack by Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border. Turkey also says that one rebel was killed during the attack, and that others were being pursued by the military. (BBC)
Arts and entertainment
Author Alan Shadrake is released on bail after being arrested while promoting his book on the death penalty in Singapore; a trial is forthcoming on 30 July. (Aljazeera)
Cuba's Ricardo Alarcón says the island is prepared to release further political prisoners after the 52 it announced earlier this month; he says they are free to remain in Cuba if they so wish. (BBC)(France24)[permanent dead link]
The United States announces it is to deploy troops along the US-Mexico border in August in what it sees as an effort to improve its security. (BBC)
French prosecutors request that they be allowed to question Labour Minister Éric Wœrth as part of an investigation into the country's political scandal. (BBC)(Reuters)
Two prisoners flee a jail guarded by a dummy. (BBC)
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Murat Karayilan says the group would disarm under the supervision of the United Nations in return for an end to attacks on Kurdish civilians and arrests of Kurdish politicians in eastern Turkey, as well as additional linguistic and cultural rights. (BBC)
At least 34 people are killed in clashes in northern Yemen between Houthi rebels and pro-government tribes. (Al Jazeera)(BBC)
The United States threatens to impose new sanctions on North Korea as part of its attempt to halt perceived nuclear weapons ambitions; North Korea describes United States military exercises in the Sea of Japan as "very dangerous sabre-rattling". (Aljazeera)
Four people are killed and many more are injured by police fire in Assam in India during a protest by thousands against government registration. (BBC)
Three plainclothes Chinese police officers beat up, bruise and concuss a provincial official's wife by accident; the police are punished, while the woman is hospitalised. (BBC)(China Daily)(The Daily Telegraph)(Reuters)(News24)
Three policemen are killed by suspected left-wing extremists in Pabna, Bangladesh. (BBC)
A Stonewall study indicates that young people rarely see positive portrayals of lesbian and gay people on television, usually depicted as "promiscuous, predatory, or figures of fun", particularly on BBC One. (BBC)
The Margaret Hewson Prize for new writing talent, judged by Beryl Bainbridge 10 days before her recent hospitalisation and eventual death, is awarded to Laura McClelland. (The Guardian)
San bushmen in Botswana lose a court case in which they requested the re-opening of their traditional Kalahari waterhole from which the government forced them out when diamonds were discovered there in the 1980s. (BBC)
The International Monetary Fund cancels Haiti's $268 million debt and approves a new three-year loan worth $60 million; the IMF expects Haiti to start paying back interest in late 2011. (Aljazeera)
A proposal to develop nuclear energy is discussed at an energy policy meeting held by Asean in Da Lat, Vietnam. (BBC)
Nigerian part of Jos is sealed off as police search the city following the discovery of a booby-trap bomb. (BBC)
North Korea responds to nearby joint United States-South Korean military exercises by stating that the acts resemble 19th century "gunboat diplomacy", describing them as "a threat to the Korean peninsula and the region of Asia as a whole". (BBC)
One person is killed and 42 injured after a Swiss tourist train derails in the Alps. (CBC)(AP)
An investigation by The Independent uncovers the first evidence of a UK-based rendition recruitment drive, free of American involvement, suggesting MI5 was directly involved in the 2004 "illegal" transfer of a Moroccan national from a Belgian prison to London. (The Independent)
A mass grave containing at least 50 tortured and burned corpses is unearthed east of Monterrey, Nuevo León, in Mexico. (BBC)
France states its joint effort with Mauritania to free a French hostage is over, but no word is released on the whereabouts of the hostage or if he is even still alive. (Aljazeera)
There are reports that an airstrike on a village in Helmand Province has killed 45 civilians, including children, who were sheltering from violence. (BBC)
Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch receives the verdict in his trial in Phnom Penh - the first of five surviving senior figures to do so. He is sentenced to 35 years in prison with 16 years off for time served. (Aljazeera)(BBC)(CNN)
Julian Assange defends the release, saying the publication was in the public interest, and saying that Wikileaks had withheld the documents from release until it could redact the names of individuals whose safety might be at risk. US Senator John Kerry says the documents "raise serious questions about the reality of America's policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan". (ABC)
Around 300 Bedouins living in "illegal settlements" in Israel'sNegev desert have been made homeless after police raided their village and razed their homes. They are to be resettled in Rahat. (BBC)
North Korean foreign minister Pak Ui-chun arrives in Burma in the first visit since the two countries restored ties in 2007, amid worries over nuclear cooperation. (AFP)(BBC)
At least 63 members of the US military have died in the War in Afghanistan during July 2010 making it the deadliest month for US forces in the history of the war. (The Guardian)
Pakistani intelligence officials cancel a planned visit to the United Kingdom after British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Pakistan to avoid links with groups that "promote the export of terror". However, a visit by President Asif Ali Zardari will go ahead. (BBC)
