• Early elections in November are announced in the Netherlands. (Reuters)
• Discovery Mission STS-121's launch has been delayed today due to thunderstorms. The next launch attempt is scheduled for 3:26 PM EDT tomorrow, although more bad weather is forecast.(NASA)(Associated Press)
• Osama Bin Laden warns the US and other nations not to become involved in Somalia and says that Al Qaeda reserves the right to "punish" the U.S. on its own soil. (Reuters)
• The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to withdraw the 3,500 peacekeeping troops who are currently in Burundi on December 31, despite the continuing activities of the National Liberation Force rebel group. (Reuters)
• At least 60 people die from a car bomb in a market in Sadr City, a Shiite district of Baghdad. (Turkish Press)
• The Qingzang railway is formally opened in the by Chinese President Hu Jintao. (BBC)
• Operation Summer Rains:
  • An Israeli helicopter gunship attacks the office of Prime Minister of Palestine Ismail Haniyeh. Observers report that the building had been set on fire but was unoccupied. (Melbourne Age)
  • Israel rejects demand to free 1,000 prisoners, delivered earlier by the abductors of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. A Palestenian deputy minister says Shalit is in stable condition, but no sign of life is yet given. (Haaretz)
  • The Australian reports Israel threatens to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh unless Israel's kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit, is released unharmed. No other news source confirms this report. (The Australian)
• A ceremony is held at Thiepval, Picardy, in France, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. (BBC)

• One year on from the Live 8 concerts, U2 frontman Bono announces that world leaders are not making good on their promises to Africa. According to Bono in a recent CNN interview, not enough is being done to make trade fair. (CNN)
• Polling closes in the Mexican general election, with voters electing a new President, both houses of Congress, and four state/district governors. Exit polls show the presidential race between Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City, as too close to call. (CBS News)
• Iraqi authorities distribute a most wanted fugitives list containing Saddam Hussein's wife and daughter and with Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri at the top of the list. (CNN)
• The launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is postponed until Tuesday at 2:38pm local time due to stormy weather in Florida. (CBC)
• In Pakistan, all parliament members from the Jamaat-e-Islami political movement resign over fighting between the army and terrorists in Waziristan and General Musharraf's support for the United States in an effort to force Musharraf to step down. (IRNA)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel strikes an empty office of Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh. Two other Hamas operatives are killed in two separate aerial strikes. Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz warns stepping up quality of targets, reiterating the responsibility of Syrian president Bashar Assad for the continued crisis. (Ynet), (BBC)
  • Hamas spokesperson threatens further attacks against Israeli schools and power plants if the military campaign to free the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit continues. (Haaretz)
  • Israeli ground forces deployed in Dahaniya airport kill three approaching Palestinian gunmen, two of them strapped to explosive belts.(Ynet)
  • Israeli PM approves a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at halting Qassam rocket attacks. More than 1200 Qassam rockets, three of them on Sunday, were launched since October 2001, killing 12 Israeli civilians and a comparable number of Palestinian civilians. (Haaretz),(Ynet)

• The Space Shuttle Discovery's launch on STS-121 is thrown in doubt when a 3 inch crack is found in the foam insulation of its external tank. Despite the crack, NASA decides to proceed with the launch, scheduled for 2:38 PM ET Tuesday, which would be the first manned launch on the United States Independence Day. (Spaceflight Now/CBS News) (MSNBC) (Reuters)
• North Korean leaders say that they will respond to any pre-emptive attack from the US with an "annihilating strike and a nuclear war." (Associated Press)
• Greece is suspended from international football competition by FIFA due to Greek government interference in the sport. (FIFA.com) (BBC)
• At least 41 people die during a lunchtime subway accident in Valencia, Spain when two cars of a train derail and overturn. Early reports indicate the train was travelling too fast. (CNN), (BBC)
• The government of Tajikistan renamed the second and the fourth highest peaks of the Pamir Mountains into the Independence Peak and Avicenna Peak, respectively. (Interfax)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel rejects ultimatum to release all Palestinian female prisoners, prisoners under 18, and an additional 1,000 prisoners by 6 A.M. Tuesday, in exchange for information on its kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Defense Minister of Israel Amir Peretz calls Syrian President Bashar Assad to "open his eyes, because he is responsible". (Haaretz)
  • Israel Defense Forces troops kill two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip, on their way to attack Israeli armoured vehicles. (Haaretz)
  • Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov calls for the immediate unconditional release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. (Ynet)

• UFDC rebels attack the Chadian city of Ade and battle the Military of Chad. Both the UFDC and the Déby administration claim to have control over the city, stating that opposing forces have fled. (CNN) United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan issues a report warning that ongoing fighting in Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Cameroon are increasingly destabilized and that borders are loosely enforced. (allAfrica.com)
• North Korea test-launches at least six missiles which landed in the Sea of Japan. An official from the United States Department of State claims that one of the missiles was a long-range Taepodong 2 missile which failed 35 seconds after takeoff.(CNN), (Mainichi Shimbun)
• A Qassam rocket hits a High school at Ashkelon, an Israeli city with a population exceeding 117,000. The rocket was launched by Hamas militants from the town of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza strip. (Haaretz)
• The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off from Cape Canaveral for the International Space Station at 2:38pm EDT (1838 UTC) after its liftoff had been postponed twice. (CNN)
• A bomb scare in the arrivals area of Dublin Airport results in a complete closure of the main building. The man who is responsible for the scare has been arrested; he claims to be a member of al-Qaeda. Approximately 9,000 passengers and 50 flights were affected during the two-hour disruption. (Wikinews)
• The International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers sues Yahoo! China for providing links to pirated music tracks. (BBC)

• Three members of the Tongan royal family are killed in a car accident in Menlo Park, California. (Palo Alto Online)
• China and Russia resist efforts by the United States and Japan to move a motion in the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests. (ABC News America)
• Light Sweet Crude futures close at an all-time high at $75.19/barrel, with an intraday all-time high of $75.40/barrel in New York. Analysts have downplayed the effect of North Korea's missile launch. (AFP)
• Former Enron executive Kenneth Lay has died of a heart attack at the age of 64. (Reuters) (KTRK)
• A North Korean state-run broadcaster states that his country is ready to cope with any provocation by the United States. (Drudge Report)(Associated Press)
• Casinos in the U.S. state of New Jersey have shut down for the first time in their history. The closure started at 8 AM Local Time, 1200 GMT, since the state's budget has not been decided, necessitating the shutdown of nonessential state offices, including casino regulators.(Philadelphia Inquirer)(Associated Press)
• North Korea launches a 7th missile, despite earlier condemnation of its earlier tests. One of the missiles landed "near Russian territory." The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday, and Japan warns of economic sanctions against the country. (Washington Post), (CNN)(Associated Press)(The Washington Times)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel's Prime Minister has allowed the IDF to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip against the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government, in order to free the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. (Reuters)
  • A Palestinian suicide bomber is arrested in the West Bank on his way to the center of Israel. (Ynet)
  • Corporal Gilad Shalit and seven militants are reported to be "living off food hoarded in advance to spare the captors the risk of emerging". (Reuters)

• Addressing the death of Kenneth Lay, U.S. President George W. Bush states that he hopes Lay, one of the men convicted in the collapse of Enron, "was right with the Lord". (FoxNews.com)
• The long-range missile launched during North Korea's Missile Test was aimed at a point in the ocean close to the U.S. state of Hawaii. (Reuters)
• The Space Shuttle Discovery successfully docks with the International Space Station as part of the STS-121 mission. Checks of the orbiter have revealed no damage from foam falling off the external fuel tank during launch. (Spaceflight Now/CBS)
• Great Britain's young people are for the first time spending more time looking at Internet sites than watching TV, a new survey has revealed. (Daily Mail)
• In Mexico's presidential election, PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he will file a legal challenge against the results of the ongoing official vote count that have him losing to the PAN's Felipe Calderón by 0.57 percentage points. (BBC News)
• A United States Military AH-64 Apache helicopter made an emergency landing in South Korea. There was no injury or damage to the helicopter. (Associated Press)
• The New York Court of Appeals rules in a 4-2 decision that gay marriage is not allowed under state law. (Newsday)
• Taiwan plans to test a missile capable of hitting mainland China. This has alarmed the island's main ally, the United States. (Reuters)(Agence France-Presse)
• South Korean media states that there are three or four short to medium range missiles on the launch pad in North Korea, ready for launch. North Korea has now threatened to do so.(Associated Press)(Associated Press)
• The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War in 1962, reopens after 44 years. (Zee News), (BBC)
• Sectarian violence in Iraq: A car bomb explodes outside a Shi'ite Muslim shrine near the holy city of Najaf in Iraq, killing at least seven people. (Reuters)
• An explosion, believed to be caused by a bomb, killed at least eight people in a minibus in the city of Tiraspol, in Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • IDF raid three demolished Israeli settlements and one Palestinian neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip, to halt the daily firing of Qassam rockets at Israeli towns. One Israeli soldier, more than 20 Palestenian militants and one civilian are killed. (Haaretz),(Ynet)
  • 10 Qassam rockets are launched at Israeli towns from the northern Gaza Strip, inflicting damage but no casualties. (Ynet)
  • Palestinian abductors relax their demands for release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit. (Jerusalem Post)

• Craigslist is sued because of illegal posts to that website. Amazon, eBay, AOL, Yahoo, and Google all file briefs as friends of the court in support of Craigslist. (NPR News)
• Ayman al Zawahri, deputy of al-Qaeda claims that two of the London bombers trained with al-Qaeda on a video posted on a website. The two men he identified as training with them are Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has resigned. His party Law and Justice has recommended the post be taken over by its chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, who is the identical twin brother of President Lech Kaczyński. BBC News
• The board of General Motors authorises Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner to explore an alliance with Nissan and Renault. (Bloomberg)
• Japan circulates a new United Nations Security Council draft resolution including the threat of sanctions against North Korea. (Guardian)
• For the second time this week, Dublin Airport's main terminal is evacuated. This occurred when airport security was notified of a strange bag in the Arrivals Area of the airport terminal shortly before 08:00 (IST). A controlled explosion of the bag was carried out by the Army. The airport reopened just over two hours later, though 60 flights and 12,000 passengers were affected. (RTÉ News)
• Typhoon Ewiniar nears landfall on the southern island chain of Okinawa, Japan. The typhoon packs winds 160 km, 99 mi, per hour. Japan's Meteorological Agency warns of flooding on the island and the storm to move across South Korea over the weekend. (Reuters)
• Spain has had its first case of H5N1 bird flu, a laboratory has confirmed. The country has forbidden the transport within a 3 km, 1.8 mi, zone around where the virus was found. (Reuters)
• Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warns of an "explosion" in the Islamic world and it would target Israel and its supporters in the Western world, if Israel doesn't cease its activity in the Gaza Strip. Ahmadinejad said during a rally in Tehran that, "This (Israel) is a fake regime ... it won't be able to survive. I think the only way (forward) is that those who created it (the West) take it away themselves." (Associated Press)
• The FBI announces that a plot to bomb the Holland Tunnel and flood Lower Manhattan with water has been foiled. (Daily News)
• South Korea is developing cruise missile technology, Yoon Kwang-ung, South Korea's defense minister says. This is legal under the South Korea-U.S. missile guideline signed in 2001. (Associated Press)
• North Korea might have moved another Taepodong-2 missile, a long range missile, to the launch site, according to South Korea's defense minister. (Reuters)
• An explosion in the village of Dongzhai village in Shanxi province in north China kills 43 people. (ABC News US)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Three Israeli civilians are wounded when a Qassam rocket lands in a basketball court in Sderot. More than fifteen rockets land in Israeli towns on Friday, in spite of an Israeli raid in the northern Gaza Strip. (Ynet), (Haaretz)
  • Israeli minister Avi Dichter suggests Palestinian prisoners will be released "in a goodwill gesture", if kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is released and rocket attacks cease. Hamas official rejects this suggestion. (Haaretz)

• USS Mustin, which has surface-to-air and Tomahawk cruise missiles is deployed to a Japanese port. This is regularly scheduled and not in response to North Korea's missile test. (Associated Press)
• The first confirrmed flight of a manned ornithopter operating under its own power is made in Toronto, Canada by aerospace scientists. (Toronto Star)
• US diplomat Christopher R. Hill indicates US support for the informal resumption of six party talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israel rejects Hamas terms for a ceasefire - Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya calls for a ceasefire to end several days of fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip. Israel reiterates its demand to release the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, and end Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli towns, for an immediate cease fire to take place. (BBC), (Haaretz)
  • Israeli forces withdraw from the northern Gaza Strip after an intensive two-day operation aimed at creating a buffer zone to stop Hamas militants from firing rockets at Israel. Israeli armoured company enters the Gaza Strip via Karni crossing, advancing to within 500 meters of Gaza city, reportedly in search for tunnels used by Palestinian militants. Israeli Air Force carries out numerous strikes against militants in the Gaza Strip. (BBC), (Haaretz), (Reuters)
  • EU warns Israel of using "disproportionate" force during its operations in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, a Palestinian minister in the Hamas-led government urges all armed forces to fight Israeli troops. (BBC), (Ynet)
  • Three Palestinian family members (mother and two children) are killed in a blast in Gaza city. Palestinian sources claim an Israeli tank shell caused the blast, but the Israel Defense Forces states it carried out no tank or artillery fire at the area. Israeli Air Force investigation concludes its air strikes were not to blame for the blast. Numerous improvised explosive devices were planted in Gaza in the past week, in preparation for an Israeli incursion. (Ynet)
• Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese agriculture minister, announces Japan will no longer provide food aid to North Korea, and that Japan is considering restricting agricultural trade between the two countries. Earlier Japan banned a North Korean ferry from entering Japanese ports. (Mainichi Daily News)
• Seven terror suspects escape from a Saudi Arabian prison. (BBC)

• 25 people are injured on the Son of Beast wooden roller coaster near Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, as it came to a rapid stop. Several rescue units were sent to the scene. (WCPO-TV), (Associated Press)
• 2006 FIFA World Cup: Italy defeats France in the final game of the FIFA World Cup. The score remained 1-1 after both regulation time and extra time; however, Italy won 5-3 in penalty kicks. The match is marred by the dismissal of Zinedine Zidane in the second period of Extra Time. (ABC News Australia)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert says Operation Summer Rains will only end once abducted soldier Gilad Shalit is released: "There is no intention to reoccupy Gaza in order to stay there, but if certain operations are needed they will be carried out". (Reuters), (BBC)
  • 300 members of the British activist group 'Jews for Justice for Palestinians' sign a petition condemning Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
  • An Israeli civilian is moderately wounded as a Qassam rocket strikes his private car in Sderot. Another rocket directly hits a house in Sderot, causing severe damage but no casualties. More than twenty rockets were launched against Israeli towns over the weekend by Palestenian militants, wounding several civilians. (Haaretz), (Getty)
  • UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demands that Israel take urgent action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
• Sectarian violence in Iraq: 40 Sunni civilians are massacred by Shia militiamen in Baghdad. (BBC)
• Hindu nationalists riot in and around the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), attacking a police station, burning buses, forcing businesses shut and halting public transport. (News.com.au)
• The Indian government bans export of pulses due to domestic shortages. This has led to price hikes for pulses in Bangladesh and other countries. (New Kerala)
• A S7 Airlines Airbus A310 crashes on landing in Irkutsk, Siberia, with many of the 200 passengers feared dead. (ABC News America), (CNN), (BBC)
• Nestlé is added to the Arab League list of companies to be boycotted "because it maintains a branch in Israel". An anonymous source says most League members are likely to ignore the decision. (Ynet)

• The United Kingdom unveils a new terror alert status system, similar to the United States' Homeland Security Advisory System. It is currently at "severe" on a scale of low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical. (Associated Press)
• Hundreds of thousands of children are potentially fingerprinted in the UK, some as young as five years old and without parental consent. (Mirror), (IndyMedia)
• U.S. President George W. Bush will likely cast the first veto of his presidency if the Senate passes a bill expanding federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, Karl Rove says. The House has already passed the bill. (Drudge Report)
• U.S. Chief Judge Thomas Hogan rules that a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on the Capitol Hill office of Congressman William J. Jefferson was legal. (Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune)
• The Indian GSLV rocket carrying the INSAT 4C satellite fails. (CNN.com)
• The U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Japan agree today to postpone the vote on possible sanctions against North Korea. (Associated Press)
• 2006 62nd Street explosion: A three-story building located on 62nd Street between Madison and Park avenues collapses in Manhattan at 9 AM EDT following an explosion, and then followed by flames erupting in the building. FDNY labels it a "major incident." (MSNBC/AP), (Reuters), (WNBC), (Associated Press), (CNN), (WABC), (Associated Press)
• A Palestinian girl is critically wounded when a Qassam rocket launched by Palestenian militants hits her home in the Gaza Strip. (Ynet)
• Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert criticises the European Union for its refusal to condemn the daily Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, leaving Israel to take effective measures by itself. (Haaretz)
• Fighting erupts in Somalia, with fighting between Somalian fighters aligned with defeated warlords and Islamic militants killing 60 people and wounding 100. (Reuters)
• A chlorine gas leak at a Chinese chemical plant has hospitalized 164 people. It occurred at the Xing'erte Chemical Products Co. (Associated Press)
• India's test-firing of a nuclear-capable IRBM, Agni III, is unsuccessful after plunging into the Bay of Bengal after going 12 km, 8 mi, or about 5 minutes, then losing altitude. Pakistan was notified prior to the test per treaty with India. (Reuters)
• Chechnya's terrorist Shamil Basayev is allegedly killed, according to Russian authorities. He was said to have been killed together with other Chechen fighters working with him at the time of his alleged death. (Reuters)
• Japan says it is considering whether a pre-emptive strike against North Korea's missile bases would be a violation of its constitution. This is ahead of a possible UN vote on sanctions against North Korea. (Associated Press)
• PIA Flight 688, a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F-27 plane, crashes at Multan International Airport, killing all 45 passengers on board. (CNN), (Associated Press)
• The defense starts the concluding remarks in the trial of Saddam Hussein.

(NBC)

• The Hebrew University of Jerusalem releases 1,300 letters written by Albert Einstein, shedding light on his lovers, wives and kin. (Haaretz)

• Tajikistan begins reconstructing the Dushanbe-Chanak highway after the Government of China agrees to loan the Tajik Government $281.2 million of the $296 million reconstruction costs. Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov said, "the Great Silk Route will return to live." (Interfax)
• Liu Xiang of China sets a new World Record for the 110 metres hurdles at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 seconds. (IAAF)
• On the 17th day to the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, his father asks why Red Cross representatives were not allowed to visit the hostage, as established in the Geneva Conventions. (Ynet)
• An Israeli official states there is neither hunger nor a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip. He explains that the cargo terminals to the Gaza Strip are under constant threats, challenging the ordinary transportation of goods, citing numerous terrorist attacks carried out against the crossings. (Ynet)
• A fire and smoke buildup occurres on the CTA Blue Line train in the U.S. city of Chicago. Most injuries are from smoke inhalation. No fatalities have been stated at this time. Emergency personnel are on scene. The cause is from a rear derailment. (CBS2 Chicago), (NBC5 Chicago), (Chicago Tribune), (CNN), (Associated Press)
• U.S. broadcaster Bob Novak reveals his involvement in the Plame leak, stating "I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in Who's Who in America." (Bob Novak/Human Events Online)
• News Corp's MySpace.com surpasses Yahoo! Mail for the first time, and has become the number-one most visited website in the United States. (Reuters)
• The United States government agrees to apply parts of the Geneva Convention to detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, but does not change their status from enemy combatants to POWs. (Washington Times)
• A three ton concrete ceiling tile falls on a car in a tunnel in Boston, United States, killing one female passenger and closing the tunnel. The Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, announces that the Massachusetts Government will be taking legal action to remove the Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Matt Amorello. (Bloomberg), (The Boston Globe), (Daily Comet)
• Eight explosions hit at least four commuter trains in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay). India's other major cities are all placed on high alert. At least 174 people are reported dead, and at least 460 are reported injured. A suspect has been arrested in central Delhi. (Associated Press), (Reuters), (MSNBC), (Rediff), (Zee News)
• The Mujahideen Shura Council, a group linked to Al-Qaeda, posts a tape claiming responsibility for killing three US soldiers in retaliation for the killing of an Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza, allegedly by members of the same unit that the soldiers belonged to. (Dallas Morning News)
• Hurricane Bud forms in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, south of the tip of the Baja California Peninsula. (National Hurricane Center)
• In the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the American League defeats the National League 3 to 2. Michael Young of the Texas Rangers is named Most Valuable Player. (Major League Baseball)

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  • An Israeli air strike destroys the Palestinian Foreign Ministry Building in Gaza City. (BBC), (AP)
  • An Israeli brigade enters the central Gaza Strip via Kissufim crossing, aiming at temporarily bisecting it. Simultaneously, the Israel Air Force targets a meeting of Hamas operational wing commanders in an apartment building in Gaza city. One Hamas leader, seven members of his family and one neighbour are killed. Top Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif and Abu Anas al-Ghandour, who Israeli officials claim were heavily involved in the kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, are moderately wounded. Fourteen additional Palestinian militants are killed in other incidents in the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (Reuters)
  • 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
    • Hezbollah militants kidnap two Israeli soldiers patrolling along the northern Israel border. Three soldiers are killed in the incident, and five soldiers are killed in subsequent confrontations inside Lebanon. Hezbollah demands the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and one Lebanese prisoner, the killer of two small girls and their father. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (iAfrica) It is later reported that the two Israeli soldiers "had trespassed into Lebanon's side of the border with Israel". (Asia Times) (Bahrain News) (What Really Happened.com)
    • Simultaneously, Hezbollah militants launch Katyusha rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns along the border, wounding six Israeli civilians and five soldiers. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (iAfrica)
    • Israeli forces attack installations and Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, in failed attempt to thwart the transportation of the kidnapped soldiers from the area. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (iAfrica)
    • Hezbollah's attacks draw international condemnation. The US, EU, Japan, UK, Egypt and UN call for the immediate unconditional release of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. The Syrian government and Hamas praise the attack by Hezbollah. (Haaretz), (Jerusalem Post)
    • Lebanon calls back its ambassador to the US after he expresses support for Hezbollah in US media. (Haaretz), (Jerusalem Post)
    • The United States blame Syria and Iran for the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers. (Fox News), (Reuters)
    • Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert describes the Hezbollah attacks as "unjustified acts of war" by Lebanon and promises a "very painful and far-reaching response". (Reuters), (Associated Press)
    • An IDF reserve armoured division is called up in preparation for large scale operations in Lebanon, raising concerns for war. (Haaretz)
    • Israel files a complaint with the UN Security Council and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, urging the international community to enforce council resolutions calling on the Lebanese government to disarm all militias within its borders and to extend its authority throughout its territory and specifically to southern Lebanon and its border with Israel. (Haaretz)
• Several thousand protesters march in the Mexican Federal District, protesting alleged vote fraud in last week's presidential election. (Reuters), (BBC)
• Former General Secretary of the Soviet Union Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev says "We have made some mistakes," referring to attacks on Russia's democracy, and makes several unflattering comments about the United States. (ABC News America)
• 10 or more of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members attend North Korea's launch of its Taepodong-2 missile. (World Tribune)
• France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, People's Republic of China and Germany decide to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program, after Iran not deciding whether to respond to a package of incentives quickly enough. (Reuters)
• The death toll from the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings rises to 200 deaths and 700 injuries. Timers in pencils have been found at some of the sites of explosion. (Associated Press), (CNN)
• U.S. broadcaster Robert Novak says Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was not the primary source for the Plame leak. (Wash Post), (Human Events)
• The Japanese national government announces it will introduce a satellite system that will warn residents of incoming missiles, earthquakes, and other disasters in a 200 million yen program named "J-ALERT". (Mainichi Daily News).
• Iraqi security forces discover the bodies of 20 bus drivers kidnapped earlier in the week. Three kidnap victims are freed. (Reuters)
• Condoleezza Rice says Iran's rejection of the international incentives program will force the major powers to take decisions in the United Nations Security Council. (Reuters)

• Alaksandar Kazulin, a candidate for President of Belarus against Alexander Lukashenko, is jailed for five and a half years for organising protests against Lukashenko's re-election. (Reuters)
• A Harrier Jumpjet en route to the Air Tatoo at RAF Fairford crashes onto a road near Tackley in Oxfordshire. The pilot, who managed to eject before impact, was praised for his skill ensuring no loss of life occurred; the aircraft went down in a relatively populated area. (Reuters)
• The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution condemning Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
• North Korean diplomats quickly leave a meeting with South Korea and a U.S. diplomat, and leave the region after a week of diplomacy. (Reuters)
• Merck & Co. wins a trial over a grandmother's claim that its Vioxx painkiller caused her to have a heart attack, reducing pressure on the company to settle 12,000 other cases about the drug. (Bloomberg)
• A complete First Folio edition of William Shakespeare's plays is auctioned in London for £2.8 million. It had been owned by Dr Williams's Library, which paid about £500 for it in 1716. When new in 1623, the Folio would have cost £1. (BBC)
• Two explosions hit oil installations belonging to an Italian company in Nigeria's southeast region. Sabotage is the suspected cause. (Associated Press)
• The United States is considering establishing an independent command for South Korean troops. South Korea has command of its forces during peacetime, but currently the United States would take control if there were a war. (Reuters)
• A man claiming to represent Al-Qaeda in India claims that they have set up a network in Kashmir and appeals to Indian Muslims to take up jihad. (Los Angeles Times)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • Haifa city is hit by rocket artillery fired from Lebanon. Israeli Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon describes the unprecedented strike on Haifa as a "major, major escalation" by Hezbollah. (Haaretz), (Ynet), (Getty)
  • Lebanon announces it refuses to abide UN Security Council's Resolutions 1559 and 1583, calling Lebanon to assert full control over its border with Israel. (Haaretz)
  • Israeli jets attack a Lebanese army air base near the Syrian border, destroying runways, the first attack against Lebanon's army in Operation Just Reward. (Fox News), (Jerusalem Post), (Associated Press)
  • More than a hundred Katyusha rockets hit northern Israeli cities and towns, killing two civilians in Nahariya and Safed. Approximately 150 civilians are wounded, including women and children. Hezbollah threatens to launch long-range rockets at Haifa metropolis if the southern suburb of Beirut is attacked. (Ynet), (Haaretz), (Getty)
  • Israel imposes an air and sea blockade on Lebanon. (Associated Press)
  • An Israeli aircraft fires three rockets into Beirut international airport killing 22 civilians. All incoming air traffic is diverted to Cyprus. Israel claims that the airport was used to supply weapons to Hezbollah, and was about to be used to smuggle its kidnapped soldiers away to Iran. Israeli navy later attacks fuel tanks at the airport, setting them ablaze. (Haaretz), (BBC), (Reuters), (Fox News), (CNN)

• Talks begin in Juba, Sudan between delegations from the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan Government with a view to ending the conflict centred in Acholiland. The leader of the Ugandan delegation, Internal Affairs Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda had stated that obtaining a quick ceasefire is his priority. (allAfrica.com)
• Indian authorities announce that they are looking for a third man in relation to the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings. So far, the three suspects in the case are Sayyad Zabiuddin, Zulfeqqar Fayyaz and a man named Rahil. (New York Times)
• The trial of seven former Bosnian Serb officers for alleged involvement in the Srebrenica massacre begins at The Hague war crimes tribunal. Five of the seven standing trial face genocide charges, as well as crimes against humanity. The trial is the largest yet staged at The Hague. (BBC)
• Jarosław Kaczyński is sworn-in as the new Prime Minister of Poland by the President, Lech Kaczyński, his twin brother.(BBC)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • US President George W. Bush has said he will urge Israel to avoid civilian casualties in its attacks on Lebanon, but he's "not going to make military decisions for Israel". (Haaretz), (BBC NEWS).
  • Middle East crisis keeps oil near peak - There are fears the dispute will push oil prices up even further. (BBC NEWS)
  • An Israeli Navy missile boat is attacked 16 km off the shores of Beirut, by an Irani C-802 land-to-ship missile. 4 Israeli crewmembers are missing. (Ynet), (Haaretz)
  • Hezbollah renews rocket fire against numerous Israeli towns. About 90 Katyusha rockets hit the cities of Safed and Nahariya, killing a 4 year old child and his grandmother in Meron village and wounding many other civilians. (Ynet), (Haaretz), (Getty)
  • Israel destroys Hezbollah headquarters and home of its head Hassan Nasrallah in southern Beirut, following repeated early warnings to local civilians. Other facilities in the area were struck earlier on Friday. Nasrallah vows to fight "open war" on Israel, striking towns "beyond Haifa". (Haaretz), (Boston Globe), (BBC NEWS)
  • Israeli fighters attack the Beirut-Damascus Highway, closing the country's main artery and further isolating Lebanon from the outside world. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), (Fox)
  • Some 220,000 Israeli civilians spend the night in bomb shelters, after two civilians were killed in rocket attacks. 14 Israelis, including 4 children, remain hospitalized following yesterday's rocket attacks. (Haaretz), (Ynet)
  • Since Wednesday morning, Hezbollah militants fired at least 300 Katyusha rockets and 500 mortar shells against Israeli towns, killing 4 civilians and wounding more than 150. 63 Lebanese have been killed, and more than 159 have been injured. (Ynet), (Times Online)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • About 1500 of Palestinian people cross the Gaza-Egypt border after Palestinian militants attack Egyptian policemen stationed at Rafah border terminal, blowing a hole in the wall near it. (Ynet), (Associated Press), (BBC NEWS), (Getty)
  • Israeli ground forces pull out of the central Gaza Strip, after several days of fighting in which about 30 Hamas militants were killed. Israeli forces remain in Gaza airport near Rafah, to thwart the delivery of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit into Egypt. (Haaretz), (BBC)
  • One Palestinian civilian is killed when his truck drives towards Israeli forces. (Ynet), (AL-JAZEERA)
  • Hamas militants launch 5 qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, causing local electrical malfunctions. (Ynet)

• The 32nd G8 summit begins in Saint Petersburg, Russia. {BBC coverage)
• The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution calling for weapons-related sanctions against North Korea. North Korea rejects the resolution. (AP)
• The 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games begin in the city of Cartagena, Colombia.
• British troops in Afghanistan are undertaking their biggest operation since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. (BBC)
• US President George W. Bush claims that the United States and Russia had almost reached agreement on Russia joining the World Trade Organisation. Bush met with Vladimir Putin prior to the G8 meeting in Strelna. (Bloomberg)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • The presidents of the US and Russia differ in emphasis in voicing concern about the Mid-East crisis at the 32nd G8 summit in Strelna.(BBC)
  • US President George W. Bush calls for Syria to urge Hezbollah to "lay down its arms and to stop attacking". Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov calls Hezbollah to "cease using terrorist methods, including attacks on neighboring countries". (Haaretz)
  • Hezbollah fires more than a hundred Katyusha rockets against the Israeli cities of Tiberias, Karmiel, Nahariya and Safed, as well as numerous towns. Several civilians are injured as residential areas are heavily damaged. Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz is about to sign a "home front emergency" declaration, enabling local security forces to shut down schools and close certain areas for traffic, narrowing the damages of the expanding fighting. (Haaretz), (Ynet)
  • Israel Air Force strikes Hezbollah targets and facilities in Lebanon. An Israeli general says all Lebanese coastal radars were destroyed, after they took part in the attack on an Israeli missile boat on Friday, killing 4 soldiers. Lebanese police reports at least 23 civilians are killed when an Israeli missile hits a van in southern Lebanon, after fleeing from a village and refused shelter by local UN forces. (Ynet), (Al-Jazeera), (Haaretz), (CNN),(BBC)
  • United Nations Security Council turns down for now a Lebanese request to impose a cease-fire. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Israel would not end its military operation in Lebanon until the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1559, which calls for disarming Hezbollah and the deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon. (Haaretz), (SF Gate)
  • Since Wednesday morning, Hezbollah militants fired about 700 rockets against Israeli towns, killing 4 civilians and wounding more than 500. More than 100 Lebanese have been killed and hundreds were injured, including many civilians and an undisclosed number of Hezbollah militants. (Ynet), (Al-Jazeera)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Two Hamas militants killed in two Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, one of them on a house in Gaza city. (Reuters), (BBC), (Mediafax), (Ynet), (Haaretz), (Al-Jazeera)

• It is reported that Tropical Storm Bilis killed at least 115 people when it hit southeastern China on Friday. (CNN)
• An Iraqi general claims that a suicide bombing in a Shiite cafe in northern Iraq has killed 25 people. (Newsday)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • 25 Lebanese are killed in Israeli Air Force strikes in southern Lebanon. (BBC), (Ynet), Al-Jazeera, (Haaretz)
  • Hezbollah rockets hit the major Israeli city of Haifa, killing 8 civilians and wounding 17. More than a hundred rockets were fired against numerous urban areas in the north of Israel, as far south as Afula, killing 8 civilians and wounding 53. Local train lines and universities closed down. (Haaretz), (BBC), (Al-Jazeera), (CBS), (Jerusalem post)
  • Israel increases the alert level in Tel Aviv in preparation to further attacks. (Haaretz), (Reuters)
  • Lebanon security officials claim that an Israeli air strike on Tyre kills at least 16 people and wounds 42. (AP), (BBC)
  • Since Wednesday morning, Hezbollah militants fired more than 1400 rockets and mortar shells against Israeli towns, killing 12 civilians and wounding more than 500. More than 130 Lebanese have been killed and hundreds were injured, including many civilians and an undisclosed number of Hezbollah militants. (Ynet), (Al-Jazeera)

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • Hamas militants launch ten Qassam rockets against Sderot and Ashkelon, causing damage in residential areas but no casualties. Israel Air Force strikes kill five militants and one civilian in the Gaza Strip. (Ynet),(Haaretz)

• Space Shuttle Discovery lands successfully on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility of the Kennedy Space Center, ending a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. (BBC)
• In the United Kingdom, the Crown Prosecution Service announce that police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in the aftermath of the attempted bombings of London on July 21, 2005 will not face criminal charges, although the Metropolitan Police Service is to be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act. (BBC)
• A 7.7 M_w earthquake off the coast of Indonesia causes a tsunami to crash into Java, causing significant property damage and killing over 100 people. Concern is raised over lack of a warning system for the south coast despite warnings from international agencies.(BBC), (USA Today), (Associated Press), (CBS News)
• At least 40 Iraqis are killed and dozens injured in the town of Mahmoudiya south of Baghdad in an insurgent attack. (BBC)
• Kofi Annan states that he is working with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to deploy an armed force in the Middle East to quell the escalation of conflict between Israel, Palestinian insurgents and Hezbollah. Tony Blair supports the plan. (Bloomberg)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • Israel has rebuffed a UN call for an international monitoring force to be deployed in Lebanon as it continued to attack the country.(Al-Jazeera)
  • At least 10 Lebanese have died in an Israeli attack on their vehicles in the south of the country, sources say.(BBC NEWS)
  • Israel extends its air campaign to northernmost Lebanon, killing at least 14, among them 9 soldiers, after Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa. (BBC), (Haaretz), (Al-Jazeera)
  • Israel claims to have destroyed a long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv in an airstrike on Lebanon. (India Daily)

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains)

• Israel Air Force strikes the Palestinian Foreign Ministry for a second time in a week, wounding 5 people. (Al-Jazeera), (Haaretz)

• The government of Angola and the Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda sign a peace agreement ending the Independence War in Cabinda. AngolaPress
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
  • Western governments evacuate their citizens from Lebanon any way they can. (CNN)
  • Israel intercepts a rocket shipment from Syria to Hezbollah. (Ynet)
  • Israel closes Haifa's port after Hezbollah rockets rain on the port-city, wounding two people.
  • The Nikkei 225 stock market index falls by 2.8 percent due to uncertainty in the Middle East. (Bloomberg)
  • Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert vows to keep fighting until the captured soldiers are released and Israeli citizens are safe. (ABC News America)
• The death toll from the July 2006 Java earthquake and the tsunami rises to 339. As scores of people are missing, the death toll is expected to keep rising. BBC
• A car bomb kills at least 15 labourers and wounds dozens in the southern Iraqi town of Kufa. (BBC)
• Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses from Memorial Medical Center in the U.S. city of New Orleans are charged with murder in connection with the possible mercy killings of 34 patients in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (CNN.com)
• The United States House of Representatives fails to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage with a 236-187 vote; 47 short of the necessary two-thirds support needed to pass an amendment. (Washington Post)
• Tropical Storm Beryl forms off the coast of the U.S. state of North Carolina, 180 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras. It is the second tropical storm to form in the North Atlantic in the 2006 hurricane season. (NBC Wilmington)
• The Princess Cruises ship Crown Princess lists heavily, injuring several passengers. It immediately returns to Port Canaveral. (News.com.au)(FoxNews.com)
• Turkey calls for Iraq and the United States to crack down on Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq, and issued a veiled threat to attack the rebel bases if there was no progress. Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group releases a report entitled “Iraq and the Kurds: The Brewing Battle over Kirkuk” which examines the dangerously neglected looming conflict in and around the northern Iraqi city. Reuters Alertnet LA Times ICG report
• On the first day of the 90th International Four Days Marches Nijmegen, two participants die of heart failure due to exhaustion caused by the exceptionally warm weather in the Netherlands. Because even higher temperatures are predicted for the second day, the organization decides to cancel the remainder of the event. (expatica.com)

• A 235-193 vote in the U.S. House of Representatives falls short of the 2/3 majority needed to override President George W. Bush's first-ever veto of a bill intended to reauthorize federal funding of embryonic stem cell research (see Stem cell controversy). (AP)
• Record-breaking temperatures continue in a U.S. heat wave and another in Europe, causing at least 18 deaths, including some as far north as the Netherlands. The UK hit a record-breaking July temperature of 36.5°C (97.7°F) at Wisley. (BBC)
• Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve warns the United States Senate Banking Committee of the possible impact of rising energy prices on inflation. (Bloomberg)
• Internet censorship: In an unprecedented move for a leading democracy, India bans some blogs; Huge outrage reported. (BBC), (Business Standard),(Blog-Herald), (New York Times)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon must stop immediately, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said.(BBC NEWS)
  • Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in fierce fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.(BBC NEWS)
  • At least 55 civilians have been killed in Israeli air strikes in Lebanon.(BBC NEWS)
  • Israeli ground troops cross the border into Lebanon in a limited incursion. (International Herald Tribune)
  • Israeli airstrikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut near the airport. (CNN)
  • A cruise ship carrying 1000 Americans leaves Beirut for Cyprus as the fighting enters its second week. (Associated Press)
  • Israeli warplanes attack bunker in south Beirut believed to contain Hezbollah leaders. (Associated Press)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • At least nine Palestinians have been killed in fresh Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank.(BBC NEWS)
• Independent reports say that over 100 people are dead and missing in North Korea as a result of floods and landslides, while the North's government-controlled media omitted mention of any casualties. More than 9,000 families are left homeless. There have been at least 25 deaths in South Korea. (MSNBC)
• OFCOM removes the retail price controls that had been imposed on Britain's dominant telco, the BT Group, for the last 22 years. (LSE) (Reuters) (BBC)
• An aristocratic house believed to be the birthplace of Augustus, the first emperor of ancient Rome, is discovered under the Palatine Hill.(SFGate)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon must stop immediately, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said.(BBC NEWS)
  • Two Israeli Apache helicopters collide, leaving five injured. A pilot has reportedly died. (National Nine News)
• Iran states that it is determined to produce nuclear fuel on its territory. It will respond officially to a Western incentive package on August 22, 2006. (Reuters)
• Internet censorship: In India, public outcry at the recent blocking of some blogs results in a statement by that country's government that the occurrence was a "technological error," and that immediate steps will be taken to resolve the issue. (IHT)
• A column of Ethiopian Army vehicles invades Somalia, reaching the town of Baidoa. They have stated that they are willing to defend Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament from the Islamic Courts Union. (BBC)
• The U.S. grand jury investigating baseball player Barry Bonds for possible perjury and tax evasion charges is set to expire today. It was extended and Bonds was not indicted. Greg Anderson, Bonds' trainer, was released from a federal prison in Dublin, California, after having been jailed for refusing to give evidence. (ESPN.com), (Forbes) (NBC)
• The opposition Cook Islands Party wins a byelection in Matavera, leaving the Government without a majority. Prime Minister Jim Marurai is not conceding defeat. (Radio NZ)

• The Supreme Court of Japan rules that foreign governments are no longer immune from lawsuits filed in Japan. (Asahi Shimbun)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Israel moves thousands of troops to the Lebanese border including reserves to deal with fierce fighting. (UPI)
  • Israel is continuing its Lebanon military offensive, with war planes bombing more than 40 targets, mainly in southern parts of Beirut, on Friday. (BBC NEWS)
  • United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will outline a plan for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and will tour the area next week. (Boston Globe)
  • The UN-led call for a ceasefire is blocked by the US, UK and Israel. (The Star), (News24), (Reuters), (ABCnews), (The Independent).
• Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok dies in a military hospital while waiting for his trial for crimes against humanity committed in Democratic Kampuchea. (BBC)
• The Cassini spacecraft takes pictures of Saturn's moon Titan that appear to show the presence of hydrocarbon lakes. (NASA)
• Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, appears in court in The Hague to face 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. (CNN)
• Iraq War:
  • Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents say that officers commanded them to "kill all military age males".(MSNBC)

• A group of Colombian farmers has won a multimillion pound settlement from BP after the British oil and gas company was accused of benefiting from a regime of terror carried out by Colombian government paramilitaries to protect a 450-mile pipeline.(Independent)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • The European Union sends experts to Cyprus to help coordinate provision of emergency humanitarian aid to Lebanon. (Reuters)
  • Israel has carried out air strikes and small-scale incursions into Lebanon, as troops and tanks gather on the border.(BBC NEWS)
  • Thousands of people across the UK demonstrate against Israeli attacks on Lebanon. (BBC News)
  • Israel has massed soldiers and tanks on the border with Lebanon and called up thousands of reserve troops, in a possible prelude to a ground offensive. (BBC News)
  • The New York Times reports that the United States is speeding up a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel. Israel apparently requested the weapons to use against targets in Lebanon. (New York Times)(BBC NEWS)
• An earthquake measuring 5.1-5.2 in magnitude hits a mountainous region of Yunnan Province in south China killing at least 18-19 people and injuring at least 60 more. (CBS)

• Human Rights Watch releases a report stating that torture of Iraqi detainees was authorized by the US government; soldiers' complaints were ignored. (Human Rights Watch)
• Miss Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, is crowned Miss Universe 2006 in Los Angeles, California. Forty minutes after her crowning, she collapses during a post-pageant news conference. (ABC News, CNN)
• Tiger Woods wins the The Open Championship commonly known as the British Open, finishing two shots ahead of Chris DiMarco. (ABC News America)
• Ariel Sharon's condition worsens. (BBC)
• American Floyd Landis wins the 2006 Tour de France. (Bloomberg)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • The UN's Jan Egeland has condemned the devastation caused by Israeli air strikes in Beirut, saying it is a violation of humanitarian law.(BBC NEWS)
  • Two Israeli civilians are killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks on Haifa. More than 2200 rockets have been fired at Israeli cities since the beginning of the conflict, killing 17 Israelis, all of them civilians. 20 Israeli soldiers were killed in other incidents. About 300 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces. (Ynet), (Haaretz), (People's Daily Online)
  • Israel and the United States governments say they would accept NATO forces deployed along the Lebanese/Israeli border.(Gulfnews), (Reuters)
  • There is a PR battle raging about the publication of a series of photos showing Israeli children writing messages on shells meant for targets in Lebanon.(The Jerusalem Post)
• An earthquake of 6.1 magnitude off the coast of Gorontalo province on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi prompts warnings of a possible tsunami. (Jakarta Post)
• A suicide bomb explosion kills at least 26 people in a busy market in Sadr City, a predominantly Shi'a district of Baghdad. (AFP)

• The United States Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard rescue twenty-three crew members from a capsized cargo ship south of the Aleutian Islands, on its way from Japan to Vancouver. (CBC)
• Talks among key World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries to liberalise global trade (known as the Doha round) collapse after nearly five years of negotiations. (The Herald)
• Chadian President Idriss Déby fires Livestock Minister Mahamat Allamine Bourma Treye and Decentralization Minister Mahamat Abdoulaye, who served as the Livestock Minister in Déby's second term, accusing them of embezzling 277 million CFA Francs. (Yahoo!)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announces in an interview with Al-Jazeera that he discussed the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers with Lebanese political leaders before the attack occurred. (Memri)
  • Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warns Israel over its actions in Lebanon. (BBC)
  • Human Rights Watch say that Israel have used artillery-fired cluster munitions against populated areas of Lebanon.(HRW)
  • A Lebanese family ordered to flee by Israel was targeted by Israeli fire because they were driving minivan, killing three and injuring 16. (The Guardian), (LA Times)
• Iraq War:
  • Saddam Hussein, 69, the deposed former Iraqi President, has been force-fed in a Baghdad hospital through a tube after 16 days of hunger strike. (Reuters) , (BBC)
  • Two powerful bombs in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood kill at least 66. (Washington Post)

• The Interstate Abortion Bill is passed by the United States Senate. The bill would make it illegal for non-parents to take a minor to another state to obtain an abortion without parental consent. (Washington Post)(Congress Record, Not yet updated)
• Typhoon Kaemi hits Taiwan with 119 kilometre winds, injuring four people. The landfall in Jinjiang, Fujian 4 hours later prompts the evacuation of more than 500,000 residents in Fujian and Zhejiang, where Typhoon Bilis claimed 612 lives. (Hindustan Times) (Xinhua)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • The Israeli army has been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in an operation in northern Gaza. According to the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during an incursion into the town of Beit Hanoun last week. (BBC)
• 2006 Kodori Gorge clashes: Georgia sends a military force to the Kodori Valley in the breakaway Abkhazia region, prompting a warning from Russia. (Interfax) (BBC)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Israeli army radio reports that Israeli Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has ordered the air force to destroy 10 multi-story buildings in the Dahiya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa. As of Sunday the ratio of reported deaths was more than 17:1. (News24)(Scoop)
  • Four UN peacekeepers die after being, according to the United Nations, shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery, and a rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble. "I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by IDF of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement from Rome. Israeli ambassadors expressed regret but called the assertion that the attacks were deliberate "baseless". The IDF will investigate the incident. (BBC News) (CTV NEWS) Also, the IDF announces that it has killed Abu Jafaar, a leading Hezbullah commander in charge of the central Lebanese border. (Haaretz) (CNN)
  • US-based Human Rights Watch says Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas during its assault on Lebanon. (BBC) (Al-Jazeera)
  • A missile, fired by Israel, has hit a house in Lebanon; seven civilians confirmed dead. (AP)
  • Israel says it will keep control over an area in southern Lebanon until an international force can be deployed. (BBC) (Al-Jazeera) (NY Times)
  • 90 rockets have been fired at northern Israel, killing an Israeli-Arab teenager and wounding about 20 others. (Haaretz)
  • An Israeli air strike destroys two Red Cross ambulances. (The Guardian)
• 2006 Ukraine parliament crisis. Ukraine's parliament, Verkhovna Rada, misses the deadline to form a coalition, facing a possible dissolution. (BBC News)

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • At least nine people are killed in Israeli air raids in the east of Gaza City, including a three-year-old girl, according to medical sources. (BBC NEWS)
• Andrea Yates, a U.S. woman who killed her five children in 2001, is found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. (CBS News)
• The governments of Chad and Sudan sign an accord officially ending the Chadian-Sudanese conflict. The deal has many provisions similar to that of the Tripoli Accord, which Sudan has violated four times by aiding Janjaweed, UFDC, and anti-Bozize rebels and genocidaires. (Syracuse.com)
• Germany and 11 other nations, including Israel, sign a protocol to open the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen in the state of Hesse up to international researchers. It contains up to 50 million documents relating to 17.5 million individuals. (Bloomberg)
• Fragments of a Psalter, a prayer book, are found in a bog in Ireland, where it has been for an estimated 1200 years. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• United States National Park Service director Fran P. Mainella announces her resignation. (NPS.gov)
• 2006 Kodori Gorge clashes: Georgian forces attack surrounded rebels after an ultimatum expires. (civil.ge)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Four United Nations observers are killed in an Israeli air strike on an observation post in south Lebanon. An initial UN report says they contacted the Israeli troops 10 times before an incoming bomb killed four of them. (BBC NEWS), (BBC NEWS)
  • UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" in the Middle East. (Sky), (BBC NEWS)
  • The Battle of Bint Jbail intensifies. (Ynetnews)
  • Nine Israeli soldiers are killed as IDF forces attempt to gain control of a key hilltop in southern Lebanon. (AP), (BBC NEWS)

• U.S. Heat Wave of 2006: A heat wave in California causes at least 90 deaths. (KOVR-TV / CBS 13)
• Somalia's interim government unravels as at least 20 government members resign, most being parliament members, accusing the country's virtually powerless government of failing to bring peace. (Houston Chronicle)
• The three main militia groups in the troubled DR Congo eastern province of Ituri have agreed to lay down arms and begin integrating into the Congolese army.(BBC).
• More than 80 people dead and missing in China as a result of Typhoon Kaemi. (Mail and Guardian)
• In Rome, the President of the Venice Biennale Davide Croff and the Director of the 63rd Venice Film Festival Marco Müller have presented the line-up of the festival, which runs August 30 - September 9. (La Biennale di Venezia)
• 2006 Kodori crisis: the rebel renegade Emzar Kvitsiani escapes as one civilian gets killed in the fighting. civil.ge. The hitherto Tbilisi-based Government of Abkhazia-in-exile will assume control of the gorge located in the northeastern part of breakaway Abkhazia after the first phase of the Georgian police operation is successfully over.(civil.ge)
• The government investigation of the assault that partially paralyzed Fu Xiancai, a Chinese activist protesting the displacement caused by the Three Gorges Dam, concludes that he hit himself in the back of the neck, breaking three vertebrae. (BBC)
• The team for 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis announces that he failed a drug test during the race, with high levels of testosterone. (Sports Illustrated), (Reuters)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, openly supports Hezbollah attacks on Israel, Calling for Jihad until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq". (CNN), (Washington Post), (Associated Press)
  • Israel says diplomats' decision not to call for a halt to its Lebanon offensive at a Middle East summit has given it the green light to continue.(BBC NEWS)
  • The Israeli military has been taken by surprise by the ferocity of Hezbollah's resistance and may rethink its strategy. (New York Times) (The Guardian, London)
  • The Israeli Cabinet decides not to expand the Lebanese offensive. (Associated Press)
  • Lebanese Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh claims that up to 600 civilians may have been killed in the Israeli bombardment. (The Australian)
• Already-convicted murder Robert Charles Browne pleads guilty to another killing, and leads authorities to suspect he might be America's most prolific serial killer (Boston Herald)
• 2006 Ukraine parliament crisis. Ukraine's president, Yushchenko, holds crisis talks over political stalemate. (Fox News)

• Six people are shot, one fatally, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in the U.S. state of Washington in a religiously-motivated killing spree. The killer identified himself as a Muslim American who was angry over the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (Associated Press)
• Iran's nuclear program:
  • The UN Security Council approves a resolution to give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of sanctions. (Reuters)
• A U.S. jury convicts four members of the Aryan Brotherhood on charges of murder, racketeering and conspiracy in a federal case aiming to dismantle the white-supremacist group. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• A U.S. federal appeals court upholds the conviction and 25 year sentence of former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers for fraud. (USA Today)
• Coroners in the U.S. state of California estimate the death toll from the current heat wave at at least 123. (AP News Alert)
• An explosion at a fluorine plant in China's Jiangsu Province kills 12 people and leads to the evacuation of 7,000 people. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
• 2006 Kodori crisis: both Georgia and Abkhazia threaten war over the dispute. (civil.ge)
• The United States should immediately close all secret detention facilities used in its campaign against terror groups, the UN Human Rights Committee has said. (BBC NEWS)
• The first World Outgames are held in Montreal, Canada. Outgames co-president and Canadian Olympian, Mark Tewksbury, states that the event will "bridge the gap between the gay sport movement and the traditional sport movement."(CTV NEWS)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict:
  • The EU President and US State Department react to Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon's claim that the deadlocked Rome conference was a sign that the world supported Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The EU described the claim as "totally wrong" and the US declared the statement "outrageous". (BBC News) (EUobserver).
  • Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is reported to have taken refuge in the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. (Washington-Times)
  • The White House has dismissed UK concerns about the use of Prestwick Airport, in Scotland, by US planes carrying bombs to Israel.(BBC NEWS)
  • Tony Blair arrived in Washington, D.C. for talks with President George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East. Both leaders agree that a multinational force must be sent to Lebanon soon, and that a UN Security Council resolution must be introduced next week.(CTV NEWS)
  • The UN removes its unarmed observers from posts along the Israeli-Lebanese border three days after four of them were killed by an Israeli bomb.(CTV NEWS)
  • 15 Hezbollah militants are killed while fighting in Bint Jbeil.(YNET NEWS)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • The mutilated body of Dr. Danny Yaakovi, an Israeli physician, is found in the West Bank.(YNET NEWS)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict:
  • Israel rejects a UN call for a truce. (BBC)
  • The IDF leaves the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, thus ending the Battle of Bint Jbeil. 8 Israeli soldiers and 50-70 Hezbollah militants were killed in Bint Jbeil. (Haaretz),(Ynet)
  • Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah vows rocket strikes on towns in central Israel, calling it a "temporary country" and asking "When in any Arab-Israeli conflict were two million Israelis forced to flee or enter bomb shelters?" (Haaretz), (Ynet)
  • Hezbollah fired a rocket on Friday, which they claim to be a new long-range missile named "Khaibar 1". The rocket matched the furthest distance that Hezbollah rockets had landed inside Israel since the conflict began on July 12. (Reuters)
• An oil well explosion at the Pertamina-PetroChina oil refinery complex at Bojonegoro in East Java province of Indonesia leads to 150 people being treated at hospital and 6,000 people fleeing nearby villages. At this stage, there is no news of casualties. (Hindustan Times)
• Somali Premier Ali Mohammed Ghedi alleges that Libya, Egypt, and Iran are supplying the Islamic Courts Union with weaponry. (AP v. Yahoo)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • Israel "halts" air strikes for forty-eight hours, after an airstrike killed sixty civilians in Qana, Lebanon. (CTV NEWS)
  • The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on the Middle East crisis after the deaths of more than 54 Lebanese civilians in an Israeli raid. (BBC)
  • More than 54 civilians, at least 37 of them children, are killed in the Lebanese town of Qana. (CNN), (BBC)
  • Ehud Olmert states that "Israel is not in a hurry to have a cease-fire" before it achieves its goals. (The Independent)
  • 146 Rockets hit Israel, at least three in Haifa, wounding six people. (Reuters)
• The United Nations compound in Gaza City is stormed and ransacked by Palestinians protesting the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis. Members of the Islamic Jihad militant group threw stones and fired assault rifles. Eight vehicles were damaged and five people were wounded. (Washington Post)

• New coins become legal tender in New Zealand, leaving the 5 cent piece redundant and reducing the weight of the 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces.(TVNZ)(Blogger News Network)
• Fidel Castro temporarily transfers the duties of the Cuban presidency to brother Raúl during a surgical operation. (NY Sun)
• North Korea and South Korea exchange fire across the Demilitarized Zone. (USA Today)
• The UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1697 (2006), which extends the UNIFIL mandate until 31 August 2006. The previous extension ended 31 July 2006. ( UN Resolution 1697)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military on Monday to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel. (Reuters)
• Tony Blair and Arnold Schwarzenegger have announced their intention to collaborate to decrease carbon emissions and fight global warming. Their plan includes incentives for companies which limit their carbon emissions, among other carbon-limiting measures. Schwarzenegger has shown interest in a ban on excessive carbon emissions, which is directly in opposition to statements made by President George W. Bush. (AP)
• Incumbent Fradique de Menezes wins São Tomé and Príncipe's presidential election. (Reuters)
• 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis:
  • The UN Security Council has expressed its "shock and distress" at the previous day's Israeli attack in which 54 Lebanese civilians, many of them children, were killed. (BBC NEWS)
  • World leaders must apply "maximum pressure" to bring about a UN resolution for a sustainable ceasefire in the Middle East, Tony Blair (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) has said. (BBC NEWS)
  • Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has said that, despite a 48-hour halt to air strikes on south Lebanon, Israel cannot agree to an immediate ceasefire. (BBC NEWS)
  • The Israeli Air Force has conducted airstrikes near Taiybe, Lebanon, despite claims that air strikes would be halted for forty-eight hours. (CNN) (CTV NEWS)
  • Condoleezza Rice, in Jerusalem, says that she is calling for a cease fire and put in place a multi-national peacekeeping force. (Israel National News)
• John Howard announces that he intends to stay on as Prime Minister of Australia until the 2007 election which he plans to contest as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. (CNN)
• NATO takes over command of operations in southern Afghanistan in Kandahar from a US-led coalition. (Channel News Asia)