- Overnight News Summaries ,
- Tags: Africa, China, earthquake, Egypt, Facebook, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Middle East, Russia, State Department, Tehran, Tunisia, UAE, virus, Yemen
- 29 Jul
KEY STORYLINES
- AFRICA: The Nigerian city of Lagos shut and quarantined a hospital where a Liberian man died of the Ebola virus
- AMERICAS: Aruba said that the release of a former top Venezuelan official wanted by the US for alleged drug trafficking came after Venezuela raised economic and military pressure.
- ASIA: A suicide attacker killed Hashmat Karzai, an influential cousin of Afghan President Karzai.
- EUROPE: The US concluded that Russia violated the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile.
- MIDDLE EAST: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that rebels have pressed on with a fresh advance in the central province of Hama in a bid to take out its military airport.
- TECHNOLOGY: Facebook will stop allowing messaging in its main iPhone and Android apps, and force all their users to download its standalone Messenger app in coming days.
TOP STORY
- Israel: Military to escalate Gaza campaign.
- Military chief of staff LT GEN Gantz said the assault on Gaza’s Hamas rulers was being “intensified and told the country to prepare for a prolonged operation.
- The energy authority in the Palestinian territory said the only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling.
- Airstrikes flattened the three-story home of Hamas’s top political leader in the Gaza Strip and destroyed offices of the movement’s radio and television station.
- Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel’s leaders of committing “genocide” in Gaza and called on the Islamic world to arm Palestinians fighting “the Zionist regime”.
- Five Israeli soldiers died in clashes with a Palestinian commando that tried to reach Israel through a tunnel at Nahal Oz.
- Coverage: AFP, AFP-2, AP, BBC, NYT, WP, WSJ
AFRICA
- Region: Boko Haram is increasingly shifting toward targeting prominent political figures in Cameroon and Nigeria. (NYT)
- Egypt: A nine-year-old girl was killed when a rocket fell in front of a house in the Sinai Peninsula, in an apparent attack targeting soldiers. (AFP)
- Mali: The UNSC welcomed an agreement on a roadmap for negotiations between the government and Tuareg separatists. (AP)
- Nigeria: The city of Lagos shut and quarantined a hospital where a Liberian man died of the Ebola virus. (Reuters)
AMERICAS
- Region: Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was in Trinidad and Tobago in the second stop on a five-country tour. (AFP)
- Argentina: The government admitted it may default on some of its debt two days before time expires in negotiations with hedge funds demanding full payment on their bonds. (AFP)
- Aruba: A top official said that the government’s’ release of a former top Venezuelan official wanted by the US for alleged drug trafficking came after Venezuela raised economic and military pressure. (WSJ)
ASIA
- Afghanistan: A suicide attacker killed Hashmat Karzai, an influential cousin of President Karzai. (AFP)
- China: A top US commander praised China’s participation in RIMPAC, saying it had gone “very, very well”. (AFP)
- Pakistan: At least six people were killed in firing at a provincial lawmaker’s house in Lower Dir. (Xinhua)
- Philippines: The military launched operations to hunt Islamist militants who killed 23 people. (DPA)
EUROPE
- Region: The EU is set to approve sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis. (AFP)
- Russia: The US concluded that the country violated the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile. (NYT)
- Ukraine: Dutch PM Rutte called President Poroshenko to ask the military to stop fighting around the MH17 crash site. (AFP)
MIDDLE EAST
- Iran: The US State Department called for the release of The Washington Post’s Iran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who was detained last week in Tehran. (WP)
- Iraq: A fugitive accused of bribing US military contracting officials in Iraq has been returned to the US in the first extradition under a 1936 treaty between the two countries. (AP)
- Syria: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that rebels have pressed on with a fresh advance in the central province of Hama in a bid to take out its military airport. (AFP)
TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS
- Communications: Facebook will stop allowing messaging in its main iPhone and Android apps, and force all their users to download its standalone Messenger app in coming days. (TechCrunch)
WORLD
- Cyclones: Tropical Storm 11W (Halong)
- Location: 191 NM ESE of Andersen AFB
- Movement: NW at 6 mph
- Winds: 58 mph
- Map
- Hurricanes: Tropical Storm Hernan
- Location: 635 miles W of Baja California
- Movement: WNW at 16 mph
- Winds: 40 mph
- Map
- Earthquakes: Nothing to report.
- Volcanoes: Nothing to report.
- Global Disease Outbreaks:
- Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)
- Cases: 1201 (Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria)
- Deaths: 672 (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone)
- Sourcing: WHO
- Novel Coronavirus (MERS-CoV, SARS-related)
- Cases: Global Number of Cases as of 24JUL: 837 (Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Italy, Iran, France, Germany, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, UAE, United Kingdom, Egypt, US, Yemen)
- Deaths: Global Number of Deaths as of 24JUL: 291 (Saudi Arabia, France, Qatar, United Kingdom, UAE, Oman)
- Sourcing: WHO, WHO-2
TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK (30JUL)
- Japan and Vietnam: Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to visit Vietnam
- South Sudan: Peace talks between the government and the rebels start up again, hosted by the East African IGAD bloc
END