Portal:Current events
Topics in the news
- The New Popular Front wins the most seats in the National Assembly in the French legislative election but does not achieve a majority.
- The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election and Keir Starmer (pictured) becomes prime minister.
- Hurricane Beryl, the earliest-recorded Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in a calendar year, leaves at least 15 people dead in the Caribbean, Venezuela, and the United States.
- In the Netherlands, a new cabinet is sworn in, with Dick Schoof serving as the prime minister.
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian strikes against infrastructure
- 8 July 2024 Ukraine missile strikes
- At least 37 people are killed after Russia launches a massive missile attack that hit residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Ukraine, including Ukraine's largest children's hospital Okhmatdyt. (BBC News)
- 8 July 2024 Ukraine missile strikes
- Poland–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sign a security agreement in Warsaw, allowing Poland to shoot down Russian missiles inside Ukrainian airspace. (Ukrinform)
- Russian strikes against infrastructure
- M23 offensive
- A United Nations report formally accuses the Uganda People's Defence Force of providing military support to the M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uganda denies the claims. (Reuters)
- A United Nations report reveals that between 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers are fighting alongside the M23 rebels. (France 24)
Business and economy
- Thousands of Samsung Electronics workers begin a three-day strike in South Korea over demands for better pay and more annual leave. (Reuters)
- Paramount Global agrees to merge with Skydance Media in a $28 billion deal. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 Atlantic hurricane season
- At least three people are killed in Houston as Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Texas, United States, as a Category 1 hurricane. (NBC News) (Reuters)
- A passenger Boeing 757-200 aircraft loses a main landing gear wheel on takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport, forcing an emergency landing at Denver International Airport. (CBS News).
International relations
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2024 peace missions by Viktor Orbán, China–Hungary relations
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán makes an unannounced "peace mission" to Beijing, China, to meet with China's leader Xi Jinping following a similarly unannounced meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia. (The Hill)
- 2024 peace missions by Viktor Orbán, China–Hungary relations
- India–Russia relations
- Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visits Moscow, Russia, for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- Japan–Philippines relations
- Japan and the Philippines sign a defense pact which allows the deployment of Japanese forces to the Philippines for military exercises. (AP)
- Poland–United States relations
- The United States announces a second US$2 billion loan to Poland to support modernization of its military. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Boeing agree to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge to avoid going on trial in the United States on charges stemming from two fatal crashes involving its 737 MAX. (BBC News)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
- Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 27 Palestinians. In Gaza City, four are killed in a strike on a UNRWA school sheltering displaced people and six others are killed in a strike on a house. Two people are killed in the Sabra neighbourhood, and six others are killed in a strike on a residential building in Az-Zawayda. (Al Jazeera)
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Beryl
- 120 counties in the U.S. state of Texas are under a disaster declaration as Tropical Storm Beryl approaches the Gulf Coast. (The Guardian)
- Hurricane Beryl
- At least 14 people are killed and others are missing in flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in Nepal. (Al Jazeera)
- Thirteen people are injured when an elephant chases a crowd attending a Hindu religious festival in Kataragama, Sri Lanka. (Al Arabiya)
- The Iranian naval frigate IRIS Sahand capsizes during repairs in the port of Bandar Abbas, Iran. (Reuters)
- At least ten people are killed in a fire at a nursing home in Treinta y Tres, Uruguay. (Reuters)
International relations
- Syrian-Turkish normalization
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan states his intention to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for talks in Turkey with the intention of restoring relations between the two countries. (Reuters)
- Niger–United States relations
- The U.S. military withdraws entirely from Niger's Air Base 201 in Niamey. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- 2024 North America heat waves
- Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, reaches 120 °F (49 °C), the city's highest temperature of all time, and surpassing the previous record of 117 °F (47 °C) set in July 2021. (KTNV-TV) (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Politics and elections
- 2024 French legislative election
- French citizens vote in the second round of legislative elections for the 17th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. (Le Monde)
- Exit polls predict a hung parliament, with the left-wing New Popular Front alliance winning the most seats, followed by President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Ensemble coalition in second place, and the far-right National Rally in third place. (BBC News)
- Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announces that he will resign on July 8. (Reuters)
- Israel–Hamas war protests in Israel
- Israeli protesters march and block highways across Israel, calling for a ceasefire, the return of all hostages, and for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down. (AP)
- Alliance of Sahel States, ECOWAS
- ECOWAS states that it risks disintegrating from military and economic insecurity if Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso continue their exit to form their own confederation, following sanctions and severed diplomatic ties after each state's military coup. (Reuters)
Science and technology
- Four volunteer NASA crew members finish the first 378-day Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog mission to simulate living on Mars at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, United States. (AP)
Sports
- Yaroslava Mahuchikh breaks the world record in women's high jump, which had stood for 37 years. (Reuters)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
- At least 16 Palestinians are killed by an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza. (Reuters)
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 North America heat waves
- Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, investigates over 160 suspected heat-related deaths related to ongoing heat waves in Arizona, California, and Oregon. (AP)
- 2024 Sulawesi landslide
- An illegal gold mine collapses amid heavy rains in Sulawesi, Indonesia, killing 11 people and leaving 19 more missing. (Al Arabiya)
- Fourteen people are killed and another person is critically injured when an oil truck collides with a minibus in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
International relations
- Alliance of Sahel States
- Nigerien military junta president Abdourahamane Tchiani, Burkinabè President Ibrahim Traoré, and Malian President Assimi Goïta sign a reciprocal defence pact and mutually rejects ECOWAS, accusing it of being influenced by foreign interests. (Al Jazeera)
- Germany–Hungary relations, 2024 peace missions by Viktor Orbán
- Hungary suddenly cancels a meeting between Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on 8 July in Budapest, after she planned to discuss Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán's uncoordinated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. (Politico)
Law and crime
- Four people are killed and three others are injured in a mass shooting in Florence, Kentucky, United States. The perpetrator later commits suicide. (The Independent)
Politics and elections
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially cancels the Rwanda asylum plan, proposed by former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak. (Reuters)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war
- At least seven Palestinians are killed during an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the West Bank that targeted a building that several militants had barricaded themselves in. (Reuters)
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
- A review article published in the medical journal The Lancet estimates the total death toll of Palestinians in Gaza to be at least 186,000 compared to the currently reported number of 38,000, around 8% of Gaza's pre-war population. This is attributed to the lack of reporting for indirect deaths, as well as the lack of operating hospitals and officials to report those deaths. (The Lancet) (NPR)
- Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war
- Sudanese civil war
- Sennar offensive
- The Rapid Support Forces captures Dinder, Sudan again, after it was briefly recaptured by the SAF on 4 July. The town was first captured by the RSF on 2 July. (Sudan Tribune)
- Sennar offensive
- Kivu conflict
- M23 offensive
- M23 rebels and the FARDC agree to a two-week humanitarian truce proposed by the United States. The positions of the two groups are separated by about 1 kilometre in Matembe. Access to many areas remains difficult for humanitarians. (Radio Okapi)
- M23 offensive
Business and economy
- The European Union imposes tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles of up to 37.6%, prompting the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to investigate possible retaliatory tariffs on European pork and brandy imports. (Reuters)
- The Cabinet of Germany agrees on a 2025 budget plan, averting collapse of the current cabinet following party disagreements and pressure from The Greens to forego its "debt brake" to increase emergency borrowing for Ukraine aid. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- Hurricane Beryl
- Hurricane Beryl makes landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico after killing twelve people in the Caribbean. (AP)
- At least 89 people are killed and dozens are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Mauritania. (Al Arabiya)
- Ten people are killed and 42 others are injured when a bus crashes into a bridge in São Paulo state, Brazil. (Reuters)
- Five people are killed and 83 others are injured by a tornado in the province of Shandong, China. (AP)
- The Mount Etna and Mount Stromboli volcanoes on the Italian island of Sicily erupt, forcing a temporary closure of Catania–Fontanarossa Airport. (Al Jazeera)
- A dam failure in Buru Regency, Indonesia, caused massive flooding. (CNN Indonesia)
International relations
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia–Hungary relations, 2024 peace missions by Viktor Orbán
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, prompting condemnation among European Union member states. (Politico)
- Russia–Hungary relations, 2024 peace missions by Viktor Orbán
Law and crime
- Attempted assassination of Lee Jae-myung
- A district court in Busan, South Korea, sentences the perpetrator in the stabbing of National Assembly member and former opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to 15 years in prison. (Al Jazeera)
- Greece passes a law to allow a six-day work week for industries that operate on a 24-hour basis. Workers have the option of working an additional eight hours for 40% additional pay. (CBS News) (NPR)
- Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is found guilty of schism for denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis and rejecting the Second Vatican Council, and is subsequently excommunicated by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2024 United Kingdom general election
- Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak concedes defeat to Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, ending 14 years of Conservative government. (Sky News) (BBC News)
- Keir Starmer formally becomes Prime Minister after accepting an invitation from King Charles III to form a majority government. (Mirror) (BBC News)
- Rachel Reeves is appointed as the UK's first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Starmer ministry. (ITV News)
- 2024 Iranian presidential election
- A second round run-off is held between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and ultra conservative Saeed Jalili to become the 9th President of Iran. (Reuters)
- Masoud Pezeshkian wins the Iranian presidential run-off. (The Guardian)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Islamic terrorism
- Eighteen leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah announce the disbanding of the group, after 31 years of operation. The group committed several massacres in Indonesia, including the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. (Al Jazeera)
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- Israeli occupation of the West Bank
- Israel approves the construction of 5,295 settler homes in dozens of settlements in the West Bank, which are internationally recognized as violating international law. (AP)
- Ituri conflict
- Six Chinese gold miners and two Congolese soldiers are killed during an attack against a gold mine in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Two other workers are kidnapped. CODECO claims responsibility for the attack. (AP)
- Syrian civil war
- The Islamic State kills eight people, including two civilians, in an ambush on pro-government militiamen in Syria's Badiya desert. (Al Arabiya)
Business and economy
- Hudson's Bay Company, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, completes a merger and purchases luxury department stores Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman for $2.65 billion. (NPR)
Disasters and accidents
- Hurricane Beryl
- Hurricane Beryl causes a six- to nine-feet high storm surge and fierce winds along Jamaica's southern coast, killing at least one person before tracking towards the Cayman Islands. (CNN)
- Twenty-five people drown in southeast Sudan while trying to flee fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces. (Khaleej Times)
- Three people are killed and seven others are injured when a pickup truck is driven into a crowd celebrating Independence Day in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- Eleven people die and another 153 people are diagnosed with West Nile fever in an ongoing outbreak in Israel. (Anadolu Agency)
International relations
- Germany–Turkey relations
- Germany summons Turkey's ambassador to Germany in a tit-for-tat move over footballer Merih Demiral's wolf salute gesture while celebrating a goal at a UEFA Euro 2024 match in Leipzig, Germany, on Tuesday. (CNN)
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization officially grants membership to Belarus. (Yahoo! News)
Law and crime
- Violent incidents in reaction to the Israel–Hamas war
- Mass shootings in the United States
- Fourth of July shootings
- Thirty-three people are killed in mass shootings at Fourth of July celebrations, with 11 people killed and 55 others injured in Chicago, Illinois, two people killed and three others injured in Huntington Beach, California, one person killed and six others injured in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one person killed and five others injured in Boston, Massachusetts. (AP)
- Fourth of July shootings
- 2022 Oslo shooting
- Oslo District Court finds Iranian-born Norwegian Zaniar Matapour guilty of a shooting during pride celebrations in the Norwegian capital in 2022 and sentences Matapour to 30 years in prison. (CBC News)
- M23 movement
- The Butembo military court in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, sentences 25 FARDC soldiers to death for allegedly fleeing fighting against M23 rebels. (Al Jazeera)
- Belarus frees ten political prisoners including former opposition leader Ryhor Kastusioŭ. (Reuters)
- The Peruvian Congress votes 15–12 to pass a law introducing a statute of limitations on prosecuting crimes against humanity committed before July 2002. (ABC News)
- French film director Benoît Jacquot is charged with the rapes of actresses Julia Roy and Isild Le Besco between 1998 and 2000, and "rape, sexual assault and violence" committed between 2013 and 2018. (AP) (Le Monde)
- Tunisian opposition leader and founder of the Republican People's Union party Lotfi Mraïhi is arrested on suspicion of money laundering. (Al Jazeera)
Politics and elections
- 2024 United Kingdom general election
- Voters elect all 650 members of the United Kingdom House of Commons. Keir Starmer's Labour Party is projected to win a landslide victory according to exit polls. (NPR) (The Washington Post)
- Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected to the House of Commons as an independent MP. (The Guardian)
- Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic Reform UK party, is elected for the first time to a parliamentary seat representing Clacton. (Reuters)
- Former Prime Minister Liz Truss loses her seat of South West Norfolk, becoming the first former prime minister to lose their seat in over a century since Arthur Balfour in the 1906 general election. (The Independent)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Battle of Chasiv Yar
- Russian forces take control of the Novy district of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (CBS News)
- One person is killed and at least 14 others are injured in Russian guided bomb and missile attacks across Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Battle of Chasiv Yar
- Russian strikes against infrastructure
- Dnipro strikes
- At least five people are killed and 53 others are injured when Russian drones and missiles hits civilian infrastructure in Dnipro, Ukraine. (BBC News)
- Dnipro strikes
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- NATO nations agree to grant Ukraine €40 billion (US$43 billion) in military aid in 2025. (Reuters)
- Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis
- Three kamikaze drones attack an electrical substation for the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, injuring eight workers, causing forest fires near the plant's switchyard, and leaving Enerhodar without power or water. (Reuters) (RFE/RL)
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israeli occupation of the West Bank
- The Israeli government approves the seizure of 12.7 square kilometres (4.9 sq mi) of Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley, representing the largest land seizure in the West Bank in more than three decades. (AP)
- Israeli occupation of the West Bank
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- An Israeli strike kills Mohammed Nasser, a top commander in Hezbollah, in Tyre, Lebanon. Nasser is one of the highest-ranking Hezbollah members to die in the conflict. (Al Arabiya)
- Hezbollah launches a barrage of at least 100 Katyusha rockets, towards northern Israel, targeting Israeli military positions, in retaliation for the killing of Nasser. (Al Jazeera)
- Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Five people, including former senator Hidayat Ullah, are killed when their vehicle en route to an election rally strikes a roadside bomb in Bajaur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)
Arts and culture
- Scientists announce the discovery of the world's oldest cave painting, depicting three people gathered around a large red pig, estimated to be at least 51,200 years old, in Leang Karampurang cave in the Maros-Pangkep region, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Al Jazeera)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 India-Bangladesh floods
- At least sixteen people are killed and more than 300,000 others are displaced by floods and landslides in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India. (The Independent)
- Hurricane Beryl
- The death toll from Hurricane Beryl in the eastern Caribbean increases to nine, with deaths reported in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela. (Reuters)
- Three people are killed and three others are missing after a fishing boat sinks off the coast of Marinha Grande, Portugal. (Al Arabiya)
- At least 26,000 people are forced to evacuate amidst dozens of large wildfires in Northern California, United States. (NPR)
Health and environment
- Temperatures in Moscow, Russia, reach 32.7 °C (90.9 °F), the highest on this day since 1917. (The Moscow Times) (Reuters)
Law and crime
- An Israeli soldier is killed and another is injured in a stabbing attack at a mall in Karmiel, Israel. (Reuters)
- Investigators in Germany and Sweden arrest eight suspects allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government over alleged participation in crimes against humanity in Syria. (France 24)
- The Supreme Court of Japan rules that the country's forced sterilization law, which was in effect from 1948 to 1996, was unconstitutional. (France 24)
- Sierra Leone outlaws child marriage, setting the legal age of marriage to 18 years. Offenders could face up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine of around US$4,000, with witnesses to child marriages also facing possible jail or fines. (CBS News)
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fines General Motors $145.8 million for excess emissions found in 5.9 million GM vehicles. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Israel–Hamas war protests
- Pro-Palestinian protesters climb the roof of the Australian Parliament building in Canberra, Australia. (Al Jazeera)