Inside
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Month in review: International
Nepal's Maoist rebels form political partyo Nepal's former Maoist rebels formally register as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) under a hammer and sickle symbol, to fight the November elections, which will decide the fate of the country's monarchy and its political future. The Maoists, who still feature on a US list of "terrorist" organisations, signed a peace deal with an interim government last year after battling the monarchy since 1996, a conflict that cost more than 13,000 lives.
A passenger plane crashes and bursts into flames killing nearly 200 people on July 17 at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, the busiest in Brazil and all of South America. Landing in wet weather, the Airbus A320 skids off the runway, shoots over a busy road and hits a fuel depot. The country's aviation authorities have been accused of failure to effectively control booming air traffic, which has grown more than 15% a year since 2004.
Japanese earthquake kills 3, injures over 500 A severe earthquake in Japan kills at least three people and injures more than 500 on July 16. The quake, which also starts a fire at the world's largest nuclear power plant, registers a magnitude of 6.8 with its epicentre in the Niigata prefecture 250 km northwest of Tokyo. Public broadcaster NHK reports that more than 1,000 people flee their homes for evacuation centers with troops and emergency teams being sent to help with rescue and relief efforts.
Pardon for foreign medics sentenced to death in Libya The six Bulgarian medical workers convicted in Libya of deliberately infecting children with HIV fly home to an official pardon on July 24, ending their 8-year prison ordeal. The six medics, who proclaim their innocence, had earlier been sentenced to death after more than 400 children contracted HIV at a hospital in Benghazi in 1998. Experts say the charges were groundless, the outbreak being caused by inadequate sanitary precautions at the hospital.
UNHCR doubles aid appeal for Iraq The UN refugee agency doubles its funding appeal for Iraq this year to $123 million, saying humanitarian needs are escalating as around 2,000 people flee violence each day. The funds, up from $60 million in January, will be used to provide shelter, food, health care and other emergency services to Iraqi refugees, 2 million of whom have fled to Syria and Jordan since the war, while another 2 million people are uprooted within Iraq.
Severe floods cut power and water in UK Severe flooding in central and southern England affects hundreds of thousands of people during the last week of July. More than 48,000 homes suffer power cuts and at least 350,000 people are left without running water. The government say a further 10,000 homes are either flooded or at risk. About 250 homes are evacuated in Oxford as the historic university city is the latest to be hit. Flood damage in the country is expected to cost the insurance industry at least £2bn.
Life sentences for opposition leaders in Ethiopia An Ethiopian court sentences 35 opposition members to life in prison on July 16, rejecting the prosecution's demand that they be executed for trying to overthrow the government and inciting political violence amounting to treason. The 35 were found guilty of links to violent election protests in 2005, though they refused to recognise the court and did not enter a plea, saying the trial was political.
Islamic AK Party win second term in Turkey |
