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- 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)
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- 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)
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- 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):
- 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 Sibir 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)
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- 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)
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- 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):
- Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, dies at his home.
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- 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):
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