Top News Stories –

Virgin challenges Jeremy Corbyn train footage –
Virgin Trains has questioned footage showing Jeremy Corbyn sitting on the floor of a “ram-packed” service. In a film shown on The Guardian, the Labour leader said he was experiencing a problem “many passengers face every day” on the London to Newcastle train. But Virgin said CCTV showed Mr Corbyn and his team walking past available seating before starting filming. It says the crew helped him to a carriage where seats were available and he sat for the rest of his journey. On one level, this is a story that appears trivial – about whether a politician could find a seat on a train. But it is fast developing into a political row between the leader of the opposition and one of Britain’s biggest rail firms. [BBC]
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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • In a raid on Boko Haram Islamists’ northeast heartland, Nigeria’s air force kills senior militants and possibly fatally wounds their leader, Abubakar Shekau. (Reuters)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • A U.S. service member becomes the first U.S. military combat casualty in Afghanistan since January 2016 when he is killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) while on patrol near the city of Lashkar Gah in Afghanistan‘s southern Helmand Province. Another American service member and six Afghan soldiers were also injured in the blast. (NBC News)
• August 2016 Thailand bombings
  • Two bombs explode at the Southern Hotel in Pattani killing one person and injuring 30. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• Philippine officials believe they may have recovered biggest natural giant clam pearl in the world — weighing 34kg. Officials are awaiting confirmation from gemologists that the find is indeed the world’s largest pearl. If confirmed, it will beat the current record holder, the Pearl of Lao Tzu, which weighs 6.4kg. (BBC)

Business and economy

• Former presenter Andrea Tantaros sues Fox News by accusing the network of being a “sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult.” (The Washington Post)
• New U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly rose in July, reaching their highest level in nearly nine years as demand increased broadly. (Reuters)

Health

• 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic
  • The first infection outside Miami in Florida is discovered in Pinellas County. (Fox News)

International relations

• North Korea–South Korea relations, North Korea–United States relations
  • In response to the annual military drills, North Korea threatens to destroy Seoul and Washington, D.C. through nuclear weapons if provoked. Both South Korea and the United States insist the drills are for defense. (News.com.au)
  • According to South Korean officials, North Korea has laid landmines on the northern side of the so-called Bridge of No Return near the village of Panmunjom in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to block potential defection by its own soldiers. (Yonhap) (Reuters)
• Turkey–United States relations, Turkish government – Gülen Movement conflict
  • The United States Department of State says Turkey has formally requested the extradition of Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gülen and is now considering the merits of the request. (Sky News)

Law and crime

• 2015 Bangkok bombing
  • A Thai military court commences the trial of two Uighurs from the People’s Republic of China with the bombing of a popular shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people. (AP via Star Tribune)
• Philippine Drug War
  • The Philippine human rights commission says that the International Criminal Court may have jurisdiction over the mass killings. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• The New York Times reports its Moscow bureau was targeted this month by hackers, believed to be Russian. While there is no evidence that the hackers were successful, the FBI is investigating. (Reuters)(AP via The New York Times)

Politics and elections

• Melania Trump plans to sue The Daily Mail and Politico after the publications allege that she worked as an escort. (CNN)

Sports

• 2016 Summer Paralympics
  • The Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds a ban of Russian athletes from next month’s Paralympics over its state-sponsored doping program. (BBC)(CNN)

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