Top News Stories –

Spanish town’s giant dog dropping goes walkies –
A town in Spain is facing an unexpected bill after thieves apparently made off with a giant dog dropping being used as part of a local campaign. Torrelodones, a municipality just outside the capital Madrid, is 2,400 euros ($2,726; £1,885) out of pocket after the three-metre high inflatable bought as part of a campaign to encourage pet-lovers to pick up after their dogs went missing, El Pais newspaper reports. The bizarre inflatable disappeared after it had been packed away in its carry-case and the police are now on the trail of the 30 kilogramme dog poop, town officials say. Speaking to the ABC newspaper, town councillor Angel Guirao said staff were shocked and perplexed by the theft, and a replacement excrement was already on order because “we know that the campaign has been a great success”. The inflatable is not the only symbol of the municipality’s “Lay an egg” campaign. Torrelodones has also left a number of concrete dog poops around the town bearing the message “This is a big blockage to living together. If you have a dog, help us”. People taking the time to engage with the campaign by posting photos on social media can win “Lay an egg” T-shirts, tastefully illustrated with a picture of a hen’s egg. [BBC]

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • A blast occurs at a mosque in a small village in the Nangarhar Province, killing four people and injuring nearly 40 more. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• 2016 Aktobe shootings
  • Kazakh police kill five additional suspected militants in Aktobe as part of a “counterterrorism operation”. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Conflict in the Niger Delta
  • The Niger Delta Avengers blow up an oil pipeline operated by Italy‘s Eni in the Niger Delta. (Reuters)
• Syrian civil war, Manbij offensive
  • Kurdish-led fighters completely encircle the ISIL-held town of Manbij, near the Turkish border, while Syrian forces move closer to ISIL’s de facto capital, Raqqa. (AP)

Business and economy

• Gawker Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit brought by former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, and has sold its blog network to Ziff Davis. (Bloomberg) (The New York Times), (Ad Week)
  • The bankruptcy auction for the company gets underway when Gawker accepts tech publisher Ziff Davis’s bid for all seven of its brands and other assets, reportedly for $90 million to $100 million. (CNN)
• Amazon.com Inc is preparing to start a stand-alone streaming music service, in direct competition with Apple Music and Spotify, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports a magnitude 5.1 earthquake strikes near Borrego Springs, Southern California. The Los Angeles County Fire Department and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department say they have received no reports of serious damage. (NBC News)
• The United States Geological Survey also reports that a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck off the coast of Malaita island, Solomon Islands. However, no tsunami warning has been issued. (Radio New Zealand)

International relations

• Israel temporarily bans all Palestinians from entering its territory until Sunday following the June 2016 Tel Aviv shooting. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Russia–United States relations
  • Russia‘s Foreign Ministry warns of “retaliatory measures” over the entry of the United States Navy destroyer, USS Porter. The USS Porter arrived in the Black Sea port of Varna, Bulgaria, earlier this week for what the U.S. Navy called a routine deployment. (USA Today)
• Cuba–United States relations
  • The U.S. Department of Commerce approves service by six commercial airlines from five U.S. cities, including Miami and Philadelphia, to nine international airports in Cuba. Approval for routes to the capital Havana are still pending. Most of the carriers plan to begin their new service this fall and winter. (Miami Herald)

Law and crime

• A Maldives court convicts Ahmed Adeeb, the country’s former vice president, of masterminding a plot to kill President Abdulla Yameen. He is sentenced to 15 years in prison. Earlier this week, Adeeb was sentenced to 10 years for firearms possession. (AP)
• Christina Grimmie, a former contestant on The Voice and, at that point, a singer with Before You Exit, is shot by an unknown male assailant. She was hospitalized in critical condition and pronounced dead hours later due to her injuries. The band was signing autographs following a concert at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida, when the assault occurred. The shooter killed himself while attempting to flee. (NBC News) (WCAU) (Daily News)

Politics and elections

• United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016:
  • In a substantial swing, the “Leave” camp is 10 points ahead of “Remain” with less than two weeks to go before Britain’s referendum on whether to stay in the European Union, according to a poll by ORB.(The Independent)
• Georgia Senator David Perdue is criticized for remarks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in which his quote of Psalm 109:8, “Let his days be few, and may another have his office,” appears to be a prayer for President Barack Obama’s death. Perdue says, “It was a little humor and I said it in a way that we were talking about his days as president.” (UPI) (The Daily Beast)

Sport

• Gordie Howe, who scored 801 goals, was a six-time most valuable player during 26 years in the National Hockey League and won four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, dies at the age of 88. (CNN)

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