Top News Stories –

Katy Perry plans to buy former convent scuppered by nuns –
Katy Perry’s plans to buy a former convent in Los Angeles are being held up by a group of nuns. The sisters, who used to live on the site in the San Gabriel Mountains, say they’ve already sold it to a local restaurateur, Dana Hollister. But the local archbishop says the convent isn’t theirs to sell and has started legal action to stop it. Perry, the daughter of two Pentecostal preachers, reportedly met with the nuns in May to plead her case. “I found Katy Perry and I found her videos and… if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it,” Sister Rita Callanan told the Los Angeles Times. [BBC Newsbeat]
Katy Perry

Hottest July day ever recorded in UK –
The UK has seen the hottest July day on record, with temperatures hitting 36.7C (98F). The Met Office said the reading had been registered at Heathrow – breaking the previous record set in 2006. 38.5C (101.3F) is the hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK in Faversham, Kent in August 2003. A level 3 “heatwave action” heat-health alert has been declared for all parts of England. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends

Billy Joel Bests Elton John, Sets New Record at MSG –
Billy Joel set a record for most performances by a single artist at Madison Square Garden with his 65th show Wednesday night, besting Elton John. “I didn’t know I’d be here 65 times, amazing,” Joel said. “I want to thank you very much for making this possible.” A banner rose to the top of the stage in honor of Joel’s 65th show. Actor-comedian Kevin James came onstage to help the veteran musician celebrate. [Elton] John, 68, previously had the MSG record with 64 performances. Joel sang John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” as yellow lights beamed from the stage.
Billy Joel

Video of the Day –

Steve Jobs – Official Trailer

List of the Day –

Billy Joel studio albums

• Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
• Piano Man (1973)
• Streetlife Serenade (1974)
• Turnstiles (1976)
• The Stranger (1977)
• 52nd Street (1978)
• Glass Houses (1980)
• The Nylon Curtain (1982)
• An Innocent Man (1983)
• The Bridge (1986)
• Storm Front (1989)
• River of Dreams (1993)
• Fantasies & Delusions (2001)

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni Civil War (2015)
  • Shells fired by Houthi forces have killed at least 18 people near the southern port city of Aden, meanwhile United Nations officials have warned that a deadly dengue fever outbreak is rapidly gaining pace in the war-torn country. (Reuters)
• Sinai insurgency
  • Militants launch attacks on Egyptian Armed Forces checkpoints in North Sinai, leaving dozens of security personnel and insurgents killed. TheIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the assaults. (Times of India)(AP)
• Egypt‘s security forces kill nine ‘terrorists’ during a raid in a Western Cairo suburb. The group were among “the most dangerous terrorists” wanted in Egypt according to Giza deputy security director Magdy Abd El-Aal. It has also been reported that Nasser El-Hafi, a former MP and a leading lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood was among those killed. (Ahram)

Arts and culture

• The Episcopal Church in the United States adopts its liturgy for same sex marriages. (General Convention), (NBC News)

Business and economy

• Greek government-debt crisis
  • Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund in the 71-year history of the IMF, unwinding decades of precedent and affecting consequences for the fund’s future rescues. (Financial Times) (IMF)
  • The Prime Minister of Greece Alex Tsipras has written to creditors claiming he will accept a bailout but with conditions. (Daily Telegraph)
  • Moody’s Investors Service downgrades Greek bonds further to caa3 saying that it expects the country to default further without further support from official creditors. (Reuters)
• The World Bank urges the People’s Republic of China to undertake financial reforms to keep economic growth on track. (AP)
• The United Kingdom Airports Commission issues its report recommending a new runway at Heathrow. (BBC), (ITV)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Indonesia Hercules C-130 crash
  • The death toll from yesterday’s crash in the Indonesian city of Medan rises to 141. (The Guardian)

International relations

• The Russian gas company Gazprom suspends shipments of gas to Ukraine following a payment dispute. (BBC)
• The United States and Cuba officially announce that embassies will be reopened in each other’s countries for the first time since 1961. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Thousands of people are expected at a pro-democracy demonstration in Hong Kong on a holiday to mark the transfer from British to Chinese rule.(AP)
• Burundian legislative election, 2015
  • The President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza claims victory for his National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy coalition despite the fact that opposition parties did not contest the election. (African Media Agency via Mail and Guardian)
• The Constitutional Court of Russia rules that it is constitutional to hold the 2016 legislative election in September rather than early December. (AP via Fox News)

Science and technology

• The black hole in the Milky Way galaxy‘s V404 Cygni system wakes up (becomes energized, with a flow of gamma rays and very brief intense flashes of light) after 26 years, as determined by a telescope and other instruments. (MSN)

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