Top News Stories –

George Cole, Arthur Daley in Minder, dies at 90 –
Stars of stage and screen have been paying tribute to “immaculate” and “unforgettable” Minder actor George Cole following his death at the age of 90. Cole, whose showbusiness career spanned 70 years, is best remembered for his portrayal of small-time wheeler dealer and crook Arthur Daley in the TV show Minder, alongside his likeable bodyguard Terry McCann, played by Waterman. He died yesterday in hospital with his family at his side after a short illness, it was announced today. [Daily Telegraph]

One Direction number one breaks streaming records –
One Direction have topped the UK singles chart with their new single Drag Me Down. The track broke streaming records, earning the highest first-week streams for a single in the UK with 2.03m plays. Drag Me Down is One Direction’s first single as a foursome since the departure of Zayn Malik. Its release came a surprise to fans who had not been expecting a new single. [BBC Newsbeat]
One Direction in 2013 before Zayn left

North Korea sets up own time zone in rebuke to ‘wicked Japanese imperialists’ –
The hermetic communist state of North Korea is often said to be locked in a Stalinist time warp. But it is now turning the clocks back – by 30 minutes a day – by official decree. The state news agency has announced the creation of a new Pyongyang time zone as a rejection of the legacy of “wicked Japanese imperialists”. North Korea will step back in time by half an hour on Aug 15th – the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule at the end of the Second World War. [Daily Telegraph]

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Armed conflict and attacks

• Suspected Islamist militants stormed two hotels in central Mali where UN peacekeepers were housed, seizing at least ten hostages and killing three Malian soldiers and a U.N. peacekeeper. (Times of Oman) (Reuters)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • At least fifteen people are dead and 400 injured when a truck bomb explodes in Kabul. (BBC) (WSJ)
  • A bombing outside the Kabul police academy kills at least 20 people with the Taliban claiming responsibility. (AFP via ABC News)
• Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
  • Tadmur offensive (July–August 2015), Syrian Civil War
    • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL has kidnapped at least 230 people, including at least 60 Christians, from Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate. (Reuters) (RFERL)
  • Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants execute 19 women in Mosul, Iraq, for refusing to have sex with the group’s fighters. (Tribune) (Daily Caller)

Arts and culture

• North Korea will change its time zone to UTC+08:30 on August 15, returning to the time used by the Korean Empireuntil Japanese occupation in 1910. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Taiwan evacuates hundreds of people ahead of Typhoon Soudelor (2015). (Reuters via WA Today)

International relations

• Syrian Civil War
  • The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution aimed at identifying those responsible for deploying chlorine and other chemical weapons in attacks in Syria. (Hindustan Times) (VOA)

Law and crime

• Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
  • A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes, the fourth such incident this year, in the capital Dhaka, Bangla. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (The Hindu)
• The jury in the penalty phase of the trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes reaches a verdict to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Reuters) (AP) (WABC)

Sports

• 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup
  • FIBA announces that China will host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. China was chosen over the Philippines, the only other candidate nation, for the hosting rights of the tournament. (The Japan Times)

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