Portal:Current events/2017 July 7

July 7, 2017 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Sinai insurgency
- Masked militants attack an Egyptian Army checkpoint in a village south of Rafah, North Sinai Governorate, killing at least 23 soldiers, including a high-ranking special forces colonel. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria later claims responsibility. The attack included VBIED and signal jamming. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Business and economy

Economy of the United States
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agrees to pay USD $9 billion to buy the parent of Texas power transmission company Oncor Electric Delivery. (Reuters)
- Sears, Roebuck & Co. announces it will be closing eight more of its namesake department stores, as well as thirty five Kmart locations in addition to the hundred and fifty stores that they had announced in January would be shuttered. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2017 Pacific typhoon season
- Severe flooding on the Japanese island of Kyushu has caused seven deaths with twenty people unaccounted for. (Reuters via ABC)
A five-story apartment block collapses in the town of Torre Annunziata near the Italian city of Naples, with six or seven people trapped inside. So far, three have been found dead. (AP)

International relations

2017 G20 Hamburg summit
- Leaders from the Group of Twenty come together at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, including United States President Donald Trump who is set to meet with President of Russia Vladimir Putin. (CNN) (AP)
- The United States, Russia and regional countries reach a ceasefire deal in southwestern Syria. (Reuters) (AP)
- Rioting and looting takes place in Altona, Hamburg, particularly in the Elbchaussee area, as police clash with anti-capitalist protestors in the city for a second day. At least 160 police officers are injured and 70 protesters arrested. (The Guardian)
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
- The United Nations votes in favour of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with 122 in favour, 1 abstention, and 1 against. The treaty conference and negotiations had been boycotted by the nuclear weapon states and by the members of NATO. (Reuters)

Health and medicine

According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is on the rise in strains of gonorrhoea. It says that there is a need to prevent the spread of these bacteria, recommending usage of condoms and an increase in research and development funding. (WHO)

Law and crime

South Korea's National Police raid the headquarters of Korean Air as part of an investigation into embezzlement and breach of trust related to misappropriated funds alleged to have been used to fund construction at the residence of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho (father of Heather Cho, instigator of the "Nut rage incident" in 2014). The company's shares continue to drop. (Reuters)
United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats visit the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. (AP)
Legal challenges to Executive Order 13780
- A request by the state of Hawaii to issue an order blocking President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13780 is rejected in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (Reuters)
Former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli is denied bond by United States magistrate judge Edwin Torres. He is accused of charges that include illegally monitoring phone and other conversations of at least 150 people. Martinelli was arrested in Miami last month on an extradition warrant from Panama. (AP)

Politics and elections

Mongolian presidential election, 2017
- Battulga Khaltmaa of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) is elected President of Mongolia in the second round, defeating former Prime Minister Miyeegombyn Enkhbold of the Mongolian People's Party. (Al Jazeera)
Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly election, 2017
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says voting in his upcoming election on July 30 is mandatory for all 2.8 million state employees, with employees who do not vote facing ostracisation. Opponents of the government plan to hold their own unofficial referendum on the Maduro government on July 16. (Reuters)
Yemeni Civil War
- Thousands of supporters of Yemen's secessionists rally in the southern city of Aden, backing a new group led by former head of Aden Governorate Aidarus al-Zoubaidi that advocates for autonomy of the country's south. (AP)

Science and technology

Renewable energy in Australia
- South Australia finalizes a deal with Tesla, spearheaded by tweets originating from CEO of Tesla Elon Musk, to install a battery system in the state. Tesla said in a statement that upon completion by December 2017, the system would be the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in the world, overtaking an 80 megawatt-hour power station at Mira Loma in California also built using Tesla batteries. (Reuters)

Sports