We stopped counting Venezuela's earthquake dead at 1,700. The federal record now says 5,500
The US Geological Survey's impact file for the 24 June doublet puts the toll at least 5,500 killed and 29,995 missing as of 28 July — more than three times the figure this site last published.
Mexico received $918m more in remittances this year. In pesos, households got 82 billion less
Banco de México's June figures show first-half remittances up 3.1% in dollars. Converted at the rates recipients actually face and adjusted for inflation, the same money buys 13% less.
Gatwick's second runway survives its last legal challenge, on a carbon figure the airport supplied itself
The Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal the Gatwick northern-runway consent on Tuesday, calling every ground unarguable. The emissions number underpinning it is the developer's own.
India's disaster deaths more than doubled last year. One state is 62% of the total, and the ministry's own table does not add up
A written reply laid before the Lok Sabha on Tuesday puts hydro-meteorological deaths at 6,631. Six columns fail to reconcile with their own state rows, and Uttar Pradesh reports a 47-fold rise.
DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak is now the country’s largest ever, and its epicentre is closing the deadliness gap
WHO puts the Bundibugyo outbreak past the 2018–20 epidemic on case count. Reading its successive notices in sequence shows Ituri’s case fatality ratio has nearly tripled since June, from 15% to 41%, while the rest of the outbreak barely moved.
Germany’s June asylum figure looks like a fourteen-year low. Its own agency says the month cannot be compared
Eurostat published June data on Monday and Germany’s 4,265 first-time applicants is the lowest since 2012. The EU migration pact took effect on 12 June, and BAMF calls the resulting month-on-month move a purely statistical effect.
Colombia’s Senate gave the Pacto Histórico none of its fourteen committee leadership posts
Six of the seven constitutional committees announced their new chairs by press release. The seventh, the only one not to go to a party of the incoming majority, was updated quietly on the Senate’s own web page.
China’s factory index fell back below 50, and the two things that rose were jobs and unsold stock
The manufacturing PMI dropped 1.1 points to 49.2% in July, the steepest fall in the thirteen months the statistics bureau prints. New orders alone account for four-fifths of it.
Take Ireland out of the euro area and the last four quarters look steadier than the headline numbers
Eurostat put euro-area growth at 0.4% for the second quarter. About a third of that came from Ireland, which is 3.5% of the bloc — and the quarter before, Ireland was most of the reason the euro area recorded no growth at all.
Finland has the EU’s highest unemployment rate, and Eurostat’s table reaches that ranking two different ways
Eurostat’s 30 July release puts Finland at 10.5% against Spain’s 10.1%. The two figures are not calculated the same way: Finland’s is a smoothed trend, Spain’s is seasonally adjusted. Finland leads on either basis.
Taiwan’s own statisticians had this quarter almost flat. It came in at an annualised 9.9%
The advance estimate published on Friday puts second-quarter growth at 12.92% on the year. Measured the way the agency itself forecast it — quarter on quarter, annualised — its May projection was 1.99% and the outturn was 9.91%.
Colombia’s president-elect takes office on 7 August. His candidate has already lost the Senate
Abelardo de la Espriella’s pick for Senate president was beaten 56–45 by Álvaro Uribe’s, eighteen days before the handover. He won the lower house instead — and in both chambers the outgoing left took a vice-presidency.
WAFCON 2026: Malawi beat Nigeria on their tournament debut, and Africa’s World Cup places will be settled in the quarter-finals
The ten-time champions lost 3–2 to a side playing its first match at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and the holders of the other big record lost too. CAF’s own bracket shows why the decisive round comes on 8 and 9 August, not in the final.
Kumamoto earthquake: Japan’s fire agency confirms three deaths and says 13 more are under investigation
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency’s seventeenth bulletin puts the verified toll at three, names the two towns, and then records separately that Kumamoto fire departments are reporting 13 further deaths not yet counted. Both numbers are in the same three-page document.
England and Wales population growth is the slowest of any non-pandemic year since 1998
The population reached 62,009,993 in mid-2025, a rise of 0.364%. Working through the Office for National Statistics’ own 188-year series shows only one slower year since 1999 — 2020 — and before that you have to go back to 1998.
China extends its flood emergency to Sichuan as Typhoon Hongxia’s rain moves inland
The Ministry of Water Resources activated a level-four flood-defence response for Sichuan on Wednesday evening, warning that three tributary systems feeding the upper Yangtze may produce numbered floods between 30 July and 3 August.
Kumamoto earthquake: Japan puts 354,000 people under its highest evacuation orders as two agencies differ on the magnitude
A Shindo 7 quake struck Kumamoto Prefecture at 16:27 local time. Japan’s fire agency had 354,284 people under its two highest evacuation levels by midnight, with rescues still running at a collapsed building.
Keiko Fujimori inherits the two-chamber Congress her father abolished — and a right-wing bloc with two-thirds of both houses
Fujimori was sworn in on Peru’s independence day alongside its first bicameral legislature since 1992. Her own party has a majority in neither chamber; the wider right clears two-thirds in both.
Pakistan’s monsoon death toll has more than doubled in eight days, and nearly half of the dead are children
The disaster authority’s daily situation reports put the season’s toll at 109 dead and 362 injured. Set against the report from eight days earlier, deaths are up 132% and damaged houses up 349%.
Sixty-seven days from outbreak to first injection: the registry file behind Oxford’s Bundibugyo Ebola vaccine trial
The protocol for the first human trial of a vaccine against the Ebola strain circulating in DR Congo is now public. It gives a cohort structure, a placebo ratio and a timetable that the announcements did not.
Spain and France wildfires: EU satellite data puts France at six times its 20-year average burnt area
Spain and France wildfires have displaced more than 300,000 people, and the EU’s own satellite service puts France’s 2026 burnt area at 91,265 hectares — 6.2 times its 20-year average.
DR Congo Ebola reaches 3,200 cases and 1,405 deaths as the first Bundibugyo vaccine is tested
DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak has reached 3,200 confirmed cases and 1,405 deaths, and Oxford says a first group of volunteers has received an experimental vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain.
Tour de France: Pogacar equals the record five titles as van der Poel takes the Champs-Elysees
Tadej Pogacar won the 2026 Tour de France by 6 minutes 26 seconds, equalling the record of five titles, with Mathieu van der Poel winning a final stage cut short by the wildfires.
Spain and France wildfires force 267,000 to flee as France sets a national burn record
Wildfires across Spain and France have driven more than 267,000 people from their homes and burned nearly 98,000 hectares in France, a national record. Organisers cut the Tour de France’s final stage to free up emergency crews.
Berlin Pride attacker shot dead by police after van ramming kills one at Christopher Street Day
A van was driven into crowds at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day on Saturday night, killing a woman and injuring 29. Police shot the suspect dead on Sunday in Spandau. Germany’s interior minister called it an Islamist terror attack.
Chile declares a state of catastrophe after rain floods its desert north
President José Antonio Kast has decreed a state of catastrophe for Coquimbo and Huasco province after a week of rain across northern Chile killed at least 10 people and damaged more than 23,000 homes.
WAFCON opens in Morocco with Algeria beating Senegal 2-0
The expanded Women’s Africa Cup of Nations began in Morocco on Sunday, with Algeria beating Senegal 2-0 in the opening match. Hosts Morocco face Kenya later the same day.
Philippines, Japan and US finish South China Sea drills days after sailor struck
The three countries completed the 17th Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity in the South China Sea, a five-day exercise that began the day after Manila said a Filipino sailor was struck with a baton by Chinese coast guard personnel.
Trump imposes 50% Canada tariffs under Section 338, a 1930 law never used before
Trump signed three proclamations Monday imposing 50% duties on Canadian cars, alcohol and dairy under Section 338 — a 1930 law never before used for tariffs.
Zelensky removes army chief Syrskyi after six days of protests, promotes Drapatyi
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief was dismissed Tuesday after six days of protests. His replacement, Mykhailo Drapatyi, quit a command in 2025 over a deadly strike.
El Mayo Zambada sentenced to life in prison and a record $15 billion forfeiture
The Sinaloa co-founder was sentenced in Brooklyn on Monday. His $15 billion forfeiture is nominally the largest in a US drug case, but trails El Chapo’s in real terms.
Philippine sailor injured at Second Thomas Shoal days before China talks in Manila
Manila says a China Coast Guard team struck a navy serviceman on the head with a baton near the grounded BRP Sierra Madre. Beijing blames the Philippine side.
WAFCON opens in Morocco on Sunday with 16 teams and 2027 World Cup places at stake
The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations begins July 26 in Rabat, expanded from 12 teams to 16. The four semi-finalists qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
World Cup final 2026: Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win a second title
Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute as Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time at MetLife Stadium. Spain conceded one goal in the entire tournament.
World Cup final 2026: Spain vs Argentina at MetLife, with a 64-year record at stake
The World Cup final kicks off at MetLife Stadium at 3pm Eastern on Sunday. Argentina can become the first back-to-back champion in 64 years; Spain have conceded one goal all tournament.
Josh Kerr breaks the mile world record with 3:42.66, ending a 27-year mark
Josh Kerr ran 3:42.66 in London on Saturday to become the first man under 3:43 for the mile. He took 0.47 seconds off Hicham El Guerrouj’s record, which had stood since 1999.
Trump threatens tariffs over Canadian wildfire smoke as more than 900 fires burn
Smoke from over 900 Canadian wildfires has pushed air quality into unhealthy ranges across the US Midwest and Northeast. Trump said the cost of the pollution should be added to the tariffs Canada already pays.
Colombia’s new Congress convenes as de la Espriella prepares to restore Israel ties
Colombia’s newly elected Congress is sworn in on Monday, weeks before president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella takes office. He plans to restore relations with Israel and open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Israel now holds nearly 70% of Gaza as the ceasefire enters its tenth month
Nine months into a US-brokered truce, Israel now holds nearly 70% of Gaza — up from about half — even as strikes continue. A July 14 attack in Jabalia killed a police commander and several of his officers.
Spain reach the World Cup final; England and Argentina meet to decide who joins them
Spain beat France 2-0 in Dallas to reach their second World Cup final and first since winning in 2010. England face Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday for the other place in the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium.
China expels Ma Xingrui, its third Politburo member purged since 2025
Beijing expelled former Politburo member and ex-Xinjiang chief Ma Xingrui over corruption — the third member of the 24-strong body ousted since 2025 as Xi Jinping's anti-graft drive reaches into the party's civilian ranks.
Brazil's top court bars Flávio Bolsonaro from visiting his jailed father
Justice Alexandre de Moraes barred Senator Flávio Bolsonaro — a leading presidential candidate — from visiting his father, ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, for 90 days, after Flávio read one of his letters on a livestream.
World Cup last 16 ends with all three hosts out and the quarterfinals set
The United States, Mexico, Canada and Brazil are all eliminated as the 2026 World Cup round of 16 closes. Messi dragged Argentina past Egypt in stoppage time; Switzerland knocked out Colombia on penalties.
Hamas dissolves its Gaza government, handing civil rule to a UN-backed committee
Hamas said it has dissolved the body that has run Gaza and will transfer day-to-day affairs to a technocratic committee under a US-founded Board of Peace. It stopped short of disarming — the deadlocked core of the ceasefire.
Trump to lift Turkey sanctions and weigh F-35 sale as NATO summit opens in Ankara
At the Ankara NATO summit, President Trump said the US will lift 2020 sanctions on Turkey and would "consider" returning it to the F-35 programme, while renewing Greenland claims and questioning the US troop presence in Europe.
Russia kills at least 26 in mass Kyiv barrage on eve of NATO summit
A combined Russian assault of ballistic and cruise missiles, Zircon hypersonics and 351 drones killed at least 26 people around Kyiv. Zelenskyy blamed an interceptor shortage and urged NATO for "strong decisions."
UN warns of catastrophe as RSF drone siege tightens on Sudan's el-Obeid
Some 500,000 people are trapped in el-Obeid as the RSF pounds the North Kordofan capital with drones. The UN issued a "red alert"; UNICEF says more than 300 children have been killed or injured in Sudan in 2026 alone.
Super Typhoon Bavi Barrels Toward Guam and Okinawa
Typhoon Bavi strengthened into a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon in the western Pacific, threatening Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands around July 6 before a forecast approach to Okinawa and Japan's Sakishima Islands later in the week.
World Cup Round of 16: Mexico vs England at the Azteca, Brazil vs Norway as the Field Narrows
Mexico host England at a sold-out Estadio Azteca and Brazil face Norway on Sunday as the 2026 World Cup's round of 16 thins the field. Morocco knocked out co-hosts Canada, France edged Paraguay, and the United States meet Belgium on Monday.
NATO Summit 2026 Opens in Ankara With Defense Spending and Ukraine Atop the Agenda
NATO leaders gather in Ankara on July 7-8 for the alliance's first Turkish summit since 2004, with the 5%-of-GDP spending pledge, Ukraine's long-term needs, and a Canada-led Defence, Security and Resilience Bank among the items to watch.
India Climbs to Its Highest-Ever Rank on the UN's 2026 SDG Index
India rose to 94th of 167 countries on the 2026 UN Sustainable Development Report, its best position yet and an 18-place climb since 2015 — even as the report cautions that only about a third of its targets are on track for 2030.
As Khamenei's funeral opens, the US-Iran ceasefire enters its most fragile stretch
Indirect talks are frozen for six days of funeral rites beginning July 4. A month after the June 17 memorandum, The Fold reconstructs how a signed deal survived US airstrikes, a near-collapse and a diplomatic pause — and what still is not settled.
Carney's defence bank nears launch with about 10 founding nations before the NATO summit
Canada aims to unveil roughly 10 founding members of a Defence, Security and Resilience Bank at next week’s NATO summit in Ankara — a multilateral lender designed to raise up to $133 billion in cheaper financing for allied militaries.
DR Congo's Ebola outbreak tops 1,400 cases as a vaccine gap slows the response
The Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo has grown past 1,400 confirmed cases and more than 430 deaths, WHO figures show — a fast-climbing toll made harder to contain because the licensed Ebola vaccine does not protect against this strain.
Wildfire on France's Mediterranean coast forces 3,000 to evacuate campsites and a marina
A fast-moving fire driven by 80 km/h winds swept from Sainte-Marie-la-Mer to the Canet-en-Roussillon marina in the Pyrénées-Orientales, forcing about 3,000 people — half of them from three campsites — to flee and briefly closing Perpignan airport.
US and Iran report 'positive progress' in Doha as talks pause for Khamenei funeral
Indirect US-Iran talks in Doha ended with a new communication channel and agreement to buy goods with frozen funds. The next round waits for Ali Khamenei's July 4-9 funeral rites.
Afghanistan launches drone strikes into Pakistan as border war enters new phase
Afghan Taliban forces struck what they called ISIS centres in Pakistan's Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, days after Pakistani strikes that Kabul says killed 36 civilians.
Monaco hunts suspect after parcel bomb wounds sanctioned Ukrainian tycoon
A makeshift bomb packed with bolts and buckshot exploded in a Monaco apartment lobby Monday night, seriously wounding a couple — including sanctioned Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev — and a 13-year-old, as police hunt a suspect who fled to France.
US and Iran arrive in Doha for talks, but Tehran rules out a direct meeting
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner went to Doha on Tuesday and an Iranian technical team traveled separately, but Iran said there would be 'no negotiations at any level' with Washington, leaving the fragile ceasefire's next step in Qatari mediators' hands.
Venezuela earthquake toll surpasses 1,700 as aftershocks slow desperate search
Officials said at least 1,719 people were killed and about 5,000 injured by last week's twin earthquakes near Caracas, as more than 600 aftershocks hampered a search involving rescuers from 27 countries and US military field hospitals.
WHO links 1,300 excess deaths to record European heatwave
The World Health Organization said more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded since June 21 in Europe’s most severe heatwave on record, with about 1,000 in France, as all-time temperature highs fell across the continent.
Israel-Lebanon framework deal ties Israeli pullout to Hezbollah disarmament
A US-brokered 14-point framework signed in Washington pledges a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon contingent on Hezbollah's verified disarmament, but the group's leader called it 'null and void' as protesters filled Beirut's streets.
Iran strikes US Gulf sites in Kuwait, Bahrain as Hormuz truce teeters
Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired missiles and drones at US-linked targets in Kuwait and Bahrain early on June 28, retaliating for American strikes two days earlier and pushing a fragile 60-day ceasefire to the edge of collapse.
US strikes Iran after drone attack on cargo ship tests Hormuz ceasefire
US Central Command hit four Iranian missile, drone and radar sites on June 26 after an IRGC drone struck the cargo ship Ever Lovely in the Strait of Hormuz, the first American strikes since a shaky ceasefire was extended.
Venezuela earthquake death toll climbs to 589 as global rescue teams converge
Two days after twin magnitude-7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck near Caracas, Venezuela's death toll has reached 589 with nearly 3,000 injured. Rescue crews from 15 countries are racing the closing 'golden window' to reach the trapped.
Israel kills three in Lebanon as Rubio touts progress in Washington truce talks
An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed three people on Thursday even as Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Washington, where US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiations were making progress. The war has killed more than 4,200 in Lebanon since March.
US and Iran clash over nuclear inspections and $12bn in frozen funds
Washington and Tehran offered contradictory accounts of their Switzerland talks, disagreeing over whether Iran agreed to readmit IAEA inspectors and how $12 billion in unfrozen assets may be spent.
US grants Iran 60-day oil license as sides spar over $12bn in frozen funds
Washington issued a 60-day waiver letting Iran sell oil internationally and the two sides agreed a 60-day roadmap to a final deal. But the US disputed Tehran’s claim it would unlock $12bn upfront.
G7 ends Évian summit backing Iran deal, vowing tougher Russia sanctions
G7 leaders closed their Évian summit with a joint statement, signed by the US, praising the Iran agreement and pledging new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas exports.
US-Iran deal 'now complete,' Trump says, lifting Strait of Hormuz blockade to end the war
Trump declared the US-Iran war deal 'now complete' on Sunday, ordering the Strait of Hormuz reopened and the US naval blockade lifted. A formal signing is set for June 19 in Switzerland.
G7 leaders gather in Évian with an Iran truce, AI rules and trade topping the agenda
France hosts the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains from June 15 to 17, with leaders meeting amid a fresh US-Iran deal, debates over artificial-intelligence regulation and guest nations including India and Brazil.
Trump says US-Iran deal to be signed Sunday, with Strait of Hormuz to reopen immediately
President Trump said an agreement ending the war with Iran will be signed Sunday, with the Strait of Hormuz reopening to all traffic right after. Iranian state media struck a more cautious note on the timing.
Trump cancels Iran strikes as both sides say a peace deal is closer than ever
Trump called off planned strikes and said a signing could come within days; Iran's foreign minister said a deal has 'never been closer' but stressed nothing is final.