Armed conflicts and attacks

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • Boko Haram militants raid five different villages around Maiduguri, Nigeria killing 37 people. (Reuters)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • The Saudi-led coalition bombs the World Heritage Listed old quarter of Sana'a destroying three houses and killing five people. (AFP via Daily Mail)
• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • An armed group storms the Tunisian embassy in Libya taking ten hostages. (al-Arabiyah)
• Operation Protective Edge
  • The Israel Defense Forces Advocate General has announced criminal investigations into three more incidents from Operation Protective Edge. Of the 190 incidents reported to the IDF, investigations have been completed on 105, with seven leading to criminal investigations. (YNet)

Business and economy

• Residents of the Galápagos Islands conduct a strike and protest over decisions by the Ecuador National Assembly to axe cost of living subsidies causing cancellation of flights to and from the islands. (AP via ABC News)
• Public school teachers in the Brazilian state of São Paulo vote to return to work after three months of strike action. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• Japan approves a thirty-to-forty year plan to clean up the site of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. (AP)
• Heavy rain hampers the search for dozens of missing people from the landslides in Nepal's Taplejung district which have resulted in at least 24 deaths in six villages. (AP via US News and World Report)
• 2012–15 North American drought
  • California orders the biggest cuts to water allocations in the state's history because of the worst drought in the state's history. (BBC)

Health

• 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea
  • The death toll from the South Korean MERS outbreak rises to 11 with 126 people now diagnosed with the disease but the number of people in quarantine falls slightly to 3,680. Two hospitals have closed as a result of the outbreak and the Bank of Korea has lowered interest rates due to concerns about effects of the outbreak on the economy. (Yonhap), (CNN)

International relations

• The Pacific Ocean nation of Palau burns four Vietnamese fishing boats caught poaching sea cucumbers and other marine life in its waters. (AP via The Republic)
• Pakistan orders the Save the Children NGO to leave the country claiming it supports "anti-Pakistan" activity. (BBC)
• Germany doubles its funding to states and cities for asylum seekers as 450,000 are expected to enter the country during 2015. (Deutsche Welle)
• Two Russian citizens are arrested for entering a Latvian military base as the Baltic nation was participating in US-led military exercises. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
• The Associated Press reports that hackers linked to the People's Republic of China appear to have gained access to sensitive background material about people seeking security clearances from the United States government. (AP)

Law and crime

• Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn is acquitted of pimping charges in France. (The Guardian)
• Sudanese police use tear gas to break up Khartoum protests against government land policy. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Chiril Gaburici resigns as the Prime Minister of Moldova after questions arise over his education qualifications. (AP via Washington Post)
• The United States House of Representatives votes down key supporting legislation that would support the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 Pacific Rim nations. (Washington Post)

Sport

• Hachim Mastour, aged 16 years and 363 days, becomes the youngest ever footballer to represent the Morocco national football team. (RFI Afrique)