United States: A blaze that killed a California firefighter grew quickly and forced the closure of a key route into Yosemite National Park as crews contended with sweltering conditions, authorities said. The fire that broke out at the weekend scorched more than 16 sq km of dry brush along steep, remote hillsides on the park's western edge. It was burning largely out of control, and officials shut off electricity to many areas, including Yosemite Valley, as a safety precaution. Guests were ordered to leave Yosemite Cedar Lodge as flames crept up slopes and the air became thick with smoke. "You can't see anything, it's so smoky outside. It's crazy," said front desk clerk Spencer Arebalo, one of a handful of employees who stayed behind. He said it was surreal to see the property empty at the height of tourist season. Evacuations also were ordered in rural communities just outside the park, and people in nearby lodges and motels were told to be ready to leave if flames approach. A stretch of State Route 140 into Yosemite was closed, and motorists were urged to find alternate routes.
Middle East: New details have been leaked of how the Israeli spy agency Mossad smuggled out Iranian nuclear documents this year, but the material does not appear to provide evidence that Iran failed to abide by its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers. The information reported today shed more light on the Mossad operation but offered few other details beyond what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in April, when he unveiled what he said was a trove of secret Iranian nuclear documents dating back to 2003 seized by Israeli intelligence. Iran maintains the entire document trove is fraudulent. The New York Times reported that Israeli agents had six hours and 29 minutes to break into the nondescript nuclear facility in a commercial district of the Iranian capital, Tehran, before the guards arrived in the morning. In that time, they infiltrated the facility, disabled alarms and cut through safes to remove the secret documents before leaving undetected.
Europe: Another day's worth of food and beverages was sent to a pair of military ships off Sicily as Italy waited for more European nations to pledge to take a share of the hundreds of migrants on board before allowing the asylum-seekers to step off onto Italian soil. Germany, Spain and Portugal each agreed to accept 50 of the migrants, following similar offers by fellow European Union members France and Malta, Italian Premier Giueseppe Conte said. But the Czech Republic rebuffed the appeal, calling the distribution plan a "road to hell."
United States: A seventh animal has died after a jaguar escaped from its habitat at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. NOLA.com reports the fifth alpaca died overnight after the male jaguar killed four alpacas, one emu and one fox. The jaguar was captured and returned to its night house after being sedated by a vet team. No people were hurt and the zoo was reopened today.
Iraq: Iraqis demanding better public services and jobs took to the streets for the sixth day in the southern oil-rich province of Basra, as authorities put security forces on high alert and blocked the internet in the country's Shia heartland. Thousands of protesters gathered outside the local government building and closed the roads leading to major oil fields north and west of Basra city, activist Laith Hussein said. Security forces guarding the local government building opened fire, causing some protesters to disperse, he added. Elsewhere in Basra, protesters forced authorities to close the vital Um Qasr port. The two main border crossings — Safwan with Kuwait and Shalamcheh with Iran — have been closed to both passengers and goods, a senior official with the Border Crossings Directorate said. There were also similar protests on Saturday in Baghdad. Hundreds poured into Baghdad's Tahrir Square and the eastern Shiite district of Sadr City.
Pakistan: A day of mourning was observed for the victims of the horrific weekend attacks that killed 153 people, including a provincial assembly candidate during an election rally in southwestern Baluchistan province. That attack killed 149 people. Another suicide bombing struck an election campaign convoy in northwestern Pakistan, killing four. The deadly attacks occurred just hours before Pakistan's disgraced prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan from London to face a 10-year jail sentence for corruption. He and his daughter Maryam, who was sentenced to seven years, were taken to jail upon their return. They are expected to appeal their conviction today.
Turkey: With prayers and other events, Turkey commemorated the second anniversary of thwarting a coup against the Turkish President and the Government that left nearly 290 people dead and hundreds wounded. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has "cut off the arms of the octopus the cursed in Pennsylvania grew with hypocrisy, tricks, lies and within big secrecy." He was referring to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric Turkey blames for the coup, and said the Government has brought down Gulen's network within the public and private sector.
United States: Police say a 6-month-old girl found unresponsive in a car at a park in Ohio and has died. Medina police say the baby was found unresponsive in a car at Ray Mellert Park in the city 48km south of Cleveland. Medina police said that the girl was transported to a hospital, but efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. Police and the Medina County coroner are working together in the investigation.
Syria: Regime forces unleashed hundreds of missiles on a rebel-held area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, activists said, the latest phase in an offensive to clear southern Syria of insurgents. The Syrian Government's push came after it had secured control of most of Daraa province in an offensive that began in June. Today, the first batch of armed fighters and their families left the city of Daraa, the provincial capital, in buses that would take them to the rebel-held Idlib province in the north. Similar deals in other parts of Syria resulted in the evacuation of thousands of opposition fighters and civilians — evacuations that the United Nations and rights groups have decried as forced displacement.
- AP
