Portal:Current events/2010 July 26

Armed conflicts and incidents

• The President of France Nicolas Sarkozy confirms that Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has executed Michel Germaneau, a French hostage taken in Mali. (Al-Jazeera)
• The United States, European Union and United Nations pledge additional resources to the African Union's AMISOM peacekeeping force in Somalia. (Voice of America)
• Two car bombs explode near the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, killing at least twenty people. (BBC)

Disasters

• At least 26 people are killed after a bus crashes in the Daman District in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. (AP via Sydney Morning Herald) (samaylive)
• An Israeli Air Force helicopter crashes in Romania with six Israeli airmen and a Romanian military observer on board; all are feared dead. (Haaretz)

Law and crime

• Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch receives the verdict in his trial in Phnom Penh - the first of five surviving senior figures to do so. He is sentenced to 35 years in prison with 16 years off for time served. (Aljazeera) (BBC) (CNN)
• United States investigators associated with INTERPOL track 200 bank accounts associated with alleged North Korean drug smuggling, counterfeiting, money laundering and arms trafficking. (ABC News Australia)

Politics

• Release of The War Logs:
  • Wikileaks releases over 92,000 documents detailing unreported killings of hundreds of Afghan civilians and other incidents related to the war in Afghanistan to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel, in one of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Der Spiegel) (The New York Times)
  • The United States government condemns the release of the files, calling it a "risk" and a threat to their security. (Aljazeera) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Julian Assange defends the release, saying the publication was in the public interest, and saying that Wikileaks had withheld the documents from release until it could redact the names of individuals whose safety might be at risk. US Senator John Kerry says the documents "raise serious questions about the reality of America's policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan". (ABC)
• Opening of the 15th Congress of the Philippines: Channel NewsAsia
  • Juan Ponce Enrile is elected as Senate President
  • Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  • President Benigno Aquino III delivers his first State of the Nation Address.

Science

• The Plastiki, a catamaran made out of recycled plastic, arrives in Sydney, Australia, after travelling across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco, United States, to raise awareness of environmental issues. (AP via Yahoo News)

Sports

• The opening ceremony of the 2010 European Athletics Championships takes place in Barcelona. Official website