Portal:Current events/2011 July 18

• Arab Spring:
  • 2011 Libyan civil war:
    • Rebels claim victory in the eastern town of Brega. (Reuters)
    • Former Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham says that the Libyan government was responsible for the bombing of UTA Flight 772 in 1989 over Niger. (Al Arabiya)
  • 2011 Syrian uprising:
    • 50 protesters arrested in the city of Hama are released. (BBC)
    • Qatar suspends operations at its embassy in Syria, after it was attacked by government supporters. (Gulf News)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021):
  • US General David Petraeus hands over command of NATO forces in Afghanistan to United States Marine Corps Lieutenant General John R. Allen. (CNN)
• Rioting at a police station in Hotan in the Xinjiang region of western China kills at least four people. (BBC) (Times of India) (Xinhua)

• Nine months after a goodwill gesture Japan and South Korea will commence negotiations in August on the return of more than 1,200 volumes of ancient Korean royal archives taken during Japanese rule between 1910 and 1945. (Yonhap News)
• The Philadelphia Daily News reports that Cardinal Justin Rigali will resign five months after a U.S. grand jury accuses the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that he heads of failing to investigate claims of sexual abuse of children by clergy in the diocese. (Philly.com)

• Cisco Systems announces plans to cut 11,500 jobs including transfer of a plant employing 5,000 people in Juarez, Mexico, to Foxconn. (CNBC)

• The eastern United States will have a heat wave this week which has already commenced in the Plains States and Midwest. (USA Today)
• The U.S. city of Phoenix, Arizona, is hit by a haboob or dust storm. (Fox News)

• The Vatican and Malaysia establish diplomatic relations. (Bernama) (AP via Google News)
• Iran claims to have taken control of three Iranian Kurdish PJAK camps inside Iraq. (Al Arabiya)
• The President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev commences a two-day visit to Germany. (RIA Novosti)
• The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in India for two days of talks with the Indian government. (IBN Live)

• The trial of five bloggers in the United Arab Emirates for advocating democratic reforms resumes. (Al-Jazeera)
• A Somali man Omer Abdi Mohamed pleads guilty in the US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to helping recruit people to travel to Somalia to assist the terror group al-Shabab. (AP via Google News)
• The San Francisco County Superior Court in the US state of California announces plans to cut 200 jobs and close 25 out of 63 court rooms due to budget problems. (ABC News America)
• An Israeli rights group, "No Minor Matter", criticises the Israeli government for jailing Palestinian stone throwers under the age of 14. (BBC)

• A new Cabinet is sworn in in Egypt, with half the former members being replaced due to ongoing protests since the 2011 Egyptian revolution. (Al-Jazeera)
• United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox announces plans to reduce the British Army to its smallest size since the start of the Second Boer War just over a century ago. By 2020, troop numbers will be reduced from the present 101,000 to 82,000, with a greater reliability on Territorial Army soldiers. (Sky News) (The Guardian)
• News International scandal:
  • David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, cuts short a tour of Africa due to the News of the World phone hacking affair inquiry. (The Guardian)
  • Assistant Commissioner John Yates is called in for questioning for his links with former News executive Neil Wallis and later resigns. (The Telegraph) (BBC)
  • News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower Sean Hoare is found dead at his home. (The Guardian)
  • LulzSec hackers attack The Sun website posting a story about the fake death of Rupert Murdoch. (News Limited) (The Guardian) (The Telegraph)
• Bob Stenehjem, the Senate Majority Leader in the US state of North Dakota, is killed in an accident in Alaska. (AP via Greenfield Reporter)

• The Dawn spacecraft takes its first photo of the asteroid 4 Vesta. (USA Today)

• Iranian athlete and Iran's Strongest Man Rouhollah Dadashi is killed in a fight which started as an argument with another driver and his passengers. Two of them are arrested by police. (Blogspot)