1. Kerry flies to Israel

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Israel’s main airport on July 23 to achieve a cease-fire* agreement in the warring Gaza Strip* despite little evidence of progress in ongoing negotiations.

    Kerry planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. U.S. officials have downplayed* expectations for an immediate, lasting truce between Israel and the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.

    2. Hamas agrees to 24-hour cease-fire

    Hamas announced on Sunday that it has agreed to a 24-hour holiday truce* in Gaza.

    The truce began at 7 p.m. (Beijing Time). Hamas hit back at Israel earlier in the day during a previous 24-hour cease-fire window.

    The three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which caps the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan*, is expected to begin on Monday or Tuesday, depending on the sighting of the new moon.

    Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, did not say if Israel would hold its fire during the time requested by Hamas, but said troops would continue demolishing* Hamas military tunnels.

    3. Mayor dies from wasp stings

    The mayor of a Montreal bedroom community who was enjoying a weekend in the country has died of anaphylactic shock* after wasps* attacked her with repeated stings.

    Lucie F. Roussel, the mayor of La Prairie, was near her cottage in the Eastern Townships on Sunday when she stepped on a wasps’ nest, and was stung repeatedly. A friend said she suffered at least 15 stings. Roussel, 51, was transported from her cottage near Stratford to hospital in Thetford Mines, Quebec, where she was pronounced dead.

    4. Bad weather blamed for Air Algerie crash

    Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Saturday that bad weather was the most likely cause of the crash of an Air Algerie flight which killed all 118 people aboard.

    The MD-83 plane, operated by Air Algerie, encountered complicated weather conditions, including thick cloud, strong wind and a sand storm, soon after takeoff, Sellal told a press conference.

    5. Rebels admit having BUK missile

    A Ukrainian rebel leader has confirmed that pro-Russian separatists had an anti-aircraft missile* of the type the U.S. Government said was used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and it could have originated in Russia.

    In an interview with Reuters, Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of the Vostok Battalion, acknowledged for the first time that the rebels did possess the BUK missile system.

    Before the MH17 was shot down, rebels had boasted of obtaining the BUK missiles, which can shoot down airliners at cruising height.

    6. Apple admits data can be extracted

    Apple Inc. acknowledged on July 25 that backup encrypted* texts, photos and contacts can be extracted* from iPhones by anyone with knowledge of extraction techniques.

    Anyone who wants access to that information just needs access to a computer that a user has “trusted” with data from his or her iPhone. Apple said it isn’t a security issue.

    The issue was revealed by a self-proclaimed “hacker” and security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski last week at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference in New York City.

    7. 1st wild wolf pups born in Mexico

    For the first time in more than 30 years, a litter of wolf pups was born in the wild in Mexico, wildlife authorities announced last week.

    The Mexican wolf, also known as the lobo, went extinct in the wild about three decades ago. But in recent years, breeding pairs of the species have been raised in captivity and reintroduced into the mountains of western Mexico as part of a national conservation effort.(SD-Agencies)