The UN Security Council met on August 1 to discuss Syria amid reports of continuing clashes between the military and civilians.

At least 26 persons were killed and 15 others missing after a private bus fell into the swollen Barna river off a bridge in Raisen district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on August 1, reported the Press Trust of India.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) reiterated its call on August 1 for a resumption of six-party talks without preconditions, its state-run news agency reported from Pyongyang.

A preliminary 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Monday morning off the coast of Papua New Guinea, the US Geological Survey reported.

US President Barack Obama says Republican and Democratic leaders have reached an agreement on raising the US debt limit and avoiding default.

Syrian tanks stormed the flashpoint city of Hama on July 31 in one of several clashes that rights groups said left more than 70 people dead and more than 100 injured nationwide.

A suspected leader of the Juarez drug cartel told authorities he had ordered the deaths of about 1,500 people, a Mexican federal police official said on July 31.

The death toll from Sunday's suicide car bomb in Afghan Helmand province has reached 11, a local official said. Twelve others were wounded.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in 10 cities across the country on Saturday evening to protest against the high cost of living.

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who faces trial next week accused ordering troops to fire on protesters, will appear in court at the Cairo Police Academy, the appeals court said Saturday.