Intense fighting between Talibaninsurgents and governmentforces kills 28 civilians and injures another 290 during the past week, according to the head of a hospital in Kunduz, with the majority of the dead being children, women and elderly people. The Taliban has moved beyond its southern strongholds and has intensified the fighting in the north, according to military experts. (Reuters)
The last Italian troops leave Afghanistan after handing over their base in Herat to Afghan security forces, thereby ending Italy's involvement in the war. (Euronews)
The Tigray People's Liberation Front and Tigray Defense Forces pledge to "drive enemies out" of the regional capital Mekelle after a unilateral ceasefire was declared by Ethiopia on Monday. Tigrayan forces say that the city of Mekelle is completely under the control of their forces. (Al Jazeera)
After seizing the regional capital, Tigray People's Liberation Front spokesman Getachew Reda states that Tigrayan forces would invade the neighbouring Amhara Region and Eritrea to "destroy the enemy", claiming that the enemy, "whether from the Eritrean side or Amhara side or Addis Ababa, doesn't have the capability to threaten the security of our people anymore". (BBC News)
The temperature reaches 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) in Lytton, British Columbia, breaking the all-time record for hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada for the third day in a row. The temperature reached 47.6 °C (117.7 °F) in Lytton on June 28 and 46.6 °C (115.9 °F) on June 27, both records. (CBC)
Argentina further closes its borders, allowing only 600 entries per day, in an attempt to reduce the spread of the Delta variant as the country has so far reported over 4.4 million cases and more than 93,000 deaths from COVID-19. (ADN Digital)
Perth, Brisbane and their respective surrounding towns enter lockdown as coronavirus spreads from the Sydney cluster. People will only be allowed to leave home for essential work or study, medical or compassionate reasons, essential shopping, or outdoor exercise (with restrictions), and masks must be worn outdoors. (ABC News Australia)
Tunisia reports a record 5,251 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, prompting the government to extend the curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. beginning from July 1. (Reuters)
Zimbabwe imposes a curfew from 6:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., bans inter-city travel, and reduces business hours to 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in response to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (Reuters)
In an interview with the Serbian division of Euronews, Serbian PresidentAleksandar Vučić says that any hopes of his country reclaiming Kosovo is unrealistic, and that he is willing to enter a "rational and compromise solution" regarding recognition of Kosovo's independence. However, he says that any agreement reached between the two countries needs to ultimately be decided by referendum. (Exit.al)
Prime MinisterBob Loughman wins a confidence vote by the parliament after a no-confidence motion had been introduced to remove his government by opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu. However, Loughman's hold on power remains tenuous as the Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the seats of 19 government MPs were to be declared vacant. Loughman's government has already appealed the ruling. (RNZ)