Facebook is set to test its first solar-powered drone which is to provide internet access in remote areas. The wingspan of the aircraft is comparable with that of a Boeing 737, its inventors say. 
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has cut the key interest rate from 11.5 percent to 11.0 percent. Even though there is a slight increase in inflation risks, the CBR says economic growth is a priority. It is the fifth consecutive rate cut this year. 
The UN’s special representative on migration has said he is “amazed” by the UK’s reaction to the ongoing migrant crisis in Calais, saying the authorities have exaggerated the scale of the situation in order to ratchet up international tensions. 
Beijing is set to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, beating Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan. 
The ruble resumed its decline on Friday at the opening of the Moscow Exchange, sinking back to 60 against the US dollar. This comes hours ahead of the Central Bank decision on whether to cut the key rate further amidst low oil prices and a weak currency. 
NASA astronomers have found another exoplanet outside the solar system. It’s larger than Earth and is 21 light-years from our planet. 
Israeli forces committed “disproportionate” and “indiscriminate” attacks that killed “scores of civilians” in the city of Rafah, Gaza, Amnesty International said in a report which was immediately slammed as “fundamentally flawed” by Israel. 
Terrorist attacks in Europe earlier this year prompted a leap in the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in the UK, a Jewish charity reports. 
Russian diplomats say that the US concern over inclusion of the National Endowment for Democracy into the list of undesirable groups was hardly justified as this NGO is known for projects aimed at regime change in foreign nations. 
Prime Minister David Cameron is facing calls from senior police chiefs to allow the army to intervene in the ongoing migrant crisis in Calais, after mass attempts to storm the Channel Tunnel resulted in one fatality. 
The Israeli parliament has passed a bill that allows the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners who resort to hunger strikes to protest their administrative detention without charge. The national medical association said the procedure amounts to torture. 
Activists will gather in Parliament Square this weekend for a mass inhalation of nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas or “hippy crack,” to protest the Conservative government’s crackdown on so-called “legal highs,” or psychoactive drugs. 
Scientists at the Osaka University have shot the world’s most powerful laser beam, they claim. The pulse measured 2 petawatts delivered over 1 picosecond. 
The deal with creditors was “not of our choice,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said, adding that Greece faced the dilemma between a difficult compromise and disorderly default. 
Washington, DC is slowly seeping into the Earth, and it could sink another six inches in the next century due to subsurface land movement under the Chesapeake Bay, according to a new study. 
An aircraft part that was washed up on La Reunion Island off the southeastern African coast almost certainly belongs to a Boeing 777, Malaysia’s transport minister has said. It may have come from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
A single-engine passenger plane crashed and caught on fire after the pilot aborted a landing at the Timmerman Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, local media reported. 
Workers from the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital released a mother koala and her male cub back into the wild. The cute koala family won the hearts of millions worldwide after images were released of the joey refusing to let go of his mom during her life-saving surgery. 
Washington is set to approve a $5.4 billion sale of 600 advanced Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia. More such sales are expected in the coming months, defense analysts say, as Gulf nations react to the Iran nuclear deal by buying US weapons systems. 
Russia has vetoed a draft of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an international tribunal on the crash of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight over eastern Ukraine last July and classifying the plane’s downing as a threat to peace and security. 
Spain’s Marsi-bionics company has created a bionic exoskeleton designed especially for children. A robot has already been built that enabled a girl to take her first steps. Now researchers are launching a campaign to fund further development. 
The Cincinnati, Ohio police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man during a traffic stop has been indicted by a grand jury and charged with murder, the county prosecutor said. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Officer Ray Tensing. 
Some 50 Britons have died fighting alongside Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria since 2012, eight of whom were teenagers, it has emerged. 
“Dawn is about to make history” said project manager Robert Mase as the spacecraft headed toward the dwarf planet. NASA has just released images taken during the mission that reveal a diverse topography filled with craters, peaks and ridges. 
China’s second largest online retailer JD.com (Jingdong Mall) and Russia’s biggest delivery company Russian Post have signed a deal making it the first Russian firm with authority to directly deliver Chinese goods inside Russia. 
A public inquiry into undercover policing is at risk of becoming an “establishment whitewash” if it does not include scrutiny of the surveillance of trade unionists, activists have warned. 
Two men charged with terror offenses were unlawfully detained in solitary confinement, Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled. 
Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UK visit in November, Labour MP Keith Vaz has called on British Prime Minister David Cameron to return the giant diamond which adorns the Queen’s crown. 
Thirteen Greenpeace activists staged a two-day human blockade by suspending themselves from a bridge in Portland, Oregon to prevent a Shell Oil vessel from leaving for Alaskan waters. The Arctic-bound vessel got through after police intervened, arresting campaigners. 
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry announced a pledge of C$8.3 million (US$6.4 million) to the Iraqi government for their fight against Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL). The money is designated for defense programs and non-lethal equipment. 
A German media watchdog has no objections to a local channel airing a show from RT Deutsch, as it said an investigation it had conducted into the channel concluded that the program did not violate the law. 
United Airlines has reportedly launched a probe into a breach of its computer system that took place around the same time a hacker group stole the data of tens of millions of US government employees and insurance holders. The two incidents may be linked. 
Talks between Russia and France concerning the future of the Mistral contract have ended. The contract will be terminated in the near future, a top Russian official has stated.
A Spirit Airlines plane was evacuated at Texas’ Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Airport after its wheels caught fire. It was the second aircraft to undergo emergency evacuation procedures Thursday afternoon due to incendiary issues. Three people were injured. 
US engineers dropped a Cessna 172 airplane from a tall crane to test its emergency beacons, which are meant to activate within 50 seconds of a crash, but frequently fail. 
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wants the US to adopt a single-payer healthcare system. Vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders has called for the universal expansion of Medicare, a social assistance program that just turned 50. 
The Russian state is ‘in one form or another’ is involved in the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, claimed the victim’s layer, adding that Litvinenko’s radioactive poisoning might have affected people in London. 
The United States has imposed further sanctions against Russia over the events in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Eleven more people and 15 more companies have been put on the sanctions list. 
The US Senate was treated to some colorful language as a New York Democrat’s attempt to confirm three federal judges ran into opposition by a Republican from Iowa, with tempers flaring just days before the legislature’s summer recess. 
An aurora has been spotted for the first time outside our solar system, about 18 light years away on a brown dwarf. What is truly special is that it is about a million times brighter than anything we’ve seen from the Northern Lights. 
The IMF said it can’t reach a ‘staff level agreement’ on Greece’s €86 billion bailout at this stage and will make the decision on further involvement in the deal only after Athens agrees on a ‘comprehensive set of reforms’ and creditors on debt relief. 
An “insatiable” demand for analysts of drone intelligence is driving the US military to hire private contractors, with 1 in 10 analysts now a civilian, says a new report. Civilian analysts describe their work as “gambling,” with innocent lives at stake. 
At least six people were stabbed at an LGBT pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday, local media reported, citing Israeli police and paramedics. The suspected attacker, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, has been arrested. 
After Facebook’s video strategy turned out to be a success, the social network giant’s CEO is now eager to completely revolutionize the way we communicate by mastering virtual reality technologies. 
Less than half of “vulnerable” single homeless people in Scotland are found accommodation when they seek help from the authorities, new figures have revealed. 
Western countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia, are now collecting the information on the schemes used to circumvent the restrictions, says Russia’s Kommersant newspaper. However, these loopholes are unlikely to be found. 
Truck drivers facing long queues on their way to the port of Calais were treated to an unexpected rave when a YouTube star performed a semi-naked DJ set in the middle of a Kent tunnel. 
From towering sculpture to giant helter-skelter: the Olympic Park Tower in Stratford, northeast London, will be transformed into an epic funfair ride for the visiting public. 
The male leopard, called Simbad, arrived into the city’s sanctuary from the Parc des Felins zoological park on Wednesday to participate in breeding and reintroduction program for Persian Leopard in Russia. 
Crowds of migrants desperate to get to the UK stormed the Eurotunnel’s French terminal near Calais Monday night, causing traffic delays and disrupting rail services. The incident prompted UK authorities to re-introduce emergency measures. 