The 10 most important things in the world right now

Hello! Here’s what you need to know on Monday.

1. President Vladimir Putin said 755 US diplomats must leave Russia in retaliation over sanctions. Last Thursday, the US Senate approved a bill to toughen sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and for its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Moscow demanded Washington cut its diplomatic presence in Russia by September to 455 -- the same number it has in the US.

2. British Chancellor Philip Hammond says the UK won't be turned into a tax haven after Brexit. Speaking to French newspaper Le Monde, Hammond said "I often hear it said that the UK is considering participating in unfair competition in regulation and tax. That is neither our plan nor our vision for the future."

3. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on China and Russia to do more to stop North Korea. After US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called China and Russia “economic enablers” of the regime following another missile test, Abe spoke to President Donald Trump, and they agreed more action was needed to mitigate the threat from North Korea.

4. Australian police foiled a terrorist plot to "bring down a plane". Four people were arrested in a series of raids across Sydney. Security screening was ramped up at all Australian airports from today, with travellers warned to arrive two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights. The would-be terrorists were seeking to deploy a toxic gas to incapacitate everyone and crash the plane.

.5 Another US police chief has criticised President Donald Trump over claims cops are "too nice". "Improving public safety and reducing crime requires restoring trust with the community," said New Orleans Police boss Michael Harrison. Trump's comments drew widespread criticism from police departments, including two of the nation's largest, in New York and Los Angeles.

6. China's economy lost momentum in July. While it continued to perform strongly in July, China’s manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) came in at 51.4 in June, moderating slightly on the 51.7 level previously reported in June and missed market expectations for a smaller decline to 51.6.

7. China put on a massive display of military might on the weekend. President Xi Jinping appeared in camouflage uniform to tell the troops in Inner Mongolia to “be ready to assemble at the first call and be ­capable of fighting and winning any battle”. Tuesday marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

8. US bombers flew over Korean peninsula after Pyongyang's ICBM test. Two supersonic B-1B bombers were sent over the Korean peninsula in a show of force on Sunday. The bombers took off from a U.S. air base in Guam, and were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets during the exercise.

9. The vast majority of voters boycotted Sunday's vote for constitutional change in Venezuela in droves. Protestors against leftist President Nicolas Maduro and what they say is an unprecedented power grab estimate that around 12.5% of voters turned up, while polls show 70% of the population oppose Maduro's plan for a "super-assembly". Electoral officials claim the turnout was 41%. Another 10 people died in protests, taking the death toll to 120 since April.

10. A Philippine mayor accused of links to the drugs trade by the president has been shot dead by police. Reynaldo Parojinog, mayor of Ozamiz on Mindanao island, was killed along with his wife and 10 others as police served a warrant at his home. More than 7,000 people are believed to have been executed since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a war on the drugs trade in July 2016.

And finally...

Cryptocurrency miners are renting entire Boeing 747s just to stay in the game.

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