Not The BBC News: 19 July

The weather in the UK has been unusually hot, but so far the only thing that has broken because of the heat is the M25. Royal Mail is likely to be privatised. The UK's Gay Marriage bill cleared its final reading in the House of Lords without any significant amendments, and is therefore likely to become law soon. The Coalition for Marriage says it might put up candidates in marginal seats at the next general election -- and it has six times as many members as the Conservative Party. The city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy. Britain's Chris Froome leads the Tour de France. The royal baby is late. The Texas abortion bill that was massively criticised and filibustered by Democrats last fortnight has now been passed -- it turns out to be very similar to the UK's abortion laws, banning abortions after 20 weeks and requiring abortion clinics to meet the same standards as medical clinics. An astronaut had a scare when his helmet started filling up with water. The Irish bill allowing abortion where mothers threaten suicide has been passed. Problems with cricketing technology and its associated rules have led to an English cricketer facing Australia being out when he was in, and another declared in when he was out. Lots of top football clubs have allegedly made large bids for famous players who other clubs don't want to sell. The Government has shelved plans to force cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging.The Boston marathon bombing suspect is now in court. The runner Haile Gebrselassie is standing for the presidency of Ethiopia. The Kremlin is so worried about computerised intelligence leaks that it has brought back typewriters. There were riots in America after a neighbourhood watch volunteer who confronted and then shot dead an unarmed black teenager was cleared of both murder and manslaughter. A concrete tower block by a modernist architect, whose work Ian Fleming hated so much that he named the villain Goldfinger after him, has received a grade II listing; unfortunately, "grade II listing" does not mean it's about to fall over.