Karl Urban

Dredd is a 2012 science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland, released first on 11 July at the San Diego Comic-Con, and worldwide that September. Karl Urban (pictured) stars as Judge Dredd (based on the 2000 AD comic book character), a law enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a vast, post-apocalyptic metropolis called Mega-City One. Dredd and his apprentice partner, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), are instructed to bring order to a 200-storey high-rise block of flats and deal with its resident drug lord, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). Produced by the British studio DNA Films, Dredd began principal photography, using 3D cameras throughout, in November 2010. Filming took place on practical sets and in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Critics were generally positive about the film's visual effects, casting and action, but found it too violent, and out of touch with the satire of the comic strip. It earned just over $41 million at the box office on an estimated budget of $30–45 million, but saw greater success following its home release, and has since been recognised as a cult film. (Full article...)

Flag of the Orange Order

• ... that the Flag of the Orange Order (pictured) was based on what was purportedly the personal standard of King William III at the Battle of the Boyne?
• ... that Frank Beermann conducted the first recording of Bruno Maderna's Requiem, and the German premiere of Péter Eötvös's opera Love and Other Demons at the Chemnitz Opera?
• ... that Christopher Hitchens called the book The Terrorists of Iraq by Malcolm Nance "a highly potent analysis" of jihadism?
• ... that Richard H. Carmichael was shot down on 20 August 1944 while leading the 462d Bombardment Group in the bombing of Yawata, the first daylight air raid on Japan since the Tokyo Raid in 1942?
• ... that the Penstemon digitalis cultivar "Husker Red" was named after the Nebraska Cornhuskers?
• ... that the 49th chapter of the Quran compares backbiting, a sin in Islam, to "eating the flesh of one's brother"?
• ... that Dominic Nitiwul has been involved in the fight against galamseyers?
• ... that the Chinese have been playing their version of Monopoly and Snakes and Ladders since the ninth century?

Petya's ransom note displayed on a compromised system

• The 450 km-long Turkish March for Justice concludes in Istanbul at a mass rally attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
• The Iraqi government declares victory in the Battle of Mosul.
• In rugby union, the test series between the British and Irish Lions and the New Zealand All Blacks concludes in a draw.
• The United Nations adopts the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, with 122 out of 193 member states voting in favour of the proposed agreement.
• Cyberattacks on Ukraine spread a new variant of the Petya malware (ransom note pictured) around the world and cause severe disruptions.
• A helicopter and grenades are used to attack the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the Interior Ministry of Venezuela.

July 11: Seventeenth of Tammuz (Judaism, 2017)

Woodblock print of Zheng He's ships

• 1405 – Marking the start of Ming China's treasure voyages, Admiral Zheng He's expeditionary fleet (pictured) set sail towards foreign regions on the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
• 1848 – London Waterloo station, Britain's busiest railway station by passenger usage, was opened by the London and South Western Railway.
• 1936 – New York City's Triborough Bridge, the "biggest traffic machine ever built", opened to traffic.
• 1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, featuring themes of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence in the American Deep South, was first published.
• 2011 – An explosion at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base killed 13 people, including the head of the Cyprus Navy.

Bardaisan (b. 154) · Thomas Bowdler (b. 1754) · Bronwyn Oliver (d. 2006)