Main News of July 18

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

World

 

* U.K. police said that the reporter who first alleged widespread voice mail hacking at the News of the World tabloid has been found dead

 

* Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates resigned on Monday, a day after his boss stepped down over a phone hacking scandal

 

Russia

 

* Russia will not take advantage of its temporary monopoly on flying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), the country's space agency Roscosmos said

 

* Thousands of private text messages went public on Monday after an error occurred at one of Russia's top mobile operators

 

* More than 800 Russian female internet users have joined Putin's Army, a group in the popular social network Vkontakte whose organizers claim that they are ready to "kill for Putin"

 

* Russia will not host Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi should he choose to step down, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said