AM briefing: Ex-Nato chief being vetted for Veep

People observe part of Wisconsin Highway 13, washed out after heavy rains, south of Highbridge in Ashland. Photo / AP

1 Corbyn's automatic right
Britain's Opposition Labour Party has ruled that its leader Jeremy Corbyn has the automatic right to stand in a new leadership contest, setting the stage for a struggle between the veteran socialist's supporters in the country and party MPs who want to oust him. The ruling by Labour's National Executive Committee means Corbyn does not have to find 51 MPs to nominate him, a task that he would struggle to achieve.

2 Italian train crash toll 25
At least 25 people have been killed and dozens are injured after two passenger trains collided head-on at high speed in southern Italy, sending debris flying into surrounding olive groves. Three carriages were torn apart by the violence of the impact after the two trains travelled down the same stretch of track linking Corato and Andria in the Puglia region. There was no immediate indication of what had caused the disaster.

3 Former Nato chief in running
The US presidential campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is vetting retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis as a potential vice-presidential running mate, Reuters reports. Stavridis, 61, is the current dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a former supreme allied commander of Nato. Clinton has also extended her lead over Republican rival Donald Trump to 13 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, up from 10 points at the end of last week.

4 Tornado damages homes
Storms carrying tornadoes, torrential rain and powerful winds damaged homes, deposited a snowplough in a tree and flooded highways in north-central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin in the US Audrey Schoenberg took shelter at a restaurant in Litchfield, Minnesota, after a tornado flipped her home off its foundation. Authorities said the tornado damaged up to 20 homes in the area.

5 More funds for Games security
Brazil's interim Government is beefing up funding for the military to help it meet security needs for the Olympics that open next month in Rio de Janeiro. Sports Minister Leonardo Picciani said that despite a budget crunch, the Government is granting the armed forces an additional US$24 million at the request of the Defence Ministry. The military will begin patrolling spots venues on July 24. Some 85,000 police and soldiers are to be deployed during the 5-21 August games. That's roughly twice the security contingent at the London Olympics.

6 Jets hit refugee camp
Jets believed to be Russian have struck a refugee camp along Jordan's northeastern border with Syria, killing at least 10 people and injuring scores, rebels say. Several jets flying at high altitudes struck where a few hundred, mostly women and children, are stranded in a no-man's-land on the Syrian side of the border, they said. A Western diplomat confirmed the incident.

7 Holiday from hell
A Dutch woman has surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters near the Isis-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq, saying she had been trying to escape the "hell" she was living in "all the time". Laura Angela Hansen told Kurdistan 24 television that her father helped her escape with her two young children. She said her husband, who is Dutch of Palestinian origin, had told her he was taking her on a "vacation" when they entered Isis-held areas in Syria. She lived for several months in Raqqa before they moved to Mosul.

8 Lawsuit over Paris attacks
Victims of last November's Isis assault on Paris plan to sue the French state for failing to avert a killing spree by militants who had drawn scrutiny from police and intelligence services. Samia Maktouf, a lawyer representing 17 victims of the Paris attacks, said she would take legal action against the state on the grounds that some of the assailants were also people the police and judicial authorities had been keeping tabs on. Nine militants killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more on November 13, 2015.

- agencies