Discovered

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient temple hidden under the Teopanzolco pyramid in Cuernavaca, Mexico. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the country last September heavily damaged the pyramid, and scientists discovered the temple while scanning the pyramid for damage. Researchers think it was a temple built by the Tlahuica people around 1150 to honor Tláloc, the Aztec rain god. They found an incense burner and bits of ceramic inside the ruins.

Negotiated

Ethiopia and Eritrea have made peace, ending a two-decade-long border war that cost over 80,000 lives. When Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, Ethiopia was left landlocked and reliant on a port in Djibouti. War broke out a few years later. This April, Abiy Ahmed, who had fought in the border war, became prime minister of Ethiopia, and he made good on promises to change relations with Eritrea. Abiy visited the capital of Eritrea and met with Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki, for negotiations in July. Soon after, the two issued a joint declaration ending hostilities and promising peace for 20 years. The treaty appears to include shared port access, exchange of political prisoners, and the reopening of embassies.

Attacked

Rodolfo Rodriguez, 92, of Mexico was out for a walk while visiting his family in Willowbrook, Calif., when a woman he passed allegedly attacked him. The woman, Laquisha Jones, had been walking with a little girl and reportedly picked up a concrete block and began beating Rodriguez. Misbel Borjas, who was driving by, told CNN he saw Jones hitting Rodriguez in the head with the block repeatedly and yelling at him to go back to Mexico. When she saw Borjas, she threw the block at his car. Jones faces charges of attempted murder in the July 4 incident. Rodriguez, who suffered broken ribs, a broken cheekbone, and numerous bruises, is recovering at his home. Rodriguez told the media he is not angry with Jones, and he prays that God will forgive her and bless her.

Ended

Geneva College, a Christian college in Pennsylvania, has won a six-year legal battle for religious freedom. Geneva had refused to submit to the HHS mandate on employers to provide abortion pills in their health plans. The Alliance Defending Freedom brought the school’s case to court, and in 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court took a bundle of similar cases and handed it back down to the district courts for consideration. A federal district court in Pennsylvania made a ruling on Geneva’s case on July 5, ordering the federal government not to force religious organizations to cover abortion pills, saying this violates their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Geneva College is free from all threats of penalties.

Reopened

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reopening the case of Emmett Till, an African-American teenager murdered in 1955. When the case went to trial, two white men accused of abducting, beating, and killing Till were acquitted but admitted their guilt in a magazine interview a year later. Till’s death sparked civil rights protests nationwide. The DOJ says it has reopened the case after the discovery of new evidence. This could be the confession of Carolyn Donham, the white woman whose testimony led to the acquittal of Till’s murderers. Donham recently admitted she had lied in court.