RussoPhobia: Hundreds of people in London yesterday protested Russia’s “homosexual propaganda” law that outlaws informing minors about homosexuality, staging gay pride events, publicly defending gay rights, or equating gay and heterosexual relationships. They called Vladimir Putin the “Czar of homophobia.” Russia’s two-month old law is causing controversy ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

National: A 16-year-old Southern California girl is safe and her abductor is dead after a cross-country manhunt that ended at an Idaho campsite. Police say James DiMaggio, 40, drove off with Hannah Anderson after killing her mother and eight-year old brother. He left their bodies in his burning house last Sunday east of  San Diego near the Mexico border. FBI agents killed DiMaggio after his campsite was spotted from the air.

World: Just three days before the opening of Peace talks, Israel has approved the construction of 1,200 homes on occupied Palestinian land. About 500,000 Jews live in occupied territory and the building of settlements has previously scuttled peace negotiations.

• More than 60 people are dead in a wave of bombings across Iraq that marked the end of Ramadan. Eleven bombs went off at cafes and markets in 9 districts of Baghdad alone.

The Obit Page: Edyie Gorme, the singer who broke out with “Blame It On The Bossa Nova” in 1963, has died in Las Vegas at age 84. She was a popular star singing in Spanish and in English. For years she appeared in nightclubs and on television with her husband, singer Steve Lawrence.

• Dr. John Billingham, a British scientist who drove the search for extraterrestrial life, has died in California at age 83. Billingham, who at times was mocked, was a force behind NASA’s use of radio telescopes to listen to the universe for signs of life. On Oct. 12, 1962, the day NASA began the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), he said, “We sail into the future  just as Columbus did on this day 500 years ago. We accept the challenge of searching for a new world.”

Take A Shower: The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak tonight and tomorrow in North America. NASA says that if you let your eyes adjust to darkness, it might be possible to see 60 meteors an hour.

Are You Warm, Are You Real: Scientists in Florence have opened a tomb to extract DNA from the remains of a woman who might have been the model for Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”. Some believe a silk merchant’s wife named Lisa Gherardini sat for the famous portrait. DNA might reveal who the woman was, but it can’t tell us what the hell was so funny.

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