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Worldwide current events
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Ural Airlines Airbus A321 in 2013

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research announces that it has detected more than 75,000 wildfires in the country since January, at least 40,000 of which have occurred in the Amazon rainforest.
At least 80 people are killed and 160 others injured in a bombing at a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan.
All 233 people on board Ural Airlines Flight 178 (aircraft pictured) survive a crash following bird strikes in both engines of an Airbus A321.
Typhoon Lekima impacts the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and East China, killing at least 80 people.

August 26, 2019 (Monday)

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International relations

Foreign relations of Taiwan
- Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu alerts Pacific Island nations, especially the Solomon Islands, about growing Chinese investment in their economies, saying "it's a trap". Wu, speaking from Palau, says he is confident that the Solomon Islanders will continue with their current ties with Taiwan. (Radio New Zealand)

August 25, 2019 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

2019 Beirut attack, Israeli–Lebanese conflict
- Hezbollah says two Israeli drones went down in the Moawwad neighborhood of Dahieh (South Beirut), Lebanon, and they did not shoot them. A small reconnaissance drone fell on the roof of the Hezbollah media building, then another drone exploded nearby, causing damage to the building. Residents report a loud blast. The Israeli Army says it does not comment on "foreign reports". The Lebanese Army confirms the drones as Israeli. (AP News) (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian Civil War
- Iran denies that yesterday's attack in southern Syria by Israel hit their installations. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-aligned medium, claims the missiles killed one Iranian and two people from Hezbollah. (Times of Israel)

Disasters and accidents

A helicopter and an ultralight airplane plane collide near the town of Inca, on the island of Mallorca, Spain, killing seven people including two children, according to regional government officials. (Sky News)

Politics and elections

Rohingya crisis
- At Kutupalong, the world's largest refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, 200,000 people gather peacefully to remember the day, in 2017, when a violent crackdown by Myanmarese security forces compelled 740,000 Rohingya to flee over the border. (France24)
2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
- Conservative radio host and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh announces his run for president. (CNN)

August 24, 2019 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Papuan conflict
- Crowds gather in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to show solidarity and to campaign for the freedom of West Papua, which is under Indonesian control. Meanwhile, churches push the government of Papua New Guinea to take a firm stand on the situation. (Radio New Zealand)
Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian Civil War
- The Israel Defense Forces say their Air Force strikes multiple Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Aqraba near the Syrian capital Damascus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims an Iranian attack on Israel using armed drones to be imminent. Syria says it repels the attack and shoots down most of the attackers' rockets. (The Jerusalem Post) (SANA)

Disasters and accidents

2019 Brazil wildfires
- Brazil readies its military to fight wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, but does not deploy troops. (CNBC) (CBC)

Politics and elections

2019 Nauruan parliamentary election
- Voters in Nauru go to the polls to elect new members of parliament. President Baron Waqa loses his parliamentary seat so he is not able to be re-elected in the office he has been holding since 2013. (ABC News) (ABC News)

August 23, 2019 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive
- The Syrian Army captures the entire northern Hama-southern Idlib rebel pocket, asserting control over the strategic towns of Kafr Zita, Al-Lataminah and Murak, as well as numerous villages and an archaeological site, following the withdrawal of rebel forces. (Reuters) (Al Masdar)
- The Turkish observation post near Murak is encircled by government forces. (Asharq Al-Awsat) (Ansamed)
Iran–Israel proxy conflict
- U.S. officials confirm that an airstrike on an Iranian weapons depot in Amirli, Iraq on July 19 that killed two Iranian military commanders was conducted by Israel. The strike is the first known Israeli attack inside Iraq since Operation Opera in 1981. (Voice of America)
Al-Qaeda accuses "treacherous Pakistani forces" of detaining the wife and two other relatives of the group's leader Ayman al Zawahiri for over a year. (Al Arabiya)

International relations

China–United States trade war
- China retaliates on the United States' latest tariff decisions by imposing tariffs of up to 25% on some American goods. (CNBC)
- U.S. President Donald Trump states on Twitter that he has "hereby ordered" that U.S. companies find an alternative for manufacturing in China and relocate "HOME." (Barron's) (The Guardian)
- President Trump announces an increase in the tariffs set to take effect on September 1, October 1 and December 15, from 10% and 25% to 15% and 30%, respectively. The Office of the United States Trade Representative says it will "begin the process of increasing the tariff rate to 30% effective October 1 following a notice and comment period". (CNN)

Politics and elections

2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries in the United States
- U.S. Representative for Massachusetts Seth Moulton announces his suspension of his 2020 presidential campaign. (NBC News)
Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez is diagnosed with a malignant tumor. (Los Andes)
Sri Lanka ends its state of emergency, four months after the Easter bombings. (Al Jazeera)

August 22, 2019 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Papua conflict
- Indonesia cuts off Internet in the provinces of Papua and West Papua amid pro-independence unrest. (The Guardian) (RTÉ)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- A ninth round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban starts in Doha, Qatar. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

At least four people are dead and more than 100 injured after lightning strikes the summit of Giewont in the Tatra Mountains, Poland. Another person is killed in Slovakia. (tvn24.pl) (gazeta.pl) (BBC)
At least five people are killed and 21 others injured in a stampede at a rap concert in Algiers, Algeria. (BBC)

International relations

Japan–South Korea relations, GSOMIA
- South Korea decides against extending the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). South Korean officials express that the exclusion from Japan's preferred trade list on 12 August eliminated any benefit to maintaining the agreement. (NHK)

Law and crime

2018 Chemnitz protests
- A Syrian man is jailed for manslaughter in relation to a stabbing in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany last year. The killing sparked far-right protests and riots in the city. (BBC)
Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez murder
- Philippine Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director-General Nicanor Faeldon says that former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez is ineligible under a 2013 law that credits good conduct time allowance (GCTA) for an early release from prison. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Politics and elections

2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- Washington governor Jay Inslee drops out of the presidential primaries to focus on his re-election bid. (The New York Times)

Science and technology

The second GPS IIIA satellite is successfully launched by a Delta IV Medium rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It is the last launch of the Delta IV Medium vehicle. (Orlando Sentinel)
The uncrewed Soyuz MS-14 mission to resupply the International Space Station commences. Its launch is a successful test of a Soyuz spacecraft atop a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle, which will replace the Soyuz-FG as the carrier rocket for Soyuz spacecraft starting next year. (NASASpaceFlight.com) (Space.com)

August 21, 2019 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- A United States MQ-9 military drone is reportedly shot down in Yemen's Dhamar Governorate. A Houthi spokesperson claims responsibility and adds that they used a locally-developed missile. (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- 17 August 2019 Kabul bombing
  - The death toll of a suicide bombing during a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan, four days ago, increases to 80. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

United States federal budget
- The Congressional Budget Office forecasts a deficit of US$1 trillion next year, up from the previous estimate of $892 billion. (The New York Times)

International relations

2019 Persian Gulf crisis, Australia–United States relations
- Australia announces its agreement to join the United States' coalition, along with the United Kingdom and Bahrain, to prevent Iran from targeting ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. Australia will deploy a Boeing P-8 Poseidon and a frigate. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Denmark–United States relations
- Queen Margrethe II of Denmark expresses surprise at U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of his planned visit to her country. Experts on the royal house call the move an act of "disrespect" as illness is not the apparent cause. (TV2)
Iceland–United States relations
- The office of the Prime Minister of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir confirms that she will not meet the Vice President of the United States Mike Pence on his visit in September, citing "prior commitments." (AP News)

Law and crime

Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Australia
- The Supreme Court of Victoria rejects an appeal made by Cardinal George Pell against a six-year jail sentence for child sexual abuse. (The Guardian)
China–United Kingdom relations
- The Foreign Ministry of China confirms that United Kingdom consulate in Hong Kong employee Simon Cheng, who was reported missing, is administratively detained for 15 days by Shenzhen police. (CNN)
Indian senior opposition Rajya Sabha MP and former Cabinet Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram is arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of corruption and money laundering during his term as Minister of Finance. Chidambaram says to the Supreme Court that the government is practicing a "politically-motivated vendetta" against him and his son Karti, who is also an opposition MP. (BBC)

August 20, 2019 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive
- The Al-Qaeda-linked faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) acknowledges "a redeployment" south of the strategic town of Khan Shaykhun. (AP News)
- Media close to the government reports that the Syrian Army enters the northern sector of the town of Khan Shaykhun, following the reported HTS withdrawal. (Al-Masdar)

Health and environment

The Spanish Ministry of Health declares an outbreak of listeriosis in Andalusia as a national health alert after cases are reported in Asturias, Madrid, Catalonia and Extremadura, including one death. (RTVE)

International relations

2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- Nicolás Maduro confirms United States reports that top Venezuelan officials are having secret meetings with members of the Trump administration. Maduro claims that the talks encourage Trump to listen to him; United States sources claim that the talks encourage Maduro supporters to defect. (The Guardian)
Proposed United States purchase of Greenland
- U.S. President Donald Trump cancels his September state visit to Denmark because Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says that she has no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland. (BBC)

Law and crime

Crime in Brazil
- Thirty-seven passengers on a bus over Rio–Niterói Bridge, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are held hostage before police fatally shoot the armed hijacker. After closer inspection, police discover that the hijacker used a fake plastic gun. (BBC) (Extra)
Former professional basketball player Mateen Cleaves is acquitted of several sex crimes in a court in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. (MLive) (WJRT-TV)
A modification of the Volcker rule is approved by the OCC and the FDIC. The new version eases rules on proprietary trading by Wall Street banks. Consumer groups criticize the rule change, claiming that it removes protections from taxpayers. (Reuters)
The Texas Department of Information Resources reports that the computer systems of 23 towns in the state were hit by a ransomware attack on August 16. "One single threat actor" is suspected. (Insider)

Politics and elections

Politics of Italy, Conte Cabinet
- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigns. He criticizes Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, accusing him of sinking the ruling coalition for personal and political gain. The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, accepts Conte's resignation and announces that he will start consultations with party leaders. (Reuters) (Reuters)

Science and technology

List of unmanned aerial vehicles
- The Russian Ministry of Defence announces that the six-tonne satellite-controlled reconnaissance drone Altius-U has performed its maiden flight. (TASS)

Sports

Expansion of Major League Soccer
- Major League Soccer, the top level of the men's sport in the U.S., announces that a team in St. Louis, Missouri will become the league's 28th team, most likely in 2022. The ownership group, led by several female members of the Taylor family that controls the Enterprise Holdings car rental company, is the first in MLS in which women hold a majority interest. (ESPN)

More August 2019 events...

Time: 05:45 UTC|Day: 26 August