A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes southern Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan, injuring 45 people.
Source:
FNN 
August 23
Disasters and accidents
Politics and elections
Kazakhstanis vote to elect 145 members to the 1st convocation of the unicameral Kurultai following the passage of the new constitution on 15 March. Contesting parties must get at least five percent of the vote in order for lists to gain proportional representation.
Source:
DW
Armed conflicts and attacks
Sudan's defence ministry says that the country's armed forces have shot down a "hostile" drone from Ethiopia entering its airspace, which was seen flying over the Blue Nile region.
Source:
Sudan Horizon
August 22
Sports
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix kicks off in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, with former NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon winning the International Race of Champions.
Source:
Motorsport
Armed conflicts and attacks
The Israeli Army Radio reports that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched a drone strike against a fighter in southern Syria whom they accuse of prepping an improvised explosive device (IED) attack against Israeli troops currently occupying southern Syria.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)Aftermath of the Syrian civil warIsraeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
Source:
The Jerusalem Post
Syrian state media reports that an IED struck a bus carrying security forces on the Maarounah–Al-Tall road near Damascus, injuring several passengers.
Source:
Arab News Japan
The IDF says that Sharif al-Hasanat, an alleged Hamas company commander affiliated with the Deir al-Balah Battalion of the Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza, violating the ongoing ceasefire.
Source:
JFeed
Business and economy
The United States imposes 50% tariffs on about US$20 billion of Canadian goods after trade talks fail to produce an agreement. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney says Canada will impose equivalent retaliatory tariffs.
Source:
Daily Tribune
Sudan's industry ministry establishes a high-level committee to rehabilitate industrial zones in Khartoum State that were damaged during the ongoing civil war along with helping shuttered factories resume production.
Source:
Sudan Tribune
Law and crime
The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency reports that authorities in Kiribati, Palau, and Papua New Guinea have detained four Chinese and Indonesian fishing vessels for alleged illegal fishing or licence violations during a regional enforcement operation across the Pacific Ocean.
Source:
Daily Tribune
Science and technology
A humanoid robot at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, China, runs 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, surpassing a record set by Usain Bolt of 9.58 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in 2009.
Source:
NBC News
Disasters and accidents
The Central African Republic's government closes down a gold mine site in Zamboye that killed over 100 people after it collapsed, citing non-compliance with regulatory procedures.
Source:
AP
The Indian Coast Guard launches a rescue operation after a Panama–flagged cargo bulk carrier sunk off the coast of eastern India.
Source:
Reuters
Seven people are killed and others are injured in a three-vehicle collision on the A66 road in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England.
Source:
Reuters
Five people are killed in a head-on road collision along the Lagos–Badagry Expressway near Lagos, Nigeria.
Source:
The Daily Post Nigeria
August 21
Politics and elections
In Mexico, Sinaloan governor Rubén Rocha Moya resumes office after a four-month suspension while contesting U.S. drug-trafficking charges and an extradition request. Mexican prosecutors say they find insufficient evidence linking him to criminal conduct.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Armed conflicts and attacks
Russian drone strikes on a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, kill at least 16 people and injure more than 130 others, including 22 children.
Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Kryvyi Rih strikes (2022–present)
Source:
Reuters
A Russian strike on a neighborhood in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine, kills four people, including three children, according to Ukrainian interior minister Ivan Vyhivskyi.
Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Mykolaiv strikes (2022–present)
Source:
Ukrinform
Pakistani forces raid multiple hideouts and kill 49 militants allegedly belonging to the Pakistani Taliban and the Balochistan Liberation Army in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Source:
AP
Resistance fighters and a local activist say Myanmar's military deployed hundreds of troops around the proposed Dawei Special Economic Zone in the Tanintharyi Region, burning villages and pushing resistance groups back as the government seeks to revive the project.
Source:
Reuters
At least 14 people are reportedly killed and 20 others are injured after Myanmar's military launched an airstrike on a Buddhist monastery compound in Myaung Township during a religious gathering.
Source:
AFP via CNA
Health and environment
India's Supreme Court orders states to protect elephant corridors, identify and remove obstructions, and prohibit groups from using fire to drive wild elephants away amid increasing habitat loss and human-elephant conflict.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Around 16 people in Sudan's Red Sea state have reportedly died from a heat stroke amidst a rise in temperatures in the state.
Source:
Middle East Monitor
Business and economy
The Panama Canal announces it will limit the number of ships allowed to cross the passage over the next month due to El Niño causing droughts in the region.
Source:
DW
Arts and culture
The annual Ashenda festival in Mekelle, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, is cancelled over drone strike fears.
Source:
Binance
American fantasy film reaches US$1.35 billion at the worldwide box office to become the highest-grossing R-rated film, surpassing .
Source:
The Guardian
Sports
In association football, Johor Darul Ta'zim claims a world record for the longest unbeaten run in top-flight league play, reaching 109 matches after defeating Kuching City 3–0 in Malaysia's Super League.
Source:
AFP via RFI
85 people were injured, including 35 police officers, after Kaiserslautern fans launched flares towards the main stand, while Mannheim fans stormed the pitch, causing the match between Kaiserslautern and Mannheim to be temporarily interrupted.
Source:
Goal
Disasters and accidents
The death toll of a boat capsizing off the coast of Zambezia Province, Mozambique from August 16 rises to 12 after five bodies of those unaccounted for are found by search teams.
Source:
Club of Mozambique
Three people are killed and six more wounded in an explosion at a house in the Ain al-Qasab village of Idlib, Syria.
Source:
Middle East Eye
Law and crime
A person is killed and three other people are injured in a mass stabbing, carried out with a sword, at a high school in Fagersta, Sweden. The perpetrator is arrested at the scene.
Source:
Reuters
Japan executes a 58-year-old man for a 2009 arson attack that killed five people at a pachinko parlor in Osaka. It is the first execution under Sanae Takaichi's premiership.
Source:
The Japan Times
TikTok agrees to pay $400 million to settle a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit alleging violations of federal children's privacy law through the collection of personal data from users under 13 without parental consent.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Turkish justice minister Akın Gürlek announces that Turkey has issued an Interpol arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his role in attacks on activists seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Source:
Reuters
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance convicts Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung of incitement to subversion over their leadership of a group that organized annual Tiananmen crackdown vigils. They face up to 10 years in prison.
Source:
AFP via RFI
The Russian justice ministry designates independent news outlet Mediazona a "foreign agent" for a second time, accusing it of publishing false information about law enforcement.
Source:
Reuters
August 20
Disasters and accidents
Eight people are killed when a Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft crashes at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site in Western Alaska, United States.
Source:
KTUU-TV
A M6.7 earthquake strikes the Parinacochas province in Peru.
Source:
AP
Four railway workers on the Tōbu Nikkō Line are killed after being struck by a Limited express train in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
Source:
The Japan Times
Mauritania's coast guard rescues more than 300 migrants, including 40 children, from an overcrowded boat off the country's coast after finding them in distress.
Source:
L'Orient–Le Jour
Five people are reported missing and eight others are injured after a fire at a restaurant with apartments in Thusis, Grisons, Switzerland.
Source:
BBC News
Law and crime
Argentina deports a Mexican Rear Admiral accused of leading a fuel-smuggling network inside the Mexican Navy to Mexico after the Mexican government withdraws its extradition request. He is taken to the Altiplano maximum-security prison, where his brother and alleged co-leader, Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, is also imprisoned.
Source:
in Spanish
A Chinese court sentences Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan to life imprisonment for financial fraud, bribery, and embezzlement, and fines Evergrande and its real estate arm a combined ¥15.8 billion (US$2.35 billion).
Source:
AFP via CNA
Two ANC members including a former Knysna councillor are shot dead, one day after a sitting Knysna councillor is shot dead in a suspected internal ANC faction fight in Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa.
Source:
Knysna-Plett Herald
Politics and elections
The Jatiya Sangsad elects Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the President of Bangladesh in the first contested presidential election in 35 years. Alamgir will take office tomorrow.
Source:
Dhaka Tribune
Source:
Africanews
Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi says the integration of Kurdish military, security, and administrative institutions into the Syrian state is complete following an agreement reached with president Ahmed al-Sharaa in January.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Armed conflicts and attacks
The USS arrives in the Middle East to relieve the USS amidst a nine-month deployment and reports of mental health challenges among the crew and supply shortages on the aircraft carrier during the Iran war.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2026 United States military buildup in the Middle East
Source:
The Guardian
Data from Kpler shows that seven ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz, with four entering and three exiting the waterway.
Source:
Reuters
The Israel Defense Forces accuses Hamas of using the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis to carry out interrogations and torture Palestinians.
Source:
The Jerusalem Post
Human Rights Watch reports that Africa Corps forces summarily killed nine civilians, including four children, in Mali last month.
Source:
HRW
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu regains control of Kauda, South Kordofan, following two days of clashes with Otoro fighters.
Source:
Sudan Tribune
Unexploded ordnance from past fighting is detonated after being tampered with in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar, injuring ten children.
Source:
Burma News International
Sports
In American football, the National Football League fines the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints $500,000 each after they started a brawl after a joint practice session at the Cowboys' facility in Oxnard, California, United States.
Source:
AP
International relations
The U.S. Treasury Department issues sanctions on 15 people allegedly involved in a drug trafficking network shipping thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador through Mexico to the United States.
Source:
AP
Business and economy
LSEG data shows that a vessel in France is loading wheat destined for Sudan, marking the first export of wheat from France to Sudan since August 2008.
Source:
Baird Maritime
Health and environment
The World Health Organization says that the Democratic Republic of the Congo will receive 70,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine candidate developed by Merck to combat the Ebola outbreak in the country.
Source:
Africanews