Eemeli Peltonen, a 30-year-old Finnish member of parliament, commits suicide inside the Parliament House in Helsinki.
Source:
Yle 
August 19
Politics and elections
Armed conflicts and attacks
The United Nations reports that a record 383 aid workers were killed in the 2024 calendar year, up by 31% from 2023, including 181 who were killed in Gaza and 60 in Sudan. There have already been 265 aid workers killed so far this year.
Source:
DW
Business and economy
Air Canada announces it will gradually restart operations tonight after it reached a tentative agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the company's over 10,000 flight attendants.
Source:
NPR
August 18
Armed conflicts and attacks
Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia is suspended after a Ukrainian drone attack on the Druzhba pipeline in Bryansk Oblast. Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó confirms the suspension.
Source:
Reuters
Source:
Reuters
Disasters and accidents
Spain deploys 500 army troops to help fight raging wildfires in the country as the death toll rises to four following the death of a firefighter in Castile and León.
Source:
BBC News
The death toll from a fire and explosion at a gunpowder plant last week in Shilovsky District, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, rises to 24 with at least another 157 people injured. The government declares a day of mourning.
Source:
CBS News
International relations
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European leaders meet with U.S. president Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C. to discuss pathways to peace negotiations for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian invasion of UkrainePeace negotiations in the Russian invasion of UkraineUnited States and the Russian invasion of UkraineAugust 2025 European-White House summit
Source:
Al Jazeera
Politics and elections
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre is elected in a by-election in Battle River—Crowfoot, and returns to the House of Commons and his role as opposition leader after previously losing re-election during the 2025 Canadian federal election in Carleton. The seat was vacated by Conservative MP Damien Kurek to specifically give Poilievre an opportunity to return to Parliament.
Source:
The Globe and Mail
Law and crime
Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, is charged with 32 offences including rape and domestic violence. If found guilty, he may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Source:
France 24
Two people are killed, including the gunman, and three others are wounded in a mass shooting in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, United States.
Source:
AP
Australian Federal Court judge Michael Lee fines national airline Qantas AU$90 million (US$59 million) for unlawfully outsourcing 1,820 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the AU$120 million (US$78 million) compensation the airline has already agreed to pay its former employees.
Source:
AP
August 17
Arts and culture
Officials announce that the Gathering of Nations event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, will host its final pow-wow in 2026.
Source:
AP
Law and crime
Three people are killed and nine others are injured in a mass shooting at a nightclub in the Crown Heights neighborhood of New York City, United States.
Source:
Minnesota Star Tribune
Source:
France 24
Business and economy
Air Canada suspends its plan to resume flights after cabin crew continued a strike despite a Canada Industrial Relations Board order and government-imposed arbitration, leaving operations halted and affecting more than 700 flights and about 130,000 daily passengers.
Source:
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Sports
The British Horseracing Authority announces it will hold a one-day strike on September 10 to protest against a proposed increase in betting taxes from 15% to 21%. This is the first time the sport has ever voluntarily refused to race in modern history.
Source:
BBC Sport
Politics and elections
A general strike and mass protests calling for a hostage deal and ceasefire to end the Gaza war occur across Israel, involving approximately 2.5 million protesters across the country and 300,000 at the protest held in Hostages Square, Tel Aviv. At least 32 protesters are arrested.
Source:
CBS News
Bolivians vote to elect a president, vice president, 130 members of the Chamber of Deputies, and 36 members of the Chamber of Senators. Preliminary results indicate a run-off between Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira and former president Jorge Quiroga, ending the Movimiento al Socialismo's 20-year political dominance.
Source:
AP
Disasters and accidents
More than 40 people are reported missing and ten others are rescued when a boat carrying 50 people to a popular market capsizes on the Sokoto River near Goronyo, Sokoto State, Nigeria.
Source:
AP
At least seven people are killed and five others are injured when a cloudburst causes flash flooding and landslides in Kathua district, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Source:
Daily Excelsior
One person is killed and 29 people are injured when a M 5.8 undersea earthquake strikes near Poso, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Source:
Jawa Pos
August 16
Armed conflicts and attacks
At least 30 people are killed by suspected Islamic State-aligned Allied Democratic Forces rebels in Bapere, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Source:
AP
Disasters and accidents
Hurricane Erin intensifies to Category 5 strength while affecting several Caribbean islands.
Source:
NBC News
Source:
Al Jazeera
Seven people are killed when an Air Kasaï Antonov An-2 aircraft crashes while being ferried near Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Source:
Aviation24
At least one person is killed and four others are injured, including two seriously, when a Mil Mi-8 military helicopter makes a hard landing during a rescue operation on Jengish Chokusu in Kyrgyzstan.
Source:
ASN
Business and economy
Canadian jobs minister Patty Hajdu orders binding arbitration between Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees after the airline's flight attendants launched a strike which led to the suspension of hundreds of flights and disruptions affecting more than 100,000 passengers per day.
Source:
BBC News