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Worldwide current events
Sports events

Topics in the news

Car driven into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia

An attacker drives a van into pedestrians on La Rambla in Barcelona, killing at least twelve people and injuring more than fifty others.
At least four hundred people are killed by mudslides in and around Freetown, Sierra Leone.
In golf, Justin Thomas wins the PGA Championship.
A suicide bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, kills fifteen people and injures forty others.
In eSports, The International Dota 2 tournament concludes with Team Liquid defeating Newbee.
In the United States, a car (pictured) is driven into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring nineteen others.

August 17, 2017 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

2017 Barcelona attack
- A van drives into crowds of people in La Rambla, Barcelona, in what Spanish police are calling a terrorist attack, killing at least 12 people. Two suspects are taken into custody, and ISIL claims responsibility. (The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

Maruha Nichiro
- A large fire continues to burn at the Peter Pan Seafoods fish processing plant in Port Moller, Alaska, on the Alaska Peninsula. Much of the facility has been destroyed, and the plant is out of commission. Power is out in the village. (King 5)

International relations

2017 China–India border standoff
- An English-language Chinese propaganda video from Xinhua, entitled The Spark: 7 Sins of India about the Doklam stand-off involving China, India and Bhutan, goes viral and sparks anger within India. (BBC)
South Africa–Zimbabwe relations
- The South African Police Service issues a red alert at the country's borders to prevent First Lady of Zimbabwe Grace Mugabe from leaving the country. She is wanted on charges of "assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm" on a 20-year-old woman in a hotel room in Johannesburg. (BBC)

Law and crime

Politics of Hong Kong
- Hong Kong opposition activists Alex Chow, Joshua Wong, and Nathan Law are sentenced between six to eight months in prison and barred from holding office until 2022 as the Hong Kong government imposes harsher punishments on the individuals for their role in the Umbrella Movement. (South China Morning Post)
International Criminal Court investigation in Mali
- The International Criminal Court has ruled that Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi was liable for about € 2.7 million in personal damages for the destruction of Timbuktu's heritage sites, and that the victims (including Mali itself and the international community) be paid "individual, collective, and symbolic" reparations. The Trust Fund for Victims is to decide until 16 February 2018 how the amount will be paid. (AFP)

August 16, 2017 (Wednesday)

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Art and culture

Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
- Several Confederate monuments are taken down overnight in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, including the Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monument, Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Confederate Women's Monument and the Roger B. Taney sculpture. The Baltimore City Council unanimously voted to remove the monuments on August 14. (NBC News)

Business and economy

Aftermath of the Unite the Right rally
- 3M CEO Inge Thulin and Campbell CEO Denise Morrison resign from the American Manufacturing Council in protest of Trump's reaction to the alt-right's actions at Charlottesville, Virginia, bringing the total number of resignations this week to 8. (CNBC) (CNBC)
- President Donald Trump disbands both the Strategic and Policy Forum and American Manufacturing Council in response to the CEO resignations. (BBC) (Business Insider)

Disasters and accidents

2017 Sierra Leone mudslides
- A mass burial of victims of the landslide is held in Freetown to free up space in mortuaries. Nearly 400 people are confirmed dead with at least 600 missing. (BBC)
Accidents and incidents involving helicopters
- A United States Army Combat Aviation Brigade UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes off the coast of Hawaii, with five people on board. A United States Coast Guard-led search for the missing is underway. (Sky News)

Law and crime

Philippine Drug War
- At least 32 people are killed in a series of police raids near Manila, Philippines, allegedly due to the ongoing drug war. (The Guardian)
Crisis in Venezuela
- Venezuelan security forces raid a prison in Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas State, killing at least 37 inmates. Amazonas Governor Liborio Guarulla describes the killings as a "massacre". (Reuters)

Science and technology

Evolution
- Researchers from the University of Cambridge suggest that the Chilesaurus may be the so-called "missing link" between the Stegosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus. (CNN)

August 15, 2017 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram insurgency
- Three suicide bombers kill 27 people and wound 83 near Maiduguri, Nigeria. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Airlines of Germany
- Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline, files for bankruptcy protection after its main shareholder, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, chose not to make more financing available. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

A tree falls over at a religious ceremony in Funchal, Madeira, killing at least 12 people and injuring over 50 others. (BBC)

Law and crime

Libyan Civil War
- The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant against Mahmoud al-Werfalli for the war crime of murder following the circulation of several videos in which he appears to oversee the execution of over 30 prisoners. (Al Jazeera)
Crisis in Venezuela
- At least 37 people are killed during clashes between armed inmates and security forces in a prison in Venezuela's Amazonas state. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

Aftermath of the Unite the Right rally
- During a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City, which was intended to announce an executive order on infrastructure policy, President Donald Trump defended his August 12 remarks about the Charlottesville rally, placing "blame on both sides" for the incidents at the rally and criticizing what he referred to as the "alt-left," equating them with white supremacists and neo-Nazis on the right. (ABC News) (NBC News)
- Alliance for American Manufacturing president Scott Paul, AFL–CIO president Richard Trumka and the union's former chief of staff Thea Lee resign from President Trump's American Manufacturing Council due to their disagreements with Trump's response to the rally. The three corporate executives join Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, who also resigned from the council in protest the day prior. (CNBC) (The New York Times)

August 14, 2017 (Monday)

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Arts and culture

Big Ben
- London's Big Ben, atop Elizabeth Tower, will fall silent for four years beginning 21 August while essential repair works are performed. (BBC) (The Washington Post)
Deadpool 2
- American stuntwoman Joi 'SJ' Harris is killed in a motorcycle crash in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, while filming for Deadpool 2. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
- During a protest in Durham, North Carolina, to show solidarity with the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, a Confederate monument was pulled down; a woman has been arrested and charged in connection with the event. (CNN)

Disaster and accidents

2017 Sierra Leone mudslides
- A mudslide triggered by heavy rain near Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, kills at least 350 people with the death toll expected to rise as high as 500. (Central Queensland Radio) (BBC)

International relations

Japanese war crimes: forced labor
- The National Archives of Korea has received a donation of around 6,000 records showing the forced mobilization of Koreans during Korea's colonial occupation by the Empire of Japan, some of them involving details about the controversial Hashima Island. The government agency plans to publish the records online after classification. (KBS World Radio)
2017 North Korea crisis
- The International Institute for Strategic Studies releases a report arguing that North Korea has acquired a high-performance liquid-propellant engine for its missile program, probably from illicit networks in Russia and Ukraine, likely produced by Yuzhmash facilities. Ukraine denies the allegations. (Reuters) (The New York Times)

Law and crime

Aftermath of the Unite the Right rally
- Several internet companies, such as domain registrar GoDaddy and video game chat application Discord, shut down services for neo-Nazi, white supremacist, alt-right website The Daily Stormer for violation of terms of service, and in response to this weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. (The Guardian) (TechCrunch)
Crime in France
- A 13-year-old girl is killed when a car is deliberately driven into a pizza restaurant's sidewalk cafe in Sept-Sorts, France. At least 12 other people are injured, four critically. The driver is arrested. Police do not believe the incident was terrorism-related. (CBS News) (The Independent)
Philippine Drug War
- Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III has lashed out at UN special rapporteurs headed by Agnes Callamard, in his privilege speech caling them "helicopter experts" for offering "solutions" to a decades-old problem of a country "they are not even familiar with". (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Politics and elections

2016–17 Rohingya persecution in Myanmar
- India announces that it is to deport an estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees including 14,000 of those registered with the U.N. refugee agency. In the months leading up to the announcement, a string of anti-Rohingya protests had been held in the country.(Reuters)
Politics of Australia
- The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Barnaby Joyce is revealed to have unknowingly held dual citizenship with New Zealand since his election, which may have rendered him ineligible for candidacy under section 44 of the Constitution of Australia. (ABC News Australia)
Politics of London
- The Garden Bridge project is officially abandoned after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan withdraws support. (BBC)
Sanctuary cities
- California and San Francisco sue the United States Federal government over its opposition towards sanctuary cities. (Politico)

August 13, 2017 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- During combat operations in northern Iraq, two U.S. service members are killed and five injured. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Central Syria campaign (July 2017–present)
  - A Syrian Army commando unit backed by Russian warplanes and helicopters kills 25 ISIL militants in Central Syria, in the northeast of the Homs Governorate. (AFP via Yahoo)
2017 Ouagadougou attack
- At least 17 people, including two Canadians, are reported dead and eight others injured in an attack on a Turkish themed restaurant in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. (RT) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Earthquakes in 2017
- A magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurs off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. There are no reports of casualties or structural damage to buildings. (Reuters via Channel News Asia)(US Geological Survey) (AP via The Washington Post)
August 2017 Nepal and India floods
- At least 44 are killed in a landslide on a highway in the northern India province of Himachal Pradesh. (The Hindu)
- Monsoon floods and landslides have killed a total of 74 people in India and Nepal. (MSN)

Sports

2017 PGA Championship
- In golf, American Justin Thomas wins the PGA Championship for his first career major title. (AP via ESPN)

August 12, 2017 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Seven members of the White Helmets are shot dead by unidentified gunmen who stormed their office in rebel-held Sarmin, in northwestern Syria. (CNN)
War in North-West Pakistan
- August 2017 Quetta suicide bombing
  - A suicide bombing took place near a Pakistan army truck in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, leaving 15 people dead including 8 soldiers, while injuring 40 others. (The Guardian)
Unite the Right rally
- Fights break out between alt-right protestors and left-wing counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the removal of the Robert Edward Lee Sculpture. One person is killed and several people are injured after a man drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. (CNN) (BBC) (The Independent)
- The Governor of Virginia declares a state of emergency due to the protests. (CNN)
- A Virginia State Police helicopter monitoring protests crashes, killing two officers onboard. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

August 2017 Nepal and India floods
- Flooding in Nepal leaves at least 36 dead and dozens more missing. (Hindustan Times)

International relations

2017 China–India border standoff
- India increases its military alert amid a border standoff with the People's Liberation Army of China at Doklam. (Bloomberg News)

August 11, 2017 (Friday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- ISIL forces raid an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base in vast desert spaces of eastern Homs Governorate, Syria, manned by between 12 to 18 fighters, all but one of which are killed. (Almasdar News)

Arts and culture

Oldest men
- The world's oldest man, Polish–Israeli Yisrael Kristal, who was also recognized as the oldest living Holocaust survivor, dies at age 113 years, 330 days, in Haifa, Israel. (BBC via MSN.com)
Hugo Award
- The winners of the annual Hugo Awards are announced at the 75th World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

Alexandria train collision
- Two trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt, killing at least 41 people and injuring at least 179. (BBC)
Migrant crisis
- At least 56 African migrants drown in the Red Sea while traveling from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. Human traffickers had forced 300 people aboard two boats into the sea. (AFP via Yahoo)

Health and medicine

Gorakhpur hospital deaths
- Over the past two days, 30 children from Baba Raghav Das Medical College have died, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply to the wards. (The New York Times)

International relations

Cambodia–Laos relations
- According to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, 30 Laotian soldiers cross the border into Steung Treng Province despite repeated requests for them to leave. Hun Sen gives Laos a six-day ultimatum to withdraw the soldiers or face a military response. (Al Jazeera)
Peru–Venezuela relations
- Shortly after Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski called Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a "dictator" in response to the Venezuelan constitutional crisis, Peru expels Venezuela's ambassador to Peru to protest Venezuela's recent formation of an all-powerful constituent assembly that has been widely condemned as a power grab by Maduro. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Kenyan general election, 2017
- The Kenyan electoral commission announces that President Uhuru Kenyatta has won re-election. Kenyatta leads ODM candidate Raila Odinga by more than 1.4 million votes. The opposition National Super Alliance rejects this finding as fraudulent. (NPR) (Reuters)
Military of the United States
- Because of a recent pair of deadly crashes, the U.S. Marine Corps will ground its flight operations for 24 hours for an operational reset. The suspensions will be spread out over the next two weeks. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
Unite the Right rally
- A white supremacist rally called "Unite the Right" takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia. (CNN)

More August 2017 events...

Ongoing events
Disasters Atlantic hurricane season California wildfires Oklahoma earthquake swarms Pacific typhoon season Politics China–India border standoff European migrant crisis (timeline) Philippine Drug War Purges in Turkey Qatar diplomatic crisis South China Sea disputes Venezuelan protests (timeline) More details – ongoing conflicts edit sidebar

Sport
Association football 2017–18 Premier League 2017–18 UEFA Champions League 2017–18 Women's Champ. League 2018 FIFA World Cup qual. 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qual. Baseball 2017 Little League World Series Tennis 2017 ATP World Tour 2017 WTA Tour Cycling 2017 UCI World Tour 2017 UCI Europe Tour Motorsport 2017 Formula One season 2017 MotoGP season 2017 World Rally Championship 2017 NASCAR Cup Series 2017 IndyCar Series Rugby union 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup Sports seasons 2017 AFL season 2017 LPGA Tour 2017 MLB season 2017 MLS season 2017 NWSL season 2017 PGA Tour 2017 WNBA season 2017–18 snooker season More details – current sports events edit sidebar

Elections and referendums
Recent July 17: India, President 18: Bermuda, House of Assembly 22: East Timor, Parliament 30: Republic of the Congo, National Assembly (2nd round) 30: Senegal, National Assembly 30: Venezuela, Constitutional Assembly August 4: Rwanda, President 5: Mauritania, Constitutional referendum 8: Kenya, President, Senate, National Assembly Upcoming August 23: Angola, Parliament September 11: Norway, Parliament edit sidebar

Recent deaths
August 2017 14: Frank Broyles 14: Franklin Cleckley 13: Joseph Bologna 12: Bryan Murray 11: Yisrael Kristal 10: Ruth Pfau 8: Barbara Cook 8: Glen Campbell 8: Ken Kaiser 8: Rius 7: Don Baylor 7: Chantek 7: Haruo Nakajima 6: Betty Cuthbert 6: Darren Daulton 6: Dick Locher 6: Martin Roth 5: Dionigi Tettamanzi 5: Mark White 5: Ernst Zündel 3: Robert Hardy 2: Judith Jones 2: Ara Parseghian 1: Jeffrey Brotman July 2017 31: Jeanne Moreau 31: Les Murray 30: Anton Vratuša 29: Lee May 28: Charlie Gard 27: Sam Shepard 27: Marty Sklar 26: June Foray 25: Gretel Bergmann 25: Barbara Sinatra 25: John Wraw 25: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu 23: John Kundla 23: Mervyn Rose 23: Snooty 21: John Heard 21: Geoff Mack 20: Chester Bennington 20: John McCluskey 19: Max Gallo 19: Blaoui Houari 19: Charles Weston Houck 18: Red West 17: Raymond Sackler edit sidebar

Trials
Recently concluded Cambodia: Sam Rainsy China: Wan Qingliang, Wu Changshun, Zhao Liping Netherlands: Geert Wilders Philippines: Nur Misuari, Joel Villanueva Romania: Gheorghe Ștefan, Gabriel Sandu, Dorin Cocoş, Dumitru Nicolae Spain: Spanish Royal House United Kingdom: Chris Denning, Ched Evans, Thomas Mair, Fred Talbot, Rolf Harris United States: Pedro Hernandez, Paul Anthony Ciancia, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Bill Cosby Ongoing China: Bai Enpei, Pan Yiyang, Yang Weize Germany: Beate Zschäpe Indonesia: Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Mary Jane Veloso Kazakhstan: Mukhtar Ablyazov Pakistan: Waseem Azeem, Mufti Abdul Qawi Philippines: Andal Ampatuan Jr., Leila de Lima, Jovito Palparan Romania: Dan Șova, Elena Udrea, Radu Mazăre, Gheorghe Nichita Russia: Alexei Navalny South Korea: Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil Spain: Gürtel case, Bárcenas affair, Operación Lezo, Ángel María Villar, Jordi Pujol, Palau de la Música Catalana, Case ERE United Kingdom: Barry Bennell International ICC: Laurent Gbagbo ICTY: Ratko Mladić Upcoming Australia: George Pell Egypt: Mohamed Morsi Estonia: Edgar Savisaar Israel: Faina Kirschenbaum Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Philippines: Benigno Aquino III, Alan Purisima, Getulio Napeñas Russia: Alexey Ulyukaev United States: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Bill Cosby edit sidebar

Ongoing conflicts
Africa Algeria and Tunisia Maghreb insurgency ISIL insurgency in Tunisia Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria Boko Haram insurgency Central African Republic Civil war Democratic Republic of the Congo Kivu conflict ADF insurgency Ituri conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Libya Civil war Mali Northern Mali conflict Somalia Civil war South Sudan Ethnic violence (South Sudanese Civil War) Sudan War in Darfur South Kordofan conflict Sudanese nomadic conflicts Americas Mexico Mexican War on Drugs Peru Internal conflict in Peru Asia Afghanistan Afghanistan War China Xinjiang conflict India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Insurgency in Northeast India India and Pakistan Kashmir conflict Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Moro conflict Cross border attacks in Sabah Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua conflict Myanmar Internal conflict in Myanmar Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict Philippines CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Thailand South Thailand insurgency Europe Armenia and Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Georgia Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Georgian–Ossetian conflict Russia Chechen–Russian conflict North Caucasus insurgency Ukraine War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine Middle East Egypt Sinai insurgency Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria Arab–Israeli conflict Iran Iran–PJAK conflict Iraq American-led intervention in Iraq Iranian intervention in Iraq Iraq and Syria (map) Military intervention against ISIL Israel and Lebanon Israeli–Lebanese conflict Israel and Palestine Gaza–Israel conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Syria American-led intervention in Syria Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Turkish military intervention in Syria Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Turkey Turkey–PKK conflict Yemen Yemeni Civil War Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Al-Qaeda insurgency edit sidebar