Portal:Current events/August 2019

• RENAMO insurgency (2013–2019)
  • A peace deal is signed between the leaders of Renamo and the ruling party Frelimo in Mozambique, officially ending a conflict that plagued the country for years. (DW)
• Yemeni Civil War
  • 51 security forces, including Southern Movement commander Munir Al Yafi, are killed and scores wounded in a rocket attack on a military camp near the city of Aden, Yemen. The rocket attack was claimed by Houthi movement. (Anadolu Agency)
  • 13 people are killed by a suicide bomber in Sheikh Othman. The bombing was claimed by Islamic State. (The New York Times)
• Somali Civil War
  • Mayor of Mogadishu Abdirahman Abdi Osman dies from injuries he sustained during the 24 July 2019 Mogadishu bombing. (The New York Times)

• China–United States trade war
  • President of the United States Donald Trump announces in a tweet that the United States will impose import tariffs of 10% on US$300 billion worth of Chinese exports starting September 1. (CNBC)

• The town of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, England, is evacuated after heavy rain and flooding causes structural damage to the nearby dam at the Toddbrook Reservoir amid fears the dam could collapse. A severe flood warning has been issued for communities situated along the River Goyt. (BBC News)

• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says that the United States has "a blueprint" to recover Venezuela's economy if Nicolás Maduro leaves office as the nation's disputed President. (Wall Street Journal)
  • U.S President Donald Trump says that he is considering a blockade of Venezuela as the U.S increases pressure on President Maduro to step down. (Reuters)

• List of nearest exoplanets
  • Astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy announce the discovery of red dwarf star GJ 357 and its three confirmed exoplanets in the Hydra constellation, one of which (GJ 357 d) is highly likely to be a super-Earth planet located in the system's circumstellar habitable zone where life can exist. The discovery was made using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). (The Independent)

• Yemeni Civil War, Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
  • At least 19 Yemeni soldiers are killed by an Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula attack on a military camp in Abyan, Yemen. (Al Jazeera)
• 2019 Bangkok bombings
  • Multiple bomb blasts hit Bangkok, Thailand, as United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a regional security summit. At least four people are injured. (DW)

• 2019 Japan–South Korea trade dispute
  • Japan announces the removal of South Korea from its list of most trusted trading partners, effective on August 28. (Marketwatch)

• Russia–United States relations
  • The United States formally withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia. (CNN)

• 2019 Zagreb shooting
  • A gunman opens fire in the home of his ex-wife in Zagreb, Croatia, killing six, including a ten-year-old child. He later committed suicide after a manhunt. (Reuters)
• Women's rights in Saudi Arabia
  • Saudi Arabia grants women the right to travel without permission from a male guardian, and expands their marriage and custodial rights in a series of royal decrees. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Japan
  • Japan carries out the first executions this year, hanging Koichi Shoji, 64, who killed two women in 2001, and serial killer Yasunori Suzuki, 50, who killed three women between 2004 and 2005 in Fukuoka Prefecture. (Kyodo News)

• UK House of Commons: 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election
  • The Liberal Democrats gain the Brecon and Radnorshire seat from the Conservatives. This marks the first time a seat has changed hands in a by-election triggered by a successful recall petition. The working majority of the Conservative government is reduced to one. (The Guardian)
• List of Donald Trump nominees who have withdrawn
  • President Trump announces he will not nominate Representative John Ratcliffe to replace Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence when he resigns on August 15, and plans to block Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon from serving as acting director. (The New York Times) (The New York Times²)
• Murder of Alexandra Măceșanu
  • Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă sacks Minister of Education Ecaterina Andronescu for her controversial comments in a television interview about murdered 15-year-old girl Alexandra Măceșanu, saying she was "taught not to get in cars with strangers". A 65-year-old man has since admitted killing Alexandra Măceșanu and another teenage girl who has been missing since April. (BBC News)
• Deforestation in Brazil
  • Brazil's National Space Research Institute Director-General Ricardo Galvão is dismissed from office as a result of the release of data showing a rise in Amazon deforestation. President Jair Bolsonaro has called the release of the data "irresponsible and sensationalist". (BBC News) (The Guardian)

• Argentine footballer Lionel Messi is suspended from his national team for three months and fined US$50,000 for criticizing the South American Football Confederation. (The New York Times)

• 2019 El Paso shooting
  • At least 22 people are killed and 24 others injured in a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. A suspect Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas was captured alive. The case is being investigated as domestic terrorism given that Patrick Crusius had posted a 4-page white nationalist manifesto titled The Inconvenient Truth on 8chan where he cited a supposed "Hispanic invasion of Texas" and "Simply trying to defend my country from cultural and ethnic replacement" as motivation for the shooting. The suspect was also inspired by Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand. (CNN)
• Indian authorities issue evacuation orders for thousands of people, including tourists and Hindu pilgrims heading to the Amarnath Temple for yatra (which has been cancelled) to immediately leave Jammu and Kashmir because of security alerts about possible militant attacks. Also, the pilgrimage to Machel Mata for yatra, which also began on 1 July, has been suspended. (BBC News) (CNN-News18)

• Argentina–United States relations
  • Argentine President Mauricio Macri receives the U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who expresses full support from the U.S. for his re-election in the upcoming Argentine elections. (La Nación)

• 2018–19 Sudanese protests, 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy
  • The African Union announces the Sudanese military council and the opposition agreed to a constitutional declaration that will pave the way to a new transitional government. It calls for the new government to be headed by six civilians and five generals, and formally places the Rapid Support Forces under military command. (BBC News)
• Several hundred people are detained by Russian police at unauthorized protests in Moscow. The protests occurred because several opposition candidates were disqualified from running in the upcoming Moscow City legislative election. (RT)

• X Games Minneapolis 2019
  • Mitchie Brusco becomes the first skateboarder in history to complete a 1260° (3½-revolution aerial spin) in competition. (CBS Sports)

• 2019 Cairo bombing
  • A car drives into three other cars causing an explosive crash outside the National Cancer Institute Egypt campus in central Cairo, killing 20 people and injuring 47 others. The Interior Ministry says that the car that hit the others contained explosives and was to be used in a terrorist operation. The driver fled the scene before the explosion. The minister accuses the Islamist Hasm Movement of being behind the attack. (Reuters)

• Iran–Iraq relations
  • Iran seizes a foreign tanker, reported to be Iraqi, in the Persian Gulf, according to Iranian state media. The Iranians accuse the tanker of "smuggling fuel for some Arab countries". (BBC News)

• 2019 Dayton shooting
  • A mass shooting occurs at a bar in the Oregon Historic District of Dayton, Ohio, United States. Nine people are killed and at least 27 others are injured. The shooter Connor Betts is killed by police. (BBC News)

• French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crosses the English Channel on the jet-powered Flyboard Air. The 22-mile (35.4-km) journey took 22 minutes with one refueling stop about halfway to Dover, England. (BBC News) (The Guardian)

• 2019 Women's British Open
  • In golf, Japan's Hinako Shibuno wins the year's final major championship by one shot over American Lizette Salas. Shibuno, a 20-year-old rookie on the Japan LPGA Tour, was playing outside her home country for the first time, and was also playing for the first time in a major recognized by the U.S. LPGA. (AP via ESPN)

• Second Libyan Civil War
  • A Libyan National Army airstrike on the southern Libyan town of Murzuk reportedly kills at least 43 people and injures 51 others, according to local officials. An LNA spokesperson says the raid had targeted "Chadian mercenaries". (France 24)

• China–United States trade war
  • China lets its currency drop to its lowest reported level since 2008 and also asks its state-owned companies to halt imports of U.S. agricultural products. In response the U.S. Treasury Department designates China as a currency manipulator. (Reuters One) (Reuters Two)
• Harland and Wolff, known for constructing several famous ships, including the RMS Titanic and HMS Belfast, collapses into administration. All 130 employees have been given redundancy notices, and the company is expected to cease trading after 158 years. (BBC News)

• A bus carrying volunteer doctors from La Paz towards the north of Bolivia crashed, leaving 14 dead and 21 injured. (NDTV)
• A fire and large explosions at a Russian Armed Forces ammunition dump prompts the mass evacuation of civilians from the nearby city of Achinsk. (RFE/RL)

• The United Kingdom announces it is joining a United States-led naval mission in the Persian Gulf to protect oil tankers, following several seizures in international waters by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (The Guardian)
• Venezuelan refugee crisis, Colombia–Venezuela relations
  • Colombia grants national citizenship to all children born in the country to Venezuelan parents since August 2015. The measure will be in force for two years. (Reuters)

• October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts
  • Cesar Sayoc is sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending pipe bombs to CNN and several prominent U.S. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden last year. (CNN)
• R. Kelly is charged with two counts for engaging in prostitution with a person under 18 in Minnesota. (CNN)

• 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests
  • Hong Kong citizens call for a city-wide general strike with various sit-ins in seven districts. With around 2 million residents participated in the strikes, thousands of workers announcing their participation, over 200 flights were cancelled, MTR lines halted and the Hang Seng Index dropped sharply. Chief Executive Carrie Lam blamed protesters for "destroying Hong Kong" and rejected their demands. (Bloomberg) (Hong Kong Free Press)
• India revokes Jammu and Kashmir's special status amidst increased regional tensions. The Indian government moved additional troops into the sensitive area before banning assemblies, closing schools, restricting tourism and announcing a plan to split the state into two union territories. (The New York Times)

• 2019 El Paso shooting
  • 8chan is taken offline after San Francisco-based Cloudflare cuts support for the site in response to the perpetrator Patrick Crusius posting his white nationalist manifesto The Inconvenient Truth on the site shortly before killing 22 people and injuring 24 others at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas which was an anti-Hispanic terrorist attack. (BBC News)

• German association football club Chemnitzer FC sacks club captain Daniel Frahn for "openly displaying sympathy for Neo-Nazi groups". Frahn, who is currently unable to play due to injury, watched the club's recent match in the stands with far-right hooligan fans. (The Guardian)

• War in Donbass
  • Four Ukrainian Ground Forces soldiers are killed in an attack by pro-Russian separatists, near the village of Pavlopil in the war-torn eastern Donetsk Oblast. (RFE/RL)

• United States–Venezuela relations, International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis
  • U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order freezing all assets and interests of the Venezuelan government as contained within the United States, a severe escalation from recent industry sanctions and verbal rhetoric. Twenty-one exceptions are issued, for companies providing services including oil, aid, and telecommunications. The expanded sanctions are widely criticized as likely to worsen the conditions for people in Venezuela. (Reuters) (BBC News)
• India–Pakistan relations, Kashmir conflict
  • Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan vows to fight India's unilateral decision to revoke Indian-administered Kashmir's autonomy, including in the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council. Mr. Khan stated this move is a breach of international law, adding he feared the possibility of ethnic cleansing in the Muslim-majority region. (BBC News)
  • China, which administers the Kashmir territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract, voices opposition to this "unacceptable" Indian move and, along with Turkey, reaffirms their support for a peaceful resolution. (EurAsian Times) (Newsweek)
  • Kashmir remains on lockdown, with the internet out and nearly all phone lines severed. (The New York Times)

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis orders law enforcement to handle a criminal probe of Jeffrey Epstein's jail release in the late 2000s. (CNBC)

• Crisis in Venezuela
  • The Argentine government says it has already received "hundreds" of reports of human rights abuses and criminal accusations against the Venezuelan government, days after Argentina invited Venezuelans in the country to file reports against the Venezuelan government. (La Nación)

• Scientists at the Spring, Texas, Arch Mission Foundation confirm that tardigrades in a cryptobiotic state were added to the payload of the failed SpaceIL Beresheet lander that crashed on the Moon on 11 April 2019, and may have survived the crash. (The Guardian) (CNET)
• 2019 in spaceflight
  • The European Space Agency successfully launches the German Aerospace Center-operated EDRS-C laser communication satellite on an Ariane 5 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. (BBC News)
  • SpaceX successfully launches Israeli communications satellite Amos-17 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch was provided by SpaceX for free following the destruction of Spacecom's Amos-6 satellite in 2016. (Space.com)

• War in Afghanistan
  • 7 August 2019 Kabul bombing
    • A car bombing by the Taliban kills 14 and injures over 150 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (CNN)

• The death toll of the heat wave in Japan rises to 57, while 18,347 others are hospitalized. (Japan Times)

• 2019 California stabbing rampage
  • A Garden Grove, California, man stabs and kills four people and wounds two others in a two-hour crime spree at a series of Orange County locations. Both injured victims are expected to survive. The motive of the 33-year-old suspect, who was arrested at the last scene, appears to be robbery as well as "anger and hate." (CNN) (AP via KESQ-TV)

• 2019 Argentine general election
  • Sources from the Brazilian government reveal that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro suggested U.S. President Donald Trump visit Argentina in order to back the re-election of President Mauricio Macri. (La Nación)
• Cyntoia Brown is released from prison after serving fifteen years for killing Johnny Allen in 2004. (NY Times)

• Kyrgyzstan's security forces storm the compound of former President Almazbek Atambayev on the outskirts of Bishkek for the second time after a failed overnight raid left one officer dead. Atambayev and his loyalists are "putting up severe armed resistance", according to President Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Atambayev is detained, ending a two-day standoff. One officer was killed, while 80 people were injured. (Reuters) (BBC News)
• War in Catatumbo
  • The Human Rights Watch breaks a report on violence around the Colombia—Venezuela border since the Colombian peace process, announcing that there has been an ongoing War in the Catatumbo region [es] since early 2018. (The Guardian) (Human Rights Watch)

• Floods hit the states of Karnataka and Kerala in India, resulting in 11 dead and 43,000 people being evacuated. (Gulf News)

• Dengue fever outbreaks
  • The Department of Health of the Philippines declares a national dengue epidemic in the country, as cases spike to 622 deaths. (Gulf News)

• Uruapan massacre
  • Jalisco New Generation Cartel massacres 19 people, hanging 9 of their desecrated bodies from a bridge in Uruapan. (The Guardian)

• Matteo Salvini, Italian Deputy Prime Minister, announces the collapse of the coalition government with the Five Stars Movement, opening the possibility of holding a snap election. (Politico)
• Marek Kuchciński, speaker of the Sejm in Poland, announces his resignation after admitting the use of a government jet for 23 personal flights. (Euractiv)

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given waivers to 31 small oil refineries, freeing them from obligations to blend biofuels into their gasoline. (Reuters)
• The International Monetary Fund finds that China's currency, the yuan, has been "broadly stable" against other currencies over the last year. The yuan is pulled down by market pressures due to the slowing economy. Suggesting little intervention by China's central bank, the IMF position is at odds with the designation of China by the U.S. as a currency manipulator. (AP News)

• A landslide in south-eastern Myanmar kills 59 people. (BBC News)

• A massive power failure affects most of the northwestern and southeastern United Kingdom and London, leaving thousands of homes, various train lines, and parts of Newcastle International Airport without power. (Reuters)

• Canadian tourist Kristian Lee Baxter, who had been held in Syrian detention since 2018, is released in Lebanon. (BBC News)
• Le Parisien claims French ex-head of security Yves Bonnet brokered a secret deal with Fatah in the 1980s offering immunity in exchange for no further terror attacks in France. (The Guardian)

• Deputy Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Salvini presents a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. (Reuters)

• Yemeni Civil War
  • Fighters of the Southern Movement capture the port city of Aden from forces loyal to the internationally recognized President of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. (Al Jazeera)
• Libyan Civil War
  • A car bomb goes off in Benghazi, killing three members of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and two other mission members, and wounding dozens of civilians. (The Guardian)
• Bærum mosque shooting
  • A man in Bærum, Norway, opens fire in Al Noor Islamic Centre, injuring a congregant. A woman was found dead at the house of the suspect. (BBC News)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli forces shoot dead four Palestinian militants near the border with Gaza, the Israeli military say. Israel Defense Forces say the men were armed with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and hand grenades. (The Guardian)
  • Israeli forces arrest two Palestinians who are suspected of having killed an Israeli soldier. (Jerusalem Post)

• The death toll due to the monsoon flooding in southern and western India rises to 147, while hundreds of thousands have been evacuated from their homes. (Al Jazeera)
• At least 56 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes as Typhoon Lekima hits eastern China. (BBC News)
• Morogoro tanker explosion
  • At least 75 people have been killed and 60 injured in a fuel tanker explosion in Morogoro, Tanzania. (Xinhua)
• Five people are confirmed dead and three injured following an accidental rocket explosion on a naval test range near Severodvinsk, Russia on Thursday August 8th. The rocket used an experimental nuclear isotope liquid fuel source, causing a brief localized spike in radiation. 9500 nearby residents were evacuated. (BBC News)

• North Korea–United States relations
  • In a letter sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to U.S. President Donald Trump, Kim apologizes for the testing of short-range missiles. Trump says he expects to meet Kim soon and see a denuclearized North Korea as "one of the most successful countries in the world". (Clarín)

• Death of Jeffrey Epstein
  • American financier Jeffrey Epstein is found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in an apparent suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges. (The New York Times)

• 2019 Moscow City Duma election
  • As many as 50,000 people gathered at ongoing protests in Moscow against the Russian authorities preventing several opposition candidates from running in the election, which turned into a protest against the government in general. It is the biggest such event since the 2011 protests. (ABC News)

• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Saudi coalition forces intervene in Aden. The Southern Transitional Council says it will not "negotiate under duress" with their coalition partners. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli riot police clash with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Temple Mount site in East Jerusalem. With holidays coincidentally falling on the same day (11 August) this year for both Judaism and Islam, some Palestinians began protesting the admittance of Jewish visitors to the site, despite a longstanding agreement barring Jewish visitors. Following the agreement, the Al-Aqsa police barred Jews from the site. Israeli forces then fired rubber bullets and tear gas at people inside. The Jews were then admitted, which caused further tensions on both sides of the dispute. (Al Jazeera)

• Pope Francis recalls the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions after his Sunday afternoon Angelus address. The 1949 conventions concern the treatment of the sick, the wounded, prisoners, and civilians in war. (Vatican News)

• 2019 Guatemalan general election
  • Conservative Alejandro Giammattei is elected in the second round of the presidential election and will take office in January 2020. (BBC News)

• 2019 Argentine general election
  • After Argentine President Mauricio Macri comes second in Argentina's primary elections, the country's peso loses 15% of its value against the US dollar. (Reuters)

• At least 24 people die after floods strike across Vietnam. In the south, nearly 3,900 houses and more than 22,000 hectares of crops are submerged, mostly in Lam Dong Province. Floods also damage more than 30km of national roads, including the road leading to the tourist city of Dalat and destroy 142 hectares of aquarium farming and 4,300 cages of river-raised fish. (Al Jazeera)

• Japan–South Korea relations
  • In a tit-for-tat move, South Korea removes Japan from its preferred trade list. (US News)
• Human rights in Venezuela
  • Venezuelan activist Tamara Sujú visits London to ask the United Kingdom, and specifically Dominic Raab, to pressure the International Criminal Court to investigate claims of torture and human rights abuses by the Nicolás Maduro government. (The Guardian)

• Death of Jeffrey Epstein
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raid late financier billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's private Caribbean island, amid an investigation into alleged sex trafficking. The raid comes two days after Epstein's death. (NBC News)

• Hong Kong protests
  • The Airport Authority Hong Kong cancels all departure flights from Hong Kong, effectively locking down Hong Kong International Airport amid ongoing unrest. (BBC News)
  • A spokesperson for China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office releases a statement accusing violent protesters that threw petrol bombs at Hong Kong Police officers of being "terrorists", saying that a violent minority within the pro-democracy movement poses "a serious challenge to Hong Kong's prosperity and stability". (Channel NewsAsia)
• 2019 Argentine general election
  • Former Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Alberto Fernández gains a 15% lead over incumbent President Mauricio Macri in Argentina's primaries. (The New York Times)
• Operation Car Wash
  • Text messages leaked by The Intercept Brasil show that Deltan Dallagnol, former coordinator of Operation Car Wash's prosecution team and anti-corruption public figure, knew that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni was involved in corruption, but chose not to act on it. (O Dia)

• China–United States trade war
  • The United States Trade Representative announces a delay until December 15 on a significant number of products affected by 10% import tariffs announced on August 1 and set to be imposed in September. (CNBC) (Reuters)
• Verizon agrees to sell the social networking site Tumblr to Automattic, owner of WordPress.com, for less than $10 million, less than two years after acquiring the site in 2017. (Los Angeles Times) (Axios)

• According to Interfax, the governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast dismisses as "complete nonsense" the advice by authorities in Severodvinsk to residents of Nyonoksa to evacuate on August 14. This follows the accidental explosion on Thursday of what is speculated to be a nuclear-powered missile. Russian nuclear agency Rosatom says the failed test involved a "nuclear isotope power source" for a liquid-propelled rocket engine. (The Independent) (CBS News)
• Venezuelan migrant crisis
  • A new poll from Consultores 21 suggests that at least 4.7 million Venezuelans are living outside of the country, with the range going up to 6 million — 19% of the nation's entire population in 2017. (Miami Herald)

• 2019 Sydney stabbing attack
  • A man in Sydney, Australia, stabs and kills one person and wounds another. The motive of the suspect, who was arrested at the crime scene, is unknown. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests
  • U.S. President Donald Trump tweets that U.S. intelligence informed him that China is moving troops to the border with Hong Kong. (Bloomberg)

• Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro
  • Hundreds of thousands of students, schoolteachers and university professors hold demonstrations across Brazil against sweeping cuts in the education budget. Protestors also voice opposition to the government's plan to delegate the administrative and financial management of federal universities and institutes to a privately-held fund. (Agência Brasil) (Telesur English)
  • Earlier in the day, over a thousand Indigenous Brazilian women, representing over 100 ethnic groups, march on Brasília after an overnight occupation of the headquarters of the Ministry of Health's Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health. Protestors chanted against the government's recent attempts at municipalization and privatization of the Indigenous health subsystem, and called for stricter environmental regulations. (BBC News) (Telesur English)

• List of nearest exoplanets
  • Three super-Earth exoplanets are announced orbiting around the nearby red dwarf Gliese 1061, one of which orbits within the star's habitable zone. (Arxiv)

• Syrian Civil War, 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive
  • A Syrian Air Force Sukhoi Su-22 jet is shot down by rebel forces near the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate, Syria. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadists say they have captured the pilot. (BBC News) (Al Masdar News)

• Economy of Germany
  • The Federal Statistical Office of Germany discloses that Germany's gross domestic product shrank by 0.1% in the second quarter. (The Guardian)
• The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, a U.S.-based organization that aims to keep educational materials broadly accessible, has asked the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department to halt a planned merger between two large textbook companies, McGraw-Hill and Cengage, a merger it claims will cause students "irreparable harm". (Reuters)

• California regulators announce a ban on chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate nerve agent used as a pesticide. (Los Angeles Times)
• France bans electric pulse fishing. (AFP via Yahoo! News}

• August 2019 Philadelphia shooting
  • Six police officers are shot, sustaining non-life threatening injuries, by a gunman in Philadelphia; a seventh officer is injured in a related automobile accident nearby. (CNN) (NBC News)
• Nisour Square massacre
  • In a third trial, Nicholas Slatten is sentenced to life in prison. (AFP via VoA)

• Crisis in Venezuela
  • Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro creates a new government ministry, the Ministry of Tourism and Foreign Trade. (Venezuelanalysis)
  • Tarek William Saab strips the parliamentary immunity of the opposition politicians Juan Pablo García, Tomás Guanipa and José Guerra. (Venezuelanalysis)
  • A Norwegian delegation arrives in Venezuela to restart dialogues to end the presidential crisis. (Reuters)

• Ural Airlines Flight 178
  • A Ural Airlines Airbus 321 crash lands in a field near Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow Region, Russia. The event is dubbed the "Miracle over Ramensk", as only 23 passengers had minor injuries, similar to US Airways Flight 1549. Preliminary reports say the aircraft struck a flock of seagulls. (CNN)
• A Cessna Citation carrying former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife and infant daughter crashes on landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee. All occupants survive without serious injury. (CNN)

• Colombia–Venezuela relations
  • Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro gives a speech wherein he accuses former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, Uribe's Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón, and Venezuelan politician Lester Toledo [es] of planning to kill him. (Reuters)
• Iran–United Kingdom relations; Iran–United States relations
  • Gibraltar says the United States has applied to seize the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1, which is being held by the United Kingdom territory for an alleged breach of European Union sanctions against Syria. (Reuters)
  • The UK releases Grace 1 back to Iran after receiving written assurance that the oil would not be sent to Syria. (BBC News)
• Israel–United States relations
  • Two American Muslim congresswomen, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, are barred from entering Israel before a planned visit to the country due to their support of the BDS movement, a decision which was encouraged by U.S. President Donald Trump. (CNN)
• Proposed United States purchase of Greenland
  • Press sources report that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly expressed interest in buying Greenland. (The Wall Street Journal) (AP News)

• Belgian Federal Police confirm that fugitive Belgian large weapons smuggler and arms trafficker Jacques Monsieur was arrested in Portugal yesterday. (Het Laatste Nieuws) (Le Soir)

• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper announces that he is suspending his presidential campaign. (UPI)

• Proposed United States purchase of Greenland
  • In response to reports that U.S. President Donald Trump expressed interest in the United States acquiring Greenland, Greenland's Foreign Minister Ane Lone Bagger dismisses the idea, noting on Twitter that "a better and more equal partnership with Denmark should be the way forward for a stronger and longer-term free Greenland". (BBC News) (Reuters)
• Israel–United States relations
  • According to Israel's Interior ministry, U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib sends a letter to Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, asking for permission to visit her elderly grandmother in the West Bank. Tlaib's request was approved on the condition that she "not advance boycott activities for the duration of her visit". Tlaib later declines to come, saying she won't let Israel impose "oppressive conditions" on her. (CNN)

• Death of Jeffrey Epstein
  • The death of accused sexual trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Epstein's attorneys say they will be conducting their own investigation into his death. (CNN)

• War in Afghanistan
  • 17 August 2019 Kabul bombing
    • 63 people are killed and 182 wounded in a suicide attack at a wedding party in Kabul, Afghanistan. The attacker set off explosives among the invitees. (Al Arabiya)

• Aftermath of the 2018–19 Sudanese protests
  • The ruling military and the civilian opposition formally sign a power-sharing deal establishing a three-year transition period towards the election of a civilian government. (Al Jazeera)
• 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests
  • Thousands of school teachers join the 11th weekend of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. (Reuters)
• A rally of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer is met by left-wing Antifa in Portland, Oregon. (The New York Times)
• The Argentinian Treasury Minister, Nicolás Dujovne, resigns after incumbent President Mauricio Macri's loss in a primary vote saw Argentina's peso fall to record lows. (Bloomberg)

• China announces the successful first launch of the Smart Dragon-1 [fr; de] carrier rocket. (Reuters)

• War in Afghanistan
  • 17 August 2019 Kabul bombing
    • ISIL claims responsibility for a terrorist attack against a wedding party in Afghanistan the day prior, which left 63 people dead and over 200 injured. (The Guardian)

• Iran–United States relations; United Kingdom–United States relations
  • Gibraltar authorities reject the request by the U.S. to seize the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1. They argue that EU, not U.S. law, is applicable in Gibraltar. The tanker is also renamed. (Al Arabiya)

• 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests
  • The organizers claim that at least 1.7 million people join a peaceful rally in Victoria Park, Hong Kong. Protesters spill into nearby streets, with train service intermittently suspended due to the sheer number of people. (The Guardian)

• Syrian Civil War; 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive
  • Syrian Air Force warplanes repeatedly strike a Turkish military convoy driving through the rebel-held region of Idlib, reportedly causing several casualties and forcing it to stop. Turkey claims the convoy was aiming to supply observation posts, while Syria accuses it of carrying weapons and ammunition to rebel groups. (BBC News) (The National)
  • The Syrian Army enters the strategic town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate for the first time since losing control of the town to rebels in 2014, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Middle East Monitor)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • 66 people, including children, have been wounded after a series of ten explosions in restaurants and public squares hit the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, as the country marked the 100th anniversary of its independence from British rule. No group claimed responsibility for the bombings. Even if many bombs exploded and several people were injured, no one died in the attacks. (Al Jazeera)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • Suspected Islamist militants launch an attack on a Burkina Faso Armed Forces unit, killing 24 Burkinabé soldiers and wounding 7 others, the heaviest loss for the army in its fight to contain Islamist terrorism. The army said it had launched a land and air operation in response to the attack. (Reuters)

• Deforestation in Brazil, 2019 Brazil wildfires
  • After fifteen days of raging fires in the Amazon Forest in Rondônia, thick smoke clouds cover the Brazilian city of São Paulo in darkness. Street lamps had to be lit in the city around 2PM. The fires, suspected to be intentional, are still burning the forest. (G1)

• 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests; Cross-Strait relations
  • China condemns Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen offered support and asylum to Hong Kong protesters facing prosecution in Hong Kong courts. (Al Arabiya)
  • Twitter says it has suspended more than 200,000 automated accounts on the social media site that it believes were part of a Chinese government-run campaign to spread misinformation about the protests in Hong Kong. (ABC News)

• 2016–present purges in Turkey
  • Turkey's Ministry of the Interior tweets that 418 people in 29 provinces are detained by police, for suspected links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The authorities have also announced that they "replaced" the mayors of three major southeastern cities. (Reuters)
• Former President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir appears in court for the first time at a Khartoum court to face corruption charges. (Al Arabiya)
• Women's rights in El Salvador
  • Evelyn Hernández is acquitted of murder after her newly-born child was found deceased in a toilet. The ruling is being held as a landmark case decision for women's rights in El Salvador, which has one of the strongest anti-abortion laws in Central America. (BBC News)

• The Palestinian Authority bans LGBT activities in the West Bank in anticipation of an upcoming Al Qaws event. (Jerusalem Post)

• Astronomers led by a team from McGill University in Montreal announce the detection of eight new repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope. The astronomers report they also found complex morphologies and downward-drifting sub-bursts in some of the eight new FRBs. (Phys.org)

• 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 News)

• 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)

• 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 News)
• Holy See–Vietnam relations
  • The two sides meet in the Vatican and discuss bilateral relations, ecclesial life and the future visit of Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vietnam — Holy See Joint Working Group first met in 2009. Vietnam, a Communist nation of 97 million, is 7% Catholic. (Vatican News)

• 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 News) (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 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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 (2001–2021)
  • 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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 News)

• Papua conflict
  • Indonesia cuts off Internet in the provinces of Papua and West Papua amid pro-independence unrest. (The Guardian) (RTÉ)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • A ninth round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban starts in Doha, Qatar. (Al Jazeera)

• 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 News)
• At least five people are killed and 21 others injured in a stampede at a rap concert in Algiers, Algeria. (BBC News)

• 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)

• 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 News)
• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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 News)
  • 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)

• 2019 Brazil wildfires
  • Finland, current chair of the European Union, asks the bloc to contemplate a ban on beef from Brazil in response to the ongoing disaster. (Reuters)

• 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)

• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • 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)

• Spanish Olympic medallist Blanca Fernández Ochoa is reported missing. (BBC News)

• 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)

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

• 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)

• Israeli–Lebanese conflict
  • 2019 Beirut drone crash
    • 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 attacks 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)
• 2019 Israeli airstrikes in Iraq
  • Alleged Israeli airstrikes hit a Iran backed Popular Mobilization Forces convoy near Al-Qa'im, Iraq. (Al Jazeera)
• 2019 Hong Kong protests
  • In an escalation of the ongoing protests, a police officer fires a gun whilst clearing protesters; this is the first time a gun has been fired by a police officer in Hong Kong since 1967. (The Guardian)

• 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)
• Lightning strikes on at least two Alaska Airlines planes force them to make emergency landings in Southeast Alaska. Lightning also knocked out electrical service to the state capital, Juneau. (Kfsk)

• Three people are killed and four others injured in a mass shooting at a house party in Hobbs, New Mexico, U.S. (CNN)

• 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 Republican Party presidential primaries
  • Conservative radio host and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh announces his run for president, becoming only the second Republican to challenge incumbent President Donald Trump. (CNN)
• 2019 Abkhazian presidential election
  • Partially recognized Republic of Abkhazia holds the first round of the presidential election. Incumbent President Raul Khajimba and oppositor Alkhas Kvitsinia heads to second round on 8th September. (Eurasianet)

• 2019 Qousaya attack, Israel–Lebanon relations
  • Lebanese media claims Israeli aircraft targeted a PFLP-GC military site in Qousaya town, making it the second attack in Lebanon since the 2006 war after the alleged attack in Beirut yesterday.
  • Lebanese President Michel Aoun accuses Israel of a "declaration of war", and asserts the right of the country to defend itself from aggression in response to Israeli strikes in the Beqaa Valley. (Al Arabiya)

• The Federal Cartel Office in Germany announced that it will appeal a decision by a regional court that suspended its restrictions on Facebook's activities. The appeal will bring the dispute, over underlying privacy issues, to the attention of the country's highest court. (Reuters)
• Opioid epidemic in the United States
  • An Oklahoma district court finds Johnson & Johnson liable for exacerbating opioid addiction in the state, and fines them US$572 million. The company announces it will appeal. (Reuters)

• 45th G7 summit
  • Group of Seven leaders hold their yearly meeting in Biarritz, France. (CNN)

• Politics of Indonesia
  • Indonesian President Joko Widodo announces North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regencies as location of the future capital of Indonesia. He says government will prepare a bill to submit in the House of Representatives as soon as possible. (The Jakarta Post) (The Washington Post)

• Syrian Civil War, Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • YPG units withdraw from Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ayn as the first stage of the Northern Syria Buffer Zone agreement enters into effect. (Reuters) (Kurdistan 24)

• Tropical Storm Dorian
  • Tropical Storm Dorian is expected to grow stronger as it reaches Puerto Rico, the National Hurricane Center says. (Sun-Sentinel)
• 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires
  • The Brazilian government through President Jair Messias Bolsonaro is open to accepting financial aid from organizations and foreign countries to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest on the condition that the funds must be under the country's control. (Gulf News)
• An Air China Airbus A330 preparing to takeoff as Flight 183 catches fire during boarding at Beijing International Airport. Passengers and crew successfully evacuate, but the aircraft is severely damaged. (Simple Flying)
• A Spanish C-101 military jet crashes into the sea near La Manga, killing its pilot. (The Independent)

• Abortion in Missouri
  • A U.S. federal judge blocks a Missouri law banning abortions eight weeks after conception from going into effect. (The Daily Beast)
• Illegal immigration to the United States
  • The Donald Trump administration is in the process of shifting at least $155 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Department of Homeland Security, in order to fund the return of some migrants to Mexico. The move comes as Tropical Storm Dorian nears hurricane status as it approaches Puerto Rico. (CNN)
• Boeing 737 MAX groundings
  • Russian aircraft leasing firm Avia Capital Services, which has ordered 35 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, sues Boeing in an Illinois court in the first legal action taken by a 737 MAX customer in the wake of the groundings. Avia seek damages and a cancellation of the order, claiming Boeing were fraudulent, breached their contract with Avia, and negligently introduced design flaws to the aircraft and made negligent representations to the Federal Aviation Authority seeking the plane's certification. With nearly 400 jets grounded worldwide since March, lawyers representing Avia say they are discussing the possibility of joining the litigation with other companies. (CityNews Vancouver)
• 2013 Via Rail Canada terrorism plot
  • An appeals court in Ontario, Canada overturns the terror convictions of Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, citing an error by the trial judge regarding jury selection. A new trial is expected to take place. (BBC News)

• 2019 Nauruan parliamentary election
  • Lionel Aingimea is sworn in as the President of Nauru, replacing Baron Waqa. (Radio New Zealand)
• Poland announces a planned national budget with zero deficit for the first time in 30 years. (Yahoo! Finance)

• The uncrewed Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft successfully docks with the International Space Station on its second attempt, with the Zvezda module. The docking follows the failure of the automated systems aboard the Poisk module with which the spacecraft was originally intended to dock on 24 August. MS-14 carries supplies for the ISS, along with a humanoid robot named Fedor. (SpaceNews) (Space.com)
• SpaceX executes a successful test of its Starhopper vehicle at Boca Chica. The vehicle was raised 150 metres (490 feet) into the air by its methane-fueled Raptor engine. The engine is planned for use on SpaceX's Starship vehicle – a crewed spacecraft capable of interplanetary flight. (Forbes) (Los Angeles Times)

• 2019–20 in English football
  • English association football club Bury F.C., who were in EFL League One, are expelled from the English Football League (EFL) after a takeover bid to save the club collapses. Fellow EFL League One club and local rivals Bolton Wanderers F.C. are given an extra 14 days to avoid being expelled due to financial difficulty. EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans calls the expulsion of Bury F.C. "one of the darkest days in the league's recent history". (BBC News)

• Hamas says that on Tuesday night, three Palestinian police officers were killed and several wounded in two separate suicide attacks on police checkpoints. ISIL's affiliate in Gaza, the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, are the suspected perpetrators. (BBC News)
• Border Police announce they have detained an unnamed man who tried to bring a pipe bomb into Samaria Military Court in Salim, Nablus, on the West Bank. (The Times of Israel)

• Three people are killed amidst heavy rains in southwestern Japan. Authorities ask almost one million people to evacuate, warning "unprecedented" levels of rainfall could cause the flooding of rivers, trigger landslides, and submerge houses. (BBC News)
• 2018 Pretoria Convair 340 crash
  • The Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa concludes its investigation with a final report indicating the accident was caused by poor maintenance and errors by unqualified pilots. (The Aviation Herald)
• 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires
  • Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announces all Amazon-region nations except Venezuela will meet to discuss a coordinated response to the disaster. He also reiterates rejection of G7 money to assist the efforts unless French President Emmanuel Macron issues him an apology, but after meeting with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera accepts an offer of four firefighting aircraft from Chile. (BBC News)
  • Finland, current chair of the European Union, writes to the body's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, urging the use of the EU's "full toolkit" including foreign and trade policy to counter the use of deliberate fires as a means of deforestation in Brazil. (Bloomberg)
• Hurricane Dorian
  • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declares a state of emergency in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, which is expected to make landfall in the state within days. (WOFL) (The New York Times)

• New Zealand bans tourists from swimming with bottlenose dolphins, saying dwindling numbers are linked to excessive interaction with tourists, as the animals choose socialising with people over necessary biological functions. Authorities say the species risks "being loved into extinction". (The Independent)

• Foreign relations of Tonga
  • Through a spokesman, Lopeti Senituli, for the government, Tonga blames the World Bank over the situation of their schools in Tongatapu, which are still in tents 17 months after Cyclone Gita. (Radio New Zealand)

• Mexican Drug War
  • Coatzacoalcos nightclub fire
    • 28 people are killed in a bar fire in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, that police believe was caused by an attack by drug cartels. Mexican media reports that Molotov cocktails were thrown inside. (BBC News)
• Crime in South Africa
  • Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, experiences widespread looting and violent attacks by rioters focused on foreigners. Police are currently outnumbered and many businesses have been set on fire. The riots follow the death of a taxi driver reportedly shot by Nigerian drug dealers after they realized he had seen them complete a drug deal and had also seen their supplier. Bus services are suspended and authorities say the capital is currently unsafe. (Radio 702) (ZimEye)
• LGBT rights in the United States
  • Forty-eight members of the US Congress from the Republican Party – eight from the Senate and 40 from the House of Representatives – file a joint amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the Civil Rights Act does not protect LGBT+ people from discrimination. They argue the law "does not prohibit discrimination because of an individual's actions, behaviours, or inclinations". (The Independent)

• Politics of the United Kingdom, Brexit
  • UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson asks Queen Elizabeth II to suspend Parliament until October 14. Following precedent, the constitutional monarch approves the request. (CNN) (CBC)
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
  • New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of the presidential race. (The New York Times)
• Politics of Italy
  • The Five Star Movement and Democratic Party agree to form a new coalition. The move comes weeks after Deputy Prime Minister and Northern League secretary Matteo Salvini unsuccessfully pushed for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Therefore, Conte remains Prime Minister. (BBC News)

• Archaeologists in Huanchaco, Peru unearth 227 sets of human remains aged between five and fourteen, and believed to be sacrificed over 500 years prior. The discovery is the largest known child sacrifice in history. (BBC News)

• Papua conflict
  • Tensions escalate between Indonesia and Pacific Island nations as the situation in the province of West Papua worsens after an Indonesian soldier and a West Papuan are killed in clashes. Vanuatuan Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu said "something must be done", amid calls to invite United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to investigate murders and torture in the area. (Radio New Zealand)
• Hamas says it has captured an ISIL cell responsible for Tuesday's suicide bombings that killed three policemen. Hamas says ten are in custody. (The Times of Israel)

• 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires
  • Brazil bans land clearance fires for 60 days in response to the ongoing disaster. (BBC News)
• At least seven spectators have died after a flash flood swept across the pitch at a local match in the village of Tizert, Morocco. (Sky News)
• The number of people killed in the collapse of an apartment building yesterday in western Ukraine rose to eight, including one child. (Reuters)
• USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision
  • The Japan Transport Safety Board concludes its investigation into a fatal collision between USS Fitzgerald and Filipino container ship ACX Crystal. The board's final report concludes distraction and incomplete radar information aboard the US Navy vessel caused the accident. (The Japan Times)
• The volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli erupts, an event described as "high intensity" by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. (The Independent)
• 2019 Atlantic hurricane season
  • Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declares a state of emergency for several counties in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, which is expected to make landfall in the upcoming days. (WJXT)

• Ethiopia plants 350 million trees in 12 hours, breaking the previous world record held by India since 2016 of 50 million trees planted in the same time. (United Nations Environment Programme) (Office of the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)

• China–United States trade war, China–United States relations
  • China announces that it will not immediately retaliate on the latest U.S. import tariffs, but is instead "lodging solemn representations". (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. officially reestablishes Space Command. (ABC)
• Status of Jerusalem, Status of East Jerusalem
  • Israel announces that, on 16 August, Nauru officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (Jewish News Syndicate)
  • The Foreign Affairs Minister of the Palestinian National Authority announces that it will file a complaint to the United Nations after Honduras' recognition of the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of the future State of Palestine. (AFP via The Daily Star)

• Capital punishment in Thailand
  • The Supreme Court of Thailand upholds death sentences against two migrant workers convicted of murdering two UK tourists and raping one. Rights groups say that the men are scapegoats and tortured into false confessions by police under pressure to solve the crimes, which attracted international attention. (The Guardian)
• 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests
  • Hong Kong police ban a planned Saturday march by the Civil Human Rights Front, saying there is "a high chance that certain violent protesters will hijack this event". The CHRF plans to appeal. (Bloomberg)
• The Office of Inspector General of the Federal Bureau of Investigation releases its final report in which former director James Comey is criticised for his leaking of documents regarding U.S. President Donald Trump. However, it does not recommend he be prosecuted. (BBC News)
• Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal
  • Six Pakistani men are found guilty of abusing and raping teenage girls between 1998 and 2002 in Rotherham, England. The National Crime Agency believes as many as 1,510 teenagers were sexually exploited in the town during the same period. (BBC News)
• Identitarian movement
  • A French court jails several members of Generation Identity and fines the organisation over an anti-immigration operation in the Alps. They were found guilty of "exercising activities in conditions that could create confusion with a public function". The case was that the operation could be mistaken for a government action. (The Independent)

• Politics of Italy
  • President of Italy Sergio Mattarella tasks demissionary Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte with the formation of a new cabinet, a coalition of Five Star Movement and Democratic Party. The premier-designate reserves the right to accept the mandate, pending further talks with both parties. (ANSA)
• Politics of Ukraine
  • Oleksiy Honcharuk becomes the new Prime Minister of Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
• Politics of the United Kingdom, Brexit
  • The Court of Session in Edinburgh begins hearing arguments in a case challenging UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend the UK Parliament. The challenge, seeking an interdict, the Scottish equivalent to an injunction, to prevent the move, is being brought by Members of the Scottish Parliament. The judge announces he will consider his position overnight and give his judgement tomorrow at 10:00 local time. (BBC News)
  • Ruth Davidson steps down as leader of the Scottish Conservatives. She has been a critic of Johnson, himself a Conservative, especially his approach to Brexit. (BBC News)

• An Iranian Space Agency Simorgh carrier rocket explodes on the launch pad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in southeastern Iran. This is Iran's third failed attempt to reach orbit this year following launches in January and February. (NPR)

• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • The Yemeni Ministry of Defense says 300 people were killed and wounded in United Arab Emirates air raids in southern Yemen over the two previous days. The UAE Foreign Ministry has said the "preemptive operation" targeted "terrorist militias". (Al Jazeera)
• Israel–Lebanon conflict
  • Israeli Defense Forces name three senior Iranian officers and point out that the leader of the Quds Force is in Lebanon "with his family". Amid the campaign for the 17 September legislative election, Israel says Iran is moving to convert Hezbollah's arsenal of what Israel says is more than 100,000 rockets into precision-guided missiles. (CNN)

• Pope Francis sends a video message to the people of Mozambique before his visit to the African country next week. He stresses reconciliation after years of conflict. The Pontiff says that “although I will be unable to travel beyond the capital, my heart reaches out and embraces you all, with a special place for those who live in difficulty.” (Holy See Press Office)

• Brexit
  • A Court of Session judge refuses to grant an interdict, the Scottish equivalent to an injunction, preventing the upcoming suspension of the UK Parliament. The judge rules there is "no cogent need" for such an emergency measure as the suspension is not scheduled until September 9. However, a full hearing on the lawfulness of the suspension is brought forward to Tuesday. The case against the UK government is being brought by Members of the Scottish Parliament. (BBC News)
  • Former Prime Minister Sir John Major announces he will join a case brought by anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller seeking judicial review of Parliament's suspension in the High Court under English law. The case challenges the lawfulness of current UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice to Queen Elizabeth II in asking her to suspend the UK Parliament. The case is due for a preliminary hearing next Thursday with a full hearing the following day if the High Court approves one. (BBC News)
  • The High Court in Belfast hears a claim under Northern Irish law brought by Raymond McCord, a campaigner for Troubles victims, challenging the constitutionality of suspending the UK Parliament. Sir Declan Morgan, The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, adjourns proceedings until next week. (BBC News)
  • A cross-party group of over fifty members of the suspended Parliament pledge to carry on meeting in the absence of Parliament. (The Guardian)
• Hong Kong protests
  • Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow are arrested, charged and released on bail. (BBC News)
• September 11 attacks
  • A military judge sets 11 January 2021 as the starting date for the selection of a military jury in the trial of five suspects, among which is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, held in Guantanamo Bay. (The Guardian)
• List of mass shootings in the United States in 2019
  • At least 10 teenagers (age 15 to 18) are injured in a mass shooting at a high school football game at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. (CNN)

• Politics of the United States
  • Madeleine Westerhout is forced to resign as Director of Oval Office Operations at the White House after leaking private information about the Trump family and White House operations to reporters at a private dinner. Westerhout had allegedly bragged about her personal access to U.S. President Donald Trump. (BBC News)
  • White House aides admit that President Trump made up a phone call from China last weekend. (The Independent)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  • Around 40 people are killed by an American cruise missile strike targeting al-Qaeda-linked militants at a Huras al-Din base in Syria's rebel-held Idlib Governorate, where the Syrian government earlier began a unilateral ceasefire. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• 2018–19 Gaza border protests
  • The Hamas-run Health Ministry of Gaza says a 25-year-old man died in hospital there today after being struck by an Israeli bullet during protests at the Gazan-Israeli border yesterday. It further says Israeli soldiers wounded 42 protesters. Israel says Palestinians threw grenades at the fence, damaging a vehicle and injuring a soldier. (Yahoo!)
• War in Afghanistan
  • Taliban fighters storm Kunduz city, apparently killing three civilians and dozens of soldiers. A suicide bomber kills ten municipal police. (BBC News) (Tolo News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires
  • Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo states that the fires have mostly been extinguished. (The Japan Times)
• 2019 Alta helicopter crash
  • An Airbus AS350 helicopter crashes in northern Norway, killing all five Norwegian passengers and the Swedish pilot. (Standard)
• An explosion followed by a fire at a chemical factory in Dhule, India kills at least 12 and injures at least 58. (CNN)

Health and environment

• Eastern equine encephalitis
  • The Maine health department confirms a horse in York County has tested positive for the rare, deadly, potentially transferable to humans, mosquito-borne viral disease Eastern equine encephalitis. Earlier this week, an infected 14-year-old Michigan girl was hospitalized in serious condition, and Ohio officials confirmed an Ashtabula County horse also tested positive. Neither of the horses were vaccinated against EEE. (Newsweek) (USA Today) (The Horse)

Law and crime

• India releases the final version of the National Register of Citizens for the state of Assam. Up to 1.9 million residents risk losing their citizenship if they are not on the list and can not prove their residency. The move is criticized for disproportionately affecting the local Bengali community. (BBC News)
• Brexit
  • Thousands of people join protests across the United Kingdom against the suspension of the UK Parliament. (The Guardian)
• Amazon rainforest wildfires
  • The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) raids an illegal wildcat miners' site in the state of Pará as the country resumes environmental policing of the rainforest. The suspects escape following a firefight. (New York Post
• Midland–Odessa shootings
  • At least seven people are killed and 21 others wounded in a mass shooting in West Texas, between the cities of Midland and Odessa. The shooter is shot and killed in Odessa. Police continue to investigate for other possible suspects. (BBC News) (CNN) (Reuters) (MST)
• 2016 Interstate 10 tour bus crash
  • A truck driver involved in the accident, which killed thirteen when two vehicles collided in California, pleads guilty to 42 crimes including vehicular manslaughter. The sleep-deprived driver fell asleep during a temporary halt to traffic; when traffic moved off again he remained stationary and the bus ran into the rear of his vehicle. (ABC News)
• 2019 Lyon stabbings
  • An Afghan citizen stabs nine in Lyon, France, killing a 19-year-old. (CNN)

Sports

• 2019 Spa-Francorchamps FIA Formula 2 round
  • Formula 2 racing driver Anthoine Hubert dies in a collision during a race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. (The Guardian)