Sunday, August 20th, 2023 

Roscosmos spacecraft Luna 25 crashes into the moon after moving into an unpredictable orbit during the transition to a pre-landing orbit. (Reuters) 

Eleven people are killed after a vehicle carrying workers hits a roadside bomb in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera) 

Hurricane Hilary weakens to Category 1, with warnings and evacuation orders issued as the hurricane is expected to make landfall in Baja California and California, US. (ABC News) 

Hilary makes landfall as a tropical storm in San Quintín, Baja California. Flooding is reported in the Mexican city of Tijuana and California area of Palm Springs. (KCBS-TV)

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake strikes Ojai, Ventura County, California, causing minor damage. (LA Times) 

Greek authorities evacuate five villages near the northeastern border with Turkey, where a wildfire that has already destroyed several homes approached. (AP) 

Indian police stop a meeting of activists, academics and politicians discussing global issues ahead of a summit of the G20 that will be hosted in New Delhi. (AP) 

A special election is held to elect the president and the National Assembly to complete the current four-year terms. Presidential candidates Luisa González and Daniel Noboa will face off in a second round vote on 15 October. (CNN) 

Bernardo Arévalo defeats former first lady Sandra Torres by 59% to 36% in the presidential election run-off vote. (CNN) 

Spain defeats England 1–0 in the final match of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, winning their first FIFA Women’s World Cup title. (The Guardian) 

A special election is held to elect the President of Ecuador and the National Assembly to complete the current four-year terms. (CNN) 

Guatemalans head to the polls for a run-off vote between Bernardo Arévalo and former first lady Sandra Torres. (Reuters) 

Saturday, August 19th, 2023 

At least seven people are killed and 129 others are injured in a Russian ballistic missile strike on a theater in Chernihiv hosting a meeting of military and engineers at an exhibition on the use of consumer drones in the conflict. (BBC News) (CNN) 

Two Israelis from Ashdod are killed in an attack while visiting a carwash in Huwara in the occupied West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces launches a manhunt for the assailant and closes off roads in the area. (Times of Israel) 

A man dies after being swept by a current in Baja California Sur while attempting to cross a stream in his vehicle to evacuate the area. (La Prensa Latina Media) 

35,000 people are ordered to evacuate in British Columbia due to wildfires, with another 30,000 people under evacuation alerts. (CBC News) 

Nine members of the Indian Army are killed and another is seriously injured after their vehicle falls into a gorge near Leh, Ladakh, India. (Mirror Now via The Economic Times) 

The Greek Coast Guard rescues 60 migrants in inflatable dinghies who were attempting to cross from Turkey to the eastern Aegean Sea islands in two separate incidents. (AP) 

A Japan government panel investigating harassment cases in the military and the defense ministry finds widespread cover-ups and reluctance among supervisors to address these cases. (AP) 

Oupeye, Belgium, bans gatherings of more than four people following riots. The riots spread to the neighboring commune of Herstal. A school and various homes were damaged and garbage can fires were reported. (7Sur7) (Le Soir) 

Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF wins the Leagues Cup, 10–9, in a penalty shoot-out, making it their first title since joining the league in 2020. (The Guardian) 

Friday,  August 18th, 2023 

Chinese property developer Evergrande Group files for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United States as it works on a multi-billion dollar deal with creditors to restructure its debts. (BBC News) 

The U.S. approves the transfer of F-16 Fighting Falcons to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands after training for Ukrainian Air Force pilots is completed. (Reuters) 

Israel receives permission from the United States to sell its Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany, according to the Israeli Defence Ministry. (FAZ) 

The World Health Organization says that 30 million Afghan people require urgent medical aid, emphasising the importance of increased investment in healthcare services in Afghanistan. (Al Arabiya) 

The World Health Organization opens its first summit on traditional medicine in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. (AFP via The Japan Times) 

Russia says that Ukraine launched a drone attack on Moscow, striking a building in the International Business Center. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says that air defences shot down a drone with debris falling over the Expocentre. (BBC News) 

In the United States, Herman Andaya resigns as Maui‘s top emergency official amidst reproval for not activating the emergency sirens during the wildfires. (NBC News) 

The death toll from the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, United States, rises to 114. (Forbes) 

Premier of British Columbia David Eby declares a province-wide state of emergency in response to the ongoing wildfires. (CBC News) 

The city of Kelowna, British Columbia, declares a state of emergency and evacuations, as wildfires engulf parts of the city and surrounding area. Lake Okanagan Resort and several residential buildings are destroyed. (CTV News Vancouver) 

The city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, begins a complete evacuation amid the spread of nearby wildfires. (CBC News) 

The community of Medical Lake, Washington, U.S., is evacuated due to the Gray Fire near Spokane in eastern Washington. (AP) 

The National Hurricane Center issues the first ever tropical storm watch for the West Coast of the United States in Southern California as Hurricane Hilary approaches from Mexico. (AP) 

The UN Human Rights Office reports that at least 2,439 people have been killed by gang violence in Haiti this year. (AFP via France 24) 

Former Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz is charged with making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in his first government. (AP) 

The Moscow City Court dissolves the Sakharov Center, a human rights organization, for holding unauthorized conferences and exhibitions. (AFP via Barron’s) 

In Oupeye, Belgium, a man on a quad bike is shot dead by police after running over a policeman and refusing to stop at a police control. Anti-police riots break out in the village and eleven people are arrested. (Le Soir) 

Gabon’s main opposition parties field former education minister Albert Ondo Ossa [fr] as their presidential candidate in the upcoming election, challenging the incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba who seeks a third term. (AFP via TRT Afrika) 

Swedish police detain a woman who sprayed an anti-Islam activist with a fire extinguisher as he staged a Quran-burning protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Stockholm. (AP) 

In the Yellow bankruptcy proceeding, the court names financing lenders. Hedge funds Citadel and MFN Partners will together provide $142.5 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, which will give Yellow’s estate the funds necessary to liquidate assets. (Reuters) 

More than 4,500 people in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, evacuate due to a wildfire burning over 2,600 hectares of the Teide National Park. (Reuters via CNA) 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visits Saudi Arabia for the first time since the restoration of diplomatic relations. (AFP via France 24) 

The Swedish Security Service raises the country’s terror alert level from “elevated” to “high”, citing increased threats in response to the series of Quran burnings in the country. (AFP via The Times of India) 

The former and current heads of Slovakia’s spy agency and five other police and intelligence officers are being investigated for abuse of power and criminal conspiracy in two separate cases. (AP) 

Lucy Letby is convicted of seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder following the deaths of multiple babies in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital in Chester, England. Letby is acquitted on two other counts of attempted murder. (BBC News) 

A Canadian woman is sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in Washington for mailing a threatening letter containing ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House. (AP) 

The End