Resistance fighters and a local activist say Myanmar’s military deployed hundreds of troops around the proposed Dawei Special Economic Zone in the Tanintharyi Region, burning villages and pushing resistance groups back as the government seeks to revive the project.
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August 21, 2026 (Friday)
0.7 minutes to read
Armed conflicts and attacks
Pakistani forces raid multiple hideouts and kill 49 militants allegedly belonging to Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna Al Hindustan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Disasters and accidents
The Syrian Civil Defense reports that an explosion at a house in the Ain al-Qasab village of Idlib, Syria, killed three civilians and wounded six others.
Health and environment
India's Supreme Court orders states to protect elephant corridors, identify and remove obstructions, and prohibit groups from using fire to drive wild elephants away amid increasing habitat loss and human-elephant conflict.
Law and crime
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance convicts activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung of incitement to subversion over their leadership of a group that organized annual Tiananmen crackdown vigils. They face up to 10 years in prison.
Multiple people are injured in a mass stabbing at the Brinellskolan in Fagersta, Sweden. The perpetrator is arrested at the scene.
August 20, 2026 (Thursday)
2 minutes to read
Armed conflicts and attacks
The Israel Defense Forces accuses Hamas of using the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis to carry out interrogations and torture Palestinians.
Human Rights Watch reports that Africa Corps forces summarily killed nine civilians, including four children, in Mali last month.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu regains control of Kauda, South Kordofan, following two days of clashes with Otoro fighters.
The USS George Washington arrives in the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln amidst a nine-month deployment and reports of mental health challenges among the crew and supply shortages on the aircraft carrier during the Iran war.
Business and economy
Disasters and accidents
Four railway workers on the Tōbu Nikkō Line are killed after being struck by a Limited express train in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
Five people are reported missing and eight others are injured after a fire at a restaurant with apartments in Thusis, Grisons, Switzerland.
Eight people are killed when a Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft, operating as Security Aviation Flight 45, crashes at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site in western Alaska, United States.
Mauritania's coast guard rescues more than 300 migrants, including 40 children, from an overcrowded boat off the country's coast after finding them in distress.
Health and environment
The World Health Organization says that the Democratic Republic of the Congo will receive 70,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine candidate developed by Merck to combat the Ebola outbreak in the country.
International relations
The U.S. Treasury Department issues sanctions on 15 people allegedly involved in a drug trafficking network shipping thousands of kilgrams of cocaine from Ecuador through Mexico to the United States.
Law and crime
A Chinese court sentences Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan to life imprisonment for financial fraud, bribery, and embezzlement, and fines Evergrande and its real estate arm a combined ¥15.8 billion (US$2.35 billion).
Argentina deports a Mexican Rear Admiral accused of leading a fuel-smuggling network inside the Mexican Navy to Mexico after the Mexican government withdraws its extradition request. He is taken to the Altiplano maximum-security prison, where his brother and alleged co-leader, Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, is also imprisoned.
Politics and elections
Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi says the integration of Kurdish military, security, and administrative institutions into the Syrian state is complete following an agreement reached with president Ahmed al-Sharaa in January.
The Jatiya Sangsad elects Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the President of Bangladesh in the first contested presidential election in 35 years. Alamgir will take office tomorrow.
Sports
In American football, the National Football League fines the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints $500,000 each after they started a brawl after a joint practice session at the Cowboys' facility in Oxnard, California, United States.
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