Events in History
- Aug 1 USA and UN announce a 72 hour ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, though it quickly breaks down
- Aug 3 At least 13 Palestinians reported killed in ongoing air raids and tank shelling by Israel
- Aug 3 The Israeli Defence Force remove much of its ground forces from the Gaza Strip following the destruction of 32 tunnels built by Hamas and other militants
- Aug 4 Hamas and Israel agree to another 72 hour ceasefire
- Aug 8 Hamas rejects continuation of cease fire if Israel does not lift blockade
- Aug 8 The West African Ebola outbreak is categorized as an international concern by the WHO
- Aug 10 Israeli and Palestinian officials agree to another 72-hour ceasefire proposed by Egypt
- Aug 10 Unrest breaks out in Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting death of African-American Michael Brown (18) by a police officer Darren Wilson
- Aug 12 Ebola outbreak death toll exceeds 1000
- Aug 12 World Health Organization (WHO) gives its 'cautious blessing' to the use of experimental drugs to treat the Ebola virus
- Aug 13 Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman to win the Fields Medal in mathematics
- Aug 13 Israeli and Palestinian cease fire agreed to on August 8 is extended for another 120 hours to provide time for further negotiations
Death of the Aral Sea
Aug 19 NASA satellites take photos showing that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had for the first time completely dried up
- Aug 19 The 24 hour ceasefire extension renewal between Israel and Palestine is violated as Hamas fire rockets; Israeli Air Force respond, killing 9 Gazans
- Aug 21 Israeli airstrike in Rafah kills Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al Atar and Mohammed Barhoum - 3 of Hamas's top commanders
- Aug 22 2nd Ebola death in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country
- Aug 24 Nurse William Pooley flies back to the UK for emergency treatment after contracting Ebola virus after attempting to treat patients in Sierra Leone
- Aug 26 Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry informs the WHO of an outbreak of Ebola; later confirmed as a different strain to that affecting west Africa
- Aug 26 Israel and Hamas accept another ceasefire
- Aug 27 Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) calls the international response to Ebola “irresponsible” and “slow and derisory”
- Aug 29 Riots break out in Guinea following rumours that health workers are deliberately transmitting the Ebola virus to locals
- Aug 29 Senegal is 5th country hit by Ebola
Weddings in History
Kamala Harris
Aug 22 California Attorney General Kamala Harris marries lawyer Douglas Emhoff in Santa Barbara
Deaths in History
- Aug 4 James Brady, U.S. press secretary (wounded during Reagan assassin attempt), dies at 73
- Aug 5 Chapman Pincher, British journalist and author (about secret service), dies at 100
- Aug 5 Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, 11th US Surgeon General (1969-73), dies at 87
- Aug 8 Charles Keating, English actor, dies from lung cancer at 72
- Aug 9 Edwin "Ed" Nelson, American actor (Peyton Place, A Long Came a Spider), dies of heart failure at 85
- Aug 9 Michael Brown, American shooting victim whose death provoked nationwide protests and civil unrest, shot dead by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson at 18
- Aug 18 Jim Jeffords, American politician (Senator-R+I-Vermont 1989-2007, Rep-R-VT, 1975-89), dies at 80
- Aug 20 B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga advocate, dies at 95
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists