Current events: 2023-08-18

Wikipedia Current Events · Aug 18, 2023

Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghan conflict
- The World Health Organization says 30 million Afghan people require urgent medical aid, underscoring the importance of increasing investment in healthcare services provision in the country. (Al Arabiya)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2022–2023 western Russia attacks
  - Russia says Ukraine launched a drone attack on Moscow, with a building hit in the International Business Center. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says air defences shot down a drone with debris falling over the Expocentre, adding that no-one had been injured. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

2023 Canadian wildfires
- 2023 McDougall Creek Wildfire
  - The city of Kelowna, British Columbia, declares a state of emergency and further evacuations, as wildfires engulf parts of the city and the surroundings. The historic Lake Okanagan Resort as well as a number of residential buildings were destroyed. (British Columbia CTV News)
2023 Pacific hurricane season
- Hurricane Hilary (2023)
  - 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) Law and crime
Countess of Chester Hospital baby murders
- 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, Chester, England. She is acquitted on two other counts of attempted murder. (BBC News)
Haitian crisis
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that at least 2,439 people have been killed by gang violence in Haiti since the year began. (AFP via France 24)
Protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- The Moscow City Court dissolves the Sakharov Center, a human rights organization, for holding unauthorized conferences and exhibitions. (AFP via Barron's)