Portal:Current events/2024 August 14

August 14, 2024 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - 2024 Kursk offensive
    - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukrainian forces have captured more than 100 Russian soldiers in the last 24 hours during their offensive in Kursk Oblast. Zelenskyy also says that he is open to exchanging the prisoners for Ukrainian prisoners of war. (BBC News)
    - Ukraine announces that it will create a strategic buffer zone on the Russia–Ukraine border that is "designed to protect our border communities from daily enemy attacks". (Reuters)
    - Russia evacuates thousands more civilians from borderlands in the Kursk Oblast amid deeper progression of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the region. (Reuters)
  - Ukrainian drones strike the Borisoglebsk air base in Voronezh Oblast, Russia, destroying several hangars. (Pravda) (The Washington Post)
Israel–Hamas war
- Three-phase Israel–Hamas war ceasefire proposal
  - Top Hamas official Osama Hamdan states that the organization is "losing faith" in the United States' role as mediator in Israel–Hamas ceasefire proposals due to the U.S. not applying pressure on Israel to act in good faith, and threatens to withdraw from future U.S.-mediated negotiations. (AP)
Libyan crisis (2011–present)
- Libya's House of Representatives vote to end the term of the Tripoli-based government led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, declaring the eastern-based cabinet as the legitimate government. (Anadolu Agency)

Disasters and accidents

Health and environment

African mpox epidemic
- The World Health Organization officially declares a new outbreak of mpox. The strain of this outbreak is different from the primary strain of the 2022–2023 mpox outbreak, which affected thirteen countries and resulted in at least 524 reported deaths, and the new strain is more lethal. (AP)

Law and crime

2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage
- Germany issues its first arrest warrant related to the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage for a Ukrainian man who crossed the border from Poland into Ukraine before the arrest could be carried out. (AP)
Illegal drug trade in the United States
- The United States Drug Enforcement Administration announces that it seized more than 2,300 lb (1,000 kg) of methamphetamines hidden in celery at a farmers market in Forest Park, Georgia, United States. A Mexican citizen was arrested in relation to the seizure. (AP)
Organized crime in Sweden
- Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland form an international police hub in Stockholm to prevent escalating Swedish gang activity and criminal networks from spreading to other Nordic countries. (Reuters)
The Constitutional Court of Thailand dismisses Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for illegally appointing a minister to his cabinet. (Reuters)
Former President of Argentina Alberto Fernández is indicted on charges of making threats and causing bodily harm to former first lady Fabiola Yáñez. (Buenos Aires Herald) (Washington Post)

Politics and elections

2024 Kiribati parliamentary election
- Kiribati citizens vote for the 45 members of the parliament. (AP)
2024 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) presidential election
- Japan's Prime Minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Fumio Kishida announces that he will not run in the party’s presidential election scheduled for late September, effectively stepping down from the premiership. (The Japan News)
After more than a year of high-level investigation, the Vatican expels Luis Fernando Figari, the leader of the Peruvian society of apostolic life Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, for financial corruption and for downplaying allegations of sexual and psychological abuse. (AP)