Portal:Current events/2014 August 3

August 3, 2014 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
:
- The pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, who are now in great danger of being encircled by the Ukraine government forces, renew their calls for Russia to send troops and arms to their aid. (AP via Guardian)
- A military spokesman of the Ukrainian government forces says the army has now recaptured three-quarters of the territory the pro-Russian rebels once controlled in their self-proclaimed
  Lugansk People's Republic rebellion. (Reuters via New York Times)

2014 Israel–Gaza conflict

A UNRWA-run school in Rafah is hit by an Israeli air strike. At least seven people are thought to have been killed, and at least 30 injured. (The Guardian). UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemns in strong terms the attack as 'moral outrage and criminal act'. (UN News Centre)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, 2014 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes:
- Four
  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Syrian Civil War

The
Islamic State loses control of three towns in the area around Al-Asharah to local tribesmen. (BBC News)

2014 Northern Iraq offensive
- The
  Yazidi-dominated town of Sinjar. (BBC News) It also seized control of the Mosul Dam, which is Iraq's biggest dam, the Ain Zalah oil field, and two more towns. (Reuters)

Gunmen belonging to the predominantly Muslim Fulani tribe attack a Catholic parish in north-central Nigeria, according to a report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide. The attack in Kaduna State and claimed the life of a guard and injured several worshippers. (Catholic World News)

Business and economy

The
Banco Espirito Santo SA in a 4.9 billion bailout package. (Bloomberg via Business Week)

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake kills at least 367 people and injures more than 1,700 in Yunnan, China. (BBC News)

International relations

In a joint ceremony at the Hartmannswillerkopf cemetery, French President François Hollande and his German counterpart, Joachim Gauck, commemorate the 100th anniversary of Germany's declaration of war on France in the beginning of World War I. (France 24)

Science and technology