- Aug 2 Australian state of Victoria announces state of disaster and imposes further lockdown measures after spike in COVID-19 cases
- Aug 2 Islamic State stages a jail break at a prison in Afghan city of Jalalabad, placing bombs at its entrance, results in 20 hr gunfight, 29 deaths and over 300 prisoners at large
- Aug 2 Mary Prince Day established in Bermuda - recognising Mary Prince first known Black woman to relate the story of her life - helped hasten the abolition of slavery in the British Empire [1]
- Aug 2 South Africa confirms over 500,000 cases of COVID-19 with 10,107 deaths, highest total on the African continent
- Aug 2 SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico, 1st commercial crewed mission
- Aug 2 United Arab Emirates starts up the Arab world's first nuclear power station at the Barakah plant
- Aug 3 Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in the US as a Category 1 hurricane near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina
- Aug 3 Number of Iranian COVID-19 deaths triple that of government tally, showing 42,000 have died instead of 14,405, according to BBC Persian Service investigation [1]
- Aug 3 Spain's former King Juan Carlos announces he will go into exile abroad amid his implication in a corruption inquiry
- Aug 4 COVID-19 infection spike forces a return to lockdown in Manila and surrounding provinces in the Philippines, affecting 27 million people as cases pass 100,000
- Aug 4 Huge explosions at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, kill more than 200 and leaves over 6,000 thousand people injured
- Aug 4 UN says COVID-19 pandemic has created biggest educational disruption in history affecting nearly 1.6 million students in 190 countries, 94% worldwide [1]
Event of Interest
Aug 5 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays the cornerstone for a new Hindu temple at Ayodhya Ram to replace a previous Muslim mosque
WAP
Aug 7 Cardi B releases single "WAP", featuring Megan Thee Stallion, debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100
Simon Cowell's Horror Bike Accident
Aug 8 British music mogul and television personality Simon Cowell breaks his back riding an electric exercise bike
- Aug 9 Brazil passes 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, the world's 2nd highest, with over 3 million recorded cases
Election of Interest
Aug 9 Disputed Belarusian presidential election sees long time dictator Alexander Lukashenko officially win 80% of the votes but unofficially lose 60-70% of the votes to main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Sparks widespread protests in Belarus and international condemnation.
- Aug 9 New Zealand marks 100 days without community transmission of COVID-19
- Aug 9 PGA Championship Men's Golf, TPC Harding Park: 23-year-old American Collin Morikawa fires final round 64 (-6) to win his first major title by 2 strokes from Paul Casey of England
- Aug 10 Global COVID-19 cases pass 20 million and is accelerating, 1st 10 million took almost 6 months, 2nd 10 million took just 43 days (Reuters)
- Aug 10 Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announces his government is resigning, less than a week after massive industrial explosions devastated Beirut
- Aug 10 Rare wind storm (derecho) hits the US Midwest flattening cornfields, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity, killing two people
Election of Interest
Aug 11 Belarus's opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya flees the country amid large-scale protests over the country's disputed election results that returned Dictator Alexander Lukashenko to power
COVID-19 Pandemic
Aug 11 President Vladimir Putin in a propaganda stunt announces Russia has become the 1st country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, called “Sputnik V", despite no scientific data being published or phase 3 trials having even begun
- Aug 12 Europe fights a new COVID-19 surge with Germany, France and Spain posting their largest daily infection totals for three months
- Aug 12 UK posts its worst quarterly economic slump on record, -20.4% (Apr-Jun), pushing it into the largest recession worldwide
- Aug 12 Yemen authorities say at least 172 people died in floods caused by torrential rains, which have also destroyed historic buildings in Sanaa, a Unesco World Heritage Site
- Aug 13 Israel strikes historic deal with the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations, Israel suspends plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank
- Aug 13 New details about enormous "Terror Crocodile" (Deinosuchus), the size of a bus, with teeth as big as bananas, that lived during late Cretaceous period (75-84 million years ago) in North America published [1]
World Record
Aug 14 Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda breaks Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old 5,000m world record with a run of 12:35.36 at the Diamond League meet in Monaco
- Aug 16 At least 17 people killed in attack on beach resort in Mogadishu, Somalia, by al-Shabab group
- Aug 16 Biggest protests in Thailand in six years as 10,000 people demonstrate in Bangkok for reforms of the government and the monarchy
- Aug 16 Japan's economy, the world's third largest, posts its worst-ever decline, falling 7.8% (April-June quarter)
- Aug 16 Largest-ever demonstration in Belarus as 100,000 people gather in Minsk to protest against controversial election results and regime of Alexander Lukashenko
Sports History
Aug 16 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan wins his 6th world title with an 18-8 win over countryman Kyren Wilson
- Aug 17 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the 1st US college to send students home and convert to online classes after 135 COVID-19 cases detected
Event of Interest
Aug 18 California Governor Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency as 27 fires burn across the state amid a continuing heat wave
- Aug 18 Joe Biden is formally nominated as the Democratic party's presidential candidate during the second night of their 1st ever virtual convention
- Aug 18 Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta resigns amid a military coup condemned by the UN Security Council
- Aug 19 Apple becomes the 1st US company to be valued at $2 trillion, just 2 years after it reached $1 trillion valuation
- Aug 19 Golfing dinner termed #GolfGatet appearing to flout COVID-19 restrictions, attended by Irish political figures, prompts two politicians to later resign
- Aug 19 Largest floods in 70 years wet the toes of giant 71m Leshan Buddha carved by a river just outside Chengdu, China with 100,000 people evacuated
- Aug 19 US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says he will suspend controversial plan to cut costs until after the election
Event of Interest
Aug 20 Former adviser to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon arrested and charged with fraud over a fundraising campaign to build a wall on the Mexican border
Presidential Convention
Aug 20 Kamala Harris accepts her nomination for vice-president, becoming the 1st US woman of color on a major-party ticket saying "there is no vaccine for racism"
Event of Interest
Aug 20 Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny falls into a coma after a suspected poisoning (later confirmed to be Novichok poisoning)
- Aug 21 American actress Lori Loughlin sentenced to two months in prison along with her husband for her role in US college admissions bribery scandal
Golf Record
Aug 21 American golfer Scottie Scheffler makes birdie on 4 of final 5 holes to become 12th player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59 in 2nd round of the Northern Trust at TPC Boston
- Aug 22 13 people die in a stampede at an illegal disco in Lima, Peru, during a police raid to shut it down
- Aug 22 Fires burning in Northern California declared Major Disaster with LNU Lightning Complex Fire (341,243 acres) and SCU Lightning Complex Fire (339,968) among the 3 largest wildfires in state history
- Aug 22 Mexican COVID-19 death toll passes 60,000, world's third highest
- Aug 23 British Open Women's Golf, Royal Troon GC: Sophia Popov of Germany claims her first Tour title by 2 strokes from Thailand's Jasmine Suwannapura; at #304, lowest ranked player to win a major
- Aug 23 Indianapolis 500: 2017 champion Takuma Sato of Japan wins his 2nd title under yellow caution flag after a crash with 3 laps remaining
- Aug 23 President Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway announces she is stepping away from the White House for family reasons
UEFA Champions League Final
Aug 23 UEFA Champions League Final, Lisbon: Kingsley Coman heads German giants Bayern Munich to the club's 6th crown in a 1-0 win over Paris St-Germain
Event of Interest
Aug 23 US black man Jacob Blake shot and injured by police in front of his children in Kenosha, Wisconsin, prompting violent protests
- Aug 23 US Republican party convention begins by formally renominating Donald Trump for a second presidential term
- Aug 24 First documented case of a person being re-infected with COVID-19 a second time, a Hong Kong man four months after first infection
- Aug 25 Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito no-hits the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago
- Aug 25 England's James Anderson becomes first fast bowler to reach 600 wickets in Test cricket; Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali caught at first slip on 5th day of 3rd Test at Southampton
Polio Eradicated in Africa
Aug 25 WHO announces that Africa has eradicated polio (defined as four years since last case)
- Aug 26 At least 100 people killed in flash floods in the city of Charikar, Afghanistan, with 500 houses destroyed
- Aug 26 Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (29) is the youngest to win the International Booker prize for their debut novel "The Discomfort of Evening"
- Aug 26 Milwaukee Bucks forfeit their NBA playoff game after the shooting of Jacob Blake, leading to the NBA postponing more games
- Aug 27 Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant sentenced to life without parole, for the killing of 51 mosque worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, 1st time the country imposes the sentence [1]
- Aug 27 Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Louisiana near the Texas border as a category 4 storm with 150 mph winds, killing at least 16
Mike Pence Nominated
Aug 27 Mike Pence accepts nomination for vice president at the Republican convention, calling for "law and order" after the shooting of Jacob Blake
- Aug 28 Japanese tech company SkyDrive says it has completed the first manned test flight of a flying car
- Aug 29 Elon Musk unveils pig named Gertrude with coin-sized computer in her brain, part of his Nuralink start-up creating a brain-to-machine interface
- Aug 30 Global cases of COVID-19 pass 25 million with death toll at 843,000
- Aug 30 India reports world's highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases at 78,761
- Aug 31 US cases of COVID-19 pass 6 million with 183,300 deaths with California (699.000), Florida (619,000) recording the most (Johns Hopkins)
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists