- Aug 1 394 migrants rescued from a stricken vessel by humanitarian NGO ships in Tunisian waters [1]
- Aug 1 American swimmer Caeleb Dressel wins his 5th gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay
- Aug 1 American swimmer Robert Finke wins men's 1,500m gold in 14:39.65 at the Tokyo Olympics, completing long distance double 800/1,500m
Fauci's Warning
Aug 1 American virologist Dr. Anthony Fauci says "things are going to get worse" as US COVID-19 cases double in 10 days due to surge of Delta variant
Olympic Gold
Aug 1 Australian swimmer Emma McKeon claims gold in 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay for total 7 medals at Tokyo Olympics; equals record set by Russian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952
- Aug 1 Canada marks its first Emancipation Day (date slavery abolished in the British Empire in 1834)
- Aug 1 Chinese diver Shi Tingmao completes women's 3m springboard/synchronized 3m springboard double at the Tokyo Olympics for second consecutive Games
- Aug 1 Italian Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar avoid a jump-off by agreeing to share the long jump gold medal after tying on 2.37m at the Tokyo Olympic Games
- Aug 1 Marcell Jacobs becomes first Italian athlete to win the coveted 100m in 9.80 at the Tokyo Olympics
- Aug 1 Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing names himself Prime Minister, pledges to hold elections by 2023
- Aug 1 The US passes the 35 million mark in COVID-19 cases with California becoming first state to record 4 million cases
- Aug 1 Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas records a WR 15.67m to claim the women's gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
US Meets Vaccination Target
Aug 2 70% of American have had at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot, a target President Joe Biden had hoped to meet by 4 July
Olympic Gold
Aug 3 Jamaican athlete Elaine Thompson-Herah wins 200m gold in Tokyo to become the first female to claim the 100/200m double at consecutive Olympic Games
- Aug 3 Karsten Warholm of Norway runs first ever sub-46 second 400m hurdles 45.94 WR to claim gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
- Aug 3 New Zealand canoeist Lisa Carrington wins her third straight Olympic K-1 200m title at the Tokyo Games; also wins K-2 500m for her 4th career Olympic gold medal
Music History
Aug 3 Singer Tony Bennett celebrates his 95th birthday with Lady Gaga in the first of two "farewell" performances at Radio City Music Hall, NYC
- Aug 4 Americans Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad go 1-2 in women's 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics; McLaughlin sets WR 51.46s
- Aug 4 Global known COVID-19 caseload passes 200 million, with the death toll at 4.2 million according to Johns Hopkins
- Aug 4 Largest wildfire in California so far in 2021, the Dixie Fire at 320,000 acres, destroys the gold rush town of Greenville [1]
- Aug 4 Mediterranean region evolving into a "wildfire hotspot" according to authorities, amidst extreme temperatures with Greece experiencing one of its worst heatwaves in 40 years [1]
Sports History
Aug 5 FC Barcelona confirms record breaking Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi will leave the club because of Spanish La Liga regulations on player payments
- Aug 5 New Zealand canoeist Lisa Carrington wins her third Olympic gold medal of the Tokyo Games by winning K-1 500m; 5th career gold for Carrington
Music History
Aug 5 Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (80) announces he will be unable to accompany the band on its 2021 U.S. tour, based on medical advice; American Steve Jordan tapped to fill in
- Aug 6 Faith Kipyegon of Kenya retains her Olympic 1,500m title in OR 3:53.11 at the Tokyo Olympics
- Aug 6 Jamaican 100/200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah claims her third track gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics as part of the winning Jamaican 4x100m relay team
- Aug 7 As part of the winning American 4×400m relay team in Tokyo, Allyson Felix takes her total to 11 Olympic medals; becomes the most decorated female Olympian in track and field history
- Aug 7 Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan wins 10,000m gold medal in 29:55.32 at the Tokyo Olympics to claim the 5/10k double
- Aug 7 Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra makes history winning his country’s first-ever Olympic track and field gold with 87.58m in Tokyo
Olympic Gold
Aug 7 Kevin Durant with 29 points leads USA to his third and the team's 4th consecutive Olympic men's basketball gold medal with an 87-82 win over France in Tokyo
- Aug 8 "Wright Brothers' moment" in nuclear fusion research when 1.3 megajoules of energy produced at National Ignition Facility by the Livermore Lab [1]
- Aug 8 More than 51 people killed in northern Mali after attacks on three villages by Islamist jihadists
- Aug 8 Taliban forces capture three regional Afghan cities including key northern city of Kunduz [1]
- Aug 8 The Dixie Fire becomes California's second-largest wildfire ever at 463,000 acres (724 square miles)
Basketball Gold for US Women
Aug 8 USA women's basketball team wins it's record extending 7th consecutive Olympic gold medal with 90-75 win over Japan in Tokyo; guards Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each win their 5th straight gold
- Aug 8 XXXII Summer Olympic Games officially close at the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
- Aug 9 Cholera outbreak in Nigeria has killed more than 800 people with 31,425 suspected cases since January 2021 according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control [1]
- Aug 9 Herd of 14 elephants returning home from a 500km (300-mile) trek across China, lead authorities to evacuate 150,000 people out of their path [1]
- Aug 9 Landmark UN IPCC climate report "is a "Code Red for humanity", rise of 1.5C now certain, catastrophic change can still be avoided if the world works fast [1] [2]
- Aug 10 "I am Legend" screenwriter Akiva Goldsman tweets "It's a movie. I made that up. It's. Not. Real." amid rumors COVID-19 vaccines could turn people into zombies, as in the film [1]
- Aug 10 Forest fires kill 65 people, including 25 soldiers, in Algeria in the Kabylie region during heatwave conditions
Event of Interest
Aug 10 Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo resigns amid a sexual harassment scandal
- Aug 11 Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi confirms signing a rich 2-year contract with French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain after leaving FC Barcelona
- Aug 11 Sicily records highest-ever temperature in Europe of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in city of Siracusa (unverified)
- Aug 11 Torrential rains cause flash flooding in Turkey's northwestern provinces of Kastamonu, Sinop and Barti, killing at least 77 with more missing [1]
- Aug 12 195 million Americans across 34 states under heat advisory warnings from Pacific Northwest to the Northeast as summer of intense heat continues in Northern Hemisphere [1]
- Aug 12 Bennu Asteroid, size of the Empire State Building, now has 1-in-1,750 chance of hitting Earth in 2182, according to data from NASA's OSIRIS-REX spacecraft [1]
- Aug 12 Britney Spear's father says he will step down as her conservator after the singer called his conservatorship abusive, amid a #FreeBritney campaign
Contract of Interest
Aug 12 Kawhi Leonard re-signs with the Los Angeles Clippers to a max four-year, $176.3 million contract
- Aug 12 Phoenix is the US's fastest-growing city (+11.2%), overtaking Philadelphia to be nations's fifth largest at 1.6 million according to US Census [1]
- Aug 12 US Census reveal country grown more diverse, growth in Hispanic (+23%) and Asian (+36%) populations, 1st ever decline in white population (-2.6%) [1]
- Aug 12 US FDA authorises a third booster COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for people with weak immune systems
- Aug 14 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes south-west Haiti near city of Les Cayes, killing at least 2,200 people, injuring many more and destroying 52,000 homes
- Aug 14 Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Gilbert throws a no-hitter in his MLB debut, defeating San Diego Padres, 7-0 in Phoenix; record equalling 8th no-hitter of the season
- Aug 14 Calder Fire, near Lake Tahoe, begins in California, goes on to destroy 1000 structures and over 218,000 acres [1]
- Aug 14 It rains for the first time at Greenland ice sheets' highest point, at Summit Station research facility, above freezing conditions create some melting for 337,000 square miles of ice [1]
- Aug 14 Spain records its highest ever temperature of 47.2C (117F) in Montoro, Córdoba [1]
Event of Interest
Aug 15 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flees the country as Taliban forces enter the capital Kabul and take control
Election of Interest
Aug 15 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls a snap election for 20 September, two years ahead of schedule
- Aug 15 Petrol tanker explosion kills 27 and injures 79 in al-Tleil, Lebanon, amid the country's continuing economic crisis
- Aug 16 First Marvel film with an Asian superhero "Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings" starring Simu Liu premieres in Los Angeles
- Aug 16 First official water shortage declared at Lake Mead, major reservoir on Colorado river supplying 40 million people, with cuts mandated mainly for Arizona
- Aug 16 Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet resign after losing their majority amid political turmoil
- Aug 16 US President Joe Biden says "I stands squarely behind my decision" to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, despite sudden collapse of the country to the Taliban
- Aug 17 Joel Embiid signs a four-year, $196 million NBA extension with the 76ers
- Aug 17 One in five US hospital ICUs at or over 95% capacity due to Delta surge of COVID-19, with 1,800 children hospitalized [1]
- Aug 18 MLB Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani becomes fastest player in team history to reach 40 home runs in a season, also pitches 8 innings in 3-1 win at Detroit
- Aug 19 Iran's official COVID-19 death toll passes 100,000 amid its fifth wave of infections, according to its Health Ministry
- Aug 21 Flash flooding in Humphreys County, Middle Tennessee, kills 22 with dozens missing
- Aug 22 British Open Women's Golf, Carnoustie CC: Anna Nordqvist of Sweden finishes 1 stroke clear of Madelene Sagström, Lizette Salas and Georgia Hall to win her third major title
Music History
Aug 22 Josephine Baker will be the first black woman to be interred in the Panthéon in Paris, according to the French government
- Aug 22 Tropical storm Henri makes landfall near Westerly, Rhode Island
Kamala Harris Visits South East Asia
Aug 22 US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Singapore to begin a short visit to South East Asia
- Aug 23 US Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 and over. First vaccine to move past emergency-use status in the US.
- Aug 23 Video evidence of a Seychelles giant tortoise hunting and eating a bird revealed for the first time, tortoises previously thought to be herbivores [1]
- Aug 24 16th Paralympic Games opens in Tokyo, Japan
1st Female Governor of NY
Aug 24 Kathy Hochul becomes the first female Governor of New York, replacing Andrew Cuomo after his resignation
- Aug 24 UN says Madagascar on brink of world's first "climate change famine" with people suffering "catastrophic" levels of hunger, after four years without rain [1]
Mamma Mia!
Aug 25 Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus' musical "Mamma Mia!", featuring the songs of ABBA, re-opens at the Novello Theatre in London's West End, after COVID-19 interruption stopped performances in March of 2020
- Aug 26 Two bomb blasts from suicide bombers at Kabul Airport, Afghanistan, kill at least 60 civilians and 13 US soldiers, amid international efforts to evacuate citizens out of the country
- Aug 27 Britain's Prince Andrew served with a US federal lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a teenager 20 years ago [1]
- Aug 28 MLB Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani becomes 1st player in team history to reach 20 stolen bases and hit 40 home runs in a season, in 10-2 win over San Diego Padres
- Aug 29 Hurricane Ida makes landfall as a Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
- Aug 29 Missile and drone attack on al-Anad airbase in south Yemen kills at least 30 soldiers, one of the deadliest attacks in recent years [1]
- Aug 30 Algeria becomes the last country to stop selling leaded petrol, ending 99 years of gasoline use worldwide, saving 1.2 million lives a year [1]
- Aug 30 America ends its longest-ever war of 20 years in Afghanistan as the last military evacuation plane flies out of Kabul
- Aug 30 China restricts online gaming for under 18s to one hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays ordering companies to enforce this [1]
Appointment of Interest
Aug 31 36-year old Cristiano Ronaldo is confirmed as a Manchester United player for a second time when his transfer from Juventus is ratified; Ronaldo left United in 2009 to join Real Madrid
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists