Portal:Current events/2017 August 20

Current events of August 20, 2017 (2017-08-20) (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi Civil War
  • Tal Afar offensive (2017)
    • Iraqi security forces, along with Shi'ite volunteers and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, launch a ground offensive to take the city of Tal Afar back from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. The city has been isolated from the rest of the ISIL-held territory since the recent Mosul liberation. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian Civil War
  • A rocket hits and injures several people at the Damascus International Fair. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says five people have died. (Daily Mail) (BBC)

Arts and culture

• American comedian and Muscular Dystrophy Association chairman Jerry Lewis dies in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 91. (Yahoo!)

Disasters and accidents

• An explosion at a South Korean shipyard owned by STX Offshore & Shipbuilding kills four workers. (Reuters via The Australian)

Politics and elections

• Iranian MPs approve 16 out of 17 cabinet members nominated by recently re-elected President Hassan Rouhani. (Washington Post)