Portal:Current events/2025 August 20
August 20, 2025 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Middle Eastern crisis (2023-present)
- Syrian civil war
- US intervention in the Syrian civil war
- American special forces carry out a raid in Northern Syria and kills an ISIS leader with the reported assistance of Syrian government forces. The slain ISIS leader was purportedly in succession to succeed as the caliph of ISIS's Syrian branch. (Fox News)
- US intervention in the Syrian civil war
- Gaza war
- Syrian civil war
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A Russian MLRS rocket strike on a market in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, kills three people and injures four others, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin. (Reuters)
- Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- Shortly after midnight, a Russian military drone explodes when crashing in Osiny, Puławy County, Poland. (Euronews) (TVN24 in Polish)
- Eastern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Mexican drug war
- The Guatemalan Immigration Institute grants temporary humanitarian status to 161 Mexican nationals, including 92 adults and 69 children from Chiapas, allowing them to remain legally in Guatemala after fleeing cartel-related violence in the border municipality of Frontera Comalapa. (Anadolu Agency)
Disasters and accidents
- At least two people are killed and two others are injured in a rockfall on the Égratz Viaduct in Chamonix, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. (Le Dauphiné libéré in French)
- One person is killed and 19 others are injured, including three seriously, after a migrant shipwreck is found drifting off the southern coast of Mallorca, Spain. (Euronews)
International relations
- China–India relations
- India and China agree to resume direct flights suspended since 2020, reopen designated border trade points and boost investment in their economies following talks in New Delhi between Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Indian officials, including Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. (Reuters)
- International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan–United Kingdom relations
- The United Kingdom imposes sanctions on eight individuals and entities accused of helping Russia evade Western sanctions through financial and cryptocurrency networks, including Kyrgyz firms linked to the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5. Kyrgyz president Sadyr Japarov has appealed to the UK regarding the sanctions. (Reuters)
- United States and the International Criminal Court
- The United States Department of State imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court judges Nicolas Guillou and Kimberly Prost and deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem and Mame Mandiaye Niang over their involvement in cases concerning Israel and the United States. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2025 New Zealand espionage case
- A New Zealand court-martial sentences a soldier to two years in military prison and orders his discharge after he pleads guilty to attempted espionage, possession of banned material, and unauthorized access to a military computer system, marking the country's first conviction for spying. (AP)
- A man is detained on suspicion of murder after four bodies were found in the Seine river in Choisy-le-Roi, Île-de-France, France. (BBC News)
- Mexico City mayor Clara Brugada announces the arrest of 13 people, including three alleged gunmen, in connection with the May shooting that killed her personal secretary and an adviser. (Al Jazeera)
- At least 19 people are hospitalized following a clash between Club Universidad de Chile and Club Atlético Independiente fans during a round of 16 match of the 2025 Copa Sudamericana (BBC) (Marca)
Politics and elections
- Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits Lhasa, Tibet, for the second time during his general secretaryship to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region. (AP) (Reuters)