August 4, 2014 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine: War in Donbass:
- Ukrainian government forces recapture control of Yasynuvata from pro-Russian insurgents; government troops have now all but encircled the rebels' second-largest stronghold of Luhansk, and rebels declared a "state of siege" in Donetsk. (Reuters)
- The Ukrainian military urges residents of Donetsk to evacuate amid reports of "increased rebel attacks" on civilians and to clear the way for government troops to advance on one of the insurgency’s biggest stronghold. (Washington Post)
- 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
- Israel and Hamas enter a 72-hour ceasefire brokered by Egypt. (Reuters) (NBC News)
- Daniel Mansour, the commander of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine in the northern Gaza Strip is killed in an Israeli Air Force strike. (AP via Buffalo News)[permanent dead link]
- Human Rights Watch has found that Israeli forces have deliberately killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including ones fleeing the conflict. (Human Rights Watch)
- A Palestinian drives a tractor down a crowded street into a bus in Jerusalem killing one and injuring six before being shot dead by a police officer. (Times Of Israel)
- A Palestinian shoots and critically injures an Israeli soldier in Jerusalem and escapes on a motorcycle hours after a trailer terrorist attack. (Times of Israel)
- Syrian Civil War
- The Lebanese Army states that 14 soldiers have been killed and 22 are missing after alleged clashes with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters on the Syrian border. (Firstpost)
Arts and culture
- The United Kingdom commemorates the 100th anniversary of its declaration of war against Germany in the First World War. (The Independent)
Business and economics
- Russian low-cost Dobrolet Airlines, Aeroflot's 100% subsidiary, suspends all flights, including to Crimea, over sanctions introduced by the European Union. (RIA Novosty)
Disasters and accidents
- 2014 Ludian earthquake
- China dispatches 2,500 People's Liberation Army soldiers to Yunnan province to search for hundreds of people missing after the earthquake. (BBC News)
- The death toll from an explosion at an auto parts factory on Saturday in the Chinese city of Kunshan rises to 75 with investigators blaming faulty safety measures. (AP via Daily Mail)
- Rescuers in Nepal find another two victims of Saturday's landslides bringing the official death toll to ten with none of 159 people missing expected to be found alive. (AP via The Buffalo News)
- A ferry carrying about 200 passengers capsizes on the Padma River in Bangladesh's Munshiganj District. (BBC News)
Health
- 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak
- The World Health Organisation estimates that the death toll from the Ebola virus outbreak has risen to 887. (AP via Washington Post)
International relations
- The first US–Africa Leaders Summit begins today in Washington, D.C. (VoA News)