August 30, 2017 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- Syrian Civil War
- American-led intervention in Syria
- CJTF–OIR jets destroy a section of road, blocking the path of a convoy carrying ISIL evacuees from the Lebanon–Syria border en route to Abu Kamal in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The convoy, carrying 308 militants and 331 civilians according to Hezbollah, is now effectively stranded in Syrian government-controlled territory. (Reuters)
- American-led intervention in Syria
Disasters and accidents
- 2017 South Asian floods
- 2017 Mumbai flood
- At least 14 people are killed in the Indian city of Mumbai as nearly a month's average rainfall fell yesterday during the worst monsoon in years. More than 1,200 people have been killed across India, Nepal and Bangladesh. (The Telegraph) (Reuters)
- 2017 Mumbai flood
- Hurricane Harvey
- Tropical storm Harvey (hurricane earlier this month) makes its second landfall, this time in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The New York Times reports local officials say the death toll since last Friday is now 38. Moving northeast, Harvey is expected to gradually weaken to a tropical depression by tonight. (The New York Times) (Weather Channel) (The New York Times²)
Health and medicine
- Childhood leukemia
- The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells to destroy acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The approval makes Novartis the proprietor of the first gene therapy to hit the U.S. market. (AP)
Law and crime
- European migrant crisis
- The Government of Hungary has decided to extend the state of emergency declared last year because of the increased migration to and through the country. Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács stated that strict border controls were still needed because the "threat of terrorism in Europe has increased". (AP)
- Crime in California
- A shooting at a motel in Sacramento County, California, leaves a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department deputy dead and two California Highway Patrol officers injured. The suspect is later arrested. (NBC News) (The Sacramento Bee)
Science and technology
- Fast radio bursts
- Researchers at the Breakthrough Listen initiative announce they have detected 15 new powerful fast radio bursts (FRB) from FRB 121102, located in a dwarf galaxy about three billion light-years from Earth. FRB 121102 was first detected in 2012, and gained further attention after FRBs were detected from there again in 2015. (New Scientist) (Phys)