August 18, 2013 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war
- A team of twenty UN weapons inspectors arrives in the capital, Damascus, to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in the conflict. (BBC)
- Political violence in Egypt:
- Israel to call on US, EU to support Egyptian army (Haaretz), (New York Times)
- Dozens of Muslim Brotherhood supporters are killed in prison while attempting to escape police custody. (Reuters), (Al Jazeera)
- Six people are injured in a bomb explosion on a bus in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. (Deccan Herald)
Arts and Culture
- Chiribiquete National Park, in Colombia, is expanded from its previous 1.2 Million Hectares to 3 Million Hectares becoming one of the largest protected zones in the Amazon. This announcement was made by the Colombian government after Ecuador decided to open up Yasuni National Park to oil drilling after a six year initiative to protect the rain forest.[citation needed]
Law and crime
- Bo Xilai, a former member of Politburo of the Communist Party of China, charged with bribery and corruption, will go on trial on August 22 in the city of Jinan. (BBC)
- The lawyer of two Norwegians who have been imprisoned in the Congo since 2009 says one of the two, Tjostolv Moland, is found dead in his prison cell. (Business Week) (NRK)