August 21, 2013 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- Syrian activists claim that chemical weapon attacks have killed over 600 people in the outskirts of Damascus. (The Guardian) (Today's Zaman)
Business and economy
Disasters and accidents
- Japan upgrades the recent leak of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site to Level 3, a "serious incident," on the International Nuclear Event Scale. (Reuters India)
- 2013 China–Russia floods: Twenty one people are killed in a flash flood in Qinghai province. (AP via ABC Local News)
- 37 killed, 16 injured in a bus crash in Malaysia, near the Chin Swee Temple. (AP via The Globe and Mail)
- 18 schoolgirls from Pembroke Hill School, and driver injured in bus crash near Bonner Springs, Missouri. (USA Today)
International relations
- David Miranda, journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner in covering United States and British mass surveillance programmes, arrives in Brazil, after being released from detainment at Heathrow airport, London. (GloboNews)
- The Nigerian army officially claims the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, is dead from a gunfight, although others claim Shekau is alive. (The Globe and Mail)
Law and crime
- A Cairo criminal court releases former President Hosni Mubarak, initiating further investigation of corruption. (BBC)
- United States v Bradley Manning: United States Army private Chelsea Manning (legally Bradley Manning) is sentenced to 35 years in jail for providing classified material to WikiLeaks. (ABC News America)
- British businessman Gary Bolton is sentenced 7 years for selling fraudulent bomb detectors. (BBC)