August 16, 2015 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2015 Douma market air strikes, Syrian Civil War
- According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a series of air-raids by the Syrian Arab Air Force on the rebel-held market town of Douma kills at least 110 people and leaves hundreds injured. (BBC), (The International Business Times), (Reuters), (Xinhua), (Al Jazeera)
- 2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes, Kashmir conflict
- India and Pakistan trade gunfire over the border in the disputed area of Kashmir leaving eight people killed in the past week. (AP via Fox News)
- Turkey–PKK conflict
- A clash in Turkey's Kars Province kills a Turkish Army soldier and three PKK militants. (The Daily Star via Reuters)
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ISIL militants execute 15 women in Mosul. (Al-Manar)
- A parliamentary report on the causation for Mosul's fall to ISIL with so little resistance includes former Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki among dozens of officials named. (The Washington Post)
Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Tianjin explosions
- The death toll from the explosions rises to 112 with 95 people missing including 85 fire fighters. (Reuters), (Al Jazeera)
- An Indonesian plane (Trigana Air Service Flight 257) with 54 people on board goes missing in Papua. There are later reports that the remains of the aircraft have been found in the Oksibil district. (BBC), (AFP via Yahoo)
- Ecuador declares a state of emergency over increased activity at the Cotopaxi volcano near the capital of Quito. Its last major eruption was in 1877. (BBC), (Dalje.com)[permanent dead link], (Al Jazeera)
International relations
- North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea establishes a surveillance center on its northernmost island of Baengnyeongdo to better deter North Korean threats. (The Korea Times), (Yonhap)
Politics and elections
- Crowds gather throughout Brazil to demand the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff due to a bribery and corruption scandal involving senior members of the governing Workers' Party. Recent polls show her approval ratings below 10%. (France 24)
Sports
- 2015 Netball World Cup
- In netball, Australia defeats New Zealand 58–55 in the final of the Netball World Cup in Sydney. (Fox Sports Australia)
- 2015 PGA Championship
- In golf, Jason Day of Australia wins the PGA Championship on the Straits Course of the Whistling Straits complex in the American village of Kohler, Wisconsin. (ABC News Australia)
- Day's 20-under-par is the lowest score in relation to par at a major championship, beating Tiger Woods' previous record of 19-under at the 2000 Open Championship. (ABC News Australia)
- Jordan Spieth of the United States finishes second and by doing so becomes the number-one-ranked golfer in the world ahead of Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. (ABC News Australia)