The Russian military said on August 22 its aircraft operating from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes in Syria had completed their tasks, but left open the possibility of using the Hamadan base again if circumstances warranted.

Turkey vowed on August 22 to "completely cleanse" Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people, including 22 children, at a Kurdish wedding.

The United Nations is ready to deliver aid into Syria's Aleppo, but needs commitments from all parties in the war - not just Russia - to abide by a 48-hour humanitarian truce, the U.N. aid chief, angered by lack of assistance to civilians, said on August 22.

Iraq said on August 21 it had hanged 36 militants sentenced to death over the mass killing of hundreds of mainly Shi'ite soldiers at a camp north of Baghdad two years ago.

A blustery storm, a touch of melancholy and a sense of pride converged at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympics on August 21 as Brazil breathed a collective sigh of relief at having pulled off South America's first Games.

The leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet on August 22 to discuss how to keep the European project together in the second set of talks between the premiers of the euro zone's three largest economies since Britain's shock vote to leave the bloc.

A suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 carried out the attack on a wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on August 20 that killed at least 51 people, the president said.

More than 20 people were killed on August 21 when suicide bombers from the militant al Shabaab group detonated two car bombs at a local government headquarters in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, witnesses and officials said.

Fighting between the Syrian army and Kurdish forces intensified late on August 19 and into August 20, creating the risk of yet another front opening in the multi-sided civil war.

Twenty-two people were killed and 94 wounded when a suspected suicide bomber targeted a wedding celebration in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on August 20, adding to a surge in violence this week in the mainly Kurdish southeast.