An explosion at a power plant in China killed at least 21 people and injured five on August 11, state media said, the latest deadly industrial accident in a country that struggles with poor safety standards.

Libyan forces battling to oust Islamic State from Sirte on August 10 captured a large convention hall complex in the city center, seizing a symbolic base where militants once held meetings and flew their black jihadist flag.

Bomb blasts in two cities in southeast Turkey killed nine civilians and wounded dozens on August 10, security sources said, and blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for the coordinated attacks targeting police.

Russia said on August 10 there would be daily three-hour ceasefires in Syria's Aleppo starting on August 11 to allow humanitarian convoys to enter the city safely, a proposal which the United Nations said it would consider.

Turkey will stop implementing an agreement with the European Union to stem the flow of migrants into the bloc if the EU does not provide a clear date to grant visa-free travel to Turks, EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said on August 9.

At least 13 people were killed on August 9 in the first air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition on the Yemeni capital in five months, residents said, as the head of the UN expressed concern about the escalation in the fighting.

The United Nations called on August 9 for an urgent ceasefire in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo, where it said two million people lacked access to clean running water, with children most at risk of disease.

Russia and Turkey took a big step toward normalizing relations on August 9, with their leaders announcing an acceleration in trade and energy ties at a time when both countries have troubled economies and strains with the West.

The United Nations Security Council must not allow civilians on both sides of the Syrian city of Aleppo to be cut off from humanitarian aid, the United States said on August 8 as Russia accused Washington of politicizing a humanitarian issue.

The Chinese ambassador to Japan said he told Japan's foreign minister that the islands in the East China Sea, claimed by both countries, were an integral part of China's territory and that the two nations' dispute should be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.