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The United States has expanded its targeted air strikes aimed at Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, as Iraqi security forces push to retake the vital Mosul Dam. The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said the air strikes and equipment provided to Kurdish fighters have helped slow the IS advance across Iraq.

Little attention is paid to volunteers, but their tireless and sometimes dangerous work helps to make a difference to the millions of victims of natural and man-made disasters. Every year World Humanitarian Day is held on 19 August to honour the people who dedicate their lives to making a difference. To find out what the EU, the world´s largest humanitarian aid donor, is doing to support their work.

Displaced people in eastern Libya outside the town of Ajdabiya.

For weeks now, but with increasing intensity over recent days, the Russian government has been engaged in non-stop diplomacy with everyone who will talk—the Red Cross, the Kiev government, Secretary of State John Kerry, among them—to try to avert further genocide by Ukrainian forces who are besieging the southeastern Ukrainian cities of Lugansk and Donetsk. The response from Ukraine, the United States, and Britain has been unequivocal: We will consider the delivery of humanitarian aid by Russia to be an invasion. We will continue to level the cities until the anti-Kiev militias surrender.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano visited the Islamic Republic of Iran on 17 August 2014, and held meetings with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Hassan Rouhani; Vice-President and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi; and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Iran said it will accept monitoring of its nuclear program as called for in the global non-proliferation treaty, but not any inspections beyond that.

Ukraine says its border guards and customs officials have begun inspecting a convoy of Russian trucks that Moscow says is carrying humanitarian aid for war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Embattled two-term Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he is stepping aside and will support his nominated replacement.

The distribution of tents and non-food aid continues as the population of Newroz camp grows as more and more Yazidis arrive from Mount Sinjar in Iraq.

The U.S. Defense Department says a mission to evacuate refugees from a mountain in northern Iraq is "far less likely" after an assessment found fewer refugees in the area than previously feared.