Editing 2017 (section)

=== August ===
* [[August 5]]
** The [[UN Security Council]] unanimously approves fresh sanctions on North Korean trade and investment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40838582|title=North Korea: UN backs fresh sanctions over missile tests|work=BBC News|date=August 5, 2017|access-date=August 5, 2017|archive-date=August 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805192106/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40838582|url-status=live}}</ref>
** [[Mauritania]] holds a [[2017 Mauritanian constitutional referendum|constitutional referendum]] for approval of proposed amendments to the constitution.
* [[August 12]] – The [[Unite the Right rally]] is held in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]], United States, by a variety of white nationalist and other far-right groups; Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, is killed after being [[Charlottesville car attack|hit by a car]].
* [[August 17]]
** The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars ([[GW170817]])<ref>{{cite journal|title = Merging neutron stars generate gravitational waves and a celestial light show|first = Adrian|last = Cho|journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]]|year = 2017|doi = 10.1126/science.aar2149}}</ref> is hailed as a breakthrough in [[multi-messenger astronomy]]<ref>{{cite journal|title = Editorial: Focus on the Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Neutron Star Binary Merger GW170817|first = Edo|last = Berger|journal = [[The Astrophysical Journal Letters]]|volume = 848|issue = 2|url = http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205/page/Focus_on_GW170817|access-date = October 29, 2017|archive-date = September 13, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180913111858/http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205/page/Focus_on_GW170817|url-status = live}}</ref> when both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from the event are detected.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger|first1 = B. P.|last1 = Abbott|display-authors = etal|collaboration = [[LIGO Scientific Collaboration]] & [[Virgo interferometer|Virgo Collaboration]]|journal = [[The Astrophysical Journal Letters]]|volume = 848|issue = 2|doi-access = free|doi = 10.3847/2041-8213/aa91c9|page = L12|year = 2017|arxiv = 1710.05833|bibcode = 2017ApJ...848L..12A}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A|first1 = B. P.|last1 = Abbott|display-authors = etal|collaboration = [[LIGO Scientific Collaboration]] & [[Virgo interferometer|Virgo Collaboration]]|journal = [[The Astrophysical Journal Letters]]|volume = 848|issue = 2|doi-access = free|doi = 10.3847/2041-8213/aa920c|page = L13|year = 2017|arxiv = 1710.05834|bibcode = 2017ApJ...848L..13A}}</ref> Data from the event provided confirmatory evidence for the [[r-process]] theory of the origin of heavy elements like gold.<ref>{{cite news|first = Lisa M.|last = Krieger|title = A Bright Light Seen Across The Universe, Proving Einstein Right – Violent collisions source of our gold, silver|newspaper = [[The Mercury News]]|date = October 16, 2017|access-date = October 29, 2017|url = http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/16/a-bright-light-seen-across-the-universe-proving-einstein-right/|archive-date = October 16, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171016140304/http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/16/a-bright-light-seen-across-the-universe-proving-einstein-right/|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = The Emergence of a Lanthanide-rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars|first1 = N. R.|last1 = Tanvir|display-authors=etal|journal = [[The Astrophysical Journal Letters]]|volume = 848|issue = 2|doi-access = free|doi = 10.3847/2041-8213/aa90b6|page = L27|year = 2017|arxiv = 1710.05455|bibcode = 2017ApJ...848L..27T}}</ref>
** [[2017 Barcelona attacks]]: 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drives a van into pedestrians on [[La Rambla, Barcelona|La Rambla]] in [[Barcelona]], killing 13 people and injuring at least 130 others.
* [[August 18]] – The [[2017 Turku stabbing|first terrorist attack]] ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two people and injures eight others. Islamic terrorist Abderrahman Bouanane, a Moroccan man carried out the ISIS-inspired attack in southwest Finland.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/06/15/world/europe/ap-eu-finland-stabbings.html|title=Asylum-Seeker Gets Life After Finland's First Terror Trial|date=2018-06-15|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-06-16|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615163413/https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/06/15/world/europe/ap-eu-finland-stabbings.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-finland-stabbings/knife-attacker-sentenced-to-life-by-a-finnish-court-idUSKBN1JB15F|title=Knife attacker sentenced to life by a Finnish court|last=Rosendahl|first=Jussi|date=2018-06-15|work=Reuters|access-date=2018-06-16|archive-date=June 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616023521/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-finland-stabbings/knife-attacker-sentenced-to-life-by-a-finnish-court-idUSKBN1JB15F|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[August 21]] – A [[total solar eclipse]] (nicknamed "[[Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017|The Great American Eclipse]]")<ref>{{cite magazine|first = Edward|last = Steed|date = September 4, 2017|title = The Great American Eclipse of 2017|magazine = [[The New Yorker]]|access-date = October 29, 2017|url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/11/the-great-american-eclipse-of-2017|archive-date = August 15, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180815091120/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/11/the-great-american-eclipse-of-2017|url-status = live}}</ref> is visible within a band across the entire contiguous United States of America, passing from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. The moon was just 3 days past [[perigee]], making it relatively large.<ref>{{cite magazine|first = Melissa|last = Chan|date = July 25, 2017|title = The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse: Everything You Need to Know|magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date = October 29, 2017|url = https://time.com/4750899/total-solar-eclipse/|archive-date = July 29, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170729101012/http://time.com/4750899/total-solar-eclipse/|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = What the 2017 Solar Eclipse Taught Us About Boosting Public Interest in Science|first = Nola Taylor|last = Redd|website = [[space.com]]|publisher = [[Purch Group]]|date = September 29, 2017|access-date = October 29, 2017|url = https://www.space.com/38318-solar-eclipse-2017-house-science-hearing.html|archive-date = October 4, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191004061605/https://www.space.com/38318-solar-eclipse-2017-house-science-hearing.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/great-american-eclipse/full-episodes/great-american-eclipse|date=August 22, 2017|access-date=October 29, 2017|title=The Great American Eclipse|publisher=[[Science Channel]]|last=Massimino|first=Mike (narrator)|author-link=Mike Massimino|archive-date=April 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408053150/https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/great-american-eclipse/full-episodes/great-american-eclipse|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[August 25]]–ongoing – A [[2017 Rohingya persecution in Myanmar|military operation]] targeting [[Rohingya people|Rohingya Muslims]] in [[Myanmar]] "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", according to the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Rohingya crisis: UN sees 'ethnic cleansing' in Myanmar|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41224108|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=BBC News|date=September 11, 2017|archive-date=January 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111044922/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41224108|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[August 25]]–[[August 30|30]] – [[Hurricane Harvey]] strikes the United States as a [[Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 4|Category&nbsp;4 hurricane]], causing catastrophic damage to the [[Houston metropolitan area]], mostly due to record-breaking floods. At least 108 deaths are recorded, and total damage reaches $125&nbsp;billion (2017 [[United States dollar|USD]]), making Harvey the costliest natural disaster in United States history, tied with [[Hurricane Katrina]] in 2005.<ref name="TCR">{{cite report|author1=Eric S. Blake|author2=David A. Zelinsky|publisher=National Hurricane Center|date=January 23, 2018|access-date=January 29, 2018|title=Hurricane Harvey (AL092017)|series=Tropical Cyclone Report|url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092017_Harvey.pdf|archive-date=January 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126083538/https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092017_Harvey.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NOAACostliest>{{cite report|archive-date=January 27, 2018|url-status=live|date=January 12, 2018|title=Costliest U.S. tropical cyclones tables update|access-date=January 12, 2018|publisher=United States National Hurricane Center|url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/UpdatedCostliest.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127083930/https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/UpdatedCostliest.pdf}}</ref>