Historical timeline for August 15

US president Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the first such summit since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban as Ashraf Ghani flees Afghanistan along with local residents and foreign nationals, effectively reestablishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Russia begins production on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 81⁄2 hours ahead of UTC.

At least 27 people are killed and 226 injured in an explosion in southern Beirut near a complex used by Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. A previously unknown Syrian Sunni group claims responsibility in an online video.

The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years.

An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru, killing 514 and injuring 1,090.

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.

The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia is signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.

Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria: Some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.

Apple introduces the iMac computer.

Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.

In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel (she drops out less than a week later).

Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister of Japan, releases the Murayama Statement, which formally expresses remorse for Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5510 crashes after takeoff from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, killing 34 of the 40 people on board.

Signing of the Assam Accord, an agreement between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement to end the movement.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey starts a campaign of armed attacks upon the Turkish Armed Forces with an attack on police and gendarmerie bases in Şemdinli and Eruh.

The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

SAETA Flight 011 crashes into the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, killing all 59 people on board; the wreckage is not discovered until 2002.

Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.