Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Kivu conflict
  • Four people are killed and three others are injured in an armed ambush on a convoy near the village of Kivandya, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. One person is also reported missing. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Emilia-Romagna floods
  • The death toll from the floods in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, increases to thirteen, with five more deaths reported in Ravenna. (Il Fatto Quotidiano)
• A five-alarm fire in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States engulfs two large buildings under construction, causing them to collapse. Emergency personnel rescue fifteen construction workers, with one worker reported missing and another reported killed. (USA Today), (WSOC-TV)

Law and crime

• 2017 New York City truck attack
  • Sayfullo Saipov is given ten life sentences and an additional 260 years in prison for killing eight people and injuring 12 others in a 2017 vehicle-ramming attack in New York City, United States. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Southern Ukraine campaign
    • Russian forces shell Ukrainian-held areas of Kherson Oblast, killing at least five civillians, including a child, while 17 others are reportedly injured. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Emilia-Romagna floods
  • Eight people are killed in Forlì–Cesena, Ravenna and Bologna, and 20,000 are evacuated during heavy floods in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Twenty-three rivers have overflowed their banks across the region. (AP)
  • The 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which was scheduled to be held at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola from May 19–21, is cancelled because of the floods. (BBC News)
• Lu Peng Yuan Yu sinking
  • The Chinese government reports that the fishing vessel Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028 capsized in the central Indian Ocean on Tuesday. China and other countries are conducting search operations for 39 sailors, including Chinese, Indonesian, and Filipino nationals. (AP via NBC News) (DW)

Health and environment

• According to the World Meteorological Organization, the global temperature will temporarily pass the threshold of 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels, with a likelihood of 66%, by the year 2027, due to a combination of climate change and El Niño. (BBC News)

International relations

• France–Ukraine relations
  • The French Senate votes to recognize the 1932 Holodomor famine as a "genocide" of Ukrainians. (Interfax) (Al Jazeera)
• Iran–Russia relations
  • Russian president Vladimir Putin signs an investment program deal that will make an investment of 1.6 billion euros in Iranian railroad projects, which are expected to begin operation within 48 months. (Tasnim)

Law and crime

• Censorship of TikTok, Restrictions on TikTok in the United States
  • Montana Assembly Bill 419
    • Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signs a bill banning TikTok, making Montana the first U.S. state to ban the Chinese-owned social media app. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Thailand
  • A court in Thailand sentences the former mayor of Wang Wiset district to death for the murder of an activist in May 2021. The hitman received a sentence of life imprisonment. (The Thaiger)
• Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele deploys 5,000 soldiers and 500 police officers to the northwestern town of Nueva Concepción in order to arrest suspects in connection with the killing of a policeman on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Ecuadorian political crisis
  • Amid ongoing impeachment proceedings, Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso uses the muerte cruzada provision of the Constitution to dissolve the National Assembly. Fresh presidential and legislative elections will be held within 97 days, during which time Lasso will be able to rule by decree. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • 2022–2023 Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • More than a dozen explosions are reported in Kyiv as Russia launches a missile barrage at the capital and other Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian forces say that they have shot down six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. (Financial Times) (Reuters)
    • The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that it destroyed a Patriot air defense system in Kyiv. However a United States official says that the system was likely damaged but not destroyed. (CNN)
• Herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria
  • Twenty people are killed by armed attackers in a village in Plateau State, Nigeria. (Reuters)
• Nine people are arrested after an alleged Iranian-backed coup d'état plot is uncovered in Azerbaijan. (Barron's)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll from Cyclone Mocha's landfall in Myanmar, increases to 81 people. The majority of casualties and damage occurred in the Rakhine State. (CNA)
• Wellington hostel fire
  • Six people are killed and eleven others are reported missing in a fire at a hostel in Wellington, New Zealand. (NZ Herald)

International relations

• Ukraine–NATO relations
  • Ukraine officially joins NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. (Ukrainska Pravda)

Law and crime

• LGBT rights in Namibia
  • The Supreme Court of Namibia recognises foreign same-sex marriages between citizens. However, homosexual acts remain illegal in Namibia under a rarely enforced colonial-era law from 1927. (AFP via Macau Business)
• Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa signs a law legalizing euthanasia. (AFP via The Straits Times) (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Politics and elections

• The impeachment trial against Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso begins, with Lasso attending in person for his defense. (AP)

Science and technology

• Meta Platforms begins introducing paid verification on Facebook and Instagram for users in the United Kingdom. (BBC News)

Business and economy

• American-Canadian mass media company Vice Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Reuters) (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• One person is killed and 59 others are injured when a bus and a truck collide on the D2 motorway in Slovakia. (AP)
• One person is killed and two others are injured after a fire breaks out in a refinery in Texas City, Texas, United States. (Reuters)

International relations

• 2023 visit by Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Europe
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Chequers. (BBC News)
• Moldova announces that it will initiate a procedure to withdraw from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. (Anadolu Agency)

Law and crime

• China–United States relations
  • China convicts and sentences American citizen John Shing-Wan Leung to life in prison for espionage. (AP)
• Capital punishment in Malaysia
  • The government of Malaysia announces that it will introduce a bill to decriminalize the possession and use of small quantities of illicit drugs after ending the mandatory imposition of a death sentence for drug trafficking earlier this year. (Reuters)
• 2023 Farmington, New Mexico shooting
  • Three civilians are killed and two police officers are injured in a mass shooting in Farmington, New Mexico, United States. The shooter is killed by police. (CNN)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Battle of Donbas
    • The Russian Ministry of Defence announces the deaths of two of their commanders in Bakhmut and the village of Sontsivka west of Donetsk. (Novaya Gazeta Europe)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Bangladesh and Myanmar order massive evacuations as Cyclone Mocha makes landfall in both countries' coastal areas. Six people are killed in Myanmar, with about 90% of the city of Sittwe being destroyed. (BBC News)
• At least 26 people are killed when a van crashes into a truck in Tamaulipas, Mexico. (AP)

International relations

• 2023 visit by Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Europe
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Germany. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Turkish presidential election, 2023 Turkish parliamentary election
  • Turks head to the polls to elect a president for a term of five years as well as the members of the Grand National Assembly. (Al Jazeera)
• 2023 Thai general election
  • Thais head to the polls to elect the members of the House of Representatives. (Los Angeles Times)
• Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko addresses the nation on the anniversary of the 1995 Belarusian referendum, one day after it was reported that President Alexander Lukashenko had been hospitalised. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Gaza–Israel conflict
    • 2023 Gaza–Israel clashes
      • Airstrikes on the Gaza Strip destroy two neighborhoods. Meanwhile, a Palestinian worker is killed and another is injured by rocket shrapnel in the Negev. (Al Jazeera)
      • Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shehab announces that the group accepted a ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt, while the IDF says they will tentatively support it. (Al Jazeera)
    • Israeli soldiers storm a refugee camp in Nablus, West Bank, killing two people and injuring three others. (Al Jazeera)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • 2022–2023 Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Russia launches cruise missiles at the city of Ternopil in Western Ukraine, injuring two civilians. (BBC News)
  • Two Russian Mi-8 helicopters and two fighter jets, an Su-34 and an Su-35, are reportedly shot down in Bryansk Oblast. (Reuters via MSN)
• 2023 Sudan conflict
  • 2023 Sudanese refugee crisis
    • Ethiopia reports large numbers of Sudanese refugees entering its territory, mainly in the city of Metemma, where nearly 20,000 Sudanese are reported to have entered in a single day. (Addis Standard)

Arts and culture

• Eurovision Song Contest 2023
  • Loreen, representing Sweden, wins the Grand Final in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Tattoo". It is Sweden's 7th win, and Loreen's 2nd, making her the first woman to win the contest more than once. (The Guardian)

International relations

• Russia–South Africa relations, South Africa–United States relations
  • Lady R incident
    • South Africa says that it maintains a neutral and non-aligned stance in regards to the Russo-Ukrainian War after U.S. ambassador Reuben Brigety accused South Africa of loading a sanctioned Russian ship with weapons in December 2022, causing a diplomatic crisis between the United States and South Africa. (Reuters)
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Pope Francis during a private audience in the Vatican. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2023 French Polynesian legislative election
  • Moetai Brotherson of the pro-independence Tāvini Huiraʻatira party is elected President of French Polynesia by the Assembly. (RNZ)
• 2023 Mauritanian parliamentary election
  • Mauritanians head to the polls to elect the 176 members of the National Assembly. (Newscentral Africa)
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is reportedly hospitalised at the Presidential Clinic in Drazdy, amidst non-attendance at public appearances and apparent ill health during the 2023 Moscow Victory Day Parade. (Ukrainska Pravda)