Portal:Current events

Arts and culture

• Papal inauguration mass of Pope Leo XIV begins. (Sky News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Polish presidential election
  • Poles vote in the first round to choose their president. (Times of India)
• 2025 Romanian presidential election
  • Romanians vote in the second round to choose their president between far-right George Simion and centrist Nicusor Dan. (DW)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip
    • More than 150 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours. (AP) (Reuters)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • A bus evacuating civilians is attacked by a Russian drone near Bilopillia, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, killing nine people and injuring five others. (Ukrainska Pravda)
• Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute
  • The chief of the Guyana Defence Force, Omar Khan, says that military reinforcement have been sent to the Cuyuní River area after Venezuelan civilians shot at Guyanese soldiers on Thursday, as tensions between both nations increase over a referendum by Venezuela on the Essequibo. (Infobae)
• War against the Islamic State
  • The Ministry of Interior of Syria announces that its armed forces carried out a military operation in a southern neighborhood of Aleppo, where it killed a member of Islamic State, arrested another, and seized weapons, explosives and uniforms with official insignia. A security forces member is also killed in the confrontation. (The Media Line)
• Terrorism in the United States
  • 2025 Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing
    • One person is killed, four others are injured and significant damage is reported in a car bombing at a fertility clinic near the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California, United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the explosion was an act of terrorism. (The Desert Sun) (BNO News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Eura mid-air collision
  • Five people, including Estonian businessmen Oleg Sõnajalg and Priit Jaagant, are killed when two Robinson R44 civilian helicopters en route to Piikajärvi Airfield collide mid-air and crash into the ground in a forested area near Eura, Satakunta, Finland. (Eesti Rahvusringhääling)
• Tornado outbreak sequence of May 15–16, 2025
  • The death toll from severe weather yesterday, including likely tornadoes, in St. Louis, Missouri, and Somerset, Kentucky, United States, rises to 31. More severe weather is expected today near the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. (NPR) (AP)
• ARM Cuauhtémoc Brooklyn Bridge collision
  • Two crew members are killed and twenty-five others are injured, including two critically, when Mexican Navy training ship ARM Cuauhtémoc (BE01) with a crew of 277 people on a festive visit collides with the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, New York, United States. A search and rescue operation is currently underway. (FDNY) (Eric Adams) (The New York Post)

International relations

• Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda relations
  • Hundreds of Rwandan refugees from the 1994 genocide return to Rwanda under the auspices of a United Nations program. The refugees, mostly Hutu civilians, were residing in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AP)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in Iran, Blasphemy law in Iran
  • The Supreme Court of Iran overturns a 5-year prison sentence imposed by a Tehran court against singer Amir Tataloo and confirms his death sentence for blasphemy. Tataloo had been extradited from Turkey in 2023. (News Central Africa)
• Mass shootings in the United States
  • Three people are killed and another person is critically injured in a mass shooting outside of a nightclub in Seattle, Washington, United States. No arrests have been made. (KOMO-TV)
• Eight people are killed in a mass shooting by unidentified gunmen inside a tavern in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A manhunt for the suspects has been launched. (CBS News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Philippine general election
  • The twelve winning candidates of the Senate election held on May 12 are officially proclaimed as senators-elect. The Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas coalition of President Bongbong Marcos wins the most seats, with six. However, one of its members, Senator-elect Camille Villar, is also a candidate of the opposition coalition DuterTen, supported by Vice President Sara Duterte, which won a total of five seats. (Inquirer.net) (ABS-CBN News)
• Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol leaves the People Power Party a month after the Constitutional Court of Korea removed him from office due to his short-lived declaration of martial law. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2024–25 FA Cup
  • In English football, Crystal Palace wins the FA Cup after defeating Manchester City 1–0 in the final played at Wembley Stadium in London. It is Crystal Palace's first major trophy in the club's 119-year history. (Fox Sports)
• 2024–25 Ligue 1
  • In association football, Paris Saint-Germain defeat AJ Auxerre 3-1 to become champions, lifting PSG's trophy and ending the 2024–25 Ligue 1 season. (BBC Sport)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip
    • More than 74 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since midnight. (RTÉ News)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The Israeli Air Force launches airstrikes on the ports of Hudaydah and Salif in Houthi-controlled Yemen, as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Israel Katz warn that if the Houthis persist in attacking Israel, their leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi will be directly targeted. (Al Arabiya)
• Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan
  • A locally renowned doctor in Sargodha, Pakistan, belonging to the Ahmadiyya community, is killed after an unknown assailant shoots him twice in the back. (Dawn)

Business and economy

• United States federal government credit-rating downgrades
  • Moody's Ratings lowers the United States' credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing the government's rising debt, widening deficits, and increased interest payments. (USA Today)

Disasters and accidents

• Tornado outbreak sequence of May 15–16, 2025
  • A tornado strikes St. Louis, Missouri. At least 5 people are killed, 35-45 others are injured and more than 100,000 are without power in the St. Louis metropolitan area following severe weather in the city and surrounding areas. (Associated Press) (KSDK)
• Five people are killed and three others are injured by a landslide at a hydropower plant construction site in Phong Thổ, Lai Châu province, Vietnam. (News.az)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Angola, 2023 Gabonese coup d'état
  • The Government of Angola says that former President of Gabon Ali Bongo, along with former First Lady Sylvia Bongo Ondimba and their son Noureddin Bongo Valentin arrived last night in Angola, where they received asylum "for humanitarian reasons", days after their release from prison, where they had been since the 2023 coup. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Stabbing of Salman Rushdie
  • A court in New York, United States sentences 27-year old Hadi Matar to 25 years in prison for the August 2022 stabbing attack on Indian-British-American author Salman Rushdie, which left Rushdie severely injured while he was giving a talk in Chautauqua. (AP)
• 2025 Las Vegas gym shooting
  • At least two people are killed, including the perpetrator and four others are injured, including one critically, in a mass shooting and shootout when a man opens fire inside of a gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (KTNV)
• Ten inmates take part in a mass escape from the Orleans Parish jail in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Three are recaptured; the other seven remain fugitives. (The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate)
• International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan temporarily steps aside from his role while the United Nations investigates the sexual misconduct allegations against him. (The Washington Post)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso
  • Islamist militant group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin claims it killed 200 soldiers in an attack on a military base on Sunday in Djibo, Sahel, Burkina Faso. They also claimed responsibility for the Diapaga attack this week at a military post in Loroum Province that killed 60 soldiers. (Al Jazeera)
• Papua conflict
  • The Indonesian military confirms that 18 Papuan separatists and three civilians were killed in yesterday's military operation in Intan Jaya Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. (Reuters) (detikcom)

Arts and culture

• A long-lost version of the British Magna Carta, dating to 1300 in the reign of King Edward I, is believed to have been found at Harvard University in the United States. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Canadian wildfires
  • Two people are killed and more than 1,000 others evacuate after wildfires spread across central Manitoba, Canada. (Euronews)
• Sinking of the Bayesian
  • British investigators say the cause of the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht that killed seven people, including billionaire tech magnate Mike Lynch in Italy in 2024, is from being knocked over by extreme wind and could not recover. (CTV News)
• Five people are killed and three others are injured after a van drives into the back of a truck on the national road 2 in Konotopa, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. (TVN24)
• Three people, including two firefighters, are killed and two other firefighters are seriously injured in a fire at a former Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire, England. (BBC News)

International relations

• Iran–United States relations
  • 2025 US–Iran negotiations
    • U.S. president Donald Trump says that the U.S. and Iran have "sort of" agreed on the terms of a deal on Iran's nuclear program, which reportedly includes Iran agreeing to give up highly enriched uranium while keeping lower-grade uranium needed for civilian nuclear power, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. (AP)
• Myanmar–Vietnam relations
  • According to the Vietnamese foreign ministry, more than 650 Vietnamese nationals are detained for immigration violations in Myanmar. The Vietnamese public security ministry has repatriated 450 people, most are victims of scam centers, with 200 still in Myanmar. (Vietnam+) (Việt Nam News)
• Visa policy of mainland China
  • At the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry announces it will allow nationals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay to enter the country without a travel visa starting June 1. (AP)

Law and crime

• LGBT rights in Russia, Russian anti-LGBTQ law
  • Russian media reports that police raided the publisher office of Eksmo Publishing House yesterday and arrested several of its employees, accusing them of spreading "LGBTQ+ extremism". (The Moscow Times)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Australian Greens leadership election
  • Larissa Waters is elected leader of the Australian Greens, following the resignation of Adam Bandt after the party's poor performance at the 2025 Australian federal election. (ABC News)

Sports

• 2024–25 La Liga
  • In association football, FC Barcelona win their 28th title in the 94th season of La Liga after defeating city rivals RCD Espanyol 2–0 with two matches to spare. (ESPN) (The Independent)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Gaza war
    • Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip
      • Israeli airstrikes kill at least 80 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip. (Reuters)
  • Palestinian political violence
    • Two Israelis, including a pregnant woman and her child, are critically wounded in a shooting near Brukhin in the West Bank. (The Jerusalem Post) (YNet)
• Hezbollah–Israel conflict
  • Israeli invasion of Lebanon
    • The Israel Defense Forces claim that a drone strike in Qaaqaait al-Jisr, Nabatieh Governorate, Lebanon, killed a Hezbollah commander. (The Times of Israel)

• Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
  • Operation Black Forest
    • Indian authorities declare a "major success" in a military operation against Naxal insurgents in the border between the states of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, killing 31 militants, including top leaders of the Maoist group. (The Hindustan Times)

Disasters and accidents

• Two hikers are found dead and seven others are rescued after they were swept away by a river while hiking near Didier Waterfall on the island of Martinique. (AP)

International relations

• China–Colombia relations
  • Colombia joins China's Belt and Road Initiative during the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing. (AFP via RFI)
• Syria–United States relations
  • U.S. president Donald Trump meets with Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa during a trip to Saudi Arabia prior to departing for Qatar, marking the first meeting between a U.S. and Syrian president since 2000. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Immigration to Argentina
  • Argentine president Javier Milei orders restrictions on immigration to Argentina, saying that immigrants are bringing "chaos and abuse" to Argentina. (AP)
• Tajik president Emomali Rahmon signs a law decriminalizing the "liking" of posts on social media publicly calling for terrorism or other serious crimes. (Reuters)
• Russian election observer Grigory Melkonyants [ru] is convicted on charges of working with an "undesirable organization" and sentenced to five years in prison. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

• Deportation of undocumented Afghans from Pakistan
  • Pakistani interior minister Mohsin Naqvi says that more than 1 million Afghans have been deported back to Afghanistan since November 2023 as Pakistani authorities intensify a crackdown on illegal immigration. (AMU TV)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • 2025 Gaza European Hospital strikes
    • At least 28 people are killed in an Israeli air strike that struck the Gaza European Hospital, which the Israeli military claims had a Hamas command and control centre beneath the building. (BBC News)
• Puntland counter-terrorism operations
  • Three Al-Shabaab fighters, including a senior commander, are killed in a coordinated operation by the Somali National Army in Jowle, Mudug, Puntland. (Garowe Online)

Business and economy

• Microsoft Inc. abruptly lays off 6,000 people, 3% of its global workforce, citing workforce productivity. (AP) (GeekWire)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Russian wildfires
  • A state of emergency is declared in Buryatia, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia, as firefighters fight wildfires currently burning more than 53,000 hectares. (The Moscow Times)
• Fourteen people are killed and four others are hospitalized after drinking toxic liquor in Amritsar, Punjab, India. (AP)

International relations

• Syria–United States relations
  • US President Donald Trump announces that the United States will lift all sanctions imposed on Syria under the previous regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and expresses willingness to work with the Syrian transitional government. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Armed conflict for control of the favelas
  • Brazilian Military Police kill the main leader of the Terceiro Comando Puro, a drug trafficking criminal organization, and two other suspected members, in a shootout in the Maré favela in Rio de Janeiro. (AP) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Politics and elections

• Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
  • Puntland counter-terrorism operations
    • A spokesperson for the Puntland Security Force confirms that Puntland has acquired four military helicopters to support ongoing military operations against Islamic State militants in the region. (Garowe Online)
• 2025 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election
  • Sussan Ley is elected as the new leader of the Liberal Party of Australia following the party's defeat at Saturday's federal election. Ley is the first woman to hold the post. (Reuters)
• 2025 Malian protests, 2020 Malian coup d'état
  • Malian interim president Assimi Goïta signs a decree dissolving all political parties and organizations and bans them from holding meetings following ongoing pro-democracy protests in the capital city Bamako. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
• Prime Minister of Peru Gustavo Adrianzén resigns a day before a vote of censure against him over rising crime in Peru. (Reuters)

Sports

• Major League Baseball
  • Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred announces that all deceased individuals on the permanent ineligible list will be reinstated, allowing players like Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. (ESPN)

• 2024–25 Serie B
  • Multiple European and domestic title winners UC Sampdoria are relegated to the third tier of the Italian football league system for the first time in their 78 year history. (ESPN), (BBC Sport), (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Gaza war hostage crisis
    • Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander is released by Hamas after being kept in captivity in Gaza for 19 months since the October 7 attack. (Reuters)
• Libyan crisis
  • 2025 Tripoli clashes
    • Clashes erupt between rival militia gunmen from the 444th Brigade and the Stability Support Apparatus in Tripoli, Libya, after the assassination of Commander Abdel Ghani al-Kikli. Six people are injured, and a state of emergency is declared by authorities. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera English)
• Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency
  • At its 12th Congress, the Kurdistan Workers' Party announces an immediate halt to its insurgent activities in Turkey and plans for its formal dissolution. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
• Myanmar civil war
  • The National Unity Government of Myanmar says that an airstrike by junta forces killed 17 students and injured 20 others at a school in Tabayin, Sagaing Region. (Reuters)
• Syrian civil war
  • The remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by Islamic State militants are found in a search by Qatar and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in the remote town of Dabiq, Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (CTV News)
• Unknown gunmen attack a Chinese artisanal gold mine in Narena, Koulikoro Region, Mali, killing one Malian and two others from Ghana, and abducting two Chinese nationals. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Thirteen people are killed by an expired ammunition explosion in Garut Regency, West Java, Indonesia. (Jakarta Globe)

International relations

• China–United States trade war
  • The U.S. and China agree to a trade deal in which, for 90 days, U.S. tariffs on most Chinese goods will drop from 145% to 30%, while China's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods will drop from 125% to 10%. (BBC News)
• Immigration policy of the second Donald Trump administration, South Africa–United States relations
  • The first group of Afrikaners arrive in the United States after U.S. president Donald Trump grants refugee status to the white minority group, who Trump says face a "genocide" in the South African farm attacks. The government of South Africa rejects the claims. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Philippine general election
  • Filipinos vote to elect all 317 members of the House of Representatives and 12 members of the Senate, in addition to local elections. (Asian Journal) (Reuters)