Portal:Current events
Topics in the news
- The European Union passes the Artificial Intelligence Act, aiming to establish a regulatory and legal framework for AI.
- A helicopter crash near Varzaqan, Iran, kills eight people, including President Ebrahim Raisi (pictured) and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
- In boxing, Oleksandr Usyk defeats Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in twenty-four years.
- Protests over voting rights changes break out in the French territory of New Caledonia.
International relations
- Cross-Strait relations
- The People's Liberation Army begins military drills around the island of Taiwan. Taiwan mobilizes its military in response. (BBC News) (Reuters)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Sweden announces US$7 billion in military aid to Ukraine from 2024 to 2026. (Bloomberg)
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Russia seizes the village of Klishchiivka in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- At least two people are killed and four are injured by Ukrainian shelling in Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- Russia returns six Ukrainian children displaced by the war back to Ukraine, in a deal brokered by Qatar. (Al Jazeera)
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 San Pedro Garza García stage collapse
- At least nine people are killed and 50 are injured after a structure collapsed due to a gust of wind at a campaign event for the Citizens' Movement party in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo León, México. (Reuters)
International relations
- International recognition of the State of Palestine
- Norway–Palestine relations, Ireland–Palestine relations, Palestine–Spain relations
- The governments of Norway, Ireland, and Spain announce that they will recognise the State of Palestine as a sovereign state beginning on May 28, and also call for a two-state solution. In response, Israel recalls its ambassadors to these countries. (BBC News)
- Norway–Palestine relations, Ireland–Palestine relations, Palestine–Spain relations
- Russia–NATO relations
- The Russian Ministry of Defence proposes to unilaterally adjust Russia's maritime border in the Baltic Sea. However, following comments made by Baltic members of NATO, including Finland and Lithuania, the Ministry of Defense retracts the proposal. (Reuters) (BBC News)
Law and crime
- 2024 Bishkek riots
- The Kyrgyz Ministry of Internal Affairs announces that ten people, including four foreigners, have been detained in connection with violent riots that occurred in Bishkek last week. (RFE/RL)
Politics and elections
- 2024 Chadian presidential election
- Chadian Prime Minister Succès Masra of the transitional government resigns after Mahamat Déby is elected President. (Al Jazeera)
- 2024 United Kingdom general election
- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces that the next general election will be held on 4 July. (CNN)
- 2024 Vietnamese presidential election
- Vietnam's security minister, General Tô Lâm, is elected President by the National Assembly, two months after the resignation of Võ Văn Thưởng amid the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption campaign. (DW)
- President of the United States Joe Biden announces a student loan debt cancellation of $7.7 billion for 160,000 people. (Al Jazeera)
- German far-right party Alternative for Germany bans Maximilian Krah, its leading candidate in European elections, from further activities due to his comments defending members of the Schutzstaffel (SS). (Al Jazeera)
Science and technology
- Russia launches a Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the Kosmos 2576 satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome launch site in Arkhangelsk Oblast. The United States Space Command accuses it of being an anti-satellite weapon capable of attacking other satellites, and is in the same orbit as a satellite operated by the National Reconnaissance Office. (Al Jazeera)
- The United Nations Security Council votes against a resolution introduced by Russia and China banning member states from placing weapons in outer space. (Space.com)
Sports
- 2024 UEFA Europa League final
- Atalanta win the Europa League Final over Bayer Leverkusen by a score of 3–0, ending Bayer Leverkusen's record of 51 unbeaten games (The Guardian)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas War
- Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war
- Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war
- The Israeli army launches a raid on the city of Jenin in the West Bank, with sources claiming that seven Palestinians were killed. (Reuters)
- Nigerian bandit conflict
- Gunmen kill 40 people in an attack on a village in Nigeria's Plateau State. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- Jenny Erpenbeck wins the International Booker Prize for her novel Kairos, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. (The Guardian)
Business and economy
- Pixar Animation Studios lays off 14% of its workforce, approximately 175 people. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Singapore Airlines Flight 321
- A Singapore Airlines flight from London, England, to Singapore makes an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, after experiencing severe air turbulence over the Bay of Bengal, resulting in one death and at least 30 injuries. (BBC News)
- Eleven workers drown after a microbus falls off a ferry into the Nile River in Giza, Egypt. (Al-Ahram)
- At least five people are killed and 35 are injured as a strong tornado devastates the town of Greenfield, Iowa, United States. A Doppler on Wheels unit records a wind gust of between 250 mph (400 km/h) and 290 mph (470 km/h) over Greenfield, the strongest winds recorded inside a tornado by a mobile weather radar since the 2013 El Reno tornado, equivalent to EF5 intensity on the Enhanced Fujita scale. (AP) (University of Illinois)
International relations
- Argentina–Spain relations
- Spain permanently recalls its ambassador from Argentina amid a diplomatic crisis over President of Argentina Javier Milei's comments about Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez. (CNN)
- Moldova–European Union relations
- Moldova becomes the first non-European Union (EU) signatory country to sign a security and defense pact with the EU to receive assistance in strengthening and managing its borders, facilitating cooperation in cybersecurity, and combating disinformation. (Politico)
- A Swiss parliamentary committee rejects a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that alleged the country violated its citizens' human rights by not doing enough to prevent climate change. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Censorship in Israel
- The Israeli Ministry of Communications seizes broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press and suspends their live feed of Gaza, accusing them of breaking the new media law by supplying images to Al Jazeera. (AP)
- Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton is reported to be on life support after being physically attacked in a prison in Port-Cartier, Quebec. (Vancouver Sun)
- The European Union passes the Artificial Intelligence Act, to be applied in 2026. The act imposes strict transparency obligations on AI systems, restricts governments from using real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces, and bans social scoring, predictive policing, and untargeted scraping of facial images. (Reuters)
- A court in Saint Petersburg, Russia, sentences Anatoly Maslov, a 77-year-old hypersonic missiles expert, to 14 years in prison for state treason. (Reuters)
- The Netherlands moves to ban international adoptions. (Reuters)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- International reactions to the Israel–Hamas war, War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war
- Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requests arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas political leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, and Al-Qassam Brigades leader Mohammed Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. (Reuters)
- International reactions to the Israel–Hamas war, War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war
- Haitian crisis
- Gang war in Haiti
- Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reopens after being closed for three months due to gang violence, as the US military flies in supplies and civilian contractors to help the police in order to pave a way for an intervention. (AP)
- Gang war in Haiti
Business and economy
- Red Lobster, an American restaurant chain, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (NPR)
Disasters and accidents
- Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
- The container ship Dali is freed from bridge debris since its initial collision on March 26 and is escorted by tugboats back to the port of Baltimore. (AP)
Law and crime
- Russian military commissariats attacks
- A court in Novosibirsk, Russia, sentences a 24-year-old man to 25 years in prison for allegedly plotting an arson attack on a military recruitment office with alleged directions from Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- Judges grant Julian Assange permission to appeal his extradition order from the United Kingdom to the United States. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 19th Congress of the Philippines
- Migz Zubiri resigns as President of the Senate of the Philippines and is replaced by Francis Escudero. (KPL/VNA)
- 2024 South African general election
- The Constitutional Court of South Africa rules that former President Jacob Zuma is ineligible to run in the upcoming parliamentary election due to his 2021 jail sentence. (Al Jazeera)
- First vice president of Iran Mohammad Mokhber becomes acting president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi. (Al Jazeera)
- Lai Ching-te is sworn in as President of Taiwan, with Hsiao Bi-khim as his Vice President. (Al Jazeera)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2024 Democratic Republic of the Congo coup attempt
- The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo say that they foiled a coup by armed men in Kinshasa that killed two police officers and four attackers, including the coup's leader, Christian Malanga, a opposition leader of the United Congolese Party. Around 50 attackers, including Malanga's 20-year-old son and a US citizen from Maryland, are arrested. (AP)
- 2024 New Caledonia unrest
- France deploys law enforcement to New Caledonia to regain control of the road to La Tontouta International Airport, which is currently controlled by protesters. (Reuters)
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- At least six people are killed and 27 others are injured in a Russian double tap missile strike on a recreation area near Kharkiv. Separately, five people are killed and nine others are injured in a Russian strike using a multiple launch rocket system on two villages in Kupiansk Raion, Kharkiv Oblast. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash
- A Bell 212 helicopter crashes in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, killing all the eight people on board, including President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. (AP)
- Two people are killed and five others are missing after a boat collision on the Danube river near Verőce, Hungary. (Reuters)
- Seven villages on the island of Halmahera, Indonesia, are forced to evacuate after the Mount Ibu volcano erupts. (Reuters)
International relations
- Argentina–Spain relations
- Spain recalls its ambassador to Argentina after President of Argentina Javier Milei calls Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's wife Begoña Gómez corrupt during a rally in Madrid and also refuses to meet with King Felipe VI. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2024 Dominican Republic general election
- President Luis Abinader wins re-election with 59% of the popular vote. (BBC Mundo)
Sports
- 2023–24 Premier League
- Manchester City win the Premier League, becoming the first team in the 136-year history of the Football League to win four consecutive top-flight titles. (The Guardian)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- Israeli war cabinet
- Benny Gantz threatens to withdraw his party from the unity coalition if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't submit a post-war plan for Gaza by June 8. (Al Jazeera)
- Rafah offensive
- The Israeli army recovers the body of Ron Binyamin, who was killed and taken to Gaza by Palestinian militants in the 7 October attacks. (Reuters)
- Austria unfreezes €3.4 million (US$3.7 million) in funds to the UNRWA. (Reuters)
- Israeli war cabinet
- Myanmar civil war
- Rakhine offensive
- The Arakan Army seizes control of Buthidaung after the army captures Tatmadaw positions in the surrounding area. The town, which hosts a majority Rohingya population, is burned amidst the crossfire. (AP)
- Rakhine offensive
- 2024 New Caledonia unrest
- The death toll from the ongoing protests and riots in New Caledonia increases to six. (Al Jazeera)
Disasters and accidents
- 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods
- At least 68 people are killed by floods in Ghor and Faryab provinces, Afghanistan. (AP)
- Three people are killed and five others are injured in a boat collision on Bobs Lake in Ontario, Canada. (CBC News)
- At least 23 migrants are missing after boarding a boat travelling from Tunisia to Italy. (Reuters)
International relations
- 2024 Bishkek riots
- The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan asks that Pakistani nationals in Kyrgyzstan stay indoors after mob attacks on Pakistanis and other foreign nationals are reported. (AP)
Law and crime
- Italian financial police seize 134 Fiat cars imported from Morocco following a dispute on stickers indicating the origin of the car. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2023–2024 Georgian protests
- President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili vetoes the proposed "Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence". (The Guardian)
- LGBT rights in Peru
- Hundreds of protesters march in Lima, Peru, to demand the reversal of a new law that describes transgender people as having a mental illness. (Reuters)
- The Communist Party of Vietnam nominates Minister of Public Security Tô Lâm as the next President after Võ Văn Thưởng resigned as President in March due to the party's anti-corruption campaign. (Al Jazeera)
Sports
- 2023–24 Bundesliga
- In association football, Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen become the first Bundesliga team to finish a season unbeaten after defeating FC Augsburg on the final matchday. (The New York Times)
- 2023–24 Women's Super League
- In association football, Chelsea F.C. Women wins their 7th Women's Super League title after defeating Manchester United W.F.C. 6–0 in the final match. (Reuters)
- Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk
- In boxing, Oleksandr Usyk defeats Tyson Fury by split decision and becomes the first undisputed four-belt heavyweight champion in history. (BBC Sport)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israel–Hamas war
- Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war
- Humanitarian aid deliveries begin arriving at the U.S.-built Gaza floating pier. (Reuters)
- Rafah offensive
- The Israeli army recovers from Rafah the bodies of three people killed in the Re'im music festival massacre last October, including Shani Louk. (The New York Times)
- Hamas announces that an Israeli strike killed Sharhabil Sayed, a Hamas commander in Lebanon. (France 24)
- Israel announces that an Air Force strike killed Islaam Hamaisa, a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Jenin Brigade. (Jerusalem Post)
- Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine launches a massive drone attack across southwestern Russia, causing fires at several oil refineries, including at the port of Novorossiysk. (The New York Times)
- Kharkiv strikes
- At least three civilians are killed and 28 others are injured by Russian guided bombs in Kharkiv. (Reuters)
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2024 Bamyan shooting
- Gunmen open fire on a group of tourists in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, killing three Spanish citizens, two Afghan civilians and a Taliban guard. Seven others are injured. (Al Jazeera)
- 2024 Ulu Tiram police station attack
- Two police officers are killed and another is injured outside the Ulu Tiram police station in Johor, Malaysia. The killer is later fatally shot. Seven suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah are arrested in connection to the attack. (CNA)
- Hezbollah–Israel conflict
- Red Sea crisis
- Houthi forces shoot down a United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone with a surface-to-air missile over Marib Governorate, Yemen. Wreckage of the downed drone appears on social media. (ABC News)
Health and environment
- A child in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, dies of measles, the province's first such death since 1989. (CBC News)
International relations
- Azerbaijan–France relations, 2024 New Caledonia unrest
- France accuses Azerbaijan of being behind the protests and violence in New Caledonia after Azerbaijani and Togolese flags are seen alongside indigenous Kanak symbols at the protests. Azerbaijan has previously spoken out against French colonialism and supported pro-independence participants, in response to French support for Armenia. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- A man is shot dead by police after trying to set a synagogue on fire in Rouen, France. (BBC News)
- The RCMP identifies the killer of four people in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in 1976 and 1977 as American serial rapist Gary Allen Srery, who died in prison in 2011. (CFCN-TV)
- Iranian police arrest more than 260 people, including three European citizens, on suspicion of spreading Satanism and nudity in Iran. (ABC News)
- Police in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, arrest American golfer Scottie Scheffler, who was travelling to the 2024 PGA Championship, for assault of a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals. (AP)
Politics and elections
- A brawl breaks out in the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's parliament, following disagreements over draft reforms between the Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang. (The Independent)
Science and technology
- Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope discover the earliest known merging of black holes, 740 million years after the Big Bang. (AP)
Sports
- The annual FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, awards Brazil the host rights for the 2027 Women's World Cup. (USA Today)