Portal:Current events/2014 May 22

May 22, 2014 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
- At least 11 Ukrainian Army soldiers are killed and 30 injured when pro-Russian separatists attack a military checkpoint. (AP via Time)
- Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine declares martial law and asks Russia to send peacekeeping troops to protect civilians. (Kyiv Post)
- The unrecognised Federal State of New Russia confederation is declared and agreements were signed between leaders of two self-proclaimed republics.(Ukrainian Policy) (Voice of Russia)
Korean maritime border incidents:
- South Korean media claims that North Korea fired shells in a disputed area near a Republic of Korea Navy ship. (BBC News)
May 2014 Ürümqi attack:
- An explosion occurs in the city of Ürümqi, the capital of China's far-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, resulting in at least 31 deaths and 91 injuries. (BBC News) (RTÉ)

Business and economics

Marathon Oil agrees to buy Hess Corporation's retail gas stations for $2.87 billion. (AP via ABC)
Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever agrees to sell the brands Ragú and Bertolli to Japanese sauce producer Mizkan for $2.15 billion. (Bloomberg)
Nest Labs announces plans to recall 440,000 smoke alarms to fix a problem that could cause the alarms to not go off immediately after detecting smoke. (AP via ABC)

International relations

Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng says that his government is considering legal action against China over an oil rig that was deployed in waters that Vietnam claims. (Reuters)
Negotiations between Iran and Russia regarding the building of two additional nuclear reactors at Iran's Bushehr power plant take place. (Reuters)

Law and crime

A massive law enforcement operation in New York City, United States, and the surrounding areas leads to 71 arrests for child pornography offenses. (Al Jazeera)
The Dominican senate unanimously approves a bill which will set up a system to grant citizenship to Dominican-born children of immigrants. (BBC News)
Activision Blizzard files papers with a California court, calling for unidentified programmers that created cheats for Starcraft II to be made to compensate them for copyright infringement. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

2014 European Parliament election:
- Voters in the European Union go to the polls for a multi-day European Parliamentary election. Voters in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands vote today. (Debating Europe) (European Union)
2013–14 Thai political crisis:
- Thailand's army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha announces a coup d'état, saying the military is taking control of government. (BBC News)
United Kingdom local elections, 2014
- Voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls for local elections with the United Kingdom Independence Party making strong gains. (BBC News)

Science and technology

Sport