Portal:Current events

Topics in the news

Al-Aqsa Mosque

• At least nine people are killed in a school shooting in Kazan, Russia.
• Israeli airstrikes and Hamas militant missile launches kill dozens of people and injure hundreds more following clashes at the al-Aqsa Mosque (pictured) and elsewhere in Jerusalem.
• In Afghanistan, a bombing near a school in Kabul kills at least 85 people and injures more than 140 others.

Ongoing:

• COVID-19 pandemic

Recent deaths:

• Dennis Joseph
• Norman Lloyd
• James Dean
• Karl-Günther von Hase
• Curtis Fuller
• S. A. E. Nababan

Current events of May 13, 2021 (2021-05-13) (Thursday)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, COVID-19 vaccination in Australia
    • Moderna signs an agreement with the Australian government to buy 25 million doses of its vaccine, having announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt. (ABC Australia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
    • Thailand reports a record 4,887 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours due to emergence of jail clusters that infected 2,835 prisoners. It brings the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 93,794. (Bloomberg)

Current events of May 12, 2021 (2021-05-12) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • 2021 Afghanistan attacks
    • Mullah Mannan Niazi, the deputy leader of a splinter group of Taliban led by Mullah Rasul, is wounded and left in a coma after attackers targeted the area where he lived in Herat Province. Three of Niazi's men were killed and four others were also wounded in the clash. (TOLO News)
  • Afghan officials confirm that Nirkh District, in Maidan Wardak Province, was captured by the Taliban yesterday as the group seized the district building and set it on fire after days of intense siege. Attacks by the group have significantly increased as United States troops have started to withdraw from the country before the final deadline of September 11. (DW)
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • Thirty-five more Palestinian civilians are killed after further airstrikes are executed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll to 67. Among the victims are a five-year-old child and their parents who died as a residential building collapsed, while five more are farmers are killed at their farm. This brings the total number of children killed to sixteen. At least 335 people have also been injured. The main Palestinian headquarters and all the police stations in Gaza are destroyed by the strikes. Protests also erupt in the West Bank, resulting in the deaths of three protesters. (Al Jazeera)
  • Two more people are killed by Hamas' rockets in Lod, bringing the Israeli civilian death toll to five, while an IDF soldier is killed as a military jeep outside Gaza is bombed. (BBC)
  • The Israel Defense Forces says that it has conducted a "complex and first-of-its-kind operation" in the Gaza Strip, killing several senior members of Hamas. (AP) (Reuters)
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares a state of emergency in the city of Lod following rioting between Arabs and Jews. It is the first use of emergency powers over an Arab community in Israel since 1966. (Times of Israel)
  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces that the Biden administration will send Hady Amr to help defuse tensions. Blinken also defends Israel’s right to exist and condemns Hamas for firing rockets. (Ynet)
• 2021 Colombian protests
  • President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez announces that 65 officers have been given disciplinary actions for acts of brutality allegedly committed while repressing demonstrations. Of the actions, eight were for homicide, 27 for abuse of authority, and 11 for physical assaults. (MercoPress)

Business and economy

• Amazon wins a legal dispute against a European Union order to pay back taxes of €250 million ($303 million). The setback renewed calls from EU lawmakers for a global corporate tax deal and for several to voice their support for the Biden administration's proposed 21% minimum tax rate on multinationals. (Reuters)
• Tesla announces they will no longer accept Bitcoin as payment. (AP)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • India reports a record 4,205 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 254,197. (The Times of India)
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Uttar Pradesh
        • A total of 52 bodies have been found floating in the Ganges in the state of Uttar Pradesh with suspicions that villages may simply be disposing of pandemic deaths in the river. (The New Indian Express)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Kyrgyzstan
      • Kyrgyzstan signs a agreement with the World Bank to purchase vaccines developed by Sinopharm. (Kabar)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports a record 39 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 1,761. (Malay Mail)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
      • Thailand reports a record 34 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 486. (Bangkok Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan
      • Taiwan reports a record 16 new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,231. (CNA)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • The French National Assembly approves the creation of a COVID-19 health pass to enable international travel and organization of large events. MPs also agree to end the state of emergency on June 1 and replace it with a transitional period that will last until the end of September, which will allow the prime minister to extend the 9 p.m. curfew until June 30. (Euronews) (The Connexion)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary
      • Hungary announces that hospitals are resuming elective surgeries, which had been suspended during the pandemic. However, due to the workload, altered circumstances, the vaccination campaign, and other factors, waiting list times have effectively doubled and are now one to two years for most patients. (Hungary Today)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Norway
      • Prime Minister Erna Solberg announces that Norway will remove the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine from its vaccination programme due to the risk of rare blood clots. (Bloomberg)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba, Deployment of COVID-19 vaccines
      • Cuba initiates its mass vaccination campaign for around 1.7 million people, using its locally-developed SOBERANA 02 and ABDALA vaccines, both of which have yet to complete its Phase III clinical trials. (The New York Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
      • The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel votes to recommend the use of Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years. (The New York Times)
  • Lineage B.1.617
    • The World Health Organization says that the B.1.617 variant first detected in India in October has now been detected in more than 4,500 samples from 44 countries that were uploaded to an open-access database. (Khaleej Times)
• Climate change
  • A study published in Nature estimates that during the last glacial maximum, low-to-mid latitude land surfaces at low elevation cooled on average by 5.8 °C relative to their present day temperatures. The study was based on an analysis of noble gases dissolved in groundwater rather than examinations of species abundances that have been used in the past. (phys.org) (Nature.com)

Law and crime

• Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom
  • Twenty-nine men are charged with the sexual exploitation and rape of a teenage girl over a seven-year period in Calderdale and Bradford, West Yorkshire, between 2003 and 2010. (BBC)
• The government of Sierra Leone decides to push for the abolition of capital punishment. (IOL)
• Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is investigated by anti-corruption prosecutors for allegedly lying to Parliament about his role in the Ibiza affair. Kurz denies the charges. (Politico.eu)

Politics and elections

• United States House Republicans vote to remove Wyoming representative Liz Cheney as Chair of the House of Representatives Republican Conference, following her critical statements about former President Donald Trump. (BBC)
• Protesters gather in Paris, France in support of Palestine following attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Gaza Strip. During the protest, police dispersed crowds. (Anadolu Agency)

Sports

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
  • The Badminton World Federation announces the cancellation of the 2021 Singapore Open, which would have been held from June 1–6, due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. (Reuters)

Current events of May 11, 2021 (2021-05-11) (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • Israel launches another series of strikes in the Gaza Strip, killing eight people and wounding several others, thereby bringing the total death toll from the strikes to 32. The Hanadi Tower is also destroyed during the incident. Hamas responds to the attacks by launching rockets towards Israel, including several towards Tel Aviv, killing three people. (Reuters)
  • An Israeli-Arab man is killed and two more are wounded after a Jewish gunman opens fire against a group of protestors in Lod. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi is injured after being shot by Israel Police in Haifa. (The Independent)
  • Protests break out in London, New York City, and other cities across the world expressing solidarity with Palestine. In Manhattan, pro-Palestinian protesters gather at the Israeli consulate on East 42nd Street. Additionally, U.S. Reps Rashida Tlaib and André Carson participate in a protest at the State Department in Washington, D.C. (Arab News) (Gothamist) (Newsweek)
• Armed miners on seven boats attack the indigenous Yanomami community in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, opening fire against them and wounding one person. The Yanomami respond to the fire, killing three miners and wounding four others. (BBC)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal
      • Nepal reports a record 9,317 new cases and 225 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the total of confirmed cases to 413,111 and the nationwide death toll to 4,084. (Kathmandu Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, Lineage B.1.617
      • The Philippines reports its first cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant first detected in India in two Filipino seafarers who travelled to Oman and the United Arab Emirates. (CNA)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan
      • The Taiwanese government prohibits outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people and indoor gatherings of more than 100 people, as well as banning all food and drink in trains until June 8, after reporting six new domestic COVID-19 cases with no clear source of infection. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia
      • Slovakia suspends the use of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine for people that received the first dose after the State Institute for Drug Control ruled that the death of a 47-year-old woman was likely connected to the jab. (Euronews)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • Spain approves the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for people under the age of 60 years. (El Pais)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
    • The Brazilian federal government suspends the nationwide vaccination of pregnant women using Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after the death of an expectant mother in Rio de Janeiro from a stroke possibly related to the vaccination. (SABC News)
• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signs Presidential Proclamation No. 1143, declaring a state of calamity for one year due to the African swine fever, two years after the disease was reported in the country. (Rappler)

International relations

• Kenya–Somalia relations
  • The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority suspends all commercial flights to Somalia for three months, days after both countries announced the restoration of diplomatic relations. No reason is given for the suspension. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Kazan school shooting
  • Seven students and two teachers are killed and 21 others are wounded in a mass shooting at a school in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The attacker has been arrested. (Al Jazeera)
• Colonial Pipeline cyberattack‎
  • Some gas stations in the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina begin to run out of fuel as the Colonial Pipeline shutdown enters its fourth day after a cyberattack on May 7. (Bloomberg)
• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad sues units of Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and Coutts for a combined amount of US$2.9 billion on the basis of negligence and conspiracy to defraud. The lawsuit is a bid to recover lost assets of more than $23 billion. (RFI)
• The Troubles
  • According to a coroner's inquest report, ten people shot dead in the 1971 Ballymurphy massacre in Belfast were innocent civilians and their killings were unjustified. Nine of the people had been shot by the British Armed Forces. (The Guardian)

Sports

• 2020–21 Premier League
  • Manchester City win the Premier League for the fifth time after rivals Manchester United were defeated 2–1 by Leicester City. (The Guardian)
• 2020–21 Primeira Liga
  • Sporting CP win the Primeira Liga, the top tier of the Portuguese football league system, for the first time since the 2001–02 season. They become the first team other than Porto or Benfica to win the title in 19 years. (The Washington Post)

Current events of May 10, 2021 (2021-05-10) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • 2021 Afghanistan attacks
    • Eleven people are killed and 29 more are wounded when a roadside bomb hits a bus in Zabul Province. (Al Jazeera) (TOLO News)
    • Five members of the National Directorate of Security, the head of the economy directorate of the province, and a manager of the Central Bank branch in Logar Province are killed in three separate incidents, all of which involved attacks by unknown gunmen. In a fourth incident in the same province, two civilians are killed and six more are wounded after two mortar shells hit their house on Sunday evening. (TOLO News)
  • Afghan peace process
    • In the early hours, the Taliban announces a three-day ceasefire to observe the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday. A Taliban spokesman says that it is for the mujahideen to provide a peaceful and secure atmosphere to their compatriots. (Reuters)
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip including Hamas fire barrages of rockets at Israeli cities and towns near the Gaza border, as well as seven toward Jerusalem, injuring one person. Israel retaliates with airstrikes in Gaza killing 24 people and wounding 103 others. Nine children and a Hamas leader are among the dead. (Al Jazeera)
• 2021 Colombian protests
  • President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez orders a mass deployment of troops to the city of Cali and its surrounding area after 12 days of protests. (MercoPress)
  • Human Rights Watch reports on the use of "horizontal high-speed multiple projectile launchers" meant to fire multiples of tear gas or stun grenades simultaneously. The Executive Director of the Americas Division, José Miguel Vivanco, publishes a corroborating video reportedly showing a Venom grenade launcher from Combined Systems being used against protesters. (MercoPress) (Twitter)
• 2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis
  • A US Coast Guard vessel fired roughly 30 warning shots on Monday to drive away Iranian fast-attack boats in an "unsafe" encounter in the Strait of Hormuz. (MSN)
• 2021 Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan conflict
  • Citizens who evacuated from the Batken Region due to clashes at the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border return to the area for the first time since the clashes. (AKIPress)

Disasters and accidents

• Chernobyl disaster
  • Ukrainian scientists report that, for an unknown reason, the levels of nuclear radiation have increased in the remains of the Chernobyl power plant. Most areas of containment have shown decreasing radiation levels, however, in one particular room, radiation counts have doubled over the last four years. These radiation levels are high enough to preclude installing sensors. Additionally, fuel containing materials, which were initially the consistency of lava, are disintegrating into radioactive dust. (Popular Mechanics) (Nature)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta
        • Alberta expands its vaccine eligibility to people over the age of 12 years. (Global News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
        • The Food and Drug Administration authorizes the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine for use in children between the ages of 12 and 15 years. (MSN)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu, COVID-19 lockdown in India
        • Tamil Nadu enters a two-week complete lockdown until May 24 amidst an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (Livemint)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Kyrgyzstan
      • Kyrgyzstan receives the second component of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. (Kabar)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, Malaysian movement control order
      • Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announces a new nationwide movement control order from May 12 until June 7, with additional restrictions due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (Malay Mail)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal
      • Nepal reports a record 9,127 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 403,794. (Kathmandu Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines
      • The Philippines receives its first shipment of 193,050 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine distributed through the COVAX initiative. (GMA News Online)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, Lineage B.1.617
      • Thailand reports its first two cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant in a woman and her four-year-old son who traveled from Pakistan and are currently in quarantine. (ABC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, variants of SARS-CoV-2
    • Argentina reports its first cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant in two people who travelled from Paris, as well as its first case of the Lineage B.1.351 variant in a person who travelled from Spain. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
    • Greece reopens primary and junior high schools for in-person classes for the first time in months. The courts also restart many activities. (U.S. News and World Report)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    • The United Kingdom lowers its COVID-19 Alert level to level 3 as vaccinations and lockdown restrictions ease pressure on the NHS, which means that the transmission of the virus is no longer rising exponentially. (The Independent)
  • Variants of SARS-CoV-2
    • The World Health Organization classifies the Lineage B.1.617 variant as a "Variant of Concern", becoming the fourth variant to be designated as being of global concern after the B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 variants. (The Wall Street Journal)

International relations

• COVID-19 pandemic in Bahrain, COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates establish “a safe travel corridor” for those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, which will be in effect by the end of this week. (Al-Arabiya English)

Law and crime

• 2021 Dunedin Countdown stabbing
  • A man stabs and injures four people in a Countdown supermarket in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is also injured and has been hospitalised. (ABC News)
• A court in Paris dismisses the complaint of a French Vietnamese woman against several manufacturers of the Agent Orange chemical used by the United States military during the Vietnam War. The court rules it to be a sovereign case under the jurisdiction of the United States (VnExpress)

Politics and elections

• The Federal Parliament of Nepal votes 124–93 in a no confidence vote against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli over both his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his attempts to lead a minority government after his party, the Nepal Communist Party, split into the Communist Party of Nepal–UML and Communist Party of Nepal–Maoist earlier this year. President Bidya Devi Bhandari is expected to name Oli caretaker Prime Minister until the next election. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

• Sources in Russia's defense industry report that Russia will be carrying out three tests of the RS-28 Sarmat hypersonic ICBM during the third quarter of 2021 at the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka Krai as part of flight design tests. Two of the tests are expected to test maximum capabilities for the ICBM with a specified range of 18,000 km and speeds of around Mach 20, prior to final deployment with the armed forces in 2022. (TASS)

Sports

• Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina threatens to expel Juventus from Serie A, the highest tier of the Italian football league system, if the club does not withdraw from the proposed European Super League before the start of the next season. (BBC)

Current events of May 9, 2021 (2021-05-09) (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • 2021 Afghanistan attacks
    • 2021 Kabul school bombing
      • The death toll from yesterday's school bombing in Kabul increases to 68 people. (Reuters)
    • With multiple electricity pylons near Kabul being destroyed by bomb blasts, electricity supplier Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) is reporting a shortage of 530 megawatts of power and announced that it will take 20 days to repair the destroyed pylons. Residents are accusing DABS of discrimination during these outages, as the capital's elite had 24-hour electricity. (TOLO News)
• Yemeni Civil War
  • The United States Navy announces that it has seized a shipment of thousands of weapons in a stateless dhow on the Arabian Sea believed to be en-route to Yemen. (Politico)
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • The Israeli Supreme Court agrees to delay its ruling on whether Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood can be evicted to make way for Jewish settlers to later this month, following a series of violent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters over this issue. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• Colonial Pipeline cyberattack
  • U.S. President Joe Biden declares a state of emergency following Friday's ransomware cyberattack against Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., which transports 2.5 million barrels a day – 45 percent of the U.S. East Coast's supply of diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel. (BBC)
• A day after appearing on Saturday Night Live and causing Dogecoin's value to drop by a third by calling the digital currency a "hustle", SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announces that his company will accept the cryptocurrency as payment for a DOGE-1 mission to the Moon. (Reuters) (CNBC)

Disasters and accidents

• A landslide at a clandestine gold mine in Siguiri, Guinea, kills at least fifteen miners. (BBC)
• Rescue operations are underway in southwest London to help a small whale, believed to be a Minke, stranded in the River Thames, apparently stuck on the Richmond Lock's boat rollers. (BBC)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • Germany lifts its curfew and some social restrictions, such as requiring a negative test result to enter certain venues, for those who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from COVID-19. These people are also no longer required to enter quarantine unless they have travelled to a high-risk country. (MedicalXpress)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland
      • Taoiseach Micheál Martin receives his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (The Irish Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • Spain lifts its state of emergency that had been imposed since October, allowing people to travel freely between regions for the first time in months. The country's curfew is also lifted. (France 24)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Laos
      • Laos reports its first death from COVID-19. The patient is a 53-year-old woman who had been receiving treatment at a designated hospital in Vientiane since April 30. (Big News Network)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports a record 26 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 1,683. (New Straits Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka
      • Sri Lanka reports a record 2,672 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the cumulative number of patients to 125,906. (Newsfirst)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Florida, Variants of SARS-CoV-2
      • Florida has reported more than 10,000 cases of the Lineage B.1.1.7, Lineage P.1, and Lineage B.1.351 variants since spring break. (ABC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Tunisia
    • Tunisia enters a seven-day strict lockdown during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which includes a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• 2021 Colorado Springs shooting
  • Six people are killed by a gunman in a mass shooting during a birthday party at a residence in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The gunman, who committed suicide at the scene, is believed to have been a boyfriend of one of the victims. (BBC)
• Capital punishment in Egypt
  • Coptic monk Wael Saad Tawadros, better known as Brother Isaiah, is executed over the killing of bishop Anba Epiphanius, the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in Wadi El Natrun, in 2018. (Macau Business)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Colombian protests
  • Claudia Blum, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Colombia, resigns from her post amidst the ongoing anti-government protests that have killed at least 26 people. (Semana)

Science and technology

• Environmental issues in Kyrgyzstan
  • A court in Kyrgyzstan fines a company owned by Centerra Gold 261.7 billion soms for environmental pollution at the Kumtor Gold Mine. (Business Recorder)
• The China Manned Space Engineering Office says that remnants of the Chinese Long March-5B Y2 rocket made an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere into the Indian Ocean, just west of the Maldives. (CNN) (The New York Times)
• South Korea reports that it now holds the world's largest number of standard-essential patents followed by the United States, Finland, and Japan. Standard-essential patents refer to major technologies that are vital in producing standardized products and that must be verified by standards organizations. (Yonhap)

Current events of May 8, 2021 (2021-05-08) (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • 2021 Afghanistan attacks
    • 2021 Kabul school bombing
      • A bombing outside a school in a Hazara area of Kabul kills 58 people and injures more than 150 others. The majority of the casualties are schoolgirls. The Taliban denies involvement in the attack, which is the deadliest in Afghanistan so far this year. (Al Jazeera)
• Moro conflict
  • Datu Paglas market occupation
    • More than 200 BIFF militants storm the town of Datu Paglas, Philippines, forcing many residents to evacuate. The town's market is occupied by the fighters, before being reclaimed by the army. (Al Jazeera)
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • Further clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police in East Jerusalem's Old City injure at least 90 Palestinians. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, Lineage B.1.617
      • Bangladesh reports its first six cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant, which was discovered in India, prompting the authorities to extend the land border closure by two weeks. (Dhaka Tribune)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Kerala, COVID-19 lockdown in India
        • Kerala enters a nine-day complete lockdown, closing shops, suspending public transport, and severely restricting the on-road movement of people amidst an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (The Economic Times)
      • India reports 401,078 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 21.9 million. The country also reports a record 4,187 deaths in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 238,270. (Khaleej Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
      • Pakistan declares an eight-day partial lockdown until May 16 ahead of the celebration of Eid al-Fitr next week. (BBC)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka
      • Sri Lanka approves the emergency use of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as the country faces its third wave of the pandemic and the highest number of active cases since the pandemic began. The minister overseeing the situation says that Sri Lanka will try to secure five million doses of the vaccine as India has restricted the supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Madagascar
    • Madagascar receives its first shipment of 50,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. (Africanews)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, Lineage B.1.617
    • South Africa reports its first four cases of the Lineage B.1.617.2 variant in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, where all of these had a travel history to India. (SABC News)
  • European Union response to the COVID-19 pandemic
    • The European Commission signs a new deal with Pfizer and BioNTech to purchase 900 million doses of its vaccine with an additional option to purchase another 900 million doses for delivery from 2021 to 2023 which they intend to use as booster shots against the illness and to allow for the vaccination of children and teenagers. (The Irish Times)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Scottish Parliament election
  • The Scottish National Party wins a historic fourth term in office. Along with the Scottish Greens, the majority of seats in the new Scottish Parliament will belong to parties favouring a proposed second independence referendum. Voter turnout also reaches a record high of 64%. (The Guardian)

Current events of May 7, 2021 (2021-05-07) (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • At least 178 Palestinians are injured in clashes with Israeli police at the al-Aqsa Mosque and elsewhere in East Jerusalem. (Al Jazeera)
• 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war
  • Armenia says that it has returned all prisoners of war to Azerbaijan under Article 8 of the November 9 agreement. (Asbarez)
• Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria
  • At least seven police officers are killed in a shooting spree in Rivers State, Nigeria. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• A tower block at New Providence Wharf, London, United Kingdom, catches fire. The block is clad in the same material as that which was on Grenfell Tower, which caught fire in 2017. More than 100 firefighters and 20 fire engines were sent to the scene. (Metro)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • India reports a world record of 414,188 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 21.49 million. (Al Jazeera)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Japan extends the state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto until May 31. It also declares a state of emergency for Aichi and Fukuoka Prefectures. (The Japan Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports 4,498 new cases in the past 24 hours, which is the first time the country has reported 4,000 new cases since February. It subsequently brings the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 432,425. (Malay Mail)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
    • The United Kingdom adds Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal to its "red list" of countries, where travellers will be required to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days upon their return to the UK at their own expense. Twelve countries are also added to the government's "green list", including Portugal and Israel. This new "traffic light system" will take effect on May 17, when international travel is no longer illegal. (BBC)

International relations

• France–Lebanon relations, Lebanese liquidity crisis
  • French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian threatens to step up pressure against Lebanese politicians he accuses of committing "collective suicide" by failing to pull the country out of its economic meltdown. During his visit to Beirut, Le Drian said that punitive actions could be taken by France and the European Union. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Colonial Pipeline cyberattack
  • Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45% of the U.S. East Coast's fuel supply, suffers a malware attack that causes a shutdown of their system. (CNBC)

Politics and elections

• Elections in the United Kingdom
  • 2021 Senedd election
    • The Welsh Labour Party wins a record sixth term in office. With 52 out of 60 seats declared, Labour has won 30 seats in the Senedd, reaching a working majority and equalling their best performance. (BBC)

Science and technology

• A whole-genome study confirms the existence of four distinct species of giraffes, corroborating the conclusions of a 2016 DNA study; previously, it was believed that all giraffes were members of a single species. The study also supports the existence of seven subspecies of giraffes. (Sci-News)

Sports

• UEFA reveals that nine of the 12 association football clubs that planned to participate in the suspended European Super League proposal agree, through a "club commitment declaration", to financial sanctions imposed by the governing body. This includes a five percent cut in their revenue for one season. Only Barcelona, Juventus, and Real Madrid did not sign the declaration, although UEFA has committed to "take appropriate action" against clubs still committed to the Super League. (IOL)

Time: 05:08 UTC|Day: 13 May

	May 2021
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

Ongoing events

Business

• COVID-19 recession

Disasters

• COVID-19 pandemic
• 2020–21 European windstorm season
• 2020–21 H5N8 outbreak
• 2021 Pacific typhoon season
• Yemeni famine

Politics

• Afghan peace process
• Anti-Netanyahu protests
• Armenian protests
• Belarusian protests
• Colombian tax reform protests
• Greek protests
• Indian farmers' protests
• Israel–Palestine crisis
• Indonesia omnibus law protests
• Libyan peace process
• Myanmar protests
• Nicaraguan protests
• Nigerian protests
• Persian Gulf crisis
• Peruvian crisis
• Russian protests
• Second Arab Spring
• Sudanese protests
• Tigrayan peace process
• Thai protests
• United States racial unrest
• United States Stop Asian Hate protests
• Venezuelan presidential crisis
• Yellow vests movement

Elections and referendums

Upcoming

• May
  • 15–16: Chile, Constituent Assembly
  • 21: Samoa, Legislative Assembly
  • 23: Vietnam, National Assembly

Trials

Recently concluded

• Brazil: Wilson Witzel
• France: Nicolas Sarkozy
• Israel: Faina Kirschenbaum
• United States: Derek Chauvin

Ongoing

• Argentina: Rodolfo Martín Villa
• Armenia: Serzh Sargsyan
• Colombia: Álvaro Uribe
• India: Disha Ravi
• Indonesia: Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, Edhy Prabowo, Juliari Batubara
• Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu
• Kyrgyzstan: Almazbek Atambayev
• Malta: Yorgen Fenech
• South Africa: Jacob Zuma
• Spain: 2017 Barcelona attacks, Bárcenas affair, Barçagate
• Sudan: Omar al-Bashir
• International: The Gambia v. Myanmar

Upcoming

• Canada: Raj Grewal
• Indonesia: Nurdin Abdullah
• Kosovo: Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli
• Lesotho: Maesiah Thabane
• Rwanda: Paul Rusesabagina
• United Kingdom: Apsana Begum
• United States: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Elizabeth Holmes, Meng Wanzhou, R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell
• Zimbabwe: Ignatius Chombo

Sport

• Association football
  • 2020–21 Premier League
  • 2020–21 La Liga
  • 2020–21 Serie A
  • 2020–21 Bundesliga
  • 2020–21 UEFA Champions League knockout phase
  • 2020–21 UEFA Europa League knockout phase
  • 2021 Copa Libertadores group stage
  • 2020–21 UEFA Nations League
  • 2021 Major League Soccer season
• Women's association football
  • 2020–21 Champions League
  • 2020–21 Division 1 Féminine
  • 2020–21 FA WSL
  • 2020 Copa Libertadores Femenina
• American football
  • 2021 Spring NCAA Division I FCS
• Baseball
  • 2021 MLB season
• Basketball
  • 2020–21 NBA season
  • 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
  • 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
• Cricket
  • ICC World Test Championship 2019–21
  • ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League 2020–2023
  • 2019–2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2
  • ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League 2019–2022
• Golf
  • 2020–21 PGA Tour
• Ice hockey
  • 2020–21 KHL season
  • 2020–21 NHL season
• Rugby union
  • 2020–21 Premiership Rugby
  • 2020–21 Pro14
  • 2019–20 Top 14
• Other sports seasons
  • 2020–21 international cricket season
  • 2020–21 snooker season
  • 2020–21 curling season

More details – current sports events

Recent deaths

May

• 11: Norman Lloyd
• 10: Colt Brennan
• 10: Michel Fourniret
• 8: Pete du Pont
• 8: Curtis Fuller
• 8: Ronald Inglehart
• 8: Helmut Jahn
• 7: Emmanuel Erskine
• 7: Tawny Kitaen
• 7: Yegor Ligachyov
• 7: Mohan Mishra
• 6: Yitzhak Arad
• 6: Humberto Maturana
• 6: G. Muniratnam
• 6: Lloyd Price
• 6: Ajit Singh
• 5: Jonathan Bush
• 5: Lucinda Franks
• 5: George Jung
• 5: Philipose Mar Chrysostom
• 5: David F. Swensen
• 4: Simon Achidi Achu
• 4: Nick Kamen
• 3: Donald Cameron
• 3: Frazier Glenn Miller Jr.
• 2: Frank Costa
• 2: Jacques d'Amboise
• 2: Carlos Romero Barceló
• 2: Bobby Unser
• 1: Olympia Dukakis
• 1: Paul Ioannidis

April

• 30: Eli Broad
• 29: Anne Buydens
• 29: Johnny Crawford
• 29: Frank McRae
• 29: Prince Muhammad bin Talal
• 28: Michael Collins
• 28: El Risitas
• 27: Al Schmitt
• 26: Vassos Lyssarides
• 25: Jon Konrads
• 24: Christa Ludwig
• 23: Mario Meoni
• 23: Milva
• 22: Shock G
• 21: Alfredo Graciani
• 20: Idriss Déby
• 20: Monte Hellman
• 20: Les McKeown
• 19: Walter Mondale
• 19: Jim Steinman
• 18: Mohammad Hejazi
• 17: Black Rob
• 17: Vivek
• 16: Charles Geschke
• 16: Barry Mason
• 16: Helen McCrory
• 16: Andrew Peacock
• 16: Kakarla Subba Rao
• 16: Felix Silla
• 16: Ranjit Sinha
• 15: Vartan Gregorian
• 14: Yıldırım Akbulut
• 14: Abdul Matin Khasru
• 14: Michel Louvain
• 14: Bernie Madoff
• 14: Ahmed Usman
• 13: Peter Warner

Ongoing conflicts

Africa

• Algeria, Libya and Tunisia
  • Maghreb insurgency
• Cameroon
  • Anglophone Crisis
• Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria
  • Boko Haram insurgency
• Central African Republic
  • Civil War
• Chad
  • Northern Chad offensive
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Kivu conflict
  • Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
  • Ituri conflict
  • Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
• Ethiopia
  • Tigray War (spillover)
• Ethiopia and Sudan
  • Sudanese–Ethiopian clashes
• Ghana
  • Western Togoland Rebellion
• Mali
  • Mali War
• Mozambique
  • Insurgency in Cabo Delgado
• Nigeria
  • Communal conflicts in Nigeria
• Somalia
  • Civil war
• Sudan
  • War in Darfur
  • South Kordofan conflict
  • Sudanese nomadic conflicts (incl. South Sudan)
• Western Sahara
  • Western Sahara conflict
    • 2020–2021 Western Saharan clashes

Americas

• Colombia
  • Colombian conflict
• Mexico
  • Mexican drug war
• Peru
  • Internal conflict in Peru

Asia-Pacific

• Afghanistan
  • Afghanistan War
• India
  • Khalistan movement
  • Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
  • Insurgency in Northeast India
• India and Pakistan
  • Kashmir conflict
• Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines
  • Moro conflict
    • Cross border attacks in Sabah
• Indonesia
  • Papua conflict
• Myanmar
  • Internal conflict in Myanmar
    • Kachin conflict
    • Karen conflict
    • Rohingya conflict
• Pakistan
  • Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Insurgency in Balochistan
• Philippines
  • Communist rebellion
  • Philippine drug war
• Thailand
  • South Thailand insurgency

Europe

• Armenia and Azerbaijan
  • Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
• Jersey
  • 2021 Jersey dispute
• Ukraine
  • War in Donbass
    • Russo-Ukrainian War

Global

• War on terror

Middle East

• Egypt
  • Sinai insurgency
• Iran and the Persian Gulf
  • Iran–Israel proxy conflict
  • Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
• Iraq
  • American-led intervention in Iraq
  • Iranian intervention in Iraq
• Iraq and Syria (map)
  • International military intervention against ISIL
• Israel and Gaza
• Israel and Syria
  • Israeli-Syrian border conflict
• Syria
  • American-led intervention in Syria
  • Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war
  • Turkish occupation of northern Syria
• Turkey
  • Kurdish–Turkish conflict
• Yemen and Saudi Arabia
  • Yemeni Civil War
  • Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict

Further information: List of ongoing armed conflicts

2021 events and developments by topic

Arts

Architecture – Comics – Film – Home video – Literature – Music (Country, Rock, Metal, UK, US) – Radio – Television (UK, US) – Video games

Politics and government

Elections – International leaders – Sovereign states – Sovereign state leaders – Territorial governors

Science and technology

Archaeology – Biotechnology – Computing – Palaeontology – Quantum computing and communication – Space/Astronomy – Spaceflight

Environment and environmental sciences

Birding/Ornithology – Climate change

Transportation

Aviation – Rail transport

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Works and introductions categories

Works – Introductions – Works entering the public domain