Portal:Current events
Topics in the news
- Kenyan writer and activist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (pictured) dies at the age of 87.
- Flooding submerges the town of Mokwa, Nigeria, leaving more than 200 people dead.
- In sumo, Ōnosato Daiki is promoted to yokozuna.
- In association football, Liverpool win the Premier League title.
- In the Surinamese general election, the National Democratic Party wins the most seats in the National Assembly.
Business and economy
- The Damascus Securities Exchange reopens in Syria after six months of closure following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. (Al Arabiya)
- The Philippine Department of Transportation orders AirAsia to halt the sale of airline tickets in the country, citing alleged overpricing after reports revealed that fares on the airline's website significantly exceeded government-approved price ceilings. (Bloomberg)
Politics and elections
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia and Ukraine hold more negotiations in Istanbul to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine reiterates its demand for an unconditional ceasefire before discussing a long-term deal, and Russia hands the Ukrainian delegation a memorandum containing its demands. (BBC)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Gaza war
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
- Rafah aid distribution incidents
- 31 Palestinians killed and 170 injured while thousands of people went to receive aid from a United States-funded humanitarian aid distribution centre in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Israel strongly denies its responsibility and releases drone footage showing armed, masked men firing at civilians trying to collect aid. (AP) (BBC News)
- Rafah aid distribution incidents
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Operation Spider's Web
- Ukraine says at least 40 Russian warplanes, including several strategic bombers were destroyed or damaged by drone attacks on four air bases in Russia. (BBC News)
- Russia launches the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, comprising 472 drones and seven ballistic missiles. (AP News)
- Twelve Ukrainian servicemembers are killed and 60 more are injured in a Russian missile strike on a training camp in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, Mykhailo Drapatyi, submits a resignation request following the incident. (Ukrainian Pravda) (RBC-Ukraine)
- Operation Spider's Web
- Terrorism in Russia
- 2025 Russia bridge collapses
- A support on a bridge explodes and collapses in Kursk Oblast, Russia, causing a freight train to derail, killing a worker and injuring two others, including the driver. The previous day, another bridge exploded causing it to fall onto a passenger train, killing 7 people and injuring 70 others. Both incidents are being probed as acts of terrorism. (BBC News) (Reuters) (RFERL)
- 2025 Russia bridge collapses
- Violent incidents in reaction to the Gaza war
- 2025 Boulder fire attack
- Seven people are injured, including the perpetrator and one critically, in a firebombing attack when a man attacks protestors demanding the release of Israeli captives who remain in Gaza at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, United States. FBI director Kash Patel claims it was a "targeted terror attack". (Al Jazeera) (BBC News)
- 2025 Boulder fire attack
- Mali War
- Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin militants seize a Malian Armed Forces base near the border with Burkina Faso, killing more than 30 Malian troops, while also launching an attack on Timbuktu Airport where Wagner Group forces are stationed. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Twelve people are killed and several others are injured in a fire at a drug rehabilitation center in San José Iturbide, Guanajuato, Mexico. The cause is still under investigation. (Barron's) (Infobae)
- One person is killed and six others are injured, including three who were flown to a hospital in an air ambulance, after a woman suffers a seizure and causes a five-vehicle collision between traffic lights in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, United States. (Lokmat Times) (WATE-TV)
Law and crime
- 2025 UEFA Champions League final, 2024–25 UEFA Champions League
- Fireworks and flares are fired in Paris, France, after Paris Saint-Germain FC's Champions League title win. Two people are killed, a police officer is in a coma, 201 others are injured, four stores are looted and hundreds are arrested in clashes with riot police for violence and looting. (CTV News) (BBC News) (Le Monde)
- Non-cooperation movement
- A court in Bangladesh indicts former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former home affairs minister Asaduzzaman Khan on mass murder charges in relation to the deaths of protesters that ousted Hasina in 2024. The government of Bangladesh informs India of the arrest warrant and asks for Hasina's repatriation, following her escape to India. (Financial Express)
- Three people are killed and 34 others are injured in a suspected arson attack at a hospital in Hamburg, Germany. A suspect is arrested. (AP)
- A ban on the sale of disposable vapes enters force in the United Kingdom. (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Polish presidential election
- Poles vote in the second round to choose their president. Right-wing populist President of the Institute of National Remembrance Karol Nawrocki wins 50.89% of popular vote over pro-European incumbent Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski. (The Guardian) (TVN24) (Al Jazeera)
- 2025 Mexican judicial elections
- Nationwide elections are held to elect over 2,700 members of the Mexican judiciary branch in the first ever judicial election in the country's history. (Reuters)
- 2025 South Korean presidential election
- Independent presidential candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn resigns from his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election and declares his support for People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo. (The Chosun Ilbo)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War against the Islamic State, Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
- Puntland counter-terrorism operations
- In a dawn offensive, Puntland armed forces, backed by airstrikes from the Puntland Air Force and international allies, capture Miraale Valley, the largest ISIS stronghold in Bari Region and a militant hub for nearly a decade with water wells, cultivated land, and fortified positions. ISIS fighters retreat to Sadow, near Baalade, where other units are stationed. (Hiiraan Online) (Garowe Online) (Horseed Media)
- Puntland counter-terrorism operations
- Terrorism in Russia
- 2025 Russia bridge collapses
- An explosion causes a bridge to collapse onto a passenger train with 379 occupants in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, killing at least seven and injuring 69 others, one seriously, including three children. (RFE/RL) (The Kyiv Independent)
- 2025 Russia bridge collapses
Business and economy
- Bulgaria and the euro
- Thousands protest in Sofia and other major Bulgarian cities against government plans to adopt the euro, demanding a referendum on the new currency, ahead of expected approval to enter the eurozone. (AP)
- More than 60 United Nations offices and agencies are requested to propose staff cuts of 20% by mid-June due to a funding shortfall, affecting around 14,000 positions. This includes staff from humanitarian offices, agencies supporting refugees, and other critical sectors. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- Twenty-two people are killed, including athletes, coaches and officials, and several others are seriously injured in a road accident as people returned from the National Sports Festival in Kano State, Nigeria. (CNN)
- Landslides and flash flooding triggered by days of torrential monsoon rains in northeastern India kill at least 22 people. (AP)
- Two people are killed when a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashes into a residential building in Korschenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. (CTV News) (Aviation Safety Network)
- Thirteen people are injured, including one critically, when a 93-year-old man falls ill and drives into a restaurant terrace in Narbonne, Occitanie, France. (Midi Libre)
Law and crime
- Guatemalan Civil War
- A court in Guatemala convicts three men of crimes against humanity and sentences them to 40 years in prison for the rape of 36 women from the Maya Achi indigenous group during the civil war. (AP)
- Immigration to Greece
- Greece migration minister Makis Voridis announces the end of mass legalization programs for migrants. Migrants with rejected asylum claims will face a minimum of two years in jail, with sentences commuted upon deportation. (AP)
- Twenty-one people are hospitalized following an arson attack when a man angry at the outcome of his divorce sets fire to his clothes and a fuel container with a lighter on Seoul Subway Line 5, causing more than 400 passengers to be evacuated and a temporary suspension of services. The suspect is arrested near Yeouinaru Station in Seoul, South Korea. (Yonhap News Agency) (Yonhap News Agency 2)
Politics and elections
- David Seymour succeeds Winston Peters as New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister in accordance with the coalition agreement between the National Party, NZ First, and ACT. (Newstalk ZB)
- Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat is sworn in as the new co-prince of Andorra and Bishop of Urgell after the Vatican accepts the resignation of Joan Enric Vives i Sicília for age limitation reasons. (El Periòdic d'Andorra)
Sports
- 2024–25 UEFA Champions League
- In association football, French club Paris Saint-Germain defeats Italian club Inter Milan 5–0 in the final to win its first UEFA Champions League title. (ESPN) (France24)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Mexican drug war
- Nine alleged members of the Los Metros drug cartel are arrested by Mexican law enforcement on suspicion of the abduction and murder of the musical group Grupo Fugitivo who disappeared in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
- Sudanese civil war
- At least six people are killed and fifteen others are injured in a drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces on a hospital in El-Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan. (Anadolu Agency)
- Syrian civil war
- Islamic State claims responsibility for a vehicle bombing in Al-Safa, Suwayda Governorate, on May 22 which wounded several soldiers of the Syrian transitional government. (Al Jazeera) (Sky News)
- Insurgency in Balochistan
- The Balochistan Liberation Army briefly seizes control of a high-security area in Sorab in southwestern Pakistan, killing a government official and looting a bank before fleeing. (AP)
Arts and culture
- Taylor Swift masters dispute
- American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announces that she has reacquired the rights to her entire body of music and content, including the master recordings of her first six studio albums. (AP) (The Guardian) (Billboard)
Business and economy
- Tariffs in the second Trump administration
- The African Development Bank elects Mauritanian economist Sidi Ould Tah as its next president in a three round election between five candidates. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2025 Nigeria floods
- 2025 Mokwa flood
- The death toll from heavy flooding that submerged the market town of Mokwa in Niger State, Nigeria, on Wednesday, rises to at least 117. Thousands of homes have been destroyed and a nearby dam collapsed. (Al Jazeera) (Sky News) (DW)
- 2025 Mokwa flood
- At least 17 people are killed, at least twelve others are injured, including six seriously, and eight people are missing when a stone quarry collapses in Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia. (AP) (CTV News)
International relations
- China–United States trade war
- U.S. president Donald Trump accuses China of violating the temporal suspension of tariffs accorded two weeks ago, while China accuses Trump of discriminatory restrictions against the country. (BBC News)
- Diplomatic impact of the Gaza war, France–Israel relations
- French president Emmanuel Macron states that France may be willing to impose sanctions on Israel if humanitarian aid is blocked, and says a Palestinian state is a political necessity. (Al Jazeera) (The Jerusalem Post)
Law and crime
- 2025 Liverpool parade incident
- Paul Doyle, a 53-year-old British man accused of driving his car into a crowd after Liverpool FC's trophy parade, appears at both the Liverpool Magistrates' Court and Liverpool Crown Court and faces seven charges. (BBC) (The Independent)
- Corruption in the Czech Republic
- Czech Republic justice minister Pavel Blažek resigns after his ministry accepted a donation of bitcoins and sold them for about 1 billion Czech koruna (over US$45 million) earlier this year. (ABC News)
- Murder of Tina Satchwell
- Richard Satchwell is found unanimously guilty and convicted of the 2017 murder of his wife Tina in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. (RTÉ)
Politics and elections
- Immigration policy of the second Donald Trump administration
- The United States Supreme Court rules that President Donald Trump can revoke the Biden administration's parole programme for Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants, totaling over 530,000 people. (BBC News) (WOLA)
- 2025 South Korean presidential election
- The voter turnout during the two-day early voting period for the presidential election reaches 34.74%, the second highest after the 2022 presidential election. (Anadolu Agency)
Business and economy
- Economy of South Korea
- South Korea’s central bank cuts its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.5%, marking its fourth cut since October, and sharply lowered its 2025 growth forecast to 0.8%, nearly halving the previous projection of 1.5% announced in February after a monetary policy meeting. Share prices rise following the report, with the Kospi gaining 1.7%. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2025 South Korean Lockheed P-3 Orion crash
- Four people are killed when a South Korean Navy Lockheed P3-C Orion aircraft crashes into a hill in Pohang, Gyeongsang, South Korea. (Euronews)
Health and environment
- Sudanese civil war
- Humanitarian impact of the Sudanese civil war
- The health ministry of Khartoum State in Sudan reports a cholera outbreak in the state, with 2,119 cases and 242 deaths in the past week and this week, including 70 in the last two days. (News Central TV)
- Humanitarian impact of the Sudanese civil war
International relations
- Israel–Palestine relations
- Israel announces 22 new settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, the biggest expansion in decades. (BBC News)
Law and crime
- Corruption in Slovakia
- Slovakia’s central bank chief, Peter Kažimír, a member of the European Central Bank committee, is convicted of bribery and fined 200,000 euros. The verdict was issued by Judge Milan Cisarik at the Special Criminal Court in Pezinok. (AP)
- Lliuya v RWE AG
- Pamplona massacre
- Arnolfo Teves Jr., the main suspect in the assassination of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo in 2023, is deported back to the Philippines from Timor-Leste following his arrest yesterday. (ABS-CBN News)
- A court in Argentina nullifies the ongoing trial of Diego Maradona's former medical personnel accused of malpractice following the removal of one of the trial's judges for alleged lack of impartiality. (CNN)
- U.S. president Donald Trump commutes the federal prison sentence of Larry Hoover, the founder of the Chicago street gang Gangster Disciples, who was sentenced to six life sentences on conspiracy, extortion, drug and other criminal charges in the 1990s. (BBC News)
- Argentine security minister Patricia Bullrich announces the arrest of 12 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, which Argentina recently designated as a terrorist organization. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Nepalese pro-monarchy protests
- Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Kathmandu, Nepal, asking for the restoration of the country's monarchy and for Hinduism to be declared the state religion. Nepal abolished its monarchy in 2008. (AP)
- 2025 Portuguese legislative election
- Portugal’s far-right Chega party becomes the lead parliamentary opposition with the second-most seats in parliament. (AP)
- 2025 South Korean presidential election
- Early voting begins in South Korea, from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm KST on today and tomorrow, with a record early voting turnout rate being observed. (The Straits Times)
- Political activities of Elon Musk
- Elon Musk announces on X that he will be leaving US government employment due to the limit on special government employees. (Al Jazeera) (The Independent)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Cambodia–Thailand relations
- A Cambodian soldier is killed in an exchange of fire with a Thai soldier. Cambodia initially said that the Thai soldier opened fire, but Thailand denied this citing a misunderstanding when the Cambodian soldier crossed the border during a routine operation. (AP)
- Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra says that she spoke with Cambodian prime minister Hun Manet, and both agreed to resolve the crisis. (Bloomberg)
- New Cold War
- More than two million documents related to Russian military procurement from a public database for contractors are published, including information on the modernization and build-up of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, military base at Yasny, and Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle. (Moscow Times) (Newsweek)
- Red Sea crisis
- Israel says it launched airstrikes against targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen, destroying the last operational plane of Yemenia Airlines at Sanaa International Airport. (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- Miss Grand International 2024
- The reigning Miss Grand International, Rachel Gupta, resigns from her title, citing mistreatment and a toxic environment. The Miss Grand International Organization announces Gupta's termination from the title, citing her failure to fulfill assigned duties and her engagement in external projects without prior approval. (Manila Bulletin)
- Namibian genocide
- Namibia commemorates its first Genocide Remembrance Day to honor the indigenous Herero and Nama peoples who were ethnically cleansed by the German South West Africa colonial forces as proxy of the German Empire. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2025 Blatten glacier collapse
- A landslide destroys almost all of the village of Blatten, Switzerland, resulting in one person going missing. (Le Nouvelliste)
- A boat carrying over 100 migrants capsizes within reach of the shores of the El Hierro island in the Spanish Canary Islands. Four women and three girls are found drowned, while a medical helicopter evacuates two other children in critical condition to a nearby hospital. (AP)
- Four people are killed and damage is reported in a crowd crush and shooting after hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations food warehouse in an attempt to get food in Gaza City, Palestine. (PBS News)
Law and crime
- Corruption in Albania
- Former Albanian president Ilir Meta is formally charged with corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, and concealing property from authorities. The charges were detailed in a report from anti-corruption prosecutors. Meta was arrested in October. (AP)
- Pamplona massacre
- The Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste announces that expelled former Philippine lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr., the main suspect in the assassination of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo in 2023, will be deported back to the Philippines after his arrest by Immigration Service of Timor-Leste. (Rappler)
- Patnagarh bombing
- A court in Odisha, India, sentences a man to life in prison for a 2018 bombing at a wedding in Patnagarh that killed two people. (BBC News)
- Five people are killed, including the perpetrator, and four others are injured, including one critically, when a drunk 17-year-old goes on a mass stabbing rampage before killing himself in an arson attack at a house during a birthday party in Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. (The Moscow Times)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Australian federal election
- The National Party rejoins the Opposition Coalition one week after moving to the crossbench. (The Guardian Australia)
- 2025 People's Justice Party leadership election
- Following their defeats in the People's Justice Party leadership election, ministers Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi announce their intention to resign from the Cabinet of Malaysia. (CNA)
- Education policy of the second Donald Trump administration
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says his department will start revoking visas for Chinese students and increase scrutiny on all future visa applications from China and Hong Kong. (Associated Press)
- Tariffs in the second Trump administration
- The United States Court of International Trade rules that President Donald Trump cannot enact sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act without congressional approval. (AP)
Sports
- 2024–25 UEFA Conference League
- In association football, Chelsea F.C. defeat Real Betis 4–1 in the UEFA Conference League final at the Wrocław Stadium in Wrocław, Poland, becoming the first club to win all four current major UEFA competition trophies. (BBC Sport)
- 2025 in sumo
- In sumo, Ōnosato Daiki is promoted and becomes the sport's 75th yokozuna. Ōnosato reached the highest rank of yokozuna faster than anyone in the modern history of sumo, achieving the promotion in 13 tournaments and never posting a losing record during a tournament. (Kyodo News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2025 Shandong factory explosion
- At least five people are killed, nineteen others are injured and six are reported missing after an explosion at a chemical plant in Gaomi, Shandong, China. (Reuters)
- Twelve people are killed and one person is missing when a fuel tanker collides with a van and truck near the Sebakwe River on the Harare–Bulawayo Highway between Kwekwe and Ndarama Mine in Kwekwe, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. (Bulawayo24 News) (ZimEye)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United States
- Department of Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces that the United States Centers for Disease Control will remove the COVID-19 vaccine from its list of recommended vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. (NPR) (Reuters)
International relations
- Accession of Timor-Leste to ASEAN
- Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, chair of the ASEAN, announces that Timor-Leste will officially join the ASEAN as its 11th member state in October. (The Straits Times)
- Argentine president Javier Milei ratifies Argentina's withdrawal from the World Health Organization. (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
- South Korean authorities announce travel bans on former acting presidents Han Duck-soo and Choi Sang-mok, as they are investigated for insurrection along with former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who is already indicted. (Macau Business)
- Capital punishment in Vietnam
- The National Assembly of Vietnam begins deliberations on a government proposal to end the death penalty for some offences, including drug trafficking and some national security crimes, and replace them with life in prison without parole. (Vietnam News)
Politics and elections
- 2025 royal tour of Canada
- King Charles III, in his capacity as King of Canada, visits Canada along with Queen Camilla on Prime Minister Mark Carney's advice. He also read the Speech from the Throne, the first reigning monarch to do so since 1977. (NPR)
- 2025 Samoan general election
- Samoan prime minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa says that she will dissolve parliament and seek an early election after leading a minority government since January, when she was expelled from her party. (RNZ)
Science and technology
- Starship flight test 9
- SpaceX's first flight to reuse a Super Heavy Booster ends without achieving its goal, originally planned for Flights 7 and 8, which both failed, while losing the previously retrieved booster. (Reuters)