Bahrain sentences nine people to life in prison for espionage on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Source:
Iran International 
May 24
Law and crime
Four people are killed and one of the gunmen is injured in a mass shooting in Kabul, Afghanistan. Two suspects are arrested.
Source:
Pajhwok Afghan News
Politics and elections
Source:
Reuters
Turkish police raid the headquarters of the Republican People's Party and evict its leadership, including Özgür Özel.
Source:
Reuters
Armed conflicts and attacks
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reports that 33 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz after receiving permission in the past 24 hours.
Source:
Iran International
The Iranian military shoots down an alleged Israeli surveillance drone over Hormozgan province, Iran.
Source:
Iran International
Twenty-four people are killed and over 50 are injured after the explosion of a bomb at a car park near a train station in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. The Balochistan Liberation Army claims responsibility.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Four people are killed and over a hundred are injured in a Russian Oreshnik missile and drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine.
Source:
The Washington Post
Disasters and accidents
Source:
Xinhua
A Malaysian citizen dies while at least 23 people are still trapped and 26 others are rescued after a nine-story residential building collapses in Angeles, Pampanga, Philippines.
Source:
GMA News 2
May 23
Disasters and accidents
California governor Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency in Orange County, California, U.S., in response to a possible release of methyl methacrylate in Garden Grove.
Source:
BBC News
Arts and culture
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu wins his second Palme d'Or for the drama film at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in France.
Source:
Korea JoongAng Daily
International relations
France bans Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir permanently following his actions towards members of the Global Sumud Flotilla who were detained by the Israeli Navy several days earlier.
Source:
Politico
In accordance with bilateral agreements, Vietnam grants 40 scholarships to Ukrainians for the 2026–2027 academic year for bachelor's, master's, and postgraduate degrees, including a one-year language course for those who do not speak Vietnamese. Kazakhstan also grants 40 scholarships for similar degrees.
Source:
Interfax-Ukraine
Sports
In association football, amid the backdrop of the Southampton F.C. espionage incident as a result of which Southampton were expelled, Hull City beat Middlesborugh at Wembley Stadium in London 1–0 in the play-off finals to secure promotion to the English Premier League for the next season.
Source:
BBC Sport
The Iran national football team moves their squad's base to Tijuana, Mexico, with approval from FIFA to avoid visa-related issues with the United States.
Source:
Al Jazeera
The DR Congo national football team announces that it will maintain its planned schedule, including two friendly matches in Belgium and Spain, before going to Houston, Texas, United States, for the World Cup, despite being warned to isolate, stating the entire squad is based outside of the DRC.
Source:
Reuters
In association football, Celtic beat second-tier Dunfermline Athletic 3–1 to win a record-extending 43th Scottish Cup title and complete the double this season.
Source:
ESPN
In women's association football, Spain's FC Barcelona beat France's OL Lyonnes 4–0 to win the their Women's Champions League title at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo, Norway.
Source:
The Guardian
In women's association football, North Korea's Naegohyang beat Japan's Tokyo Verdy 1–0 to win the AFC Women's Champions League at the Suwon Sports Complex in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.
Source:
The Guardian
In rugby union, Union Bordeaux Bègles beat Leinster Rugby 41–19 at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Basque County, Spain, to win the European Rugby Champions Cup, thus completing a treble.
Source:
BBC Sport
In association football, Lech Poznań win their second consecutive and 10th-ever Ekstraklasa title in the final game of the season.
Source:
beIN Sports
Armed conflicts and attacks
Iran, the United States, and mediator Pakistan reports that progress has been made in ceasefire talks, with the Iranian foreign ministry saying that Iran is focused on finalizing a memorandum of understanding.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefirePakistan in the 2026 Iran war
Source:
Reuters
The reports that mediators are nearing a deal to extend the ceasefire between Iran and the United States by 60 days and establish a framework for nuclear talks.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefire
Source:
Financial Times
U.S. president Donald Trump says that the details of the emerging agreement will be "announced shortly," and that it will include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefire
Source:
Al Jazeera
The U.S. Central Command says that they have redirected 100 commercial ships and disabled four others from the Strait of Hormuz since the blockade started.
Source:
AA
Iran's Fars News Agency reports that the agreement will allow Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz.
Source:
Reuters
The Lebanese Civil Defense reports that an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Sir el Gharbiyeh, southern Lebanon, has killed at least 11 people and injured six.
Source:
Dawn
A Ukrainian drone attack causes a fire at a Transneft oil terminal in Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
Source:
ABC News
During a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, political groups in Sudan including the Somoud” alliance and Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur approve a roadmap in a effort to end the civil war in the country.
Source:
AA
Politics and elections
Tens of thousands of people rally in Belgrade, Serbia, to protest against the government and president Aleksandar Vučić, and call for earlier parliamentary and presidential elections.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Thousands of people march through Madrid, Spain, to demand prime minister Pedro Sánchez to resign following several corruption scandals in his cabinet and his family.
Source:
Reuters
Health and environment
The International Red Cross announces that three of its local volunteers have died from Ebola while working in the Djugu Territory, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in March.
Source:
CBS News
India issues a travel advisory to Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan amidst the Ebola outbreak.
Source:
The Hindu
Uganda's health ministry confirms three new Ebola cases, a woman who traveled from the DRC and two Ugandan workers that had contact with her, bringing the country's total to five cases and one death.
Source:
RFI
An Ebola clinic run by Doctors Without Borders is set on fire by residents in Mongbwalu, Djugu Territory, Ituri Province, DRC.
Source:
AP
Law and crime
A gunman opens fire at a security checkpoint outside the White House in Washington, D.C., wounding a bystander. The suspect is killed by the United States Secret Service.
Source:
Reuters
The Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and the Turkish National Intelligence Organization conduct a joint operation in Syria and arrest ten people allegedly linked with ISIL.
Source:
Al Jazeera
May 22
Sports
Andrew Giuliani, head of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Task Force, says that the DR Congo soccer team must isolate for 21 days or risk the ability to enter the U.S. for the upcoming FIFA World Cup amidst the ebola outbreak in the country.
Source:
ESPN
Armed conflicts and attacks
Pakistan Army field marshal Asim Munir visits Tehran, Iran, in a effort to broker a ceasefire deal between Iran and the United States to end the war.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefirePakistan in the 2026 Iran war
Source:
Axios
According to the Tasnim News Agency, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and field marshal Asim Munir held late night talks amidst ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefirePakistan in the 2026 Iran war
Source:
The News PK
A source citing Reuters says that a negotiating team from Qatar arrives in Tehran in an effort to secure a peace deal between Iran and the U.S. to end the war.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefire
Source:
Shafaq
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says that "excessive demands" by the U.S. are the main obstacle in the peace talks.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefire
Source:
Al Jazeera
An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson says that Iran will not agree to give its highly enriched uranium to the U.S.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefire
Source:
Al Jazeera
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reports that 35 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz with permission over the previous 24 hours.
Source:
Al Jazeera
A Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker crosses the strait for the first time in nearly two weeks, bound from Ras Laffan to Tianjin, China.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Six people are killed and six more injured in an Israeli airstrike in Deir Qanoun an-Naher. Two paramedics are among the fatalities, while three more are injured.
Source:
Al Jazeera
A paramedic is killed and four more are injured in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Tyre District.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Source:
Al Jazeera
Russian president Vladimir Putin says that a drone strike on a dormitory and school in Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast has killed at least six people and injured dozens more, attributing the attack to Ukraine, but Ukraine's military describes the comments from Russia as manipulation, saying it hit a drone command unit in Starobilsk.
Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Luhansk Oblast campaign2026 Starobilsk strike
Source:
Reuters
U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio says that no peace talks are currently taking place, but the United States is "ready" to play a role if they resume.
Source:
AA
The Malian military conducts drone strikes on the governor's office and other locations in Kidal, Kidal Region, Mali, which did not cause any casualties.
Source:
The Defense Post
Seven people are killed and 110 more injured in clashes between the Misak and Nasa, rival Indigenous groups, over a dispute to a land in Silvia, Cauca Department, Colombia. The army has deployed 500 soldiers in response.
Source:
AP
Business and economy
Mexico and the European Union sign an updated trade agreement that reduces tariffs and expands market access.
Source:
AFP via RFI
The Dutch cabinet approves a bill to ban the importation of goods from Israeli settlements, and will explore if the ban can be extended to services and investments.
Source:
Asharq Al-Awsat
Disasters and accidents
More than 90 miners are killed and others are injured in a mining accident after a gas explosion at a coal mine in Shanxi, China.
Source:
Sky News
Source:
Arab News PK
One person is killed and 36 others are injured, including two seriously, in an explosion at a dry dock in Staten Island, New York, United States.
Source:
BBC News
At least one person is killed and nine others are injured in an explosion at the petrochemical plant of MOL in Tiszaújváros, Borsod–Abaúj–Zemplén County, Hungary.
Source:
Reuters
40,000 people are evacuated in Garden Grove, California due to a chemical tank leak, and fears of a possible explosion.
Source:
New York Times
Major power outages at night on Sumatra island leave millions without electricity for hours. Several officials declare a state of emergency due to concerns over temperature and weather conditions.
Source:
Tempo
Health and environment
The World Health Organization raises its assessment of the risk from the Ebola outbreak within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from "high" to "very high" due to its rapid spread, while keeping it "low" at the global level. Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the outbreak in Uganda is stable.
Source:
AP
Rwanda imposes a travel ban on foreign nationals that have been to the DRC in the past thirty days, and requires a quarantine for Rwandan citizens or residents who have been there.
Source:
Reuters
United Nations emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher announces that the organization is providing US$60 million in funding for the outbreak response.
Source:
Reuters
International relations
Acting U.S. navy secretary Hung Cao says that the United States has put on hold US$14 billion of arms sales to Taiwan to preserve munitions during the Iran war.
Source:
Al Jazeera
NATO conducts Operation Arcade Strike, an exercise in drone warfare, at an unused platform of the London Underground's Charing Cross tube station to be prepared for potential conflict with Russia by 2030.
Source:
The New Voice of Ukraine
Politics and elections
Slovenia elects Democratic Party leader Janez Janša as prime minister after lawmakers approve a minority coalition government, replacing former prime minister Robert Golob of the Freedom Movement.
Source:
Bloomberg
Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismisses prime minister Ousmane Sonko and dissolves the government amid growing tensions within the ruling coalition and ongoing economic challenges in Senegal.
Source:
AFP via France 24
The reports that Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a commander of the IRGC-aligned Shia Iraqi militia group Kata'ib Hezbollah, who was arrested earlier this month in Turkey for plotting terror attacks across Europe and North America including Jewish sites, also plotted to assassinate U.S. president Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump in retaliation of the 2020 strike against former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
Source:
First Post
May 21
Health and environment
India and the African Union postpone the upcoming India–Africa Forum Summit, originally scheduled to be held in New Delhi between May 28 and 31, due to the Ebola outbreak in parts of Africa.
Source:
The Hindu
India, South Korea, and Thailand issue travel alerts for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, while South Korea plans to impose a level-4 travel ban for parts of the DRC, especially the Ituri Province, due to the Ebola outbreak in both countries.
Source:
Yonhap
The United States temporarily pauses deportation flights to the DRC.
Source:
Politico
Uganda temporarily suspends flights to and from the DRC.
Source:
The New York Times
Residents protesting the handling of the public health crisis set ablaze an Ebola treatment center in the Ituri Province after Congolese police fired warning shots and tear gas.
Source:
Reuters
Politics and elections
The Government of Puntland states that federal executive and legislative mandates under the Somali provisional constitution have ended, as federal institutions enter a transitional phase with unclear mandates.
Source:
Horseed Media
Disasters and accidents
A chemical tank containing 7,000 U.S. gal (26,000 L) of methyl methacrylate at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, California, United States, overheats and is on the verge of exploding. Over 40,000 residents in the nearby area are ordered to evacuate as response teams do not have a novel solution to prevent the tank from cracking or entering thermal runaway.
Source:
The Guardian
Ten people are killed in a head-on collision between a minibus and a bus in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Source:
Xinhua
International relations
The United States inaugurates a new consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, amidst the Trump administration's focus on the Arctic and tensions over efforts to purchase it.
Source:
Democrata ES
Greenlanders gather to protest the opening of the new U.S. consulate in Nuuk in opposition to U.S. president Donald Trump's efforts to purchase Greenland.
Source:
Reuters
Greenland prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen says that he will not attend the opening ceremony of the new U.S. consulate in Nuuk.
Source:
AA
U.S. ambassador to Denmark Ken Howery says that Trump has ruled out the use of military force against Greenland.
Source:
Xinhua
Law and crime
The U.S. Supreme Court dismisses an appeal by the state of Alabama challenging a lower court decision to block the execution of Joseph Clifton Smith, an intellectually disabled man convicted of a 1997 murder. The court says that executing Smith would violate his constitutional rights.
Source:
The Guardian
Twenty people are killed in a mass shooting at a ranch in the village of Rigores, Trujillo, Colón Department, Honduras. In a separate incident, five police officers and three alleged gang members are killed in a shootout in the village of Corinto, Omoa, Cortés Department.
Source:
Sky News
Thai police arrest eleven additional suspects linked to a cyber fraud network allegedly connected to Chinese national Sun Mingchen, who faces weapons charges after authorities discovered military-grade firearms and explosives at his residence in Pattaya, Chonburi.
Source:
The Straits Times
The Court of Appeal of Paris, France, convicts Airbus and Air France of manslaughter over the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, which killed 228 people, and orders both companies to pay the maximum corporate fine and compensation to victims' families.
Source:
The New York Times
Armed conflicts and attacks
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko says that his country will not join the current war, and says that he is ready to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Source:
Ukrinform
Casualties are reported with no exact number after heavy fighting breaks out on the outskirts of regional capital Baidoa between forces loyal to the federal government and troops aligned with South West State ousted president Abdiaziz Laftagareen.
Source:
Horseed Media
The Sudan Doctors Network reports that a drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Dilling, South Kordofan, Sudan, has injured six people.
Source:
AA
Sports
In association football, Al-Nassr win their 11th Saudi Pro League title after defeating Damac 3–1 on the final matchday of the season.
Source:
AFP via France 24