Mexico and the European Union sign an updated trade agreement that reduces tariffs and expands market access.
Source:
AFP via RFI 
May 22
Business and economy
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:
in Dutch
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
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:
CBC 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
Power outage at night on Sumatra island leave millions without electricity for hours.
Source:
Jakarta Globe
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
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
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
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
20 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 11 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
Health and environment
India and the African Union postpone the upcoming 4th 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
Disasters and accidents
Ten people are killed in a head-on collision between a minibus and a bus in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Source:
Xinhua
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
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
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
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
Casualties reports with no exact number after heavy fighting has broken out outskirts of regional capital Baidoa between forces loyal to federal government and troops aligning with South West ousted president Abdiaziz Laftagareen.
Source:
Horseed Media
May 20
Law and crime
The U.S. Department of Justice announces that a grand jury in Miami, Florida, has indicted former first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Raúl Castro and five others on murder charges in connection with the 1996 shootdown of an aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue.
Source:
Reuters
Two U.S. Capitol Police officers who helped defend the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. during the January 6, 2021 riot file a lawsuit to block January 6 rioters from receiving payouts from a new $1.8 billion settlement fund.
Source:
Reuters
The German public prosecutor general arrests a Chinese couple in Munich who are accused of spying for a Chinese intelligence agency.
Source:
DW
The Philippine supreme court rejects an injunction sought by senator Ronald dela Rosa against his arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant for crimes against humanity related to the Philippine drug war.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Atlatlahucan mayor Agustín Toledano Amaro and former Yecapixtla mayor Irving Sánchez Zavala are arrested in Morelos, Mexico, during "Operación Enjambre", a crackdown on officials tied to organized crime. A manhunt is underway for Cuautla mayor Jesús Corona Damián.
Source:
El Financiero
Business and economy
The U.S. House of Representatives votes 396–13 to pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, aimed at helping offset the cost-of-living and support affordable housing in the United States. The bill heads back to the U.S. Senate for any revisions.
Source:
Politico
Politics and elections
Bolivian president Rodrigo Paz announces plans to reshuffle Bolivia's cabinet and create an economic and social council following weeks of anti-government protests linked to the country’s economic crisis.
Source:
Al Jazeera
The Hungary government proposes a constitutional amendment that would limit prime ministers to 8 years in office.
Source:
The Guardian
International relations
Bolivia and Colombia expel each other's ambassadors amid a diplomatic dispute over comments by Colombian president Gustavo Petro regarding anti-government protests in Bolivia.
Source:
Reuters
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control removes sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories, after district judge Richard J. Leon of the District of Columbia blocked measures imposed over Albanese's criticism of Israel and its actions in Gaza.
Source:
AFP via ABS-CBN News
Lithuania issues an air raid alert in Vilnius after the military detected a drone signal near the Belarusian border, marking the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that an EU and NATO member state has ordered the general population to take shelter.
Source:
AP
Government of Puntland officials hosted a high-level United States delegation in the presidential palace in Garowe following the expiration of the mandate of Somalia’s federal government, where U.S. representatives sought to strengthen economic opportunities in Puntland’s oil exploration, fisheries, and mineral development sectors.
Source:
FTL Somalia
Disasters and accidents
The 1,200-year-old Reikado Hall in the Daishō-in temple complex in Itsukushima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, burns down completely.
Source:
Nippon.com
Sports
In association football, Aston Villa defeat SC Freiburg 3–0 at Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul, to win their first UEFA Europa League title, and second European title after the 1982 European Cup final. Emiliano Buendía, who scored Villa's second goal, is named player of the match.
Source:
Sky News
The DR Congo football team cancels a 3-day FIFA World Cup training camp and a fan farewell in Kinshasa over ebola concerns in the country.
Source:
AP
In ice hockey, the Montreal Victoire defeat the Ottawa Charge 3–1 to win their first-ever PWHL Walter Cup.
Armed conflicts and attacks
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says that Iran has received and is reviewing a new proposal from the United States regarding talks to end the war, while Pakistani interior minister Mohsin Naqvi visits Tehran to facilitate exchanges between the two sides.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefirePakistan in the 2026 Iran war
Source:
Arab News PK
Saudi Arabia news channels Al Arabiya and Al Hadath reports that Islamabad is likely to hold the second round of talks between Iran and the U.S. after the Hajj season ends.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)2026 Iran war2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations2026 Iran war ceasefirePakistan in the 2026 Iran war
Source:
Dunya News
Two supertankers from China carrying four million barrels of Middle East crude oil exit the Strait of Hormuz after staying in the Persian Gulf for two months since the war started on February 28.
Source:
Reuters
A South Korean-flagged oil tanker safely transits the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first passage by a South Korean vessel through the waterway since the war started.
Source:
Yonhap
The Iranian Navy claims that it has allowed 26 ships to cross the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours.
Source:
Oman Observer
Israeli airstrikes kill at least eight people in Ad-Doueir, Tibnin, Burj el-Shamali, and Shebaa in southern Lebanon.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Health and environment
The World Health Organization reports that the Ebola virus outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo likely began two months ago due to a superspreading event, and initially went undetected.
Source:
Reuters
American MV passengers quarantined in Nebraska following exposure to the hantavirus on the ship will remain in quarantine until the end of May.
Source:
NBC News
The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution reaffirming states' obligations to address climate change and recognizing a recent advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice on states' legal responsibilities regarding climate commitments.
Source:
AFP via France 24