Portal:Current events/2026 May 21
May 21, 2026 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russo-Ukrainian War
- Southern front of the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast
- Ukraine Secret Service Alpha Group forces strike a Russian Federal Security Service headquarters in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. (The Kyiv Independent)
- Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast
- Belarusian involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War
- 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. (Kyiv Post) (AFP via Ukrinform)
- Southern front of the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Somali Civil War
- Constitutional crisis in Somalia
- 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. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online) (Horseed Media)
- Constitutional crisis in Somalia
- Sudanese civil war
- Kordofan campaign
- 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. (AA)
- Kordofan campaign
- Drone strikes Lithuania and Latvia causing mayhem and panic country-wide
Disasters and accidents
- Garden Grove gas leak
- 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. (KTLA-5) (The Guardian)
- Ten people are killed in a head-on collision between a minibus and a bus in Mpumalanga, South Africa. (Xinhua)
- At least nine people are killed and nine others are injured when a building collapses in Fez, Morocco. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- 2026 Ebola epidemic
- Africa–India relations
- 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. (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. (Türkiye) (Yonhap)
- The United States temporarily pauses deportation flights to the DRC. (CNN) (Politico)
- Uganda temporarily suspends flights to and from the DRC. (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. (Al Jazeera) (Journal Gazette) (Reuters)
- Africa–India relations
International relations
- Greenland crisis
- 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. (Politico) (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. (Reuters)
- Greenland prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen says that he will not attend the opening ceremony of the new U.S. consulate in Nuuk. (AA)
- U.S. ambassador to Denmark Ken Howery says that Trump has ruled out the use of military force against Greenland. (Xinhua)
Law and crime
- Capital punishment in the United States
- Capital punishment in Alabama
- Hamm v. Smith
- 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. (The Guardian)
- Hamm v. Smith
- Capital punishment in Alabama
- Crime in Honduras
- 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. (Sky News)
- Trafficking of Chinese nationals to scam centers abroad
- 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. (AFP via 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. (Al Jazeera) (The New York Times)
Politics and elections
- 2026 Somali presidential election
- Controversies of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
- 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. (Garowe Online) (Horseed Media)
- Controversies of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
Sports
- 2025–26 Saudi Pro League
- In association football, Al-Nassr win their 11th Saudi Pro League title after defeating Damac 3–1 on the final matchday of the season. (AFP via France 24)
- NASCAR
- Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch dies at age 41 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis. (NASCAR)
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