Portal:Current events/2026 May 22

May 22, 2026 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Middle Eastern crisis
- 2026 Iran war
  - 2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations
    - 2026 Iran war ceasefire
      - Pakistan in the 2026 Iran war
        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. (AFP via The Daily Star) (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. (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. (Reuters) (Shafaq)
      - Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says that "excessive demands" by the U.S. are the main obstacle in the peace talks. (Al Jazeera)
      - An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson says that Iran will not agree to give its highly enriched uranium to the U.S. (Al Jazeera)
  - 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis
    - The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reports that 35 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz with permission over the previous 24 hours. (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. (Al Jazeera)
- 2026 Lebanon war
  - 2026 Israel–Lebanon ceasefire
    - 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. (Al Jazeera)
    - A paramedic is killed and four more are injured in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Tyre District. (Al Jazeera)
- Gaza war
  - Israeli drone strikes kill two people in Rafah and Gaza City. (Al Jazeera) (Al Jazeera)
Russo-Ukrainian war
- Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war, Luhansk Oblast campaign
  - 2026 Starobilsk strike
    - 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. (ABC Australia) (AFP via Asharq Al-Awsat) (Reuters)
- Peace negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian war
  - 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. (AA)
Mali War
- 2026 Mali offensives
  - 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. (The Defense Post)
Colombian conflict
- 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. (AP)

Business and economy

Mexico–European Union relations
- Free Trade Agreement between Mexico and the European Union
  - Mexico and the European Union sign an updated trade agreement that reduces tariffs and expands market access. (AFP via RFI)
Israel–Netherlands relations
- 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. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Disasters and accidents

2026 Liushenyu coal mine explosion
- 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. (Sky News)
2026 Sumatra blackout
- 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. (Jakarta Globe) (Tempo)
Garden Grove chemical leak
- 40,000 people are evacuated in Garden Grove, California, U.S., due to a chemical tank leak, and fears of a possible explosion. (The New York Times)
The death toll from a building collapse in Fez, Morocco, yesterday rises to 15. (AFP via 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. (AP) (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. (Reuters)

Health and environment

2026 Ebola epidemic
- 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. (AA) (AP)
- The Ituri provincial government orders funerals to be conducted only by specialized personnel, limits public gatherings to no more than fifty people, and suspends the local football league. (Reuters)
- 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. (Reuters)
- United Nations emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher announces that the organization is providing US$60 million in funding for the outbreak response. (Reuters)

International relations

Reactions to the 2026 Iran war, Taiwan–United States 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. (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. (The Independent) (The New Voice of Ukraine)

Politics and elections

2026 Slovenian parliamentary election
- 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. (AFP via The Times of Israel) (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. (AFP via France 24)
The New York Post 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. (Ynetnews) (The Free Press Journal) (First Post)

Sports

2026 FIFA World Cup
- 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. (ESPN)