Portal:Current events/2021 May 23

May 23, 2021 (Sunday)

Disasters and accidents

Stresa-Mottarone cable car disaster
- Fourteen people are killed and another is wounded as the Stresa–Mottarone cable car in Piedmont, Italy, collapses and falls to the ground. (La Stampa)
Gansu ultramarathon disaster
- Twenty-one runners are dead and eight more injured as high winds and freezing rain strike a long-distance race in Baiyin, Gansu, China. (BBC)
A North Korean 5,500-ton freighter named Chongbong, which was believed to be on the U.N. Security Council blacklist, sinks into the waters off the coast of Shimane Prefecture in western Japan. It was said to have been carrying about 6,500 tons of iron when it sunk. All 21 crew members on board are rescued by a North Korean oil ship passing nearby. (Yonhap News)

Business and economy

Tribune Publishing shareholders approve a deal for the sale of nine newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and the New York Daily News to Alden Global Capital. Alden owns the Boston Herald, The Denver Post and The San Jose Mercury News through its Digital First Media chain. With Tribune, Alden will be the second-largest newspaper company in the United States, after Gannett. (Fox Business)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India reports more than 8,800 cases of deadly "black fungus" in a growing epidemic of the disease. The normally rare infection has a mortality rate of 50% and seems to strike 12 to 18 days after recovery from COVID-19. Following the rise in cases, India's states and territories are told to declare the disease an epidemic. (BBC)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
    - Malaysia reports a record 6,976 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 512,091. (Malay Mail)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Pakistan surpasses 900,000 cases of COVID-19. (Hindustan Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
    - Germany begins to implement a two-week quarantine for German citizens and residents who traveled from the United Kingdom, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. Meanwhile, all non-essential travel to the UK is banned amid an outbreak of the Indian Lineage B.1.617 variant. (Euronews)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    - Russia surpasses five million cases of COVID-19. (ANI News)
Thailand orders the strict control on cattle and buffalo movements following an outbreak of a rarely-fatal disease that causes lumps to form on the animals’ skin and can reduce milk production. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Corruption in Iraq
- Iraqi President Barham Salih says that $150 billion in oil has been stolen from the country since the 2003 invasion due to corruption. (The National News) (WRAL-TV)
Ryanair Flight 4978
- The opposition to Alexander Lukashenko accuses the Belarusian government of diverting Ryanair Flight 4978 from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, and force it to land in Minsk to arrest opposition journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich who was on board. Although the motive for the forced landing was an alleged bomb threat, no explosives were found but the plane was not allowed to depart again. (DW)
- NATO demands an international investigation into Belarus' diversion of the Ryanair flight. (The Daily Telegraph)

Politics and elections

2021 Samoan constitutional crisis, April 2021 Samoan general election
- The Supreme Court of Samoa overturns a proclamation by head of state Tuimalealiifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II which had suspended the opening of parliament on Monday, May 24. The ruling, which declared that Sualauvi had acted unlawfully, paves the way for the opening of parliament, as previously scheduled. (Radio New Zealand International)
- Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa Leaupepe Toleafoa Faafisi announces that he will not convene the new session of parliament on May 24th, defying the new ruling by the Supreme Court. (Radio New Zealand International)
Aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état
- A total of 125,900 school teachers are suspended for joining the civil disobedience movement and opposing the military junta. A teachers union federation spokesman, who refused to give his name out of fears of reprisals, said this move comes just before the start of the new school year in the country. (Reuters)