Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 18:56, 19 May 2021

• edit
• history
• watch

Armed conflicts and attacks

• A manhunt is ongoing for a far-right extremist, identified as a soldier, in Dilsen-Stokkem, Belgium, after threatening virologist Marc Van Ranst. The suspect is heavily armed and considered as a serious threat. Four rocket-launchers are found in his car. (BBC)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • It is revealed that the Ganges river in India has had hundreds of human bodies floating in its waters and buried in its banks in recent days, including some thought to have died of COVID-19. (BBC)
      • An anti-fungal drug, Amphotericin B, used in the treatment of a rare infection called mucormycosis, or "black fungus", is in short supply across states in India. Immunity to this infection can be reduced by the use of steroids in severely ill COVID-19 patients. (BBC)
      • India reports a new world record of 4,529 daily deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 283,248. (The Straits Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports a record 6,075 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 485,496. (Free Malaysia Today)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines
      • Vice President Leni Robredo receives her first dose of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine. (CNN Philippines)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan
      • Taiwan raises its COVID-19 alert level to level 3 nationwide, which is same level as Taipei and New Taipei City where masks are required to be worn at all times and gatherings of more than five indoors and ten people outdoors are banned amid a rising number of locally transmitted cases. (The Guardian)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in France
    • Restaurants, bars, and cafés for outdoor terraces are reopened in France for the first time in six months as well as museums, theatres and other cultural venues as the curfew was pushed back to 9:00 p.m. as part of easing of restrictions. (The Washington Post) (France 24)
• A tabular iceberg nearly twice the size of Majorca, dubbed A-76, calves from the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica's Weddell Sea. (CNN)

International relations

• European migrant crisis, Morocco–Spain relations
  • Morocco closes its border with Spain following the escalation of diplomatic tensions generated by the massive influx of migrants into Ceuta on Tuesday. (El Confidencial)

Law and crime

• Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, Corruption in Brazil
  • The Federal Police of Brazil reveals an investigation against Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, IBAMA president Eduardo Bim and other high-ranking officials for facilitating illegal logging in the Amazon region. Salles' fiscal and banking secrecies are lifted, and Bim is suspended from his post. (G1)
• The Spanish Audiencia Nacional summons the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, to present himself in court on June 1 on accusations of multiple charges related to human rights violations by human rights groups and Western Sahara individuals. Ghali, who is currently hospitalized in northern Spain, refused to sign the summon, saying he has to refer to the Algerian embassy first. (Reuters)

• 2021 by day