Portal:Current events/2021 May 26

Business and economy

• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announces that all cryptocurrency mining will be banned in the country until September 22, blaming illegal mining for causing a recent series of power outages. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• Four people are confirmed dead and 156 more are reported missing after a ferry traveling between Niger State and Kebbi, Nigeria, sinks in the Niger River. (RTL)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
      • Malaysia reports a record 7,478 new cases and 63 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 533,367 and the nationwide death toll to 2,432. (Free Malaysia Today)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives
      • The Maldives imposes a curfew from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. and will only allow people to travel for a few hours each day to obtain essential supplies in order to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan
      • Taiwan reports a record 11 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 46. (South China Morning Post)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
      • Thailand reports a record 41 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 873. (Bangkok Post)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium
      • Belgium suspends the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for people under the age of 41 following the death of a woman who had received the vaccine last week and who was showing "serious thrombosis and reduced blood platelets". (ABC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus
      • The Cypriot Ministry of Health issues a new recommendation that people under the age of 50 should not receive the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine and should receive an mRNA vaccine instead. However, people under the age of 50 who have already received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should proceed normally with the second dose. (Cyprus Mail)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia
      • Slovakia authorizes the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, becoming the second European Union country to do so after Hungary. (AP)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland
      • The Swiss government announces that indoor restaurants will be reopened and people will no longer be required to work from home beginning May 31 as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline. (France 24)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania, COVID-19 vaccine
      • Pennsylvania becomes the 10th U.S. state to reach President Joe Biden’s goal of vaccinating 70% of adults. (The Hill)
    • U.S. President Joe Biden orders intelligence agencies to increase their investigations into the origin of the virus, following reports that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill a month before the pandemic began. (Al Jazeera)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia
    • President Hage Geingob and his wife Monica test positive for COVID-19. (Xinhuanet)

International relations

• Ireland–Israel relations, Ireland–Palestine relations
  • The Dáil Éireann unanimously passes a motion introduced by the oppositional Sinn Féin condemning the Israeli settlements as representing a de facto annexation of Palestinian land, making Ireland the first European Union member to make such a condemnation. Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney called for the government to adopt the motion. However, an amendment calling for the Israeli ambassador to be expelled and for sanctions to be placed on Israel was rejected by a vote of 87–43. (RTÉ)
• Switzerland–European Union relations
  • Swiss President Guy Parmelin announces that his country has broken off talks with the European Union over a possible framework agreement, highlighting impasses on the issues of state aid, wage protections, and freedom of movement. (France 24)
• Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani pledges US$500 million to help rebuild the Gaza Strip following the cessation in violence between Palestine and Israel. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• 2021 San Jose shooting
  • Nine people are killed by a gunman during a mass shooting at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail yard in San Jose, California. The perpetrator commits suicide at the scene. It is the California Bay area's deadliest mass shooting since 1993. (BBC News) (The Mercury News)
• Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell
  • In a landmark case, The Hague district court orders Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions to 45% of its 2019 emission levels. This is the first time that a company has been legally forced to uphold the obligations laid out in the Paris agreement. A spokesperson for Shell states that the company will appeal the decision. (BBC News)
• Hillsborough disaster
  • Mr Justice William Davis of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales dismisses the cases against two retired South Yorkshire Police officers and a lawyer of fabricating police statements on the 1989 disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, after Davis found that they had no case to answer. (Daily Jefferson County Union)
• Former South African President Jacob Zuma pleads not guilty to multiple charges, including corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering, relating to a $2 billion arms deal in 1999. Zuma said that the charges were politically motivated by a rival section of the ruling African National Congress. (Reuters)
• Iraqi security forces arrest Qasim Muslih, a senior commander in the Popular Mobilization Forces and head of the Anbar faction, for his role in the recent assaults on Al Asad Airbase and the killing of two civil activists. (Al Jazeera)
• Lawmakers in Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of Parliament, have accused the Ministry of Finance of hiding the names of people accused of embezzling $8 million per day, or $3 billion annually, from customs. The acting minister of finance did not deny the claims but did say that there are reports of corruption involving governors, police commanders, and employees of the Ministry of Finance as well as ordinary citizens. (TOLO News)
• Jan Graffius, the curator of the Stonyhurst Collections states that the theft of the gold rosary that Mary, Queen of Scots took to her execution is a “very tragic loss” for Catholic history. Thieves broke into Arundel Castle in West Sussex, southern England, stealing the rosary and other items worth more than $1.4 million. (Catholic News Agency)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Syrian presidential election
  • Syrians head to the polls to elect their President. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

• May 2021 lunar eclipse
  • A total lunar eclipse occurs, the second-shortest of the 21st century, with totality lasting for only 14 minutes. Nicknamed the Super Flower Blood Moon, the eclipse was visible over the Pacific Ocean and Oceania, with South and East Asia seeing the eclipse at moonrise, and the Americas seeing the eclipse at moonset. (Space.com)
• The Galápagos National Park in Ecuador confirms that a female tortoise discovered by scientists two years ago is a Fernandina Island Galápagos tortoise, following recent genetic tests performed at Yale University. Prior to this rediscovery, the species was thought to have been extinct for over a century. (The Guardian)

Sports

• 2020–21 UEFA Europa League
  • In association football, Villarreal win their first Europa League title and first major trophy in the club's 98-year history, after defeating Manchester United on penalties in the final at the Stadion Miejski in Gdańsk, Poland, which ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time. (ABS-CBN News)