Portal:Current events/2022 May 23

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Government and intergovernmental reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
      • Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev says that he has resigned to protest the invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)
• ISIL insurgency in Iraq
  • Islamic State carries out a pair of attacks in the Iraqi Diyala and Kirkuk Governorates, killing twelve civilians and injuring another six. (AP)
• Rwandan authorities accuse the Democratic Republic of the Congo of shelling areas in Musanze District. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2022 KwaZulu-Natal floods
  • 300 people are displaced by new flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (AP)
• Seven people are killed and 23 others are injured when a high-speed craft carrying 134 people catches fire off the coast of Real, Quezon, Philippines. (Sky News)
• Fourteen people are killed and dozens are injured when a building collapses in Abadan, Iran. (BBC News)
• Two people are killed and 120 others are injured when a gas cylinder catches fire and explodes at a restaurant in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Reuters)
• A mudflow hits the village of Ak-Suu, Aksy District, Kyrgyzstan, cutting off access to the village and trapping three cars. (AKIPress)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Telangana
        • Telangana reports its first case of the Omicron BA.5 variant in an 80-year old person with no history of travel. (The Indian Express)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing
        • Beijing extends its stay-at-home order for workers and students, and orders mass COVID-19 testing amid an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city. (ABC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
    • Emeritus Queen consort Sofía of Spain tests positive for COVID-19 after travelling to Miami, Florida, United States. (Diez Minutos)
  • COVID-19 vaccine
    • Pfizer and BioNTech say that their COVID-19 vaccine is 80% effective in young children. (The Washington Post)
• 2022 monkeypox outbreak
  • Scotland confirms its first case of monkeypox. The patient has been hospitalized. In response, smallpox vaccines are being stockpiled in the country. (Reuters) (BBC News) (Glasgow Times)
  • Denmark confirms its first case of monkeypox. (Reuters)
  • England reports 36 more monkeypox cases, thereby bringing the total number of cases in the country to 56. (Reuters)
  • The U.S. CDC says that American health officials are releasing Jynneos vaccines to combat monkeypox. (Axios)
  • Morocco reports three new suspected cases of monkeypox. (Xinhua News Agency)
• Polio eradication, Polio in Pakistan
  • Pakistan launches a new anti-polio drive after a third case of the disease is reported in the country. (The Register Citizen)
• In Australia, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces that Queensland residents will have access to influenza vaccines across the state amid an increase in the number of influenza A cases after two years of low case numbers due to COVID-19. (Seven News)

International relations

• Cross-Strait relations, China–United States relations
  • U.S. President Joe Biden states that American troops would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion, a departure from a traditional policy of strategic ambiguity. (The New York Times)
• Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Turkish occupation of northern Syria
  • Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatens to launch a new military incursion into northern Syria, targeting US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces and expanding its occupation zone along Syria's northern border with Turkey. (Al-Monitor)

Law and crime

• War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • In the first trial for war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 21-year-old Vadim Shishimarin, a Russian soldier, is sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting a 62-year-old civilian. (CNN)
• A security guard is killed at the Qatari embassy in Paris, France. (Reuters)