Portal:Current events/2021 May 13

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War In Afghanistan
  • The last Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan arrive in Spain, ending the mission after 19 years. (El Periódico)
  • 2021 Afghanistan attacks
    • Four separate bombings kill eleven civilians and injure scores of others across the country as the three-day ceasefire declared by the Taliban to observe Eid al-Fitr remains in place. No group claims responsibility. (Reuters)
    • A week after two power pylons were destroyed in Kabul's Mir Bacha Kot district, on Wednesday night an unidentified man blew up another power plant in Kalakan district, removing a further 260 megawatts of electricity imported from Uzbekistan. (TOLO News)
• 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • The death toll from the airstrikes in Gaza rises to 103 people, while 530 more are wounded. The city of Rafah is attacked by multiple Israeli raids. Protests continue in the West Bank, resulting in the wounding of 35 more Palestinian protesters. The number of children killed rise to twenty-seven. (Al Jazeera)
  • The Israel Defense Forces says it has deployed two infantry units and an armoured unit to the border on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and that a ground operation inside Gaza will be submitted to military chiefs later today, ahead of potential approval by the Israeli government. (The Telegraph)
  • Israeli strikes destroy Hamas' internal security headquarters and Gaza's central bank, as the spokesman of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, says the group has launched "massive rocket strikes", larger than any launched on Israel since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. (The Jerusalem Post)

Arts and culture

• Eid al-Fitr, the 'Feast of Breaking the Fast', that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan is celebrated for the first time in 87 years in the Hagia Sofia. The Hagia Sofia was a museum from 1935 to July 2020, when it was returned to the mosque status it had from 1453 to 1931. It was originally built as a Byzantine cathedral in 360. The current basilica was created by Justinian I between 532–537 and was the largest cathedral on Earth for nearly 1000 years.(Anadolu Agency Turkey)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines
      • President Rodrigo Duterte approves the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) of downgrading the Greater Manila Area (NCR Plus) under the General Community Quarantine with "heightened restrictions" on indoor dining and personal care services including the reopening of hair salons and barbershops. (Rappler)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
      • Thailand reports a record 4,887 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours due to emergence of jail clusters that infected 2,835 prisoners. It brings the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 93,794. (Bloomberg)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates
      • The United Arab Emirates approves the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years. (The National)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, COVID-19 vaccination in Australia
    • Moderna signs an agreement with the Australian government to buy 25 million doses of its vaccine, having announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt. (ABC Australia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
    • Russia reports its first cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant in 16 Indian students at Ulyanovsk State University. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that all fully vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear masks or social distance, except if the person is immunodeificient or still display symptoms of the virus. (CNN)

International relations

• Armenia–Azerbaijan relations
  • Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan accuses Azerbaijan of moving its army more than 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) into Armenia's southern border to try to capture Lake Sevan, and convenes an emergency meeting with his security council. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Protests against the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
  • Kenya Police fires teargas at a group of crowds protesting the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip at the Kenya capital Nairobi. (Reuters)
• Colonial Pipeline cyberattack‎
  • The Colonial Pipeline attempts to restart resource movement after a cyberattack on May 7. The ransomware attackers were reportedly paid $4–5 million in cryptocurrency prior to the restart. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the cyberattack targeted the corporate business computers and the physical resource supply was turned off in response. Further, 100 GB of Colonial Pipeline corporate date was stolen prior to the attack. The hacker group, DarkSide, attempted to distance themselves from the Colonial Pipeline attack, saying they provide ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), selling licenses to other criminals, and "affiliates are prohibited from targeting hospitals, schools, universities, non-profit organizations and public-sector entities". (Tom's Guide – webcache) (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (Politico.eu) (FOX Business)

Politics and elections

• Attempted assassination of Mohamed Nasheed
  • Ex-Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed is flown to Germany for further medical treatment after being seriously injured alongside three other people, during an assassination attempt in Malé with a car bombing a week ago. Maldives authorities blame Islamic extremists, amongst whom he was unpopular. (DW)
• 2019–2021 Israeli political crisis
  • Leader of the right-wing Yamina coalition Naftali Bennett calls off talks with oppositional leader Yair Lapid to form a new government in light of escalating violence. He instead voices his support for a unity government. (Haartez)

Science and technology

• A team of scientists in Chemistry and Materials Engineering in Japan publish a method to prepare tough and stretchable hydrogels and tune polymerization conditions without introducing a special structure. The method has applications in artificial joints, flexible contact lens, biosensors, drug delivery and soft robotics. (phys.org) (Nature > NPG Asia Materials)

Sports

• 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football
  • UEFA decides to relocate the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final, which is to be played between English clubs Manchester City and Chelsea on May 29, to the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, was scheduled to host the event, but stricter pandemic-related travel restrictions imposed by the British government on Turkey prompted the move by UEFA. (CNN)