Portal:Current events/2025 May 21

May 21, 2025 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Gaza war
- Donald Trump's Gaza Strip proposal
  - Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that the implementation of U.S. president Donald Trump's plan to forcibly displace Gazan civilians is a condition for his government to end the war. (The Times of Israel) (Middle East Eye)
- May 2025 Gaza offensive, Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip
  - At least 82 Palestinians are killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip. (AP)
Insurgency in Balochistan
- 2025 Khuzdar school bus bombing
  - At least six people are killed, including four children, and 38 others are injured, in an improvised explosive device bombing targeting an army-operated school bus in Khuzdar District, Balochistan, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Six Ukrainian National Guard personnel are killed in a Russian missile strike on a training camp in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. (BBC News)
Syrian civil war
- Two soldiers are killed in a shooting against the Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia, Syria. Both the perpetrators, who are also killed, were foreign nationals who had worked as military trainers at a naval college. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

During the launching of the Choe Hyon 2, the second ship of the North Korean Choe Hyon-class destroyer, a "serious accident" occurs and damages the hull in the process. (BBC News)

Health and environment

NHS England announces the country will start rolling out a vaccination programme for gonorrhea, using the 4CMenB vaccine, starting in August. This will be the world's first vaccination programme for gonorrhea. (BBC News) (The Week) (NHS England)

International relations

Foreign relations of Israel
- More than a dozen governments condemn the Israeli military firing in the direction of a diplomatic delegation with representatives from 31 countries including Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
- Canada, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Uruguay summon their Israeli ambassadors over the incident in the occupied West Bank. Canada, the EU, and Turkey call for the launch of an official investigation. (BBC News) (CNN) (Middle East Eye) (Turkish Minute)
- Israel's Foreign Ministry releases a statement saying that after the delegation "deviated from the approved route", Israeli soldiers fired "warning shots" to distance them away. (Time)
Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute
- Guyana Defence Force brigadier general Omar Khan warns Venezuelans living in Guyana against participating in the May 25 referendum on the Essequibo proposed by the Venezuelan government, with Khan saying that they will risk arrest for "treason and other felonies" as well as deportation. (AP)
Kenya–Uganda relations
- Kenya admits that it assisted Uganda in the kidnapping of opposition politician Kizza Besigye in Nairobi in November 2024. Besigye was later taken to Uganda, where he is currently on trial. (Barron's)
South Africa–United States relations, White genocide conspiracy theory
- U.S. president Donald Trump confronts South African president Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House during a state visit by Ramaphosa, claiming that there is a genocide against Afrikaners in South Africa, which Ramaphosa strongly denied. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Violent incidents in reaction to the Gaza war
- 2025 killing of Israeli Embassy workers in Washington, D.C.
  - Two Israeli Embassy staffers are shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., after attending an American Jewish Committee event at the museum. The suspect is arrested at the scene. (NBC News)
Andriy Portnov, former People's Deputy of Ukraine and aide to former president Viktor Yanukovych, is assassinated in Madrid, Spain, by unidentified gunmen. (Sky News)
Argentine president Javier Milei issues a decree limiting the right to strike for several services, banning some trade unions from further suspending operations as a method of protest. (ABC)

Sports

2024–25 UEFA Europa League
- 2025 UEFA Europa League final
  - In association football, Tottenham Hotspur wins the Europa League, its first trophy since 2008, after defeating Manchester United 1–0 in the final played at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain. (CNN)