Portal:Current events/2017 May 19
May 19, 2017 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan
- A roadside bomb kills at least 11 people, all from the same family, in Logar Province. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Law and crime
- Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority
- Swedish prosecutors drop a seven-year sexual assault investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (AP via Yahoo! News) (BBC)
- Anthony Weiner sexting scandals
- Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner pleads guilty to sexting with a 15-year-old girl. (Reuters)
- Corruption in Brazil
- The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court releases a plea bargain testimony from JBS S.A., revealing that the company paid 500 million reais in bribes to politicians, including current President Michel Temer and his predecessors Dilma and Lula. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- Iranian presidential election, 2017
- Voters in Iran go to the polls to elect the President of Iran. Final opinion polls continue to predict that the incumbent Hassan Rouhani of the Moderation and Development Party will receive a majority of votes, with the conservative Combatant Clergy Association's Ebrahim Raisi as his main competition. (BBC)
- A huge turnout estimated at more than 40 million out of 56 million registered voters, led to the vote being extended by several hours to deal with long queues. (Al Jazeera)
- Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani has a lead, citing an early official tally, and is on course to defeat his rival Ebrahim Raisi. (Reuters)
- Net neutrality in the United States
- The Federal Communications Commission votes to overturn a 2015 ruling requiring net neutrality. (BBC)
- California independence
- California independence supporters submit their second formal bid for a 2018 ballot concerning Calexit. (Los Angeles Times)
- Political appointments of Donald Trump
- Goldman Sachs banker Jim Donovan withdraws from consideration as Deputy Treasury Secretary in order to have time for his family. (Politico)