Portal:Current events/2020 May 15

May 15, 2020 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War
- The Yemeni Army says that scores of Houthi militiamen were killed in clashes and that scores of others were wounded in the central Al Bayda Governorate. (Anadolu Agency)
War in Afghanistan; May 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- The Taliban ambush a group of soldiers in Khan Abad, Kunduz, killing three of them. Five Taliban insurgents are killed in the clash. (Tolo News)

Business and economy

Economic impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Economy of the United States
  - The United States House passes a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package. The bill will head to the United States Senate. (NBC News)
Coronavirus recession
- American retail chain J. C. Penney files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after accumulating $4.2 billion in debt. It will also close an unspecified number of stores. (USA Today)
Indonesia announces that it is imposing a value added tax on the digital services provided by internet companies. The tax will take effect in July. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A United States Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter crashes outside of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, the pilot safely ejects. (Business Insider)
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 strikes near Tonopah, Nevada, with several aftershocks reported, though no injuries are reported. The earthquake is the largest in the state since 1954. (Reno Gazette-Journal)

Health and environment

International relations

Afghanistan–United States relations, May 2020 Afghanistan attacks
- Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh rejects U.S. assertion that ISIL are responsible for the attack on the maternity hospital this week and instead blames the Taliban. The Taliban previously denied the accusation and labeled the attack as "heinous". (Reuters)
COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia, COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
- Colombian Ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Health meet with their Brazilian counterparts to coordinate a joint response to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in the border region between both countries. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili pardons two opposition politicians in a move to reduce political tension ahead of a parliamentary election. The pardoned are the former mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava and ex-defense minister Irakli Okruashvili. (Reuters)
Ghanaian police names Coronation Street actor Philip Middlemiss as one of the four suspects in a £5 million bribery scandal over the sale of military planes, and asks he be turned over for questioning. (The Times)
Germany's Bundestag votes to make the burning of the EU flag or that of another country a hate crime equivalent to that of burning the German flag - carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison. The only major party that opposed the move was the Alternative for Germany. (BBC News)

Politics and elections