Portal:Current events/2021 May 10

May 10, 2021 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- 2021 Afghanistan attacks
  - Eleven people are killed and 29 more are injured when a roadside bomb hits a bus in Zabul Province. (Al Jazeera) (TOLO News)
  - Five members of the National Directorate of Security, the head of the economy directorate of the province, and a manager of the Central Bank branch in Logar Province are killed in three separate incidents, all of which involved attacks by unknown gunmen. In a fourth incident in the same province, two civilians are killed and six more are wounded after two mortar shells hit their house on Sunday evening. (TOLO News)
- Afghan peace process
  - In the early hours, the Taliban announces a three-day ceasefire to observe the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday. A Taliban spokesman says that it is for the mujahideen to provide a peaceful and secure atmosphere to their compatriots. (Reuters)
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
- Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip including Hamas fire barrages of rockets at Israeli cities and towns near the Gaza border, as well as seven toward Jerusalem, injuring one person. Israel retaliates with airstrikes in Gaza killing 24 people and wounding 103 others. Nine children and a Hamas leader are among the dead. (Al Jazeera)
2021 Colombian protests
- President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez orders a mass deployment of troops to the city of Cali and its surrounding area after 12 days of protests. (MercoPress)
- Human Rights Watch reports on the use of "horizontal high-speed multiple projectile launchers" meant to fire multiples of tear gas or stun grenades simultaneously. The Executive Director of the Americas Division, José Miguel Vivanco, publishes a corroborating video reportedly showing a Venom grenade launcher from Combined Systems being used against protesters. (MercoPress) (Twitter)
A US Coast Guard vessel fires roughly 30 warning shots on Monday to drive away Iranian fast-attack boats in an "unsafe" encounter in the Strait of Hormuz. (MSN)
2021 Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan conflict
- Citizens who evacuated from the Batken Region due to clashes at the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border return to the area for the first time since the clashes. (AKIPress)

Disasters and accidents

Chernobyl disaster
- Ukrainian scientists report that, for an unknown reason, the levels of nuclear radiation have increased in the remains of the Chernobyl power plant. Most areas of containment have shown decreasing radiation levels, however, in one particular room, radiation counts have doubled over the last four years. These radiation levels are high enough to preclude installing sensors. Additionally, fuel containing materials, which were initially the consistency of lava, are disintegrating into radioactive dust. (Popular Mechanics) (Nature)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in North America
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta
      - Alberta expands its vaccine eligibility to people over the age of 12 years. (Global News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    - COVID-19 vaccination in the United States
      - The Food and Drug Administration authorizes the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine for use in children between the ages of 12 and 15 years. (MSN)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu, COVID-19 lockdown in India
      - Tamil Nadu enters a two-week complete lockdown until May 24 amidst an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (Livemint)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Kyrgyzstan
    - Kyrgyzstan receives the second component of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. (Kabar)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, Malaysian movement control order
    - Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announces a new nationwide movement control order from May 12 until June 7, with additional restrictions due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. (Malay Mail)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal
    - Nepal reports a record 9,127 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 403,794. (Kathmandu Post)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines
    - The Philippines receives its first shipment of 193,050 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine distributed through the COVAX initiative. (GMA News Online)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, Lineage B.1.617
    - Thailand reports its first two cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant in a woman and her four-year-old son who traveled from Pakistan and are currently in quarantine. (ABC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
    - Greece reopens primary and junior high schools for in-person classes for the first time in months. The courts also restart many activities. (U.S. News and World Report)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
    - Turkey surpasses 5 million cases of COVID-19, becoming the fifth country to do so after the United States, India, Brazil, and France. (Bianet)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
    - The United Kingdom lowers its COVID-19 Alert level to level 3 as vaccinations and lockdown restrictions ease pressure on the NHS, which means that the transmission of the virus is no longer rising exponentially. (The Independent)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, variants of SARS-CoV-2
  - Argentina reports its first cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant in two people who travelled from Paris, as well as its first case of the Lineage B.1.351 variant in a person who travelled from Spain. (Reuters)
- Variants of SARS-CoV-2
  - The World Health Organization classifies the Lineage B.1.617 variant as a "Variant of Concern", becoming the fourth variant to be designated as being of global concern after the B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 variants. (The Wall Street Journal)

International relations

COVID-19 pandemic in Bahrain, COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates establish “a safe travel corridor” for those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, which will be in effect by the end of this week. (Al-Arabiya English)

Law and crime

2021 Dunedin Countdown stabbing
- A man stabs and injures four people in a Countdown supermarket in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is also injured and has been hospitalised. (ABC News)
A court in Paris dismisses the complaint of a French Vietnamese woman against several manufacturers of the Agent Orange chemical used by the United States military during the Vietnam War. The court rules it to be a sovereign case under the jurisdiction of the United States (VnExpress)

Politics and elections

The Federal Parliament of Nepal votes 124–93 in a no confidence vote against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli over both his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his attempts to lead a minority government after his party, the Nepal Communist Party, split into the Communist Party of Nepal–UML and Communist Party of Nepal–Maoist earlier this year. President Bidya Devi Bhandari is expected to name Oli caretaker Prime Minister until the next election. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

Sources in Russia's defense industry report that Russia will be carrying out three tests of the RS-28 Sarmat hypersonic ICBM during the third quarter of 2021 at the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka Krai as part of flight design tests. Two of the tests are expected to test maximum capabilities for the ICBM with a specified range of 18,000 km and speeds of around Mach 20, prior to final deployment with the armed forces in 2022. (TASS)

Sports

Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina threatens to expel Juventus from Serie A, the highest tier of the Italian football league system, if the club does not withdraw from the proposed European Super League before the start of the next season. (BBC Sport)