Portal:Current events/2024 May 14

May 14, 2024 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2024 Kharkiv offensive, Kharkiv strikes
  - At least 20 people are injured when Russian airstrikes hit a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Reuters)
  - Ukraine pulls back from positions near Lukyantsi and Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast. (Reuters)
Israel–Hamas war
- Rafah offensive
  - Israeli tanks enter residential areas of Rafah as they attempt to capture the city. Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam Brigades says that it destroyed an Israeli troop carrier with a Al-Yassin 105 anti-tank missile, killing several troops and injuring several others, while the Israel Defense Forces claim to have "eliminated" several terrorists in the city. (Reuters)
Israeli settler violence
- Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war
  - Israeli protestors attack a convoy of aid trucks in the West Bank, damaging 15 trucks and causing $2 million worth of damage. (Reuters)
2024 Iran–Israel conflict, Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- One civilian killed and five IDF personnel injured in Hezbollah shelling on Adamit kibbutz and launches 60 rockets at IDF air traffic control base in Mount Meron, Israel.(L'Orient le Jour)
- Two Hezbollah militants and Hussein Makki, a field commander killed and one injured in Israeli airstrikes on Meiss Ej Jabal and Tyre Lebanon.(Haaretz)
2024 New Caledonia unrest
- Riots erupt in New Caledonia as France plans to change the constitution, allowing more recent white French settlers to vote in the island's provincial elections, which protesters claim would marginalise the Indigenous Kanak people. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
- Three Kanak residents are killed and many more injured during a drive-by shooting by a group of French settlers. (Reuters)
- At least 54 officers are injured and more than 130 people are arrested. Shops and cars are looted, while a prison breakout has been prevented. (AP) (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival opens in Cannes, France, with Meryl Streep receiving an honorary Palme d'Or award. (AP)

Business and economy

China–United States trade war
- U.S. President Joe Biden passes tariff increases on Chinese imports, including electric vehicles and batteries, computer chips, and medical products. (Reuters)
Economy of Argentina
- Inflation in Argentina slows to a single digit number of 8.8 percent amid severe austerity plans by president Javier Milei. (AP)
GameStop short squeeze
- The share price of GameStop increases by a further 61%. (Quartz) (Yahoo! News)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from a building collapse in George, South Africa, last week, increases to 33. (Reuters)
Thirteen people, including former Congressman Édgar Alarcón, are killed in a bus crash in Vinchos, Huamanga Province, Peru. (Reuters) (Infobae)
Eight people are killed and 40 others are injured when a bus carrying farmworkers collides with a truck and overturns in Marion County, Florida, United States. (AP)

Law and crime

Corruption in Russia
- Russian police arrest former head of personnel of the Ministry of Defence Yuri Vasilievich Kuznetsov [ru] for bribery of over $1 million. Kuznetsov's charges carry up to 15 years of jail time. (Al Jazeera)
Two prison guards are killed and three others are critically injured in an ambush of a prison van near Rouen, Normandy, France, to free an inmate with ties to a drug dealing gang. (BBC News)
Tunisian police raid the headquarters of the Tunisian Order of Lawyers in Tunis and arrest Mahdi Zagrouba, who is known for his opposition to President Kais Saied. (Al Jazeera)
The Supreme Court of Kazakhstan sentences former Minister of National Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev to 24 years in prison for torturing and murdering his wife. (Al Jazeera)
Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza loses his appeal against a 25-year prison sentence. (Reuters)
A court in Germany convicts and fines Alternative for Germany member Björn Höcke €13,000 ($14,000) for using a Nazi slogan that once belonged to the Sturmabteilung. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

2023–2024 Georgian protests
- Riot police clash with protesters on the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia, after the parliament approves a controversial "foreign agent" law that requires media organizations to declare foreign funding. (BBC News)
- The United States warns Georgia that $390 million in planned economic support will be "under review" if the Georgian government considers the U.S. as an "adversary", and not as a strategic partner. (The Guardian)

Science and technology

May 2024 solar storms
- The sun emits the largest solar flare since 2005, days after producing auroras in the Northern and Southern Hempisheres. (Axios)
Russia places its nuclear capable submarine-launched Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile into service. (Reuters)