Current events: 2024-05-08

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas war
  • Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war
    • Israel reopens the Kerem Shalom border crossing, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza. However, the UN states that no aid has entered. (AP)
  • Rafah offensive
    • Israeli troops reach the outskirts of Rafah with Hamas saying that heavy fighting is underway. The Israeli military says that it has "uncovered terrorist infrastructure" and killed a number of Hamas militants as it advances. (BBC News)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Russia launches missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, injuring three people and damaging critical infrastructure. Ukraine says that it shot down 39 of 55 missiles and 20 of 21 drones. (AP) (Bloomberg News)
• Islamic State–Taliban conflict
  • A motorcycle bombing kills three Taliban security personnel in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• A statue of the late African American civil rights leader Daisy Bates is unveiled at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., representing the state of Arkansas. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Rio Grande do Sul floods
  • The death toll from the ongoing heavy flooding in southern Brazil increases to 100, with 128 people still missing and 163,000 people displaced. (Reuters)
• Rolling blackouts occur in several cities in Mexico amid an ongoing heatwave in the country. (The New York Times)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 vaccine
  • AstraZeneca withdraws its marketing authorizations in Europe and withdraws its COVID-19 vaccines worldwide due to low demand, after admitting that the vaccines can cause blood clots. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Elected British politicians who have changed party affiliation
  • British Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke defects to the opposition Labour Party, citing the Sunak government's failure to stop the English Channel migrant crisis. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Researchers at Google DeepMind announce the development of AlphaFold 3, an AI model that can predict the structures of almost all biological molecules and model the interactions between them. (Time) (Nature)

Sports

• 2024 Summer Olympics torch relay
  • The ship Belem arrives in Marseille, France, with the Olympic flame. (AP)

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