Current events: 2024-05-21

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas War
  • Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war
    • The Israeli army launches a raid on the city of Jenin, with sources claiming seven Palestinians were killed. (Reuters)
  • Humanitarian aid during the Israel–Hamas war
    • The UNRWA suspends food distribution in Rafah due to insecurity and a lack of supplies. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• Jenny Erpenbeck wins the International Booker Prize for her novel Kairos, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• Pixar Animation Studios lays off 14% of its workforce, approximately 175 people. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Singapore Airlines Flight 321
  • A Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore makes an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after experiencing severe air turbulence over the Bay of Bengal, resulting in one death and at least 30 injured. (BBC News)
• 11 female workers drown after a microbus falls off a ferry into the Nile River near Abou Ghaleb village in Giza, Egypt. (ahram) International relations
• Argentina–Spain relations
  • Spain recalls its ambassador from Argentina permanently after a diplomatic crisis with Argentine President Javier Milei over Milei's comments about Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez. (CNN)

Law and crime

• Censorship in Israel
  • The Israeli Ministry of Communications seizes broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press (AP News) and halt their live feed of Gaza, accusing them of breaking the new media law by supplying images to Al Jazeera. (AP)
• Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton is reported to be on life support after being physically attacked in Port-Cartier prison. (Vancouver Sun)
• The European Union passes the Artificial Intelligence Act, to be applied in 2026. The act imposes strict transparency obligations on AI systems, restricts governments from using real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces, and bans social scoring, predictive policing, and untargeted scraping of facial images. (Reuters)
• Russia sentences Anatoly Maslov, a 77-year-old hypersonic missiles expert, to 14 years in prison for state treason. (Reuters)
• Following Georgia's model, Serbia's parliament passes a bill on "foreign agents". (euronews.ro)

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