Current events: 2026-05-19

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • 2026 Lebanon war
    • Israeli airstrikes kill 19 people and injure 34 in the Nabatieh District and the Tyre District, Lebanon. (Al Jazeera) (Al Jazeera)
  • Gaza war
    • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
      • The Israeli Navy intercepts a flotilla boat taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla that was to be headed for the Gaza Strip in a effort to break the blockade. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Syrian conflict
    • A Syrian soldier is killed and at least twelve others are injured in a car bomb explosion in Damascus. (The New Region)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • U.S. African Command says that U.S. and Nigerian forces have launched airstrikes on a ISIS camp in Nigeria. (Peoples Gazette)
  • The Nigerian Defence Headquarters confirms that around 175 ISIS, ISWAP, and Boko Haram militants have been killed since the joint operation launched by the United States and Nigeria, including second-in-command Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. (The Guardian Nigeria)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Kordofan campaign
    • The Sudanese Emergency Lawyers reports that 28 people have been killed in a drone strike on a market in West Kordofan, Sudan. (Toronto Star)

Disasters and accidents

• 2026 California wildfires
  • At least 10,000 homes are evacuated amid spreading wildfires in Santa Rosa Island and Simi Valley, California, United States. (BBC News)
• Ten people are killed in torrential rain and flooding in Guizhou, Hubei, and Hunan provinces, China. (Reuters)
• The death toll from a pickup truck crash in Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Guangxi, China, rises to ten after the bodies of nine missing people were recovered. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• 2026 Ebola epidemic
  • The death toll in the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo rises to 131. (Reuters)
  • Sudan begins implementing Ebola measures, including screening passengers at the international airport in Port Sudan. (Sudan Tribune)
• 2023–2026 mpox epidemic
  • Thailand reports two cases of mpox, prompting the Department of Disease Control to increase surveillance of the disease. (Nation Thailand)

International relations

• The cabinet of Thailand approves plans to reduce the length of visa-free stays for travelers from more than 90 countries as part of measures targeting crimes involving foreign nationals. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Spain
  • Former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is charged with money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation in connection with an investigation into the alleged laundering of the €53 million public bailout that incumbent prime minister Pedro Sánchez's second government provided to the airline Plus Ultra and La Liga Airlines in 2021. (Politico)
• Catalonian police arrest Jonathan Andic, the son of Mango founder Isak Andic, as part of an investigation into Isak's death during a hiking trip to Collbató in 2024. (AFP via Cebu Daily News)
• Vietnamese police arrest five Chinese nationals and a local accused of operating a gold smuggling network in Hanoi that allegedly traded more than US$45 million worth of gold. (AFP via New Straits Times)

Politics and elections

• Constitutional crisis in Somalia, 2026 Somali presidential election
  • Controversies of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
    • Opposition coalition Somali Future Council says Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud can no longer perform key presidential functions, including military oversight or dismissing government officials. They propose that parliamentary speaker Aden Madobe serve as acting president until elections scheduled for 30 June. The president has lost full executive authority following the expiry of his mandate on 15 May. (''Idil News)
• Reactions to the 2026 Iran war
  • The War Powers Resolution, requiring a halt to hostilities in Iran not approved by the United States Congress, passes a preliminary vote in the U.S. Senate by 50–47 after the defection of Louisiana Republican senator Bill Cassidy. The vote comes after previous attempts failed. (CNBC)

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