Portal:Current events/2021 May 31

May 31, 2021 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Ituri conflict
- 2021 Democratic Republic of the Congo attacks
  - Unknown militants suspected of being Allied Defence Forces attacked the villages of Boga and Tchabi in Ituri Province, killing over 50 people. (Al-Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
    - China reimposes travel curbs in Guangdong province that requires people leaving by plane, train, bus, or private car after 10:00 p.m. to present nucleic acid test results within the past 72 hours amid a spike of the COVID-19 infections. (VOA)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
    - government approves the usage of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15, becoming the first vaccine to be used for children in the country. (Kyodo News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam
    - Ho Chi Minh City begins to implement two-week social distancing measures following a rising number of the COVID-19 cases in the city. (VN Express)
- COVID-19 pandemic in France, Travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  - France begins to implement seven-day quarantine and pre-departure test for EU nationals, French residents, or those travelling to the United Kingdom for essential reasons in order to prevent the spread of Indian Lineage B.1.617 variant as all non-essential travel to UK are banned. (Evening Standard)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Palau
  - Palau announces the first recorded case of COVID-19 in the country. The government says the patient, who was fully vaccinated, arrived on a flight from Guam on May 9 and tested positive after 21 days in quarantine. (RNZI)
China announces that it will replace the existing two-child policy with a new three-child policy, allowing couples to have three children, in order to mitigate the country's declining birth rates. China's fertility rate stands at 1.3 – below the level needed to maintain a stable population. (The Guardian)

International relations

2021 Malian coup d'état
- West African bloc ECOWAS suspends Mali in response to last week's coup d'état. (Al Jazeera)
United States–European Union relations, United States intelligence operations abroad
- Denmark's public service broadcaster reveals the Danish Defence Intelligence Service helped the American National Security Agency spy on European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014. Intelligence was also collected on other officials from Germany, France, Sweden and Norway. (BBC)

Law and crime

Fabio and Nicola Riva, the former owners of the Ilva steelworks in Taranto, Italy, are sentenced to 22 and 20 years in jail respectively for allowing it to spew out deadly pollution. Ilva's carcinogenic dioxins and mineral particles caused a surge in cancer in the city of Taranto. Several other people are also sentenced, including former President of Apulia Nichi Vendola to 3.5 years in prison. (Reuters)
Hong Kong national security law, 2021 arrests of Hong Kong pro-democracy primaries participants
- The court proceedings against 47 pro-democracy activists accused of subversion will continue on July 8, the court says. After being presented with evidence, the defendants will be able to enter a plea before the case is moved to the High Court. Most of the activists have been denied bail lately, with the latest case being that of Claudia Mo, who was denied bail over her WhatsApp messages with foreign journalists. (Reuters)