May 21, 2016 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- A homeopathic doctor is hacked to death in Bangladesh. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility. (Reuters) (CNN)
- War in Afghanistan
- Six police officers are killed in an insider attack in Uruzgan province. (The New York Times)
- A suicide bomber attacks a NATO convoy in Parwan province, wounding two civilians. (Stripes) (VOA News)
- The United States kills Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour in an air strike along the Afghan Pakistan border near the town of Ahmad Wal. (Fox News) (CNN) (The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
- Cyclone Roanu
- At least 21 are killed and more than 500,000 are displaced by cyclone Roanu in Bangladesh. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (The Daily Star)
- The toll from landslides and heavy flooding in Sri Lanka rises to at least 73. (The Guardian) (bd24new.com) (Washington Post) (Press Trust of India via Business Standard)
- At least 37 people have been killed and 22 injured in a bus crash in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (ABC News)
Health
- 2015-16 Zika virus epidemic
- The World Health Organization confirms that the Zika virus strain spreading in Cape Verde is the same as the one in the Americas. (Daily Mail) (CIDRAP)
International relations
- Syrian Civil War, War on Terrorism
- The Pentagon rejects a Russian proposal to stage joint airstrikes against Al-Qaeda linked groups in Syria. (VOA News) (Reuters) (Huffington Post)
- War in Afghanistan
- Norway Foreign Minister Børge Brende says his government is doubling humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to around 200 million kroner (US$24 million). (AP)
Politics and elections
- 2015–16 Iraqi protests
- At least four are killed and 90 injured among protesters who stormed the Green Zone in Baghdad. (Reuters)
- Kazakhstan police detain dozens of protesters during rallies against proposed land reforms in the former Central Asian Soviet Republic. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
- 2014–16 Venezuelan protests
- The Venezuelan Army holds the biggest military exercise in its history, citing threats to national security, amidst opposition demands of a recall referendum on President Nicolás Maduro. (Bloomberg) (Straits Times)
- At least one person is dead in protests that have turned violent in Chile. (FOX News)
Science
- Lake Mead in Mohave County, Arizona, the largest reservoir in the United States, drops to its lowest level in history, declining to its lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s. The reservoir serves water to the states of Arizona, Nevada and California. (WFAA)
Sport
- 2016 Preakness Stakes
- Exaggerator wins the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. (Courier-Journal via USA Today) (CBS Sports)
- Two horses die during a rainy Preakness Day's early races. A 9-year-old gelding apparently suffered cardiovascular collapse. A 4-year-old filly broke her left front cannon bone during her race and was euthanized, while her jockey broke his right collarbone as he was thrown to the turf. (AP)
- 2016 FA Cup Final
- Manchester United F.C. beat Crystal Palace F.C. 2-1 at Wembley Stadium in London to win the 2015–16 FA Cup. (BBC Sport)