Portal:Current events/2018 May 8
< Portal:Current events
May 8, 2018 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Colombian conflict
- A war crimes tribunal in Colombia begins investigating atrocities during the war which began in the 1960s. (Al Jazeera)
- Bosnian prosecutors appeal the acquittal of Naser Orić, former commander of the Bosnian Army in Srebrenica, who was accused of killing Serb prisoners. (Balkan Insight)
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present), Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- United Arab Emirates takeover of Socotra
- Yemeni political parties, including the General People's Congress, Al-Islah and the Southern Movement issue a joint statement calling on the United Arab Emirates to immediately withdraw its troops from Socotra in the Arabian Sea. (Anadolu Agency)
- United Arab Emirates takeover of Socotra
Business and economy
- The heads of Serco and Mitie are expected to appear before the UK's Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee to testify over the collapse of Carillion. (The Telegraph)
- Economy of Argentina
- President of Argentina Mauricio Macri announces talks with the International Monetary Fund on financial support for the country's economy. The Central Bank of Argentina interest rate is now at 40%, inflation at 25% and the value of the Argentine peso at a record low. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- Grenfell Tower fire
- The Guardian reports that the Grenfell Tower in London, which burned down last year with the loss of 71 lives, received a quote for non-flammable cladding but it was rejected for a more expensive option which exacerbated the fire. (The Guardian)
- USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision
- Junior officer Lt. j.g. Sarah Coppock, who was navigating when USS Fitzgerald when it collided with a civilian ship last year killing seven people, pleads guilty to dereliction of duty and is sentenced to half pay for three months and a punitive letter. (Navy Times)
Health and environment
- List of Ebola outbreaks
- A new outbreak of the Ebola virus disease kills at least 17 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (The Guardian)
International relations
- China–North Korea relations
- For the second time in two months, North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un meets China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, this time in Dalian. (Stuff) (The Wall Street Journal) (The New York Times)
- United States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; Iran–United States relations
- Donald Trump announces that the United States will withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal. (The New York Times)
- Iran says that it remains committed to the agreement but also that it is ready to step up uranium enrichment if the deal is no longer beneficial. (The Washington Post)
Law and crime
- Terrorism in Greece
- Greek officials arrest 14 men, all but one of which are Greek nationals, on suspicion of funding terrorism. (Kathimerini)
- High profile Chinese Communist Party member Sun Zhengcai is sentenced to life in prison for taking bribes totaling 170 million yuan. (BBC)
- The Metropolitan Police of London announces a review of 21 rapes and sexual assaults as well as 12 other offences including violence and burglaries over inadequately performed "undeclared casework" by a forensic scientist. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Armenia
- 2018 Armenian revolution
- Armenia's parliament elects protest leader Nikol Pashinyan as the new Prime Minister. (The Huffington Post)
- 2018 Armenian revolution
- Brexit
- Theresa May confirms her trust in Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson after he called her post-Brexit trade policy with the European Union "crazy". (Bloomberg)