May 16, 2020 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Rwandan genocide
- French police arrest Félicien Kabuga in Paris. He is suspected of funding militias that massacred around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. Kabuga had been on the run for 26 years and was living under a false identity. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation, Coronavirus recession
- Air Canada announces it will lay off 20,000 employees starting June 7. (The Associated Press)
Disasters and accidents
- 2020 Atlantic hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Arthur
- The first tropical storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is presently off the United States eastern coast. Arthur has sustained winds of 40 mph (65 km/h), is moving north-northeast at 13 mph (20 km/h), and will move near or east of the North Carolina coast on Monday. The official start of the Atlantic hurricane season is June 1. (Weather Channel) (National Hurricane Center)
- Tropical Storm Arthur
- At least 11 firefighters, who had gone inside a hash oil manufacturing building in downtown Los Angeles after an initial report of a fire, are injured following an explosion. (NBC News) (The Associated Press)
International relations
- South China Sea dispute, China–Malaysia relations
- The United States Navy sends three warships in support of Malaysian oil exploration against diplomatic pressure from China in the South China Sea. (Wall Street Journal)
- Israel–Jordan relations, Trump peace plan, Annexation of the Jordan Valley
- Jordanian King Abdullah II warns Israel of a "massive conflict" if it annexes parts of the West Bank. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- A court in Iran sentences French–Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah to six years in prison for breaching national security laws. Her lawyer said he would appeal against the verdict. (Al Jazeera)
Politics and elections
- Statehood movement in Puerto Rico
- Amid growing disillusionment with Puerto Rico's territorial status, Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced announces a referendum in November to decide whether Puerto Rico should be made a U.S. state. (The Associated Press)
Sports
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
- 2019–20 Bundesliga
- Bundesliga becomes the first major sports league to resume its season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. (NBC News)
- 2019–20 Bundesliga