May 21, 2020 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Naval Air Station Corpus Christi attack
- A motorist opens fire and attempts to breach the perimeter of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, injuring a security guard, before being shot and killed. FBI officials determine the incident to be terrorism-related and say a second person of interest may be at large. The shooter is later identified as a Syria-born man who expressed support for ISIS and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. (ABC News) (CNN)
Disasters and accidents
- Three women are killed in a stampede in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during an US$8 cash handout at a businessman's warehouse. (Al Jazeera)
- U.S. President Donald Trump approves Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's emergency declaration in Midland County which experienced mass flooding after the Edenville Dam failed two days ago. The order authorizes FEMA to assist state and local officials with the emergency response. (WEYI-TV)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- The number of worldwide cases of COVID-19 surpasses five million. The United States remains the global epicenter, accounting for approximately 31% of all reported and confirmed cases in the world. (CNN)
International relations
- Russia–United States relations
- The Trump administration announces it will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty within six months, alleging continuous violations by Russia. (BBC News)
Law and crime
- European migrant crisis
- The European Court of Justice rules that Hungarian authorities circumvented EU law by holding Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers in unlawful detention at a camp near the Serbian border. (DW)
- A military court in Vietnam sentences former deputy defense minister Nguyễn Văn Hiến to four years in prison for allowing three plots of land in Ho Chi Minh City to be illegally transferred from the Navy to private investors. He is also stripped of his Communist Party credentials. (Reuters)