May 15, 2014 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War:
- Two Palestinians are reportedly killed by Israeli soldiers at demonstrations near a prison where Palestinian militants are held, the Palestinians were throwing stones and waving flags. (Reuters) (The Times of Israel)
- 2013–14 Thai political crisis:
- Two people are killed and 21 wounded in an attack on an anti-government protest in Bangkok. (AFP via NDTV)
- A group named Turkestan Islamic Party claims the responsibility for the attack on Ürümqi Railway Station in China. (Biharprabha News)
Arts and culture
- National September 11 Memorial & Museum:
- First Family Barack and Michelle Obama and numerous political figures visit and dedicate the memorial with the victims on Ground Zero. (PBS) (The New York Times)
Disasters and accidents
- Soma mine disaster:
- Several trade unions in Turkey hold a one-day strike in response to the disaster. (BBC News)
- Several demonstrations, some of them violent, take place in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and Diyarbakir in response to the disaster, with police responding to many of the protests with force. (BBC News)
- The official death toll for the disaster rises to 282, with up to 150 miners still missing. (BBC News)
- An oil pipe in Los Angeles breaks, spilling an estimated 10,000 gallons of oil in the streets. (BBC News)
- A ferry sinks on the Meghna River in Bangladesh's Munshiganj District resulting in at least 12 deaths and hundreds missing. (AAP via SBS Australia)
Law and crime
- Sinking of the MV Sewol:
- Fifteen crew members of the MV Sewol are charged over the sinking of the MV Sewol off the coast of South Korea with four people including the captain charged with homicide. (AP via New Zealand Herald)
- Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is charged with two counts of murder in relation to a drive-by shooting in Boston's South End district in July 2012. (New York Daily News)
- An eight month pregnant Christian woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, is sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy in Sudan in a case that has drawn widespread international condemnation. (NBC News)