May 23, 2014 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Sinai insurgency:
- Egyptian security forces claim to have killed Shadi el-Menei, the leader of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, and three other senior members in overnight fighting. (Sky News)
- Taliban insurgency:
- Gunmen attack the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Herat Province. (CNN)
- May 2014 Ürümqi attack:
- Chinese media reports that five people involved in the Ürümqi bombings "blew themselves up". (BBC News)
- 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that he will respect the outcome of Ukraine's presidential election. (BBC News)
- Syrian Civil War
- Syrian TV reports that 39 people have been killed and 205 injured as a result of a mortar attack on a pro-Assad rally. (Canadian Press via Penicton Herald)
International relations
- Russia and China veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Syria. (CNN)
Law and crime
- A Hubei court finds Chinese tycoon Liu Han, the former head of the conglomerate Hanlong Group, guilty of "organising and leading mafia-style crime and murder" and "obtain[ing] financial gains via illegal activities", sentencing him to death. (BBC News)
- 2014 Isla Vista shootings. Seven people have been killed and seven injured in a series of drive-by shootings in a student enclave next to the University of California campus in the American city of Santa Barbara, California. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Politics and elections
- 2014 European Parliament election:
- Voters in the European Union go to the polls for a multi-day European Parliamentary election. Voters in Ireland and the Czech Republic vote today. (Deutsche Welle)
- 2014 Thai coup d'état:
- Royal Thai Army chief and coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha detains former Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra after summoning her for talks a day after the coup. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
- Barack Obama nominates Julian Castro, the Mayor of San Antonio, to become the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (AP via Fox News)
Science
- Research shows that the Chelyabinsk meteor was the remnants of an asteroid that collided with another asteroid 290 million years before entering the Earth's atmosphere over Russia in February of last year. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)