May 23, 2018 (Wednesday)
Business and economy
- Transport in Iran
- Iranian truck owners and drivers start striking in seven provinces to protest poor working conditions. (VOA) (The Washington Post)
- Budget of France
- The European Commission recommends to remove France from the excessive deficit procedure which it entered in 2009. (Deutsche Welle)
- Economy of Turkey
- The Turkish Central Bank raises its "late liquidity window" rate from 13.5% to 16.5% in a move to counter the slide of the Turkish lira over the last three weeks. Other rates are left unchanged. (Bloomberg)
Disasters and accidents
Health and environment
- The United States issues a health alert in China, following a government employee reporting "abnormal sensations of sound and pressure", one in a range of physical symptoms, from late 2017 through to April 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the State Department is moving medical teams into place in Guangzhou, adding that the incident was "entirely consistent" with reported "sonic attacks" in Cuba in 2016 and 2017. (CNN)
International relations
- Iran–European Union relations
- Iran sets seven conditions to stay in the JCPOA Iran deal after the U.S. withdrew. One of these conditions is that European banks should safeguard trade with Iran. (Al-Arabiya)
- China–United States relations
- The Pentagon announces that it has "disinvited" China from this year's biennial Rim of the Pacific naval exercise, after China announced in January that it had accepted the United States' invitation. (Politico)
Law and crime
- Corruption in Belgium
- Belgian prosecutors admit that a 2-year-old child was killed by police during a high-speed chase with a van last week, after initially denying it. (The Guardian)
- Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump
- U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald rules that public officials on social media should not block other users for differing political views. (Fortune)
Politics and elections
- Politics of Italy
- Italian President Sergio Mattarella accepts Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister. Conte is now going to form his government, supported by the Five Star Movement and League. (BBC)
Sports
- 2018 NFL season, U.S. national anthem protests (2016–present)
- The NFL announces a new policy regarding kneeling for the anthem, requiring any players on the sidelines to stand. Thus, players will now be allowed to remain in the locker room while the Star-Spangled Banner is played, fining players who refuse to stand on the sidelines. (The Baltimore Sun)
- 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs
- The Washington Capitals will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals after a game 7 victory. It is the first Stanley Cup Finals appearance for the Capitals since 1998. (NHL)