Portal:Current events/2021 May 8

May 8, 2021 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- 2021 Afghanistan attacks
  - May 2021 Kabul bombing
    - A bombing near a school in a Hazara district in Kabul kills at least 55 people and injures more than 150 others. Several students are among the dead. (Reuters)
Moro conflict
- Datu Paglas siege
  - More than 200 BIFF militants storm the town of Datu Paglas, Philippines, forcing many residents to evacuate. The town's market is occupied by the fighters. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - COVID-19 pandemic in Kerala, COVID-19 lockdown in India
      - Kerala enters a 9-day complete lockdown, closing shops, suspending public transport and strictly restricting the on-road movement of people amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases. (The Economic Times)
    - India reports 401,078 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 21.9 million. It reports a record 4,187 deaths which took the nationwide death toll to 238,270. (Khaleej Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh
    - Bangladesh reports its first six cases of the Lineage B.1.617 variant which discovered in India, prompting the authorities to extends the land border closure by two weeks. (Dhaka Tribune)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Pakistan declares an eight-day partial lockdown until May 16 ahead of the celebration of Eid al-Fitr next week. (BBC)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka
    - Sri Lanka approves the emergency use of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as the country faces its third wave and the most active cases since the pandemic began. The minister overseeing the situation says Sri Lanka will try to secure 5 million doses as neighbouring India has restricted the supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Madagascar
  - Madagascar receives its first batch consisting 50,000 doses of Covishield vaccine made by India. (Africanews)
- COVID-19 vaccine
  - The European Commission signs a new deal with Pfizer and BioNTech to buy 900 million doses of its vaccine with additional option of other 900 million doses for delivery from 2021 to 2023 which intent to booster shots against the illness and to allow for the vaccination of children and teenagers. (The Irish Times)

Politics and elections

Elections in the United Kingdom
- Scotland: 2021 Scottish Parliament election
  - The Scottish National Party wins a historic fourth term in office. Along with the Scottish Greens, the majority of seats in the new Scottish Parliament will belong to parties favouring a second independence referendum. Turnout reaches a record high. (The Guardian)

Science and technology

The Aerospace Corporation's Center for Orbital Reentry and Debris Studies confirms that remnants of China's Long March-5B Y2 rocket will make an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on Sunday. The core of the rocket is the most massive object to make an uncontrolled re-entry since Russia's Salyut 7 disintegration over Argentina in 1991. (Reuters)