Portal:Current events/2019 May 8

May 8, 2019 (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2019 Lahore bombing
- A blast near the 11th-century Data Darbar Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan, kills at least eleven people, half of them police officers. (The Guardian) (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- Nine people were killed after the Taliban launches an attack on the Kabul offices of international non-governmental organization Counterpart International. (Al Jazeera)
Syrian Civil War, Northwestern Syria offensive (April 2019–present)
- Syrian government forces capture the town of Kafr Nabudah in an ongoing offensive, marking the first major territorial change between government and rebel forces since the start of the demilitarization agreement last year. (Miami Herald)

Arts and culture

International relations

Nuclear program of Iran
- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sends letters to the P5+1 leaders of the United Kingdom, China, Russia, Germany, France and the European Union announcing the country's partial withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement. Furthermore, Iran announces that it will stop exporting uranium and heavy water from its nuclear program. (Miami Herald) (CBS News)
Cross-Strait relations
- Taiwan passes a law under which spies from China would be subject to life imprisonment or even the death penalty. (Mainichi)
Brazil–United States relations
- U.S. President Donald Trump notifies the Congress that he will designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally in light of recent commitments to increase defense cooperation between both countries. (White House)
Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute
- In a referendum, 55.37% of the Belizean population voted in favor of allowing the International Court of Justice to adjudicate Belize's border dispute with its neighbor Guatemala. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Asia Bibi blasphemy case
- Asia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row, has left Pakistan for Canada to be reunited with her daughters. (ABC News)
Aftermath of the Mueller special counsel investigation
- The United States House Committee on the Judiciary votes to hold United States Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after he failed to comply with a subpoena ordering him to provide them with the full, unredacted version of the Mueller report last week. The full House will vote on the measure in the near future. (The New York Times)
- Donald Trump Jr., son of U.S. President Donald Trump, is subpoenaed to testify before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the Trump Tower Moscow project and his Russian contacts in June 2016. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections