Memorial Day,  May 29th, 2023 

Commander-in-chief of the Russian special forces in Syria, Colonel Oleg Pechevisty, is killed by an HTS artillery strike on a military post in the Latakia Province. (SOHR) (Enab Baladi) 

Russian forces strike Kyiv using Iskander ballistic and cruise missiles, with debris injuring one civilian and damaging infrastructure. Ukraine claims to have shot down all the missiles. (AP via Los Angeles Times) 

Russian airstrikes on Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, target a petrol station and a multi-storey building, killing two people and injuring eight others. (Reuters) 

Twenty-five peacekeepers of the NATO-led KFOR are injured after clashes with ethnic Serbs in North Kosovo over the installation of ethnic Albanian mayors. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić places the Serbian Armed Forces on the highest level of combat alert in response. (BBC News) 

The Russian Interior Ministry issues an arrest warrant against United States Senator Lindsey Graham over comments Graham made about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters) 

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signs the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, introducing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and 20 years in prison for the “promotion of homosexuality”. (Reuters) 

Sunday, May 28th, 2023 

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden wins the 107th Indianapolis 500. (CNN) 

Citizens in Turkey head to the polls to vote in the second round of the presidential election. (AP) 

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is declared the winner by the Supreme Election Council, defeating his opponent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu with 52 percent of the vote. (Tagesschau) 

The Comac C919, China’s first domestically-built passenger jet, completes its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing by China Eastern Airlines. (AP) 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates a new parliament building capable of holding 1,272 MPs. The ceremony is boycotted by the opposition for not asking President Droupadi Murmu to inaugurate it and for selecting the birthday of Hindutva founder Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as the inauguration date, while Delhi Police detain wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik for protesting the sexual abuse of female athletes at the ceremony. (BBC News) 

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Sunday, May 28th, 2023 

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the 2021 attacks on the Capitol. (CNN) 

A potent new antibiotic, abaucin, capable of killing Acinetobacter baumannii (one of three superbugs the World Health Organization has identified as a “critical threat” to humanity), is created using artificial intelligence. (BBC News) 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves Neuralink‘s first-in-human clinical study of brain implants to treat conditions such as paralysis and blindness. (Reuters) 

Police in the Netherlands announce the arrest of 1,500 Extinction Rebellion protesters, including actress Carice van Houten, after protesters blocked a section of the A12 motorway near The Hague. (BBC News) 

Two people are killed and three others are injured in a “record drone attack” on Kyiv. Ukrainian authorities claim to have shot down 52 of 54 drones. (Euronews) 

Thirty three people are killed by ethnic clashes in Manipur, India. (Reuters) 

Citizens in Turkey head to the polls to vote in the second round of the presidential election. (AP) 

Somalia announces that starting next year, Somalis will change to a presidential system and elect their officials via direct vote, ending more than three decades of indirect voting where lawmakers elected the country’s leaders with approval of clan and elderly leaders. (Reuters) 

Saturday, May 27th, 2023 

Russian authorities claim that shelling killed a person in Shebekino, Belgorod Oblast and Kursk, Kursk Oblast, respectively. Russia accuses Ukraine of the attacks, although Ukraine denies any involvement. (AFP via The Moscow Times) 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says that Iran does not recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan due to the lack of an inclusive government as well as recent tensions between Iran and the Taliban over border incidents and a dispute over the Helmand River. (Xinhua) 

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs swaps Asadollah Asadi for Belgian prisoner Olivier Vandecasteele. (CNN) 

Two Iranians and one Afghan are killed when Taliban troops engage Iranians along the border. (Reuters) 

The Afghanistan health department reports two deaths from Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever. (Tolo News) 

Eleven people are killed and 25 more injured when a nomadic tribe is hit by an avalanche in the Astore District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. (AP) 

The Texas House of Representatives votes 121–23 to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton on 20 counts. (AP) 

Friday,  May 26th, 2023 

A Russian missile strike on Dnipro damages a medical facility, killing two people and injuring 23 others. (Ukrainska Pravda) (The Guardian) 

Germany‘s Bundestag votes 375–263, with one abstention, to approve the Bundeswehr‘s deployment in Mali as part of the UN‘s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission until May 31, 2024. (DW) 

The Constitutional Court of Guatemala blocks the candidacy of frontrunner Carlos Pineda in the 2023 Guatemalan general election due to alleged violations of electoral law. (AP) 

Thursday, May 25th, 2023 

Wagner Group forces begin withdrawing from Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, transferring control over to the Russian Ground Forces. (BBC News) 

Russia and Belarus sign an agreement in Minsk allowing the stationing of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says that the weapons are already being transferred to Belarus. (Reuters) 

The Supreme Court of Russia orders the liquidation of the People’s Freedom Party, the oldest opposition party in the country. (The Moscow Times) 

Net migration to the United Kingdom reaches a record of 606,000, mostly due to non-EU arrivals, according to the Office for National Statistics. In response, Minister of State for Immigration Robert Jenrick reaffirmed the governments commitment “to reducing overall net migration to sustainable levels”. (Sky News) 

The German economy enters a recession for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic amid high levels of inflation. (BBC News) 

The End