Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives votes to put a constitutional referendum on marriage before voters in the US state of Minnesota.
Herman Cain U.S. businessman Herman Cain announces that he will be seeking the Republican Party nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
Seychelles Polls close in the Seychelles after a three day three day presidential election with the incumbent President James Michel winning 55 per cent of the vote.
X Hundreds of Twitter users post the name of an English Premier League footballer who won a superinjunction to stop details of his affair going public, in protest at the player's attempts to sue the social networking site.
Wen Jiabao The Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, and the President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, visit areas of northern Japan devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, ahead of a trilateral summit tomorrow.
World Food Programme The World Food Programme cuts aid rations to Somalia, amid a shortfall in donations.
Landslide 24 people are buried alive following a landslide at an orphanage in Malaysia, and 16 people are killed.
Dust storm At least 42 people are killed and over 50 injured in dust storms and thunderstorms in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, adding to the three-day toll of over eighty dead.
Christine Lagarde Britain formally backs French politician Christine Lagarde to become the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund, following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn over his alleged rape of a hotel chambermaid in New York City.
Harold Camping The date passed without incident around the world, while protesters gather outside Harold Camping's Family Radio Network headquarters to celebrate the failed rapture claim.
According to American Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, May 21 is the date of the Rapture for all Christians around the world, happening at 6:00pm in their respective time zones.
Hundreds of Hmong people are reportedly forced into hiding in north-west Vietnam, after security forces disperse thousands awaiting the supposed Second Coming of Christ.
Valparaíso Police clashed with protesters in Valparaíso, Chile over the government's proposed hydro-electric dam project and education and labour policies which, student leaders say, are going "in the opposite way from those the population were demanding". The demonstration coincides with Sebastián Piñera's state of the nation address.
Abyei is reported to have been taken under the control of soldiers from the North, with the United Nations confirming events.
Suicide bombing At least 3 people are killed in a suicide attack at the Charsad Bestar Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Landi Kotal At least 15 people are killed near the town of Landi Kotal in Pakistan after a bomb destroys an Afghanistan-bound oil tanker.
Clash 2011–2012 Spanish protests: Thousands of people defy a government ban on gatherings to protest across the country against the Spanish government's economic policies.
Arab Spring Egyptian border guards shoot and injure an Eritrean woman as she attempts to cross into Israel.
Scuffles in court (as families reportedly yell "Butcher! Butcher!") lead to the postponement of the trial of Hosni Mubarak's former interior minister Habib el-Adly and six others after "three or four minutes". Habib el-Adly is accused of massacring people who demonstrated against the Mubarak regime, prior to its downfall as a result of a popular revolution in February 2011.
2011 Yemeni uprising: The opposition sign a deal that will allow President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power within a month.
A bus carrying foreign journalists is attacked by a pro-Muammar Gaddafi crowd; soldiers fire into the air to disperse the crowd.
Civil war The cities of Yafran and al-Qalaa in the Nafusa Mountains are in critical condition following ongoing attacks by Muammar Gaddafi's forces, with heavy artillery shelling continuing, water supplies shut off, and no food or medical supplies coming into the towns for weeks.
Arab Spring The Syrian regime attacks women protesters, shooting them dead during all-women marches and arresting the female relatives of male protesters.
Several people are killed and dozens of others are injured in Homs as Syrian security forces attack the funeral of protesters killed in yesterday's protest events during the country's uprising against the regime.
Dawn "Dawn", Pakistan's largest English-language newspaper, begins publication of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables it has obtained in a deal with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. The cables show that the Pakistani military asked the United States to increase its drone attacks against insurgents on Pakistani territory, a request Pakistani authorities have not admitted in public.