The spread of smartphones and fast Internet in the 2000s-2010s accelerated the decline in fertility in different countries of the world, the Financial Times found out after analyzing the relevant data. Thus, in France and Poland, fertility rates remained generally stable in the early 2000s, but began to decline sharply after 2009; in Mexico, Morocco and Indonesia, a similar decline began around 2012, and in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal from 2013 to 2015.

On the night of May 16, residents of Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Territory, reported a series of explosions. After the attack, a fire started at the Nevinnomyssk Azot chemical plant, as follows from the analysis of video recordings of eyewitnesses. A video of the fire was published by the Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+. He and ASTRA geolocated the footage: it was filmed from the 50 Let Oktyabrya Square in Nevinnomyssk, approximately 2–2.5 kilometers from the enterprise’s territory.

For the first time, the International Criminal Court received an official request to investigate the crimes of the Hamas leadership against the Palestinian population. This was reported by The Jerusalem Post. One of the two American lawyers involved in preparing the lawsuit, Elliot Malin, told reporters that his client is a civilian who lost his wife, children and other family members during the war with Israel.

Taiwan said it is a “sovereign and independent democratic state” after US President Donald Trump effectively opposed the island's independence following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. “Taiwan is a sovereign and independent democratic state and is not subordinate to the People's Republic of China,” Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In the city of Modena, Italy, a car drove at high speed into a crowd of people, injuring about 10 people. The driver, a 31-year-old man of Tunisian origin, born in Italy, fled the scene on foot after the accident, stabbing a man who tried to stop him. This was reported by the publication il Giornale. The accident occurred on Via Emilia in the city center. After hitting pedestrians, the car crashed into a store window. The attacker was eventually detained by police near the scene of the incident.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend the ceasefire by 45 days following two days of US-mediated talks in Washington. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said this. The truce, agreed on April 16 following an escalation of conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, was due to expire on Sunday. Pigott said the talks were “extremely productive” and the parties agreed to continue consultations in the coming weeks.

US President Donald Trump said that the American and Nigerian military killed one of the leaders of the terrorist organization ISIS in Africa. Trump said the operation "significantly weakened" the group's global capabilities.

A US court has invalidated another trial against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein after the jury again failed to reach a unanimous decision on allegations of sexual assault against actress Jessica Mann. This is the third trial involving charges against Mann against Weinstein. In 2020, the producer was found guilty, but the verdict was later overturned due to violations when working with witnesses. A new trial in 2025 also ended without a verdict after a conflict among the jury.

In the first batch of recordings, Mindich and former presidential adviser Serhiy Shefir discuss raising bail money for the arrested Oleksiy Chernyshov – with part of the money to be provided “officially” and part “unofficially.” In the second recording, Mindich and then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov talk about the defense company Fire Point and contracts with the ministry.

Ukraine has carried out the next stage of repatriation of the bodies of fallen servicemen. According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the bodies of 528 dead, which, according to the Russian side, may belong to the Ukrainian military, were returned to the country. The department said that investigators and experts will carry out all the necessary procedures to identify the dead.

The Republic of Congo's Ministry of Health said on Saturday that 80 people in the country have died due to Bundibugyo virus, a new strain of the Ebola virus. A total of 250 cases of the disease have been registered in the country. Der Spiegel reports this. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for this strain of the virus, and its fatality rate is approximately 50%.

Elon Musk's SpaceX is preparing for the largest IPO in history. As Bloomberg previously reported, the company has filed documents for placement and expects to raise up to $75 billion at a valuation of more than $2 trillion. According to Reuters, SpaceX has chosen to list on the Nasdaq exchange and plans to trade under the ticker SPCX.

In Naberezhnye Chelny, on the night of May 16, a fire started on the territory of the AltynPolymer-NC enterprise, located on Avtoremontnaya Street, 20/2. The city administration reported this. “The forces and means of the Naberezhnye Chelny fire and rescue garrison are responding to fire rank No. 3. Polymer products are burning in an open area,” the authorities said in a statement. The fire was reported to emergency services at 2:46 am.

TikTok, YouTube and Snap have reached settlements in the first major case in which US school districts accuse social networks of creating addiction in children and harming the education system. Bloomberg writes about this. YouTube said the company has been “responsibly developing the platform for over a decade,” and Snap said the parties were “pleased to reach an amicable resolution.” After the transactions, Meta Platforms remained the only defendant in the process.

In 2021, The Wall Street Journal published an investigation into The Facebook Files, which confirmed that the management of Meta, which owns the Facebook and Instagram platforms, knew about the harm that its products were causing to the mental health of teenagers, but did not try to correct it. In 2023, the first attempts to limit the use of social networks for minors began: the American state of Utah passed a law requiring parental consent.