May 20, 2017 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Second Libyan Civil War
- The death toll from an attack on a Libyan National Army-controlled airbase in southern Libya reportedly rises to 140 people. (BBC)
- Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping
- 82 of the female students recently released by Boko Haram reunite with their families in Abuja. (The Guardian)
International relations
- Saudi Arabia–United States relations
- U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Saudi Arabia, his first of three scheduled foreign trips. Trump signs an arms deal with King Salman worth more than US$100 billion. (Al Jazeera) (ABC News)
- U.S. President Trump is awarded his first foreign order, the Order of King Abdulaziz. (New York Times)
- China–United States relations
- Former United States officials report that 18–20 Central Intelligence Agency sources were killed or imprisoned by the Government of China between 2010 and 2012, which significantly hampered the United States Intelligence Community. (The New York Times)
- Enes Kanter, a Turkish basketballer playing in the American National Basketball Association, is detained at Henri Coandă International Airport after his Turkish passport was cancelled. (BBC)
Politics and elections
- Iranian presidential election, 2017
- Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani is re-elected with 23.5 million votes, defeating Ebrahim Raisi who received 15.7 million votes. (Al Jazeera) (AP via ABC News)
- 2017 Venezuelan protests
- Marking the 50th consecutive day of protests, hundreds of thousands demonstrate throughout Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro, with civil unrest growing despite the increasing number of casualties. (The Guardian)
Sport
- In American horse racing, Cloud Computing wins the 2017 Preakness Stakes in only his fourth race. (Yahoo! Sports)