Today in History - May 2
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1250 May 2,
Toeransa, sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1459 May 2, Pierozzi Antoninus,
Italian archbishop of Florence, saint, died.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1497 May 2, John Cabot departed
for North America. [see Jun 24]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1519 May 2, Artist Leonardo da
Vinci (67) died at Cloux, France. In 1994 A. Richard Turner wrote
"Inventing Leonardo," a history of Leonardo legends. In 2004 Bulent
Atalay authored “Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of
Leonardo da Vinci.” In 2004 Charles Nicholl authored “Leonard da Vinci:
The Flights of the Mind.”
http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/davin2.shtml?tqskip=1
(AP, 5/2/97)(NH, 5/97, p.58)(Econ, 5/15/04,
p.80)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.81)
1536 May 2, King Henry VIII
accused Anna Boleyn of adultery, incest, and treason. [see May 15, May
19]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1551 May 2, William Camden,
English historian (Brittania, Annales), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1598 May 2, Henry IV signed the
Treaty of Vervins, ending Spain's interference in France.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1601 May 2, Athanasius Kircher,
German Jesuit, inventor (magic lantern), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1668 May 2, Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of Devolution in France.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1670 May 2, The Company of
Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson Bay (the Hudson Bay Co.) was
chartered by England's King Charles II to exploit the resources of the
Hudson Bay area. By 2006 it had mutated into Canada’s largest non-food
retailer.
(AP, 5/2/97)(HN, 5/2/98)(AH, 4/01, p.36)(Econ,
2/4/06, p.36)
1729 May 2, Catherine the Great
(d.1796), (Catherine II), empress (czarina) of Russia (1762-1796), was
born. She succeeded her husband Peter III to the throne in 1762. "I am
one of the people who love the why of things." [see Apr 21]
(AP, 9/4/97)(HN, 5/2/99)(WSJ, 2/14/02, p.A18)
1776 May 2, France and Spain
agreed to donate arms to American rebels.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1797 May 2, A mutiny in the
British navy spread from Spithead to the rest of the fleet.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1798 May 2, The black General
Toussaint L'ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the
port of Santo Domingo. After 5 years of fighting over 60% of 20,000
British troops were buried on St. Domingue.
(HN, 5/2/99)(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.12)
1808 May 2, The citizens of Madrid
rose up against Napoleon. It culminated in a fierce battle fought out
in the Puerta del Sol, Madrid's central square. The Spanish were
defeated, and during the night the French army lead by Grand Duke
Joachim Murat slaughtered hundreds of citizens along the Prado
promenade in reprisal.
(HN, 5/2/98)(MC, 5/2/02)
1813 May 2, Napoleon defeated a
Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorschen. During the Napoleonic Wars
a British naval officer proposed the use of saturation bombing and
chemical warfare.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1833 May 2, Czar Nicholas banned
the public sale of serfs.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1837 May 2, Henry Martyn Roberts,
parliamentarian (Robert's Rules of Order).
(HN, 5/2/02)
1844 May 2, Elijah McCoy, black
inventor, held over 50 patents, was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1860 May 2, William Maddock
Bayliss, British physiologist, co-discoverer of hormones, was born.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1860 May 2, Theodor Herzl,
journalist, founder (Zionist movement), was born in Austria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1863 May 2, The Confederates
smashed Hooker's flank and won a smashing victory at Chancellorsville,
Virginia. Confederate Gen’l. Stonewall Jackson was shot by friendly
fire as he returned to his lines; he died eight days later. Captain J.
Keith Boswell, an officer with Jackson, was also shot and killed.
(HT, 3/97, p.48)(AP, 5/2/99)(HN, 5/2/99)
1865 May 2, President Johnson
offered a $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate President
Jefferson Davis.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1866 May 2, Jesse Lazear, American
physician and researcher of yellow fever.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1877 May 2, Vernon Castle,
ballroom dancer.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1885 May 2, "Good Housekeeping"
magazine was 1st published.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1885 May 2, The Congo Free State
was established by King Leopold II of Belgium.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1886 May 2, Edouard Lockroy,
French Minister of Culture, announced plans for a tower for the 1889
Paris exhibition and invited proposals for the project. The winning
design was submitted by engineer Gustave Eiffel.
(ON, 7/03, p.9)
1887 May 2, Hannibal W. Goodwin
patented celluloid photographic film.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1887 May 2, The remains of
composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), were transferred from Paris to
Santa Croce, Florence.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1890 May 2, The Oklahoma Territory
was organized.
(AP, 5/2/97) (HN, 5/2/98)
1892 May 2, Manfred von Richthofen
(the Red Baron), was born. He was a German pilot and greatest ace of
world War I with 80 planes to his credit.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1895 May 2, Lorenz Milton Hart,
lyricist, collaborator with Richard Rodgers.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1902 May 2, "A Trip To The Moon,"
the 1st science fiction, was film released. The French film "Le Voyage
Dans La Lune" (Voyage to the Moon) was a 14-minute silent film directed
by Georges Melies. It displayed early efforts in trick photography to
show a group of scientists traveling to the moon after being shot from
a giant cannon.
(WSJ, 3/19/98, p.R4)(MC, 5/2/02)
1903 May 2, Benjamin Spock,
pediatrician, author and activist, was born. His book, "Common Sense of
Baby and Child Care" sold 30 million copies.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1908 May 2, The original version
of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," with music by Albert Von
Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was copyrighted by Von Tilzer's
York Music Co. It sealed the popularity of Cracker Jacks, a popcorn
candy.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AH, 10/01, p.34)(WSJ, 3/22/08, p.W16)
1912 May 2, Axel Springer, German
newspaper magnate, was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1919 May 2, The first U.S. air
passenger service started.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1920 May 2, 1st game of National
Negro Baseball League was played in Indianapolis.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1921 May 2, Satyajit Ray, Indian
film director (Aparajito, The World of Apu), was born.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1923 May 2, Lieutenants Okaley
Kelly and John Macready took off from New York for the West Coast on
what would become the first successful nonstop transcontinental flight.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1924 May 2, Theodore Bikel,
Austrian-US folk singer, actor (Russians Are Coming), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1926 May 2, US military
"intervened" in Nicaragua. [see May 3]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1928 May 2, In Emeryville, Ca., a
raid on a brewery next door to the home of Police Chief Ed. J. Carey
uncovered 5,000 gallons of unbottled beer and 3,000 bottles of beer.
Jimmy Reese, star 2nd baseman of the Oakland Coast League and
son-ibn-law of Chief Carey, emerged from a cottage in front of the
warehouse and demanded to know what the raid was about. Alameda Ct. DA
Earl Warren filed a federal complaint against Carey.
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.E3)
1932 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Pearl S. Buck for “The Good Earth.”
(MC, 5/2/02)
1932 May 2, Walter Duranty of the
NY Times won a Pulitzer Prize for his series on the Soviet Union that
contained uncritical praise of Joseph Stalin. In 2003 a historian
argued, without success, that the prize should be revoked due to
Duranty's deliberate failure to cover the forced famine in the Ukraine
that killed millions of people. In 2004 David C. Engerman authored
"Modernization from the Other Shore," an American view of the Soviet
experience."
(SFC, 10/23/03, p.A3)(SFC, 11/22/03, p.A3)(WSJ,
2/24/04, p.D8)
1932 May 2, Jack Benny's first
radio show made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1933 May 2, In Germany, Adolf
Hitler banned trade unions.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1934 May 2, Nazi Germany began
"People's court."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1934 May 2, In Germany a
Chancellery meeting took place between Adolph Hitler and executives of
General Motors Corp. and its German division (Opel). Opel quickly
became an essential element in German rearmament.
(SSFC, 1/7/07, p.E6)
1936 May 2, Michael Rabin,
violinist (In Memorium), was born in NYC.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1936 May 2, "Peter and the Wolf,"
a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world
premiere in Moscow.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1936 May 2, With the Italian
invasion Ethiopia’s Emp. Haile Selassie left for French Somaliland. He
went into exile for 5 years during which time he was based in Bath,
England.
(http://tinyurl.com/ahqhm)
1938 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Thornton Wilder (Our Town).
(MC, 5/2/02)
1939 May 2, Baseball player Henry
Louis Gehrig, “the Iron Horse,” asked to be taken out of the NY Yankees
starting lineup in a game where the Yanks beat Tigers 22-2. He had
played 2,130 consecutive games. A few weeks later he was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral schlerosis, a fatal neuromuscular disease.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, Par. p.2)(SFEC, 3/30/97, BR.
p.10)(MC, 5/2/02)
1941 May 2, Martin Bormann
succeeded Rudolf Hess as Hitler's deputy.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1941 May 2, Hostilities broke out
between British forces in Iraq and that country's pro-German faction
under PM Rashid Ali. There was a pro-Axis coup led by the army. Quickly
overthrown by British troops, a pro-British regime under PM Nuri
al-Said was installed, declaring war on the Axis powers in 1943.
(HN, 5/2/99)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1942 May 2, Admiral Chester J.
Nimitz, convinced that the Japanese would attack Midway Island, visited
the island to review its readiness.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1942 May 2, Japanese troops
occupied Mandalay Burma.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1945 May 2, German Army in Italy
surrendered.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1945 May 2, The Soviet Union
announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of
Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria. The Russians took Berlin
after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting and General Weidling
surrendered. Yevgeny Khaldei (d.1997 at 80), soldier-photographer, made
pictures of Soviet soldiers hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag in
Berlin.
(HFA, '96, p.30)(AP, 5/2/97)(SFC, 10/11/97,
p.A19)(HN, 5/2/98)(MC, 5/2/02)
1945 May 2, Yugoslav troops
occupied Trieste.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1946 May 2-4, A two-day riot
[3-day siege] at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended after five
people were killed. Six inmates took 9 guards hostage. Inmate Joe
Cretzer shot the 9 hostages but killed only one. He and 2 compeers were
later shot and killed. 2 inmates were executed for their part and one
served out a life sentence.
(AP, 5/4/97)(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A12)(HN, 5/2/98)
1949 May 2, Arthur Miller won
Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1952 May 2, Christine Baranski,
actress (Maryann-Cybill, Birdcage, Sweeney Todd), was born in Buffalo
NY.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1952 May 2,The British Overseas
Aircraft Corporation (BOAC), the national British carrier, introduced
the world’s 1st commercial jet airliner service. Initial flights took
passengers from London to Johannesburg in South Africa, with stops.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm)
1955 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Tennessee Williams for Cat on Hot Tin Roof.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1956 May 2, US Methodist church
disallowed race separation.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1957 May 2, Crime boss Frank
Costello narrowly survived an attempt on his life in New York; the
alleged gunman, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, was acquitted at trial
after Costello refused to identify him as the shooter.
(AP, 5/2/07)
1957 May 2, Sen. Joseph R.
McCarthy (48), the controversial Republican from Wisconsin, died at
Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. McCarthy drank himself to death.
(AP, 5/2/97)(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A26)
1960 May 2, Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Alan Drury (Advice & Consent).
(MC, 5/2/02)
1960 May 2, House investigating
committee looked into payola questions.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1960 May 2, Caryl Chessman (39),
convicted sex offender and best-selling author, the Red Light Bandit,”
was executed at San Quentin Prison in California. He became a
best-selling author while on death row. SFC crime reporter Bernice
Davis (d.2002 at 97) later authored “Desperate and the Damned,” an
account of the Chessman case.
(AP, 5/2/08)(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A25)(SFC, 4/20/02, p.A23)
1962 May 2, OAS struck in Algeria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1964 May 2, In Mississippi Charles
Moore (19) and Henry Dee (19) were beaten and killed by local members
of the Ku Klux Klan. Their mutilated bodies were later found in the
Mississippi River while federal authorities searched for civil rights
workers Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner. Charles Marcus Edwards and James
Ford Seale were arrested for the crime, but neither was tried. In 2007
James Ford Seale (71) was arrested and charged with two counts of
kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. In 2008 an
appeals court ruled that the statue of limitations had expired
overturning Seale’s conviction.
(SFC, 7/15/05, p.A5)(AP, 1/25/07)(AP,
1/26/07)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26633038/)
1965 May 2, Intelsat 1, also known
as the Early Bird satellite, was used to transmit television pictures
across the Atlantic.
(AP, 5/2/08)
1967 May 2, The Stockholm Vietnam
Tribunal opened and continued to May 10. The formation of this
investigative body immediately followed the 1966 publication of
Bertrand Russell's book, “War Crimes in Vietnam.” It condemned US
aggression in Vietnam and Cambodia. A 2nd session of the tribunal was
held at Roskilde, Denmark, Nov 20 – Dec 1, 1967.
(www.vietnamese-american.org/contents.html)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Tribunal)
1968 May 2, The US Army attacked
Nhi Ha in South Vietnam and began a fourteen-day battle to wrestle it
away from Vietnamese Communists.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1969 May 2, Franz JHMM von Papen
(b.1879), German chancellor (1932), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Papen)
1970 May 2, Diane Crump became the
1st woman jockey at the Kentucky Derby.
(www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8312437_ITM)
1970 May 2, Student anti-war
protesters at Ohio's Kent State University burned down the campus ROTC
building. Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes ordered in the National Guard
to take control of the campus.
(HN, 5/2/98)(HNPD, 5/4/99)
1972 May 2, The play "That
Championship Season" by Jason Miller (1939-2001) premiered in NYC off
Broadway. A film version premiered in 1982.
(http://www.bookrags.com/guides/championshipseason/)
1972 May 2, In Idaho a fire at the
Sunshine Mine precipitated the death of 91 underground employees by
smoke inhalation and/or carbon monoxide poisoning.
(www.usmra.com/saxsewell/sunshine.htm)
1972 May 2, J. Edgar Hoover
(b.1895), head of the FBI (1924-72), died in Washington. Hoover had
come to the forefront of federal law enforcement during the "Red Scare"
of 1919 to 1920. The Watergate affair subsequently revealed that the
FBI had illegally protected President Richard Nixon from investigation.
Ronald Kessler later published "The FBI: Inside the World's Most
Powerful Law Enforcement Agency."
(AP, 5/2/97)(SFEC, 6/6/99,
p.A19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover)
1972 May 2, Camp Carroll was
officially surrendered to the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. This was
the first major victory for the North Vietnamese Army during the Nguyen
Hue Offensive. The Viet Cong's Provisional Revolutionary Government
immediately imposed their authority in the province, as collective
farms were set up and strict rules instilled by the Viet Cong were
forced on the villagers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Quang_Tri)
1974 May 2, Former Vice President
Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals,
effectively preventing him from practicing law anywhere in the United
States.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1980 May 2, Pope John Paul II
arrived Kinshasa for the centennial of Catholicism in Zaire and the
beginning of his African tour.
(SFC, 7/18/97,
p.A10)(http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1982 May 2, A project to produce
oil from shale rock in Colorado's Roan Plateau collapsed due to
technical hurdles and falling oil prices. Exxon Mobil laid off 2,200
workers and cancelled its $5 billion Colony Oil Shale project near
Parachute.
(USAT, 3/5/04, p.6A)(Econ, 8/20/05, p.27)(SFC,
9/4/06, p.A8)
1982 May 2, In the Falklands War
the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by the British
submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men. Some 600 Argentine
sailors were killed when the Belgrano was sunk. Lord Terence Thornton
Lewin (d.1999 at 78), British military commander, was regarded as the
one who persuaded Margaret Thatcher to order the sinking.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A20)(http://tinyurl.com/gbplz)
1983 May 2, A 6.4 earthquake
injured 94 people in Coalinga, Ca., and caused an estimated $10 million
in damages.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1983_05_02.php)
1985 May 2, US financial firm E.F.
Hutton pleaded guilty to charges that that it carried out a large
check-kiting scam.
(WSJ, 10/15/05,
p.B3)(http://my.econedlink.org/calendar.php?month=05)
1987 May 2, Alysheba won the 113th
running of the Kentucky Derby to earn a record $618,600; Bet Twice came
in second and Avies Copy was third.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1988 May 2, Jackson Pollock's
"Search" sold for $4,800,000.
(http://tinyurl.com/gqov4)
1988 May 2, Cincinnati Reds
baseball manager Pete Rose was suspended for 30 days by National League
president A. Bartlett Giamatti, two days after Rose shoved an umpire
during a game won by the New York Mets, 6-5. Giamatti died a week
later. In 1998 his musings on baseball were published as “A Great and
Glorious Game,” ed. by Kenneth S. Robson.
(AP, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.9)
1989 May 2, At a Baltimore
gathering, physicists said they were persuaded that claims of "cold
fusion" were based on nothing more than experimental errors by
scientists in Utah.
(AP, 5/2/99)
1990 May 2, David Rappaport (38),
British 3'11' actor (Wizard, LA Law), committed suicide by gunshot in
California.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0710884/)
1990 May 2, The government of
South Africa and the African National Congress opened their first
formal talks aimed at paving the way for more substantive negotiations
on dismantling apartheid.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1991 May 2, US, British, French
and Dutch forces plunged 50 miles deeper into northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/01)
1991 May 2, In his ninth
encyclical, Pope John Paul the Second acknowledged the success of
capitalism, but denounced the system for sometimes achieving results at
the expense of the poor and of morality. Pope John Paul II put forth
his encyclical “Centesimus Annus,” on the dignity of the human person
and the free economy in the free society. He pointed out that the main
cause of the wealth of nations is knowledge, science, know-how, and
discovery.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)(AP,
5/2/01)
1992 May 2, Los Angeles began to
recover from rioting that had erupted in the wake of the Rodney
King-taped beating acquittals; about 2,800 National Guard troops
patrolled the city while 3,200 stood by.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1992 May 2, Former US House Ways
and Means Chairman Wilbur D. Mills died in Searcy, Ark., at age 82.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1993 May 2, Authorities said they
had recovered the remains of David Koresh from the burned-out Branch
Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1993 May 2, Julio Gallo (82), wine
maker (Gallo), died in a car accident.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1993 May 2, Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic approved a plan to end the Bosnian war. Four days
later, the Bosnian Serb assembly rejected it.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1994 May 2, A jury in Detroit
acquitted Dr. Kevorkian of violating a 1992 law against assisted
suicide.
(SFC, 4/14/99,
p.A3)(www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html)
1994 May 2, Nelson Mandela claimed
victory in the wake of South Africa's first democratic elections;
President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1995 May 2, President Clinton
agreed to allow some 20,000 Cubans into the United States after months
of detention at Guantanamo Bay, but said any more Cubans who fled their
country would be forcibly repatriated.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1995 May 2, A new scientific
theory predicted an earthquake for the Central Valley of California to
occur by July 9. It was estimated to be about 6.0 in magnitude but did
not happen.
(local newspaper San Luis Obispo, Ca.)
1995 May 2, Serb missiles exploded
in the heart of Zagreb, killing six.
(www.hri.org/news/usa/std/1995/95-05-02.std.html)
1996 May 2, By a 97-3 vote, the
Senate passed an immigration bill to tighten border controls, make it
tougher for illegal immigrants to get U.S. jobs and curtail legal
immigrants' access to social services.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1996 May 2, John Dylan Katz (16)
was beaten up and put into a coma in Windsor, California. He was
apparently wearing the wrong colors. Arrested for the assault were
Dominque Marie Gaitan (22), and 3 17-year-old youths including a girl.
A 5th suspect was being sought.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-13)
1996 May 2, Some 20,00 workers
marched in Asuncion, Paraguay, demanding improved wages and working
conditions. Police broke up groups of strikers and detained 16 union
leaders.
(SFC, 5/3/96, A-18)
1997 May 2, President Clinton and
congressional Republicans came to terms on a plan to balance the budget
over five years.
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A1)(AP, 5/2/98)
1997 May 2, A new national
memorial honoring Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt was officially opened in
Washington, D.C., and was dedicated by Pres. Clinton
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A3)(AP, 5/2/98)
1997 May 2, In Texas Robert
Scheidt surrendered to police and left behind 7 people of the Republic
of Texas under the leadership of Richard McLaren. The number of
separatists was reduced to 7 from an earlier estimate of 13.
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A3)
1997 May 2, Tony Blair, whose new
Labor Party crushed John Major's long-reigning Conservatives, became at
age 44 Britain's youngest prime minister in 185 years.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1997 May 2, In Bulgaria the
average salary was reported as $30 a month and the average pension $4 a
month.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A18)
1997 May 2, In Zaire the Tenke
Mining Corp. of Vancouver, Canada, signed a $250 million contract with
the rebels to develop copper and cobalt deposits.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A10)
1998 May 2, In the 124th Kentucky
Derby jockey Kent Desormeaux rode to victory on "Real Quiet."
(BS, 5/3/98, p.1A)(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, In separate radio
addresses, President Clinton and congressional Republicans lambasted
the Internal Revenue Service and promised more reforms to prevent
future abuses.
(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, Police fired tear gas
into a crowd of 3,000 students at Michigan State Univ. who were
protesting the end of drinking at Munn Field.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)
1998 May 2, It was reported that a
small galaxy was detected 12.3 Billion light-years away, 94% of the
distance back to the Big Bang.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A7)
1998 May 2, The European Economic
and Monetary Union (EMU) was launched in Brussels with 11 nations
welcomed as the founding members.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A18)
1998 May 2, Cambodian refugees
entered Thailand as government troops declared that they had all but
destroyed the Khmer Rouge.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.16A)
1998 May 2, In Indonesia tens of
thousands of students in Jakarta and at least a dozen other cities
rallied against the government.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 2, In Tajikistan
government troops withdrew from around the capital after 4 days of
fighting Islamist opposition forces. An agreement for a peaceful
settlement was reached.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.17A)
1999 May 2, A US F-16 went down
over western Serbia on the 39th night of air strikes. Allied forces
rescued the pilot.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A3)
1999 May 2, Actor Oliver Reed died
in Malta at age 61.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1999 May 2, Yugoslav authorities
handed over to the Rev. Jesse Jackson three American prisoners of war
who had been held for 32 days.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A1)(AP, 5/2/00)
1999 May 2, NATO bombings struck
the Obrenovac power plant in Belgrade and blacked out large areas of
Serbia. A soft bomb (KIT-18) sprayed graphite over the power station
and shorted its circuits. A metalworks factory in Valjevo was hit and
missile hit Mitrovica where one woman was killed and several civilians
wounded.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)(SFC, 5/4/99, p.D1)
1999 May 2, In Colombia Pres.
Pastrana and Manual Marulanda Velez, the leader of FARC, agreed to
begin formal peace negotiations with int'l. observers.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.C5)
1999 May 2, In Mexico Rodolfo
Montiel, a peasant leader in a struggle to protect the forests of the
southern Sierra Madre, was arrested, tortured and jailed on trumped-up
drug and weapons charges for his battle against US and local logging
companies. Teodoro Cabrera was also arrested. Pres. Fox ordered the
release of Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera on Nov 8, 2001.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A16)(SFC, 11/9/01, p.A20)
1999 May 2, In Nepal insurgents
killed 2 police officers the day before parliamentary elections that
they asked voters to boycott. The rebels demanded land reforms and an
end to the monarchy. Election related violence left at least 10 people
dead.
(WSJ, 5/3/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/4/99, p.A1)
1999 May 2, In Panama presidential
elections were scheduled. Martin Torrijos, son of Gen'l. Omar Torrijos,
was favored over Mireya Moscoso (52), wife of the late Arnulfo Arias.
Moscoso led the vote in early returns.
(SFC, 4/29/99, p.D5)(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)
1999 May 2, Serbian police
ambushed a convoy of ethnic Albanians near Studime and 109 people were
killed.
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/8/02, p.A14)
2000 May 2, An investigating panel
concluded that Texas A&M University students cut corners in
construction and school officials failed to adequately supervise them
before a bonfire collapse in November 1999 that killed 12 people.
(AP, 5/2/01)
2000 May 2, Jockey Julie Krone
became the first female elected to thoroughbred racing’s hall of fame.
(AP, 5/2/01)
2000 May 2, Former nurse Christina
Marie Riggs was executed by injection in Arkansas for smothering her
two young children.
(AP, 5/2/01)
2000 May 2, In Armenia Pres.
Robert Kocharian fired Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian and his government
for allowing the economy to deteriorate and for ignoring discord in the
military. Police security was tightened around government buildings.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A14)
2000 May 2, In Belgium the
Parliament opened an inquiry into possible government involvement in
the 1961 killing of Congo’s Premier Patrice Lumumba. This followed
allegations in the new book “The Murder of Lumumba” by Ludo De Witte.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A14)
2000 May 2, In Israel the Day of
the Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, was observed. The date was fixed
by Israel to commemorate the Warsaw Jewish ghetto uprising of 1943.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A12,13)
2000 May 2, In Indonesia it was
reported that a tribal conflict between the Wampe and Bilaga on West
Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, had left over 100 people dead in the last
year.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A10)
2000 May 2, In the Philippines
rebels at Talipao threatened to behead 2 hostages if military troops
were not pulled back.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A12)
2000 May 2, In Rwanda health
minister Ezechias Rwabuhihi reported that some 500,000 Rwandans, 6% of
the population, were infected with AIDS.
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A18)
2000 May 2, In Sierra Leone
Revolutionary United Front rebels seized 50 UN workers over the last 2
days as the West African intervention force completed its pullout. The
seizures took place in Makeni, Kailahun and Magburaka.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A13)
2001 May 2, President Bush and
Republican congressional leaders clinched a budget deal embracing most
of the president's tax and spending goals.
(AP, 5/2/02)
2001 May 2, It was reported that a
large embezzlement case in Brazil threatened to unravel the ruling
coalition. Some $2 billion had disappeared from the Amazon Development
Bureau (Sudam). Fakery of land deals (grilagem) was estimated to
involve some 100 million acres of the Amazon Basin.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B5)
2001 May 2, In China US technical
experts examined the US spy plane on Hainan Island.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A1)
2001 May 2, Foreign Minister Tang
Jiaxuan returned to China from Russia with a draft accord for relations
with Russia.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D2)
2001 May 2, In China a landslide
in Wulong County buried a 9-story building where 76 of 95 residents
were home. 65 bodies were recovered. At least 79 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D2)(AP, 5/2/02)
2001 May 2, Germany inaugurated
its new Chancellery in Berlin designed by Axel Schultes. There were
concerns that the building was too grandiose.
(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B2)(AP, 5/2/02)
2001 May 2, Israeli bulldozers
demolished 20 houses in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza and killed one
teenager during the predawn operation.
(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B1)
2001 May 2, In North Korea Kim
Jong Il agreed to hold talks with visiting EU officials about his
missile program and tensions with South Korea. Kim Jong Il announced
that North Korea would launch no ballistic missiles until 2003.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A14)
2001 May 2, In Zambia the ruling
party ousted Vice Pres. Christon Tembo, 8 Cabinet members and 11 0ther
senior officials who opposed Pres. Chiluba’s bid for a 3rd term.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D3)
2002 May 2, The Rev. Paul Shanley,
a priest at the epicenter of the clergy sex abuse scandal, turned
himself in to authorities in San Diego to face charges in Massachusetts
of raping boys during the 1980s. Shanley pleaded innocent but was later
convicted of repeatedly raping one boy, and was sentenced to 12 to 15
years in prison.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2002 May 2, The Bush
administration committed to join a UN int’l. conference on Middle East
peace and economic reconstruction.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A1)
2002 May 2, A federal crackdown on
identity theft reported 130 recent arrests. Estimates were that some
500,000 people were victimized annually.
(WSJ, 5/3/02, p.A1)
2002 May 2, The US Int’l. Trade
Commission upheld a 27% tariff against imported Canadian softwood.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.B1)
2002 May 2, Dr. William F. Gibson
(69), former head of the NAACP, died.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A21)
2002 May 2, A report on Iraq’s oil
sales showed that illegal surcharges allowed Iraq to siphon off large
amounts for its war chest.
(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.A1)
2002 May 2, Yasser Arafat emerged
from his West Bank headquarters, hours after Israeli troops withdrew
from his compound and released the Palestinian leader from months of
confinement.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2002 May 2, In the Philippines
Salip Abdullah, a key aide to Abu Sayyaf chief Janjalini, was captured
in Labangal village near General Santos.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A10)
2002 May 2, In Pakistan a bomb
exploded in Karachi and a boy (12) was killed.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A12)
2003 May 2, A US official warned
that the US is ready to sacrifice the free flow of trade with Canada if
necessary to respond to a planned Canadian decriminalization of
marijuana.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, A federal court struck
down most of the new campaign finance law's ban on the use of large
corporate and union contributions by political parties. However, the
Supreme Court later ruled that rooting out corruption, or even the
appearance of it, justified limitations on the free speech and free
spending of contributors, candidates and political parties.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2003 May 2, The US jobless rate
was reported at 6%, an 8-year high.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.B1)
2003 May 2, China reported an
accident on a diesel-powered submarine that killed all 70 sailors
aboard.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, James Miller (34), a
British journalist filming a documentary in the southern Palestinian
city of Rafah, was shot and killed during an exchange of fire between
Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. In 2006 a British jury ruled that
the shooting was an act of murder. In 2009 Israel agreed to pay about
$2 million to the family Miller.
(AP, 5/2/04)(AP, 4/6/06)(AP, 2/1/09)
2003 May 2, India and Pakistan
agreed to hold talks and restore diplomatic and air links.
(WSJ, 5/5/03, p.A1)
2003 May 2, Striking Nigerian oil
workers released the first of hundreds of people they have held for
days on oil rigs as part of an agreement to free all the captives.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, In Papua New Guinea a
landslide buried a meeting hall under mud and debris, killing at least
eight people as they listened to election results.
(AP, 5/3/03)
2003 May 2, In eastern Sicily
Giuseppe Leotta (42), a disgruntled worker, opened fire with a handgun
in the Aci Castello town hall, killing 5 people. He fled and then
killed himself.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, In Taiwan 11 more
cases of SARS were confirmed with 5 new deaths. Confirmed cases totaled
100 with the death toll at 8. Mutations of the virus were also reported.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.A7)
2003 May 2, Chuwit Kamolvisit, A
sex club operator in Thailand, was arrested for unlawfully demolishing
a downtown Bangkok block housing scores of bars and shops to make way
for another massage parlor, the Taj Mahal. He soon claimed to have
spent about $289,156 each month in payoffs to policemen.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2003 May 2, In Vietnam an aging
Russian-made bus, carrying more than 40 passengers, burst into
flames. 6 people died and 70 were badly burned. Flammable cargo was
suspected.
(AP, 5/3/03)
2004 May 2, In Afghanistan a
fuel-truck explosion killed at least 25 people in western Herat.
(WSJ, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, In Colombia 2 small
bombs exploded outside the Ministry of Social Affairs in Bogota,
injuring nine people and shattering windows.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, American hostage
Thomas Hamill, kidnapped three weeks ago in an insurgent attack on his
convoy, was found by U.S. forces south of Tikrit after he apparently
escaped from his captors.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, Shiite militiamen
attacked a U.S. convoy in southern Iraq, killing two soldiers and
setting vehicles on fire. Two other American soldiers were killed in
Baghdad. At least 9 US soldiers were killed across central and northern
Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, Adzharian forces blew
up the three major bridges connecting their recalcitrant province with
the rest of Georgia in what their leader said was a preventive measure
against Georgian military action.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, In Israel PM Sharon’s
Likud Party rejected his proposal to withdraw troops and settlers from
the West Bank. Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli vehicle in the
Gaza Strip, killing 4 children and their mother. Israeli soldiers
killed the 2 attackers.
(AP, 5/2/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, In Mexico a small
plane carrying federal anti-narcotics agents crashed, killing all seven
people on board.
(AP, 5/4/04)
2004 May 2-4, In Nigeria Tarok
fighters, a predominantly Christian tribe, attacked Yelwa, a town
dominated by Hausa, a rival Muslim ethnic group, razing homes and
mosques and killing 500-600 people in 2 attacks over the last 3 days.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A9)
2004 May 2, Martin Torrijos (40),
son of former military dictator Gen’l. Omar Torrijos, was easily
elected as Panama's next leader in its first presidential vote since
the handover of the Panama Canal and withdrawal of US troops in
December 1999. Torrijos promised to tackle vested interests.
(AP, 5/3/04)(Econ, 1/19/08, p.39)
2005 May 2, Florida’s Gov. Bush
signed legislation imposing 25-year jail terms for some child molesters
and forcing many to wear satellite tracking gear upon release.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A1)
2005 May 2, Utah’s Gov. Jon
Huntsman signed a measure defying the Bush administration's No Child
Left Behind Act despite a warning from the federal education secretary
that it could cost $76 million in federal aid. The legislation gives
Utah's education standards priority over federal requirements of the No
Child Left Behind Act.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 2, Pvt. 1st Class Lynndie
England, the young woman pictured in some of the most notorious Abu
Ghraib photos, pleaded guilty at Fort Hood, Texas, to mistreating
prisoners. However, a judge later threw out the plea agreement; England
was later convicted in a court-martial and sentenced to three years in
prison.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2005 May 2, Neiman Marcus agreed
to be sold to Texas pacific Group and Warburg Pincus for $5.1 billion.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.B1)
2005 May 2, Verizon Communications
won its bid to buy MCI Inc. in a $8.44 billion deal.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A1)
2005 May 2, Bob Hunter (63),
inspirer of Greenpeace, died.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.89)
2005 May 2, In Afghanistan an arms
cache, hidden under the house of a warlord and former government
militia commander named Jalal Bashgah, exploded in a bunker beneath his
home killing 34 people, injuring 16 and devastating surrounding
buildings.
(AP, 5/2/05)(SFC, 5/3/05, p.A5)
2005 May 2, Brazil posted a record
trade surplus for the month of April. During the month its currency
rose 5% against the dollar.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A14)
2005 May 2, Jose Miguel Insulza,
Chile’s interior minister, became head of the Organization of American
States.
(WSJ, 5/2/05, p.A16)
2005 May 2, Coalition soldiers
fought suspected insurgents near Qaim, a Syrian border town, in a
battle that killed 12 militants, injured a 6-year-old girl and wounded
six coalition soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 2, A car bomb exploded in
an upscale shopping district of Baghdad, killing at least six Iraqis
and setting fire to an apartment building.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, Israeli cabinet
minister Natan Sharansky resigned to protest the planned Gaza
withdrawal, which he called a "tragic mistake" that will encourage
Palestinian violence and deepen the rift in Israeli society.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, An Israeli soldier and
a Palestinian fugitive were killed in a shootout at Seideh in the West
Bank.
(AP, 5/2/05)(SFC, 5/3/05, p.A5)
2005 May 2, Italian investigators
blamed US military authorities for failing to signal there was a
checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad road where American soldiers killed an
Italian agent, concluding in a report that stress, inexperience and
fatigue played a role in the shooting.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 2, In Kuwait a push to
allow women to participate in local elections stalled when Islamist and
conservative lawmakers abstained en masse from a key vote in
parliament, leaving the measure undefeated but short of the number of
votes needed for passage.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, An Oman state security
court convicted 30 people of plotting to overthrow the sultan and
install an Islamic government, but spared them the death penalty.
Another defendant was convicted of a lesser crime.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, Pakistani authorities
arrested Abu Farraj al-Libbi, head of al-Qaida operations in Pakistan.
The nation's most-wanted militant had a $10 million bounty on his head.
A 2nd militant was seized with al-Libbi, who has a five-million-dollar
US bounty on his head, was himself a key Al-Qaeda figure with a reward
tag of four million dollars.
(AP, 5/4/05)(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 2, Yevgeny Adamov,
Russia's former nuclear energy minister, was arrested in the Swiss
capital on a US warrant accusing him of diverting up to $9 million from
funds intended to improve Russian nuclear security.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 2, The world's nations
gathered, for the 7th time since it took force in 1970, to reassess how
well the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is working.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2006 May 2, Louis Rukeyser (73)
died in Connecticut. The best-selling author, columnist, lecturer and
television host had delivered pun-filled, commonsense commentary on
complicated business and economic news.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 2, In Minnesota a small,
spiral-shaped snail that clones itself and is native to New Zealand has
been discovered in Duluth-Superior Harbor and the St. Louis River
estuary, raising concerns about the impact of another invasive species.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 2, A pre-dawn fire in NYC
raged through a 21-acre site. It destroyed 15 industrial buildings and
was the worst city fire in 10 years.
(http://nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/home2.shtml)(WSJ,
5/27/06, p.P9)
2006 May 2, A suspected suicide
attacker set off a car bomb on a road between the Afghan capital Kabul
and a main US military base, killing himself and a civilian.
(AFP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Bolivia's leftist
government said it would extend control over mining, forestry and other
sectors of the economy. Foreign governments warned relations could be
damaged. Soldiers guarded natural gas fields and refineries across
Bolivia after President Evo Morales ordered the sector nationalized,
threatening to evict foreign companies unless they cede control over
production within six months.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Canada's new
government released its first federal budget, offering broad tax cuts
and pledging to shore up the country's security with spending increases
for the military, border security and policing.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, The Canadian dollar
cracked 90 US cents, setting a new 28-year high and helping Canadians
to realize cheaper US imports of everything from vegetables and
clothing to computers.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, China's official
Xinhua News Agency said glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet
plateau, known as the "roof of the world," are melting at a rate of 7
percent annually due to global warming.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, In Colombia the entire
municipal council of Villavieja resigned and fled to Neiva in Huila
province, fearing for their lives amid a spate of political killings.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 2, In western India at
least 30 people were killed when a crowded bus veered off a bridge and
plunged into a river. The bus, which had a capacity of 58 but was
carrying 69 passengers, was traveling from Kashimira town to Thane,
near Mumbai.
(AFP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, In Iran a court
sentenced two Swedes to three years in prison each for photographing
military installations. The two men, both in their 30s, were convicted
of photographing military buildings and telecommunications equipment on
Qeshm, an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Iraq's parliament
speaker said in a nationally televised speech that the new government's
top priority will be ending widespread bloodshed in cities such as
Baghdad. But insurgents launched new attacks, killing at least seven
Iraqis and a US soldier. US soldiers raided an al-Qaeda site and killed
10 insurgents, including 3 in suicide vests. German engineers Rene
Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke were released unharmed following 99
days in captivity.
(AP, 5/2/06)(WSJ, 5/3/06, p.A1)(AP, 5/3/07)
2006 May 2, PM Silvio Berlusconi,
the longest-serving leader in postwar Italy, resigned to make way for a
center-left government led by Romano Prodi.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Nepal's new prime
minister announced a seven-member Cabinet, designating a communist as
his deputy and foreign minister.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, In Norway 3 key
suspects were convicted in the theft of the Edvard Munch masterpieces
"The Scream" and "Madonna" and sentenced to between four and eight
years in prison. The works were snatched by masked gunmen from the
Munch Museum in Oslo in August 2004. They are still missing.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, An explosion destroyed
a building inside a Palestinian national security compound in the
northern Gaza Strip, killing two police officers and wounding seven
others.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Sri Lanka’s President
Mahinda Rajapakse called for immediate peace talks with Tamil Tiger
rebels, saying his tiny tropical island had seen enough violence.
Gunmen stormed the offices of the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, 400
kilometers north of the capital Colombo, killing a manager and another
employee. The next day the government said the murders were timed to
embarrass it as Sri Lanka hosted UNESCO World Press Freedom Day
celebrations, while the rebel Tamil Tigers blamed government forces for
the attack.
(AP, 5/2/06)(AFP, 5/3/06)
2007 May 2, In a defeat for
anti-war Democrats, Congress failed to override President Bush's veto
of legislation requiring the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Bush
declared al-Qaida "public enemy No. 1 in Iraq."
(AP, 5/2/08)
2007 May 2, Cablevision Systems
Corp. agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6
billion in cash.
(SFC, 5/3/07, p.C2)
2007 May 2, James Abegglen,
American-born chronicler of the rise of “Japan Inc.,” died in Japan. In
the 1960s and 1970s he warned corporate America that Japan should be
taken more seriously. His 9th book was titled “21st-Century Japanese
Management.”
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)
2007 May 2, Afghan regional
officials said that 51 villagers, some of them women and children, were
killed in recent fighting in western Afghanistan. The US-led coalition
said it had no reports of civilian deaths.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A former prime
minister led his opposition party to victory in the Bahamas, returning
to power in elections dominated by questions about the direction of the
tourism-driven economy. Hubert Ingraham's Free National Movement won 23
seats in the 41-seat legislature, while PM Perry Christie's Progressive
Liberal Party claimed the other 18.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The Canadian Food
Inspection Agency said another case of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a mature
dairy cow in the province of British Columbia.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, An Egyptian court
sentenced Al Jazeera producer Huweida Taha Metwalli to six months in
jail or a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760) for her part in
producing a feature on torture by Egyptian police.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed
to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear
ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass
destruction.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The grave of Hungary's
last communist ruler, Janos Kadar (1956-1988), was pried open and his
remains and his wife's urn were thought to have been stolen.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The Iranian state news
agency reported that the country's former nuclear negotiator, Hossein
Mousavian, has been arrested on an unspecified security charge.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A suicide car bomber
struck in the main Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least nine
people as the US military said its troop buildup in Baghdad was nearly
complete. Three more US soldiers were killed by bombs in the capital.
At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Kazakhstan’s
Emergencies Agency said hundreds of dead seals have washed up on its
Caspian Sea shoreline in the past several days, bringing the total
number of the animals found dead along the shoreline in recent weeks to
832.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Ahmed Errachidi (41) a
Moroccan man sent home from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay
last week, was released by local authorities after terrorism-related
charges were dropped.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The International
Criminal Court in the Hague said it has issued arrest warrants
for the Sudanese government's humanitarian affairs minister and a
janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman
said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of oil
production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following a
militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Romania’s Parliament
approved an agreement allowing the US to use four military bases and
station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, Russian oil firms
rushed to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away
from ports in Estonia after Russia's railways halted the route amid a
political dispute with Tallinn. Young Russians staged raucous protests
in Moscow to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war
memorial from its capital, and the Estonian ambassador said pro-Kremlin
activists tried to attack her as she arrived at a news conference.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The South Korean
government announced its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by
alleged Korean collaborators during Japanese colonial rule as part of
efforts to reconcile with its past more than 60 years after the end of
the peninsula's occupation. 2 defectors to South Korea described how
they had been tortured in a North Korean prison camp, as a South Korean
rights group issued a report on abuses of detainees in the communist
state.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Taiwan's opposition
leader Ma Ying-jeou was nominated by his Kuomintang party to run for
the 2008 presidential election and pledged to improve economic ties
with China.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Thailand's
military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont said he has tasked his southern
army commander with developing a detailed amnesty proposal for Islamic
militants.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The US and EU warned
Turkey's military to stay out of the country's political showdown
between the Islamic-rooted government and those in the secular
establishment who fear the country will shift toward Islamic rule.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Isaac Matongo (60),
the chairman of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) and former trade unionist, died.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2008 May 2, The US Federal Reserve
and key European central banks announced a fresh offensive against a
global credit crisis that has gridlocked lending and slowed the world
economy.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, Severe storms rolled
across Arkansas and killed 8 people, including a teenager crushed by a
tree while she slept in her bed. The deaths came after earlier storms
seriously damaged homes and businesses in the Kansas City, Mo., area.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 2, Sami al-Haj, an
Al-Jazeera cameraman, was released from US custody at Guantanamo Bay.
he returned home to Sudan after six years of imprisonment that drew
worldwide protests.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, Britain's ruling Labor
Party suffered its worst local election defeat on record. Labor won 24%
of the votes, a warning to PM Brown that he must fix Britain’s credit
crunch.
(AP, 5/2/08)(WSJ, 5/3/08, p.A1)
2008 May 2, In Chechnya suspected
Islamic militants clashed with police, killing two law enforcement
officers. The rebel-linked Web site Kavkaz Center claimed that at least
nine law enforcement officers were killed in a gunfight that lasted for
four hours.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 2, In southern Chile
authorities evacuated hundreds of people from villages after the
snowcapped Chaiten volcano, considered dormant for thousands of years,
erupted.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 2, Colombian police
captured Miguel Angel Mejia, the second of two drug-trafficking twins
who were among the country's main cocaine shippers.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, In Cuba computers went
on sale to the general public and potential consumers were lining up
outside store windows to gawk and consider buying.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, In Honduras 31
prisoners were attacked by their cellmates with knives and guns just
hours after they were transferred to a prison in Tegucigalpa from San
Pedro Sula. At least 18 inmates died in the attack.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 2, Shiite clerics offered
sharply different visions in the showdown between government forces and
Shiite militias, one predicting that armed groups will be crushed in
Baghdad and another calling for the prime minister to be prosecuted for
crimes against his people. Al-Qaida insurgents, mostly Sunnis, raked a
police car with automatic weapons, killing 8 Iraqi policemen in the
town of Qaim on the Syrian border. 2 civilians were killed and 7 others
wounded in Baghdad's central Salihiyah district after a mortar round
apparently fired by Shiite extremists toward the US-protected Green
Zone fell short. According to US military 10 militants were killed in
fighting, including a sniper and a triggerman accused of planting
armor-piercing roadside bombs in Sadr City and the adjacent Ubaydi
area. A roadside bomb attack in eastern Baghdad killed a US soldier. A
roadside explosion killed 4 Marines in western Anbar province.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AP, 5/3/08)(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 2, A rebel spokesman said
Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel bases deep inside Iraq for three
hours overnight. The Turkish military said the raid in northern Iraq
killed more than 150 Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 2, Nigeria’s high court
ruled that former president Olusegun Obasanjo's daughter, Iyabo
Obasanjo-Bello, currently in hiding, must face corruption charges.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, A UN official said
rising prices and funding shortages have forced the UN to stop
providing emergency food aid to more than 13 percent of the 750,000
Palestinian refugees it feeds in Gaza.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, In Saudi Arabia a
German-based quartet staged the first-ever performance of European
classical music in a public venue before a mixed gender, largely
expatriate audience.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 2, South Sudan's defense
minister, Lieutenant General Dominic Dim Deng, was killed in a plane
crash along with 23 other people, most of them senior members of the
southern former rebel leadership.
(AFP, 5/2/08)(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 2, In northern Yemen a
motorcycle bomb exploded amid a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque
after prayers, killing at least 18 people and wounding about 45.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, Zimbabwe elections
officials said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the
vote in the presidential elections, more than longtime President Robert
Mugabe but not enough to avoid a runoff. The opposition said it was
willing to share power with the ruling party, but not with longtime
President Robert Mugabe.
(AP, 5/2/08)
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