Today in History - May 8
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615 May 8, St.
Boniface IV ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
685 May 8, St. Benedict II ended
his reign as Catholic Pope.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1319 May 8, Haakon V, King of
Norway (1299-1319), died.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1429 May 8, French troops under
Joan of Arc rescued Orleans.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1450 May 8, Kentishmen revolted
against King Henry VI in Jack Cade's Rebellion .
(HN, 5/8/98)
1521 May 8, Peter Canisius,
[Pieter de Hondt/Kanijs], Jesuit, saint, was born.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1521 May 8, Emperor Charles V and
the Diet issued the Edict of Worms. It banned Luther’s work and
enjoined his detention, but was not able to be enforced.
(NH, 9/96, p.20)
1541 May 8, Spanish explorer
Hernando de Soto discovered and crossed the Mississippi River, which he
called Rio de Espiritu Santo. He encountered the Cherokee Indians, who
numbered about 25,000 and inhabited the area from the Ohio River to the
north to the Chattahoochee in present day Georgia, and from the valley
of the Tennessee east across the Great Smoky Mountains to the Piedmont
of the Carolinas.
(NG, 5/95, p.78)(AP, 5/8/97)(HN, 5/8/99)
1559 May 8, An act of supremacy
defined Queen Elizabeth I as the supreme governor of the church of
England.
(HN, 5/8/99)
1639 May 8, William Coddington
founded Newport, RI.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1660 May 8, The son of the late
Charles I is proclaimed King ending 11 years of civil war.
(PCh, 1992, p.248)
1668 May 8, Alain Rene Lesage,
French novelist and dramatist, was born. He is best known for his works
"The Adventures of Gil Blas" and "Turcaret."
(HN, 5/8/99)
1725 May 8, John Lovewell, US
Indian fighter, died in battle.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1737 May 8, Edward Gibbon, English
historian, author of “Decline and Fall of Roman Empire,” was born. [see
April 27, 1737] "All that is human must be retrograde if it does not
advance."
(HN, 5/8/98)(AP, 2/27/00)
1741 May 8, France and Bavaria
signed the Covenant of Nymphenburg.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1753 May 8, Miguel Hidalgo y
Castilla, the father of Mexican independence, was born.
(HN, 5/8/98)(MC, 5/8/02)
1759 May 8, Hearing of his
appointment in the west, General Napoleon Bonaparte left for Paris in
order to obtain a different posting.
(HN, 5/8/99)
1792 May 8, US established a
military draft.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1792 May 8, British Capt. George
Vancouver sighted and named Mt. Rainier, Wash.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1794 May 8, Antoine-Laurent
Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry (identified oxygen), was
executed on the guillotine during France's Reign of Terror. In 2005
Madison Smartt Bell authored “Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a
New Science in the Age of Revolution.”
(AP, 5/8/97)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.E1)
1823 May 8, "Home Sweet Home" was
1st sung in London.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1824 May 8, William Walker,
president of Nicaragua, was born.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1828 May 8, Jean Henri Dunant
(d.1910), Swiss philanthropist, was born. He founded the Int’l.
Committee of the Red Cross and was the first recipient (jointly) of the
Nobel Peace Prize.
(HN, 5/8/99)
1829 May 8, Louis Moreau
Gottschalk (d.1869), American pianist, was born in New Orleans.
(HN,
5/8/02)(http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/gottschalk.html)
1840 May 8, Alexander Wolcott
patented a photographic process.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1846 May 8, News reached
Washington DC that Mexican troops had attacked a US reconnaissance
patrol near the Rio Grande and killed or captured some 40 men. That
same afternoon Polk and his cabinet had decided to ask Congress for a
declaration of war against Mexico.
(AH, 6/07, p.44)
1846 May 8, The first major battle
of the Mexican-American War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas; US forces
led by General Zachary Taylor were able to beat back the invading
Mexican forces.
(AP, 5/8/07)
1858 May 8, John Brown held an
antislavery convention.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1861 May 8, Richmond, Va, was
named the capital of the Confederacy.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1862 May 8, General 'Stonewall'
Jackson repulsed the Federals at the Battle of McDowell, in the
Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
(HN, 5/8/99)
1864 May 8, Union troops arrived
at Spotsylvania Court House to find the Confederates waiting for them.
(HN, 5/8/99)
1864 May 8, The Atlanta Campaign
saw severe fighting at Rocky Face Ridge.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1870 May 8, In France a national
plebiscite voted confidence in the Empire with about 84% of votes in
favor. On the eve of the plebiscite members of the Paris Federation
were arrested on a charge of conspiring against Napoleon III. This
pretext was further used by the government to launch a campaign of
persecution of the members of the International throughout France.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1873 May 8, Melvil Dewey (d.1931)
presented the 1st draft of his decimal classification system to the
Amherst College Library Committee. [see 1876]
(ON, 3/04, p.12)
1880 May 8, Gustave Flaubert
(b.1821), French novelist, died. He revealed in painful detail the
small foibles of a bourgeois life and believed in perfection of form
and the absolute value of art. His work included "Madam Bovary,"
"Salammbo" and "A Simple Heart." "Our ignorance of history causes us to
slander our own times." In 2006 Frederick Brown authored “Flaubert : A
Biography.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.278)(AP, 6/19/99)(HN, 12/12/99)(WSJ,
4/15/06, p.P8)
1881 May 8, Henry Morton Stanley
signed a contract with a Congo monarch. [see Sep 24]
(MC, 5/8/02)
1884 May 8, Harry S. Truman, 33rd
President of the United States (1945-1953), was born near Lamar, Mo. A
history buff, President Harry Truman penned this description of
Franklin Pierce, the 14th president, “Pierce was the best looking
President the White House ever had—but as President he ranks with
Buchanan and Calvin Coolidge.” "If there is one basic element in our
Constitution, it is civilian control of the military." He decided to
drop the bomb that ended World War II and sent troops to Korea to halt
communist aggression.
(AP, 5/8/97)(AP, 1/17/99)(HN, 5/8/99)
1886 May 8, Atlanta pharmacist
John Stith Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for Coca-Cola, which
contained cocaine. The name for the soft drink came from his
bookkeeper, Frank Robinson. Sales of Coca-Cola at the soda fountain of
Jacob‘s Pharmacy averaged 9 drinks a day in the first year. [see Mar 29]
(AP, 5/8/97)(HN,
5/8/98)(www.sodamuseum.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=1)
1887 May 8, Alexander Ulyanov,
brother of Lenin, was hanged for assassination of tsar.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1891 May 8, Helena Petrovna
Blavatskaya (b.1831), Russian theosophist (Madame Blavatsky), died.
(WUD, 1994 p.157)(MC, 5/8/02)
1895 May 8, Edmund Wilson,
American critic and essayist, was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1895 May 8, China ceded Taiwan to
Japan under the Apr 17 Treaty of Shimonoseki. This followed a war over
control of the Korean peninsula. Japanese occupation ended in 1945.
(HN, 5/8/98)(Econ, 1/15/05, Survey p.4)(SSFC,
2/18/07, p.G5)
1899 May 8, Friedrich August von
Hayek (d.1992), Austrian-born British economist. He found solutions to
problems proposed by Keynesian economics. He was dedicated to
illuminating the problems of socialism and held that inflation,
unemployment and recession result from governmental interference. He
won a Nobel prize in 1974.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1900 May 8, 250 grave robbers were
shot to death.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1902 May 8, Mt. Pelee volcano, on
the French Island of Martinique in the east W. Indies, blew its top and
wiped out the town of St. Pierre. A pyroclastic flow killed 29-40
thousand people. In 1972 Jacques Petitjean Roget published a detailed
report on the event. In 2002 Alwyn Scarth authored “La Catastrophe.”
(SFC, 8/13/01, p.A4)(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A14)(NH, 10/02,
p.76)
1903 May 8, Joseph Desire
Fernandel, comedian (Grand Chef), was born in Marseilles, France.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1903 May 8, Paul Gauguin (b.1848),
French born painter, died at his home on the Marquesas Islands. He was
buried at Atuona on Hiva Oa Island.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6)(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.C9)
1904 May 8, U.S. Marines landed in
Tangier to protect the Belgian legation.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1906 May 8, Roberto Rossellini,
Italian film director, was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1910 May 8, Mary Lou Williams,
jazz pianist and composer, was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1919 May 8, The first
transatlantic flight took-off by a US Navy seaplane.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1920 May 8, Sloan Wilson, American
author, was born in Norwalk, Conn. He wrote "The man in the Gray
Flannel Suit" and "A Summer Place."
(HN, 5/8/99)(MC, 5/8/02)
1921 May 8, Sweden abolished
capital punishment.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1924 May 8, Arthur Honegger's
"Pacifica 231," premiered.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1928 May 8, Theodore Sorenson,
presidential advisor to John F. Kennedy, was born. Many suspect that he
ghost-wrote Kennedy's book "Profiles in Courage."
(HN, 5/8/99)
1930 May 8, Gary Snyder, beat
poet, was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1930 May 8, The Richfield Oil
Company tanker Richfield wrecked on the rocks off Point Reyes, Ca.,
with a cargo or 25,000 gallons of high-test gasoline.
(SFC, 5/6/05, p.F3)
1931 May 8, Franz Lehar's
operetta, "Land of Smiles," premiered in London.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1933 May 8, Gandhi began a hunger
strike to protest British oppression in India.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1937 May 8, Thomas Pynchon,
novelist (Gravity's Rainbow), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1940 May 8, Peter Benchley,
novelist (Jaws, The Deep), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1940 May 8, Ricky Nelson, rock
star (Hello Mary Lou, It's Late, Garden Party), was born in NJ.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1940 May 8, German commandos in
Dutch uniforms crossed the Dutch border to hold bridges for the
advancing German army.
(HN, 5/8/99)
1942 May 8, Battle of the Coral
Sea between the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy ended as a tactical
victory for the Japanese. They sank more tons of ships than the U.S.
did. It was a strategic victory for the U.S. in that the Japanese were
halted in their drive south. The aircraft carrier Lexington was sunk by
Japanese air attack at Coral Sea.
(HN, 5/8/99)(MC, 5/8/02)
1942 May 8, German summer
offensive opened in Crimea.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1944 May 8, The first "eye bank"
was established, in New York City.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1945 May 8, Keith Jarrett, jazz
musician, film composer (Nachtfahrer), was born in Allentown, Pa.
http://www.ecmrecords.com/ecm/bio/47.html
(MC, 5/8/02)
1945 May 8, Life photographer
Alfred Eisenstaedt got signalman Jim Reynolds to pose for a kiss with a
nurse in a famous photo that later appeared in life Magazine’s issue of
Aug 27. This was denied by Life and not verified by Reynolds.
(WSJ, 8/14/96, p.A14)(WSJ, 8/20/96, p.A11)
1945 May 8, Algerian demonstrators
in the town of Setif unfurled an Algerian flag, banned by the French
occupiers. As police began confiscating the flags, the crowds turned on
the French, killing about two dozen of them. This led to an uprising in
which Algerians say some 45,000 people may have died. Figures in France
put the number at about 15,000 to 20,000. No one is quite sure.
(AP, 5/9/05)
1945 May 8, Germany surrendered
and Victory in Europe was achieved by the allies. Marshal Wilhelm
Keitel surrenders to Marshal Zhukov. The day is commemorated as V-E
Day. President Truman announced in a radio address that World War II
had ended in Europe. In 2004 Max Hastings authored “Armageddon,” an
account of the last days of WW II.
(WSJ, 5/5/95, p.A-12)(AP, 5/8/97)(WSJ, 11/16/04,
p.D10)
1945 May 8, Oskar Schindler gave a
speech and urged the Jews who worked for him not to pursue revenge
attacks. An original list of 1,200 of his workers at the Plaszow
concentration camp was found in 1999.
(SFC, 10/16/99, p.A13)
1949 May 8, The Basic Law for the
Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für die
Bundesrepublik Deutschland), was formally approved. It was subsequently
ratified by all states except Bavaria. With the signature of the Allies
it came into effect on May 23, 1949, as the constitution of West
Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Law_for_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany)(EWH,
1968, p.1180)
1950 May 8, The US Government
convinced that neither national independence nor democratic evolution
exist in any area dominated by Soviet imperialism, considers the
situation to be such as to warrant its according economic aid and
military equipment to the Associated State of Indochina and to France
in order to assist them in restoring stability and permitting these
states to pursue their peaceful and democratic development.
(www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent1.html)
1951 May 8, Dacron men's suits
were introduced.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1952 May 8, Beth Henley, Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright (Crimes of the Heart), was born.
(HN, 5/7/02)
1952 May 8, Allied fighter-bombers
staged the largest raid of the war on North Korea.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1956 May 8, John Osborne’s "Look
Back in Anger," premiered in London at the Royal Court Theater. It was
about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young
man (Jimmy Porter), his upper-middle-class, impassive wife (Alison),
and her haughty best friend (Helena Charles). It took English theater
on a radical turn. In 1958 it was made into a movie. In 2006 John
Heilpern authored “John Osborne: A Patriot for Us.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Back_in_Anger)(SFEC, 4/11/99, DB
p.39)(Econ, 5/20/06, p.86)
1958 May 8, Vice President Nixon
was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in
Lima, Peru.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1959 May 8, A 3-deck Nile
excursion steamer sprang a leak panicking passengers who capsized
the ship. 200 drowned just yards from shore.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1962 May 8, The Stephen Sondheim
musical comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" opened
at the Alvin Theater in NYC for 965 performances.
(AP, 5/8/97)(SFEC, 5/31/98, BR p.6)(MC, 5/8/02)
1962 May 8, London trolley buses
went out of service.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1963 May 8, "Dr. No" premiered in
US.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1963 May 8, JFK offered Israel
assistance against aggression.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1967 May 8, Boxer Muhammad Ali
(b.1942) was indicted for refusing induction in US Army.
(www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/alirec.htm)
1968 May 8, William Styron
(1925-2006), a white author, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
for “The Confessions of Nat Turner.” The book was based on the true
story of an 1831 slave revolt in Virginia. Some black intellectuals,
including Cornell historian John Henrik Clarke, published a critical
response to the book.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rfk/sfeature/sf_1968_text_05.html)
1969 May 8, The Academy Award
Oscar for best 1968 documentary was given to runner-up “Journey Into
Self,” after it was found that “Young Americans,” the original winner
had been shown in a theater in October, 1967, making it ineligible for
the 1968 award. Alex Grasshoff had directed the “Young Americans,” a
chronicle of a summer tour by the singing group.
(SFC, 4/22/08,
p.B5)(http://theoscarsite.com/pictures1968/journeyintoself.htm)
1970 May 8, Beatles released their
"Let it Be" album. [see Mar 6]
(MC, 5/8/02)
1970 May 8, Anti-war protests took
place across the United States and around the world. Construction
workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York City's Wall Street.
(AP, 5/8/07)
1972 May 8, In response to the
ongoing NVA Easter Offensive, President Nixon announced Operation
Linebacker I, the mining of North Vietnam's harbors along with
intensified bombing of roads, bridges, and oil facilities. The
announcement brought international condemnation of the US and ignited
more anti-war protests in America.
(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1972 May 8, A Belgian Sabena
aircraft, bound for Tel Aviv, was hijacked by 4 Palestinians. At Lod
Intl. 2 hijackers were shot and killed by Israeli military personnel,
dressed as ground engineers. One passenger died 8 days later as a
result of her wounds. The two women hijackers were subsequently
sentenced to life imprisonment.
(www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Terrorism_Timeline_1972.Islam)
1973 May 8, Militant American
Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10
weeks surrendered.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1974 May 8, William Simon
(1927-2000), former Wall Street bond trader, began serving as the 63rd
head of the US Treasury Dept. under Pres. Nixon. Simon was reappointed
by President Ford and served until 1977. From 1977-1980 he served as
treasurer of the US Olympic Committee.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.C15)(WSJ, 6/7/00,
p.A26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Simon)
1974 May 8, In Canada the
government of Pierre Trudeau fell on a sub-amendment to the budget
(thus a question of confidence).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_governments_in_Canada)
1977 May 8, The trial of Pieter
Menten (b.1899), a former Dutch SS officer and art collector, began in
Amsterdam. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years, but the sentence
was reduced to 10 years in 1980.
(www.cnn.com/almanac/9805/08/)(http://tinyurl.com/2n79xl)
1978 May 8, David R. Berkowitz
pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to the "Son of Sam" killings
that had terrified New Yorkers.
(AP, 5/8/98)
1979 May 8, Radio Shack released
TRSDOS 2.3.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-DOS)
1980 May 8, The World Health
Organization (WHO) announced that smallpox had been eradicated from the
wild.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm79sp.html)
1984 May 8, The album "Legend,"
the greatest hits by Bob Marley (1945-1981) and the Wailers, was
released. It became the best-selling reggae record of all time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_(album))
1984 May 8, USSR announced it
would not participate in Summer Olympics planned for Los Angeles.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1986 May 8, In Costa Rica Oscar
Arias (b.1940) began serving as president and continued to 1990. In
2006 he began serving a 2nd term as president.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Arias)
1986 May 8, In Venezuela 9 people
were killed by security forces in the western town of Yumare. Interior
minister Octavio Lepage described it as a clash with guerrillas —
remnants of leftist rebel bands that largely had put down their weapons
by the early 1970s.
(AP, 3/16/08)
1987 May 8, An angry and defiant
Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his personal life and his
relationship with Miami model Donna Rice, withdrew from the race for
the Democratic presidential nomination.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1988 May 8, The 2nd American
Comedy Award went to Robin Williams and Tracey Ullman. The event was
broadcast on May 17.
(http://tinyurl.com/zxn8k)(http://tinyurl.com/fjfb9)
1988 May 8, French President
Francois Mitterrand was elected to a second seven-year term, defeating
conservative challenger Jacques Chirac.
(AP, 5/8/98)
1988 May 8, Science fiction author
Robert A. Heinlein died in Carmel, Calif., at age 80.
(AP, 5/8/98)
1989 May 8, Former President
Carter, a leader of an international team observing Panama's elections,
declared that the armed forces were defrauding the opposition of
victory.
(AP, 5/8/99)
1990 May 8, One crewman was
killed, 18 others injured in a fire aboard the guided-missile destroyer
USS Conyngham in the Atlantic, about 100 miles southeast of Norfolk,
Va.
(AP, 5/8/00)
1990 May 8, NY Newsday reporter
Jimmy Breslin was suspended for a racial slur.
(http://www.totse.com/en/ego/literary_genius/yuh.html)
1991 May 8, At the Third Annual
Governor’s Quality Management Conference at the Excelsior Hotel in
Little Rock, Ark., Gov. Bill Clinton invited Paula Jones, a state
employee working at the registration desk, to a private meeting and
exposed his desire for her. Days later Paula Jones filed a complaint of
sexual harassment in US District Court in Little Rock. She has been
seeking $700,000 in damages.
(WSJ, 6/26/96, p.A18)(SFC, 5/29/96, A4)(SFEC,
11/24/96, zone 1 p.9)(WSJ, 4/20/98, p.A20)
1991 May 8, CIA Director William
H. Webster announced his retirement; he was eventually succeeded by
Robert Gates.
(AP, 5/8/01)
1991 May 8, General H. Norman
Schwarzkopf, commander of American forces in the Persian Gulf War,
received a hero’s welcome as he addressed Congress.
(AP, 5/8/01)
1991 May 8, Concert pianist Rudolf
Serkin died in Guilford, Vermont, at age 88.
(AP,
5/8/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Serkin)
1992 May 8, President Bush wound
up two emotional days in riot-ravaged Los Angeles, promising to work
harder in Washington to enact a "common-sense agenda" of conservative
proposals to help urban America.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1993 May 8, Keron Thomas (16)
disguised himself as a motorman and took a NYC subway train and 2,000
passengers on a 3 hour ride.
(www.mndaily.com/daily/gopher-archives/1993/05/14/Subway_joyride_ends_with_arrest.txt)
1993 May 8, The Muslim-led
government of Bosnia-Herzegovina and rebel Bosnian Serbs signed an
agreement for a nationwide cease-fire.
(AP, 5/8/98)
1994 May 8, President Clinton
announced a shift in U.S. policy toward Haitian refugees, saying there
would be offshore screening of boat people seeking political asylum.
(AP, 5/8/99)
1994 May 8, Actor George Peppard
died at age 65.
(AP, 5/8/99)
1995 May 8, Helmut Oberlander
(b.1924), a former Nazi decorated for service in a death squad that
executed 91,678 people in southern Russia, was extradited to Canada
from Florida.
(SSFC, 4/4/10, Par.
p.5)(www.justice.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/May95/261.txt.html)
1995 May 8, A monster storm began
dumping 18 inches of rain on southeast Louisiana, flooding homes and
killing five people.
(AP, 5/8/00)
1995 May 8, Fifty years after Nazi
Germany's capitulation in World War II, leaders representing the
victorious powers gathered in Berlin to remember the dead and pledge
peace for the future.
(AP, 5/8/00)
1996 May 8, US postal inspectors
wrapped up a two-year sting operation in 36 states against the nation's
biggest child pornography ring.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1996 May 8, Julie Andrews declined
her Tony Award nomination after her show, "Victor/Victoria," was
snubbed for best musical.
(AP, 5/8/97)
1996 May 8, South Africa approved
a National Constitution that guaranteed equal rights for all races.
Zulu nationalists and white extremists boycotted the parliament vote
and the entire process.
(SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-19)(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-1)(AP, 5/8/97)
1996 May 8, In Pakistan a bomb
killed at least 6 and injured 38 aboard a bus in Punjab province.
(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 8, In Mexico a government
task force in the state of Sinaloa issued a report on the mysterious
chupacabras or “goat-sucker.” An unknown creature has been killing
goats and leaving fang marks. The report said: There is no goat sucker,
but pollution is now so bad that it is driving animals mad, giving them
the behavioral trappings of crazed alien creatures.”
(SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-10)
1997 May 8, President Clinton
assured Central American leaders during a summit in Costa Rica that
they need not fear mass deportations of immigrants who had sought
refuge in the United States during U.S.-backed conflicts.
(AP, 5/8/98)
1997 May 8, After months of
railing against Democrats for taking foreign money, the Republican
Party announced it had returned $122,400 in contributions from a Hong
Kong company.
(AP, 5/8/98)
1997 May 8, In Washington DC
Jacqueline Thompson (32) gave birth to sextuplets. One was stillborn.
No fertility drugs were used but both she and her husband Linden had a
family history of multiple births.
(SFEC,11/23/97, p.A7)
1997 May 8, In Japan a law was
passed to preserve the culture of the aboriginal Ainu people who have
inhabited northern Japan since prehistoric times.
(SFC, 5/9/97, p.E3)
1997 May 8, In Zaire rebels were
meeting increased resistance from French mercenaries and Angolan UNITA
forces. A shortage of cash was also hindering their advance on Kinshasa.
(WSJ, 5/9/97, p.A1)
1998 May 8, The tobacco industry
agreed to pay $6.6 billion to settle a suit with the state of Minnesota
as the state's lawsuit was about to go to a jury. The settlement
included restrictions on sales and marketing with payments spread over
25 years. Minnesota became the fourth state to settle with the tobacco
industry over the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A3)(AP, 5/8/99)
1998 May 8, Eddie Rabbit, country
music singer, died at age 53 of lung cancer. His songs included
“Drivin’ My Life Away,” “Every Which Way But Loose,” and “Someone Could
Lose a Heart Tonight.”
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A21)
1998 May 8, In Brazil “Operation
Drought” was launched to airlift food to the drought stricken northeast
where 10 million people were threatened with hunger.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, In France a bomb
exploded in Marseilles and damaged the Regional Council building.
Corsican militants were suspected.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A22)
1998 May 8, In Mexico immigration
authorities put a limit on human rights delegations to Chiapas. Groups
of 10 people would only be allowed to stay 10 days.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, Norway authorized
another season of hunting minke whales with a 30% allotment increase to
671.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A7)
1998 May 8, In Somalia fighting in
Kismayo between rival militias left 23 dead and 30 wounded.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 8, In South Africa the
National Sports Council asked the world to boycott South African Rugby
in a move to push for the resignation of Louis Luyt, the league’s
president, over racist and corrupt practices.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1999 May 8, The Citadel, South
Carolina's formerly all-male military school, graduated its first
female cadet, Nancy Ruth Mace.
(AP, 5/8/00)
1999 May 8, Dana Plato (34), a
star of TV’s Diff'rent Strokes, died in a suburb of Oklahoma City.
Authorities said she succumbed to an overdose of painkillers.
(www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,19982,00.html?fdnews)
1999 May 8, British actor Sir Dirk
Bogarde died in London at age 78.
(AP, 5/8/00)
1999 May 8, US warplanes bombed
northern Iraq as Iraqi TV reported 3 people were killed when 18 bombs
fell on civilian and military positions.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A23)
1999 May 8, In Bangladesh 200
people were feared dead when a river ferry boat sank. About 100 people
were rescued or swam to shore.
(WSJ, 5/10/99, p.A1)
1999 May 8, In China protestors
attacked US diplomatic mission in demonstrations against the NATO
bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Many of the demonstrations
were organized by the government-controlled Beijing Students Assoc.
NATO expressed regret for a mistaken attack on the Chinese Embassy in
Belgrade, but pledged to pursue the bombing campaign.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A1)(SFC, 5/10/99, p.A8)(AP, 5/8/00)
1999 May 8, In Iraq military
forces attacked villages in Nasiriya, a Shiite Muslim city.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C10)
1999 May 8, An estimated 7,500
Kosovars crossed the border into Albania.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A17)
2000 May 8, The San Francisco
Board of Supervisors voted to ban discrimination based on weight or
height.
(AP, 5/8/01)
2000 May 8, Scientists announced
that they had mapped chromosome 21 which is associated with Down
syndrome, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Alzheimer’s.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A1)
2000 May 8, In New Mexico a
controlled burn Bandolier National Monument near the Los Alamos
National Laboratory blew out of control and 500 people were forced to
evacuate the area.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A3)
2000 May 8, The remains of
Cardinal John O’Connor were entombed inside New York’s St. Patrick’s
Cathedral after a funeral Mass that drew thousands of mourners,
including President Clinton.
(AP, 5/8/01)
2000 May 8, In Congo the city of
Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville) was declared a neutral zone as Rwanda
and Uganda agreed to withdraw their troops from the area and allow UN
forces to take over.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A12)
2000 May 8, In Iran 2 more Iranian
Jews confessed to spying for Israel.
(WSJ, 5/9/00, p.A1)
2000 May 8, In Japan Hogen
Fukunaga, founder of the Hono Hana Sampogyo, cult was arrested on fraud
charges. Members were told that they would get cancer or die if their
feet were not inspected by Fukunaga.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A12)
2000 May 8, In the Philippines
investigators arrested a Manila bank employee, Reomel Ramones,
suspected in the creation of the “Love Bug” computer virus.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A1)
2000 May 8, In Puerto Rico the US
Navy resumed practice bombing on Vieques Island with dummy bombs.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A3)
2000 May 8, In Sierra Leone
bodyguards of Foday Sankoh fired into a crowd of pro-government
protestors in Freetown and killed 7 people. Sankoh later disappeared.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/10/00, p.A12)
2001 May 8, China rejected a US
plan to repair EP-3 the spy plane and fly it away. China protested the
resumption of U.S. surveillance flights off its coast and said it would
refuse to let the United States fly out a crippled Navy spy plane.
(WSJ, 5/9/01, p.A1)(AP, 5/8/02)
2001 May 8-9, In El Salvador some
100 small earthquakes hit the country over a 24-hour period.
(SFC, 5/10/01, p.C5)
2001 May 8, In Hong Kong AOL Time
Warner sponsored a business conference attended by Pres. Jiang Zemin of
China and Bill Clinton. Followers of Falun Gong were barred from
entering Hong Kong.
(SFC, 5/9/01, p.A16)
2001 May 8, In Malta Pope John
Paul II was welcomed on the final stop of his 6-day pilgrimage to
retrace the steps of the Apostle Paul.
(WSJ, 5/9/01, p.A1)
2001 May 8, In New Zealand Prime
Minister Clark announced that the air force would be stripped of combat
jets along with sharp cuts to the navy.
(WSJ, 5/9/01, p.A1)
2001 May 8, In South Africa 12
miners were killed in a gold mine explosion.
(WSJ, 5/9/01, p.A1)
2002 May 8, FBI Director Robert
Mueller told a Senate committee an FBI memo from Phoenix warning that
several Arabs were suspiciously training at a U.S. aviation school
wouldn't have led officials to the Sept. 11 hijackers even if they'd
followed up the warning with more vigor.
(AP, 5/8/03)
2002 May 8, US Sec. of State
Rumsfeld said the Pentagon would kill the $11 billion Crusader
artillery system.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A5)
2002 May 8, Abdullah Al Mujahir,
also known as Jose Padilla, was arrested as he flew from Pakistan into
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Padilla was alleged to be
al-Qaida connected and suspected of plotting to build and detonate a
radioactive ''dirty'' bomb in an attack in the United States. A public
announcement of his arrest was delayed until Jun 10. In 2008 Padilla
was sentenced to just over 17 years in prison for terrorism-related
charges. Adham Amin Hassoun was sentenced to over 15 years for
recruiting Padilla. Kifah Wael Jayyousi was sentenced to over 12 years
for financing the al-Qaida cell.
(AP, 6/10/02)(SFC, 1/23/08, p.A4)
2002 May 8, In Israel a suicide
bomber detonated himself prematurely. Israeli sappers used a robot to
drag the man, still alive, across a road for inspection.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A12)
2002 May 8, In Kenya the
parliament approved an Amended Books and Newspapers Act that made it
illegal to sell publications that had not been submitted to the
government for review.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A20)
2002 May 8, Fighting continued in
western Nepal. Guerrillas regained control of Gam. The army reported
518 people killed, including 410 rebels, since May 2. Rebels offered a
one-month cease-fire. The government rejected the offer.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A9)(WSJ, 5/10/02, p.A1)(WSJ,
5/13/02, p.A1)
2002 May 8, In Pakistan a bomb
destroyed a shuttle bus in Karachi. 11 of 14 dead were French naval
engineers helping to build a submarine for Pakistan. Asif Zaheer and
Mohammad Rizwan, who allegedly belonged to Al-Qaeda-linked extremist
group Harkatul Mujahideen al-Aalmi, were found guilty in 2003 of
assisting the suicide attack which also killed 3 Pakistanis. In May,
2009, a Pakistan court acquitted the two men sentenced to death over
the bombing. Mohammad Sohail Habib, who also allegedly belonged to
Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group Harkatul Mujahideen al-Aalmi, was
sentenced to death in his absence in 2003 for assisting the suicide
attack. Sohail was arrested in 2005 but was acquitted after a six-month
re-trial in an anti-terrorism court ordered on appeal by the high
court. In October, 2009, a Pakistani court acquitted Soheil for lack of
evidence.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/9/02,
p.A1)(AFP, 5/5/09)(AFP, 10/30/09)
2003 May 8, The US Senate
unanimously endorsed adding to NATO seven former communist nations:
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
(AP, 5/8/04)
2003 May 8, The US House
International Relations Committee narrowly approved the measure saying
that any accord on immigration issues with Mexico should include an
agreement to allow U.S. companies to invest in the state oil company
Pemex. The measure is a nonbinding "sense of Congress" amendment and
still needed to be approved by both houses of Congress.
(AP, 5/11/03)
2003 May 8, A federal grand jury
indicted Chinese-born California socialite Katrina Leung on charges
that she'd illegally taken, copied and kept secret documents obtained
from an FBI agent. A federal judge later dismissed the case against
Leung, rebuking prosecutors for misconduct.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2003 May 8, Halliburton Corp.,
already under fire over accusations that its White house ties helped
win a major Iraqi oil contract, has admitted that a subsidiary paid a
multi-million dollar bribe to a Nigerian tax official.
(AP, 5/10/03)
2003 May 8, In Oklahoma a tornado
swept through Oklahoma City and flattened hundreds of homes. At least
104 people were injured.
(SFC, 5/8/03, p.A10)
2003 May 8, The Michigan
Wolverines were barred from the next postseason and put on three and
a-half years' probation by the NCAA for a booster's payments to players
dating to the Fab Five era.
(AP, 5/8/04)
2003 May 8, Elizabeth Neuffer
(46), an award-winning reporter for The Boston Globe, died in a car
accident in Iraq.
(AP, 5/10/03)
2003 May 8, Rival tribal fighters
battled for control of a northeastern Congolese town, killing at least
21 people and forcing thousands to flee. Fighters of the Union of
Congolese Patriots, a rebel group dominated by Hema tribesmen, had
attacked Bunia in a bid to seize its airport
(AP, 5/8/03)
2003 May 8, A Russian-built cargo
plane lost a back door ramp over Congo, hurling more than 100 Congolese
soldiers and their families to their deaths.
(Reuters, 5/9/03)(AP, 5/8/04)
2003 May 8, In Honduras 2 gunmen
with automatic weapons fatally shot Arnulfo Gutierrez (62), an honorary
Belgian consul as he drove his car in San Pedro Sula. His wife was
kidnapped March 18 as she left a San Pedro Sula beauty parlor.
(AP, 5/8/03)
2003 May 8, In Hungary a passenger
train collided with a double-decker bus, slicing the bus in two. At
least 30 people were killed, all German tourists on the bus.
(AP, 5/8/03)
2003 May 8, Israeli helicopters
fired 3 missiles at a car in northern Gaza, killing a senior Hamas
militant.
(AP, 5/8/03)
2004 May 8, Former Iraq hostage
Thomas Hamill returned home to a chorus of cheering family and friends
in Mississippi.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2004 May 8, In Bangladesh
Ahsanullah Master, a member of the main opposition Awami League, was
killed.
(AP, 5/9/04)
2004 May 8, Gunmen loyal to
radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rampaged through Basra and
Amarah, attacking British patrols and government buildings. Witnesses
in Basra reported 9 militiamen killed in the fighting. One child was
killed when his house was struck by a projectile. Attackers in Habhab
set off a bomb outside the house of a police official killing three
members of his family and wounding three others. A pipeline was bombed
and slowed the flow of export oil by as much as 25%.
(AP, 5/8/04)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)
2005 May 8, Steve Nash edged
Shaquille O'Neal by 34 points to win the NBA's most valuable player
award.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2005 May 8, In Zion, Ill., Laura
Hobbs (8) and Krystal Tobias (9), out on a Mother's Day bicycle ride,
were stabbed multiple times and left to die near a bike path. Laura’s
father Jerry Hobbs (34), just out of a Texas prison a few weeks, led
police to the girls' bodies in a ravine. He was charged with murder on
the second day of questioning by police.
(AP, 5/10/05)(AP, 5/11/05)
2005 May 8, Lloyd Cutler (87),
White House counsel to Presidents Carter and Clinton and adviser to
presidents of both parties, died at his Washington home.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2005 May 8, In eastern Afghanistan
insurgents trying to escape US Marines took refuge in a cave and killed
2 Americans during a 5-hour battle that left an estimated 23 rebels
dead.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 8, In Brazil top
government officials from the 11 South American nations and 22 Middle
Eastern and North African countries attending the Summit of South
American-Arab Countries met ahead of the two-day summit's opening on
May 10.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Central African
Republic a coup leader who seized power in a rebel war two years ago
sought the presidency in a runoff election against a man representing
the former ruling party he ousted. The military strongman Francois
Bozize faces former PM Martin Ziguele in a poll that many hope will
bring an end to an era of army coups and revolts.
(AP, 5/7/05)
2005 May 8, In Alexandria Egypt,
some 3,000 female supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood
gathered to demand democratic reforms.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, The new Turkish
Cypriot government of Premier Ferdi Sabit Soyer won a vote of
confidence in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In India the number of
rare bacterial meningitis cases in New Delhi rose by at least 30 over
the last 24 hours with 15 confirmed deaths from the disease.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Indonesia US Deputy
Secretary of State Robert Zoellick signed an agreement to build a $245
million road along Aceh's western coast.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, Iraq's parliament
approved six Cabinet nominees, handing four more posts to the
disaffected Sunni Arab minority. Iraq's newly approved human rights
minister turned down the job, saying he was selected only because he
was a Sunni Arab.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Iraq gunmen shot
and killed a senior official in Iraq's Transportation Ministry in
Baghdad. Zoba Yass, director general of the ministry's projects, and
his driver were killed.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Nepal seven
mainstream opposition parties agreed to form a united front to push for
a return to democracy following King Gyanendra's seizure of power.
Nepal's Maoist rebels soon threw their support behind the decision.
(AP, 5/11/05)
2005 May 8, In central Iraq 3 US
soldiers were killed in separate attacks.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Iraq the Ansar
al-Sunnah Army kidnapped Akihiko Saito (44), after ambushing a group of
five foreign contractors. It later said Saito was "seriously injured"
in the fighting and that the others had died.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 8-2005 May 9, American
troops backed by helicopters and war planes launched a major offensive
against insurgents in a remote desert area near the Syrian border, and
about 100 militants were killed in the first 24 hours.
(AP, 5/9/05)(SFC, 5/10/05, p.A1)
2005 May 8, In southeastern Niger
a swarm of locusts has descended on a town, sparking fears that the
West African nation, where millions of people face food shortages,
could endure another invasion of the crop-munching insects.
(AP, 5/9/05)
2005 May 8, President Bush paid
homage in the Netherlands to the "terrible price" paid by World War II
soldiers who never came home from their fight against tyranny.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Pakistan's
northwestern tribal region a bomb ripped through a car, killing 2
tribesmen.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Moscow Pres. Bush
and Vladimir Putin went out of their way to take a unified stand on
Middle East peace and terrorism after sharp words in recent days about
democratic backsliding and postwar Soviet domination.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, Russia began a
pomp-filled, high-security celebration of the 60th anniversary of the
Allied victory over Nazi Germany.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Saudi Arabia a
Pakistani man was beheaded for attempting to smuggle heroin into the
kingdom.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Syria a prominent
Kurdish Islamic scholar was murdered in Damascus.
(WSJ, 6/6/05, p.A1)
2006 May 8, The White House said
it will nominate General Michael Hayden to run the CIA and defended the
move to name a top military officer to run the civilian intelligence
agency.
(AFP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, US federal Judge Gary
Klausner in Los Angeles sentenced "botmaster" Jeanson Ancheta (20) to
57 months in jail for taking control of an array of computers he had
corralled into his "Botnet."
(AFP, 5/9/06)
2006 May 8, Florida’s Gov. Jeb
Bush declared a state of emergency and called in the state National
Guard to help fight wildfires that have burned thousands of acres and
blanketed highways with thick smoke.
(AP, 5/9/06)
2006 May 8, Hawaii abandoned
gas-price controls after 8 months.
(WSJ, 5/9/06, p.A1)
2006 May 8, A former top aide to
Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in
the corruption and influence-peddling investigation involving lobbyist
Jack Abramoff.
(Reuters, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Stunt artist David
Blaine emerged weak and wrinkly from a week spent submerged within an
eight-foot snow globe-like tank in the plaza of New York's Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts, but without a world record for holding
his breath.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2006 May 8, Silicon Graphics, a
pioneer of 3-D visualization technology, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection.
(SFC, 5/9/06, p.C1)
2006 May 8, Thermo Electron said
it will acquire Fisher Scientific for $10.6 billion.
(SFC, 5/9/06, p.C2)
2006 May 8, In Afghanistan US
airstrikes on a cave complex near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan
killed four Taliban militants and destroyed a truck loaded with rockets.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Argentina requested
the extradition of five former Uruguayan military officers and a former
police officer wanted in the 1976 disappearance of Maria Claudia
Garcia, the missing daughter-in-law of poet Juan Gelman.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, In China Bai Ningyang
(19) walked into a Gongyi kindergarten in central Henan, locked the
door and set fire to two gasoline cans. Local authorities said 13
children and one teacher were injured in addition to three students
killed. Ningyang was captured the next day.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 8, Oscar Arias (65),
Nobel Peace Prize winner (1987), returned to the Costa Rican
presidency, hoping to use his skills as a mediator to unite a country
sharply divided over free trade with the United States.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Indian voters braved
blistering summer heat as marathon state elections drew to a close with
ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi looking set to regain her
parliamentary seat in a by-election. The death toll from a heat wave
rose to 34.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Indonesia said it
supported Iran's right to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful means
ahead of a visit to the country by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote to President Bush, proposing "new solutions"
to their differences in the first letter from an Iranian head of state
to an American president in 27 years.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2006 May 8, In Iraq a roadside
bomb killed a US soldier. A car bomb went off near a main courthouse in
western Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 10. In
eastern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded during morning rush hour near a
police patrol on Palestine street in eastern Baghdad, killing two
policemen and wounding 12 Iraqis. Gunmen killed 4 police officers in
Ramadi and 2 Iraqi soldiers in Tikrit. Violence across Iraq left at
least 34 dead.
(AP, 5/8/06)(Reuters, 5/8/06)(WSJ, 5/9/06,
p.A1)(SFC, 5/10/06, p.A3)
2006 May 8, A report said UN
peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers are having sex with Liberian
girls as young as 8 in return for money, food or favors, threatening
efforts to rebuild a nation wrecked by war.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, In the Hague the UN
war crimes court sentenced Ivica Rajic, a Bosnian Croat former militia
leader, to 12 years in prison. Rajic admitted that forces under his
command operating in the Muslim village of Stupni Do in central Bosnia
in October 1993 "forced Bosnian Muslim civilians out of their homes and
hiding places, robbed them of their valuables, willfully killed Muslim
men, women and children and sexually assaulted Muslim women".
(AFP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, In Gaza rival gunmen
from Hamas and Fatah fought with assault rifles and missiles, killing 3
militants in the bloodiest internal fighting since Hamas came to power
six weeks ago.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Five lawmakers who
took refuge in the Philippine legislature for two months while facing
coup accusations walked out of the building in triumph after a court
dismissed the charges.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Puerto Rico's governor
and legislative leaders have agreed to abide by the recommendations of
a commission seeking a solution to a fiscal crisis that has partially
closed the island's government.
(AP, 5/9/06)
2006 May 8, Rwandan President Paul
Kagame said he was considering a plea for clemency from Pasteur
Bizimungu, the nation's first post-genocide president (1994-2000).
Bizimungu was in jail for crimes including inciting ethnic violence and
embezzling state funds.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, A judge acquitted
former Deputy President Jacob Zuma of rape in a politically charged
trial that left in tatters his aspirations to lead South Africa.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Darfur refugees rioted
and forced the UN humanitarian chief to rush from their camp, then
later attacked African peacekeepers and killed a translator in a sign
of deep tensions in Sudan’s war torn region despite a fragile peace
deal. Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, attacked Labado town in South
Darfur, killing and injuring up to 50 people. The AU has a base in
Labado town.
(AP, 5/8/06)(Reuters, 5/20/06)
2006 May 8, A senior American
diplomat pledged US support to impoverished Tajikistan in improving
security and expanding economic opportunities and political plurality.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 8, Thailand's
Constitutional Court invalidated last month's parliamentary elections
and ordered fresh polls in a bid to end a political impasse that has
left the country unable to form a new government.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2007 May 8, The US hired a Florida
firm to build a Guantanamo camp by next May to house fleeing Cubans
should there be an exodus when Castro dies.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, The Pentagon announced
that it had notified more than 35,000 Army soldiers to be prepared to
deploy to Iraq beginning in the fall.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2007 May 8, Governors and
environmental officials from 31 US states announced that they would
create a national registry to measure greenhouse gas emissions.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A6)
2007 May 8, The SEC accused two
Hong Kong residents of "widespread and unlawful trading activity" when
they bought $15 million of Dow Jones & Co. stock ahead of an
announcement that News Corp. was seeking to buy the company.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Maryland Gov. Martin
O’Malley signed the nation’s first statewide living-wage bill.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A4)
2007 May 8, In Michigan Thomas
Katona (56), the former Alcona County treasurer (1993-2006), pleaded
guilty to embezzlement charges. He was accused of dumping public funds
into fraudulent Nigerian investments. He lost more than $1.2 million in
county funds altogether, plus $72,500 of his own money, despite a
warning from his bank that he might be getting swindled.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that
San Jose State Univ. planned to name its college of education after
Connie Lurrie, the wife of former SF Giants owner Robert Lurrie,
pledged to donate $10 million to the school.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B2)
2007 May 8, Comcast Corp. Chief
Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience, showing off
for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data
download speed of 150 megabits per second, roughly 25 times faster than
today's standard cable modems. The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was
developed by the cable industry's research arm, Cable Television
Laboratories.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A new study found that
US hospitals are charging uninsured patients about two-and-a-half times
more than those with health insurance, a mark-up that has been steadily
rising despite pressure to level prices.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A flood surge moved
down the Missouri River and tributaries following weekend storms and
damages approached 1993 levels.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, Afghanistan's upper
house of parliament passed a bill calling for a halt to all
international military operations unless coordinated with the Afghan
government, action seen as a rebuke of the international mission here.
In southern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed a NATO
convoy, and a gunshot victim said soldiers fleeing the scene shot him
and killed a man in a bakery. Airstrikes called in by US Special Forces
soldiers fighting with insurgents killed at least 21 civilians in the
Sangin area of Helmand province. One coalition soldier was also killed.
The US military apologized and paid compensation to the families of 19
people killed and 50 wounded by US Marines Special Forces who fired
indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in
eastern Afghanistan in March. Residents claimed that over 60 people
were killed by the bombing.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A20)
2007 May 8, Algeria’s El-Watan
newspaper reported that authorities have arrested 5 people believed
responsible for organizing deadly terrorist attacks last month.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Amnesty Int’l. said in
a report that China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are
being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation of a
UN arms embargo. China and Russia quickly rejected the report and
Sudan's government said it was "not justified." China confirmed it
would send military engineers for a planned UN peacekeeping force to
Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that
groups of elderly Australians are setting up backyard laboratories to
manufacture an illegal euthanasia drug so they can kill themselves when
they have had enough of life.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Austria officials
said Vienna's City Hall has launched a "sex hotline" to raise money for
the capital's main public library. Callers paid 53 cents a minute to
listen to an actress read breathless passages from erotica dating to
the Victorian era.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, News and information
company Reuters Group PLC and financial data provider Thomson Corp.
confirmed that they are discussing a combination of their businesses
that values Reuters at more than $17 billion.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A survey showed that
London beat the glamour of Monaco, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo to
become the world's most expensive place to buy residential property.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Cuba released Roberto
de Jesus Guerra Perez, a journalist who served 22-months in prison for
participating in an anti-government rally. Guerra has been a
contributor to Miami's Payolibre and Nueva Prensa Cubana, as well as
the US government-funded Radio Marti.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 8, An Egyptian court
decided in a rare ruling that President Hosni Mubarak's order to try 40
of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood's top figures before a
military court was not valid.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, The leader of France's
defeated Socialists appealed for calm after a second night of
post-election violence left cars burned and store windows smashed.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In India Mohammed
Shahabuddin, a popular Muslim lawmaker from the state of Bihar, was
convicted and sentenced to life in prison on a charge of kidnapping
with intent to kill a rival who disappeared eight years ago and has
never been found.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Iran accepted a
compromise on the agenda of a 130-nation nuclear conference, meeting in
Austria, clearing the way for the meeting to approve it and end six
days of deadlock that threatened to doom the gathering to failure.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A suicide car bomber
flattened a restaurant in a busy market in the Shiite city of Kufa,
killing at least 16 people, including women and children, and wounding
70. A roadside bomb went off next to a passing mini bus in the Shiite
area of Zafaraniyah on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing
three passengers and injuring five others. In Jalula a suicide bomber
attacked a police station as the night-shift officers gathered in front
of the building, preparing to go home. The explosion killed two
policemen and wounded 20 others. The bullet-riddled bodies of six men,
the apparent victims of sectarian violence, were found with their hands
and legs bound and bearing marks of torture in an abandoned field in
Baqouba. Also in Baqouba, 12 gunmen trying to rob a bank were
confronted by Iraqi police, sparking a gunbattle that killed one police
officer and wounded another. An Al-Qaida umbrella group threatened in a
video to kill nine abducted Iraqi security officers in 72 hours unless
their demands were met, including the release of all Sunni women from
Iraqi prisons. An American soldier was killed and four others were
wounded in a shooting attack in Diyala province. 2 children were among
five people killed when a helicopter fired at militants operating an
illegal checkpoint and planting a roadside bomb near Mandali.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, The Moroccan
Association of Human Rights, formed in 1979) announced that it had
chosen Khadija Ryadi (47) as its first woman president.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and President Pervez Musharraf agreed to
strengthen security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to contain
the Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In southern Nigeria
militants staged coordinated attacks on 3 pipelines in the wetlands
region, the most damaging assault on the country's vital oil
infrastructure in over a year. MEND claimed responsibility for the
bombings, which forced Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of
150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal.
Militants released 3 South Koreans and 8 Filipinos kidnapped last week
at a Daewoo construction site in the oil-rich south.
(Reuters, 5/8/07)(AFP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Northern Ireland
Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley and IRA veteran Martin McGuinness
formed a long-unthinkable alliance as power-sharing went from dream to
reality.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In the Philippines a
homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall in Tacurong city, killing
three on the spot and five more overnight with 33 seriously wounded.
Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked
militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A newspaper owned by
Saudi Arabia's royal family said one of seven recently exposed Saudi
terrorist cells used Syria as a base for coordinating with al-Qaida in
Iraq and held training camps in the desert of neighboring Yemen.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Serbia an ally of
late President Slobodan Milosevic was elected as the new parliament
speaker, signaling a return of ultranationalists to power in the Balkan
country.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Taiwan rival
lawmakers exchanged punches, climbed on each other's shoulders and
jostled violently for position around the speaker's dais as the
Legislature dissolved into chaos over an electoral reform bill.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Thailand and the
United States launched their annual war games.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Zimbabwe riot
police violently broke up a demonstration by dozens of lawyers
protesting the arrest of two colleagues outside the High Court in
Harare.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2008 May 8, In Louisiana Carl
Hunter (73), a construction company owner who lost two homes in
Hurricane Katrina, claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won
off a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy
his wife a gallon of milk. Hunter took a lump sum payment that will
give him $33.9 million after taxes.
(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 May 8, Federal officials
arrested 13 fraternity members in San Diego, Ca., in a drug bust.
Officials said 128 people, including at least 75 SDSU students, had
been arrested as part of a 5-month investigation.
(SFC, 5/9/08, p.B2)
2008 May 8, In California the
owners of Tejon Ranch agreed to place 178,000 acres under a series of
conservation easements that will preserve the land as open space. 90%
will be preserved for public recreation and the owner will be allowed
to develop 10%. A land grant in 1843 established Rancho El Tejon.
(SFC, 5/9/08, p.A1)
2008 May 8, Eddy Arnold, country
singer, died, days short of his 90th birthday. His mellow baritone on
songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful
country singers in history.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, In southern
Afghanistan US-led coalition killed several militants.
(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 May 8, President Evo Morales
agreed to stand for election in a nationwide recall vote, gambling that
Bolivians will re-elect him after just two years in office and shore up
support for his pending reforms.
(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 May 8, A Chinese
mountaineering team took the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest,
a feat dreamed up to underscore China's ambitions for the Beijing games.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, Georgia's breakaway
region of Abkhazia said it had shot down another Georgian spy drone.
(Reuters, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, A rocket hit a
downtown Baghdad park, killing two people as American and Iraqi forces
battled Shiite militants believed responsible for many such attacks. A
bomb went off on a minibus in Baghdad's eastern Zayona neighborhoods,
killing two passengers and injuring five. 9 militants were killed in
two American missile attacks in the New Baghdad neighborhood. US
soldiers killed six Shiite extremists, who attacked US forces with
shoulder fired rockets and small arms, in several clashes in Baghdad's
Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City.
(AP, 5/8/08)(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 May 8, Relief supplies from
the United Nations began arriving in Myanmar, but US military planes
loaded with aid were still denied access by the country's isolationist
regime five days after a devastating cyclone. Some feared that lack of
safe food and drinking water could push the death toll above 100,000.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, In Lebanon violence
spread outside the capital. Sunnis and Shiites exchanged gunfire in the
village of Saadnayel in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah's
leader Hassan Nasrallah said a government decision to declare the
Shiite militant group's telecommunications network illegal amounted to
a declaration of war. At least four people were killed and eight
wounded Beirut.
(AP, 5/8/08)(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 May 8, A Malaysian Islamic
court allowed a Chinese convert to renounce Islam in a rare decision
for this conservative Muslim-led nation. Siti Fatimah, or Tan Ean Huang
(38), said she had never practiced Islamic teachings since she
converted in 1998 and only did so to enable her to marry Iranian
Ferdoun Ashanian.
(AFP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, Edgar Millan Gomez
(42), Mexico's acting federal police chief, was shot dead outside his
Mexico City apartment complex, as drug traffickers increasingly lashed
back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime. Bodyguards at the
scene arrested Alejandro Ramirez (34). Edgar Guzman, the son of Sinaloa
cartel chief Joaquin Guzman, was shot dead in Culiacan, Sinaloa state.
Also killed in the attack was Arturo Meza Cazares, the son of Blanca
Margarita Cazares, whom the US has identified as a key money launderer
for the cartel. Police later said Millan’s murder was likely ordered by
Arturo Beltran Leyva, a capo in the Sinaloa drug cartel.
(AP, 5/9/08)(SFC, 5/9/08,
p.A16)(http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/xarticle/ajc8708.htm)(Econ,
5/17/08, p.45)
2008 May 8, In Nepal Ram Hari
Shrestha, a Kathmandu businessman and supporter of the former rebels,
died after he was abducted and beaten by Maoist cadre.
(AFP,
5/21/08)(www.nepalhorizons.com/beta/news.php?newsid=2851)
2008 May 8, North Korea handed
over thousands of pages of nuclear weapons documents to a US diplomat,
that will help verify the North’s plutonium holdings.
(WSJ, 5/9/08, p.A1)
2008 May 8, Vladimir Putin was
named prime minister of Russia after a fervent speech full of ambitious
plans that overshadowed his low-key successor and suggested that he
will keep a strong hand in ruling the country.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, In Somalia two police
officers and five insurgents died in the attack when Islamist fighters
fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine guns at the
heavily guarded K4 district of Mogadishu. Three other insurgents were
captured. Islamist spokesman Abdirahim Issa Adow said fighters killed
eight police and one Islamist fighter died and two were wounded.
(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 May 8, Spain formally laid
claim to a shipwreck that yielded a $500 million treasure, saying it
has proof the vessel was Spanish. Officials said the shipwreck at the
heart of the dispute is the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish
warship sunk by the British navy southwest of Portugal in 1804 with
more than 200 people on board.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, Sri Lanka’s defense
ministry said at least 74 Tamil Tiger rebels and three Sri Lankan
soldiers have been killed in 3 days of fighting in the island's north.
(AFP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 8, In Zimbabwe farmers'
groups said the ruling ZANU-PF has pushed 40,000 workers off farms in a
post-election campaign targeting supporters of the opposition ahead of
a possible presidential run-off. Pressure mounted to admit foreign
observers to oversee a presidential election run-off amid fresh claims
pro-government militias were instilling terror in the countryside.
(Reuters, 5/8/08)(AFP, 5/8/08)
2009 May 8, A federal jury
acquitted W.R. Grace and 3 of its executives on all criminal charges
that they knowingly contaminated Libby, Montana, with asbestos and
conspired to cover up the deed.
(SFC, 5/9/09, p.A6)
2009 May 8, In California the
4-day Jesusita fire in Santa Barbara was only 10% contained as of the
evening, after charring more than 13 square miles and destroying about
31 homes with another 47 damaged. By the next day the fire was 40%
contained and residents were allowed to return to the area.
(AP, 5/9/09)(SSFC, 5/10/09, p.A12)
2009 May 8, In Panama City,
Florida, Dr. Jason Newsom resigned from the Bay County Health
Department under pressure following his launch of a one-man war on
obesity by posting sardonic warnings on an electronic sign outside.
After the lawyers threatened to sue, his bosses made him remove
the anti-fried doughnut rants and eventually forced him to resign.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 May 8, In the Midwest a wave
of storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in
Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri. 5 people were left
dead.
(AP, 5/9/09)
2009 May 8, Brazilians huddled in
cow pens converted into emergency shelters, as swollen rivers continue
to rise and northern Brazil's worst floods in decades boosted the
number of homeless to nearly 300,000. The death toll rose to 39, and
coffins started popping out of the soaked earth.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In London Marks &
Spencer admitted it had "boobed" in a row over larger bras, agreeing to
slash the prices of its DD-plus cup sizes to bring them in line with
smaller models.
(AFP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In Canada a provincial
medical official said a woman from Alberta has died from the H1N1 flu
virus, making her the first Canadian to die from the virus.
(Reuters, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, Chad’s government
claimed that 225 rebels and 22 soldiers had been killed in clashes over
the last 2 days south of the main eastern city of Abeche.
(AFP, 5/9/09)
2009 May 8, In Colombia Jorge
Noguera, former director of the civilian intelligence service, DAS, was
charged with conspiracy and murder. He was accused of colluding with
paramilitaries and helping to plan the murders of opposition figures.
(Econ, 5/16/09, p.43)
2009 May 8, A Croatian court
convicted an opposition lawmaker of war crimes, making him the
country's first senior politician to be held responsible for wartime
atrocities against Serbs. Branimir Glavas was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for war crimes against civilians, but he remained free because
he enjoys parliamentary immunity from detention. During the 1991
Serbo-Croat war, he was a member of the ruling Croatian Democratic
Union and formed a paramilitary unit in eastern Croatian town of
Osijek, where he was seen as a warlord.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In Ecuador an angry
mob dragged two suspected robbers from a police station in Valencia and
burned them to death.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, Indian police used
teargas and batons to disperse hundreds of rock-throwing Kashmiris
protesting against the holding of national elections in the revolt-hit
region.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In Ireland Dr. Yuri
Melini (47), a leading Guatemalan environmentalist who recently
survived an assassination attempt, won a human rights award for his
efforts to stop the rapid growth of mines in his mineral-rich nation.
Melini received the annual Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders
at Risk in a Dublin City Hall ceremony.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In southern Lebanon
authorities arrested five people for allegedly spying for Israel as
part of the two countries' long-running espionage battle.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, Malaysia said it will
free 13 people detained under internal security laws, including three
ethnic Indian activists, members of the banned ethnic Indian rights
group Hindraf, held without trial since organizing anti-government
protests in 2007.
(AFP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, Mexico’s federal
attorney general's office said authorities have arrested 25 Tijuana
police officers and two civilians on organized crime charges for
alleged drug gang ties. In the border state of Chihuahua, prosecutors
said police acting on an anonymous tip found two clandestine graves
with 7 bodies in the town of Palomas, across from Columbus, New Mexico.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In Nigeria the
governor of southern oil-rich Rivers state signed a law making life
jail terms mandatory for kidnappers in the area.
(AFP, 5/9/09)
2009 May 8, Pakistani jets
screamed over Mingora, a Taliban-controlled town, and bombed suspected
militant positions as hundreds of thousands fled in terror and other
trapped residents appealed for a pause in the fighting so they could
escape. Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said that 140 militants had been killed
in the last 24 hours, adding to around 150 already reported slain. He
did give any figures for civilian deaths, but witness and local media
say that noncombatants have been killed.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, In the northern
Philippines Typhoon Cha-hom dumped heavy rains overnight, triggered
landslides and left at least 10 people dead and four missing.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, South Sudanese gunmen
killed dozens of people from a rival tribe, most of them women and
children, in one of a string of attacks that have raised fears for
elections in the region. Fighters from the Lou Nuer tribe raided the
village of Torkej, home to the Nuer Jikany, in the region's Upper Nile
state, in apparent revenge for cattle thefts. Some 71 people were
killed in Torkej.
(Reuters, 5/11/09)(Econ, 6/13/09, p.49)
2009 May 8, Pope Benedict XVI
arrived in Jordan and expressed deep respect for Islam. He said he
hopes the Catholic Church can play a role in Mideast peace as he began
his first trip to the region, where he hopes to improve frayed ties
with Muslims.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 8, Venezuelan police
uncovered a cache of weapons and explosives at a Caracas apartment. The
discovery led to the detention of 3 citizens of the Dominican Republic,
Luini Omar Campusano de la Cruz (38); Edgar Floiran Sanchez (29); and
Diomedis Campusano Perez (31) and a Frenchman, Laurent Frederic
Bocquet, on suspicion of planning terrorist acts.
(AP, 5/9/09)
2009 May 8, Venezuela’s National
Guard began occupying dozens of oil rigs, docks and boats operated by
private contractors, both local and foreign, hired by PDVSA, the state
oil company. It appeared that PDVSA had run out of cash.
(Econ, 5/16/09, p.44)
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