Today in History - May 24
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15CE May 24, Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1153 May 24, Malcolm IV became king of Scotland.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1543 May 24, The city of Valladolid, Mexico, was founded in the Yucatan peninsula.
(SSFC, 6/29/08, p.E5)(www.valladolidyucatan.com/history.html)
1543 May 24, Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer, died in Poland. His book, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs," (De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium), proof of a sun-centered universe, was printed just before he died. Although he did say that the earth rotated once a day and did revolve around the sun once a year, he kept 2 features of the old Aristotelian system: one involved uniform circular motion, and the other was quintessential matter, for which such motion was said to be natural. In 1916 the Catholic clergy placed the book on its “Index of Prohibited Books." In 2004 Owen Gingerich authored "The Book Nobody Read," an examination of how the ideas of Copernicus spread. In 2006 William T. Vollmann authored “Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres." In 2008 his remains, buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, were positively identified using DNA evidence. In 2011 Dava Sobel authored "A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the cosmos."
(WSJ, 3/5/04, p.W8)(NH, 4/1/04, p.66)(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.M1)(AP, 11/20/08)(Econ, 9/24/11, p.106)
1544 May 24, William Gilbert, English physicist, was born. He coined the terms "electric" and "magnetic" poles.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1607 May 24, Captain Christopher Newport and 105 followers founded Jamestown on the mouth of the James River in Virginia. They had left England with 144 members, 39 died on the way over. The colony was near the large Indian village of Werowocomoco, home of Pocahontas, the daughter Powhatan, an Algonquin chief. In 2003 archeologists believed that they had found the site of Werowocomoco, where Powhatan resided from 1607-1609.
(HN, 5/24/99)(SFC, 5/7/03, p.A2)(Arch, 1/06, p.27)
1610 May 24, Sir Thomas Gates instituted "laws divine moral and marshal," a harsh civil code for Jamestown.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1624 May 24, James I revoked Virginia's charter after years of unprofitable operation and it became a royal colony.
(HN, 5/24/99)(AH, 6/07, p.27)
1650 May 24, John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, English general strategist, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1686 May 24, Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (d.1736), German physicist, was born. He devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers. He assigned the number 32 for the melting point of ice, 96 to the temperature of blood and 212 to the steam point. [see May 14]
(WUD, 1994, p.510)(SFEC, 3/22/98, Par. p.8)(HN, 5/24/98)
1689 May 24, English Parliament passed the Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics were specifically excluded from exemption.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1738 May 24, The Methodist Church was established.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1743 May 24, Jean-Paul Marat, French revolutionist, was born. He advocated extreme violence and was assassinated in his own bath.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1764 May 24, Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced "taxation without representation" and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain's new tax measures.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1798 May 24, Believing that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent, Irish nationalists rose up against the British occupation. It was put down by the Orange yeomanry who were enlisted by the government to restore peace. The slogan "Croppies lie down" originated here after some of the rebel Catholics had their hair cropped in the French revolutionary manner.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.A15)(HN, 5/24/99)
1803 May 24, Charles LJL Bonaparte, Corsican, French prince of Canino, Musignano, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1809 May 24, Dartmoor Prison opened to house French prisoners of war.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1816 May 24, Emanuel Leutze, US painter, was born. His work included “Washington Crossing the Delaware" (1851).
(MC, 5/24/02)
1818 May 24, Gen. Andrew Jackson captured Pensacola, Florida.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1819 May 24, Victoria Alexandrine, Queen Victoria (d.1901) was born in London. Her reign (1836-1901) restored dignity to the British crown. She had nine children. "Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves."
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/99)(AP, 2/24/99)
1822 May 24, At Battle of Pichincha (Ecuador) General Sucre (1795-1830) won a decisive victory against Spanish forces. Shortly after the battle, Sucre and Bolivar entered the newly-liberated Quito and Sucre was named President of the Province of Quito, which formed Gran Colombia with Venezuela and Colombia.
(HN, 5/24/98)(AP, 11/24/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Jos%C3%A9_de_Sucre)
1830 May 24, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," was written. Sarah Josepha Hale of Newport, N.H., published a collection of poems "Poems for Our Children," that included "Mary Had a Little Lamb." [see 1815]
(SFC, 8/24/98, p.B6)(MC, 5/24/02)
1830 May 24, The first passenger railroad in the United States began service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, Md.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1844 May 24, Samuel F.B. Morse, before a crowd of dignitaries in the chambers of the Supreme Court, tapped out the message, "What hath God wrought?" to his partner in Baltimore, Alfred Vail. Congress had appropriated $30,000 for the experimental line built by Ezra Cornell between Washington and Baltimore. American portrait artist Samuel F.B. Morse developed the technology for electrical telegraphy in the 1830s, the first instantaneous form of communication. Using a key to hold open an electrical circuit for longer or shorter periods, an operator would tap out a message in a code composed of dots and dashes. Public demonstrations of the equipment were made in February 1838, but it was necessary for Morse to secure financial backing to build the first telegraph line to carry the signal over distance. In 1843, Congress appropriated the funds for a 37-mile line between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. After underground telegraph wires proved unsuccessful, Morse switched to pole wires.
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/98)(HNPD, 2/6/99)(HNQ, 5/27/00)
1846 May 24, General Zachary Taylor captured Monterey in the Mexican War.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1854 May 24, Louis Mountbatten, admiral (WW I), was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1856 May 24, The Potawatomi Massacre took place in Kansas. John Brown, American abolitionist and horse thief, presided over the hacking to death with machetes of five unarmed pro-slavery Border Ruffians in Potawatomi, Kansas.
(WSJ, 4/10/95, A-16)(WSJ, 3/16/98, p.A20)(MC, 5/24/02)
1861 May 24, General Benjamin Butler, Union commander of Fort Monroe, Va., declared slaves to be the contraband of war in order to avoid returning them to their owners under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
(ON, 2/12, p.1)(www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Butler_Benjamin_F_1818-1893)
1861 May 24, Shortly after Union troops quietly occupied Alexandria, Va., 24-year-old Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth and a handful of friends from the 11th New York Regiment impulsively entered the Marshall Hotel to forcibly remove a Confederate flag from the roof. Hotel proprietor James W. Jackson shot and mortally wounded Ellsworth as he descended the stairs, flag in hand. Jackson himself was then shot by a Union soldier. Only weeks after the outbreak of the Civil War, both the North and the South had received the first martyrs to their respective causes.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1862 May 24, Westminster Bridge opened across the Thames.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1863 May 24, Bushwackers led by Captain William Marchbanks attacked a Federal militia party in Nevada, Missouri.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1866 May 24, Founders of UC Berkeley named their town after Bishop George Berkeley due to a line Berkeley’s poem: On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America: "Westward the course of empire takes its way."
(SFC, 3/28/03, p.A3)
1869 May 24, John Wesley Powell departed Green River City, Wyoming, with 9 men on an expedition to explore the canyons of the Green and Colorado River. Over 3 years he led two expeditions to explore the Grand Canyon. Three members of the first expedition were killed, reportedly by Indians. His written account was suspected to be inflated if not fictitious. A 1997 novel by Oakley Hall, "Separations," depicted the events.
(HFA, ‘96, p.127)(SFC, 4/23/97, p.D5)(ON, 5/02, p.1)
1873 May 24, Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1878 May 24, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, pioneer in time-motion studies, was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1878 May 24, The first American bicycle race was held in Boston.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1879 May 24, William Lloyd Garrison (73), abolitionist (Liberator), died.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1881 May 24, Some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario. [see Apr 11]
(AP, 5/24/97)
1881 May 24, Samuel Palmer (b.1805), English painter and printmaker, died. He was a leading light in a brotherhood of painters called the “Ancients," for their preference of archaic Gothic architecture. In 2011 Rachel Campbell-Johnston authored “Mysterious Wisdom: the Life and Work of Samuel Palmer."
(Econ, 6/25/11, p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Palmer)
1883 May 24, The Brooklyn Bridge, hailed as the "eighth wonder of the world," was dedicated by President Chester Arthur and New York Gov. Grover Cleveland, and officially opened to traffic. The suspension bridge linking the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn became a symbol of America's progress and ingenuity. The bridge has a span of 1,595 feet with 16-inch steel wire suspension cables fastened to Gothic-style arches 276 feet tall. Civil engineer John Augustus Roebling, inventor of the steel wire cable and designer of the bridge, was killed in a construction accident at the outset of construction in 1869. His son and partner, Washington A. Roebling, supervised the project to its completion in spite of a debilitating illness. 20 men died during construction and many suffered from caisson disease, later known as the bends, while working in pressurized air chambers under the river.
(HNPD, 5/23/99)(ON, 4/01, p.9)(AP, 5/24/08)
1889 May 24, George Henry Calvert (b.1803), American author and great grandson of Lord Baltimore, died. His writing covered historical subjects. In 1854 Calvert was sworn in as mayor of Newport, Rhode Island.
(www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/MarylandCollection/Riversdale/timeline.html)
1895 May 24, Samuel I. Newhouse, US millionaire publisher (Parade, Vogue, Glamour), was born.
(HN, 5/24/98)(MC, 5/24/02)
1899 May 24, The 1st US auto repair shop opened in Boston.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1903 May 24, Arthur Vineberg, Canadian heart surgeon, was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1905 May 24, Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist (And Quiet Flows the Don), was born. He won a Nobel Prize in 1965.
(HN, 5/24/01)(MC, 5/24/02)
1915 May 24, Thomas Edison invented the telescribe to record telephone conversations.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1916 May 24, US pilot William Thaw shot down a German Fokker.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1918 May 24, Coleman A. Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit), was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1926 May 24, Paavo Nurmi ran world record 3000 meters in 8:25.4.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1927 May 24, The final levee breach of the 1927 flood occurred at McCrea, Louisiana, on the east bank of the Atchafalaya levee. The flood along the Mississippi killed some 500 people and displaced thousands. The levee system broke in 145 places and caused 27,000 square miles of flooding in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In 1997 the book "Rising Tide" by John M. Barry described the catastrophe. It was also the subject of the Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927."
(www.rms.com/publications/1927_MississippiFlood.pdf)(WSJ, 2/6/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/28/03, p.C7)(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.A7)(WSJ, 11/2/05, p.A2)(Econ, 5/21/11, p.30)
1928 May 24, William Trevor, Irish short story writer and novelist (The Old Boys, The Boarding House), was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1928 May 24, The dirigible Italia crashed while attempting to reach Spitzbergen. Nine men survived the initial crash. In 2000 Wilbur Cross authored "Disaster at the Pole," a revised edition of the 1960 version of the disaster led by Italian aviator Umberto Nobile. The Russian film "Krasnaya palatka" (1969), starring Sean Connery, detailed the Nobile expedition and attempted rescue. This movie was released in North America under the title "The Red Tent."
(ON, 10/00, p.6)(SSFC, 1/7/01, Par p.14)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0067315/)
1930 May 24, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from England to Australia.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1933 May 24, Dmitri Shostakovitch's Preludes premiered in Moscow.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1935 May 24, The first major-league baseball game played at night took place at Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1940 May 24, Joseph Brodsky, author (Less than 1, Nobel 1987), was born in the USSR.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1940 May 24, Hitler ordered a halt to his forces converging on Dunkirk and the British, who were backed to the sea. This event and the next 4 days were described in the 1999 book: "Five Days in London, May 1940" by John Lukacs.
(WSJ, 11/8/99, p.A48)
1940 May 24, Hitler affirmed Gen. von Rundstedt's "Stopbevel."
(MC, 5/24/02)
1940 May 24, German tanks reached Atrecht, France.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1941 May 24, Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman), singer and songwriter, was born in Minnesota. He is famous for his songs "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," and "Blowin' in the Wind."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E3)(HN, 5/24/99)
1941 May 24, The German battleship Bismarck sank the British dreadnought HMS Hood in the North Atlantic. 1416 died with only three survivors.
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/99)(ON, 10/09, p.2)
1944 May 24, Icelandic voters severed all ties with Denmark.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1948 May 24, Ariel Sharon, then called Arik Scheinerman, was wounded at the battle of Latrun while securing Jerusalem for Jews in the 1st Arab-Israeli War.
(WSJ, 10/13/00, p.A15)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrun)
1951 May 24, Willie Mays began playing for the New York Giants.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1951 May 24, Racial segregation in Washington D.C. restaurants was ruled illegal.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1957 May 24, Anti-American rioting broke out in Taipei, Taiwan.
(AP, 5/24/07)
1958 May 24, United Press International (UPI) was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1958 May 24, Pres Batista opened an offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1961 May 24, The 27 Freedom Riders, civil rights activists, were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
(HN, 5/24/98)(MC, 5/24/02)
1962 May 24, Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1965 May 24, Supreme Court declared a federal law allowing the post office to intercept communist propaganda as unconstitutional.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1966 May 24, The Broadway musical "Mame" opened with Angel Lansbury and Bea Arthur at Winter Garden Theater in NYC for 1508 performances. It was directed by Gene Saks and was based on the novel "Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis.
(SFEC, 12/8/96, Par p.18)(SSFC, 12/24/00, Par p.10)(SSFC, 4/26/09, p.B6)
1968 May 24, In Britain Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones released their song "Jumping Jack Flash." The US release was on June 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash)
1968 May 24, France’s Pres. Charles de Gaulle issued an ultimatum to striking students and workers who have brought the country to a standstill during 3 weeks of violent demonstrations.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_2988000/2988263.stm)
1974 May 24, Duke Ellington (b.1899) died of cancer in NYC. A major influence in jazz, especially the big band sound, Ellington orchestrated over 1,000 pieces of music during his prolific career. Although some tunes most associated with Duke Ellington and ‘His Famous Orchestra‘ were written by others (Billy Strayhorn wrote "Take the A Train"), Ellington capitalized on his outstanding ensemble by writing pieces emphasizing the talents of individual performers such as Johnny Hodges and Jimmy Blanton. In addition to big band pieces, he also wrote for film, ballet and opera. In 1991 Mark Tucker (d.2000) authored "Ellington: The Early Years." In 1993 Tucker edited "The Duke Ellington Reader." In 2013 Terry Teachout authored “Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington)(SFEC, 2/21/99, DB p.32)(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.C17)(SSFC, 11/3/13, p.F2)
1976 May 24, The SF Chronicle published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin (b.1944). The series continued in the Chronicle until 1983 and was serialized in the Examiner in 1986.
(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/8/11, p.A13)
1976 May 24, Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington. This was the 1st commercial supersonic transport (SST).
(AP, 5/24/97)
1976 May 24, In France 2 California wines won a tasting event over several French classics for the 1st time. Stephen Spurrier, English owner of a wine shop and wine school in Paris, held a competition tasting of French and American wines. The best white wine was a 1973 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena, owned by Jim Barrett (1926-2013). The best red wine was a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Winemaker Miljenko Grgich created the Napa Chardonnay that beat French wines in the legendary Paris Tasting. In 2005 George M. Taber authored “Judgement of Paris," an account of the 1976 tasting.
(SFC, 5/29/96, ZZ1 p.4)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.T8)(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)(SFC, 6/16/05, p.F4)(SSFC, 2/17/13, p.C2)
1977 May 24, In a surprise move, the Kremlin ousted Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1980 May 24, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1982 May 24- 1982 May 25, Iranian troops reconquered Khorramshahr.
(www.iran-daily.com/1384/2279/html/art.htm)
1983 May 24, The US Supreme Court ruled, in Bob Jones University v. United States, that the government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminate against students. This upheld a 1970 ruling.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/461/574/)
1983 May 24, Fred Sinowatz (1929-2008) became Austrian Chancellor and continued for 3 years.
(AP, 8/12/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Sinowatz)
1986 May 24, The Union Jack was flown in Israel for the first time in 38 years as Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister to visit the Jewish state.
(AP, 5/24/06)
1987 May 24, An estimated quarter-million people crowded onto San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to celebrate the structure's 50th birthday a few days before the actual anniversary.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A21)(AP, 5/24/97)
1988 May 24, President Reagan vetoed legislation that would have strengthened the nation's ability to defend itself and its industries against trading practices of other nations that were deemed unfair.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1988 May 24, Vice President George Bush and Michael Dukakis won the Idaho presidential primaries.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1989 May 24, The US film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" premiered nationwide.
(http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800080788/info)
1989 May 24, China's top army command published a letter strongly supporting hard-line Premier Li Peng, who was reportedly locked in a power struggle with rival factions who opposed his strong stance against student protesters.
(AP, 5/24/99)
1989 May 24, French war criminal Paul Touvier was arrested in a monastery in Nice.
(www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/touvier-obit.html)
1990 May 24, Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari (11/7/49-3/2/97), environmental activists in the Earth First! movement, were injured after a pipe bomb exploded in their car as they drove through Oakland, Ca. They were arrested while in the hospital on charges of transporting a bomb but the charges were never filed. They later filed a suit against the FBI and Oakland police for false arrest, illegal search and seizure and conspiracy to violate free-speech rights. Bari died of liver cancer in 1997. In 2002 a jury awarded $2.9 million to Bari’s estate and $1.5 million to Cherney saying the FBI had framed them as eco-terrorists. In 2004 the government settled civil suits for $2 million. In 2004 Kate Coleman authored “The Secret Wars of Judi Bari."
(SFC,10/21/97, p.A20)(SFC, 6/12/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/23/04, p.B1)(SFC, 1/18/05, p.D1)
1990 May 24, The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth Stanley Cup as they defeated the Boston Bruins, four games to one.
(AP, 5/24/00)
1991 May 24, Eritrean rebels liberated Asmara from Ethiopian rule. Days later Ethiopian rebels from Tigray took Addis Ababa with the help of Eritrean counterparts and ended the 17-year rule of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1991 May 24, Israel began airlifting 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to safety as Ethiopian rebels continued to advance on Addis Ababa.
(AP, 5/24/01)
1991 May 24, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to deplore Israel’s deportation of four Palestinians from the occupied territories.
(AP, 5/24/01)
1991 May 24, The remains of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated by a suicide bomber, were cremated.
(AP, 5/24/01)
1992 May 24, Al Unser Jr. became the first second-generation winner of the Indianapolis 500; his father, four-time winner Al Unser, finished third.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1992 May 24, Kosovo Albanians held unofficial elections for an assembly and president. Ibrahim Rugova won an overwhelming majority and was elected President of Kosovo.
(www.hrw.org/reports/1992/yugoslavia/)
1992 May 24-Aug 30, In Bosnia Serbian forces confined over 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats in inhuman conditions at the Keraterm prison camp. Damir Dosen served as a shift commander at the Keraterm prison camp in northwestern Bosnia. Detainees were killed, sexually assaulted and beaten. In 1999 Dragan Kulundzija, a former shift commander at Keraterm, was arrested on charges of killing and torturing prisoners. In 1999 Dosen, a Bosnian Serb, was arrested for war crimes and flown to the Hague for trial.
(SFC, 6/8/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/9/99, p.A14)
1992 May 24, Thailand protests, supported by numerous political movements, climaxed with the resignation of PM Suchinda. Deputy PM Meechai Ruchuphan took office for a transitional period until the new government was assigned. He was succeeded by Anand Panyarachun.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suchinda_Kraprayoon)
1993 May 24, "Farewell My Concubine" and "The Piano" jointly won the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1993 May 24, The US Senate confirmed Roberta Achtenberg, an acknowledged lesbian, to be a top federal housing official.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1993 May 24, Microsoft launched Windows NT.
(Wired, 12/98, p.198)
1993 May 24, Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year civil war. Some 65,000 Eritreans lost their lives in the fight for independence. Pres. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia allowed Eritrea to secede as a reward for the support of its rebel forces in 1991.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(MC, 5/24/02)
1993 May 24, Juan Jesus Posada Ocampo (66), Roman Catholic Cardinal, and six other people were killed at the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport in what was described as a shootout involving drug gangs. Gunmen of the four Arellano Felix Brothers murdered Ocampo apparently mistaking him for a rival drug lord. Drug cartel leader Hector Luis Palma was charged and sentenced in connection to the killing on Jan 3, 1997. In 1998 members of a San Diego street gang were indicted as hired hit men in the slayings that left 7 dead. In 2005 a court sentenced Humberto Rodriguez Banuelos, a former police commander, to 40 years in prison for his role in the murders. In all, 12 gunmen, including Rodriguez, were convicted and sentenced in the attack on the cardinal. In 2008 Araujo Avila, an alleged drug cartel hit man, was arrested in Tijuana in relation to Ocampo’s murder.
(WSJ, 10/7/96, p.A16)(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A12)(SFC, 2/11/98, p.A3)(AP, 5/24/98)(AP, 12/9/05)(AP, 1/27/08)
1993 May 24, Separatist Kurdish rebels fatally shot 33 Turkish soldiers and two civilians after forcing them and about two dozen other persons off a bus in the southeastern province of Bingol. This ended a unilateral cease-fire and led the military to intensify a campaign to annihilate the PKK. Testimony in 1999 by Abdullah Ocalan said a regional PKK commander carried out the slaying.
(www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-948140.html)(SFC, 6/2/99, p.C2)
1994 May 24, Four men convicted of bombing New York's World Trade Center were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
(AP, 5/24/99)
1994 May 24, The United States and Japan agreed to revive efforts to pry open Japanese markets to U.S. goods.
(AP, 5/24/99)
1995 May 24, "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $1,500 for running a call-girl ring that catered to the rich and famous.
1995 May 24, Gen. Janvier told the UN Security Council that the Bosnian government forces were sufficient to defend Srebrenica, that UN troops should be withdrawn and that NATO air power was not needed.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)
1995 May 24, Harold Wilson (79), former British Prime Minister (1964-70, 74-76), died in London.
(AP, 5/24/00)(MC, 5/24/02)
1996 May 24, President Clinton underwent his annual physical at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, where he had a precancerous lesion removed from his nose. On the plus side, his weight was the same as the year before -- 216 -- and his cholesterol count had improved from 203 to 191.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1996 May 24, The Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Lumberton, N.C., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 May 24, International Paper was removed as a component of the Dow Jones.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R46)
1996 May 24, A fire destroyed a $5 mil. cooling tower at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Athens, Ala. At least three fires have occurred here since 1975. The towers are used on hot days to cool water returned to the Tennessee River.
(SFC, 5/234/96, p.A4)
1996 May 24, Alexandras Lileikis (89) was stripped of his US citizenship for his role in turning over Jews to the Germans in Lithuania from 1941-1944. In his 1949 application for citizenship he said that he only performed administrative duties. 15 more cases are pending in federal courts and 300 other cases are under investigation.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)
1996 May 24, Joseph Mitchell (b.1908), NYC journalist, died. He is known for his carefully written portraits of eccentrics and people on the fringes of society, especially in and around NYC. In 2015 Thomas Kunkel authored “Man in Profile" Joseph Mitchell of the New Yorker."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mitchell_%28writer%29)(SSFC, 5/10/15, p.N5)
1996 May 24, Roger Truitt, president of Atlantic Richfield Co. was pictured in negotiations with Burmese General Khin Nyunt, head of the secret police.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)
1996 May 24, Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin have agreed to hold peace talks.
(SFC, 5/234/96, p.A14)
1996 May 24, In Paris a meeting of 21 donor countries agreed to a $49 bil emergency bailout fund to deal with future Mexican economic crises.
(SFC, 5/24/96, p.A14)
1996 May 24, In Turkey Prime Minister Tansu Ciller said that her True path Party is pulling out of the ruling coalition. This will give the pro-Islamic Welfare Party another shot at power.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A11)
1996 May 24, Sheik Hamed Bitawi said that Hammas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin might issue a call to end terrorist attacks against Israel. The leadership of Hammas would like to move to a position as a democratic alternative to Arafat’s PLO.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)
1997 May 24, The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth, bringing with it NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger, who had spent four months aboard the Russian Mir space station.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1997 May 24, Edward Mulhare (74), Irish-born actor (Ghost & Mrs. Muir), died of lung cancer.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0611811/)
1997 May 24, In Afghanistan forces of the Taliban swept into Mazar-E-Sharif, the last opposition stronghold.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)
1997 May 24, In the Ukraine the first McDonald’s restaurant opened.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)
1998 May 24, At the 51st Cannes Film Festival the Golden Palm award went to the Greek film "Mia Eoniotita Ke Mia Mera (Eternity and a Day), directed by Theo Angelopoulos. The Grand Prize went to the Italian film "La Vita e Bella" (Life Is Beautiful) by director Roberto Benigni. It starred Benigni, Giorgio Cantarini and Nicoletta Braschi.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.E5)(SFEC, 10/25/98, DB p.46)
1998 May 24, In Danville, Ill, an explosion occurred at the First Assembly of God Church and injured 33 members, mostly teenagers. The cause was not yet immediately known. The cause was determined the next day to have been a bomb.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, A Hall of Fame for American classical music was scheduled to open in Cincinnati.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, Par p.18)
1998 May 24, In Egypt Saber and Mahmoud Abu el-Ulla, a former inmate of a mental hospital and his brother, were hanged for the Sep 18, 1997, killings of 10 people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 24, In Hong Kong voters turned out in record numbers for elections of a Legislative Council. They returned to office pro-democracy politicians ousted by Beijing. Democrats won 13 of 60 seats in the legislature.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, The Young Democrats-Civic Party (Fidesz) led by Viktor Orban (34) won the elections and opened the way for a center-right coalition to rule. Fidesz won only 148 seats of the 386-member Parliament and planned to form a coalition with The Hungarian Democratic Forum (17 seats) and the Smallholders (48 seats). Orban was elected prime minister and served to 2002.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/2100, p.B13F)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.54)
1998 May 24, In Indonesia State Sec. Akbar Tanjung said that parliamentary elections would be held as soon as possible, perhaps within 6 months to a year.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)
1998 May 24, In Russia striking miners lifted blockades along the trans-Siberian railway after officials promised to pay back wages and help workers find new jobs.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1999 May 24, The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that schools can be held liable for students sexually harassing other students. The court also ruled that police violate the 4th Amendment right to privacy when they allow the media into people's homes to document arrests and raids.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A1,3)(AP, 5/24/00)
1999 May 24, Mike Tyson walked out of a Rockville, Md., jail after serving 3 1/2 months behind bars for assaulting two motorists over a fender-bender.
(AP, 5/24/00)
1999 May 24, Enron Corp. scheduled thousands of megawatts through the tiny Silver peak transmission line in Southern California and drove up energy prices 71%.
(SSFC, 11/17/02, p.A1)
1999 May 24, Ethiopia said Eritrea had launched attacks at the western Badme front over the weekend, but was thwarted by a counterattack that killed 400 Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 24, In India Sonia Gandhi decided to withdraw her resignation as president of the Congress Party.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1999 May 24, Japan's upper house voted to expand the country's military alliance with the US.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A8)
1999 May 24, The Ukraine reported that it had lost $220 million in trade since the NATO war against Yugoslavia began. 90% of the Ukraine population was against the NATO bombing.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A8)
1999 May 24, In the Ukraine a methane gas explosion in a mine killed 39 and injured 48 in the Donetsk region.
(WSJ, 5/26/99, p.A1)
1999 May 24, In Yugoslavia 2 opposition parties urged Pres. Milosevic to strike a deal over Kosovo. Russian diplomat Chernomyrdin said the bombing had caused $100 billion in damage.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A1)
2000 May 24, Isiah Thomas, Bob McAdoo and Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 5/24/01)
2000 May 24, The US House voted 237 to 197 to grant China permanent normal trade status.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A1)
2000 May 24, New US $5 and $10 bills were scheduled to be shipped to banks. The engravings of Lincoln and Hamilton would be larger and off center.
(WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)
2000 May 24, The state of Maryland dismissed its wiretapping case against Linda Tripp after judge disallowed most of Monica Lewinsky’s testimony.
(AP, 5/24/01)
2000 May 24, Two gunmen killed 5 workers in a Wendy’s restaurant in the Queens borough of NYC. John Taylor (36) and Craig Godineaux (31) were arrested 2 days later. Taylor was sentenced to death in 2002.
(SFC, 5/26/00, p.A2)(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A2)(WSJ, 11/27/02, p.A1)
2000 May 24, In Chile an appeals court ruled that Gen. Pinochet cannot claim immunity from prosecution.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 24, Eritrea decided to withdraw from land it seized in 1998 following a 12-day offensive by Ethiopia.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 24, Israeli troops pulled out unilaterally from south Lebanon, ending 18 years of occupation.
(AP, 5/24/01)
2000 May 24, In Sierra Leone 2 journalists and 4 soldiers were killed by rebel soldiers some 60 miles northeast of Freetown. Kurt Schork (53) of Reuters was one the journalists killed.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.C16)(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.C14)
2001 May 24, US Sec. of State Colin Powell traveled to South Africa as part of his 4-nation African tour to promote the fight against AIDS.
(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A11)
2001 May 24, Senator James Jeffords of Vermont (67) announced that he would quit the Republican Party and declare himself an independent. This gave the Democrats control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 The switch would become official upon the completion of the tax-cut bill.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A1)(AP, 5/24/02)
2001 May 24, It was reported that St. Jude Medical had designed a new aortic connector to make operations easier in bypass surgery.
(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Angola De Beers suspended investment and prospecting for diamonds due to lack of clarity over its legal rights. Rebel groups controlled many of the diamond mines.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2001 May 24, The Israeli Air Force shot down a small plane off the coast and killed a Lebanese student pilot (43). Israel sent tanks into the Gaza Strip and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Jerusalem a Jewish wedding hall collapsed and 23 people were killed in a horrifying scene captured on videotape.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A14)(AP, 5/24/02)
2001 May 24, In Macedonia Albanians said that government fire killed 7 civilians.
(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Nepal Erik Weihenmayer (32) of Golden, Colorado, became the 1st blind person to reach the top of Mt. Everest. Sherman Bull of New Canaan, Conn., became the oldest person to reach the peak. 94 climbers reached the summit over 4 days.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A14)
2001 May 24, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, accused India of state terrorism in Kashmir and said his nation would accept an invitation from India for talks.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A16)
2001 May 24, In the Philippines Muslim rebels kidnapped 40 people traveling from Basilan to Babuan Island.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A10)
2001 May 24, In Spain Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta (54), financial director of the El Diario Vasco daily newspaper, was shot and killed. The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2001 May 24, In Sudan the government planned to halt air strikes against rebels in the south May 25 in an effort to reach a cease-fire.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2002 May 24, Presidents Bush and Putin signed the Treaty of Moscow, an agreement to reduce nuclear stockpiles by two-thirds over the next 10 years.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A1)
2002 May 24, US Olympic Committee president Sandra Baldwin resigned, a day after she admitted lying about her academic credentials.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2002 May 24, Pope John Paul accepted the resignation of Rembert Weakland (75), archbishop of Milwaukee. Weakland admitted to a $450,000 settlement in 1998 to Paul Marcoux (53) for an alleged sexual assault in 1979.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A3)
2002 May 24, In Afghanistan coalition forces captured 50 people from a compound that was said to be a refuge for senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A12)
2002 May 24, In Brazil a shootout between drug gangs in a Rio slum left 6 people dead.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2002 May 24, An Israeli guard foiled an attempt to blow up the packed Studio 49 nightclub in Tel Aviv.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.A18)
2002 May 24, Japan led a successful move to deny Alaska and Siberian native peoples a renewal of permission to hunt whales after a failed bid to end a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A17)
2002 May 24, In Mexico Pres. Fox announced that all of Mexico's waters are a preserve for whales and off-limits to whale hunting.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2002 May 24, In Somalia hundreds of gunmen, loyal to Mohamed Dhereh and opposed to the transitional government, attacked the home of Interior Minister Dahir Dayah and killed at least 8 people.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2003 May 24, The $16 million Nevada Museum of Art opened in Reno.
(SFC, 5/27/03, p.D2)
2003 May 24, In Las Vegas Chris Moneymaker (27), an accountant, walked away with $2.5 million and the title of champion in the 34th annual World Series of Poker.
(AP, 5/25/03)
2003 May 24, Furious crowds hurled debris and insults at Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika when he visited a town devastated by a deadly earthquake.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 24, Ontario health officials said they were monitoring 33 people for the deadly SARS virus with another 500 in quarantine and warned that the number of suspected cases could grow in coming days.
(Reuters, 5/24/03)
2003 May 24, British actress Rachel Kempson, matriarch of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died in Millbrook, N.Y., four days short of her 93rd birthday.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 24, In China Chen Yongfeng (20), was arrested in Wenzhou on charges of killing and dismembering 10 people, who had made their living picking through garbage.
(AP, 5/30/03)
2003 May 24, In Colombia Capt. Leonardo Moore disappeared while driving from Bogota to the southern city of Cali. He was freed in 2007 following a skirmish with ELN rebels.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2003 May 24, In Iran some 130 reformist lawmakers called on Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to accept democratic reforms for the ruling establishment to survive.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2003 May 24, Coalition forces captured two more wanted Iraqis: Sayf al-Din al-Mashadani, No. 46 on the list and Sad Abd al-Majid al-Faysal, No. 55. The US-led coalition ordered Iraqis to give up their weapons by mid-June.
(AP, 5/27/03)(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 24, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2003 May 24, Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad met with Brunei's 29th Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah to address the issue of the Kikeh oil find off Borneo.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.C6)
2003 May 24, In Peru 19 Latin American leaders ended the 17th summit of the Group of Rio nations by promising to curb corruption and poverty, which they said undermine democratic rule in the region as does terrorism.
(AP, 5/25/03)
2004 May 24, Pres. Bush offered a 5 step plan in Iraq: 1) hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government; 2) Help establish security; 3) Continue rebuilding the infrastructure; 4) Encourage more int’l. support; 5) Move toward a national election.
(SFC, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, In a rare public apology, the FBI admitted mistakenly linking an American lawyer's fingerprint to one found near the scene of a terrorist bombing in Spain.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2004 May 24, NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued the NY Stock Exchange, former exchange chairman Dick Grasso and an executive who headed its compensation committee. Spitzer wanted Grasso to return $100 million of the $200 million plus that the NY Exchange gave or promised to Grasso.
(WSJ, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, It was reported that Alcoa planned to build a $1 billion aluminum smelter on the island of Trinidad and another in Iceland.
(WSJ, 5/24/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, Brooke Wilberger (19) vanished from an apartment in Corvallis, Ore. In 2009 Joel Courtney (43) pleaded guilty to her murder and revealed the location of her remains. He was sentenced to life in prison.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Wilberger)(SFC, 9/22/09, p.A5)
2004 May 24, A fire in London hit an art storage warehouse and is believed to have destroyed works by some 100 contemporary Young British artists (YBAs) worth millions of dollars, including part of a collection owned by former advertising guru Charles Saatchi.
(AP, 5/26/04)(Econ, 5/29/04, p.58)
2004 May 24, Heavy rains left as many as 2000 people dead across the island of Hispaniola. Health officials feared up to 1,000 people could be dead in the Haitian town of Mopau. Floods wiped out villages across Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The final toll was over 3,300 dead.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 May 24, In Iraq an explosion destroyed a civilian car with armor plating near an entrance to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killing four people including two British civilians. , An Associated Press survey found that more than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2004 May 24, In Liberia an American citizen working with a U.S. military assessment team was killed in his hotel room in the capital Monrovia.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 24, In Malawi opposition supporters rioted as Bingu wa Mutharika was sworn in as president.
(WSJ, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, The WHO confirmed an outbreak of the deadly ebola virus has killed four people in south Sudan.
(AFP, 5/24/04)
2005 May 24, Breaking years of gridlock, the Senate cleared the way for confirmation of Priscilla Owen to the US appeals court following a compromise on President Bush's current and future judicial nominees.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2005 May 24, Ignoring President Bush's veto threat, the House voted to lift limits on embryonic stem cell research.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2005 May 24, A US State Department brochure, distributed to hundreds of delegates at the 188-nation conference reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, listed milestones in arms control since the 1980s, while touting reductions in the US nuclear arsenal. But the timeline omitted a pivotal agreement, the 1996 treaty to ban nuclear tests, a pact negotiated by the Clinton administration and ratified by 121 nations but now rejected under Pres. Bush.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, Texas lawmakers tentatively voted to give juries the option of sentencing murderers to life in prison without parole.
(SFC, 5/25/05, p.A3)
2005 May 24, Ismail Merchant (68), film producer, died in London. He collaborated with James Ivory and their films included adaptations of novels by Henry James (e.g. The Europeans) and E.M. Forster (e.g. A Room With A View).
(SFC, 5/26/05, p.B6)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.82)
2005 May 24, Indigenous leaders from Arctic regions around the world called on the European Union to do more to fight global warming and to consider giving aid to their peoples.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Bolivia thousands of demonstrators blocked major roads in and around La Paz, isolating the city in a protest demanding the nationalization of the oil industry and opposing autonomy for an oil-producing region.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, The environmental group Greenpeace nominated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and five others for its first "Golden Chainsaw" prize, to be awarded to the Brazilian deemed to have contributed most to the Amazon's destruction.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, The British government approved the extradition of three British bankers the United States is seeking to prosecute on fraud charges involving Enron Corp.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In the Central African Republic military strongman Francois Bozize won the May 8 runoff presidential runoff election, a move toward legitimizing his rule two years after he seized power.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Colombia suspected leftist guerrillas carrying assault rifles swept into a southern town and attacked government offices, killing six town councilors and five others.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, The EU announced that its members would double their aid to poor countries by 2015.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.77)
2005 May 24, In Iraq a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad junior high school for girls, killing six people. 3 US soldiers were killed in central Baghdad when a car bomb exploded next to their convoy. A US soldier sitting in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle at an observation post was shot to death by gunmen in a passing car.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, A Web site that acts as the clearinghouse for messages from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said that Iraq's most-wanted militant had been wounded "for the sake of God" and asked Muslims to pray for his recovery.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, Italian police raided the homes and offices of 186 suspected members of a child pornography ring, including three Roman Catholic priests and a local mayor, that downloaded pictures from an exclusive Web site.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Mexico Eduardo Villalobos, the director of a state prison in the border city of Mexicali, was shot to death in an ambush outside his home.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Pakistan a bomb exploded in the house of a tribal elder in South Waziristan region, killing five women and a child.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, In Slovenia police said Mitja Ribicic (86), a former Yugoslav secret service leader, has been charged in connection with the revenge killing of thousands of Slovenes following World War II, the first such charge in this ex-Yugoslav republic.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said NATO will offer airlift, training and other logistics support to African Union (AU) forces struggling to end the civil war in Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, World Orthodox leaders gathered in Istanbul, the ancient seat of Orthodoxy. They decided to stop recognizing the beleaguered patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, for allegedly leasing sites in the Palestinian side of the city to Jewish investors. They asserted a rare unified position on the crisis facing the church in the Holy Land.
(AP, 5/24/05)(WSJ, 5/25/05, p.A1)
2006 May 24, House Republican and Democratic leaders jointly demanded the FBI return documents taken in a Capitol Hill raid as part of a bribery investigation of Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2006 May 24, In Alabama Regions Financial Corp. and rival AmSouth Bancorp struck a $10 billion deal to merge.
(WSJ, 5/25/06, p.A1)
2006 May 24, Taylor Hicks was named the new "American Idol" over runner-up Katharine McPhee.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2006 May 24, The film “An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary on global warming, opened. The Davis Guggenheim film featured Al Gore.
(WSJ, 5/26/06, p.W4)
2006 May 24, Vonage Holdings, an Internet-based phone company, began trading on the NYSE at $17 per share and closed at $14.85.
(SFC, 5/25/06, p.C1)
2006 May 24, It was reported that Google will shut down 6 sites on its Orkut service in Brazil in response pressure from Brazilian law enforcement.
(SFC, 5/24/06, p.C3)
2006 May 24, Pogo (48), one of the oldest gorillas in the world, died at the SF Zoo.
(SFC, 5/25/06, p.B1)
2006 May 24, In Afghanistan clashes left at least 24 militants and 5 Afghan soldiers dead. 13 insurgents and two police died in a battle in southern Helmand province's Sangin district.
(WSJ, 5/25/06, p.A1)(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 24, The African Union accepted a NATO offer to extend its assistance in Sudan's violent Darfur region, stressing its presence there would remain small.
(Reuters, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appointed Abdelaziz Belkhadem as the country's prime minister.
(AFP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, In northern Benin a tanker truck overturned and then exploded when people with lanterns began siphoning gasoline. At least 35 people were killed.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, In England 10 people were arrested in a sweep targeting support for terrorism outside Britain. Police served warrants at a number of addresses before dawn in an operation involving about 500 officers.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, The Bank of Canada raised its key overnight interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent, as expected, and signaled that it would not hike rates further at least for now.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, In Chile Paul Schaefer (84), the leader of now-dismantled Colonia Dignidad, was convicted of sexually abusing 25 children and sentenced to 20 years in jail. The colony was founded by German immigrants in southern Chile in the early 1960s.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, China's government on raised state-set gasoline and diesel prices by about 10 percent in response to soaring world oil prices.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 24, Election results indicated that Dominican President Leonel Fernandez's party won the recent legislative elections, which should enable him to carry out economic reforms.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, Dubai hosted the Middle East's first major international art auction.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, The EU, the US, Japan, China, Russia and others initialed a $12.8 billion agreement in Belgium to build an experimental fusion project they hope will lead to a cheaper, safer, cleaner and endless source of energy. The seven-party consortium, which also includes India and South Korea, agreed last year to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in Cadarache, in the southern French region of Provence.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, International peacekeepers and troops from Australia and New Zealand were headed to East Timor to help restore order after gunbattles between disgruntled ex-soldiers and the military killed two people and wounded nine.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Stone-throwing Iranian students fought police and Islamic vigilantes on in protest against restrictions imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(Reuters, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Iraq announced the arrest in Lebanon of Bashar Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, a nephew of Saddam Hussein, for crimes allegedly committed after the fall of Saddam's regime. Drive-by shootings killed 12 people, including a provincial official in northern Iraq and two of his bodyguards. Authorities found the corpses of nine people who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley (38), a descendant of Kenya's first white settlers, was charged with murder in the shooting of Robert Njoya Wambugu (37), who was shot in the back and died en route to a hospital. Cholmondeley’s attorney said the victim unleashed several dogs on Cholmondeley after the man was caught poaching an impala. In 2009 Cholmondeley (40) was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 months in prison. He was released on Oct 23.
(AP, 5/24/06)(AP, 5/14/09)(AP, 10/23/09)
2006 May 24, North Korea abruptly canceled groundbreaking test runs of trains across its highly guarded border with South Korea, citing an atmosphere of confrontation.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Fierce gunbattles broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the heart of the West Bank city of Ramallah, killing two Palestinians and wounding 30. A Gaza security chief loyal to the Palestinian president was killed when his car blew up, the second attack on a top commander in less than a week.
(AP, 5/24/06)(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, Philippine officials said the US States and the Philippines have forged a security arrangement covering threats such as terrorism, piracy, natural disasters and outbreaks of disease. The initiative was launched last year and diplomatic notes for carrying out the arrangement were exchanged in April.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Russian prosecutors said St. Petersburg police have detained eight members of an extremist group suspected in racist murders, including the shooting of a Senegalese student outside a nightclub.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, In Sri Lanka 3 security personnel died in a mine blast as a Norwegian peace envoy arrived to salvage a collapsing ceasefire.
(AFP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, A huge fire engulfed the cargo section of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, temporarily disrupting air traffic and causing thousands to flee nearby terminals.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela will buy Russian jets because of a dispute over parts for US-made aircraft, launching yet another verbal assault on Pres. Bush.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2007 May 24, The US Congress passed a spending bill, providing $95 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pres. Bush signed the bill the next day.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Pres. Bush nominated James Holsinger, a cardiologist from Kentucky, as the new US surgeon general.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070524-2.html)
2007 May 24, The Alabama Legislature passed a resolution that expressed profound regret for the state’s role in slavery. Gov Bob Riley was expected to sign it. In recent months Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia made formal apologies.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Oakland, Ca., C.C. Myers led the completion of repair work on I-580, 26 days after a portion of the MacArthur Maze collapsed following a gasoline tanker crash and fire.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 24, Ohio death row inmate Christopher Newton was executed by injection; it took him 16 minutes to die, more than twice the usual amount of time, once chemicals began flowing into his veins, which the execution team had had trouble locating.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 24, Ancestry.com unveiled over 90 million US war records that dated back to 1607.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.C5)
2007 May 24, Energy Brands Inc. agreed to a $4.1 billion takeover by Coca-Cola.
(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Afghanistan Sayed Gulab, a suspect with "extensive connections" with other senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Nangarhar and Pakistan, was detained and held in a coalition facility.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Britain's Court of Appeal upheld a $95 million award to the ex-wife of insurance tycoon John Charman (54), the largest judgment ever in a contested divorce in England and Wales. Jenny Bailey (45), a female councilor who was born a man and fathered two children, was sworn in as Britain's first transsexual mayor. Bailey, a Liberal Democrat, became the civic leader of the Cambridge City Council.
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes, carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2 days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Egypt approved the formation of a new liberal political party headed by a former member of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A car bomb targeting a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least 26 people. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid (60), a restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida. Zuwaid was killed earlier Thursday in the day unknown militants shot him in front of his house. In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police convoy and killed six police officers. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb aboard a minibus driving through Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring eight others. 5 US soldiers were killed in four separate attacks across Iraq, most of them by roadside bombs.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Ireland voters began casting their ballots in an election that analysts say is likely to return PM Bertie Ahern to power, but with new, left-wing partners in government. An exit poll gave his Fianna Fail party a surprisingly strong lead in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, Israeli troops in the West Bank rounded up a Palestinian Cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas leaders in the West Bank before dawn, pressing forward with an offensive against the Islamic militant group.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japan's prime minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including top polluters United States and China.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In Lebanon sporadic gunfire erupted inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamic militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense minister to surrender or face a military onslaught. Lebanon's leader vowed to uproot the fighters. The family of Shaker Youssef al-Absi, the Palestinian who heads the shadowy militant group blamed for this week's violence in Lebanon, said he is not a terrorist but a nationalist who seeks an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and threatened to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of government refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Pakistan thousands of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's opponents demonstrated in several, the first street protests since a burst of political violence deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A Peruvian government flight serving as a link between isolated jungle communities disappeared in the country's northeastern rain forest with 20 people on board. 7 survivors were rescued the next day.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, A methane explosion tore through a coal mine in southern Siberia, killing 38 miners and injuring seven others. One worker died days later raising the toll to 39.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, Somali police shot and killed two civilians after attackers hurled a hand grenade at a police station.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In South Africa's Eastern Cape province 9 children were among 14 people killed in a multiple-vehicle crash.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka a flotilla of rebel boats launched a deadly raid on a navy camp, hours before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital killing one soldier and wounding six people. Tigers claimed to have killed 32 sailors. Government troops killed 12 suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern Vavuniya district.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AFP, 5/25/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 24, In Switzerland an arson fire gutted the interior of Hekhal Haness Synagogue, Geneva's largest synagogue.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 24, Hundreds of thousands of Syrians thronged Damascus to support a second seven-year term for President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, The head of the UN nuclear agency said he agreed with CIA estimates that Iran was three to eight years from being able to make nuclear weapons and he urged the US and other powers to pursue talks with the Islamic country.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Zimbabwe police slapped a new ban on political rallies and demonstrations in parts of the capital Harare, citing a recent spate of "disturbances."
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2008 May 24, In California a tour helicopter crashed on Santa Catalina Island killing 3 people and injuring 3 others.
(SSFC, 5/25/08, p.A6)
2008 May 24, In Georgia Kirk Wright (37), convicted of leading an investment scheme, hanged himself in the Union City jail. He faced up to 710 years in prison and a fine up to $16 million. An SEC suit had already hit him with a $20 million judgment for fraud and money laundering related to the 2006 collapse of his Int’l. Management Associates hedge fund.
(WSJ, 5/27/08, p.C12)
2008 May 24, Dick Martin (86), the zany half of the comedy team whose "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," died in Santa Monica, Ca. He took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!"
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Jimmy McGriff (b.1936), blues organist, died in New Jersey.
(SFC, 5/29/08, p.B5)
2008 May 24, Stuart Moldaw (81) of Atherton, Ca., philanthropist and founder of Ross Stores (1981), died. By 2007 Ross had become the country’s 2nd largest off-price retailer with annual sales of $6 billion.
(SFC, 5/28/08, p.B9)
2008 May 24, Disaster-prone Bangladesh announced that it would plant 100 million trees to create a "natural fence" against frequent floods and cyclones.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, Belgian police in Brussels arrested Jean-Pierre Bemba (45), a Congolese warlord and ex-presidential candidate, after he was secretly charged with rape and torture. Bemba was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as head of a militia that allegedly committed atrocities in Central African Republic's conflict in 2002-2003.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, In England Rob Knox (18), teenage actor who had a part in the next Harry Potter film, was stabbed and killed in a scuffle outside a bar. Karl Bishop (21), from Sidcup in Kent, was accused of the murder. On March 4, 2009, Bishop was convicted of murder. The next day he was sentenced to life in prison.
(AFP, 5/27/08)(AP, 3/5/09)
2008 May 24, In China rescuers rushed to reach 24 coal miners trapped underground by the earthquake almost two weeks ago, as the government sharply raised the quake's death toll, warning it could exceed 80,000.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, In Colombia a moderate earthquake shook Bogota, killing at least six people and injuring more than 10.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Deutsche Telekom acknowledged that in 2005 it had hired an outside firm to track hundreds of thousands of phone calls by senior executives and journalists to identify the sources of press leaks. The practice continued into 2006.
(AP, 5/26/08)(Econ, 6/7/08, p.65)
2008 May 24, Lawmakers loyal to anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces. Clashes broke out before midnight between Shiite gunmen and US-Iraqi troops in the Amin area in eastern Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding three others, including a 4-year-old boy.
(AP, 5/24/08)(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Israeli forces attacked two groups of Palestinian militants firing mortar shells in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding 4 Hamas gunmen.
(SSFC, 5/25/08, p.A4)
2008 May 24, Top Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud said jihad, or holy war, would continue in Afghanistan, despite peace negotiations between the militants and Islamabad. Separate roadside bomb attacks in Pakistan's volatile northwest killed three people, including a local police chief.
(AFP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, Russia won the Eurovision song contest in Belgrade with "Believe", sung by Dima Bilan, giving an eastern European nation victory for the third time in five years.
(AFP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, In Saudi Arabia authorities beheaded a local man convicted of armed robbery and raping a woman. The execution brings the number of people beheaded this year to 55.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, In South Africa thousands of people marched through Johannesburg, calling for an end to xenophobic violence that has killed over 40 African migrants and displaced tens of thousands.
(Reuters, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka a new round of fighting killed seven Tamil separatists and two soldiers.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Morgan Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe for an election run-off with President Robert Mugabe and said the veteran leader wanted to "decimate" MDC structures.
(Reuters, 5/24/08)
2009 May 24, The space shuttle Atlantis and its 7 astronauts landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California ending a 13-day mission that repaired and enhanced the Hubble Space Telescope. Stormy weather in Florida prevented a return to NASA's home base.
(AP, 5/24/09)(SFC, 5/25/09, p.A5)
2009 May 24, San Francisco celebrated its 31st annual Carnaval in the Mission district.
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.B1)
2009 May 24, In Afghanistan US troops detained 4 suspected Al-Qaida members during a raid in Khost province.
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.A2)
2009 May 24, In Australia thousands of homeowners remained isolated in the flood-hit northeast. Authorities said days of torrential rain had created a vast "inland sea."
(AFP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Austria groups of rival worshippers at a Sikh temple in Vienna pulled knives and at least one handgun in a mass fight. 16 people were wounded and one preacher died the next day. The Vienna temple attended by lower-caste Sikhs was attacked by Sikhs from a higher caste who accused preachers of being disrespectful of the religion's Holy Book.
(AP, 5/24/09)(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 24, At the Cannes Film Festival the film “The White Ribbon" by Austrian director Michael Haneke won the top prize. Christolph Waltz won the best actor prize for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards." Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best actress prize for her role in Lars von Trier’s “antichrist."
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.E4)
2009 May 24, Iran blocked access to Facebook, prompting government critics to condemn the move as an attempt to muzzle the opposition ahead of next month's presidential election.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will continue to build homes in existing West Bank settlements, defying US calls to halt settlement growth.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, Voters in Mongolia went to the polls to choose a new president less than a year after allegations of vote-rigging in parliamentary elections triggered deadly riots. The Democratic Party candidate Elbegdorj Tsakhia won 51.24% of the votes, while incumbent Enkbayar Nambar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, the former communists, won 47.44%.
(AFP, 5/24/09)(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 24, In Morocco 11 people were killed in a stampede at a stadium in the capital, Rabat, overnight when thousands of spectators hurried to leave at the end of a concert wrapping up the city's landmark music festival.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, The Nigerian army said that over the last 2 days it freed a total of six Filipinos held hostage in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
(AFP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Northern Ireland over 20 militant Protestant supporters of the Glasgow Rangers soccer team beat to death a Catholic man in Coleraine after the Rangers clinched a championship.
(SFC, 5/26/09, p.A2)
2009 May 24, Pakistani troops battling the Taliban captured several points in the Swat Valley's main town, including a spot nicknamed "bloody intersection" because militants routinely dumped the mutilated bodies of their victims there. Five suspected militants were killed in various parts of Mingora while 14 others were arrested. Overall in the valley, 10 militants were killed in the past 24 hours while three security troops died. Elsewhere in the northwest, helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a tribal region, killing at least 18 people. Police said they had captured Qari Ihsanullah, an important militant commander and six other Taliban fighters.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Somalia a foreign suicide bomber killed six guards and a civilian at a military base in Mogadishu, an attack that came after two weeks of intense fighting.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Sudan raiders attempted but failed to overrun the army base at Umm Baru, close to the Chadian border in north Darfur. The next day an army spokesman said 20 Sudanese soldiers were killed in the fierce fighting and that 43 rebels had died.
(Reuters, 5/25/09)(AFP, 5/25/09)
2010 May 24, Pres. Obama signed into law the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.
(Econ, 11/13/10, p.58)(www.enoughproject.org/LRA)
2010 May 24, The US Supreme Court ruled that a group of African Americans may sue the city of Chicago for discriminatory use of an application test that kept them from being hired as firefighters.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A4)
2010 May 24, Brian Thomas Mettenbrink of Nebraska was sentenced to one year in federal prison for his role in a cyber attack on the Church of Scientology.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A4)
2010 May 24, Afghan authorities announced the arrest of seven people in last week's car suicide car bombing that killed six NATO soldiers, including three American colonels and a Canadian colonel.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Australia demanded that Israel withdraw an embassy official from the country, saying the Jewish state was behind fake Australian passports linked to the killing of a Hamas operative.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched TV Brasil, a new Portuguese-language network based in Mozambique's capital Maputo and tasked with "saying good things" about Brazil. From Maputo, the new channel will be broadcast to more than 40 countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Britain's new coalition government outlined more than 6 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) in spending cuts, including scaling back computer purchases, official cars for ministers and first-class air travel, but warned that these are only first steps toward slashing the nation's record budget deficit.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, British Airways cabin crew started a five-day strike, throwing travel plans for thousands of passengers into disarray after last-ditch efforts to avert the action collapsed.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Burundians turned out in droves to vote in local polls marking the first phase of an electoral marathon, the first of a series of polls in which the tiny African nation will also vote for representatives to parliament and its next president.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In southern China a head-on collision between two buses killed 10 people and injured an additional 43 early Monday in the second major bus accident in two days.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Colombia a retired police major said that President Alvaro Uribe's younger brother, Santiago Uribe, commanded a right-wing death squad in the early 1990s from the family's cattle ranch. He estimated the militia killed at least 50 people.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 24, The UN said an Indian UN peacekeeper and two Congolese nationals were killed in an ambush in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Reuters, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Costa Rica's unicameral congress voted itself a 60 percent pay raise less than a month after legislators took office. The next day President Laura Chinchilla said she will veto the pay bill unless congress finds days to offset the cost in other areas. Costa Rica's congress shelved a final vote on the pay raise after Pres. Chinchilla promised to veto the measure.
(AP, 5/26/10)(AP, 5/26/10)
2010 May 24, An international human rights group said that Ethiopia's national election was marred by repression and intimidation, while the government said the vote was free and fair.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Germany Daryush Shokof (55), a Berlin resident and Iranian dissident, disappeared in Cologne, the day he planned to board a train to Paris to promote his new film "Iran Zendan," or "Iran Prison." The small independent movie is highly critical of the Iranian regime and shows scenes of torture and rape in an Iranian prison. It was shown once last month to a closed audience of friends at a Berlin theater and then posted on YouTube, but has since been removed. On June 5, almost two weeks after he went missing, Shokof was found by a group of teenagers, drenched, exhausted and confused, near the Rhine river in Cologne, and taken to a hospital.
(AP, 6/11/10)
2010 May 24, Guatemalan authorities said they will require DNA tests for all babies offered for adoption following allegations of child theft that led the government to impose a two-year freeze on international adoptions.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Iran hanged the brother of captured Sunni militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi for "terrorism" in the city of Zahedan in Sistan-Baluchestan province in the southeast.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Iran’s state IRNA news agency reported that police launched a crackdown on irreverent social behavior, seizing some 60 cars over the weekend whose drivers were deemed to be harassing women.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Iran, seeking to evade new UN sanctions, formally submitted its plan to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel and said the onus was on world powers to defuse tensions by accepting the deal.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Iraq gunmen in Mosul killed newly elected lawmaker Bashar Mohammed Hamid Ahmed, part of a Sunni-backed list that narrowly won the March elections.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A2)
2010 May 24, Israel's military announced it plans to further ease restrictions on Palestinian travel in the West Bank, delivering what appeared to be a first in a series of gestures requested by the US as part of renewed peace talks.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Jamaica more than 1,000 police and soldiers assaulted a public housing complex occupied by heavily armed gangsters defending Christopher "Dudus" Coke, an alleged drug lord wanted by the US. 2 police officers were killed and at least six wounded since the previous night, and at least one Jamaican soldier was shot dead during today's fighting at Tivoli Gardens.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 24, Lebanon's PM Saad Hariri made his first official visit to Washington as premier and planned to discuss Mideast security issues and peace efforts with Pres. Barack Obama.
(AP, 5/23/10)
2010 May 24, It was reported that Malagasy timer barons were robbing Madagascar of its sylvan heritage, illegally cutting down scarce species of rosewood trees in poorly protected national parks, and exporting most of the valuable logs to China.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A2)
2010 May 24, South Korea's Pres. Lee Myung-bak cut trade to North Korea vowing the country would "pay a price" for a torpedo attack that killed 46 sailors, and promised to haul its impoverished neighbor before the UN Security Council. Lee Myung-bak said that the country will take Pyongyang to the UN Security Council, suspend inter-Korean exchanges and ban North Korean ships from passing through its waters.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Thailand opposition leaders moved to impeach PM Abhisit Vejjajiva for his handling of rioting and violence in Bangkok, and an army official said the capital would remain under curfew for another week as a precaution against further unrest.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Trinidad and Tobago attorney Kamla Persad-Bissessar (59) was elected as the first female prime minister. Preliminary elections results indicated that Persad-Bissessar and her five-party People's Partnership coalition won 29 of 41 seats in parliament.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 24, In Yemen tribal gunmen kidnapped two American tourists and demanded the release of a jailed tribesman for the pair. The tourists were released the next day after Pres. Saleh agreed to free a prisoner held by the state.
(AP, 5/24/10)(SFC, 5/26/10, p.A2)
2011 May 24, The Obama administration hit seven foreign companies, including Venezuela' state-owned oil company and an Israeli shipping firm, for engaging in trade with Iran in violation of a US ban. At the same time, the administration imposed separate sanctions on more than 15 people and companies in China, Iran, North Korea, Syria and elsewhere for illicit trading in missile technology and weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama were welcomed to Buckingham Palace in grand royal style by Queen Elizabeth II as they began their official state visit to Britain.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Arizona 3 employees of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio were arrested on charges that they helped a drug and human smuggling organization from Mexico.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, San Francisco supervisors vote 6-5 to approve a $1.2 billion plan to transform the Parkmerced area. 1,500 rent-controlled town homes will be replaced with 7,200 units over the next 20-30 years.
(SFC, 5/25/11, p.A1)
2011 May 24, In California a family of four was found dead in San Diego in what police called a triple murder suicide.
(SFC, 5/25/11, p.A6)
2011 May 24, In New York Luke Wright (32) was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for raping, scalding and torturing his disabled half-sister before their mother killed her last year. An Erie County jury found him guilty last month on 10 criminal counts. Laura Cummings (23) was suffocated by her mother Eva Cummings in the family's North Collins home. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last October.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he will not defy today’s state Supreme Court ruling to increase aid to low-income school districts, but called the decision legally faulty and bad education policy. The state Supreme Court said New Jersey must provide about $500 million for its poorer school districts.
(AP, 5/24/11)(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Reclusive American copper heiress Huguette Clark (104) died and left most of her $400 million fortune to charity, and nurse Hadassah Peri, who was randomly assigned to care for her 20 years ago. Clark was the daughter of Montana Sen. William Clark, who was once the second-richest man in the country. In 2013 a court fight over her estate reached a tentative deal giving about $30.5 million to her distant relatives. Nurse Peri would have to return $5 million and a valuable doll collection.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguette_M._Clark)(AP, 6/24/11)(SSFC, 9/22/13, p.A9)
2011 May 24, In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed 10 workers, and NATO again promised that the coalition would not abandon the country even if some members plan to withdraw their forces. The Taliban shot dead the principal of a boys' only high school in Logar province. A NATO service member died in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 5/24/11)(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, In northern Brazil rubber tapper Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, an activist fighting to protect the Amazon rain forest from loggers, was shot and killed with his wife by gunmen in the jungle state of Para.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, About 250 flights to northern Britain were canceled over concerns about the ash cloud spewing from an Icelandic volcano, but British and Irish officials dismissed fears of a mass shutdown of airspace.
(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Colombia‘s Congress approved legislation to of offer compensation to some 4 million people who have suffered in its armed conflicts. A Colombian judge issued an arrest order for the former head of the secret police over her alleged involvement in a domestic spying scandal. Former domestic intelligence chief Maria del Pilar Hurtado, who says she is innocent. She has been living in exile in Panama since November 2010 and that country has said it will maintain her asylum.
(Econ, 6/4/11, p.46)(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Egypt’s ousted leader Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were referred to a criminal court on suspicion of graft and ordering deadly fire against anti-government protesters.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Ethiopia at an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, Indian PM Manmohan Singh trumpeted his country's historical ties with Africa and offered $5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals.
(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, World Bank Pres. Robert Zoellick said it will provide up to $6 billion to Egypt and Tunisia to help them modernize their economies as they undertake democratic reforms after the ouster of their longtime presidents.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In France the world's most powerful Internet and media barons gathered in Paris in a show of strength to leaders at the G8 summit, amid rows over online copyright, regulation and human rights.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Guatemala officials found the hacked-up body of an assistant prosecutor along with a message allegedly signed by the Zetas. The interior minister said police have arrested five Mexican members of the Zetas drug cartel who are allegedly linked to the chief suspect in the May 15 massacre of 27 people.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In India representatives of eight countries with large wild elephant populations pledged to eradicate poaching of the animals and smuggling of ivory to ensure their survival for future generations. The "Elephant 8 Ministerial Meet" included officials from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Botswana, Congo, Kenya and Tanzania.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, An accidental blast at Iran's Abadan's oil refinery killed one person and wounded 25 during a visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was not affected.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Japan major international mission to investigate the flooded, radiation-leaking nuclear complex began as new information suggested that nuclear fuel had mostly melted in two more reactors in the early days after the March 11 tsunami.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Japan’s Sony Corp. said it discovered a security breach affecting 8,500 user accounts in a music entertainment website in Greece that comes on the heels of a hacker attack which forced its flagship gaming site offline.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, The Libyan rebel council fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi said it will open an office in Paris but a representative has not yet been named. Top US official Jeffrey Feltman said Libya's rebels have accepted an invitation to open a representative office in Washington as he renewed a US call for Moamer Kadhafi to step down immediately.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi cut electricity supplies to much of the Western Mountains, threatening water supplies and stepping up a war of attrition with rebels who hold the plateau. NATO launched its most intense bombardment yet against Gadhafi's Tripoli stronghold. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said at least 3 people were killed.
(Reuters, 5/29/11)(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In northern Mexico 17 inmates escaped through a tunnel starting in a prison's laundry room. On may 27 the director and 11 officials at the prison were charged with helping in the escape in Reynosa, Tamaulipas state. Suspected cartel gunmen opened fire on a federal police chopper, hitting two officers and forcing the craft to land in Michoacan state. Officials insisted it had not been shot down. In 2012 official documents reported that armed forces and prosecutors have suffered at least 28 gunfire attacks on helicopters since 2008.
(AP, 5/27/11)(AP, 1/16/12)
2011 May 24, In Nigeria a fire engulfed a pipeline belonging to a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the town of Amukpe.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Il reportedly traveled to an eastern Chinese city to study Beijing's economic reforms, while a US government team was in North Korea on a rare trip to assess food shortages.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, A Moscow appeals court upheld the second conviction of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky (47), but it also reduced his 14-year prison sentence by one year.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Ammar Qarabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said his group has documented the names of 1,062 people who have died since the uprising erupted in mid-March.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Sudan gunmen from an Arab tribe fired on four UN helicopters taking off from Abyei a disputed border town at the heart of a new north-south conflict.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, Thai authorities arrested American citizen on charges he insulted the country's monarchy, in part by posting a link on his blog four years ago to a banned book about the Southeast Asian nation's ailing king. Lerpong Wichaikhammat (aka Joe Gordon), a 54-year-old Thai-born man, had lived in the US state of Colorado for around 30 years before returning recently to Thailand for medical treatment. In August Gordon was charged with lese majeste for allegedly translating parts of an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and writing articles that defamed the royal family.
(AP, 5/27/11)(AP, 8/18/11)
2011 May 24, In Yemen shelling in Sanaa killed 24 supporters of Sheikh al-Ahmar, a powerful opposition chieftain, as clashes intensified between embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh's security forces and the tribesmen. 14 soldiers were also killed and another 20 were missing.
(AFP, 5/24/11)(SFC, 5/25/11, p.A4)
2012 May 24, New York City police arrested Pedro Hernandez (51) of New Jersey for the killing of Etan Patz (6) in 1979.
(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A6)
2012 May 24, Kathi Kamen Goldmark (b.1948), San Francisco-based literary impresario and country-rock singer, died of breast cancer.
(SSFC, 5/27/12, p.A14)
2012 May 24, In Cambodia prison sentences were imposed on 13 women who protested evictions from their land without adequate compensation. Their old houses were demolished by developers in 2010.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, In Indonesia a landslide killed 8 of 16 people illegally mining for gold, after days of heavy rain hit a mountainous part of western Java, the country's main island.
(AFP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, Iranian negotiators rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about the Islamic Republic's ability to build atomic weapons. The 2-days talks ended with no clear signs of progress, but parties agreed to reconvene in Moscow in June.
(AP, 5/24/12)(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A4)
2012 May 24, In Japan Nicola Furlong (21), an Irish fan of Rapper Nicki Minaj, was found dead in a Tokyo hotel after attending a concert. Police arrested two American men, dancer James Blackston (23) and a musician, 19, as part of an investigation into her death. On June 14 police arrested a 19-year-old American musician on suspicion of murdering Furlong.
(AFP, 6/1/12)(AFP, 6/14/12)
2012 May 24, Lebanese security forces stormed a building in Beirut after a nighttime shootout with gunmen holed up inside a flat, in an incident which left 2 dead and 7 wounded. The spark for the shootout was a personal dispute between at least one of the dead men and a woman in her early 20s. The dead man and the woman, detained in the incident, were Syrian nationals.
(AFP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Myanmar demonstrators protesting electricity outages clashed with police, and several were arrested in Pyay. The protests in Pyay began on May 21 with a small group of people and have grown to more than 1,000.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, New Zealand's government squeezed smokers more than ever by announcing a 40 per cent hike in tobacco taxes over the next four years. Officials hoped the higher taxes and new restrictions will bring the country of 4.4 million closer to a recent pledge to snuff out the habit entirely by 2025.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Pakistan a US drone strike killed 7-10 suspected militants in a Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan, bringing the death toll from such strikes to 12 in two days.
(AFP, 5/24/12)(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A2)
2012 May 24, Papua New Guinea Deputy PM Belden Namah led officers into the Supreme Court to arrest of Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia, one of three judges who affirmed an earlier ruling that Somare is the nation's legitimate prime minister.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, In Somalia thousands of people fled a region north of Mogadishu amid the sounds of gunfire and explosions as government troops and their allies tried to take more ground from Islamist insurgents in the Afgoye corridor. An estimated 400,000 refugees had been in the agricultural town.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, South Korea’s capital unveiled its latest landmark, a controversial $256 million city hall with an undulating glass structure that looms over its preserved colonial-era stone predecessor. It overshadowed the 1926 structure built during Japanese rule.
(AFP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, The jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse, an experimental solar-powered airplane, took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight, aiming to reach North Africa next week.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, Syrian opposition groups said government forces shelled the rebel-held town of Rastan, killing at least three people. The state-run news agency said an armed group assassinated a lieutenant, shooting him and his 13-year-old son outside Damascus.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Ukraine a melee in the parliament was sparked by a proposed bill to make Russian an official language in eastern regions of the country with large native Russian-speaking populations. Lawmakers grappled and threw punches. One was hospitalized with a head injury.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, Vatican Bank president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was ousted for having leaked documents and failing to do his job. Tedeschi’s primary position was head of Spain’s Banco Santander Italian unit in Milan.
(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A2)
2012 May 24, Yemeni troops killed 35 Al-Qaeda militants in overnight battles in the restive southern Abyan province as the army pressed ahead with a 13-day offensive to retake extremist strongholds. 2 soldiers were killed and at least six others were wounded in the battle to retake Zinjibar.
(AFP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Zimbabwe Petroc Trelawny, who presents several radio programs for the BBC, was arrested for taking part in the Bulawayo Music Festival without a work permit. He was not being paid for the role. Trelawny reportedly dislocated his shoulder in a fall in a police cell.
(AFP, 5/26/12)
2013 May 24, Pres. Obama signed legislation awarding the Congressional Medal fo Honor posthumously to the 4 girls killed in the Sep 15, 1963, Alabama church bombing.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A6)
2013 May 24, A US federal judge said Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio violated the constitutional rights of Latino drivers in his crackdown on illegal immigration, and ordered him to stop using race as a factor in law enforcement decisions.
(Reuters, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In San Diego, Ca., Eduardo Arellano Felix (56) of the Tijuana drug cartel pleaded guilty to helping ship hundreds millions of dollars from the US. Under a plea agreement he will spend 15 years in prison and then be deported to Mexico.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A6)
2013 May 24, In California Gabriel Fernandez (8) of Palmdale died after being hospitalized with injuries including a cracked skull, broken ribs and burns. In 2014 Pearl Fernandez (30) and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre (34) pleaded not guilty to murder charges with special allegations of torture.
(SFC, 8/20/14, p.E2)(http://tinyurl.com/kvgkkzd)
2013 May 24, An anonymous letter to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was opened and contained traces of ricin. A 2nd similar letter in Washington DC at an office used by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a nonprofit started by Bloomberg, was opened on May 26.
(SFC, 5/30/13, p.A5)
2013 May 24, In upstate New York a volunteer Angel Flight crashed killing the pilot and two passengers.
(SSFC, 5/26/13, p.A10)
2013 May 24, In Utah Army veteran Matthew David Stewart (39) charged with killing a police officer on Jan 4, 2012, was found dead hanging from a bedsheet in his cell in Ogden.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A6)
2013 May 24, In Afghanistan Taliban gunmen backed by a suicide car bomber attacked an international aid group's compound. 4 people were killed, including a 6-year-old child, two compound guards and one policeman. All 6 of the attackers were killed. A blast in Ghazni province killed 12 people at a mosque during evening prayers.
(AP, 5/24/13)(AP, 5/25/13)
2013 May 24, The Church of England published a plan to approve the ordination of women bishops by 2015, a widely supported reform it just missed passing last November after two decades of divisive debate.
(Reuters, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In England Sarah McClay (24) was mauled by a Sumatran tiger in an enclosure at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Cumbria. She soon died from her injuries.
(AP, 5/25/13)
2013 May 24, In western Central African Republic rebels arrived in the village of Poulissi in three vehicles and began killing residents there. At least 25 people were reported killed in attacks on various villages near Bossangoa, including a pregnant woman and a child.
(AP, 5/27/13)
2013 May 24, Chile's newly empowered environmental regulator confirmed nearly two dozen violations of Barrick's environmental impact agreement, blocking construction on the $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama gold mining project until the Canadian company keeps its promises to prevent water contamination. Some 500 local Diaguita Indians have joined a civil lawsuit against Barrick, persuading an appellate court last month to block construction despite the company's denials that it caused any pollution or health problems.
(AP, 5/25/13)
2013 May 24, Ecuador’s Pres. Rafael Correa took office for a 3rd term.
(Econ, 8/24/13, p.36)
2013 May 24, An Egyptian security official said 10 male relatives have killed a mother and her two daughters on suspicion of moral offenses, so-called "honor killings."
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, The EU approved restrictions on 3 pesticides to better protect dwindling bee populations.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A2)
2013 May 24, Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo (61) was extradited to the United States to face charges of laundering $70 million in Guatemalan funds through US bank accounts.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Guinea at least 12 people were killed in clashes over the last 24 hours between opposition marchers and security forces in Conakry. 26 people were hospitalized with injuries from the violence.
(AP, 5/27/13)
2013 May 24, Niger's military, with the help of French special forces, killed the last two jihadists holed up inside a dormitory on the grounds of a military garrison in the desert town of Agadez, and freed at least two soldiers who had been held hostage.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Nigeria's military said it has rescued 3 women and 6 children taken hostage by Islamic extremists after a May 7 attack on a police barracks in Bama. A woman and 2 children remained missing.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In northwest Pakistan a pair of suspected militant attacks killed 9 people in Mattani and Peshawar.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Pakistan an American diplomat accidentally killed a pedestrian while driving in Islamabad.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Russia's foreign ministry said the Syrian government has agreed in principle to a conference on the country's future proposed by Russia and the United States.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, An earthquake in the Sea of Okhotsk, east of the Russian coast and north of Japan registered 8.0 on the Richter scale. Tremors were felt as far away as Moscow, about 7,000 km (4,400 miles) west of the epicenter.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Spain the Catholic Archdiocese in Madrid said it needed more exorcists to help some of its faithful cope with the devil.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A2)
2013 May 24, Arthur Budovsky, the founder of Liberty Reserve, a Costa Rica-based digital currency system long favored by cybercrime scammers, was arrested in Spain. A defendant identified as Budovsky's partner, Vladimir Kats, was in custody in New York. Budovsky was soon indicted in the United States along with six other people in a $6 billion money-laundering scheme described as "staggering" in its scope.
(AP, 5/29/13)(SFC, 5/29/13, p.D1)(Econ, 6/1/13, p.71)
2013 May 24, In Sri Lanka Bowatte Indraratana (30) set himself on fire near the famed Temple of Buddha's Tooth Relic in the central town of Kandy. He soon died of severe burns after suffering injuries to over 95% of his body. Indraratana was the first monk to self-immolate in Sri Lanka. He allegedly killed himself because the authorities ignored his requests to ban the slaughter of cattle.
(AP, 5/27/13)
2013 May 24, Syria's state media said rebels have fired mortar shells at the central prison in Aleppo, killing and wounding several inmates. Intense fighting continued in the town of Qusair.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Turkey's parliament passed legislation that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni fired his top military commander, the ouster apparently linked to turmoil over Museveni's alleged plan to have his son succeed him as head of state.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Yemen al-Qaida gunmen attacked a military position in al-Bayda province. The fighting that left 3 militants and 2 soldiers dead.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2014 May 24, President Barack Obama made a surprise trip to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
(AP, 5/26/14)
2014 May 24, Afghan officials said security forces have flushed out insurgents from Yamgan district in Badakshan province, where 15 policemen were taken hostage. 8 policemen were reported killed and seven others were wounded. At least 7 civilians were also killed during operation.
(AFP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In Belgium 3 people were killed and one badly injured after a man walked into the Jewish Museum in Brussels, pulled out a Kalashnikov shoulder rifle and started shooting before walking away.
(AFP, 5/24/14)(SFC, 5/26/14, p.A2)
2014 May 24, In Djibouti a suicide bombing at a restaurant filled with Western military personnel killed three people and wounded at least 15. Two Somalis were suspected of carrying out the attack.
(Reuters, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, An Egyptian court convicted 20 students from an Islamist university in Cairo on charges of rioting during a protest last year in support of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, sentencing most of them to five years in prison.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, French forces in Central African Republic fired mortars and exchanged sustained gunfire with Muslim rebels who once controlled the country.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northern Greece and western Turkey. Over 250 people were reported injured.
(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.A4)
2014 May 24, In Iran Mahafarid Amir Khosravi (aka Amir Mansour Aria), a billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, was executed. His was the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. Four received death sentences, two got life sentences and the rest received sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, Malawi President Joyce Banda said she is cancelling elections citing fraud and "rampant irregularities." The decision triggered protests and was challenged by the national electoral authority and a political rival. Banda, who had been standing for re-election, ordered a new vote within 90 days but said she would no longer be a candidate to guarantee a credible outcome. Shortly before her announcement, the electoral commission released preliminary results showing opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Peter Mutharika leading with 42 percent of the vote, followed by Banda with 23 percent. The head of the electoral authority said she did not have the power to do this and that vote counting was continuing.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In Nigeria a car bomb killed at least 3 people in Jos.
(AFP, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready for talks with Japan over disputed Pacific Islands, but Japan may not be ready for negotiations. Japan has imposed a set of measures against Russia for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, Russian authorities said 7 militants in the North Caucasus province of Ingushetia died in a three-hour gun battle with Russian security forces after which their hide-out was consumed by fire.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In Somalia al-Shabab militants stormed the parliament in Mogadishu. At least 7 people were killed including 6 attackers.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.A4)
2014 May 24, Sudanese rebels launched a major operation against an area in South Kordofan which a controversial counter-insurgency unit showed off to journalists after "liberating" it last week. The Daldako field commander of Rapid Support-2 was killed in the rebel counter-attack.
(AFP, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, Thailand's coup leaders said that they would keep former PM Yingluck Shinawatra, Cabinet members and anti-government protest leaders detained for up to a week to give them "time to think" and to keep the country calm. 9 bombs exploded in the restive south, killing 2 people and wounding dozens.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In eastern Ukraine Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli (30) and Russian interpreter Andrey Mironov were killed while covering fighting between government forces and pro-Russia insurgents. They were reportedly hit by government mortar fire as they were taking shelter in a roadside ditch.
(AP, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, Pope Francis called for urgent steps to end Syria's three-year-old civil war as he arrived in neighboring Jordan.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, Yemeni soldiers killed 15 al-Qaida fighters in fierce fighting with militants who launched a major attack overnight targeting army, security and government buildings in Sayoun city, Hadramawt province. 12 soldiers were killed in the fighting.
(AP, 5/24/14)(Reuters, 5/25/14)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to May 25
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15CE May 24, Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1153 May 24, Malcolm IV became king of Scotland.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1543 May 24, The city of Valladolid, Mexico, was founded in the Yucatan peninsula.
(SSFC, 6/29/08, p.E5)(www.valladolidyucatan.com/history.html)
1543 May 24, Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer, died in Poland. His book, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs," (De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium), proof of a sun-centered universe, was printed just before he died. Although he did say that the earth rotated once a day and did revolve around the sun once a year, he kept 2 features of the old Aristotelian system: one involved uniform circular motion, and the other was quintessential matter, for which such motion was said to be natural. In 1916 the Catholic clergy placed the book on its “Index of Prohibited Books." In 2004 Owen Gingerich authored "The Book Nobody Read," an examination of how the ideas of Copernicus spread. In 2006 William T. Vollmann authored “Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres." In 2008 his remains, buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, were positively identified using DNA evidence. In 2011 Dava Sobel authored "A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the cosmos."
(WSJ, 3/5/04, p.W8)(NH, 4/1/04, p.66)(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.M1)(AP, 11/20/08)(Econ, 9/24/11, p.106)
1544 May 24, William Gilbert, English physicist, was born. He coined the terms "electric" and "magnetic" poles.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1607 May 24, Captain Christopher Newport and 105 followers founded Jamestown on the mouth of the James River in Virginia. They had left England with 144 members, 39 died on the way over. The colony was near the large Indian village of Werowocomoco, home of Pocahontas, the daughter Powhatan, an Algonquin chief. In 2003 archeologists believed that they had found the site of Werowocomoco, where Powhatan resided from 1607-1609.
(HN, 5/24/99)(SFC, 5/7/03, p.A2)(Arch, 1/06, p.27)
1610 May 24, Sir Thomas Gates instituted "laws divine moral and marshal," a harsh civil code for Jamestown.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1624 May 24, James I revoked Virginia's charter after years of unprofitable operation and it became a royal colony.
(HN, 5/24/99)(AH, 6/07, p.27)
1650 May 24, John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, English general strategist, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1686 May 24, Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (d.1736), German physicist, was born. He devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers. He assigned the number 32 for the melting point of ice, 96 to the temperature of blood and 212 to the steam point. [see May 14]
(WUD, 1994, p.510)(SFEC, 3/22/98, Par. p.8)(HN, 5/24/98)
1689 May 24, English Parliament passed the Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics were specifically excluded from exemption.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1738 May 24, The Methodist Church was established.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1743 May 24, Jean-Paul Marat, French revolutionist, was born. He advocated extreme violence and was assassinated in his own bath.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1764 May 24, Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced "taxation without representation" and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain's new tax measures.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1798 May 24, Believing that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent, Irish nationalists rose up against the British occupation. It was put down by the Orange yeomanry who were enlisted by the government to restore peace. The slogan "Croppies lie down" originated here after some of the rebel Catholics had their hair cropped in the French revolutionary manner.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.A15)(HN, 5/24/99)
1803 May 24, Charles LJL Bonaparte, Corsican, French prince of Canino, Musignano, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1809 May 24, Dartmoor Prison opened to house French prisoners of war.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1816 May 24, Emanuel Leutze, US painter, was born. His work included “Washington Crossing the Delaware" (1851).
(MC, 5/24/02)
1818 May 24, Gen. Andrew Jackson captured Pensacola, Florida.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1819 May 24, Victoria Alexandrine, Queen Victoria (d.1901) was born in London. Her reign (1836-1901) restored dignity to the British crown. She had nine children. "Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves."
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/99)(AP, 2/24/99)
1822 May 24, At Battle of Pichincha (Ecuador) General Sucre (1795-1830) won a decisive victory against Spanish forces. Shortly after the battle, Sucre and Bolivar entered the newly-liberated Quito and Sucre was named President of the Province of Quito, which formed Gran Colombia with Venezuela and Colombia.
(HN, 5/24/98)(AP, 11/24/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Jos%C3%A9_de_Sucre)
1830 May 24, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," was written. Sarah Josepha Hale of Newport, N.H., published a collection of poems "Poems for Our Children," that included "Mary Had a Little Lamb." [see 1815]
(SFC, 8/24/98, p.B6)(MC, 5/24/02)
1830 May 24, The first passenger railroad in the United States began service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, Md.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1844 May 24, Samuel F.B. Morse, before a crowd of dignitaries in the chambers of the Supreme Court, tapped out the message, "What hath God wrought?" to his partner in Baltimore, Alfred Vail. Congress had appropriated $30,000 for the experimental line built by Ezra Cornell between Washington and Baltimore. American portrait artist Samuel F.B. Morse developed the technology for electrical telegraphy in the 1830s, the first instantaneous form of communication. Using a key to hold open an electrical circuit for longer or shorter periods, an operator would tap out a message in a code composed of dots and dashes. Public demonstrations of the equipment were made in February 1838, but it was necessary for Morse to secure financial backing to build the first telegraph line to carry the signal over distance. In 1843, Congress appropriated the funds for a 37-mile line between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. After underground telegraph wires proved unsuccessful, Morse switched to pole wires.
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/98)(HNPD, 2/6/99)(HNQ, 5/27/00)
1846 May 24, General Zachary Taylor captured Monterey in the Mexican War.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1854 May 24, Louis Mountbatten, admiral (WW I), was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1856 May 24, The Potawatomi Massacre took place in Kansas. John Brown, American abolitionist and horse thief, presided over the hacking to death with machetes of five unarmed pro-slavery Border Ruffians in Potawatomi, Kansas.
(WSJ, 4/10/95, A-16)(WSJ, 3/16/98, p.A20)(MC, 5/24/02)
1861 May 24, General Benjamin Butler, Union commander of Fort Monroe, Va., declared slaves to be the contraband of war in order to avoid returning them to their owners under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
(ON, 2/12, p.1)(www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Butler_Benjamin_F_1818-1893)
1861 May 24, Shortly after Union troops quietly occupied Alexandria, Va., 24-year-old Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth and a handful of friends from the 11th New York Regiment impulsively entered the Marshall Hotel to forcibly remove a Confederate flag from the roof. Hotel proprietor James W. Jackson shot and mortally wounded Ellsworth as he descended the stairs, flag in hand. Jackson himself was then shot by a Union soldier. Only weeks after the outbreak of the Civil War, both the North and the South had received the first martyrs to their respective causes.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1862 May 24, Westminster Bridge opened across the Thames.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1863 May 24, Bushwackers led by Captain William Marchbanks attacked a Federal militia party in Nevada, Missouri.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1866 May 24, Founders of UC Berkeley named their town after Bishop George Berkeley due to a line Berkeley’s poem: On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America: "Westward the course of empire takes its way."
(SFC, 3/28/03, p.A3)
1869 May 24, John Wesley Powell departed Green River City, Wyoming, with 9 men on an expedition to explore the canyons of the Green and Colorado River. Over 3 years he led two expeditions to explore the Grand Canyon. Three members of the first expedition were killed, reportedly by Indians. His written account was suspected to be inflated if not fictitious. A 1997 novel by Oakley Hall, "Separations," depicted the events.
(HFA, ‘96, p.127)(SFC, 4/23/97, p.D5)(ON, 5/02, p.1)
1873 May 24, Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1878 May 24, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, pioneer in time-motion studies, was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1878 May 24, The first American bicycle race was held in Boston.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1879 May 24, William Lloyd Garrison (73), abolitionist (Liberator), died.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1881 May 24, Some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario. [see Apr 11]
(AP, 5/24/97)
1881 May 24, Samuel Palmer (b.1805), English painter and printmaker, died. He was a leading light in a brotherhood of painters called the “Ancients," for their preference of archaic Gothic architecture. In 2011 Rachel Campbell-Johnston authored “Mysterious Wisdom: the Life and Work of Samuel Palmer."
(Econ, 6/25/11, p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Palmer)
1883 May 24, The Brooklyn Bridge, hailed as the "eighth wonder of the world," was dedicated by President Chester Arthur and New York Gov. Grover Cleveland, and officially opened to traffic. The suspension bridge linking the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn became a symbol of America's progress and ingenuity. The bridge has a span of 1,595 feet with 16-inch steel wire suspension cables fastened to Gothic-style arches 276 feet tall. Civil engineer John Augustus Roebling, inventor of the steel wire cable and designer of the bridge, was killed in a construction accident at the outset of construction in 1869. His son and partner, Washington A. Roebling, supervised the project to its completion in spite of a debilitating illness. 20 men died during construction and many suffered from caisson disease, later known as the bends, while working in pressurized air chambers under the river.
(HNPD, 5/23/99)(ON, 4/01, p.9)(AP, 5/24/08)
1889 May 24, George Henry Calvert (b.1803), American author and great grandson of Lord Baltimore, died. His writing covered historical subjects. In 1854 Calvert was sworn in as mayor of Newport, Rhode Island.
(www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/MarylandCollection/Riversdale/timeline.html)
1895 May 24, Samuel I. Newhouse, US millionaire publisher (Parade, Vogue, Glamour), was born.
(HN, 5/24/98)(MC, 5/24/02)
1899 May 24, The 1st US auto repair shop opened in Boston.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1903 May 24, Arthur Vineberg, Canadian heart surgeon, was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1905 May 24, Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist (And Quiet Flows the Don), was born. He won a Nobel Prize in 1965.
(HN, 5/24/01)(MC, 5/24/02)
1915 May 24, Thomas Edison invented the telescribe to record telephone conversations.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1916 May 24, US pilot William Thaw shot down a German Fokker.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1918 May 24, Coleman A. Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit), was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1926 May 24, Paavo Nurmi ran world record 3000 meters in 8:25.4.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1927 May 24, The final levee breach of the 1927 flood occurred at McCrea, Louisiana, on the east bank of the Atchafalaya levee. The flood along the Mississippi killed some 500 people and displaced thousands. The levee system broke in 145 places and caused 27,000 square miles of flooding in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In 1997 the book "Rising Tide" by John M. Barry described the catastrophe. It was also the subject of the Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927."
(www.rms.com/publications/1927_MississippiFlood.pdf)(WSJ, 2/6/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/28/03, p.C7)(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.A7)(WSJ, 11/2/05, p.A2)(Econ, 5/21/11, p.30)
1928 May 24, William Trevor, Irish short story writer and novelist (The Old Boys, The Boarding House), was born.
(HN, 5/24/01)
1928 May 24, The dirigible Italia crashed while attempting to reach Spitzbergen. Nine men survived the initial crash. In 2000 Wilbur Cross authored "Disaster at the Pole," a revised edition of the 1960 version of the disaster led by Italian aviator Umberto Nobile. The Russian film "Krasnaya palatka" (1969), starring Sean Connery, detailed the Nobile expedition and attempted rescue. This movie was released in North America under the title "The Red Tent."
(ON, 10/00, p.6)(SSFC, 1/7/01, Par p.14)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0067315/)
1930 May 24, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from England to Australia.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1933 May 24, Dmitri Shostakovitch's Preludes premiered in Moscow.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1935 May 24, The first major-league baseball game played at night took place at Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1940 May 24, Joseph Brodsky, author (Less than 1, Nobel 1987), was born in the USSR.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1940 May 24, Hitler ordered a halt to his forces converging on Dunkirk and the British, who were backed to the sea. This event and the next 4 days were described in the 1999 book: "Five Days in London, May 1940" by John Lukacs.
(WSJ, 11/8/99, p.A48)
1940 May 24, Hitler affirmed Gen. von Rundstedt's "Stopbevel."
(MC, 5/24/02)
1940 May 24, German tanks reached Atrecht, France.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1941 May 24, Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman), singer and songwriter, was born in Minnesota. He is famous for his songs "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," and "Blowin' in the Wind."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E3)(HN, 5/24/99)
1941 May 24, The German battleship Bismarck sank the British dreadnought HMS Hood in the North Atlantic. 1416 died with only three survivors.
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/99)(ON, 10/09, p.2)
1944 May 24, Icelandic voters severed all ties with Denmark.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1948 May 24, Ariel Sharon, then called Arik Scheinerman, was wounded at the battle of Latrun while securing Jerusalem for Jews in the 1st Arab-Israeli War.
(WSJ, 10/13/00, p.A15)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrun)
1951 May 24, Willie Mays began playing for the New York Giants.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1951 May 24, Racial segregation in Washington D.C. restaurants was ruled illegal.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1957 May 24, Anti-American rioting broke out in Taipei, Taiwan.
(AP, 5/24/07)
1958 May 24, United Press International (UPI) was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1958 May 24, Pres Batista opened an offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1961 May 24, The 27 Freedom Riders, civil rights activists, were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
(HN, 5/24/98)(MC, 5/24/02)
1962 May 24, Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1965 May 24, Supreme Court declared a federal law allowing the post office to intercept communist propaganda as unconstitutional.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1966 May 24, The Broadway musical "Mame" opened with Angel Lansbury and Bea Arthur at Winter Garden Theater in NYC for 1508 performances. It was directed by Gene Saks and was based on the novel "Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis.
(SFEC, 12/8/96, Par p.18)(SSFC, 12/24/00, Par p.10)(SSFC, 4/26/09, p.B6)
1968 May 24, In Britain Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones released their song "Jumping Jack Flash." The US release was on June 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash)
1968 May 24, France’s Pres. Charles de Gaulle issued an ultimatum to striking students and workers who have brought the country to a standstill during 3 weeks of violent demonstrations.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_2988000/2988263.stm)
1974 May 24, Duke Ellington (b.1899) died of cancer in NYC. A major influence in jazz, especially the big band sound, Ellington orchestrated over 1,000 pieces of music during his prolific career. Although some tunes most associated with Duke Ellington and ‘His Famous Orchestra‘ were written by others (Billy Strayhorn wrote "Take the A Train"), Ellington capitalized on his outstanding ensemble by writing pieces emphasizing the talents of individual performers such as Johnny Hodges and Jimmy Blanton. In addition to big band pieces, he also wrote for film, ballet and opera. In 1991 Mark Tucker (d.2000) authored "Ellington: The Early Years." In 1993 Tucker edited "The Duke Ellington Reader." In 2013 Terry Teachout authored “Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington)(SFEC, 2/21/99, DB p.32)(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.C17)(SSFC, 11/3/13, p.F2)
1976 May 24, The SF Chronicle published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin (b.1944). The series continued in the Chronicle until 1983 and was serialized in the Examiner in 1986.
(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/8/11, p.A13)
1976 May 24, Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington. This was the 1st commercial supersonic transport (SST).
(AP, 5/24/97)
1976 May 24, In France 2 California wines won a tasting event over several French classics for the 1st time. Stephen Spurrier, English owner of a wine shop and wine school in Paris, held a competition tasting of French and American wines. The best white wine was a 1973 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena, owned by Jim Barrett (1926-2013). The best red wine was a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Winemaker Miljenko Grgich created the Napa Chardonnay that beat French wines in the legendary Paris Tasting. In 2005 George M. Taber authored “Judgement of Paris," an account of the 1976 tasting.
(SFC, 5/29/96, ZZ1 p.4)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.T8)(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)(SFC, 6/16/05, p.F4)(SSFC, 2/17/13, p.C2)
1977 May 24, In a surprise move, the Kremlin ousted Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1980 May 24, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1982 May 24- 1982 May 25, Iranian troops reconquered Khorramshahr.
(www.iran-daily.com/1384/2279/html/art.htm)
1983 May 24, The US Supreme Court ruled, in Bob Jones University v. United States, that the government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminate against students. This upheld a 1970 ruling.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/461/574/)
1983 May 24, Fred Sinowatz (1929-2008) became Austrian Chancellor and continued for 3 years.
(AP, 8/12/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Sinowatz)
1986 May 24, The Union Jack was flown in Israel for the first time in 38 years as Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister to visit the Jewish state.
(AP, 5/24/06)
1987 May 24, An estimated quarter-million people crowded onto San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to celebrate the structure's 50th birthday a few days before the actual anniversary.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A21)(AP, 5/24/97)
1988 May 24, President Reagan vetoed legislation that would have strengthened the nation's ability to defend itself and its industries against trading practices of other nations that were deemed unfair.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1988 May 24, Vice President George Bush and Michael Dukakis won the Idaho presidential primaries.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1989 May 24, The US film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" premiered nationwide.
(http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800080788/info)
1989 May 24, China's top army command published a letter strongly supporting hard-line Premier Li Peng, who was reportedly locked in a power struggle with rival factions who opposed his strong stance against student protesters.
(AP, 5/24/99)
1989 May 24, French war criminal Paul Touvier was arrested in a monastery in Nice.
(www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/touvier-obit.html)
1990 May 24, Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari (11/7/49-3/2/97), environmental activists in the Earth First! movement, were injured after a pipe bomb exploded in their car as they drove through Oakland, Ca. They were arrested while in the hospital on charges of transporting a bomb but the charges were never filed. They later filed a suit against the FBI and Oakland police for false arrest, illegal search and seizure and conspiracy to violate free-speech rights. Bari died of liver cancer in 1997. In 2002 a jury awarded $2.9 million to Bari’s estate and $1.5 million to Cherney saying the FBI had framed them as eco-terrorists. In 2004 the government settled civil suits for $2 million. In 2004 Kate Coleman authored “The Secret Wars of Judi Bari."
(SFC,10/21/97, p.A20)(SFC, 6/12/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/23/04, p.B1)(SFC, 1/18/05, p.D1)
1990 May 24, The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth Stanley Cup as they defeated the Boston Bruins, four games to one.
(AP, 5/24/00)
1991 May 24, Eritrean rebels liberated Asmara from Ethiopian rule. Days later Ethiopian rebels from Tigray took Addis Ababa with the help of Eritrean counterparts and ended the 17-year rule of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1991 May 24, Israel began airlifting 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to safety as Ethiopian rebels continued to advance on Addis Ababa.
(AP, 5/24/01)
1991 May 24, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to deplore Israel’s deportation of four Palestinians from the occupied territories.
(AP, 5/24/01)
1991 May 24, The remains of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated by a suicide bomber, were cremated.
(AP, 5/24/01)
1992 May 24, Al Unser Jr. became the first second-generation winner of the Indianapolis 500; his father, four-time winner Al Unser, finished third.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1992 May 24, Kosovo Albanians held unofficial elections for an assembly and president. Ibrahim Rugova won an overwhelming majority and was elected President of Kosovo.
(www.hrw.org/reports/1992/yugoslavia/)
1992 May 24-Aug 30, In Bosnia Serbian forces confined over 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats in inhuman conditions at the Keraterm prison camp. Damir Dosen served as a shift commander at the Keraterm prison camp in northwestern Bosnia. Detainees were killed, sexually assaulted and beaten. In 1999 Dragan Kulundzija, a former shift commander at Keraterm, was arrested on charges of killing and torturing prisoners. In 1999 Dosen, a Bosnian Serb, was arrested for war crimes and flown to the Hague for trial.
(SFC, 6/8/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/9/99, p.A14)
1992 May 24, Thailand protests, supported by numerous political movements, climaxed with the resignation of PM Suchinda. Deputy PM Meechai Ruchuphan took office for a transitional period until the new government was assigned. He was succeeded by Anand Panyarachun.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suchinda_Kraprayoon)
1993 May 24, "Farewell My Concubine" and "The Piano" jointly won the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1993 May 24, The US Senate confirmed Roberta Achtenberg, an acknowledged lesbian, to be a top federal housing official.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1993 May 24, Microsoft launched Windows NT.
(Wired, 12/98, p.198)
1993 May 24, Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year civil war. Some 65,000 Eritreans lost their lives in the fight for independence. Pres. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia allowed Eritrea to secede as a reward for the support of its rebel forces in 1991.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(MC, 5/24/02)
1993 May 24, Juan Jesus Posada Ocampo (66), Roman Catholic Cardinal, and six other people were killed at the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport in what was described as a shootout involving drug gangs. Gunmen of the four Arellano Felix Brothers murdered Ocampo apparently mistaking him for a rival drug lord. Drug cartel leader Hector Luis Palma was charged and sentenced in connection to the killing on Jan 3, 1997. In 1998 members of a San Diego street gang were indicted as hired hit men in the slayings that left 7 dead. In 2005 a court sentenced Humberto Rodriguez Banuelos, a former police commander, to 40 years in prison for his role in the murders. In all, 12 gunmen, including Rodriguez, were convicted and sentenced in the attack on the cardinal. In 2008 Araujo Avila, an alleged drug cartel hit man, was arrested in Tijuana in relation to Ocampo’s murder.
(WSJ, 10/7/96, p.A16)(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A12)(SFC, 2/11/98, p.A3)(AP, 5/24/98)(AP, 12/9/05)(AP, 1/27/08)
1993 May 24, Separatist Kurdish rebels fatally shot 33 Turkish soldiers and two civilians after forcing them and about two dozen other persons off a bus in the southeastern province of Bingol. This ended a unilateral cease-fire and led the military to intensify a campaign to annihilate the PKK. Testimony in 1999 by Abdullah Ocalan said a regional PKK commander carried out the slaying.
(www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-948140.html)(SFC, 6/2/99, p.C2)
1994 May 24, Four men convicted of bombing New York's World Trade Center were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
(AP, 5/24/99)
1994 May 24, The United States and Japan agreed to revive efforts to pry open Japanese markets to U.S. goods.
(AP, 5/24/99)
1995 May 24, "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $1,500 for running a call-girl ring that catered to the rich and famous.
1995 May 24, Gen. Janvier told the UN Security Council that the Bosnian government forces were sufficient to defend Srebrenica, that UN troops should be withdrawn and that NATO air power was not needed.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)
1995 May 24, Harold Wilson (79), former British Prime Minister (1964-70, 74-76), died in London.
(AP, 5/24/00)(MC, 5/24/02)
1996 May 24, President Clinton underwent his annual physical at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, where he had a precancerous lesion removed from his nose. On the plus side, his weight was the same as the year before -- 216 -- and his cholesterol count had improved from 203 to 191.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1996 May 24, The Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Lumberton, N.C., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 May 24, International Paper was removed as a component of the Dow Jones.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R46)
1996 May 24, A fire destroyed a $5 mil. cooling tower at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Athens, Ala. At least three fires have occurred here since 1975. The towers are used on hot days to cool water returned to the Tennessee River.
(SFC, 5/234/96, p.A4)
1996 May 24, Alexandras Lileikis (89) was stripped of his US citizenship for his role in turning over Jews to the Germans in Lithuania from 1941-1944. In his 1949 application for citizenship he said that he only performed administrative duties. 15 more cases are pending in federal courts and 300 other cases are under investigation.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A2)
1996 May 24, Joseph Mitchell (b.1908), NYC journalist, died. He is known for his carefully written portraits of eccentrics and people on the fringes of society, especially in and around NYC. In 2015 Thomas Kunkel authored “Man in Profile" Joseph Mitchell of the New Yorker."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mitchell_%28writer%29)(SSFC, 5/10/15, p.N5)
1996 May 24, Roger Truitt, president of Atlantic Richfield Co. was pictured in negotiations with Burmese General Khin Nyunt, head of the secret police.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)
1996 May 24, Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin have agreed to hold peace talks.
(SFC, 5/234/96, p.A14)
1996 May 24, In Paris a meeting of 21 donor countries agreed to a $49 bil emergency bailout fund to deal with future Mexican economic crises.
(SFC, 5/24/96, p.A14)
1996 May 24, In Turkey Prime Minister Tansu Ciller said that her True path Party is pulling out of the ruling coalition. This will give the pro-Islamic Welfare Party another shot at power.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A11)
1996 May 24, Sheik Hamed Bitawi said that Hammas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin might issue a call to end terrorist attacks against Israel. The leadership of Hammas would like to move to a position as a democratic alternative to Arafat’s PLO.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)
1997 May 24, The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth, bringing with it NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger, who had spent four months aboard the Russian Mir space station.
(AP, 5/24/98)
1997 May 24, Edward Mulhare (74), Irish-born actor (Ghost & Mrs. Muir), died of lung cancer.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0611811/)
1997 May 24, In Afghanistan forces of the Taliban swept into Mazar-E-Sharif, the last opposition stronghold.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)
1997 May 24, In the Ukraine the first McDonald’s restaurant opened.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)
1998 May 24, At the 51st Cannes Film Festival the Golden Palm award went to the Greek film "Mia Eoniotita Ke Mia Mera (Eternity and a Day), directed by Theo Angelopoulos. The Grand Prize went to the Italian film "La Vita e Bella" (Life Is Beautiful) by director Roberto Benigni. It starred Benigni, Giorgio Cantarini and Nicoletta Braschi.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.E5)(SFEC, 10/25/98, DB p.46)
1998 May 24, In Danville, Ill, an explosion occurred at the First Assembly of God Church and injured 33 members, mostly teenagers. The cause was not yet immediately known. The cause was determined the next day to have been a bomb.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, A Hall of Fame for American classical music was scheduled to open in Cincinnati.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, Par p.18)
1998 May 24, In Egypt Saber and Mahmoud Abu el-Ulla, a former inmate of a mental hospital and his brother, were hanged for the Sep 18, 1997, killings of 10 people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 24, In Hong Kong voters turned out in record numbers for elections of a Legislative Council. They returned to office pro-democracy politicians ousted by Beijing. Democrats won 13 of 60 seats in the legislature.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)
1998 May 24, The Young Democrats-Civic Party (Fidesz) led by Viktor Orban (34) won the elections and opened the way for a center-right coalition to rule. Fidesz won only 148 seats of the 386-member Parliament and planned to form a coalition with The Hungarian Democratic Forum (17 seats) and the Smallholders (48 seats). Orban was elected prime minister and served to 2002.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/2100, p.B13F)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.54)
1998 May 24, In Indonesia State Sec. Akbar Tanjung said that parliamentary elections would be held as soon as possible, perhaps within 6 months to a year.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A10)
1998 May 24, In Russia striking miners lifted blockades along the trans-Siberian railway after officials promised to pay back wages and help workers find new jobs.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1999 May 24, The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that schools can be held liable for students sexually harassing other students. The court also ruled that police violate the 4th Amendment right to privacy when they allow the media into people's homes to document arrests and raids.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A1,3)(AP, 5/24/00)
1999 May 24, Mike Tyson walked out of a Rockville, Md., jail after serving 3 1/2 months behind bars for assaulting two motorists over a fender-bender.
(AP, 5/24/00)
1999 May 24, Enron Corp. scheduled thousands of megawatts through the tiny Silver peak transmission line in Southern California and drove up energy prices 71%.
(SSFC, 11/17/02, p.A1)
1999 May 24, Ethiopia said Eritrea had launched attacks at the western Badme front over the weekend, but was thwarted by a counterattack that killed 400 Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 24, In India Sonia Gandhi decided to withdraw her resignation as president of the Congress Party.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1999 May 24, Japan's upper house voted to expand the country's military alliance with the US.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A8)
1999 May 24, The Ukraine reported that it had lost $220 million in trade since the NATO war against Yugoslavia began. 90% of the Ukraine population was against the NATO bombing.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A8)
1999 May 24, In the Ukraine a methane gas explosion in a mine killed 39 and injured 48 in the Donetsk region.
(WSJ, 5/26/99, p.A1)
1999 May 24, In Yugoslavia 2 opposition parties urged Pres. Milosevic to strike a deal over Kosovo. Russian diplomat Chernomyrdin said the bombing had caused $100 billion in damage.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A1)
2000 May 24, Isiah Thomas, Bob McAdoo and Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 5/24/01)
2000 May 24, The US House voted 237 to 197 to grant China permanent normal trade status.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A1)
2000 May 24, New US $5 and $10 bills were scheduled to be shipped to banks. The engravings of Lincoln and Hamilton would be larger and off center.
(WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)
2000 May 24, The state of Maryland dismissed its wiretapping case against Linda Tripp after judge disallowed most of Monica Lewinsky’s testimony.
(AP, 5/24/01)
2000 May 24, Two gunmen killed 5 workers in a Wendy’s restaurant in the Queens borough of NYC. John Taylor (36) and Craig Godineaux (31) were arrested 2 days later. Taylor was sentenced to death in 2002.
(SFC, 5/26/00, p.A2)(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A2)(WSJ, 11/27/02, p.A1)
2000 May 24, In Chile an appeals court ruled that Gen. Pinochet cannot claim immunity from prosecution.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 24, Eritrea decided to withdraw from land it seized in 1998 following a 12-day offensive by Ethiopia.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 24, Israeli troops pulled out unilaterally from south Lebanon, ending 18 years of occupation.
(AP, 5/24/01)
2000 May 24, In Sierra Leone 2 journalists and 4 soldiers were killed by rebel soldiers some 60 miles northeast of Freetown. Kurt Schork (53) of Reuters was one the journalists killed.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.C16)(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.C14)
2001 May 24, US Sec. of State Colin Powell traveled to South Africa as part of his 4-nation African tour to promote the fight against AIDS.
(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A11)
2001 May 24, Senator James Jeffords of Vermont (67) announced that he would quit the Republican Party and declare himself an independent. This gave the Democrats control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 The switch would become official upon the completion of the tax-cut bill.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A1)(AP, 5/24/02)
2001 May 24, It was reported that St. Jude Medical had designed a new aortic connector to make operations easier in bypass surgery.
(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Angola De Beers suspended investment and prospecting for diamonds due to lack of clarity over its legal rights. Rebel groups controlled many of the diamond mines.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2001 May 24, The Israeli Air Force shot down a small plane off the coast and killed a Lebanese student pilot (43). Israel sent tanks into the Gaza Strip and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Jerusalem a Jewish wedding hall collapsed and 23 people were killed in a horrifying scene captured on videotape.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A14)(AP, 5/24/02)
2001 May 24, In Macedonia Albanians said that government fire killed 7 civilians.
(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.A1)
2001 May 24, In Nepal Erik Weihenmayer (32) of Golden, Colorado, became the 1st blind person to reach the top of Mt. Everest. Sherman Bull of New Canaan, Conn., became the oldest person to reach the peak. 94 climbers reached the summit over 4 days.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A14)
2001 May 24, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, accused India of state terrorism in Kashmir and said his nation would accept an invitation from India for talks.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A16)
2001 May 24, In the Philippines Muslim rebels kidnapped 40 people traveling from Basilan to Babuan Island.
(SFC, 5/26/01, p.A10)
2001 May 24, In Spain Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta (54), financial director of the El Diario Vasco daily newspaper, was shot and killed. The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2001 May 24, In Sudan the government planned to halt air strikes against rebels in the south May 25 in an effort to reach a cease-fire.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2002 May 24, Presidents Bush and Putin signed the Treaty of Moscow, an agreement to reduce nuclear stockpiles by two-thirds over the next 10 years.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A1)
2002 May 24, US Olympic Committee president Sandra Baldwin resigned, a day after she admitted lying about her academic credentials.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2002 May 24, Pope John Paul accepted the resignation of Rembert Weakland (75), archbishop of Milwaukee. Weakland admitted to a $450,000 settlement in 1998 to Paul Marcoux (53) for an alleged sexual assault in 1979.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A3)
2002 May 24, In Afghanistan coalition forces captured 50 people from a compound that was said to be a refuge for senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A12)
2002 May 24, In Brazil a shootout between drug gangs in a Rio slum left 6 people dead.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2002 May 24, An Israeli guard foiled an attempt to blow up the packed Studio 49 nightclub in Tel Aviv.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.A18)
2002 May 24, Japan led a successful move to deny Alaska and Siberian native peoples a renewal of permission to hunt whales after a failed bid to end a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A17)
2002 May 24, In Mexico Pres. Fox announced that all of Mexico's waters are a preserve for whales and off-limits to whale hunting.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2002 May 24, In Somalia hundreds of gunmen, loyal to Mohamed Dhereh and opposed to the transitional government, attacked the home of Interior Minister Dahir Dayah and killed at least 8 people.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2003 May 24, The $16 million Nevada Museum of Art opened in Reno.
(SFC, 5/27/03, p.D2)
2003 May 24, In Las Vegas Chris Moneymaker (27), an accountant, walked away with $2.5 million and the title of champion in the 34th annual World Series of Poker.
(AP, 5/25/03)
2003 May 24, Furious crowds hurled debris and insults at Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika when he visited a town devastated by a deadly earthquake.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 24, Ontario health officials said they were monitoring 33 people for the deadly SARS virus with another 500 in quarantine and warned that the number of suspected cases could grow in coming days.
(Reuters, 5/24/03)
2003 May 24, British actress Rachel Kempson, matriarch of the Redgrave acting dynasty, died in Millbrook, N.Y., four days short of her 93rd birthday.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 24, In China Chen Yongfeng (20), was arrested in Wenzhou on charges of killing and dismembering 10 people, who had made their living picking through garbage.
(AP, 5/30/03)
2003 May 24, In Colombia Capt. Leonardo Moore disappeared while driving from Bogota to the southern city of Cali. He was freed in 2007 following a skirmish with ELN rebels.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2003 May 24, In Iran some 130 reformist lawmakers called on Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to accept democratic reforms for the ruling establishment to survive.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2003 May 24, Coalition forces captured two more wanted Iraqis: Sayf al-Din al-Mashadani, No. 46 on the list and Sad Abd al-Majid al-Faysal, No. 55. The US-led coalition ordered Iraqis to give up their weapons by mid-June.
(AP, 5/27/03)(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 24, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
(AP, 5/24/03)
2003 May 24, Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad met with Brunei's 29th Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah to address the issue of the Kikeh oil find off Borneo.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.C6)
2003 May 24, In Peru 19 Latin American leaders ended the 17th summit of the Group of Rio nations by promising to curb corruption and poverty, which they said undermine democratic rule in the region as does terrorism.
(AP, 5/25/03)
2004 May 24, Pres. Bush offered a 5 step plan in Iraq: 1) hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government; 2) Help establish security; 3) Continue rebuilding the infrastructure; 4) Encourage more int’l. support; 5) Move toward a national election.
(SFC, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, In a rare public apology, the FBI admitted mistakenly linking an American lawyer's fingerprint to one found near the scene of a terrorist bombing in Spain.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2004 May 24, NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued the NY Stock Exchange, former exchange chairman Dick Grasso and an executive who headed its compensation committee. Spitzer wanted Grasso to return $100 million of the $200 million plus that the NY Exchange gave or promised to Grasso.
(WSJ, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, It was reported that Alcoa planned to build a $1 billion aluminum smelter on the island of Trinidad and another in Iceland.
(WSJ, 5/24/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, Brooke Wilberger (19) vanished from an apartment in Corvallis, Ore. In 2009 Joel Courtney (43) pleaded guilty to her murder and revealed the location of her remains. He was sentenced to life in prison.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Wilberger)(SFC, 9/22/09, p.A5)
2004 May 24, A fire in London hit an art storage warehouse and is believed to have destroyed works by some 100 contemporary Young British artists (YBAs) worth millions of dollars, including part of a collection owned by former advertising guru Charles Saatchi.
(AP, 5/26/04)(Econ, 5/29/04, p.58)
2004 May 24, Heavy rains left as many as 2000 people dead across the island of Hispaniola. Health officials feared up to 1,000 people could be dead in the Haitian town of Mopau. Floods wiped out villages across Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The final toll was over 3,300 dead.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 May 24, In Iraq an explosion destroyed a civilian car with armor plating near an entrance to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killing four people including two British civilians. , An Associated Press survey found that more than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2004 May 24, In Liberia an American citizen working with a U.S. military assessment team was killed in his hotel room in the capital Monrovia.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 24, In Malawi opposition supporters rioted as Bingu wa Mutharika was sworn in as president.
(WSJ, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, The WHO confirmed an outbreak of the deadly ebola virus has killed four people in south Sudan.
(AFP, 5/24/04)
2005 May 24, Breaking years of gridlock, the Senate cleared the way for confirmation of Priscilla Owen to the US appeals court following a compromise on President Bush's current and future judicial nominees.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2005 May 24, Ignoring President Bush's veto threat, the House voted to lift limits on embryonic stem cell research.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2005 May 24, A US State Department brochure, distributed to hundreds of delegates at the 188-nation conference reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, listed milestones in arms control since the 1980s, while touting reductions in the US nuclear arsenal. But the timeline omitted a pivotal agreement, the 1996 treaty to ban nuclear tests, a pact negotiated by the Clinton administration and ratified by 121 nations but now rejected under Pres. Bush.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, Texas lawmakers tentatively voted to give juries the option of sentencing murderers to life in prison without parole.
(SFC, 5/25/05, p.A3)
2005 May 24, Ismail Merchant (68), film producer, died in London. He collaborated with James Ivory and their films included adaptations of novels by Henry James (e.g. The Europeans) and E.M. Forster (e.g. A Room With A View).
(SFC, 5/26/05, p.B6)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.82)
2005 May 24, Indigenous leaders from Arctic regions around the world called on the European Union to do more to fight global warming and to consider giving aid to their peoples.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Bolivia thousands of demonstrators blocked major roads in and around La Paz, isolating the city in a protest demanding the nationalization of the oil industry and opposing autonomy for an oil-producing region.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, The environmental group Greenpeace nominated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and five others for its first "Golden Chainsaw" prize, to be awarded to the Brazilian deemed to have contributed most to the Amazon's destruction.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, The British government approved the extradition of three British bankers the United States is seeking to prosecute on fraud charges involving Enron Corp.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In the Central African Republic military strongman Francois Bozize won the May 8 runoff presidential runoff election, a move toward legitimizing his rule two years after he seized power.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Colombia suspected leftist guerrillas carrying assault rifles swept into a southern town and attacked government offices, killing six town councilors and five others.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, The EU announced that its members would double their aid to poor countries by 2015.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.77)
2005 May 24, In Iraq a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad junior high school for girls, killing six people. 3 US soldiers were killed in central Baghdad when a car bomb exploded next to their convoy. A US soldier sitting in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle at an observation post was shot to death by gunmen in a passing car.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, A Web site that acts as the clearinghouse for messages from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said that Iraq's most-wanted militant had been wounded "for the sake of God" and asked Muslims to pray for his recovery.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, Italian police raided the homes and offices of 186 suspected members of a child pornography ring, including three Roman Catholic priests and a local mayor, that downloaded pictures from an exclusive Web site.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Mexico Eduardo Villalobos, the director of a state prison in the border city of Mexicali, was shot to death in an ambush outside his home.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Pakistan a bomb exploded in the house of a tribal elder in South Waziristan region, killing five women and a child.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 24, In Slovenia police said Mitja Ribicic (86), a former Yugoslav secret service leader, has been charged in connection with the revenge killing of thousands of Slovenes following World War II, the first such charge in this ex-Yugoslav republic.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said NATO will offer airlift, training and other logistics support to African Union (AU) forces struggling to end the civil war in Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, World Orthodox leaders gathered in Istanbul, the ancient seat of Orthodoxy. They decided to stop recognizing the beleaguered patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, for allegedly leasing sites in the Palestinian side of the city to Jewish investors. They asserted a rare unified position on the crisis facing the church in the Holy Land.
(AP, 5/24/05)(WSJ, 5/25/05, p.A1)
2006 May 24, House Republican and Democratic leaders jointly demanded the FBI return documents taken in a Capitol Hill raid as part of a bribery investigation of Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2006 May 24, In Alabama Regions Financial Corp. and rival AmSouth Bancorp struck a $10 billion deal to merge.
(WSJ, 5/25/06, p.A1)
2006 May 24, Taylor Hicks was named the new "American Idol" over runner-up Katharine McPhee.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2006 May 24, The film “An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary on global warming, opened. The Davis Guggenheim film featured Al Gore.
(WSJ, 5/26/06, p.W4)
2006 May 24, Vonage Holdings, an Internet-based phone company, began trading on the NYSE at $17 per share and closed at $14.85.
(SFC, 5/25/06, p.C1)
2006 May 24, It was reported that Google will shut down 6 sites on its Orkut service in Brazil in response pressure from Brazilian law enforcement.
(SFC, 5/24/06, p.C3)
2006 May 24, Pogo (48), one of the oldest gorillas in the world, died at the SF Zoo.
(SFC, 5/25/06, p.B1)
2006 May 24, In Afghanistan clashes left at least 24 militants and 5 Afghan soldiers dead. 13 insurgents and two police died in a battle in southern Helmand province's Sangin district.
(WSJ, 5/25/06, p.A1)(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 24, The African Union accepted a NATO offer to extend its assistance in Sudan's violent Darfur region, stressing its presence there would remain small.
(Reuters, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appointed Abdelaziz Belkhadem as the country's prime minister.
(AFP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, In northern Benin a tanker truck overturned and then exploded when people with lanterns began siphoning gasoline. At least 35 people were killed.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, In England 10 people were arrested in a sweep targeting support for terrorism outside Britain. Police served warrants at a number of addresses before dawn in an operation involving about 500 officers.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, The Bank of Canada raised its key overnight interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent, as expected, and signaled that it would not hike rates further at least for now.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, In Chile Paul Schaefer (84), the leader of now-dismantled Colonia Dignidad, was convicted of sexually abusing 25 children and sentenced to 20 years in jail. The colony was founded by German immigrants in southern Chile in the early 1960s.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, China's government on raised state-set gasoline and diesel prices by about 10 percent in response to soaring world oil prices.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 24, Election results indicated that Dominican President Leonel Fernandez's party won the recent legislative elections, which should enable him to carry out economic reforms.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, Dubai hosted the Middle East's first major international art auction.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, The EU, the US, Japan, China, Russia and others initialed a $12.8 billion agreement in Belgium to build an experimental fusion project they hope will lead to a cheaper, safer, cleaner and endless source of energy. The seven-party consortium, which also includes India and South Korea, agreed last year to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in Cadarache, in the southern French region of Provence.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, International peacekeepers and troops from Australia and New Zealand were headed to East Timor to help restore order after gunbattles between disgruntled ex-soldiers and the military killed two people and wounded nine.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Stone-throwing Iranian students fought police and Islamic vigilantes on in protest against restrictions imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(Reuters, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Iraq announced the arrest in Lebanon of Bashar Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, a nephew of Saddam Hussein, for crimes allegedly committed after the fall of Saddam's regime. Drive-by shootings killed 12 people, including a provincial official in northern Iraq and two of his bodyguards. Authorities found the corpses of nine people who apparently had been kidnapped and tortured.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley (38), a descendant of Kenya's first white settlers, was charged with murder in the shooting of Robert Njoya Wambugu (37), who was shot in the back and died en route to a hospital. Cholmondeley’s attorney said the victim unleashed several dogs on Cholmondeley after the man was caught poaching an impala. In 2009 Cholmondeley (40) was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 months in prison. He was released on Oct 23.
(AP, 5/24/06)(AP, 5/14/09)(AP, 10/23/09)
2006 May 24, North Korea abruptly canceled groundbreaking test runs of trains across its highly guarded border with South Korea, citing an atmosphere of confrontation.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Fierce gunbattles broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the heart of the West Bank city of Ramallah, killing two Palestinians and wounding 30. A Gaza security chief loyal to the Palestinian president was killed when his car blew up, the second attack on a top commander in less than a week.
(AP, 5/24/06)(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 24, Philippine officials said the US States and the Philippines have forged a security arrangement covering threats such as terrorism, piracy, natural disasters and outbreaks of disease. The initiative was launched last year and diplomatic notes for carrying out the arrangement were exchanged in April.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, Russian prosecutors said St. Petersburg police have detained eight members of an extremist group suspected in racist murders, including the shooting of a Senegalese student outside a nightclub.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, In Sri Lanka 3 security personnel died in a mine blast as a Norwegian peace envoy arrived to salvage a collapsing ceasefire.
(AFP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, A huge fire engulfed the cargo section of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, temporarily disrupting air traffic and causing thousands to flee nearby terminals.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 24, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela will buy Russian jets because of a dispute over parts for US-made aircraft, launching yet another verbal assault on Pres. Bush.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2007 May 24, The US Congress passed a spending bill, providing $95 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pres. Bush signed the bill the next day.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Pres. Bush nominated James Holsinger, a cardiologist from Kentucky, as the new US surgeon general.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070524-2.html)
2007 May 24, The Alabama Legislature passed a resolution that expressed profound regret for the state’s role in slavery. Gov Bob Riley was expected to sign it. In recent months Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia made formal apologies.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Oakland, Ca., C.C. Myers led the completion of repair work on I-580, 26 days after a portion of the MacArthur Maze collapsed following a gasoline tanker crash and fire.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 24, Ohio death row inmate Christopher Newton was executed by injection; it took him 16 minutes to die, more than twice the usual amount of time, once chemicals began flowing into his veins, which the execution team had had trouble locating.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 24, Ancestry.com unveiled over 90 million US war records that dated back to 1607.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.C5)
2007 May 24, Energy Brands Inc. agreed to a $4.1 billion takeover by Coca-Cola.
(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Afghanistan Sayed Gulab, a suspect with "extensive connections" with other senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Nangarhar and Pakistan, was detained and held in a coalition facility.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Britain's Court of Appeal upheld a $95 million award to the ex-wife of insurance tycoon John Charman (54), the largest judgment ever in a contested divorce in England and Wales. Jenny Bailey (45), a female councilor who was born a man and fathered two children, was sworn in as Britain's first transsexual mayor. Bailey, a Liberal Democrat, became the civic leader of the Cambridge City Council.
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes, carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2 days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Egypt approved the formation of a new liberal political party headed by a former member of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A car bomb targeting a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least 26 people. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid (60), a restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida. Zuwaid was killed earlier Thursday in the day unknown militants shot him in front of his house. In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police convoy and killed six police officers. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb aboard a minibus driving through Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring eight others. 5 US soldiers were killed in four separate attacks across Iraq, most of them by roadside bombs.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Ireland voters began casting their ballots in an election that analysts say is likely to return PM Bertie Ahern to power, but with new, left-wing partners in government. An exit poll gave his Fianna Fail party a surprisingly strong lead in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, Israeli troops in the West Bank rounded up a Palestinian Cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas leaders in the West Bank before dawn, pressing forward with an offensive against the Islamic militant group.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japan's prime minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including top polluters United States and China.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In Lebanon sporadic gunfire erupted inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamic militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense minister to surrender or face a military onslaught. Lebanon's leader vowed to uproot the fighters. The family of Shaker Youssef al-Absi, the Palestinian who heads the shadowy militant group blamed for this week's violence in Lebanon, said he is not a terrorist but a nationalist who seeks an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and threatened to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of government refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Pakistan thousands of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's opponents demonstrated in several, the first street protests since a burst of political violence deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A Peruvian government flight serving as a link between isolated jungle communities disappeared in the country's northeastern rain forest with 20 people on board. 7 survivors were rescued the next day.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, A methane explosion tore through a coal mine in southern Siberia, killing 38 miners and injuring seven others. One worker died days later raising the toll to 39.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, Somali police shot and killed two civilians after attackers hurled a hand grenade at a police station.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In South Africa's Eastern Cape province 9 children were among 14 people killed in a multiple-vehicle crash.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka a flotilla of rebel boats launched a deadly raid on a navy camp, hours before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital killing one soldier and wounding six people. Tigers claimed to have killed 32 sailors. Government troops killed 12 suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern Vavuniya district.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AFP, 5/25/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 24, In Switzerland an arson fire gutted the interior of Hekhal Haness Synagogue, Geneva's largest synagogue.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 24, Hundreds of thousands of Syrians thronged Damascus to support a second seven-year term for President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, The head of the UN nuclear agency said he agreed with CIA estimates that Iran was three to eight years from being able to make nuclear weapons and he urged the US and other powers to pursue talks with the Islamic country.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Zimbabwe police slapped a new ban on political rallies and demonstrations in parts of the capital Harare, citing a recent spate of "disturbances."
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2008 May 24, In California a tour helicopter crashed on Santa Catalina Island killing 3 people and injuring 3 others.
(SSFC, 5/25/08, p.A6)
2008 May 24, In Georgia Kirk Wright (37), convicted of leading an investment scheme, hanged himself in the Union City jail. He faced up to 710 years in prison and a fine up to $16 million. An SEC suit had already hit him with a $20 million judgment for fraud and money laundering related to the 2006 collapse of his Int’l. Management Associates hedge fund.
(WSJ, 5/27/08, p.C12)
2008 May 24, Dick Martin (86), the zany half of the comedy team whose "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," died in Santa Monica, Ca. He took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!"
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Jimmy McGriff (b.1936), blues organist, died in New Jersey.
(SFC, 5/29/08, p.B5)
2008 May 24, Stuart Moldaw (81) of Atherton, Ca., philanthropist and founder of Ross Stores (1981), died. By 2007 Ross had become the country’s 2nd largest off-price retailer with annual sales of $6 billion.
(SFC, 5/28/08, p.B9)
2008 May 24, Disaster-prone Bangladesh announced that it would plant 100 million trees to create a "natural fence" against frequent floods and cyclones.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, Belgian police in Brussels arrested Jean-Pierre Bemba (45), a Congolese warlord and ex-presidential candidate, after he was secretly charged with rape and torture. Bemba was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as head of a militia that allegedly committed atrocities in Central African Republic's conflict in 2002-2003.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, In England Rob Knox (18), teenage actor who had a part in the next Harry Potter film, was stabbed and killed in a scuffle outside a bar. Karl Bishop (21), from Sidcup in Kent, was accused of the murder. On March 4, 2009, Bishop was convicted of murder. The next day he was sentenced to life in prison.
(AFP, 5/27/08)(AP, 3/5/09)
2008 May 24, In China rescuers rushed to reach 24 coal miners trapped underground by the earthquake almost two weeks ago, as the government sharply raised the quake's death toll, warning it could exceed 80,000.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, In Colombia a moderate earthquake shook Bogota, killing at least six people and injuring more than 10.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Deutsche Telekom acknowledged that in 2005 it had hired an outside firm to track hundreds of thousands of phone calls by senior executives and journalists to identify the sources of press leaks. The practice continued into 2006.
(AP, 5/26/08)(Econ, 6/7/08, p.65)
2008 May 24, Lawmakers loyal to anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces. Clashes broke out before midnight between Shiite gunmen and US-Iraqi troops in the Amin area in eastern Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding three others, including a 4-year-old boy.
(AP, 5/24/08)(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Israeli forces attacked two groups of Palestinian militants firing mortar shells in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding 4 Hamas gunmen.
(SSFC, 5/25/08, p.A4)
2008 May 24, Top Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud said jihad, or holy war, would continue in Afghanistan, despite peace negotiations between the militants and Islamabad. Separate roadside bomb attacks in Pakistan's volatile northwest killed three people, including a local police chief.
(AFP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, Russia won the Eurovision song contest in Belgrade with "Believe", sung by Dima Bilan, giving an eastern European nation victory for the third time in five years.
(AFP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, In Saudi Arabia authorities beheaded a local man convicted of armed robbery and raping a woman. The execution brings the number of people beheaded this year to 55.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, In South Africa thousands of people marched through Johannesburg, calling for an end to xenophobic violence that has killed over 40 African migrants and displaced tens of thousands.
(Reuters, 5/24/08)
2008 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka a new round of fighting killed seven Tamil separatists and two soldiers.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2008 May 24, Morgan Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe for an election run-off with President Robert Mugabe and said the veteran leader wanted to "decimate" MDC structures.
(Reuters, 5/24/08)
2009 May 24, The space shuttle Atlantis and its 7 astronauts landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California ending a 13-day mission that repaired and enhanced the Hubble Space Telescope. Stormy weather in Florida prevented a return to NASA's home base.
(AP, 5/24/09)(SFC, 5/25/09, p.A5)
2009 May 24, San Francisco celebrated its 31st annual Carnaval in the Mission district.
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.B1)
2009 May 24, In Afghanistan US troops detained 4 suspected Al-Qaida members during a raid in Khost province.
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.A2)
2009 May 24, In Australia thousands of homeowners remained isolated in the flood-hit northeast. Authorities said days of torrential rain had created a vast "inland sea."
(AFP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Austria groups of rival worshippers at a Sikh temple in Vienna pulled knives and at least one handgun in a mass fight. 16 people were wounded and one preacher died the next day. The Vienna temple attended by lower-caste Sikhs was attacked by Sikhs from a higher caste who accused preachers of being disrespectful of the religion's Holy Book.
(AP, 5/24/09)(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 24, At the Cannes Film Festival the film “The White Ribbon" by Austrian director Michael Haneke won the top prize. Christolph Waltz won the best actor prize for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards." Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best actress prize for her role in Lars von Trier’s “antichrist."
(SFC, 5/25/09, p.E4)
2009 May 24, Iran blocked access to Facebook, prompting government critics to condemn the move as an attempt to muzzle the opposition ahead of next month's presidential election.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will continue to build homes in existing West Bank settlements, defying US calls to halt settlement growth.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, Voters in Mongolia went to the polls to choose a new president less than a year after allegations of vote-rigging in parliamentary elections triggered deadly riots. The Democratic Party candidate Elbegdorj Tsakhia won 51.24% of the votes, while incumbent Enkbayar Nambar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, the former communists, won 47.44%.
(AFP, 5/24/09)(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 24, In Morocco 11 people were killed in a stampede at a stadium in the capital, Rabat, overnight when thousands of spectators hurried to leave at the end of a concert wrapping up the city's landmark music festival.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, The Nigerian army said that over the last 2 days it freed a total of six Filipinos held hostage in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
(AFP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Northern Ireland over 20 militant Protestant supporters of the Glasgow Rangers soccer team beat to death a Catholic man in Coleraine after the Rangers clinched a championship.
(SFC, 5/26/09, p.A2)
2009 May 24, Pakistani troops battling the Taliban captured several points in the Swat Valley's main town, including a spot nicknamed "bloody intersection" because militants routinely dumped the mutilated bodies of their victims there. Five suspected militants were killed in various parts of Mingora while 14 others were arrested. Overall in the valley, 10 militants were killed in the past 24 hours while three security troops died. Elsewhere in the northwest, helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a tribal region, killing at least 18 people. Police said they had captured Qari Ihsanullah, an important militant commander and six other Taliban fighters.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Somalia a foreign suicide bomber killed six guards and a civilian at a military base in Mogadishu, an attack that came after two weeks of intense fighting.
(AP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 24, In Sudan raiders attempted but failed to overrun the army base at Umm Baru, close to the Chadian border in north Darfur. The next day an army spokesman said 20 Sudanese soldiers were killed in the fierce fighting and that 43 rebels had died.
(Reuters, 5/25/09)(AFP, 5/25/09)
2010 May 24, Pres. Obama signed into law the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.
(Econ, 11/13/10, p.58)(www.enoughproject.org/LRA)
2010 May 24, The US Supreme Court ruled that a group of African Americans may sue the city of Chicago for discriminatory use of an application test that kept them from being hired as firefighters.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A4)
2010 May 24, Brian Thomas Mettenbrink of Nebraska was sentenced to one year in federal prison for his role in a cyber attack on the Church of Scientology.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A4)
2010 May 24, Afghan authorities announced the arrest of seven people in last week's car suicide car bombing that killed six NATO soldiers, including three American colonels and a Canadian colonel.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Australia demanded that Israel withdraw an embassy official from the country, saying the Jewish state was behind fake Australian passports linked to the killing of a Hamas operative.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched TV Brasil, a new Portuguese-language network based in Mozambique's capital Maputo and tasked with "saying good things" about Brazil. From Maputo, the new channel will be broadcast to more than 40 countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Britain's new coalition government outlined more than 6 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) in spending cuts, including scaling back computer purchases, official cars for ministers and first-class air travel, but warned that these are only first steps toward slashing the nation's record budget deficit.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, British Airways cabin crew started a five-day strike, throwing travel plans for thousands of passengers into disarray after last-ditch efforts to avert the action collapsed.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Burundians turned out in droves to vote in local polls marking the first phase of an electoral marathon, the first of a series of polls in which the tiny African nation will also vote for representatives to parliament and its next president.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In southern China a head-on collision between two buses killed 10 people and injured an additional 43 early Monday in the second major bus accident in two days.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Colombia a retired police major said that President Alvaro Uribe's younger brother, Santiago Uribe, commanded a right-wing death squad in the early 1990s from the family's cattle ranch. He estimated the militia killed at least 50 people.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 24, The UN said an Indian UN peacekeeper and two Congolese nationals were killed in an ambush in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
(Reuters, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Costa Rica's unicameral congress voted itself a 60 percent pay raise less than a month after legislators took office. The next day President Laura Chinchilla said she will veto the pay bill unless congress finds days to offset the cost in other areas. Costa Rica's congress shelved a final vote on the pay raise after Pres. Chinchilla promised to veto the measure.
(AP, 5/26/10)(AP, 5/26/10)
2010 May 24, An international human rights group said that Ethiopia's national election was marred by repression and intimidation, while the government said the vote was free and fair.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Germany Daryush Shokof (55), a Berlin resident and Iranian dissident, disappeared in Cologne, the day he planned to board a train to Paris to promote his new film "Iran Zendan," or "Iran Prison." The small independent movie is highly critical of the Iranian regime and shows scenes of torture and rape in an Iranian prison. It was shown once last month to a closed audience of friends at a Berlin theater and then posted on YouTube, but has since been removed. On June 5, almost two weeks after he went missing, Shokof was found by a group of teenagers, drenched, exhausted and confused, near the Rhine river in Cologne, and taken to a hospital.
(AP, 6/11/10)
2010 May 24, Guatemalan authorities said they will require DNA tests for all babies offered for adoption following allegations of child theft that led the government to impose a two-year freeze on international adoptions.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Iran hanged the brother of captured Sunni militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi for "terrorism" in the city of Zahedan in Sistan-Baluchestan province in the southeast.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Iran’s state IRNA news agency reported that police launched a crackdown on irreverent social behavior, seizing some 60 cars over the weekend whose drivers were deemed to be harassing women.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, Iran, seeking to evade new UN sanctions, formally submitted its plan to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel and said the onus was on world powers to defuse tensions by accepting the deal.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Iraq gunmen in Mosul killed newly elected lawmaker Bashar Mohammed Hamid Ahmed, part of a Sunni-backed list that narrowly won the March elections.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A2)
2010 May 24, Israel's military announced it plans to further ease restrictions on Palestinian travel in the West Bank, delivering what appeared to be a first in a series of gestures requested by the US as part of renewed peace talks.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Jamaica more than 1,000 police and soldiers assaulted a public housing complex occupied by heavily armed gangsters defending Christopher "Dudus" Coke, an alleged drug lord wanted by the US. 2 police officers were killed and at least six wounded since the previous night, and at least one Jamaican soldier was shot dead during today's fighting at Tivoli Gardens.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 24, Lebanon's PM Saad Hariri made his first official visit to Washington as premier and planned to discuss Mideast security issues and peace efforts with Pres. Barack Obama.
(AP, 5/23/10)
2010 May 24, It was reported that Malagasy timer barons were robbing Madagascar of its sylvan heritage, illegally cutting down scarce species of rosewood trees in poorly protected national parks, and exporting most of the valuable logs to China.
(SFC, 5/25/10, p.A2)
2010 May 24, South Korea's Pres. Lee Myung-bak cut trade to North Korea vowing the country would "pay a price" for a torpedo attack that killed 46 sailors, and promised to haul its impoverished neighbor before the UN Security Council. Lee Myung-bak said that the country will take Pyongyang to the UN Security Council, suspend inter-Korean exchanges and ban North Korean ships from passing through its waters.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Thailand opposition leaders moved to impeach PM Abhisit Vejjajiva for his handling of rioting and violence in Bangkok, and an army official said the capital would remain under curfew for another week as a precaution against further unrest.
(AP, 5/24/10)
2010 May 24, In Trinidad and Tobago attorney Kamla Persad-Bissessar (59) was elected as the first female prime minister. Preliminary elections results indicated that Persad-Bissessar and her five-party People's Partnership coalition won 29 of 41 seats in parliament.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2010 May 24, In Yemen tribal gunmen kidnapped two American tourists and demanded the release of a jailed tribesman for the pair. The tourists were released the next day after Pres. Saleh agreed to free a prisoner held by the state.
(AP, 5/24/10)(SFC, 5/26/10, p.A2)
2011 May 24, The Obama administration hit seven foreign companies, including Venezuela' state-owned oil company and an Israeli shipping firm, for engaging in trade with Iran in violation of a US ban. At the same time, the administration imposed separate sanctions on more than 15 people and companies in China, Iran, North Korea, Syria and elsewhere for illicit trading in missile technology and weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama were welcomed to Buckingham Palace in grand royal style by Queen Elizabeth II as they began their official state visit to Britain.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Arizona 3 employees of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio were arrested on charges that they helped a drug and human smuggling organization from Mexico.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, San Francisco supervisors vote 6-5 to approve a $1.2 billion plan to transform the Parkmerced area. 1,500 rent-controlled town homes will be replaced with 7,200 units over the next 20-30 years.
(SFC, 5/25/11, p.A1)
2011 May 24, In California a family of four was found dead in San Diego in what police called a triple murder suicide.
(SFC, 5/25/11, p.A6)
2011 May 24, In New York Luke Wright (32) was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for raping, scalding and torturing his disabled half-sister before their mother killed her last year. An Erie County jury found him guilty last month on 10 criminal counts. Laura Cummings (23) was suffocated by her mother Eva Cummings in the family's North Collins home. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last October.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he will not defy today’s state Supreme Court ruling to increase aid to low-income school districts, but called the decision legally faulty and bad education policy. The state Supreme Court said New Jersey must provide about $500 million for its poorer school districts.
(AP, 5/24/11)(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Reclusive American copper heiress Huguette Clark (104) died and left most of her $400 million fortune to charity, and nurse Hadassah Peri, who was randomly assigned to care for her 20 years ago. Clark was the daughter of Montana Sen. William Clark, who was once the second-richest man in the country. In 2013 a court fight over her estate reached a tentative deal giving about $30.5 million to her distant relatives. Nurse Peri would have to return $5 million and a valuable doll collection.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguette_M._Clark)(AP, 6/24/11)(SSFC, 9/22/13, p.A9)
2011 May 24, In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed 10 workers, and NATO again promised that the coalition would not abandon the country even if some members plan to withdraw their forces. The Taliban shot dead the principal of a boys' only high school in Logar province. A NATO service member died in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 5/24/11)(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, In northern Brazil rubber tapper Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, an activist fighting to protect the Amazon rain forest from loggers, was shot and killed with his wife by gunmen in the jungle state of Para.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, About 250 flights to northern Britain were canceled over concerns about the ash cloud spewing from an Icelandic volcano, but British and Irish officials dismissed fears of a mass shutdown of airspace.
(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Colombia‘s Congress approved legislation to of offer compensation to some 4 million people who have suffered in its armed conflicts. A Colombian judge issued an arrest order for the former head of the secret police over her alleged involvement in a domestic spying scandal. Former domestic intelligence chief Maria del Pilar Hurtado, who says she is innocent. She has been living in exile in Panama since November 2010 and that country has said it will maintain her asylum.
(Econ, 6/4/11, p.46)(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Egypt’s ousted leader Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were referred to a criminal court on suspicion of graft and ordering deadly fire against anti-government protesters.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Ethiopia at an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa, Indian PM Manmohan Singh trumpeted his country's historical ties with Africa and offered $5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals.
(Reuters, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, World Bank Pres. Robert Zoellick said it will provide up to $6 billion to Egypt and Tunisia to help them modernize their economies as they undertake democratic reforms after the ouster of their longtime presidents.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In France the world's most powerful Internet and media barons gathered in Paris in a show of strength to leaders at the G8 summit, amid rows over online copyright, regulation and human rights.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Guatemala officials found the hacked-up body of an assistant prosecutor along with a message allegedly signed by the Zetas. The interior minister said police have arrested five Mexican members of the Zetas drug cartel who are allegedly linked to the chief suspect in the May 15 massacre of 27 people.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In India representatives of eight countries with large wild elephant populations pledged to eradicate poaching of the animals and smuggling of ivory to ensure their survival for future generations. The "Elephant 8 Ministerial Meet" included officials from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Botswana, Congo, Kenya and Tanzania.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, An accidental blast at Iran's Abadan's oil refinery killed one person and wounded 25 during a visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was not affected.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Japan major international mission to investigate the flooded, radiation-leaking nuclear complex began as new information suggested that nuclear fuel had mostly melted in two more reactors in the early days after the March 11 tsunami.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Japan’s Sony Corp. said it discovered a security breach affecting 8,500 user accounts in a music entertainment website in Greece that comes on the heels of a hacker attack which forced its flagship gaming site offline.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, The Libyan rebel council fighting to oust Muammar Gaddafi said it will open an office in Paris but a representative has not yet been named. Top US official Jeffrey Feltman said Libya's rebels have accepted an invitation to open a representative office in Washington as he renewed a US call for Moamer Kadhafi to step down immediately.
(AFP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi cut electricity supplies to much of the Western Mountains, threatening water supplies and stepping up a war of attrition with rebels who hold the plateau. NATO launched its most intense bombardment yet against Gadhafi's Tripoli stronghold. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said at least 3 people were killed.
(Reuters, 5/29/11)(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In northern Mexico 17 inmates escaped through a tunnel starting in a prison's laundry room. On may 27 the director and 11 officials at the prison were charged with helping in the escape in Reynosa, Tamaulipas state. Suspected cartel gunmen opened fire on a federal police chopper, hitting two officers and forcing the craft to land in Michoacan state. Officials insisted it had not been shot down. In 2012 official documents reported that armed forces and prosecutors have suffered at least 28 gunfire attacks on helicopters since 2008.
(AP, 5/27/11)(AP, 1/16/12)
2011 May 24, In Nigeria a fire engulfed a pipeline belonging to a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the town of Amukpe.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Il reportedly traveled to an eastern Chinese city to study Beijing's economic reforms, while a US government team was in North Korea on a rare trip to assess food shortages.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, A Moscow appeals court upheld the second conviction of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky (47), but it also reduced his 14-year prison sentence by one year.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, Ammar Qarabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said his group has documented the names of 1,062 people who have died since the uprising erupted in mid-March.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Sudan gunmen from an Arab tribe fired on four UN helicopters taking off from Abyei a disputed border town at the heart of a new north-south conflict.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 24, Thai authorities arrested American citizen on charges he insulted the country's monarchy, in part by posting a link on his blog four years ago to a banned book about the Southeast Asian nation's ailing king. Lerpong Wichaikhammat (aka Joe Gordon), a 54-year-old Thai-born man, had lived in the US state of Colorado for around 30 years before returning recently to Thailand for medical treatment. In August Gordon was charged with lese majeste for allegedly translating parts of an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and writing articles that defamed the royal family.
(AP, 5/27/11)(AP, 8/18/11)
2011 May 24, In Yemen shelling in Sanaa killed 24 supporters of Sheikh al-Ahmar, a powerful opposition chieftain, as clashes intensified between embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh's security forces and the tribesmen. 14 soldiers were also killed and another 20 were missing.
(AFP, 5/24/11)(SFC, 5/25/11, p.A4)
2012 May 24, New York City police arrested Pedro Hernandez (51) of New Jersey for the killing of Etan Patz (6) in 1979.
(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A6)
2012 May 24, Kathi Kamen Goldmark (b.1948), San Francisco-based literary impresario and country-rock singer, died of breast cancer.
(SSFC, 5/27/12, p.A14)
2012 May 24, In Cambodia prison sentences were imposed on 13 women who protested evictions from their land without adequate compensation. Their old houses were demolished by developers in 2010.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, In Indonesia a landslide killed 8 of 16 people illegally mining for gold, after days of heavy rain hit a mountainous part of western Java, the country's main island.
(AFP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, Iranian negotiators rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about the Islamic Republic's ability to build atomic weapons. The 2-days talks ended with no clear signs of progress, but parties agreed to reconvene in Moscow in June.
(AP, 5/24/12)(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A4)
2012 May 24, In Japan Nicola Furlong (21), an Irish fan of Rapper Nicki Minaj, was found dead in a Tokyo hotel after attending a concert. Police arrested two American men, dancer James Blackston (23) and a musician, 19, as part of an investigation into her death. On June 14 police arrested a 19-year-old American musician on suspicion of murdering Furlong.
(AFP, 6/1/12)(AFP, 6/14/12)
2012 May 24, Lebanese security forces stormed a building in Beirut after a nighttime shootout with gunmen holed up inside a flat, in an incident which left 2 dead and 7 wounded. The spark for the shootout was a personal dispute between at least one of the dead men and a woman in her early 20s. The dead man and the woman, detained in the incident, were Syrian nationals.
(AFP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Myanmar demonstrators protesting electricity outages clashed with police, and several were arrested in Pyay. The protests in Pyay began on May 21 with a small group of people and have grown to more than 1,000.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, New Zealand's government squeezed smokers more than ever by announcing a 40 per cent hike in tobacco taxes over the next four years. Officials hoped the higher taxes and new restrictions will bring the country of 4.4 million closer to a recent pledge to snuff out the habit entirely by 2025.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Pakistan a US drone strike killed 7-10 suspected militants in a Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan, bringing the death toll from such strikes to 12 in two days.
(AFP, 5/24/12)(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A2)
2012 May 24, Papua New Guinea Deputy PM Belden Namah led officers into the Supreme Court to arrest of Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia, one of three judges who affirmed an earlier ruling that Somare is the nation's legitimate prime minister.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, In Somalia thousands of people fled a region north of Mogadishu amid the sounds of gunfire and explosions as government troops and their allies tried to take more ground from Islamist insurgents in the Afgoye corridor. An estimated 400,000 refugees had been in the agricultural town.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, South Korea’s capital unveiled its latest landmark, a controversial $256 million city hall with an undulating glass structure that looms over its preserved colonial-era stone predecessor. It overshadowed the 1926 structure built during Japanese rule.
(AFP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, The jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse, an experimental solar-powered airplane, took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight, aiming to reach North Africa next week.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, Syrian opposition groups said government forces shelled the rebel-held town of Rastan, killing at least three people. The state-run news agency said an armed group assassinated a lieutenant, shooting him and his 13-year-old son outside Damascus.
(AP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Ukraine a melee in the parliament was sparked by a proposed bill to make Russian an official language in eastern regions of the country with large native Russian-speaking populations. Lawmakers grappled and threw punches. One was hospitalized with a head injury.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 24, Vatican Bank president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was ousted for having leaked documents and failing to do his job. Tedeschi’s primary position was head of Spain’s Banco Santander Italian unit in Milan.
(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A2)
2012 May 24, Yemeni troops killed 35 Al-Qaeda militants in overnight battles in the restive southern Abyan province as the army pressed ahead with a 13-day offensive to retake extremist strongholds. 2 soldiers were killed and at least six others were wounded in the battle to retake Zinjibar.
(AFP, 5/24/12)
2012 May 24, In Zimbabwe Petroc Trelawny, who presents several radio programs for the BBC, was arrested for taking part in the Bulawayo Music Festival without a work permit. He was not being paid for the role. Trelawny reportedly dislocated his shoulder in a fall in a police cell.
(AFP, 5/26/12)
2013 May 24, Pres. Obama signed legislation awarding the Congressional Medal fo Honor posthumously to the 4 girls killed in the Sep 15, 1963, Alabama church bombing.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A6)
2013 May 24, A US federal judge said Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio violated the constitutional rights of Latino drivers in his crackdown on illegal immigration, and ordered him to stop using race as a factor in law enforcement decisions.
(Reuters, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In San Diego, Ca., Eduardo Arellano Felix (56) of the Tijuana drug cartel pleaded guilty to helping ship hundreds millions of dollars from the US. Under a plea agreement he will spend 15 years in prison and then be deported to Mexico.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A6)
2013 May 24, In California Gabriel Fernandez (8) of Palmdale died after being hospitalized with injuries including a cracked skull, broken ribs and burns. In 2014 Pearl Fernandez (30) and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre (34) pleaded not guilty to murder charges with special allegations of torture.
(SFC, 8/20/14, p.E2)(http://tinyurl.com/kvgkkzd)
2013 May 24, An anonymous letter to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was opened and contained traces of ricin. A 2nd similar letter in Washington DC at an office used by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a nonprofit started by Bloomberg, was opened on May 26.
(SFC, 5/30/13, p.A5)
2013 May 24, In upstate New York a volunteer Angel Flight crashed killing the pilot and two passengers.
(SSFC, 5/26/13, p.A10)
2013 May 24, In Utah Army veteran Matthew David Stewart (39) charged with killing a police officer on Jan 4, 2012, was found dead hanging from a bedsheet in his cell in Ogden.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A6)
2013 May 24, In Afghanistan Taliban gunmen backed by a suicide car bomber attacked an international aid group's compound. 4 people were killed, including a 6-year-old child, two compound guards and one policeman. All 6 of the attackers were killed. A blast in Ghazni province killed 12 people at a mosque during evening prayers.
(AP, 5/24/13)(AP, 5/25/13)
2013 May 24, The Church of England published a plan to approve the ordination of women bishops by 2015, a widely supported reform it just missed passing last November after two decades of divisive debate.
(Reuters, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In England Sarah McClay (24) was mauled by a Sumatran tiger in an enclosure at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Cumbria. She soon died from her injuries.
(AP, 5/25/13)
2013 May 24, In western Central African Republic rebels arrived in the village of Poulissi in three vehicles and began killing residents there. At least 25 people were reported killed in attacks on various villages near Bossangoa, including a pregnant woman and a child.
(AP, 5/27/13)
2013 May 24, Chile's newly empowered environmental regulator confirmed nearly two dozen violations of Barrick's environmental impact agreement, blocking construction on the $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama gold mining project until the Canadian company keeps its promises to prevent water contamination. Some 500 local Diaguita Indians have joined a civil lawsuit against Barrick, persuading an appellate court last month to block construction despite the company's denials that it caused any pollution or health problems.
(AP, 5/25/13)
2013 May 24, Ecuador’s Pres. Rafael Correa took office for a 3rd term.
(Econ, 8/24/13, p.36)
2013 May 24, An Egyptian security official said 10 male relatives have killed a mother and her two daughters on suspicion of moral offenses, so-called "honor killings."
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, The EU approved restrictions on 3 pesticides to better protect dwindling bee populations.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A2)
2013 May 24, Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo (61) was extradited to the United States to face charges of laundering $70 million in Guatemalan funds through US bank accounts.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Guinea at least 12 people were killed in clashes over the last 24 hours between opposition marchers and security forces in Conakry. 26 people were hospitalized with injuries from the violence.
(AP, 5/27/13)
2013 May 24, Niger's military, with the help of French special forces, killed the last two jihadists holed up inside a dormitory on the grounds of a military garrison in the desert town of Agadez, and freed at least two soldiers who had been held hostage.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Nigeria's military said it has rescued 3 women and 6 children taken hostage by Islamic extremists after a May 7 attack on a police barracks in Bama. A woman and 2 children remained missing.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In northwest Pakistan a pair of suspected militant attacks killed 9 people in Mattani and Peshawar.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Pakistan an American diplomat accidentally killed a pedestrian while driving in Islamabad.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Russia's foreign ministry said the Syrian government has agreed in principle to a conference on the country's future proposed by Russia and the United States.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, An earthquake in the Sea of Okhotsk, east of the Russian coast and north of Japan registered 8.0 on the Richter scale. Tremors were felt as far away as Moscow, about 7,000 km (4,400 miles) west of the epicenter.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Spain the Catholic Archdiocese in Madrid said it needed more exorcists to help some of its faithful cope with the devil.
(SFC, 5/25/13, p.A2)
2013 May 24, Arthur Budovsky, the founder of Liberty Reserve, a Costa Rica-based digital currency system long favored by cybercrime scammers, was arrested in Spain. A defendant identified as Budovsky's partner, Vladimir Kats, was in custody in New York. Budovsky was soon indicted in the United States along with six other people in a $6 billion money-laundering scheme described as "staggering" in its scope.
(AP, 5/29/13)(SFC, 5/29/13, p.D1)(Econ, 6/1/13, p.71)
2013 May 24, In Sri Lanka Bowatte Indraratana (30) set himself on fire near the famed Temple of Buddha's Tooth Relic in the central town of Kandy. He soon died of severe burns after suffering injuries to over 95% of his body. Indraratana was the first monk to self-immolate in Sri Lanka. He allegedly killed himself because the authorities ignored his requests to ban the slaughter of cattle.
(AP, 5/27/13)
2013 May 24, Syria's state media said rebels have fired mortar shells at the central prison in Aleppo, killing and wounding several inmates. Intense fighting continued in the town of Qusair.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Turkey's parliament passed legislation that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni fired his top military commander, the ouster apparently linked to turmoil over Museveni's alleged plan to have his son succeed him as head of state.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2013 May 24, In Yemen al-Qaida gunmen attacked a military position in al-Bayda province. The fighting that left 3 militants and 2 soldiers dead.
(AP, 5/24/13)
2014 May 24, President Barack Obama made a surprise trip to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
(AP, 5/26/14)
2014 May 24, Afghan officials said security forces have flushed out insurgents from Yamgan district in Badakshan province, where 15 policemen were taken hostage. 8 policemen were reported killed and seven others were wounded. At least 7 civilians were also killed during operation.
(AFP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In Belgium 3 people were killed and one badly injured after a man walked into the Jewish Museum in Brussels, pulled out a Kalashnikov shoulder rifle and started shooting before walking away.
(AFP, 5/24/14)(SFC, 5/26/14, p.A2)
2014 May 24, In Djibouti a suicide bombing at a restaurant filled with Western military personnel killed three people and wounded at least 15. Two Somalis were suspected of carrying out the attack.
(Reuters, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, An Egyptian court convicted 20 students from an Islamist university in Cairo on charges of rioting during a protest last year in support of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, sentencing most of them to five years in prison.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, French forces in Central African Republic fired mortars and exchanged sustained gunfire with Muslim rebels who once controlled the country.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northern Greece and western Turkey. Over 250 people were reported injured.
(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.A4)
2014 May 24, In Iran Mahafarid Amir Khosravi (aka Amir Mansour Aria), a billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, was executed. His was the largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. Four received death sentences, two got life sentences and the rest received sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, Malawi President Joyce Banda said she is cancelling elections citing fraud and "rampant irregularities." The decision triggered protests and was challenged by the national electoral authority and a political rival. Banda, who had been standing for re-election, ordered a new vote within 90 days but said she would no longer be a candidate to guarantee a credible outcome. Shortly before her announcement, the electoral commission released preliminary results showing opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Peter Mutharika leading with 42 percent of the vote, followed by Banda with 23 percent. The head of the electoral authority said she did not have the power to do this and that vote counting was continuing.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In Nigeria a car bomb killed at least 3 people in Jos.
(AFP, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready for talks with Japan over disputed Pacific Islands, but Japan may not be ready for negotiations. Japan has imposed a set of measures against Russia for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, Russian authorities said 7 militants in the North Caucasus province of Ingushetia died in a three-hour gun battle with Russian security forces after which their hide-out was consumed by fire.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In Somalia al-Shabab militants stormed the parliament in Mogadishu. At least 7 people were killed including 6 attackers.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.A4)
2014 May 24, Sudanese rebels launched a major operation against an area in South Kordofan which a controversial counter-insurgency unit showed off to journalists after "liberating" it last week. The Daldako field commander of Rapid Support-2 was killed in the rebel counter-attack.
(AFP, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, Thailand's coup leaders said that they would keep former PM Yingluck Shinawatra, Cabinet members and anti-government protest leaders detained for up to a week to give them "time to think" and to keep the country calm. 9 bombs exploded in the restive south, killing 2 people and wounding dozens.
(AP, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, In eastern Ukraine Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli (30) and Russian interpreter Andrey Mironov were killed while covering fighting between government forces and pro-Russia insurgents. They were reportedly hit by government mortar fire as they were taking shelter in a roadside ditch.
(AP, 5/25/14)
2014 May 24, Pope Francis called for urgent steps to end Syria's three-year-old civil war as he arrived in neighboring Jordan.
(Reuters, 5/24/14)
2014 May 24, Yemeni soldiers killed 15 al-Qaida fighters in fierce fighting with militants who launched a major attack overnight targeting army, security and government buildings in Sayoun city, Hadramawt province. 12 soldiers were killed in the fighting.
(AP, 5/24/14)(Reuters, 5/25/14)
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