Today in History - May 27
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927 May 27,
Symeon, czar of Bulgaria, died.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1328 May 27, French king Philip VI
Valois was crowned.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1332 May 27, Ibn Khaldun, Arab
historian, was born.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1525 May 27, Thomas Muntzer (28),
German vicar, Boer leader, head of the German peasant revolt was
beheaded. Some 150,000 peasants died in the uprising.
(PCh, 1992, p.173)(MC, 5/27/02)
1529 May 27, 30 Jews of Posing,
Hungary, charged with blood ritual, were burned at stake.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1549 May 27, Lijsbeth Dirksdr,
Friesian Anabaptist, drowned.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1564 May 27, John Calvin (54), one
of the dominant figures of the Protestant Reformation, died in Geneva.
(HN, 5/27/99)(MC, 5/27/02)
1647 May 27, In Salem,
Massachusetts, Achsah Young became the first recorded American woman to
be executed for being a "witch."
(AP, 5/27/97)(HN, 5/27/98)
1661 May 27, Archibald Campbell
(~53), Scottish politician, was beheaded.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1668 May 27, Three colonists were
expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.
(HN, 5/27/99)
1679 May 27, England’s House of
Lords passed the Habeas Corpus Act (have the body) to prevent false
arrest and imprisonment. King Charles adjourned Parliament before the
final reading of Shaftesbury’s Exclusion Bill.
(WUD, 1994
p.634)(www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=11707)(ON, 7/06, p.9)
1703 May 27, Peter the Great
founded St. Petersburg (Leningrad) as the capital of Russia. It was
built on a swampy settlement ceded by Sweden and occupied by about 150
people.
(WSJ, 1/28/97,
p.A16)(www.worldpress.org/Europe/1938.cfm)(MT, Winter/03, p.12)
1794 May 27, Cornelius Vanderbilt,
owner of the B & O railroad, was born.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1796 May 27, James S. McLean
patented his piano.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1813 May 27, Americans captured
Fort George, Canada.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1818 May 27, American reformer
Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the "bloomers" garment that bears
her name, was born in Homer, N.Y.
(AP, 5/27/99)
1819 May 27, Julia Ward Howe,
writer of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” was born.
(HN, 5/27/99)
1836 May 27, Jay Gould, US
railroad executive, financier, was born.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1837 May 27, Legendary gunfighter
James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was born in Troy Grove, IL. As a youth,
Hickok helped his father operate an Underground Railroad stop for
runaway slaves and during the Civil War became a daring Union scout.
After the war Hickok's fame as a skilled marksman, Indian fighter and
frontier marshal grew, leading to a stint as a featured attraction with
Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was shot
from behind and killed while playing poker in Saloon No. 10 in
Deadwood, Dakota Territory. Contrary to his custom, Hickok was sitting
with his back to the door.
(HNPD, 5/28/99)(MesWP)
1840 May 27, Nicolo Paganini (57),
Italian legendary violinist, died in Nice. The local bishop refused to
bury him in consecrated ground due to his scandal-ridden past. His
remains were transferred to Parma in 1876. His 1742 violin, “the
Canon,” was put to rest in a museum in Genoa and later played annually
by the winner of the Int'l. Paganini Competition. In 1980 John Sugden
authored the biography “Nicolo Paganini: Supreme Violinist or Devil’s
Fiddler”
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.D5)(SFC, 11/12/98, p.E1)(SFC,
4/26/99, p.E2)(ON, 3/02, p.7)
1848 May 27, The SF-based
California Star complained that everybody in the state was under the
spell of gold fever.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.E4)
1862 May 27, Battle of Hanover
Court House, VA (Slash Church, Peake's Station).
(MC, 5/27/02)
1863 May 27, Siege of Port Hudson,
LA. [see May 21]
(MC, 5/27/02)
1867 May 27, Arnold Bennett
(d.1931), English novelist, playwright and critic, was born. His books
included “Riceyman Steps” (1923) in which he probes the unsettling and
symbolic depths of a marriage that becomes too close.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Bennett)
1873 May 27, The first Preakness
[horserace] was held at Pimlico, Md. It later became part of the Triple
Crown. Edward R. Bradley’s Kalitan was the 1st winner.
(HFA, ‘96, p.30)(SFEC, 5/30/99, Z1 p.8)(WSJ,
11/21/00, p.A24)
1878 May 27, Isadora Duncan
(d.1927), US pioneer in modern dance and choreographer, was born in San
Francisco.
(WUD, 1994, p.442)(SFC, 7/18/00, p.A8)(HN, 5/27/01)
1894 May 27, (Samuel) Dashiell
Hammett (d.1961), detective writer was born in Maryland. His work
include “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Continental Op,” and “The Dain
Curse.”
(WUD, 1994, p.641)(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A15)(HNPD,
9/24/98)(HN, 5/27/01)
1896 May 27, 255 people were
killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, Mo., and East St. Louis, Ill.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1905 May 27, Japanese fleet
destroyed the Russian East Sea fleet in Straits of Tushima. [see May 28]
(MC, 5/27/02)
1907 May 27, Rachel Carson
(d.1964), biologist and writer (Silent Spring, The Sea Around Us), was
born. "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs
the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering
with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."
(AP, 12/29/98)(HN, 5/27/01)
1907 May 27, Bubonic Plague broke
out in San Francisco.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1910 May 27, Robert Koch (b.1843),
German bacteriologist (TB, Cholera, Nobel), died.
(http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1905/koch-bio.html)
1911 May 27, Hubert Humphrey,
senator, was born. He served as VP (1965-69) to Lyndon Johnson (38th
VP), and was a presidential candidate in 1968. “The greatest gift of
life is friendship and I have received it.”
(HN, 5/27/98)(AP, 2/28/01)(MC, 5/27/02)
1911 May 27, Vincent Price, actor,
was born in St. Louis, Mo. He became best known for his role in movies
of Edgar Allen Poe horror stories. He stared in The Fly.
(SMTS, 10/1/86, p.4)(HN, 5/27/99)
1911 May 27, The Coney Island
attraction "Dreamland" was destroyed by fire. The biggest ballroom in
the world was located at the end of the Dreamland Pier from 1904-1911.
(http://history.amusement-parks.com/dreamlandfire.htm)(Econ, 12/22/07,
p.91)
1912 May 27, John Cheever (d1982),
Pulitzer Prize winning writer was born. His work included “The Wapshot
Chronicle” and “The World of Apples.”
(BS, 5/3/98, p.13E)(HN, 5/27/01)
1915 May 27, Herman Wouk, author,
was born. His work included "Winds of War" and "The Caine Mutiny."
(HN, 5/27/99)
1915 May 27, Mario del Monaco,
loud Italian opera tenor (Verdi/Puccini), was born.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1916 May 27, French Gen. Joseph
Simon Gallieni (b.1849) died. He had been called out of retirement at
the onset of war to serve in the Ministry of War in Paris and
orchestrated the allied victory at the Battle of the Marne (1914).
(ON, 8/08,
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Galli%C3%A9ni)
1918 May 27, Henry Adams (b.1838),
US historian, journalist and novelist, died. His books included “The
Education of Henry Adams” (1907) and ”Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres”
(1918).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Brooks_Adams)(WSJ, 9/1/07, p.P9)
1919 May 27, U.S. Navy Curtiss
flying boat NC-4, piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Albert C. Read, arrived safely
in Lisbon, Portugal, to become the first aircraft to complete a
transatlantic flight. Three aircraft, designated NC-1, NC-3 and
NC-4--called "Nancy" boats--had taken off from New York's Rockaway
Naval Air Station for Lisbon on May 8, with intermediate stops planned
for Newfoundland and the Azores. Only NC-4 completed the 3,925-mile
transatlantic flight. Heavy rain and fog forced NC-1 down at sea, where
it sank on May 17. NC-3, as depicted in this painting by Ron Weil, came
down in rough seas and taxied 200 miles into the harbor at Horta in the
Azores.
(HNPD, 5/27/99)
1919 May 27, Charles Strite
patented a pop-up toaster. [see May 29)
(MC, 5/27/02)
1921 May 27, Caryl Chessman,
kidnapper who got death penalty in 1960, was born.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1921 May 27, Afghanistan achieved
sovereignty after 84 years of British control.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1923 May 27, Henry Kissinger, US
Secretary of State (1973-77), was born. He became Sec. of State in the
Nixon administration, and won the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his
efforts to end the Vietnam War.
(HN, 5/27/99)(MC, 5/27/02)
1925 May 27, Tony Hillerman,
mystery novelist (The Blessing Way, Sacred Clowns), was born.
(HN, 5/27/01)
1927 May 27, The cargo steamer
Indiana Harbor ran aground on the northern California Humboldt coast.
Radio operator Joseph E. Croney remained at his post for 72 hours while
the ship was pounded.
(SFC, 8/29/03, p.E3)
1927 May 27, An earthquake in
China’s Qinghai (Xining) Province left some 200,000 dead.
(www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/eq/faq/world.htm)
1908 May 27, Harold Rome (d.1993),
American composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theater, was born
in Hartford, Connecticut.
(www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp?exhibitId=238)
1929 May 27, Colonel Charles
Lindbergh married Anne Spencer Murrow.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1930 May 27, Richard Drew invented
masking tape.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1931 May 27, Piccard and Knipfer
made the first flight into stratosphere, by balloon.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1933 May 27, Walt Disney's Academy
Award-winning animated short "The Three Little Pigs" was released.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1933 May 27, The US Federal
Securities Act was passed to monitor and regulate stocks and bonds.
(SSFC, 1/18/09, p.D6)
1934 May 27, Harlan [Jay] Ellison,
US sci-fi author (7 Hugos, Doomsman, Babylon 5), was born.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1935 May 27, The US Supreme Court,
in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, declared President
Roosevelt's National Industrial Recovery Act unconstitutional.
(HN, 5/27/98)(AP, 5/27/07)
1936 May 27, Louis Gossett Jr.,
actor (Officer & Gentleman, Deep), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1936 May 27, The Cunard liner
Queen Mary left Southampton, England, for NY on its maiden voyage. In
1968 it became a 365-room hotel moored at Long Beach, Ca.
(AP, 5/27/97)(MC, 5/27/02)(SSFC, 9/14/03, p.C1)
1937 May 27, The newly completed
Golden Gate Bridge connecting SF and Marin County, Calif., was opened
to pedestrian traffic. The bridge was designed by Joseph Strauss
(d.1938). Over 200,000 pedestrians walked across on opening day. The
bridge towers stood a record 750 feet. In 2007 Frank Stahl and Daniel
Mohn authored “The Golden Gate Bridge, Report of the Chief Engineer,
Vol II.” They gave credit to engineer Charles Ellis of the Univ. of
Illinois for much of the technical and theoretical work that went into
the bridge. He was fired by Strauss before construction began.
(AP, 5/27/97)(SFEC, 10/5/97, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 10/30/99,
p.C3)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A1)
1939 May 27, Joseph Roth,
Austrian-born Jewish writer, died in Paris. His books included
“Radetzkymarsch” (The Radetzky March) (1932), a novel of the Habsburg
empire from 1859-1916 and “The Auto-da-Fe of the Mind.”
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jroth.htm)
1941 May 27, Amid rising world
tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national
emergency."
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(AP, 5/27/97)
1941 May 27, The German battleship
Bismarck was sunk off France by British naval and air forces with a
loss of more than 2,100 lives.
(HN, 5/27/98)(AP, 5/27/07)
1942 May 27, Nazi overlord and SS
general Reinhard Heydrich was killed in Prague by Czech commandos, who
had parachuted into Czechoslovakia and ambushed his car. Hitler
promptly ordered the deaths of 10,000 residents of Lidice, near Prague.
Heydrich died of his wounds a week later. The commandos had been
sheltered in Lidice and as a result the entire population was either
executed or driven out. This has become a hallmark of Nazi brutality.
Heydrich was the man charged with “The Final Solution of the Jewish
Problem.” Heydrich was responsible for the development of an espionage
system outside Germany. As an SS general he was the first administrator
of the concentration camps and the program to eliminate Jews from
Europe.
(HNQ, 10/20/99)(MC, 5/27/02)
1942 May 27, German General Erwin
Rommel began a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
(HN, 5/27/99)
1943 May 27, French resistance
members under Jean Moulin met secretly in Paris.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1944 May 27, Gen. MacArthur landed
on Biak Island in New Guinea.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1944 May 27, Japanese advanced in
Hangzhou, China.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1948 May 27, Arabs blew up the
Jewish synagogue Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1949 May 27, Russians stopped
train traffic to and from West Berlin.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1951 May 27, Chinese Communists
forced the Dalai Lama to surrender his army to Beijing.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1956 May 27, The French staged a
raid in Algiers.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1958 May 27, Ernest Green and 600
whites graduated from Little Rock's Central High School. Green became
the first black Central High graduate.
(http://tinyurl.com/qyjp4)(www.centralhigh57.org/1957-58.htm)
1960 May 27, A military coup
overthrew the democratic government of Turkey.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1963 May 27, Jomo Kenyatta was
elected 1st prime minister of Kenya.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1964 May 27, "From Russia With
Love" premiered in US.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1964 May 27, Jawaharlal Nehru,
independent India's first prime minister, died.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1966 May 27, 6 French fighters
crashed above Spain.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1967 May 27, Australians approved
a referendum to amend the constitution to allow the federal government
to make laws for indigenous Australians and to include them in the
national census. The referendum became law on August 10.
(Econ, 6/2/07,
p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_referendum,_1967_(Aboriginals))
1968 May 27, Memorial Day was
celebrated. The last Monday of the month was set aside in 1968 to
remember those who had died in the service of their country. Memorial
Day, which began in 1868 as Decoration Day, had been celebrated on May
30 for the first 100 years.
(HNPD, 5/31/99)
1969 May 27, Walt Disney World
construction began in Florida.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1970 May 27, Dougal Haston and Don
Whillans, members of a British expedition, climbed the south face of
Nepal’s Annapurna I, the 10th highest summit in the world.
(www.trentofestival.it/en/info/honorary%20members/SIR%20CHRIS%20BONINGTON.htm)
1970 May 27, USSR performs an
underground nuclear test.
(www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/Monitoring/Arch/sts-table/sts-table.html)
1973 May 27, Betty Tyson (24), a
prostitute and heroin addict, was arrested for the strangulation death
of a businessman. Her murder conviction was overturned in 1998, due to
a wrongfully suppressed police report, and she was released from prison
25 years to the day from her arrest in New York.
(SFC, 5/28/98,
p.A3)(http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A01251)
1974 May 27, France’s Pres.
Valerie Giscard d’Estaing nominated Jacques Chirac (b.1932) to serve as
prime minister. Chirac served his 1st term as prime minister to Aug 26,
1976.
(Econ, 3/17/07,
p.28)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac)
1977 May 27, New York City fined
"human fly" George H. Willig $1.10 -- one penny for each of the 110
stories of the World Trade Center he scaled the day before.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1980 May 27, South Korean police
ended a people's uprising in Gwangju in which some 2,000 people were
killed. South Koreans simply called it 5.18, by the starting date.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Massacre)
1981 May 27, John Hinckley
(b.1955), awaiting trial for the attempted assassination of Pres.
Reagan, tried to commit suicide by overdosing on Tylenol.
(www.nndb.com/people/419/000025344/)
1985 May 27, In a brief ceremony
in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments
of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1987 May 27, The Rev. Jerry
Falwell, responding to comments by Jim Bakker, denied hoodwinking
Bakker into giving up control of the PTL ministry.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1988 May 27, Two days before the
start of the Moscow summit, the US Senate voted 93-5 to ratify a treaty
eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles.
(AP, 5/27/98)
1989 May 27, Leaders of the
Chinese student protest movement proposed that demonstrators hold one
more rally, then end their occupation of Tiananmen Square, an idea that
was later abandoned.
(AP, 5/27/99)
1990 May 27, The political
opposition of Burma (Myanmar) scored a victory in the country’s first
free, multiparty elections in three decades. The military rulers
allowed democratic elections but ignored the results when the National
League of Aung San Suu Kyi won 392 of 485 contested seats.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)(AP, 5/27/00)
1990 May 27, Cesar Gaviria
Trujillo was elected president of Colombia. Luis Carlos Galan, Colombia
presidential candidate, had been shot and killed while campaigning
south of Bogota. He was so far ahead in the polls for the presidential
elections that he was virtually assured of victory. His campaign
manager, Cesar Gaviria, ran in his place after the attack and was
elected president. Immediately after Galan's assassination, the
president at the time, Virgilio Barco, retaliated by reinstating
extraditions.
(AP, 5/27/00)(AP, 5/13/05)
1990 May 27, Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev tried to calm his nation’s economic nerves with a
hastily scheduled television address. The radical Democratic Party held
its 1st political meetings in Moscow.
(AP, 5/27/00)
1991 May 27, In a commencement
speech at Yale University, President Bush announced he would ask
Congress to extend most-favored-nation trade benefits to China for
another year.
(AP, 5/27/01)
1991 May 27, Ethiopia ordered its
troops to lay down their arms in the face of a rebel advance. An
estimated 60,000 Eritreans died in the rebel war with Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/27/01)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.80)
1992 May 27, The 12-nation
European Community imposed trade sanctions on Serbia to stop its
interference in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1992 May 27, Tony "Big Tuna"
Accardo (86), mobster (heir to the late Al Capone), died.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1993 May 27, The US House of
Representatives approved a massive deficit-reduction, tax-increase bill
by a vote of 219-213.
(AP, 5/27/98)
1993 May 27, The Canadian House of
Commons approved the North American Free Trade Agreement.
(AP, 5/27/98)
1993 May 27, Five people were
killed in a bombing at the Uffizi museum of art in Florence, Italy;
some three dozen paintings were ruined or damaged. Giovanni Brusca was
believed to have led teams that damaged the Uffizi museum in Florence
with car bombs. He is believed by many to be the leader of the Italian
Mafia teams. In 1996 he was arrested in Sicily and charged with
masterminding the murder of Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three
bodyguards in 1992. In 1998 Mafia boss Lelluca Bagarella and 13 others
were sentenced to life in prison for the May and July bombings.
(AP, 5/27/98)(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-11)(SFC, 8/24/96,
p.A12)(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.A23)
1994 May 27, A receipt of this
date for a disguise was found in OJ Simpson’s Bronco, 2 weeks before
the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A16)
1994 May 27, Nobel Prize-winning
author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to the emotional
cheers of thousands after spending two decades in exile.
(AP, 5/27/99)
1995 May 27, Actor Christopher
Reeve was left paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a
jumping event in Charlottesville, Virginia.
(AP, 5/27/00)
1995 May 27, In Bosnia General
Mladic launched an assault against the UN observation point of the
Vrbanja bridge. French soldiers Marcel Amaru and Jacky Humboldt were
killed in the operation of liberating the Vrbanja Bridge under siege in
Sarajevo. They became the symbol of the 84 French soldiers, who gave
their lives for Bosnia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNPROFOR)(http://tinyurl.com/qdsxo)
1996 May 27, An oil spill in
Galveston Bay stretched for 5 miles after a barge broke up that was
carrying 700,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil. The barge was owned by
Buffalo Marine Services Inc. Two months ago another Buffalo owned barge
broke up and spilled nearly 200,000 gallons that drifted 50 miles into
the Gulf of Mexico.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A2)
1996 May 27, George S. Boolos,
Prof. of linguistics and philosophy at MIT, died at age 55. He was
president of the Association for Symbolic Knowledge and was known as
one of the originators of provability logic, the study of the logic of
statements and what can and cannot be proved within mathematical
systems. He was also an authority on the work of 19th cent. German
mathematician and philosopher Gottlob Frege, regarded as the founder of
modern logic.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A16)
1996 May 27, David Malouf,
Australian writer, won the $151,000 Int'l. IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
for his novel “Remembering Babylon.”
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.B5)
1996 May 27, In Albania opposition
parties accused the ruling democrats of election irregularities and
pulled out of the parliamentary voting process.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A7)
1996 May 27, Chechen leader
Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev and Russian leader Boris Yeltsin in their first
meeting agreed to a peace accord and prime minister Victor Chernomyrdin
signed the agreement with Yanderbiyev.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A1) (AP, 5/27/97)
1996 May 27, In Liberia the
military militias completed their withdrawal from Monrovia.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A8)
1996 May 27, In Syria the latest
of a series of explosions left a small crater outside the walls of the
Old City of Damascus.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C3)
1997 May 27, Arie Luyendyk won the
Indianapolis 500 for the second time.
(AP, 5/27/98)
1997 May 27, The Cathedral and the
Bazaar, an essay by Eric S. Raymond on software engineering methods,
was first presented by the author at the Linux Kongress and was
published as part of a book of the same name in 1999. It was based on
his observations of the Linux kernel development process and his
experiences managing an open source project, fetchmail.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar)
1997 May 27, The Supreme Court
ruled that Paula Jones may pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against
Pres. Clinton while he is in office. The suit was based on an incident
in 1991 when Clinton was governor of Arkansas.
(SFC, 5/28/97, p.A1)(AP, 5/27/98)
1997 May 27, Marv Albert, NBC
sportscaster, was arrested on charges of sexual assault [see May 19].
(www.rotten.com/library/bio/sports/marv-albert/)
1997 May 27, A tornado hit
Jarrell, Texas, and left 27 people dead. It cut a swath from Austin to
Waco.
(SFC, 5/28/97, p.A1)(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A3)(AP, 5/27/07)
1997 May 27, In Paris, Russian
President Boris Yeltsin joined 16 NATO leaders, including President
Clinton, to sign a historic agreement giving Moscow a voice in NATO
affairs.
(AP, 5/27/98)
1997 May 27, In Kobe, Japan,
11-year-old Jun Hase was beheaded by a killer who left the note: “So,
this is the beginning of the game. I desperately want to see people
die. Nothing makes me more excited than killing.” [see Jun 28]
(SFC, 6/5/97, p.C2)
1997 May 27, In Mbabane,
Swaziland, health authorities were shocked by chief Jameson
Ndznatabantfu Maseko who banned the use of condoms on the basis of
biblical law.
(SFC, 5/28/97, p.A12)
1998 May 27, The sexual harassment
suit of Paula Jones against pres. Clinton was scheduled to start.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1)
1998 May 27, Michael Fortier, the
government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was
sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning
anyone about the deadly plot.
(AP, 5/27/99)
1998 May 27, In Colombia the
Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed to give up the entire Samore block in
return for exploration rights on another 80-square-mile outside the
lands of the U’wa tribe.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D3)
1998 May 27, Concerning Cyprus it
was reported that the planned delivery of a Russian missile system
would contain a “Tombstone” radar system, to be operated by 70 Russian
experts. This was a threat to the existing West’s exclusive monitoring.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 May 27, In Mongolia a Yu-12
plane crash killed all 28 on board.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1998 May 27, Russia tripled its
interest rates to 150% to stave off a run on the ruble and to establish
some economic stability.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A8)
1998 May 27, In South Korea unions
began a 2-day strike to protest mounting layoffs.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1999 May 27, Exxon and Mobil
shareholders approved their $81.2 billion merger to create the world's
largest oil company.
(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.A4)
1999 May 27, The space shuttle
Discovery was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with 7
astronauts from the US, Canada and Russia. The shuttle was on a 10-day
mission to stock the new space station.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.A2)
1999 May 27, The Int'l. War Crimes
Tribunal at the Hague announced an indictment against Pres. Milosevic
and 4 senior aides for atrocities and mass deportations and multiple
counts of crimes against humanity. Also indicted were: Milan
Milutinovic, president of Serbia; Vlajko Stojilkovic, Serbian interior
minister; Nikola Sainovic, deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia; and
Gen'l. Dragoljub Ojdanic, chief of staff of the Yugoslav army. Sainovic
surrendered in 2002.
(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A1)(SFC, 5/28/99, p.A1)(SFC,
5/2/02, p.A11)
1999 May 27, It was reported that
Dolly, the 3-year-old sheep, cloned from a 6-year-old ewe, has cells
that that are 9 years old. Her DNA showed signs of wear more typical of
an older animal.
(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/27/99, p.A1)
1999 May 27, In Egypt the
parliament approved powers over private groups with laws of operating
rules and banned private groups from participating in political
activity.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
1999 May 27, India lost 2 fighter
jets, a MiG-21 and MiG-27, to Pakistani fire on the Pakistani
side of Kashmir. Pakistan promised to return one dead pilot and to hold
the other as hostage.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.A12)
1999 May 27, In Milan, Italy, the
latest restoration of “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci, an effort
that took 22 years, went on display during a VIP-only showing.
(AP, 5/27/00)
1999 May 27, In the Ivory Coast
police stormed a hall at the Universite d'Abidjan and brutally
dispersed an FESCI student gathering planning for nationwide strikes.
(SFC, 5/29/99, p.A14)
1999 May 27, In North Korea US
inspectors found an empty tunnel at a suspected nuclear arms site.
(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.A1)
1999 May 27, The Philippine Senate
ratified an accord with the US for joint military exercises.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
2000 May 27, A freight train
derailed near Eunice, La., and some 3,500 people were evacuated due to
the release of methyl chloride, acrylic acid, toluene diisocyanate, and
dichloropropane.
(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.A2)
2000 May 27, It was reported that
researchers in Canada successfully used transplanted pancreas cells to
help cure Type I diabetes.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.3)
2000 May 27, The wreck of the
Carpathia, the steamer that rescued passengers of the Titanic in 1912,
was found in 500 feet of water, 120 miles south of Fastnet, Ireland.
(SFC, 9/22/00, p.A12)
2000 May 27, In Australia the
“Declaration of Reconciliation” was presented by prime Minister John
Howard to help heal the history of government racism toward the native
aborigines. Howard removed a phrase of apology in one passage and
substituted regret.
(SFC, 5/26/00, p.A14)
2000 May 27, In Northern Ireland
the Ulster Unionist Party’s ruling council voted to accept an IRA offer
to put its weapons beyond use.
(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.A1)
2001 May 27, Indy rookie Helio
Castroneves led teammate and fellow Brazilian Gil de Ferran in a 1-2
Roger Penske finish, giving the renowned owner a triumphant return to
the Indianapolis 500.
(AP, 5/27/02)
2001 May 27, Archbishop Emmanuel
Milingo married Maria Sung in a mass ceremony conducted by Rev. Sun
Myung Moon in NYC. In Aug Milingo was reported to have recommitted his
life to the Catholic Church. Marie Sung went on a hunger strike. Sung
later resigned herself to Milingo’s return to the Church.
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A6)(SFC, 8/31/01, p.D5)
2001 May 27, Sec. of State Colin
Powell stopped in Uganda and urged the government of Sudan to halt
bombing in southern towns and to stop interfering with the delivery of
emergency assistance to victims of drought and war.
(SFC, 5/28/01, p.B12)
2001 May 27, In Indonesia Pres.
Wahid threatened to declare a state of emergency if impeachment
proceedings begin.
(SFC, 5/28/01, p.B12)
2001 May 27, In Mexican
gubernatorial elections in Yucatan Patricio Patron of the National
Action Party led Orlando Paredes of the PRI.
(SFC, 5/28/01, p.B12)
2001 May 27, In Nepal a 3-day
strike was called by the opposition parties who demanded that Prime
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala resign for his role in a bribery case
involving the lease of a commercial jet for state-run Royal Nepal
Airlines.
(SFC, 5/28/01, p.B12)
2001 May 27, Gunmen abducted 21
people from the Dos Palmas Island Resort in Palawan province. Guillermo
Sobero from Corona, Ca., was one of the 3 abducted Americans. The Abu
Sayyaf claimed responsibility. Sobero was later beheaded. Missionaries
Martin and Gracia Burnham were among the kidnapped. A $300,000 ransom
for the Burnhams was paid in 2002, but the rebels then asked for
$200,000 more. [see Jun 7, 2002]
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A12)(SFC, 5/29/01, p.A8)(SFC,
10/25/01, p.C2)(SFC, 11/27/01, p.A6)(SFC, 4/27/02, p.A11)
2002 May 27, Pres. Bush
commemorated Memorial Day at Normandy American Cemetery in France,
where he honored the 9,387 men and women buried there.
(AP, 5/27/03)
2002 May 27, It was reported that
Britain was considering a confidential “action plan” proposed to
deliver a “radical reduction” in the influx of asylum seekers.
(SFC, 5/27/02, p.A1)
2002 May 27, In Israel a
Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and 2 Israelis, a toddler and
her grandmother, at a mall in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv.
(SFC, 5/28/02, p.A6)
2003 May 27, Derrick Todd Lee, a
suspected serial killer of women in Louisiana, was arrested in Atlanta.
(AP, 5/27/04)
2003 May 27, A study was released
that showed women who took hormones for years ran a higher risk of
Alzheimer's or other types of dementia.
(AP, 5/27/04)
2003 May 27, Colombia police
arrested Saul Nieto, known by the nom de guerre "Ezequiel." He was in
charge of a group of urban fighters of the National Liberation Army, or
ELN, in Medellin. 10 other rebels were also detained.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 May 27, In southern India
officials reported that a deadly heat wave has killed at least 430
people in the past two weeks.
(AP, 5/27/03)
2003 May 27, In India strong winds
and pounding rain toppled a Ferris wheel at a temple festival in Tamil
Nadu state, killing 12 people and injuring more than 20 others.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 May 27, In Iraq a US
weapons-inspection team arrived at Al Qaqaa weapons site and found that
the IAEA seals were broken and the high explosives missing. Two Iraqis
shot and killed two American soldiers in Fallujah, a hotbed of support
for Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 10/27/04, p.A3)(AP, 5/27/08)
2003 May 27, Israeli troops shot
and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy and critically wounded two
children, ages 7 and 9, during confrontations.
(AP, 5/27/03)
2003 May 27, In Peru Pres.
Alejandro Toledo declared a 30-day state of emergency and authorized
the military to clear strikers from Peru's major highways.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2004 May 27, In Baltimore 3
children were found dead. One was beheaded with a butcher knife and the
others were nearly decapitated. Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, and
Policarpio Espinoza, 22, were arrested on murder charges the next day.
(AP, 5/29/04)
2004 May 27, Australia's
conservative government introduced legislation to ban same-sex
marriages and wants immigration rules to stop gays and lesbians from
adopting foreign children. The government has also announced that
same-sex partners will be recognized for the first time by federal
authorities as dependents.
(AP, 5/27/04)
2004 May 27, In Australia
British-born Jack Roche changed his plea from innocent to guilty,
acknowledging his role in an al-Qaida plot to blow up the Israeli
Embassy in Canberra. On June 1 Roche was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
(AP, 5/28/04)(AP, 6/1/04)
2004 May 27, London police
arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Muslim cleric suspected of
helping the deadly 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole. The US sought
his extradition on terrorism charges. He was accused of trying to build
a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
(AP, 5/27/04)(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 May 27, Cuba and Mexico
agreed to return their respective ambassadors following a dispute
earlier this month.
(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 May 27, In Egypt 5 people
were burned to death and 14 others injured when a gas canister, carried
by a passenger, blew up on a commuter bus in Cairo.
(AFP, 5/28/04)
2004 May 27, The U.S.-led
coalition agreed to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after local
leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a
bloody standoff.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 May 27, In Iraq gunmen south
of Baghdad attacked a car carrying Japanese journalists Shinsuke
Hashida (61) and his nephew, Kotaro Ogawa (33). The vehicle burst into
flames and both were killed.
(AP, 5/28/04)
2004 May 27, Umberto Agnelli (69),
Fiat Chairman, died in Turin.
(SFC, 5/29/04, p.B6)y
2004 May 27, Lebanese soldiers
opened fire on anti-government demonstrators, killing 5 and wounding at
least seven. Demonstrators set fire to the Labor Ministry.
(AP, 5/27/04)(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 May 27, The Nigerian state of
Kano abandoned its moratorium on polio vaccinations.
(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)
2004 May 27, Relief workers were
racing against the clock to keep hundreds of thousands of people from
dying in Sudan's western Darfur region, in what has become the biggest
humanitarian crisis of "our age."
(AP, 5/27/04)
2004 May 27, Vito Bigione (52),
one of Italy's most-wanted Mafia suspects, was captured in Venezuela.
He was accused of a key role in international drug trafficking and
flown back to Italy. Bigione had spent years living in Namibia and only
recently moved to Venezuela.
(AP, 5/29/04)
2005 May 27, Speaking out for the
first time in favor of controversial base closings, President Bush told
the Naval Academy commencement the nation was wasting billions of
dollars on unnecessary military facilities and needed the money for the
war on terrorism.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2005 May 27, Testimony ended in
the Michael Jackson child molestation trial after prosecutors showed
jurors a video of the accuser being interviewed by police and defense
lawyers decided not to put on a rebuttal case. Jackson was later
acquitted.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2005 May 27, Pfizer Inc.
acknowledged rare cases of blindness in men taking its impotence drug
Viagra and said it is in talks with US regulators to change the drug's
label.
(Reuters, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, A lawyer for Thomas
Noe, Ohio coin dealer and Republican Party man, reported that as much
as $13 million of the state’s $50 million investment in Noe’s rare coin
fund could not be accounted for [see Oct 27].
(SFC, 5/28/05, p.A4)
2005 May 27, In North Carolina
Junior Allen (65) walked out of prison after 35 years in prison for
stealing a black-and-white television set.
(AP, 5/29/05)
2005 May 27, Schapelle Corby (27),
an Australian woman, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison
for smuggling nine pounds of marijuana onto Indonesia's Bali island.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, Thousands of HSBC
staff belonging to the Amicus trade union staged the biggest walk-out
for more than eight years against a leading British bank when they went
on strike in a bitter pay dispute.
(AFP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, Chechen warlord
Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for a power outage that caused
chaos in Moscow. Rebels said they burned a Moscow theater and caused
the blackout.
(AP, 5/27/05)(WSJ, 5/31/05, p.A1)
2005 May 27, In Colombia Diego
Fernando Murillo, a right-wing (AUC) paramilitary leader accused of
killing a state congressman, surrendered after a four-day, nationwide
manhunt.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, The EU constitution
cleared its final legislative hurdle in Germany, two days before French
voters have their say on the document. The Prum Treaty was signed by
Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria and Belgium
(Italy has since said it wants to join too). It covers a series of
justice and home affairs issues including the "exchange of information"
(in effect, the "principle of availability").
(AP,
5/27/05)(www.statewatch.org/news/2006/sep/05eu-g6.htm)
2005 May 27, Talks between India
and Pakistan to break their two-decade-old stand-off on Kashmir's
Siachen glacier, the world's highest battlefield, ended in apparent
deadlock.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, An Internet posting
said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in good health and is running his terror
organization.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 27, In Iraq gunmen shot
and killed a moderate Sunni Muslim tribal leader with close ties to
Iraqi Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk. Sheik Sabhan Khalaf
al-Jibouri, 52, died in a hail of machine-gun fire outside his home.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 27, In Nepal thousands of
activists rallied to demand a restoration of democracy in the first
such protest since the monarch seized power and ordered a crackdown on
politicians.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber set off explosives in the midst of Shiite Muslims reciting the
Quran, killing at least 20 and wounding dozens gathered for a religious
festival at a shrine near Islamabad.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, King Fahd, Saudi
Arabia's monarch for the last 23 years was hospitalized for unspecified
tests.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 27, According to Israeli
sources Syria test fired 3 Scud missiles, one of which broke up over
two Turkish villages causing no injuries, in an act of defiance to the
US and the UN. Syria denied the charges.
(AFP, 6/3/05)(AP, 6/4/05)
2006 May 27, Simultaneous wine
tastings were held in London and Napa, Ca., to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of a Paris tasting in which California wines won over
French counterparts. In this session Cabernet Sauvignon wines from
California and Bordeaux, aged 30 years or more, were tasted. California
wines won the top 5 spots.
(SFC, 6/1/06, p.F1)
2006 May 27, Paul Gleason (67),
film star, died of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to
asbestos. His over 60 films included in "Trading Places" and "The
Breakfast Club."
(AP, 5/29/06)
2006 May 27, Michael Riffaterre
(b.1924), literary theorist, died in Manhattan. His books included
“Semiotics of Poetry” (1978).
(SFC, 6/6/06, p.B5)
2006 May 27, Seven leading child
advocacy organizations said more than 2 million children under the age
of 15 are living with HIV, almost all in sub-Saharan Africa where there
is no access to treatment and death almost certain.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, It was reported that
Colombia could become a net importer of oil by 2010.
(Econ, 5/27/06, p.34)
2006 May 27, Congo released a
group of South Africans, Nigerians and Americans arrested over what it
called a suspected coup plot, saying it did not have time to try them
itself before long-awaited national elections in July. In the volatile
northeast Ituri district a Nepalese peacekeeper was killed and seven
others were feared kidnapped by militiamen during a military operation.
2 peacekeepers were released on June 27. The remaining 5 were released
July 8.
(Reuters, 5/28/06)(AP, 5/29/06)(Reuters, 7/8/06)
2006 May 27, East Timor's capital
descended into chaos as rival gangs set houses on fire and attacked
each other with machetes and spears, defying international peacekeepers
patrolling in armed vehicles and combat helicopters. The prime minister
said a coup attempt was underway.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, In Ethiopia 3 blasts
in the town of Jijiga injured 42 people.
(Reuters, 5/29/06)
2006 May 27, The EU agreed to give
itself another year to sort out the impasse over its troubled
constitution and build confidence in the bloc's plans for further
expansion.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, Romeo Lucas Garcia
(81), former Guatemalan President (1978-1982), died in Venezuela. His
rule was marked by a bloody police raid on the Spanish Embassy.
(AP, 5/28/06)
2006 May 27, In central Indonesia
a 6.3 magnitude earthquake flattened homes and hotels on Java Island as
people slept, killing some 5,800 and injuring thousands more in the
nation's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.
(AP, 5/30/06)(SFC, 6/10/06, p.B8)
2006 May 27, A US Marine AH-1
Cobra helicopter crashed in an insurgent stronghold in western Iraq,
and two crew members were missing.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, In Kyrgyzstan
thousands of protesters demonstrated in the capital Bishkek to demand
that the government undertake promised constitutional reforms.
(AP, 5/28/06)
2006 May 27, A Myanmar government
official said Nobel Peace Prize-winning pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for another year.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, Shiloh Nouvel
Jolie-Pitt, daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, was born in
Namibia, where the family had traveled for privacy.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2006 May 27, The Hamas-led
government sent its private militia back into the streets of Gaza, a
day after withdrawing the force to help calm an increasingly bloody
standoff with forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, In Mogadishu,
Somalia, Islamic militiamen and rival secular fighters traded
machine-gun, rocket and mortar fire, killing at least eight and
wounding a dozen as residents fled on foot or in hired minivans.
(AP, 5/27/06)
2006 May 27, In South Africa 13
were killed on a highway after a pickup truck slammed into the back of
a minibus taxi which exploded into flames.
(Reuters, 5/28/06)
2006 May 27, Unemployment in
Turkmenistan was estimated at over 70%. It was exacerbated by public
sector layoffs and laws restricting job seekers to their home towns.
(Econ, 5/27/06, p.40)
2007 May 27, Dario Franchitti won
a rain-abbreviated Indy 500.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2007 May 27, SF held its annual
Carnival parade in the Mission district.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D2)
2007 May 27, Gretchen Wyler (75),
a veteran Broadway actress who enjoyed a second career on television
and was a leading animal rights activist, died in Camarillo, Calif.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, The Taliban released
3 Afghan aid workers, who were kidnapped with two French colleagues
nearly two months ago. The Taliban launched a new operation targeting
government and foreign forces in Afghanistan. A roadside bomb killed
three Afghan security guards working for the coalition in the east.
Taliban militants ambushed US-led coalition and Afghan forces escorting
supply trucks in southern Afghanistan, sparking a 10-hour battle the
coalition said killed an estimated two dozen militants. Villagers said
7 civilians also died.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Edward Behr (81), a
noted British foreign correspondent and writer who penned books on
history, good eating and his career as a journalist, died in Paris.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, In eastern Congo
Rwandan rebels attacked villagers with machetes, spears and hammers,
killing 17, wounding 28 and taking up to a dozen hostages.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Iraqi and US troops
raided Baghdad's Sadr City slum, targeting Shiite insurgent cells there
for a second day. British forces in the south killed three Shiite
militants in overnight fighting. Iraqi and US forces freed 42 kidnapped
Iraqis, some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for
months, in a raid on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad. In Kut, 100
miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned and handed over
their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi Army
militants. Gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular
market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing
one person and injuring 8 others. Later, the same gunmen ambushed a
minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six
passengers. Gunmen shot up the car of Lt. Col. Hiyis al-Jubouri, a
police commander in the northern Salahuddin province, killing him and
another police officer. Gunmen attacked a group of farmers in the
al-Nahrawan district, 10 miles east of Baghdad, killing two and
injuring nine.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, PM Ehud Olmert
promised more attacks on the Hamas militant group after a Palestinian
rocket attack killed an Israeli man in southern Israel.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Kuwait's government
announced that it is moving the country's weekend to Friday and
Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday effective Sep 1.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, A Libyan court
acquitted 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medic of charges of
slandering policemen by protesting that their confessions had been
extracted under torture.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Mexico
assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles shot dead six family members,
including three children, as they ambushed a minivan on a country road.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Christian Mungiu, a
Romanian director, won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for his “3
Weeks and 2 Days,” which looked at abortion during the communist era.
Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” a film on the inequities of America’s health
system, also featured at Cannes.
(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.32)
2007 May 27, Russian police
detained gay protesters calling for the right to hold a Gay Pride
parade in central Moscow while nationalists shouting "death to
homosexuals" punched and kicked the demonstrators.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, A Rwandan genocide
court handed a 19-year prison sentence to Francois-Xavier Byuma, a
member of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of Human
Rights, for participating in the country's 1994 mass murder.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Spain's rival
Socialists and conservatives fought to a virtual tie in local
elections, highlighting the deep divisions in the country a year before
national elections. The opposition People’s Party (PP) led by Mariano
Rajoy won 35.6% vs. 34.9% for the Socialists.
(AP, 5/27/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.59)
2007 May 27, Syrian President
Bashar Assad cast his vote at a polling station as part of a one-day
public referendum to endorse him for a second term and bolster his
autocratic rule. Assad won another seven years in office, getting 97%
of the vote in a nationwide referendum in which he was the only
candidate.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Thailand
6 bombs ripped through a key commercial district, wounding 10 people.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Floods in eastern
Turkey killed 10 people including six children aged between 18 months
and 12.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Ukraine's feuding
president and prime minister agreed to hold an early parliamentary
election on Sept. 30, defusing a crisis that threatened to escalate
into violence when the president sent troops streaming toward the
capital.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Zimbabwean police
freed the bulk of 200 youth opposition activists arrested in a raid on
their party headquarters.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2008 May 27, The US Supreme Court
strengthened civil rights laws for workers over retaliation in bias
cases relating to race and anti-age discrimination.
(SFC, 5/28/08, p.A3)
2008 May 27, The US Treasury said
it will freeze the assets of four leaders of the Muslim militant group
Lashkar-e-Taiba.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)
2008 May 27, In Afghanistan 12
people including three policemen were killed in two bomb attacks in
Farah and Logar provinces. Officials blamed Taliban extremists. In
Helmand province the US-led coalition killed several militants during a
hunt in Garmser district for a Taliban leader involved with weapons
smuggling operations in the area. Several other rebels were killed in
similar operations in eastern Paktia province, bordering Logar.
Altogether the days violence left 24 people dead including 13 police
officers.
(AFP, 5/27/08)(WSJ, 5/27/08, p.A10)
2008 May 27, Argentine farm groups
vowed to suspend grain exports and meat sales, resuming protests
against controversial export taxes a day after talks with the
government stalled. DNA tests established the identity of an Argentine
woman taken from her parents during the country's military
dictatorship, the 90th such child identified by a group of grandmothers
searching for their missing relatives.
(AP, 5/27/08)(AP, 5/28/08)
2008 May 27, An Australian town
council unanimously rejected a contentious proposal to build a
1,200-student Islamic school, citing infrastructure concerns. Mayor
Chris Patterson of Camden said the decision had nothing to do with
religion but was based on the impact on traffic and loss of
agricultural land.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva swore in Carlos Minc, former environment secretary for
Rio de Janeiro state, as Brazil's new environment minister. Silva used
the swearing-in speech to lash developed nations for alleged hypocrisy
on environmental policy.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Horn-honking truckers
rumbled en masse into central London to protest against soaring fuel
prices.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Chinese officials
rushed to evacuate another 80,000 people in the path of potential
floodwaters building up behind a quake-spawned dam as soldiers carved a
channel to try to drain away the threat. A government spokesman said
the confirmed death toll in the earthquake more than two weeks ago has
risen to 67,183.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Germany unveiled a
memorial to the Nazis' long-ignored gay victims, a monument that also
aims to address ongoing discrimination by confronting visitors with an
image of a same-sex couple kissing.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Guinea's new PM Ahmed
Tidiane Souare announced a deal to pay mutinous soldiers years of
salary arrears, effectively ending the West African nation's latest
crisis.
(AP, 5/28/08)
2008 May 27, India's military
veterans staged protests nationwide to press for higher wages for
defense personnel and warned the unrest could spill over into the
serving ranks if New Delhi fails to act.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, An al-Qaida in Iraq
front group warned that insurgents were waiting for the right moment to
retaliate against a US-Iraqi security crackdown in the northern city of
Mosul. Gunmen killed a policeman near his station in Mosul, when
attackers opened fire with machine guns shortly before noon. A car bomb
in northern Iraq killed 4 civilians. A US-allied fighter was killed and
two others were wounded when a bomb under their vehicle exploded near a
market in northern Baghdad's predominantly Sunni area of Azamiyah.
(AP, 5/27/08)(WSJ, 5/27/08, p.A1)
2008 May 27, Morris Talansky (75),
an American businessman who is key to a corruption probe of PM Ehud
Olmert, told prosecutors that over 14 years he had handed Olmert
cash-stuffed envelopes for $150,000. At least $40,000 was in personal
loans and never repaid.
(AP, 5/27/08)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.49)
2008 May 27, In Mexico 7 federal
police and a suspected hit man were killed in a shootout as authorities
surrounded a suspected drug safe house in Culiacan, home to the Sinaloa
drug cartel.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Myanmar's military
junta extended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention by one
year, ignoring worldwide appeals to free the Nobel laureate who has
been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Nepal swore in 575
lawmakers who planned to declare a republic, which would automatically
displace the world’s last Hindu king.
(SFC, 5/28/08, p.A8)
2008 May 27, South African
President Thabo Mbeki came under fire for traveling to Japan as
anti-immigrant violence spread to a new province and aid groups
struggled with thousands of displaced victims.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon said the UN will investigate allegations by a leading
children's charity that UN peacekeepers are involved in widespread
sexual abuse of children. The report by Save the Children UK was based
on field research in southern Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 27, Zimbabwe's opposition
said a campaign of violence and intimidation designed to fix President
Robert Mugabe's re-election had now killed over 50 of its supporters.
(AFP, 5/27/08)
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