Today in History - May 2
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1250 May 2, Toeransa, sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1459 May 2, Pierozzi Antoninus, Italian archbishop of Florence, saint, died.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1497 May 2, John Cabot departed for North America. [see Jun 24]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1519 May 2, Artist Leonardo da Vinci (67) died at the Chateau du Clos-Luce, France, where he had lived since 1516. In 1994 A. Richard Turner wrote "Inventing Leonardo," a history of Leonardo legends. In 2004 Bulent Atalay authored “Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci." In 2004 Charles Nicholl authored “Leonard da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind."
(AP, 5/2/97)(NH, 5/97, p.58)(Econ, 5/15/04, p.80)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.81)(SSFC, 10/9/11, p.C6)
1536 May 2, King Henry VIII accused Anna Boleyn of adultery, incest, and treason. [see May 15, May 19]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1551 May 2, William Camden, English historian (Brittania, Annales), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1598 May 2, Henry IV signed the Treaty of Vervins, ending Spain's interference in France.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1601 May 2, Athanasius Kircher, German Jesuit, inventor (magic lantern), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1668 May 2, Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of Devolution in France.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1670 May 2, The Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson Bay (the Hudson Bay Co.) was chartered by England's King Charles II to exploit the resources of the Hudson Bay area. By 2006 it had mutated into Canada’s largest non-food retailer.
(AP, 5/2/97)(HN, 5/2/98)(AH, 4/01, p.36)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.36)
1729 May 2, Catherine the Great (d.1796), (Catherine II), empress (czarina) of Russia (1762-1796), was born. She succeeded her husband Peter III to the throne in 1762. "I am one of the people who love the why of things." [see Apr 21]
(AP, 9/4/97)(HN, 5/2/99)(WSJ, 2/14/02, p.A18)
1776 May 2, France and Spain agreed to donate arms to American rebels.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1797 May 2, A mutiny in the British navy spread from Spithead to the rest of the fleet.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1798 May 2, The black General Toussaint L'ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the port of Santo Domingo. After 5 years of fighting over 60% of 20,000 British troops were buried on St. Domingue.
(HN, 5/2/99)(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.12)
1808 May 2, The citizens of Madrid rose up against Napoleon. It culminated in a fierce battle fought out in the Puerta del Sol, Madrid's central square. The Spanish were defeated, and during the night the French army lead by Grand Duke Joachim Murat slaughtered hundreds of citizens along the Prado promenade in reprisal.
(HN, 5/2/98)(MC, 5/2/02)
1813 May 2, Napoleon defeated a Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorschen. During the Napoleonic Wars a British naval officer proposed the use of saturation bombing and chemical warfare.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1833 May 2, Czar Nicholas banned the public sale of serfs.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1837 May 2, Henry Martyn Roberts, parliamentarian (Robert's Rules of Order).
(HN, 5/2/02)
1844 May 2, Elijah McCoy, black inventor, held over 50 patents, was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1860 May 2, William Maddock Bayliss, British physiologist, co-discoverer of hormones, was born.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1860 May 2, Theodor Herzl, journalist, founder (Zionist movement), was born in Austria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1863 May 2, The Confederates smashed Hooker's flank and won a smashing victory at Chancellorsville, Virginia. Confederate Gen’l. Stonewall Jackson was shot by friendly fire as he returned to his lines; he died eight days later. Captain J. Keith Boswell, an officer with Jackson, was also shot and killed.
(HT, 3/97, p.48)(AP, 5/2/99)(HN, 5/2/99)
1865 May 2, President Johnson offered a $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1866 May 2, Jesse Lazear, American physician and researcher of yellow fever.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1876 May 2, American civil engineer James Buchanan Eads hired the luxury steamer Grand Republic for her maiden voyage to carry investors and the press from New Orleans to the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi to show off his work. The jetties were completed in 1880 and New Orleans went from being the nation’s 9th largest port to the 2nd largest.
(ON, 10/09, p.
1877 May 2, Vernon Castle, ballroom dancer.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1885 May 2, "Good Housekeeping" magazine was 1st published.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1885 May 2, The Congo Free State was established by King Leopold II of Belgium.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1886 May 2, Edouard Lockroy, French Minister of Culture, announced plans for a tower for the 1889 Paris exhibition and invited proposals for the project. The winning design was submitted by engineer Gustave Eiffel.
(ON, 7/03, p.9)
1887 May 2, Hannibal W. Goodwin patented celluloid photographic film.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1887 May 2, The remains of composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), were transferred from Paris to Santa Croce, Florence.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1890 May 2, The Oklahoma Territory was organized.
(AP, 5/2/97) (HN, 5/2/98)
1892 May 2, Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), was born. He was a German pilot and greatest ace of world War I with 80 planes to his credit.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1895 May 2, Lorenz Milton Hart, lyricist, collaborator with Richard Rodgers.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1902 May 2, "A Trip To The Moon," the 1st science fiction, was film released. The French film "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" (Voyage to the Moon) was a 14-minute silent film directed by Georges Melies. It displayed early efforts in trick photography to show a group of scientists traveling to the moon after being shot from a giant cannon.
(WSJ, 3/19/98, p.R4)(MC, 5/2/02)
1903 May 2, Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, author and activist, was born. His book, "Common Sense of Baby and Child Care" sold 30 million copies.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1908 May 2, The original version of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," with music by Albert Von Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was copyrighted by Von Tilzer's York Music Co. It sealed the popularity of Cracker Jacks, a popcorn candy.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AH, 10/01, p.34)(WSJ, 3/22/08, p.W16)
1912 May 2, Axel Springer, German newspaper magnate, was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1919 May 2, The first U.S. air passenger service started.
(HN, 5/2/98)
1920 May 2, 1st game of National Negro Baseball League was played in Indianapolis.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1921 May 2, Satyajit Ray, Indian film director (Aparajito, The World of Apu), was born.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1923 May 2, Lieutenants Okaley Kelly and John Macready took off from New York for the West Coast on what would become the first successful nonstop transcontinental flight.
(HN, 5/2/02)
1924 May 2, Theodore Bikel, Austrian-US folk singer, actor (Russians Are Coming), was born.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1926 May 2, US military "intervened" in Nicaragua. [see May 3]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1928 May 2, In Emeryville, Ca., a raid on a brewery next door to the home of Police Chief Ed. J. Carey uncovered 5,000 gallons of unbottled beer and 3,000 bottles of beer. Jimmy Reese, star 2nd baseman of the Oakland Coast League and son-ibn-law of Chief Carey, emerged from a cottage in front of the warehouse and demanded to know what the raid was about. Alameda Ct. DA Earl Warren filed a federal complaint against Carey.
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.E3)
1932 May 2, Pulitzer prize was awarded to Pearl S. Buck for “The Good Earth."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1932 May 2, Walter Duranty of the NY Times won a Pulitzer Prize for his series on the Soviet Union that contained uncritical praise of Joseph Stalin. In 2003 a historian argued, without success, that the prize should be revoked due to Duranty's deliberate failure to cover the forced famine in the Ukraine that killed millions of people. In 2004 David C. Engerman authored "Modernization from the Other Shore," an American view of the Soviet experience."
(SFC, 10/23/03, p.A3)(SFC, 11/22/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 2/24/04, p.D8)
1932 May 2, Jack Benny's first radio show made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1933 May 2, In Germany, Adolf Hitler banned trade unions.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1934 May 2, Nazi Germany began "People's court."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1934 May 2, In Germany a Chancellery meeting took place between Adolph Hitler and executives of General Motors Corp. and its German division (Opel). Opel quickly became an essential element in German rearmament.
(SSFC, 1/7/07, p.E6)
1936 May 2, Michael Rabin, violinist (In Memorium), was born in NYC.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1936 May 2, "Peter and the Wolf," a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premiere in Moscow.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1936 May 2, With the Italian invasion Ethiopia’s Emp. Haile Selassie left for French Somaliland. He went into exile for 5 years during which time he was based in Bath, England.
(
http://tinyurl.com/ahqhm)
1938 May 2, Pulitzer prize was awarded to Thornton Wilder (Our Town).
(MC, 5/2/02)
1939 May 2, Baseball player Henry Louis Gehrig, “the Iron Horse," asked to be taken out of the NY Yankees starting lineup in a game where the Yanks beat Tigers 22-2. He had played 2,130 consecutive games. A few weeks later he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral schlerosis, a fatal neuromuscular disease.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, Par. p.2)(SFEC, 3/30/97, BR. p.10)(MC, 5/2/02)
1941 May 2, Martin Bormann succeeded Rudolf Hess as Hitler's deputy.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1941 May 2, Hostilities broke out between British forces in Iraq and that country's pro-German faction under PM Rashid Ali. There was a pro-Axis coup led by the army. Quickly overthrown by British troops, a pro-British regime under PM Nuri al-Said was installed, declaring war on the Axis powers in 1943.
(HN, 5/2/99)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1942 May 2, Admiral Chester J. Nimitz, convinced that the Japanese would attack Midway Island, visited the island to review its readiness.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1942 May 2, Japanese troops occupied Mandalay Burma.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1945 May 2, German Army in Italy surrendered.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1945 May 2, The Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria. The Russians took Berlin after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting and General Weidling surrendered. Yevgeny Khaldei (d.1997 at 80), soldier-photographer, made pictures of Soviet soldiers hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag in Berlin.
(HFA, '96, p.30)(AP, 5/2/97)(SFC, 10/11/97, p.A19)(HN, 5/2/98)(MC, 5/2/02)
1945 May 2, Yugoslav troops occupied Trieste.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1946 May 2-1946 May 4, A 3-day siege at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended after five people were killed. Six led by bank robber Bernard Paul Coy (46) inmates took 9 guards hostage. Inmate Joe Cretzer shot the 9 hostages but killed only one. He and 2 compeers were later shot and killed. 2 inmates were executed for their part and one served out a life sentence.
(AP, 5/4/97)(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A12)(SFC, 4/12/14, p.C1)
1947 May 2, William Moulton Marston (b.1893), American psychologist, inventor and comic book writer, died. He created the character Wonder Woman, who made her debut in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moulton_Marston)
1949 May 2, Arthur Miller won Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman."
(MC, 5/2/02)
1952 May 2, Christine Baranski, actress (Maryann-Cybill, Birdcage, Sweeney Todd), was born in Buffalo NY.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1952 May 2, The British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC), the national British carrier, introduced the world’s 1st commercial jet airliner service. Initial flights took passengers from London to Johannesburg in South Africa, with stops. The British De Havilland Comet, the first commercial jetliner, was grounded later this year after a series of fatal crashes. Its flaws were fixed and the plane went on to deliver years of reliable service.
(
www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm)(Econ, 1/19/13, p.65)
1955 May 2, Pulitzer prize was awarded to Tennessee Williams for Cat on Hot Tin Roof.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1956 May 2, US Methodist church disallowed race separation.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1957 May 2, Crime boss Frank Costello narrowly survived an attempt on his life in New York; the alleged gunman, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, was acquitted at trial after Costello refused to identify him as the shooter.
(AP, 5/2/07)
1957 May 2, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (48), the controversial Republican from Wisconsin, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. McCarthy drank himself to death.
(AP, 5/2/97)(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A26)
1960 May 2, Pulitzer prize was awarded to Alan Drury (Advice & Consent).
(MC, 5/2/02)
1960 May 2, House investigating committee looked into payola questions.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1960 May 2, Caryl Chessman (39), convicted sex offender and best-selling author, the Red Light Bandit," was executed at San Quentin Prison in California. He became a best-selling author while on death row. SFC crime reporter Bernice Davis (d.2002 at 97) later authored “Desperate and the Damned," an account of the Chessman case.
(AP, 5/2/08)(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A25)(SFC, 4/20/02, p.A23)
1962 May 2, OAS struck in Algeria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1964 May 2, In Mississippi Charles Moore (19) and Henry Dee (19) were beaten and killed by local members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their mutilated bodies were later found in the Mississippi River while federal authorities searched for civil rights workers Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner. Charles Marcus Edwards and James Ford Seale were arrested for the crime, but neither was tried. In 2007 James Ford Seale (71) was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. In 2008 an appeals court ruled that the statue of limitations had expired overturning Seale’s conviction.
(SFC, 7/15/05, p.A5)(AP, 1/25/07)(AP, 1/26/07)(
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26633038/)
1965 May 2, Intelsat 1, also known as the Early Bird satellite, was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.
(AP, 5/2/08)
1967 May 2, The Stockholm Vietnam Tribunal opened and continued to May 10. The formation of this investigative body immediately followed the 1966 publication of Bertrand Russell's book, “War Crimes in Vietnam." It condemned US aggression in Vietnam and Cambodia. A 2nd session of the tribunal was held at Roskilde, Denmark, Nov 20 – Dec 1, 1967.
(
www.vietnamese-american.org/contents.html)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Tribunal)
1968 May 2, The US Army attacked Nhi Ha in South Vietnam and began a fourteen-day battle to wrestle it away from Vietnamese Communists.
(HN, 5/2/99)
1969 May 2, Franz JHMM von Papen (b.1879), German chancellor (1932), died.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Papen)
1970 May 2, Diane Crump became the 1st woman jockey at the Kentucky Derby.
(
www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8312437_ITM)
1970 May 2, Student anti-war protesters at Ohio's Kent State University burned down the campus ROTC building. Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes ordered in the National Guard to take control of the campus.
(HN, 5/2/98)(HNPD, 5/4/99)
1972 May 2, The play "That Championship Season" by Jason Miller (1939-2001) premiered in NYC off Broadway. A film version premiered in 1982.
(
http://www.bookrags.com/guides/championshipseason/)
1972 May 2, In Idaho a fire at the Sunshine Mine precipitated the death of 91 underground employees by smoke inhalation and/or carbon monoxide poisoning.
(
www.usmra.com/saxsewell/sunshine.htm)
1972 May 2, J. Edgar Hoover (b.1895), head of the FBI (1924-72), died in Washington. Hoover had come to the forefront of federal law enforcement during the "Red Scare" of 1919 to 1920. The Watergate affair subsequently revealed that the FBI had illegally protected President Richard Nixon from investigation. Ronald Kessler later published "The FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency."
(AP, 5/2/97)(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A19)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover)
1972 May 2, Camp Carroll was officially surrendered to the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. This was the first major victory for the North Vietnamese Army during the Nguyen Hue Offensive. The Viet Cong's Provisional Revolutionary Government immediately imposed their authority in the province, as collective farms were set up and strict rules instilled by the Viet Cong were forced on the villagers.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Quang_Tri)
1973 May 2, A New Jersey state trooper was killed in a gunbattle. Joanne Chesimard (b.1947), a Black Panther activist, was later found guilty in the killing and sentenced to prison. She escaped in 1979 and everntually made her way to Cuba, where she was granted asylum by Fidel Castro.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assata_Shakur)(SFC, 12/22/14, p.A8)
1974 May 2, Former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals, effectively preventing him from practicing law anywhere in the United States.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1980 May 2, Pope John Paul II arrived Kinshasa for the centennial of Catholicism in Zaire and the beginning of his African tour.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A10)(
http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1981 May 2, In California Joseph Azevedo (50) was found shot dead at his mobile home in Lancaster, LA County. On Nov 6, 2010, suspect David Winter (55), a long-haul truck driver, was arrested in Ohio.
(
http://tinyurl.com/4ekecdj)(SFC, 1/10/11, p.A4)
1981 May 2, In Savannah, Ga., Jim Williams shot and killed his younger, redneck boyfriend. Clint Eastwood based his 1997 film "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" on this event.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.C14)
1982 May 2, A project to produce oil from shale rock in Colorado's Roan Plateau collapsed due to technical hurdles and falling oil prices. Exxon Mobil laid off 2,200 workers and cancelled its $5 billion Colony Oil Shale project near Parachute.
(USAT, 3/5/04, p.6A)(Econ, 8/20/05, p.27)(SFC, 9/4/06, p.A8)
1982 May 2, In the Falklands War the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by the British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men. Some 600 Argentine sailors were killed when the Belgrano was sunk. Lord Terence Thornton Lewin (d.1999 at 78), British military commander, was regarded as the one who persuaded Margaret Thatcher to order the sinking.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A20)(
http://tinyurl.com/gbplz)
1983 May 2, A 6.4 earthquake injured 94 people in Coalinga, Ca., and caused an estimated $10 million in damages.
(
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1983_05_02.php)
1985 May 2, US financial firm E.F. Hutton pleaded guilty to charges that that it carried out a large check-kiting scam.
(WSJ, 10/15/05, p.B3)(
http://my.econedlink.org/calendar.php?month=05)
1987 May 2, Alysheba won the 113th running of the Kentucky Derby to earn a record $618,600; Bet Twice came in second and Avies Copy was third.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1988 May 2, Jackson Pollock's "Search" sold for $4,800,000.
(
http://tinyurl.com/gqov4)
1988 May 2, Cincinnati Reds baseball manager Pete Rose was suspended for 30 days by National League president A. Bartlett Giamatti, two days after Rose shoved an umpire during a game won by the New York Mets, 6-5. Giamatti died a week later. In 1998 his musings on baseball were published as “A Great and Glorious Game," ed. by Kenneth S. Robson.
(AP, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.9)
1989 May 2, At a Baltimore gathering, physicists said they were persuaded that claims of "cold fusion" were based on nothing more than experimental errors by scientists in Utah.
(AP, 5/2/99)
1990 May 2, David Rappaport (38), British 3'11' actor (Wizard, LA Law), committed suicide by gunshot in California.
(
www.imdb.com/name/nm0710884/)
1990 May 2, The government of South Africa and the African National Congress opened their first formal talks aimed at paving the way for more substantive negotiations on dismantling apartheid.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1991 May 2, US, British, French and Dutch forces plunged 50 miles deeper into northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/01)
1991 May 2, In his ninth encyclical, Pope John Paul the Second acknowledged the success of capitalism, but denounced the system for sometimes achieving results at the expense of the poor and of morality. Pope John Paul II put forth his encyclical “Centesimus Annus," on the dignity of the human person and the free economy in the free society. He pointed out that the main cause of the wealth of nations is knowledge, science, know-how, and discovery.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W13)(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)(AP, 5/2/01)
1992 May 2, Los Angeles began to recover from rioting that had erupted in the wake of the Rodney King-taped beating acquittals; about 2,800 National Guard troops patrolled the city while 3,200 stood by.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1992 May 2, Former US House Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur D. Mills died in Searcy, Ark., at age 82.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1992 May 2, Ejup Ganic took over as Bosnia's acting president. Serbian prosecutors later alleged that Ganic personally commanded a series of attacks on illegal targets across Sarajevo, including an officers' club, a military hospital and what the Serbs describe as a medical convoy making its way out of town.
(AP, 3/4/11)
1993 May 2, Authorities said they had recovered the remains of David Koresh from the burned-out Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1993 May 2, Julio Gallo (82), wine maker (Gallo), died in a car accident.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1993 May 2, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic approved a plan to end the Bosnian war. Four days later, the Bosnian Serb assembly rejected it.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1994 May 2, A jury in Detroit acquitted Dr. Kevorkian of violating a 1992 law against assisted suicide.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)(
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html)
1994 May 2, Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa's first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1995 May 2, President Clinton agreed to allow some 20,000 Cubans into the United States after months of detention at Guantanamo Bay, but said any more Cubans who fled their country would be forcibly repatriated.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1995 May 2, A new scientific theory predicted an earthquake for the Central Valley of California to occur by July 9. It was estimated to be about 6.0 in magnitude but did not happen.
(local newspaper San Luis Obispo, Ca.)
1995 May 2, Serb missiles exploded in the heart of Zagreb, killing six.
(
www.hri.org/news/usa/std/1995/95-05-02.std.html)
1996 May 2, By a 97-3 vote, the Senate passed an immigration bill to tighten border controls, make it tougher for illegal immigrants to get U.S. jobs and curtail legal immigrants' access to social services.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1996 May 2, John Dylan Katz (16) was beaten up and put into a coma in Windsor, California. He was apparently wearing the wrong colors. Arrested for the assault were Dominque Marie Gaitan (22), and 3 17-year-old youths including a girl. A 5th suspect was being sought.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-13)
1996 May 2, Some 20,000 workers marched in Asuncion, Paraguay, demanding improved wages and working conditions. Police broke up groups of strikers and detained 16 union leaders.
(SFC, 5/3/96, A-18)
1997 May 2, President Clinton and congressional Republicans came to terms on a plan to balance the budget over five years.
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A1)(AP, 5/2/98)
1997 May 2, A new national memorial honoring Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt was officially opened in Washington, D.C., and was dedicated by Pres. Clinton
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A3)(AP, 5/2/98)
1997 May 2, In Texas Robert Scheidt surrendered to police and left behind 7 people of the Republic of Texas under the leadership of Richard McLaren. The number of separatists was reduced to 7 from an earlier estimate of 13.
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A3)
1997 May 2, Tony Blair, whose new Labor Party crushed John Major's long-reigning Conservatives, became at age 44 Britain's youngest prime minister in 185 years.
(AP, 5/2/98)
1997 May 2, In Bulgaria the average salary was reported as $30 a month and the average pension $4 a month.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A18)
1997 May 2, In Zaire the Tenke Mining Corp. of Vancouver, Canada, signed a $250 million contract with the rebels to develop copper and cobalt deposits.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A10)
1998 May 2, In the 124th Kentucky Derby jockey Kent Desormeaux rode to victory on "Real Quiet."
(BS, 5/3/98, p.1A)(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, In separate radio addresses, President Clinton and congressional Republicans lambasted the Internal Revenue Service and promised more reforms to prevent future abuses.
(AP, 5/2/99)
1998 May 2, Police fired tear gas into a crowd of 3,000 students at Michigan State Univ. who were protesting the end of drinking at Munn Field.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)
1998 May 2, It was reported that a small galaxy was detected 12.3 Billion light-years away, 94% of the distance back to the Big Bang.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A7)
1998 May 2, The European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was launched in Brussels with 11 nations welcomed as the founding members.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A18)
1998 May 2, Cambodian refugees entered Thailand as government troops declared that they had all but destroyed the Khmer Rouge.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.16A)
1998 May 2, In Indonesia tens of thousands of students in Jakarta and at least a dozen other cities rallied against the government.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 2, In Tajikistan government troops withdrew from around the capital after 4 days of fighting Islamist opposition forces. An agreement for a peaceful settlement was reached.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.17A)
1999 May 2, A US F-16 went down over western Serbia on the 39th night of air strikes. Allied forces rescued the pilot.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A3)
1999 May 2, Actor Oliver Reed died in Malta at age 61.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1999 May 2, Yugoslav authorities handed over to the Rev. Jesse Jackson three American prisoners of war who had been held for 32 days.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A1)(AP, 5/2/00)
1999 May 2, NATO bombings struck the Obrenovac power plant in Belgrade and blacked out large areas of Serbia. A soft bomb (KIT-18) sprayed graphite over the power station and shorted its circuits. A metalworks factory in Valjevo was hit and missile hit Mitrovica where one woman was killed and several civilians wounded.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)(SFC, 5/4/99, p.D1)
1999 May 2, In Colombia Pres. Pastrana and Manual Marulanda Velez, the leader of FARC, agreed to begin formal peace negotiations with int'l. observers.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.C5)
1999 May 2, In Mexico Rodolfo Montiel, a peasant leader in a struggle to protect the forests of the southern Sierra Madre, was arrested, tortured and jailed on trumped-up drug and weapons charges for his battle against US and local logging companies. Teodoro Cabrera was also arrested. Pres. Fox ordered the release of Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera on Nov 8, 2001.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A16)(SFC, 11/9/01, p.A20)
1999 May 2, In Nepal insurgents killed 2 police officers the day before parliamentary elections that they asked voters to boycott. The rebels demanded land reforms and an end to the monarchy. Election related violence left at least 10 people dead.
(WSJ, 5/3/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/4/99, p.A1)
1999 May 2, In Panama presidential elections were scheduled. Martin Torrijos, son of Gen'l. Omar Torrijos, was favored over Mireya Moscoso (52), wife of the late Arnulfo Arias. Moscoso led the vote in early returns.
(SFC, 4/29/99, p.D5)(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)
1999 May 2, Serbian police ambushed a convoy of ethnic Albanians near Studime and 109 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/8/02, p.A14)
2000 May 2, An investigating panel concluded that Texas A&M University students cut corners in construction and school officials failed to adequately supervise them before a bonfire collapse in November 1999 that killed 12 people.
(AP, 5/2/01)
2000 May 2, Jockey Julie Krone became the first female elected to thoroughbred racing’s hall of fame.
(AP, 5/2/01)
2000 May 2, Former nurse Christina Marie Riggs was executed by injection in Arkansas for smothering her two young children.
(AP, 5/2/01)
2000 May 2, In Armenia Pres. Robert Kocharian fired Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian and his government for allowing the economy to deteriorate and for ignoring discord in the military. Police security was tightened around government buildings.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A14)
2000 May 2, In Belgium the Parliament opened an inquiry into possible government involvement in the 1961 killing of Congo’s Premier Patrice Lumumba. This followed allegations in the new book “The Murder of Lumumba" by Ludo De Witte.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A14)
2000 May 2, In Israel the Day of the Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, was observed. The date was fixed by Israel to commemorate the Warsaw Jewish ghetto uprising of 1943.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A12,13)
2000 May 2, In Indonesia it was reported that a tribal conflict between the Wampe and Bilaga on West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, had left over 100 people dead in the last year.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A10)
2000 May 2, In the Philippines rebels at Talipao threatened to behead 2 hostages if military troops were not pulled back.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A12)
2000 May 2, In Rwanda health minister Ezechias Rwabuhihi reported that some 500,000 Rwandans, 6% of the population, were infected with AIDS.
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A18)
2000 May 2, In Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front rebels seized 50 UN workers over the last 2 days as the West African intervention force completed its pullout. The seizures took place in Makeni, Kailahun and Magburaka.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A13)
2001 May 2, President Bush and Republican congressional leaders clinched a budget deal embracing most of the president's tax and spending goals.
(AP, 5/2/02)
2001 May 2, It was reported that a large embezzlement case in Brazil threatened to unravel the ruling coalition. Some $2 billion had disappeared from the Amazon Development Bureau (Sudam). Fakery of land deals (grilagem) was estimated to involve some 100 million acres of the Amazon Basin.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B5)
2001 May 2, In China US technical experts examined the US spy plane on Hainan Island.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A1)
2001 May 2, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan returned to China from Russia with a draft accord for relations with Russia.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D2)
2001 May 2, In China a landslide in Wulong County buried a 9-story building where 76 of 95 residents were home. 65 bodies were recovered. At least 79 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D2)(AP, 5/2/02)
2001 May 2, Germany inaugurated its new Chancellery in Berlin designed by Axel Schultes. There were concerns that the building was too grandiose.
(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B2)(AP, 5/2/02)
2001 May 2, Israeli bulldozers demolished 20 houses in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza and killed one teenager during the predawn operation.
(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B1)
2001 May 2, In North Korea Kim Jong Il agreed to hold talks with visiting EU officials about his missile program and tensions with South Korea. Kim Jong Il announced that North Korea would launch no ballistic missiles until 2003.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A14)
2001 May 2, In Zambia the ruling party ousted Vice Pres. Christon Tembo, 8 Cabinet members and 11 0ther senior officials who opposed Pres. Chiluba’s bid for a 3rd term.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D3)
2002 May 2, The Rev. Paul Shanley, a priest at the epicenter of the clergy sex abuse scandal, turned himself in to authorities in San Diego to face charges in Massachusetts of raping boys during the 1980s. Shanley pleaded innocent but was later convicted of repeatedly raping one boy, and was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2002 May 2, The Bush administration committed to join a UN int’l. conference on Middle East peace and economic reconstruction.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A1)
2002 May 2, A federal crackdown on identity theft reported 130 recent arrests. Estimates were that some 500,000 people were victimized annually.
(WSJ, 5/3/02, p.A1)
2002 May 2, The US Int’l. Trade Commission upheld a 27% tariff against imported Canadian softwood.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.B1)
2002 May 2, Dr. William F. Gibson (69), former head of the NAACP, died.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A21)
2002 May 2, In the Bahamas the opposition Liberal Progressive Party won Parliamentary elections with 23 seats in the 40-seat legislature. Perry Christie (b.1944) led the party to victory and served as prime minister to 2007.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A10)(AP, 5/8/12)(
http://tinyurl.com/7crjgun)
2002 May 2, A report on Iraq’s oil sales showed that illegal surcharges allowed Iraq to siphon off large amounts for its war chest.
(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.A1)
2002 May 2, Yasser Arafat emerged from his West Bank headquarters, hours after Israeli troops withdrew from his compound and released the Palestinian leader from months of confinement.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2002 May 2, In the Philippines Salip Abdullah, a key aide to Abu Sayyaf chief Janjalini, was captured in Labangal village near General Santos.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A10)
2002 May 2, In Pakistan a bomb exploded in Karachi and a boy (12) was killed.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A12)
2003 May 2, A US official warned that the US is ready to sacrifice the free flow of trade with Canada if necessary to respond to a planned Canadian decriminalization of marijuana.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, A federal court struck down most of the new campaign finance law's ban on the use of large corporate and union contributions by political parties. However, the Supreme Court later ruled that rooting out corruption, or even the appearance of it, justified limitations on the free speech and free spending of contributors, candidates and political parties.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2003 May 2, The US jobless rate was reported at 6%, an 8-year high.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.B1)
2003 May 2, China reported an accident on a diesel-powered submarine that killed all 70 sailors aboard.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, James Miller (34), a British journalist filming a documentary in the southern Palestinian city of Rafah, was shot and killed during an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. In 2006 a British jury ruled that the shooting was an act of murder. In 2009 Israel agreed to pay about $2 million to the family Miller.
(AP, 5/2/04)(AP, 4/6/06)(AP, 2/1/09)
2003 May 2, India and Pakistan agreed to hold talks and restore diplomatic and air links.
(WSJ, 5/5/03, p.A1)
2003 May 2, Striking Nigerian oil workers released the first of hundreds of people they have held for days on oil rigs as part of an agreement to free all the captives.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, In Papua New Guinea a landslide buried a meeting hall under mud and debris, killing at least eight people as they listened to election results.
(AP, 5/3/03)
2003 May 2, In eastern Sicily Giuseppe Leotta (42), a disgruntled worker, opened fire with a handgun in the Aci Castello town hall, killing 5 people. He fled and then killed himself.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 2, In Taiwan 11 more cases of SARS were confirmed with 5 new deaths. Confirmed cases totaled 100 with the death toll at 8. Mutations of the virus were also reported.
(SFC, 5/3/03, p.A7)
2003 May 2, Chuwit Kamolvisit, A sex club operator in Thailand, was arrested for unlawfully demolishing a downtown Bangkok block housing scores of bars and shops to make way for another massage parlor, the Taj Mahal. He soon claimed to have spent about $289,156 each month in payoffs to policemen.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2003 May 2, In Vietnam an aging Russian-made bus, carrying more than 40 passengers, burst into flames. 6 people died and 70 were badly burned. Flammable cargo was suspected.
(AP, 5/3/03)
2004 May 2, In Afghanistan a fuel-truck explosion killed at least 25 people in western Herat.
(WSJ, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, In Colombia 2 small bombs exploded outside the Ministry of Social Affairs in Bogota, injuring nine people and shattering windows.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, American hostage Thomas Hamill, kidnapped three weeks ago in an insurgent attack on his convoy, was found by U.S. forces south of Tikrit after he apparently escaped from his captors.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, Shiite militiamen attacked a U.S. convoy in southern Iraq, killing two soldiers and setting vehicles on fire. Two other American soldiers were killed in Baghdad. At least 9 US soldiers were killed across central and northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, Adzharian forces blew up the three major bridges connecting their recalcitrant province with the rest of Georgia in what their leader said was a preventive measure against Georgian military action.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, In Israel PM Sharon’s Likud Party rejected his proposal to withdraw troops and settlers from the West Bank. Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli vehicle in the Gaza Strip, killing 4 children and their mother. Israeli soldiers killed the 2 attackers.
(AP, 5/2/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, In Mexico a small plane carrying federal anti-narcotics agents crashed, killing all seven people on board.
(AP, 5/4/04)
2004 May 2-4, In Nigeria Tarok fighters, a predominantly Christian tribe, attacked Yelwa, a town dominated by Hausa, a rival Muslim ethnic group, razing homes and mosques and killing 500-600 people in 2 attacks over the last 3 days.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A9)
2004 May 2, Martin Torrijos (40), son of former military dictator Gen’l. Omar Torrijos, was easily elected as Panama's next leader in its first presidential vote since the handover of the Panama Canal and withdrawal of US troops in December 1999. Torrijos promised to tackle vested interests.
(AP, 5/3/04)(Econ, 1/19/08, p.39)
2005 May 2, Florida’s Gov. Bush signed legislation imposing 25-year jail terms for some child molesters and forcing many to wear satellite tracking gear upon release.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A1)
2005 May 2, Utah’s Gov. Jon Huntsman signed a measure defying the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act despite a warning from the federal education secretary that it could cost $76 million in federal aid. The legislation gives Utah's education standards priority over federal requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 2, Pvt. 1st Class Lynndie England, the young woman pictured in some of the most notorious Abu Ghraib photos, pleaded guilty at Fort Hood, Texas, to mistreating prisoners. However, a judge later threw out the plea agreement; England was later convicted in a court-martial and sentenced to three years in prison.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2005 May 2, Neiman Marcus agreed to be sold to Texas pacific Group and Warburg Pincus for $5.1 billion.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.B1)
2005 May 2, Verizon Communications won its bid to buy MCI Inc. in an $8.44 billion deal.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A1)
2005 May 2, Bob Hunter (63), inspirer of Greenpeace, died.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.89)
2005 May 2, In Afghanistan an arms cache, hidden under the house of a warlord and former government militia commander named Jalal Bashgah, exploded in a bunker beneath his home killing 34 people, injuring 16 and devastating surrounding buildings.
(AP, 5/2/05)(SFC, 5/3/05, p.A5)
2005 May 2, Brazil posted a record trade surplus for the month of April. During the month its currency rose 5% against the dollar.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A14)
2005 May 2, Jose Miguel Insulza, Chile’s interior minister, became head of the Organization of American States.
(WSJ, 5/2/05, p.A16)
2005 May 2, Coalition soldiers fought suspected insurgents near Qaim, a Syrian border town, in a battle that killed 12 militants, injured a 6-year-old girl and wounded six coalition soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 2, A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky resigned to protest the planned Gaza withdrawal, which he called a "tragic mistake" that will encourage Palestinian violence and deepen the rift in Israeli society.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian fugitive were killed in a shootout at Seideh in the West Bank.
(AP, 5/2/05)(SFC, 5/3/05, p.A5)
2005 May 2, Italian investigators blamed US military authorities for failing to signal there was a checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad road where American soldiers killed an Italian agent, concluding in a report that stress, inexperience and fatigue played a role in the shooting.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 2, In Kuwait a push to allow women to participate in local elections stalled when Islamist and conservative lawmakers abstained en masse from a key vote in parliament, leaving the measure undefeated but short of the number of votes needed for passage.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, An Oman state security court convicted 30 people of plotting to overthrow the sultan and install an Islamic government, but spared them the death penalty. Another defendant was convicted of a lesser crime.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, Pakistani authorities arrested Abu Farraj al-Libbi, head of al-Qaida operations in Pakistan. The nation's most-wanted militant had a $10 million bounty on his head. A 2nd militant was seized with al-Libbi, who has a five-million-dollar US bounty on his head, was himself a key Al-Qaeda figure with a reward tag of four million dollars.
(AP, 5/4/05)(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 2, Yevgeny Adamov, Russia's former nuclear energy minister, was arrested in the Swiss capital on a US warrant accusing him of diverting up to $9 million from funds intended to improve Russian nuclear security.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 2, The world's nations gathered, for the 7th time since it took force in 1970, to reassess how well the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is working.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2006 May 2, Louis Rukeyser (73) died in Connecticut. The best-selling author, columnist, lecturer and television host had delivered pun-filled, commonsense commentary on complicated business and economic news.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 2, In Minnesota a small, spiral-shaped snail that clones itself and is native to New Zealand has been discovered in Duluth-Superior Harbor and the St. Louis River estuary, raising concerns about the impact of another invasive species.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 2, A pre-dawn fire in NYC raged through a 21-acre site. It destroyed 15 industrial buildings and was the worst city fire in 10 years.
(
http://nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/home2.shtml)(WSJ, 5/27/06, p.P9)
2006 May 2, A suspected suicide attacker set off a car bomb on a road between the Afghan capital Kabul and a main US military base, killing himself and a civilian.
(AFP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Bolivia's leftist government said it would extend control over mining, forestry and other sectors of the economy. Foreign governments warned relations could be damaged. Soldiers guarded natural gas fields and refineries across Bolivia after President Evo Morales ordered the sector nationalized, threatening to evict foreign companies unless they cede control over production within six months.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Canada's new government released its first federal budget, offering broad tax cuts and pledging to shore up the country's security with spending increases for the military, border security and policing.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, The Canadian dollar cracked 90 US cents, setting a new 28-year high and helping Canadians to realize cheaper US imports of everything from vegetables and clothing to computers.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, China's official Xinhua News Agency said glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the "roof of the world," are melting at a rate of 7 percent annually due to global warming.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, In Colombia the entire municipal council of Villavieja resigned and fled to Neiva in Huila province, fearing for their lives amid a spate of political killings.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 2, In western India at least 30 people were killed when a crowded bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river. The bus, which had a capacity of 58 but was carrying 69 passengers, was traveling from Kashimira town to Thane, near Mumbai.
(AFP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, In Iran a court sentenced two Swedes to three years in prison each for photographing military installations. The two men, both in their 30s, were convicted of photographing military buildings and telecommunications equipment on Qeshm, an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Iraq's parliament speaker said in a nationally televised speech that the new government's top priority will be ending widespread bloodshed in cities such as Baghdad. But insurgents launched new attacks, killing at least seven Iraqis and a US soldier. US soldiers raided an al-Qaeda site and killed 10 insurgents, including 3 in suicide vests. German engineers Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke were released unharmed following 99 days in captivity.
(AP, 5/2/06)(WSJ, 5/3/06, p.A1)(AP, 5/3/07)
2006 May 2, PM Silvio Berlusconi, the longest-serving leader in postwar Italy, resigned to make way for a center-left government led by Romano Prodi.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Nepal's new prime minister announced a seven-member Cabinet, designating a communist as his deputy and foreign minister.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, In Norway 3 key suspects were convicted in the theft of the Edvard Munch masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" and sentenced to between four and eight years in prison. The works were snatched by masked gunmen from the Munch Museum in Oslo in August 2004. They are still missing.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, An explosion destroyed a building inside a Palestinian national security compound in the northern Gaza Strip, killing two police officers and wounding seven others.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 2, Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse called for immediate peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, saying his tiny tropical island had seen enough violence. Gunmen stormed the offices of the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, 400 kilometers north of the capital Colombo, killing a manager and another employee. The next day the government said the murders were timed to embarrass it as Sri Lanka hosted UNESCO World Press Freedom Day celebrations, while the rebel Tamil Tigers blamed government forces for the attack.
(AP, 5/2/06)(AFP, 5/3/06)
2007 May 2, In a defeat for anti-war Democrats, Congress failed to override President Bush's veto of legislation requiring the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Bush declared al-Qaida "public enemy No. 1 in Iraq."
(AP, 5/2/08)
2007 May 2, Cablevision Systems Corp. agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6 billion in cash.
(SFC, 5/3/07, p.C2)
2007 May 2, James Abegglen, American-born chronicler of the rise of “Japan Inc.," died in Japan. In the 1960s and 1970s he warned corporate America that Japan should be taken more seriously. His 9th book was titled “21st-Century Japanese Management."
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)
2007 May 2, Afghan regional officials said that 51 villagers, some of them women and children, were killed in recent fighting in western Afghanistan. The US-led coalition said it had no reports of civilian deaths.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A former prime minister led his opposition party to victory in the Bahamas, returning to power in elections dominated by questions about the direction of the tourism-driven economy. Hubert Ingraham's Free National Movement won 23 seats in the 41-seat legislature, while PM Perry Christie's Progressive Liberal Party claimed the other 18.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a mature dairy cow in the province of British Columbia.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, An Egyptian court sentenced Al Jazeera producer Huweida Taha Metwalli to six months in jail or a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760) for her part in producing a feature on torture by Egyptian police.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The grave of Hungary's last communist ruler, Janos Kadar (1956-1988), was pried open and his remains and his wife's urn were thought to have been stolen.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The Iranian state news agency reported that the country's former nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, has been arrested on an unspecified security charge.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A suicide car bomber struck in the main Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least nine people as the US military said its troop buildup in Baghdad was nearly complete. Three more US soldiers were killed by bombs in the capital. At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Agency said hundreds of dead seals have washed up on its Caspian Sea shoreline in the past several days, bringing the total number of the animals found dead along the shoreline in recent weeks to 832.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Ahmed Errachidi (41) a Moroccan man sent home from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay last week, was released by local authorities after terrorism-related charges were dropped.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The International Criminal Court in the Hague said it has issued arrest warrants for the Sudanese government's humanitarian affairs minister and a janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of oil production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following a militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Romania’s Parliament approved an agreement allowing the US to use four military bases and station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, Russian oil firms rushed to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away from ports in Estonia after Russia's railways halted the route amid a political dispute with Tallinn. Young Russians staged raucous protests in Moscow to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war memorial from its capital, and the Estonian ambassador said pro-Kremlin activists tried to attack her as she arrived at a news conference.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The South Korean government announced its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged Korean collaborators during Japanese colonial rule as part of efforts to reconcile with its past more than 60 years after the end of the peninsula's occupation. 2 defectors to South Korea described how they had been tortured in a North Korean prison camp, as a South Korean rights group issued a report on abuses of detainees in the communist state.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Taiwan's opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou was nominated by his Kuomintang party to run for the 2008 presidential election and pledged to improve economic ties with China.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Thailand's military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont said he has tasked his southern army commander with developing a detailed amnesty proposal for Islamic militants.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The US and EU warned Turkey's military to stay out of the country's political showdown between the Islamic-rooted government and those in the secular establishment who fear the country will shift toward Islamic rule.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Isaac Matongo (60), the chairman of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and former trade unionist, died.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2008 May 2, The US Federal Reserve and key European central banks announced a fresh offensive against a global credit crisis that has gridlocked lending and slowed the world economy.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 2, Severe storms rolled across Arkansas and ki
