Today in History - May 1
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This day is dedicated to St. David, the patron of Wales.
(WSJ, 8/3/98, p.A12)
For Asian History: https://www.asiaobserver.org/category/news/on-this-day-in-asian-history
305 May 1, Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus (Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
408 May 1, Theodosius II succeeded to the throne of Constantinople.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1006 May 1, A supernova was observed by Chinese and Egyptians in constellation Lupus.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1171 May 1, Dermot MacMurrough (b.1110), last Irish King of Leinster, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarmait_Mac_Murchada)
1308 May 1, King Albert [of Austria] was murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1486 May 1, Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1493 May 1, Phillippus Paracelsus, physician and alchemist, was born in Switzerland.
(HN, 5/1/98)(MC, 5/1/02)
1528 May 1, The Spanish Narvaez expedition began an inland march to Florida with some 300 men and 40 horses.
(ON, 10/03, p.1)
1562 May 1, The 1st French colonists in the US, a 5-vessel Huguenot expedition led by Jean Ribault (1520-1565), landed in Florida. He continued north and established a colony named Charlesfort at Parris Island, SC.
(Arch, 1/05, p.47)(www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0841765.html)
1567 May 1, Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, Dutch royal painter, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1572 May 1, Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri), grand inquisitor, Pope (1566-72), died. He was succeeded by Gregory XIII.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(MC, 5/1/02)
1628 May 1, A May festival in Quincy, Mass., degenerated into an orgy with Indian women.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1633 May 1, Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban, French fortress architect, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1672 May 1, Joseph Addison (d.1719), English essayist (Spectator) and poet, was born. "We are always doing, says he, something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us." "A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side."
(AHD, 1971, p.14)(AP, 11/21/97)(AP, 7/14/98)(MC, 5/1/02)
1700 May 1, John Dryden (b.1631), English poet, playwright (Rival Ladies), died. He had written that repentance was virtue of weak minds and the want of power to sin.
(MC, 5/1/02)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.70)
1704 May 1, Boston Newsletter published the 1st US newspaper ad.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1707 May 1, Effective on this day Scotland and England, which already included Wales, were united by an act of Parliament to form Great Britain.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)(AP, 5/1/07)
1759 May 1, British fleet occupied Guadeloupe, in the West Indies. [see Apr 23]
(MC, 5/1/02)
1764 May 1, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol, was born.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1764 May 1, Gottfried Rieger, composer, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1769 May 1, Arthur Wellsley, Duke of Wellington "Iron Duke," was born. He defeated Napoleon at Waterloo and later became the British prime minister (1828-30). [see Apr 24]
(HN, 5/1/99)(MC, 5/1/02)
1776 May 1, Adam Weishaupt founded the secret society of Illuminati.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1777 May 1, Richard Brinsley Sheridan's "School for Scandal," premiered in London with Georgiana Cavendish as Lady Teazle. "Its assumptions are that lust and greed - when allied with beauty and cunning - deserve to triumph over dullness and age." He also wrote “A Trip to Scarborough," a rewrite of a Restoration original.
(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-6)(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.W6)(MC, 5/1/02)
1781 May 1, Emperor Josef II decreed protection of population.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1786 May 1, The opera "The Marriage of Figaro," by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered in Vienna.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1805 May 1, The state of Virginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1807 May 1, John Bankhead "Prince John" Magruder, Major General (Confederate Army), was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1825 May 1, George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap), was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1830 May 1, Mother (Mary Harris) Jones, reformer and labor organizer, was born. [see 1837]
(HN, 5/1/01)
1832 May 1, Russia’s Tsar Nicolas I closed Lithuania’s Univ. of Vilnius in response to the November uprising of 1830.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_University_Library)
1839 May 1, Louis-Maire-Hilaire Bernigaud, French chemist, inventor of rayon, was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)
1840 May 1, The 1st adhesive postage stamps, the" Penny Blacks" from England, were issued.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1841 May 1, The 1st emigrant wagon train left Independence, Missouri, for California.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1844 May 1, Whig convention nominated Henry Clay as presidential candidate.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1844 May 1, Samuel Morse (1791-1872) sent the 1st telegraphic message as a demonstration between Washington, DC, and Baltimore [see Jan 6, 1838]. The line officially opened on May 24, 1844.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morse)
1851 May 1, The Great Council Exhibition, the first-ever World’s Fair, opened in London’s Hyde Park. Some 6 million people came to see the new glass and iron Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton (1823-1865). Paxton used roof ventilators and underground air-cooling chambers to regulate indoor temperature.
(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A16)(ON, 7/04, p.12)(Econ, 12/4/04, TQ p.17)
1852 May 1, Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], frontier adventurer, Indian fighter, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1855 May 1, In San Francisco a deed was granted to Fr. Anthony Maraschi for Lot 127 on Market St. between Fourth and Fifth. It had been owned by Thomas O. Larkin, the first American consul in Monterey, who sold it for $11,500.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1857 May 1, William Walker, conqueror of Nicaragua, surrendered to the US Navy. Cornelius Vanderbilt helped finance a Costa Rican army, which defeated Walker’s forces, and paid men under Walker’s command to defect. Walker later sought protection on a British naval vessel, whose captain turned him over to Hondurans, who executed him in 1860.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(soldier))(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W7)
1858 May 1, Anthony Johnson Showalter, composer, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1862 May 1, Marcel Prevost, French publisher, writer (Les demis-vierges), was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1863 May 1, Confederate congress passed a resolution to kill black Union soldiers.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1863 May 1, Confederate "National Flag" replaced "Stars & Bars."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1863 May 1, The beginning of the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., in the East and the Battle Port Gibson in the west. The new Union commander, ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker, planned to encircle Robert E. Lee at the Virginia crossroads hamlet of Chancellorsville.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1864 May 1-8, Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana (Red River Campaign).
(MC, 5/1/02)
1864 May 1, Atlanta campaign, GA.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1865 May 1, In Charleston, SC, some 10,000 people paraded to a mass grave site of Union soldiers at a former race track. This was likely the 1st large-scale US Memorial Day event. [see May 5, 1866, 1868]
(SFC, 5/26/03, p.A1)
1866 May 1, In San Francisco Robert B. Woodward (d.1879) opened his Woodward’s Gardens amusement park with a 25-cent admission. He had bought property and a stately mansion of US Sen. John C. Fremont located between Mission and Valencia to the east and west and 13th and 15th streets to the north and south. In 1873 the park added the nation’s first aquarium.
(SFC, 10/30/12, p.E6)(SSFC, 7/19/15, p.F3)(SFC, 12/19/15, p.C2)
1867 May 1, Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1869 May 1, Folies Bergere opened in Paris.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1872 May 1, Hugo Alfvjen, composer (Midsommarvaka), was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1873 May 1, David Livingstone (60), British physician, explorer (Africa), died in Chitambo, Zambia. His body passed through Zanzibar for a funeral in London in Apr 18, 1874.
(www.heroesofhistory.com/page55.html)(SSFC, 7/13/03, p.C9)
1877 May 1, President Hayes ordered the withdrawal all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
(http://www.historycentral.com/rec/EndofRec.html)
1878 May 1, James Graham was born. He was the inventor of the first naval aircraft-carrying ship and the first man to film a total eclipse of the Sun.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1878 May 1, The third Paris World’s Fair opened and continued to Nov 10. It showcased ice machines and electric street lights.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_%281878%29)(Econ, 6/13/15, p.52)
1881 May 1, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (d.1955), French Jesuit philosopher, paleontologist, was born. He authored the “Phenomenon of Man" wherein he proposed the idea of the noosphere, i.e. sphere of mind, in which all the minds of all the humans on earth could be conceived of as both separate and as combined in one great, single intelligence.
(V.D.-H.K.p.388)(MC, 5/1/02)
1881 May 1, A family wagon got stuck on train tracks the SF Bay town of San Lorenzo, Ca. 5 of 6 children were killed.
(http://www.sanlorenzoheritage.org/history/slzintro.htm)(SFC, 10/10/14, p.A11)
1883 May 1, "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1884 May 1, Construction began on the first steel-skeleton skyscraper, a 10-story structure in Chicago, designed by William Le Baron Jenney and built by the Home Insurance Co. of New York. It was completed in 1885. It stood 9 stories and had 2 added in 1891.
(HT, 5/97, p.23)(SFEC, 11/22/98, Z1 p.8)(AP, 5/1/99)
1889 May 1, Bayer in Germany introduced aspirin in powder form.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1892 May 1, Howard Barlow, conductor (Voice of Firestone), was born in Plain City, Ohio.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1892 May 1, A US quarantine station opened on Angel Island, SF Bay.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1893 May 1, The World’s Columbian Exposition was officially opened in Chicago by President Cleveland. The El in Chicago was erected to take visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition. It created a section of town called the Loop encircled by the railway. The exposition grounds covered over 600 acres of south Chicago along Lake Michigan. The exposition attracted over 21 million visitors who saw such wonders as the Ferris Wheel and electricity (first displayed in the Paris Exposition in 1889, but still unknown to most Americans). It was the first American exposition to make a profit. In 2003 Erik Larson authored “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and madness at the Fair That Changed America."
(AP, 5/1/97)(Hem. 7/96, p.25)(HNQ, 2/18/01)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.M1)
1895 May 1, In San Francisco Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), along with a group of like-minded associates, began publishing an irreverent literary magazine called the Lark. His poems, "The Purple Cow" appeared in the first issue. Burgess was the leader of group of artists living in the Montgomery Block. A final issue, number 25 entitled The Epi-Lark, was published May 1, 1897.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelett_Burgess)(SFC, 10/27/18, p.C2)
1896 May 1, Mark Clark, American general, was born. He commanded the Fifth Army in Italy during World War II.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1896 May 1, Nasr-ed-Din (65), shah of Persia, was murdered.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1898 May 1, US Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Admiral George Dewey led the US Navy in victory over the Spanish navy at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Dewey’s ships lobbed shells into Filipino-dug trenches and the battle became a massacre.
(AP, 5/1/97)(Hem, Dec. 94, p.70)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)(HN, 5/1/99)
1902 May 1, John Glover (85), English chemist (production sulfuric acid), died.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1904 May 1, Antonin Dvorak (b.1841), Czech composer (Slavonic Dances, New World Symphony), died at age 62. He spent 1892-1895 in the US as an honored guest. In 2002 Michael B. Beckerman authored “New Worlds of Dvorak: Searching in America for the Composer’s Inner Life."
(MC, 5/1/02)(SSFC, 1/19/03, p.M5)
1907 May 1, Kate Smith (d.1986), singer, was born in Washington, DC.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Smith)
1909 May 1, Walter Reed Hospital opened in Washington DC as an 80-bed Army medical center. It closed in 2011 and operations were moved to facilities in Maryland and Virginia.
(SFC, 8/26/05, p.A13)(SFC, 7/28/11, p.A4)
1913 May 1, Walter Susskind, conductor, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1914 May 1, Yuan Shikai, China's 1st president, won dictatorial qualification.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1915 May 1, The luxury liner Lusitania left New York Harbor for a voyage to Europe. There were warnings by the German government in NYC newspapers that it regarded the refurbished liner a battle target. She was sunk by a German U-boat six days later.
(HN, 5/1/99)(MC, 5/1/02)
1915 May 1, A German submarine sank the U.S. ship Gulflight I.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1916 May 1, Glenn Ford, actor, was born in Quebec, Canada. He starred in the film "The Blackboard Jungle."
(HN, 5/1/99)(MC, 5/1/02)
1917 May 1, Caucasian unity was proclaimed at the first Mountain People's Congress in Vladikavkaz. The idea of a Caucasus Confederation had its origins in the spring of 1917 and was developed further in 1918. At the Congress the "Alliance of United Mountain People of the North Caucasus and Dagestan", headed by T. Chermoev, a Chechen, R. Kaplanov, a Kumyk, P. Kotsev, a Kabardian, V. Dzhabagiev, an Ingush, and others, was officially established. The Abkhazian people also became full members of this alliance. A Mountain Peoples' Government was formed in November 1917.
(www.ciaonet.org/olj/crs/crs_1998sp/crs98sp_las01.html)
1918 May 1, Jack Paar (d.2004), later late-night TV talk show host, was born in Canton, Ohio.
(www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/paarjack/paarjack.htm)
1919 May 1, Dan O'Herlihy, actor (Fail Safe, Last Starfighter, Robocop), was born in Ireland.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1919 May 1, In Indonesia Mount Kelud erupted. A powerful explosion that could be heard hundreds of miles away destroyed dozens of villages and killed at least 5,160 when a boiling crater lake broke through the crater wall killing people in 104 small villages.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A14)(AP, 11/3/07)
1919 May 1, In Mexico Pancho Villa married Soledad Seanez Holguin. This was recognized by the state in 1946 after proof showed the pair had both a civil and a church wedding.
(SFC, 7/13/96, p. A19)
1920 May 1, Belgian-Luxembourg toll tunnel opened.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1923 May 1, Joseph Heller (d.1999), American author, was born in Brooklyn, NY. His work included the novel "Catch 22."
(HN, 5/1/99)(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A10)(MC, 5/1/02)
1924 May 1, Terry Southern, novelist and screenwriter (Candy, The Magic Christian, Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider), was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)(MC, 5/1/02)
1925 May 1, Malcolm Scott Carpenter, astronaut (Mercury 7-Aurora 7), was born in Boulder, Colo.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1925 May 1, Cyprus became a British Crown Colony.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1926 May 1, Satchel Paige made his pitching debut in Negro Southern League.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1927 May 1, Adolf Hitler held the first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1928 May 1, Lei Day, a Hawaiian celebration, was begun.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1928 May 1, Pitcairn Airlines (later Eastern) began service.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1929 May 1, Police killed 19 Mayday demonstrators in Berlin.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1930 May 1, Anton J. Anderson, a Sausalito fisherman, returned to port in SF, Ca., towing 2 boats and carrying the bodies of Allen Curry (29), a deputy fish and game warden, and James Burke (48), a former game warden. Anderson himself was wounded and explained that he had shot the 2 men in self defense after they tried to confiscate his nets. Anderson was not indicted and returned to fishing. He died mysteriously 3 years later off the Mendocino shore.
(SSFC, 8/17/08, DB p.58)
1930 May 1, Pluto was first publicly announced as the name of a newly discovered planet. Venetia Phair (11) had suggested the name to her grandfather, librarian Falconer Madan, who relayed the suggestion to his friend Herbert Hall Turner, professor of astronomy at Oxford. Madan rewarded Phair (1919-2009) with a five-pound note. The same purchasing power in 2009 would be about 230 pounds, or $350.
(AP, 5/7/09)
1931 May 1, Singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on CBS.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1931 May 1, New York City's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. A 3,000 man construction crew completed the building in one year and 45 days. It was designed by the firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon and financed by John J. Raskob, a former GM executive.
(SFC, 2/24/96, p.A13)(AP, 5/1/97)(HT, 5/97, p.26)(AP, 5/1/08)
1934 May 1, The Philippine legislature accepted a U.S. proposal for independence.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1936 May 1, In New Orleans the FBI under J Edgar Hoover arrested kidnapper and gunman Alvin Karpis (1907-1979). Known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s, he was the last "public enemy" to be taken. Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Wichita, Kansas. In August he was imprisoned at Alcatraz. Karpis was released on parole in 1969 and deported to Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Karpis)(SSFC, 7/31/11, DB p.42)
1936 May 1, Emperor Haile Selassie left Ethiopia as Italians invaded.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1937 May 1, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1939 May 1, Judy Collins, singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds), was born in Seattle, Wash.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Collins)
1939 May 1, Batman comics hit the street in Detective Comics No. 27. Bob Kane (d.1998 at 83) created Batman for DC Comics. The cartoon hero was based on Zorro, da Vinci’s sketch of a flying man, and a silent mystery movie titled "The Bat."
(SFC, 11/6/98, p.D5)(SFC, 12/14/00, p.C9)(WSJ, 10/25/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/2/10)
1940 May 1, Bobbie Ann Mason, American writer (Shiloh and Other Stories, In Country), was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)
1940 May 1, The 1940 Olympics were cancelled.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1940 May 1, 140 Palestinian Jews died as German planes bombed their ship.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1941 May 1, The motion picture "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles (24), premiered in New York. Randolph Hearst attempted to bury the film by banning all advertising in his newspapers. One in five Americans read a Hearst paper at this time. Citizen Kane won an Academy Award. A PBS special from the American Experience covered the story in 1996. His biography, “Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles" by David Thompson, was published in 1996.
(WSJ, 1/25/96, p.A-16)(TMC, 1994, p.1941)(SFC, 6/9/96, BR p.15)
1941 May 1, General Mills introduced Cheerioats, later renamed Cheerios. It was made possible by the development of the “puffing gun" invented earlier by Lester Borchardt Sr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerios)(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.A6)
1941 May 1, A German assault took place on Tobruk.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1943 May 1, Food rationing began in US. [see Mar 29]
(MC, 5/1/02)
1943 May 1, British India SN Company troop transport in convoy with 23 merchantmen and escorted by eleven destroyers, was bound for Malta. When some 30 miles north of Benghazi, the convoy was attacked by German bombers and torpedo carrying aircraft. On board the Erinpura (Capt. P.V. Cotter) were 1,025 troops. One large bomb exploded in the hold sinking the ship in a matter of minutes. Forty four crewmembers, three gunners and an unspecified number of troops were lost. On the same day, near the Tunisian coast, another troopship (name unknown) was torpedoed and sank. On board were a number of troops from Basutoland (later Lesotho) who were serving with the British Eighth Army. In this tragic sinking, 618 Basutos lost their lives.
(http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-1a.html)
1943 May 1, A German plane sank a boat loaded with Palestinian Jews bound for Malta.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1943 May 1, German forces were deployed in the following places: Norway (200,000), France (900,000), Africa (150,000), Balkans (80,000), Finland (180,000), Eastern Europe (210,000), Caucasus (260,000), Russia (1,900,000).
(WSJ, 5/12/99, p.A23)
1944 May 1, The Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, the 1st jet bomber, made its first flight.
(HN, 5/1/98)(MC, 5/1/02)
1945 May 1, A day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, Admiral Karl Doenitz effectively became sole leader of the Third Reich with the suicide of Hitler's propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels. Goebbels committed suicide with his wife and 8 children.
(AP, 5/1/07)
1945 May 1, Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escaped the Fuhrerbunker as the Red Army advanced on Berlin. Specialists later determined that he probably died in May 1945. The mystery behind his fate was settled in 1972 when construction workers in Berlin dug up a skeleton. Experts concluded the remains were Bormann's after a five-month examination that included making X-rays of the bones, studying the teeth, and using the skull as a model to reconstruct what its face would've looked like. West German authorities officially declared him dead in 1973. Some skeptics believed the remains had been brought from elsewhere to be reburied in Berlin. In 2011 Paul van Aerschodt, a former Belgian collaborator, said Bormann had escaped to Latin America and lived there disguised as a priest.
(WSJ, 8/30/99, p.A1)(AP, 9/1/09)(AFP, 2/5/11)
1945 May 1, Arthur Seys-Inquart, Nazi overlord of Netherlands, fled to Flensburg.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1947 May 1, Radar for commercial and private planes was 1st demonstrated.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, Glenn Taylor, Idaho Senator, was arrested in Birmingham Alabama for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, Christos Ladas, Greek minister of Justice, was murdered.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed. The border between North and South Korea was sealed when Kim Il Sung established his communist regime.
(SFC, 3/12/97, p.A14)(AP, 5/1/97)
1950 May 1, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called "Annie Allen."
(HN, 5/1/99)
1950 May 1, Lothrop Stoddard (1883), American political theorist, historian, eugenicist, and anti-immigration advocate, died. He wrote a number of prominent books of early 20th-century scientific racism including “The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy" (1920).
(WSJ, 1/4/08, p.W5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothrop_Stoddard)
1950 May 1, New marriage laws were enforced in People's Republic China.
(www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/restricted/marriage.htm)
1950 May 1, South Africa’s 1927 Immorality Act, which prohibited sex between whites and blacks, was amended to prohibit sex between whites and all non-whites.
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Immorality_Amendment_Act,_1950)
1951 May 1, Mickey Mantle hit his 1st HR.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1951 May 1, Some 600,000 marched for peace and freedom in Germany.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1952 May 1, Marines took part in an atomic explosion training in Nevada.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1952 May 1, Mr. Potato Head was introduced.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1952 May 1, TWA introduced tourist class.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1954 May 1, Ray York rode Determine to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
(SFC, 9/4/09, p.D6)(www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/history/statistics/1951-1975)
1954 May 1, Legos, founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, became a registered trademark in Denmark.
(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllego.htm)
1959 May 1, Some 87 guerillas, mostly Cubans, surrendered without resistance to Panamanian troops at the village of Nombre de Dios in response to appeals by Castro.
(DBD, p.824)
1959 May 1, West Germany introduced a 5 day work week.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1960 May 1, India’s Bombay State dissolved into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Since this time Gujarat has a sumptuary law in force that proscribed the manufacture, storage, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_prohibition_in_India)(Econ, 2/20/15, p.33)
1960 May 1, A Soviet missile shot down an American U-2 spy plane near Sverdlovsk with pilot Francis Gary Powers (1929-1977). Powers was held in the Soviet Union for 21 months.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A11)(AP, 5/1/97)(SFC, 6/16/12, p.A4)
1961 May 1, A Pulitzer prize was awarded to Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1961 May 1, Fidel Castro announced that there would be no more elections in Cuba. Radio Havana was founded.
(HN, 5/1/98)(WSJ, 6/18/02, p.D9)
1963 May 1, James Whittaker became the 1st American to conquer Mount Everest as he and a Sherpa guide reached the summit.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1964 May 1, The 1st BASIC program ran on a computer at Dartmouth.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1965 May 1, Spike Jones (53), composer (Spike Jones Show), died.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1965 May 1, In Czechoslovakia Allen Ginsberg was crowned King of May at the Prague May Day celebration.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, p.A10)
1965 May 1, USSR launched Luna 5; later lands on Moon.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1966 May 1, Last British concert by Beatles was at Empire Pool in Wembley.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1967 May 1, A Pulitzer prize was awarded to Bernard Malamud (Fixer).
(MC, 5/1/02)
1967 May 1, Elvis Presley (32) married Priscilla Beaulieu (20) in Las Vegas at the Aladdin Hotel. They divorced in 1973. They had met when she was 14 in West Germany.
(AP, 5/1/97)(SFEM, 1/25/98, p.66)
1967 May 1, Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1968 May 1, In a second day of battle, US Marines, with the support of naval fire, continued their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1970 May 1, Students at Kent State University rioted in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia. Campus protests broke out across the nation.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1970 May 1, The US troop ship General John Pope came to rest at the Suisun Bay, Ca., reserve fleet rest stop. It was launched in 1943 and served up to this time. In 2010 it was scheduled to be recycled at a Texas shipyard.
(SSFC, 5/9/10, p.A2)
1971 May 1, Amtrak, which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 US intercity passenger railroads, went into service. The Southern Pacific Railroad turned over its money-losing passenger service and railroad cars to the government which formed Amtrak.
(AP, 5/1/97)(SFC, 7/8/96, p.D1)
1974 May 1, The US Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $2.00 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/ESA/minwage/chart.htm)
1975 May 1, The US brokerage industry, acting on a mandate by the SEC, deregulated commissions. Charles Schwab soon became one of the first to slash the price of equity trades.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.E3)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.87)
1975 May 1, United Aircraft became United Technologies Corp.
(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1976 May 1, Kawika Kapahulehua (d.2007 at 76), leading a 15-man crew on a double-hulled canoe with sails, departed Hawaii to Tahiti. Organizer and anthropologist Ben Finney wanted to prove the trip was possible. They reached Tahiti after 34 days despite issues of ethnicity raised by part of the crew. Mau Piailug (1932-2010), Micronesian master navigator, steered the Hokule’a (Star of Gladness) by the stars, the feel of the wind and the look of the sea.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D3)(Econ, 7/24/10, p.84)
1976 May 1, Alexandros Panagoulis (b.1939), Greek politician and poet, died in a car crash possibly rigged by his enemies. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator George Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, and also for the torture that he was subjected to during his detention.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandros_Panagoulis)
1978 May 1, Ernest Morial was inaugurated as the first black mayor of New Orleans.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1978 May 1, Aram Khachaturian (b.1903), Georgia-born Armenian composer, died in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Khachaturian)
1979 May 1, Denmark gave home rule to Greenland, but continued to make key decisions on law and order. The legislative basis for the Home Rule Administration is Act no 56 of 21 February 1979 which came into force on 1 May 1979 following a referendum in Greenland.
(WSJ, 1/13/04, p.A4)(www.gh.gl/uk/govern/organiza.htm)
1979 May 1, Elton John and Ray Cooper performed the first of 5 concerts in Israel. They performed 3 times in Jerusalem and twice in Tel Aviv ending in Tel Aviv on May 6.
(www.vex.net/~paulmac/elton/ej1979.html)
1979 May 1, The people of the Marshall Islands ratified their own constitution and the constitutional government came into being. In recognition of the evolving political status of the Marshall Islands, the US recognized the constitution of the Marshall Islands and the establishment of the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Mr. Amata Kabua (1928-1996) became the first president.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amata_Kabua)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm)
1980 May 1, American Book Award went to William Styron for "Sophie's Choice" and T. Wolfe for "Right Stuff."
(http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1981 May 1, Harrison Williams (Sen-D-NJ) was convicted on FBI Abscam charges.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam)(AP, 5/1/01)
1981 May 1, American Airlines instituted the 1st "frequent flyer" program to keep customers returning.
(SSFC, 12/14/03, p.D2)(http://tinyurl.com/2uvcut)
1981 May 1, Chile completely privatized Social Security as part of its economic reforms.
(SFC, 6/16/96, Z1 p.7)(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A18)
1982 May 1, The 1982 World's Fair opened in Knoxville, Tenn.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A3)(AP, 5/1/07)
1982 May 1, Richard LaMotta (1942-2010) dispatched 60 street-cart vendors to the streets of Manhattan to begin selling his 4½-ounce Chipwich cookies, which included 3½ ounces of ice cream. Within weeks he was selling 40,000 a day at $1 each. He sold the company to Coolbrands Int’l., a Canadian distributor in 2002.
(SSFC, 5/16/10, p.C9)
1983 May 1, "My One & Only" opened at St James Theater in NYC for 767 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=4221)
1983 May 1, Charles McCabe (68), SF Chronicle columnist, was found dead at his home at 22 Alta St.
(SSFC, 4/27/08, DB p.58)
1984 May 1, Gordon Jenkins (b.1910), orchestra leader (NBC Comedy Hour), died of Lou Gehrig's disease in Malibu, Ca.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkins)
1985 May 1, US president Reagan ordered an embargo against Nicaragua.
(http://tinyurl.com/2qxpo3)
1986 May 1, Will Steger (b.1943) and his dog sled expedition reached the North Pole without re-supply.
(www.qsl.net/kg0yh/other.htm)
1986 May 1, Tass News Agency reported the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1987 May 1, James Webb (b.1946) began serving as US Sec. of the Navy under Pres. Ronald Reagan. He resigned in 1988 after refusing to agree to reduce the size of the Navy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Webb)
1987 May 1, During a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1988 May 1, Newsweek magazine reported that, according to a memoir by former White House chief of staff Donald Regan (1918-2003), astrology had influenced the planning of President Reagan's schedule. Regan's memoir was titled "For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington."
(AP, 5/1/98)(WSJ, 6/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 6/12/03, p.A25)
1989 May 1, The Supreme Court ruled that an employer has the legal burden of proving that its refusal to hire or promote someone is based on legitimate and not discriminatory reasons.
(AP, 5/1/99)
1989 May 1, Disney held a grand opening for its 135 acre MGM studio in Orlando, Fl.
(www.miamibeach411.com/disney/mgm-studios.htm)
1989 May 1, David Webster, an anti-apartheid campaigner, was shot and killed outside his Eleanor Street home in Troyeville, Johannesburg, on South Africa's first official Workers' Day. In 1999 apartheid hitman Ferdi Barnard was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of Webster. He was sentenced to two life terms plus 63 years for a number of crimes, including the murder of Webster.
(www.sahistory.org.za/people/david-joseph-webster)
1990 May 1, In Hampton, NH, William Flynn (16) and a friend shot and killed Gregory Smart (b.1965), the husband of Pamela Smart (23) with whom Flynn was having an affair. Flynn was sentenced 28 years to life. Smart had enlisted Flynn to kill her husband and was sentenced to life in prison. On June 4, 2015 Flynn was released from prison. Patrick Randall, who had held a knife to Gregg Smart’s throat, was also released on parole.
(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7090228)(SFC, 6/5/15, p.A11)
1990 May 1, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other Kremlin leaders were jeered by thousands of people during the annual May Day parade in Red Square.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1991 May 1, "Will Rogers Follies" opened at Palace Theater in NYC for 983 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4643)
1991 May 1, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers threw his seventh no-hitter at age 44, shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays 3-to-0.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s set a major league record by stealing his 939th base during a game against the New York Yankees.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, The government of Angola and US-backed guerrillas initialed agreements ending their civil war.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, In South Korea former student Park Seung-hee (19) set herself on fire at Chunnam University to challenge continuing police violence under Pres. Roh Tae-woo.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycf7d5wr)(Econ 5/6/17, p.37)
1992 May 1, On the third day of the Los Angeles riots, beaten motorist Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking, "Can we all get along?" President Bush delivered a nationally broadcast address in which he vowed to "use whatever force is necessary" to restore order.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1992 May 1, In California Eric Houston (20) returned to Lindhurst High School, his former high school in Olivehurst, Yuba County, and killed 3 students and his former teacher Robert Brens (28) before surrendering to police. Brens had given him an F in economics 3 years earlier. Houston was later sentenced to death. In 2012 the state Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
(SFC, 4/3/12, p.A12)(SFC, 8/3/12, p.C3)
1992 May 1, It was reported that a new study indicated that peptic ulcers were caused by a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A15)
1992 May 1, Serbian forces began to shell Serajevo.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1993 May 1, The horse Sea Hero won the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1993 May 1, President Clinton held a strategy session with top military and foreign policy advisers on Bosnia.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1993 May 1, Violence erupted during a May Day protest in Moscow.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1993 May 1, Pres. Ranasinghe Premadasa (b.1924), the 3rd president of Sri Lanka, was killed by a Tiger suicide bomber in Colombo.
(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)(AP, 5/1/98)(SFC, 6/8/00, p.A16)
1994 May 1, Israeli and PLO delegates opened a final round of talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian autonomy prior to the signing of an agreement on self-rule.
(AP, 5/1/99)
1994 May 1, South Africa's first all-race elections ended.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A12)
1995 May 1, President Clinton defended his choice for surgeon general, Henry Foster, as a "pro-life, pro-choice doctor."
(AP, 5/1/00)
1995 May 1, Charges that Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, had plotted to murder Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan were dropped as jury selection for her trial was about to begin in Minneapolis.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1995 May 1, The Croatian army captured the Serb enclave of Western Slavonia in its first major bid to retake territories occupied in 1991. In reply the Krajina Serbs launched a rocket attack on Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Milan Martic, Croatian Serb leader of rebel Serb forces, ordered the shelling of Zagreb. Martic surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in 2002.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)
1995 May 1, In France Brahim Bouarram (29), a father of two, was thrown into the Seine by a group of skinheads leaving a May Day rally held nearby in Paris by Nation al Front Party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
1996 May 1, PLO leader Yasser Arafat received a statesman's welcome at the White House, where he met with President Clinton for 45 minutes, then lashed out at Israel for keeping its borders closed to Palestinian workers.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1996 May 1, Cubans began paying income taxes for the first time in decades.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 1, François Chalais (b.1919), prominent French reporter, journalist, writer and film historian, died. In 1997 the François Chalais Prize at the annual Cannes Film Festival was named after him.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Chalais)
1997 May 1, The TV show Ellen captured 42 million viewers to hear the Ellen character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, announce that she was a lesbian.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.C1)
1997 May 1, John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of slain child beauty queen JonBenet, declared their innocence, and asked for the public's help in finding her killer.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1997 May 1, In Oakland an armored car flipped in an accident and released some 27 bags of money claimed to be substantially less than $500,000. People in the vicinity grabbed much of the cash though some 20% was returned within 2 days. A total of $106,000 was recovered and $445,000 was still missing when an amnesty for returning cash ended on May 5.
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A1)
1997 May 1, Virtual Pets began to be marketed by Tiger Electronics and Bandai Ltd. of Japan. The egg-sized gadgets played out the lives of various animals on a liquid crystal display.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.B1)
1997 May 1, An Int’l. committee agreed to create 7 new (WWW) World Wide Web domains. The new suffixes would be: .firm, .store, .web, .arts, .rec, .info and .nom for individuals.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A1)
1997 May 1, In Belarus the government imposed a $3 million tax fine on the Soros Foundation for alleged currency exchange violations. Soros called it a blatant attempt to suppress the independent sector.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A16)
1997 May 1, Under the leadership of Tony Blair Britain’s Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition, and won the general election with a landslide victory, winning 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1997)
1997 May 1, Romania apologized for deporting tens of thousands of ethnic Germans to labor camps during Communist rule or “selling" them by demanding cash from the Bonn government for emigration permits.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A17)
1998 May 1, Otto Bettmann, founder of the Bettmann photo archive, died at 94 in Boca Raton, Fla.
(WSJ, 5/4/98, p.A1)
1998 May 1, Eldridge Cleaver, ex-Black Panther who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died at age 62 in Pomona, Ca. He wrote the book “Soul On Ice" in 1965 while in Folsom Prison. The book was published in 1968. He jumped bail after a 1968 shooting and returned to the US in 1975.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A1,13)(AP, 5/1/99)
1998 May 1, In Kosovo, Serbia, a police raid in Drenica left 4 ethnic Albanians dead.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 1, In Nigeria police fired into a crowd of 5,000 people demanding the ouster of Sani Abacha and witnesses said 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 1, Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 Tutsis. Kambanda was later sentenced to life in prison, but has since disavowed his guilty plea.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1998 May 1, In Zimbabwe labor leaders called for a 5-day national strike to protest a tax increase and higher prices.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1999 May 1, Charismatic, a 30-1 shot, charged to victory in the 125th Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1999 May 1, Pres. Clinton imposed a trade embargo on Serbia that excepted only food and medicine.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A3)
1999 May 1, The FCC ordered that stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC must build digital facilities in the 10 largest TV markets by this time.
(Wired, 2/98, p.64)
1999 May 1, The NRA held its annual convention in Denver 11 days after the Columbine High School shootings. Some 2,500 attended as 7,000 people protested outside.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A1)(AP, 5/1/00)
1999 May 1, The Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule flown by Gus Grissom, which sank in 1961, was found 300 miles offshore from Cape Canaveral in 3 waters 3 miles deep.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A2)(AP, 5/1/00)
1999 May 1, In Hot Springs, Arkansas, an amphibious tourist boat sank on Lake Hamilton and 11 people drowned. The death toll rose to 13 after one survivor died and another body was found.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A2)(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A2)
1999 May 1, In London police arrested David Copeland (22) for the recent nail bombings.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)
1999 May 1, Pres. Milosevic ordered the release of 3 captive Americans following the appeal of Rev. Jesse Jackson.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A1)
1999 May 1, A NATO strike on a bridge in Kosovo, 12 miles north of Pristina, hit a civilian bus and killed between 34 and 60 people including 15 children.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A17)
1999 May 1, The Treaty of Amsterdam Treaty, signed on October 2, 1997, entered into force. Its full official title was: the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts. In Article 7 it said governments that violate the union’s fundamental values would be threatened with sanctions.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amsterdam)(Econ 7/29/17, p.42)
2000 May 1, The US government began allowing civilian GPS receivers to pick up more accurate satellite signals. The sport of geocaching began 2 days later.
(WSJ, 3/19/02, p.A20)
2000 May 1, A US State Dept. annual report on efforts to combat terrorism listed Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors for terrorism. The report indicated a shift from the Middle East to South Asia with Afghanistan and Pakistan listed as threatening.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A6)(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A12)
2000 May 1, About three and a-half million Time Warner cable subscribers temporarily lost access to seven Disney-owned ABC stations in a quarrel over transmission rights.
(AP, 5/1/01)
2000 May 1, Steve Reeves, actor, died in Escondido, California, at age 74. He starred in such films as “Hercules," “The Last Days of Pompeii," and “Duel of the Titans."
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.C4)(AP, 5/1/01)
2000 May 1, May Day marches and protests took place around the world. In Berlin violence erupted as some 10,000 anarchists marched against “capitalism and imperialism" after some 1200 neo-Nazis rallied. In London some 2,000 demonstrators caused havoc in London. Tens of thousands gathered in Madrid and some 15,000 demonstrated in both Russia and Istanbul. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Sao Paulo, Brazil and some 20,000 marched in Quito, Ecuador.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A10)
2000 May 1, Joerg Haider, leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, stepped down after 14 years as party leader.
(AP, 5/1/01)
2000 May 1, In Iran Hamid Tefileen, one of 13 Jewish men arrested for espionage, was displayed on TV and admitted to being paid $500 a month by Israeli intelligence, Mossad.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A8)
2000 May 1, In Puerto Rico 2 US warships arrived off the coast of Vieques and some 50 protestors braced for the arrival of federal agents.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A5)
2000 May 1, In Zimbabwe thousands opposed to the rule of Pres. Mugabe rallied in Harare.
(WSJ, 5/1/00, p.A1)
2001 May 1, Pres. Bush committed the US to a missile defense shield. He also presented his case for withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/2/01, p.A1)(AP, 5/1/02)
2001 May 1, FBI Director Louis Freeh, appointed in 1993, announced his retirement. He served until June and then joined MBNA as a senior vice-president managing its legal and personnel affairs.
(AP, 5/1/02)(WSJ, 6/14/02, p.A4)
2001 May 1, Thomas Blanton Jr. became the second ex-Ku Klux Klansman to be convicted in the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala., that claimed the lives of four black girls.
(AP, 5/1/02)
2001 May 1, The space shuttle Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mohave Desert following the installation of the billion-dollar robot arm on the Int’l. Space Station.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A4)
2001 May 1, May Day protests rallies took place around the world as people demonstrated against global trade and for workers’ rights.
(WSJ, 5/2/01, p.A1)
2001 May 1, In Seattle Hindus filed a suit against McDonald’s for nondisclosure of beef flavoring in French fries.
(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.A9)
2001 May 1, In the West Bank Assaf Hershovitz (31), a Jewish settler, was killed when his van was hit by 27 bullets outside Ramallah.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)
2001 May 1, In Japan Kim Jong Nam (29), the son of Kim Jong Il of North Korea, was detained with his son as they attempted to visit Tokyo’s Disneyland.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A14)
2001 May 1, In Macedonia Slavs rioted in Bitola and trashed Albanian shops following the funerals of soldiers killed in a rebel ambush. US Sec. of State Powell met with Macedonia’s Pres. Trajkovski.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)
2001 May 1, In the Philippines Pres. Arroyo declared a “state of rebellion" and ordered the arrest of 2 senators and several military officials loyal to former Pres. Estrada. Some 40,000 protesters marched on Malacanang Palace and 3 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B1)
2002 May 1, California’s Dept. of Insurance released a list of former slaves and slaveholders. Records of 613 salves and 433 slaveholders were made public.
(SFC, 5/1/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A17)
2002 May 1, In Afghanistan some 560-614 prisoners were released from Shibirghan prison controlled by Gen. Dostum. Some 2,300 prisoners remained.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A12)
2002 May 1, China’s VP Hu Jintao met with Pres. Bush. Jintao said the Taiwan issue could hurt relations and defended China’s record on human rights. They agreed to resume military exchanges.
(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/3/02, p.A1)
2002 May 1, In Colombia government soldiers from Caqueta state were pulled from a bus at a FARC roadblock. Their bodies were reported found on May 12.
(SFC, 5/13/02, p.A6)
2002 May 1, Well over 1 million people across France marched against far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, 4 days before Le Pen was defeated by President Jacques Chirac in a runoff.
(AP, 5/1/03)
2002 May 1, Israeli forces withdrew from Ramallah and Yasser Arafat, under siege since Mar 29, emerged from his West Bank compound. 6 wanted Palestinian men were driven to Jericho under US and British supervision.
(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A1)
2002 May 1, In Madrid, Spain, a bomb exploded near a sports stadium and 17 people were injured.
(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A11)
2003 May 1, Pres. Bush, standing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Navy aircraft carrier in San Diego, announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Bush landed on the carrier in a Navy S-3B jet and spoke below a banner that read “Mission Accomplished."
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)(WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A6)
2003 May 1, Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan and declared most of the nation secure. He said the 9,000 US soldiers there were engaged mainly in reconstruction.
(WSJ, 5/2/03, p.A1)
2003 May 1, The US Navy withdrew from Vieques Island, Costa Rica.
(AP, 5/1/03)
2003 May 1, In Utah climber Aron Ralston (27) amputated his own arm to escape from a canyon where he was pinned by a boulder.
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A18)
2003 May 1, A female homicide victim, Jane Doe, was found near a garbage bin at a restaurant in Castro Valley, Ca. She had been killed around Apr 22-23 and was buried Sep 17 as "Unknown child of God. Female, 12-17..." In 2006 police using DNA identified the girl as Yesenia Nungaray (16) and said she was from Yahualica, Mexico. In 2007 police sought Miguel Angel Nunez-Castaneda (28) for her murder.
(SFC, 9/18/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/9/06, p.B1)(SFC, 12/22/06, p.B3)(SFC, 11/7/07, p.B5)
2003 May 1, Flooding hit northwestern Argentina and at least 13 people were killed and 50,000 driven from their homes.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 1, The Australian stock market began trade in Australia's first-ever listed brothel, The Daily Planet. Shares began trading at 31 cents. Heidi Fleiss was on hand to promote the enterprise and her new book, "Pandering."
(AP, 5/1/03)
2003 May 1, Thousands of people in Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines celebrated May Day by protesting for higher wages, better hours and political change.
(AP, 5/1/03)
2003 May 1, Three top members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime: Mizban Khadr Hadi (military commander), Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish (director of the Office of Military Industrialization and a deputy prime minister in charge of arms procurement), and Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf (a Kurd who served as one of two ceremonial vice presidents), were captured.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 1, Israeli troops raided a Hamas stronghold and exchanged fire with dozens of masked gunmen. At least 13 Palestinians were killed, including two boys ages 2 and 13. 2 Palestinian militants were killed in the West Bank.
(AP, 5/1/03)(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A8)
2003 May 1, In South Africa a bus believed to be carrying about 90 people plunged into a reservoir in South Africa. 10 survivors were rescued outside the town of Bethlehem. 51 people were killed.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 1, A 6.4 magnitude earthquake rumbled through southeastern Turkey. 177 people were killed and 390 injured including 80 students were trapped in the debris of their school dormitory in Bingol.
(AP, 5/1/03)(SFC, 5/1/03, A16)(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A3)(AP, 5/4/08)
2004 May 1, Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby and ran his record to 7-for-7, the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
(AP, 5/1/04)
2004 May 1, Shanghai Tobacco, maker of Panda and other cigarette brands, embarked on a campaign to extend Panda beyond the political and military elite. WHO statistics held that China accounts for 30% of the 5.5 trillion cigarettes consumed daily world-wide.
(WSJ, 5/26/04, p.A1)
2004 May 1, Revelers across ex-communist eastern Europe celebrated their historic entry to the European Union. 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined. Malta joined with 70 exemptions to EU rules. Poland had 43 exemptions. Latvia had 32. The Turkish occupied area of Cyprus was suspended from entry.
(AP, 5/1/04)(Econ, 2/28/04, p.50)(Econ, 4/16/05, p.16)
2004 May 1, Jean-Jacques Laffont (57), an award-winning French economist and one of the leading figures in the study of information theory, died in southern France. His books included "Incentives in Public Decision Making" (1979).
(AP, 5/14/04)
2004 May 1, In Iraq US top commander Lt. Gen. Sanchez notified 6 officers of his intent to issue a memorandum of reprimand for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 5/4/04, p.A1)
2004 May 1, In Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, suspected militants sprayed gunfire inside the offices of Houston-based ABB Ltd., an oil contractor, killing at least six people — including two Americans and three other Westerners — and wounding dozens. Police killed four brothers in a shootout after a car chase in which the attackers reportedly dragged the naked body of one victim behind their getaway car.
(AP, 5/1/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A7)(WSJ, 2/25/06, p.A1)
2005 May 1, Newsweek, in its May 9th edition, ran a story that said US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay prison had flushed a Quran, the Muslim holy book, down a toilet.
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.32)
2005 May 1, Hundreds of thousands of workers mobilized on May Day to demand more political muscle in the face of global capitalism, as clashes with police marred some rallies.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, On what was to have been her wedding day, "runaway bride" Jennifer Wilbanks was led by Albuquerque, N.M., police to an airplane that flew her home to Georgia.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2005 May 1, The bodies of 3 Afghan women were found raped, hanged and dumped on a roadside in Baglan province with a warning not to work for foreign relief organizations.
(SFC, 5/6/05, p.A15)
2005 May 1, Chinese computer maker Lenovo completed its purchase of IBM's personal computer division.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2005 May 1, In Egypt police detained about 200 people from the home villages of 3 attackers responsible for a bomb blast and tour bus shooting near Cairo tourist sites the day before.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In Iraq insurgents launched a 3rd straight day of attacks, including ambushes, car bombs and a drive-by shooting, killing nine Iraqis and wounding more than 20.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, Five suspects were arrested by Iraqi forces and confessed to the kidnapping and murder of British aid worker Margaret Hassan.
(AFP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In northern Iraq a car bomb obliterated a tent packed with mourners at the funeral of a Kurdish official, killing 25 people and wounding more than 50 in the single deadliest attack since insurgents started bearing down on Iraq's newly named government late last week.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, A videotape released by Iraqi militants showed Douglas Wood (63), a kidnapped an Australian man living in California, who pleaded for U.S.-led coalition forces to leave Iraq to save his life.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In Nepal about ten thousand people marched through Kathmandu, demanding the restoration of democracy in the biggest show of opposition strength since King Gyanendra seized absolute power three months ago.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, North Korea test-fired a short range missile.
(WSJ, 5/2/05, p.A16)
2005 May 1, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II wished health and happiness to millions of Orthodox Christians as believers marked Easter, the holiest day in the Orthodox calendar.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, Thai fishermen netted a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish believed to have been the world's largest freshwater fish ever caught in Thailand.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 May 1, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Israel for a visit seeking to mend relations with the Jewish state and join in a new wave of Middle East peace efforts.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2006 May 1, The EU imposed additional retaliatory sanctions valued at $9.1 million against the US in response to antidumping measures that were ruled illegal.
(WSJ, 5/1/06, p.A10)
2006 May 1, The US Supreme Court ruled that Anna Nicole Smith could pursue part of her late husband's oil fortune.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2006 May 1, A Florida judge sentenced former professor Sami Al-Arian (48) to another year and a half in prison before he will be deported in his terrorism conspiracy case. Al-Arian signed a plea agreement April 14 in which he admitted providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Thousands of people rallied in cities across the US for what organizers called “A Day Without Immigrants." An estimated 100,000 gathered in San Jose, Ca., 400,000 in Chicago, 400,000 in Los Angeles and some 75,000 in Denver.
(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A1)
2006 May 1, In the SF Bay Area KQED of SF and KTEH of San Jose announced their merger under the name Northern California Public Broadcasting.
(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A1)
2006 May 1, Pure Digital Technologies released its new $130 Pure Digital Point & Shoot Video Camcorder.
(WSJ, 5/3/06, p.D1)
2006 May 1, Workers around the world held May Day rallies to press for better factory conditions and higher wages in mostly peaceful marches. Activists the Philippines used the holiday to show their opposition to their government in tense protests watched by police.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Belarus more than 1,000 protesters carrying banned flags marched through Minsk to demand the release of jailed opposition leaders who had pledged to work for the removal of President Alexander Lukashenko.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales ordered the oil and gas sector nationalized, threatening to evict foreign companies unless they cede control over production within six months. The biggest natural gas field was operated by Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras.
(AP, 5/2/06)(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A3)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.37)
2006 May 1, Egyptian security forces fatally shot three men wanted in terrorist bombings that killed at least 18 people in a coastal Sinai Peninsula resort on April 24. A police officer was also killed.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 1, In western India police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse battling mobs of Hindus and Muslims, killing two people as hundreds rioted after authorities demolished a small Muslim shrine.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In southern India a truck carrying mangos toppled over, killing 20 workers riding on board to unload them.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In northern India a sodium tank exploded at a paper factory, sparking a blaze that killed at least nine nightshift workers and trapped hundreds more. One official said 15 people were killed.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Indonesia 3 Islamic militants were convicted and sentenced to prison for helping shelter Southeast Asia's top terrorist mastermind and financing bombings.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Israel interim PM Ehud Olmert announced his Cabinet appointments, naming Tzipi Livni as vice premier and foreign minister. Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian woman and wounded her two daughters when they fired on a West Bank house that an Islamic Jihad militant was hiding in.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Locals in Macao rioted in protests against outsiders, who were finding jobs while many middle-aged Macanese remained jobless.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.40)
2006 May 1, A day-long protest dubbed "A Day Without Gringos" drew thousands of Mexicans into the streets and kept many away from US-owned supermarkets and fast-food restaurants to support rallies in the United States demanding immigration reform.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, The government of Puerto Rico ran out of money, forcing the US commonwealth to close public schools and shut down government offices, putting almost 100,000 people out of work.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Rwandan Hutu rebels attacked a village and an army camp in a raid that left 7 residents dead. Congolese troops killed six rebels during an attack at an army camp that also claimed the lives of a soldier and his wife.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 1, Under pressure from the US rebels in Sudan's Darfur region agreed to continue negotiations in Nigeria with the Sudanese government after rejecting a peace proposal that would end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Turkey, police fired pepper spray and tear gas to disperse demonstrators denouncing the IMF and the United States.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2007 May 1, Pres. Bush cast the 2nd veto of his presidency rejecting an attempt by both chambers of Congress to set a timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.36)
2007 May 1, Julie A. MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, resigned after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for industry. In November the US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed 7 rulings that had denied endangered species increased protection.
(www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2007/Interior-Wildlife-Decisions21jul07.htm)(SFC, 11/28/07, p.A3)
2007 May 1, John Hickenlooper (b.1952) was re-elected mayor of Denver with 86.3% of the vote.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.39)(www.citymayors.com/mayors/denver_mayor.html)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people protested across the US to demand a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2007 May 1, Kenneth John Freeman (44), a bodybuilder and computer expert from Benton County, Washington, was arrested in Hong Kong. Freeman, who fled the US 13 months earlier, was accused of raping his daughter and posting a video of the attack.
(www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2007/050207.htm)
2007 May 1, The design for the Arizona quarter, chosen by Gov. Janet Napolitano, was announced. It includes a "Grand Canyon State" banner across the middle of the quarter, separating the canyon view with a multi-rayed sun above and a saguaro in a desert landscape below. The 48th of the state series will be released in 2008, followed by Alaska and Hawaii.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, A US ice expert said the Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Australian police arrested two men accused of raising money for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on the pretext of collecting donations for victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thirty people were arrested in raids across Belgium, England, and the Netherlands targeting suspected animal rights extremists.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, John Browne, head of BP PLC, resigned after Britain’s highest legal body triggered the release of documents detailing his relationship with a former lover. In 2014 he authored “The Glass Closet."
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/31/14, p.62)
2007 May 1, Britain's largest ever trade union, representing about two million public and private sector workers, was launched following the merger of two workers' bodies. The Unite union officially formed following a recent vote for merger by members of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, founded in 1922.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_and_General_Workers%27_Union)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Indonesia tens of thousands of workers marked May Day by taking to the streets to demand better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iran stood firm in opposing language in a nuclear conference agenda that reaffirms the need for full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a stance that diplomats said could scuttle the meeting aimed at strengthening the accord.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iraqi officials have received reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri (aka Abu Hamza al-Muhajer), the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said the information has not been confirmed. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that al-Masri was believed to have been killed April 30 in the Taji area north of Baghdad. Gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas to the south, killing 14 people. Mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's office in the US-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Japan and Qatar stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf state.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Liberia relaunched its diamond trade after the UN lifted an embargo, hoping the revival of the industry will fund reconstruction rather than lead to more bloodshed.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Macao May Day protesters clashed with riot police as a rally against labor shortages turned violent, sparking rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Mexico 5 soldiers, including a colonel, and a suspected drug cartel enforcer were killed in a shootout in the western state of Michoacan, which has been plagued by drug violence and is the target of a military-led anti-drug offensive.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 1, The leader of Nepal's Maoists threatened to push the nation back into turmoil by launching huge nationwide protests unless parliament immediately ousts the king and declares a republic.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radiotelevision station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in Akure in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign oil workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating storage vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian sailor was killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of laborers rallied across Pakistan demanding better wages and living conditions to mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of South Africans marched in Durban to protest the renaming of streets after heroes of the ruling African National Congress, sparking warnings of violence in the Zulu heartland.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Turkish police charged into crowds of leftist protesters marking the anniversary of a deadly May Day rally in Istanbul, spraying tear gas and kicking and clubbing demonstrators as they fled.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields, intensifying a struggle with international firms over the development of the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Zimbabwe boosted the price of corn meal, a keystone of the nation’s diet, by nearly 600%.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/7/07)
2008 May 1, Pres. Bush proposed $770 million in US food aid on top of $200 million released 2 weeks ago to alleviate the global surge in food prices.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A1)
2008 May 1, Pres. Bush imposed new sanctions against property owned or controlled by the military junta in Myanmar.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)
2008 May 1, The National Marine Fishery Service announced a ban on fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon.
(SFC, 5/2/08, p.B2)
2008 May 1, Philadelphia’s Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey announced a major reorganization of the department's command structure and the addition of nearly 250 officers on street patrols, part of a crime-fighting strategy he said was already showing results. Mayor Michael Nutter and the police commissioner had hoped to have 200 more police officers on the streets by this time as part of a new 33-page crime-fighting plan. Murders in the city had reached 392 in 2007. Gov. Ed Rendell agreed to help foot the bill.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.33)(http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_9120792)
2008 May 1, A report by the American Lung Association said the eight metropolitan areas considered to be the nation's most polluted by every measure were Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia-Porterfield and Hanford-Corcoran, all in California; Washington-Baltimore; St. Louis; and Birmingham, Ala.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, Deborah Palfrey (b.1956), a woman from Vallejo, Ca., known as the “D.C. Madam," was found hanged at her mother’s home in Tarpon Springs, Fl. She had been convicted on April 15 of racketeering and other charges related to a prostitution ring, whose clients included high profile government officials.
(SFC, 5/2/08, p.A13)
2008 May 1, In Afghanistan 2 roadside bombs killed a NATO soldier and 8 civilians.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A1)
2008 May 1, In Australia 6 people were killed in Sydney Harbor when a boat packed with revelers on a nighttime joyride and a fishing trawler collided.
(Reuters, 5/1/08)(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales celebrated May Day by announcing the nationalization of Entel, the country’s leading telecommunications company, and returning four foreign-owned natural gas companies to state control. Bolivia privatized the struggling Entel in 1995, handing 50 percent of the company to Stet International in exchange for the Italian company's promise to invest $608 million to modernize its services. Stet later merged with Telecom Italia. The Bolivian government said Telecom Italia fell short on promised investment and owes some $25 million in taxes.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, Pascal Marlinge, the country head of Save the Children UK in Chad, was shot dead by gunmen who held up his three-car convoy between the villages of Forchana and Hadjer Hadid, not far from the border with Sudan's Darfur region. UN aid agencies suspended all but their most urgent work in eastern Chad for two days in a "symbolic protest."
(Reuters, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, China inaugurated one of the world's longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai. The 36-kilometer (22-mile) structure connected Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
(AFP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, Cuba announced a major shake-up of its troubled farm sector on May Day, shifting control of the island's farms from officials at the Agriculture Ministry to more than 150 local councils.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, A speeding tourist bus carrying dozens of Europeans and Canadians overturned, rolled off an embankment and burst into flames on a desert highway in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. At least nine passengers were killed and about 30 wounded.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, Rescuers found the bodies of five French ski mountaineers who had been missing since the day before when they were swept away by an avalanche during an excursion on Punta Basei, a 10,000-foot peak in Italy's northwestern Alps.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, In Hong Kong 18 people were killed and at least 44 injured when a coach taking elderly local residents to a religious ceremony overturned.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, It was reported that Iran has stopped using dollars for oil deals as it seeks to reduce reliance on the US.
(WSJ, 5/1/08, p.A1)
2008 May 1, A double suicide bombing killed at least 36 people during a wedding procession as people cheered the bride and groom in Balad Ruz, a town northeast of Baghdad. A car bomb aimed at a US patrol in Baghdad killed at least nine Iraqi civilians and wounded 26. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi patrol car, killing two Iraqi soldiers in Mosul. 3 al-Qaida insurgents fired on US soldiers as they tried to stop a vehicle near Mosul. The soldiers returned fire, killing all three as well as the driver of the vehicle. The US military said it killed 18 militants overnight amid escalating fighting in the Shiite slum Sadr City. Around Iraq, at least 1,080 Iraqi civilians and security forces were killed nationwide last month, average of 36 a day, according to an AP tally, down from March's total of 1,269, or an average of 41 per day.
(AP, 5/1/08)(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, Roberto Velasco, head of Mexico’s federal police organized crime division, was murdered. Police later said the murder was likely ordered by Arturo Beltran Leyva, a capo in the Sinaloa drug cartel.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.45)
2008 May 1, Russia said an extra contingent of its troops had begun arriving in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, a move Tbilisi said was an illegal act of military aggression.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, An Islamic insurgent group said the US military killed Aden Hashi Ayro, a man believed to be the head of al-Qaida in Somalia, and 10 others in an airstrike overnight.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, South Africa lifted a 13-year ban on killing elephants. The country had some 18,000 elephants.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)
2008 May 1, Three bombs exploded in Spain's Basque region. No one was injured in the blasts, which police said were carried out by the separatist group ETA.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, In Sri Lanka suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a roadside mine, killing two police commandos, as violence raged on across the north.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, A cabinet minister said a runoff will be necessary to decide Zimbabwe's presidential election, citing the government's own election results.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2009 May 1, US cases of the H1N1 flu rose to 155, based on federal and state tallies. State laboratory operators believe the number is higher because they are not testing all suspected cases. Mexico raised its confirmed swine flu death toll from 15 to 16, adding that the total number of confirmed cases of the virus had risen to 397. Worldwide, the total confirmed cases were 653, with the real number also believed to be much larger.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, US government health officials warned dieters and body builders to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold supplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at least one death.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed a state budget, overcoming a $1.4 billion deficit by taping into emergency reserve funds and cutting state services.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.37)
2009 May 1, In south Texas Reymundo Guerra, former sheriff of Starr county, pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge for sharing law enforcement information with a Mexican drug ring.
(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A4)
2009 May 1, Danny Gans (52), one of the most popular entertainers on the Las Vegas Strip for the last decade, died in his sleep at his home in Henderson, Nev. A coroner later said Gans' death was accidental, caused by a prescription painkiller.
(AP, 5/2/09)(AP, 6/9/09)
2009 May 1, In southern Afghanistan gunmen attacked a troops' convoy as it traveled to a village to talk to elders about security. The troops killed one militant in the initial clash and another 14 as they pursued insurgents who were firing on them from a nearby hillside. 3 Afghan army soldiers were killed in overnight fighting with insurgents in eastern Kunar province. 5 international soldiers, including 2 American, were killed in an insurgent attack.
(AP, 5/1/09)(AFP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A2)
2009 May 1, Britain awarded the role of national poet laureate to Carol Ann Duffy (53), the first woman to hold a post that has been filled by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes. Duffy, a gay woman, has published more than 30 books, plays and children's stories as well as poems that mix accessible modern language with traditional forms.
(AP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 5/1/09, p.A3)
2009 May 1, In Cambodia a court official said Japan has donated $4.17 million to the UN-backed genocide tribunal trying former Khmer Rouge leaders on war crimes charges, just as the troubled court was running out of funding.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, In Ethiopia Communications Minister Bereket Simon said that senior military officers, including a general, had plotted to assassinate top government officials. He added that 40 people were under arrest. Bereket said the plotters belonged to the Ginbot 7 (May 15) opposition group, saying it was linked to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) headed by Berhanu Nega, currently living in the United States.
(AFP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, May Day protesters clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece, while thousands angry at the government's responses to the global financial crisis took to the streets in France. Riot police battled 700 stone-throwing left-wing militants in Berlin for more than five hours in May Day clashes that stretched into early pre-dawn hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In India officials said at least 18 people have died in a scorching heat wave that has swept through more than a dozen Indian states.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, Indonesia's top graft-buster, Antasari Azhar (56), was named a suspect and a mastermind in a murder case, dealing a blow to the agency that's played a key part in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's fight against corruption. He was one of several suspects in the March 14 murder of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, a businessman who, according to local media reports, had been a witness in a corruption case investigated by the agency.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, Iran hanged a young woman (23) who was convicted of murder when she was a minor, drawing condemnation from international human rights groups who have sought to end capital punishment for juvenile offenders. Delara Darabi, initially pleaded guilty to killing her father's cousin in 2003, but later retracted her confession and said her boyfriend carried out the killing.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In northern Iraq Ammar Afif Hamada (19), a would-be Syrian suicide bomber linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, was tackled by guards on the doorstep of a mosque in Kirkuk.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ and Napoleon, boasted that he was the world's most popular leader.
(Reuters, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks with visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the situation in Pakistan and ways of bolstering ties between the two nations. Pakistan and Libya signed a string of agreements to bolster economic ties on the sidelines of Zardari’s visit. The countries also decided to bolster ties in the fields of banking, health, education, public works and construction.
(AFP, 5/1/09)(AFP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In the Netherlands robbers at the Scheringa Museum for Realism in Spanbroek stole "Adolescence," a 1941 gouache by Salvadore Dali and "La Musicienne," an oil painting from 1929 by Polish-born art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. The museum houses the art collection of wealthy Dutch banker Dirk Scheringa and his wife.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In Pakistan the battle between security forces and Taliban militants left 55-60 militants dead over the last 24 hours in Buner district near the capital even as the government pressed with a much-criticized peace plan in the region. Based on combined tolls released by the military, nearly 200 militants have been killed in Operation Black Thunder since tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships swung into action in Buner and neighboring Lower Dir.
(AFP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, In Paraguay Sabino Montanaro (86), who served as interior minister under ex-dictator Alfredo Stroessner, arrived in Asuncion after nearly two decades of self-imposed exile in Honduras. He faced six pending trials for the disappearance and killings of government opponents in the 1970s and 1980s.
(AP, 5/4/09)
2009 May 1, Special forces on a Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates after thwarting an attack on an oil tanker, but later freed the 19 men. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, another band of pirates hijacked a cargo ship. The captain and 23 crew were all Ukrainians and the Greek-owned, Maltese-flagged Ariana was carrying a cargo of soya from Brazil to Iran when pirates attacked it southwest of the Seychelles islands. The Ariana was freed on Dec 10 following a ransom payment of $2.8 million by Athens-based Alloceans Shipping.
(AP, 5/2/09)(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 May 1, Sri Lanka's government dropped leaflets across the northern war zone urging civilians to flee the fighting amid accusations the military pounded the area with artillery shells that killed at least 10 civilians.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, A UN agency urged Israel to freeze demolitions of Arab homes in east Jerusalem, citing a growing housing crisis in the part of the city the Palestinians claim as their future capital.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, In Venezuela police and national guard troops broke up an opposition march in Caracas as thousands of opponents and supporters of Pres. Chavez held separate May Day marches.
(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A2)
2010 May 1, The worst US oil spill in decades reached into precious shoreline habitat along the Gulf Coast as documents emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that exploded.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2011 May 1, Jeffrey Hall, a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement, was shot to death in Riverside, Ca., by his son (10). In 2013 a judge convicted the boy of 2nd degree murder.
{California, Murder, Kids}
(SFC, 1/15/13, p.A4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jeff_Hall)
2010 May 1, In Minnesota a suburban St. Paul police officer was killed during an ambush, setting off a massive manhunt that ended with one suspect dead and another in custody.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, NYC police found an "amateurish" but potentially powerful bomb that apparently began to detonate but did not explode in a smoking sport utility vehicle in Times Square. The Pakistani Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the failed car bomb attack.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, In South Carolina Lee County Sheriff E. J. Melvin was arrested after the FBI caught him calling drug dealers to tip them off or extort them after receiving a list of possible dealers in his county.
(SFC, 5/4/10, p.A4)
2010 May 1, Elisabeth Mandala (18), a Texas high school student, and two Mexican men were found dead in a crashed pickup truck near Mina, in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon. Autopsies revealed that all three died from severe blows to the head and body. Mandala, a senior at Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas, was last seen April 27 leaving her mother's home. The two men killed were taxi driver Luis Angel Estrella Mondragon (44) and merchant Dante Ruiz Siller (38).
(AP, 5/6/10)
2010 May 1, American actress Helen Wagner (b.1918) died. She played mild-mannered Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" for more than a half-century. Wagner opened "As the World Turns" when it premiered on April 2, 1956, with the words: "Good morning, dear."
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 1, Tens of thousands of workers marched in cities from Hong Kong to Istanbul to mark international worker's day, demanding more jobs, better work conditions and higher wages.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, In Albania 22 opposition Socialist lawmakers and 180 supporters launched a hunger strike to press the government to allow a partial recount of an election they claim was tainted by vote-rigging. The government of PM Sali Berisha, who narrowly won the June 28 general election controlling 75 of parliament's 140 seats, called their demands illegal.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Arab nations endorsed indirect peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, a move that likely paves the way for the start of long-stalled US-brokered negotiations.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales nationalized 4 electricity generators, 2 of which had European owners or partners. He skipped the May Day parade as some marchers carried signs denouncing his purchase of a new French Dassault jet.
(Econ, 5/8/10, p.40)
2010 May 1, In Brazil a jury convicted a rancher of orchestrating the murder of US nun and Amazon defender Dorothy Stang. Regivaldo Galvao, the last of five defendants to stand trial in the case, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The verdict came two weeks after another rancher, Vitalmiro Moura, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of collaborating with Galvao. Galvao was soon released on bail pending an appeal.
(AP, 5/1/10)(AP, 5/19/10)
2010 May 1, In China World Expo 2010 officially opened in Shanghai. Two-wheeled Electric Networked Vehicles (EN-Vs) were unveiled at Expo 2010. They used a balancing system developed by Segway.
(Econ, 5/8/10, p.42)(Econ, 10/2/10, p.87)
2010 May 1, Cuba quietly began requiring foreign tourists and Cubans who live overseas to hold travel insurance approved by island authorities, while making those who don't have coverage buy a local policy that can cost over $3 a day.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 1, Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in central Athens and other Greek cities for May Day rallies fueled by anger at expected harsh austerity measures needed to secure rescue loans for near-bankrupt Greece.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, In Iraq gunmen robbed a jewelry store in northern Baghdad and killed its owner. As they were making their escape, a car bomb exploded nearby, killing three policemen who were responding to the robbery.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Kuwaiti media reported that seven people were arrested in a sweep of a suspected spy cell.
(AP, 5/6/10)
2010 May 1, In Mexico 5 people were killed in a gunbattle between gang members and soldiers in Camargo, a small town in Tamaulipas state, which borders Nuevo Leon.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 1, The leader of Nepal's Maoists called a nationwide general strike, stepping up pressure on the government to quit as tens of thousands of his supporters demonstrated in Kathmandu.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Nigeria's navy seized a Greek-flagged vessel carrying more than 80 tons of stolen crude oil and arrested its crew in a crackdown on a multi-million dollar smuggling racket.
(AFP, 5/5/10)
2010 May 1, In Pakistan a suicide bomber killed five people in the Swat Valley, fuelling fears of a Taliban comeback in the area a year after a major army offensive routed the group.
(Reuters, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Hundreds of Russian opposition activists rallied in Moscow, shouting slogans comparing PM Vladimir Putin to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in a rare protest approved by the authorities.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, In Somalia two bombs exploded inside a small mosque in the Bakara market district of Mogadishu killing at least 32 people.
(AP, 5/1/10)(AFP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, In Sudan the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Darfur’s main rebel group, warned that the government has brought the Darfur peace process to an end by launching a military offensive.
(AFP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would name a papal delegate to govern the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ and that a special commission would study its founding constitutions to reform it. The decisions were made after five Vatican investigators reported to the pope about their eight-month global inquiry into the order after its late founder was so thoroughly discredited by revelations of his double life.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2011 May 1, Jeffrey Hall, a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement, was shot to death in Riverside, Ca., by his son (10). In 2013 a judge convicted the boy of 2nd degree murder. In 2013 a judge ruled that the boy spend at least the next seven years in a state juvenile facility.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jeff_Hall)(SFC, 1/15/13, p.A4)(SFC, 11/1/13, p.D5)
2011 May 1, Militants in Afghanistan killed at least 11 people in bombing and shooting attacks, the first day of the its announced spring offensive. In Kandahar, policemen receiving NATO-donated supplies including caps and protective eyewear drew guns and fought over the items, leaving one policeman dead and four wounded. President Hamid Karzai accused the Taliban of using a 12-year-old as a suicide bomber and sending him to carry out an attack that killed a local council member.
(AP, 5/1/11)(Reuters, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Bahrain's chamber of commerce called on Gulf Arab nationals to boycott Iranian goods and halt financial transactions with Tehran, accusing it of interfering in the country's affairs.
(Reuters, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, The Bangladesh government published the 284-page probe report, with finance minister A.M.A Muhith vowing legal action against stock exchange manipulators. The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange General (DGEN) index hit a high of 8918.51 points on December 5 last year before plunging to around 5,200 points in two months, gutting hundreds of thousands of small investors.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was expelling the Libyan ambassador to London following attacks on British embassy premises in Tripoli blamed on Moamer Kadhafi's forces.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A Cambodian soldier was killed in fighting with Thailand, bringing the total number of dead to 17 as the Southeast Asian nations' festering border conflict dragged on.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, China’s Health Ministry's amended guidelines on the management of public places that now ban smoking in more venues like hotels and restaurants were implemented.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In northeastern China a fire at a hotel killed 11 people and injured 35, in Tonghua, an industrial city by the North Korean border. Arson was suspected at the hotel owned by the Nasdaq-listed Chinese budget chain Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc.
(AFP, 5/1/11)(AP, 5/2/11)(AFP, 3/29/12)
2011 May 1, Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched through Havana and other cities to mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A French submarine probing 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) below the ocean's surface located and recovered the flight data recorder of Air France Flight 447, which crashed June 1, 2009, in a remote area of the mid-Atlantic.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Germany’s labor market opened to citizens of the eight east European countries the joined the EU in 2004.
(Econ, 4/30/11, p.54)
2011 May 1, Israel's finance minister said Israel is suspending the transfer of Palestinian tax and customs fees to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it is sure the money will not reach Hamas.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Japan Sony executives bowed in apology for a security breach in the company's PlayStation Network that caused the loss of personal data of some 77 million accounts on the online service. Sony suspected it was under attack by hackers starting April 17.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A seemingly endless flow of Libyans crossed into Tunisia from Libya at the Dehiba border post, a day after a record 5,000 refugees fled the conflict in their country.
(AP, 5/2/11)
2011 May 1, Maldives police used tear gas and batons to break up a protest demanding that President Mohamad Nasheed step down. Dozens of people were injured and many were arrested.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Morocco thousands marched in an umber of cities demanding a faster transition toward democracy and decrying terrorism.
(SFC, 5/2/11, p.A2)
2011 May 1, In central Mozambique a US Peace Corps volunteer was raped at knife-point. On May 11 the US Congress opened hearings into the safety of the agency's volunteers worldwide. The program said more than 1,000 volunteers had been raped or sexually abused in the past decade and reported on allegations that the agency had mishandled sexual assault complaints.
(AP, 5/11/11)
2011 May 1, Singapore shipper Glory Ship Management Pte. Ltd. said Somali pirates have likely hijacked the palm oil tanker MT Gemini and its 25-member crew off the coast of Kenya.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Sri Lanka floods, mudslides and lightning killed seven people in the southern part of the country.
(AP, 5/2/11)
2011 May 1, In Sudan tribal clashes over a land dispute in the oil-producing state of South Kordofan left at least 15 people dead. A heavily armed Sudanese military convoy entered the flashpoint border district of Abyei, sparking clashes that left up to 14 people dead. Neither the northern or southern armies are authorized to maintain troops in the disputed Abyei area.
(AFP, 5/2/11)(AFP, 5/3/11)(AP, 5/4/11)
2011 May 1, Syrian army tanks shelled the old quarter of Daraa and rolled in more reinforcements to the area, which has been under siege for nearly a week. Syrian forces arrested more dissidents in Daraa and in a Damascus suburb under siege for a week. The death toll soared to 545 nationwide from government forces firing on demonstrators.
(AP, 5/1/11)(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Turkey activists flooded Istanbul‘s Taksim Square and marked international workers' day around the world with marches demanding more jobs, better working conditions and higher wages.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before 1.5 million faithful in St. Peter's Square and surrounding streets, moving the beloved former pontiff one step closer to possible sainthood in one of the largest turnouts ever for a Vatican Mass.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A deal mediated by a Gulf bloc to end Yemen's political crisis was thrown into doubt by the country's leader saying he would not personally sign it.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2012 May 1, Pres. Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, the eve of the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. In a swift and secretive trip Obama signed an agreement vowing long-term ties with Afghanistan after America's combat forces come home.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, May Day moved beyond its roots as an international workers' holiday to a day of international protest, with rallies throughout Asia demanding wage increases and marches planned across Europe over government-imposed austerity measures. Thousands of Indonesian workers held Asia's biggest May Day rally, demanding better pay and protection of job security, watched warily by a heavy police and army presence.
(AP, 5/1/12)(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In southern California Gavin Smith (57), an executive for 20th Century Fox, was last seen in Ventura County’s Oak Park neighborhood. On Oct 26, 2014, hikers discovered his remains near Palmdale. On July 3, 2017, John Creech (44) was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Smith had reportedly been having an affair with Creech’s wife.
(SFC, 11/7/14, p.A6)(SFC, 7/4/17, p.A5)
2012 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales announced that his government is completing the nationalization of the electricity sector by seizing control of Transportadora de Electricidad from a subsidiary of Spain’s Red Electrica Corporacion S.A. Morales said only $81 million had been invested in the grid after it was privatized in 1997.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, British police said one woman and six men were arrested at four separate residences in London, Coventry and Cardiff, Wales, on suspicion of financing terrorism in Somalia by smuggling khat leaf, which can produce a mild high, into the United States. It has been illegal in the US since 1993, but is still legal in many countries worldwide. It has been illegal in the US since 1993, but is still legal in many countries worldwide.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, German police arrested 30 protesters of an ultra-conservative Muslim group after clashing with security officials. A group of Salafists protesting against a far-right march threw stones and attacked officers separating the two rallies in the western German city of Solingen.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, Latvia became the latest of 97 countries to wipe the death penalty from its justice system.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Latvia)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.62)
2012 May 1, Malaysia said it will introduce a minimum wage for the first time in a move to bolster incomes amid rising living costs and speculation of a snap general election. Private sector workers in peninsular Malaysia will receive a minimum salary of 900 ringgit ($297) a month while workers in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island will get 800 ringgit.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In Mali troops loyal to the junta overran the main camp of the soldiers who tried to oust them in a counter-coup. At least 12 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/12, p.A2)
2012 May 1, Nigerian troops killed one suspected Boko Haram militant during a pre-dawn raid in Kano over weekend attacks against church services that left around 20 people dead.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In southwest Pakistan a car bomb killed two people and wounded 16 others, including five paramilitary troops on the outskirts of Quetta.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, The Scotland Act 2012, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, received Royal Assent. It set out amendments to the Scotland Act 1998 with the aim of devolving further powers to Scotland in accordance with the recommendations of the Calman Commission.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_Act_2012)
2012 May 1, Bomb attacks in Somalia claimed by Islamist rebels killed at least eight people including two lawmakers, as the international community warned that "spoilers" threaten the fragile progress in the war-torn nation.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, Syrian forces fired mortar shells at the village of Mishmishan in the country's north, killing at least 10 people, including 7 from the same family. A 13-year-old was killed in the nearby town of Maaret al-Noman by random gunfire from regime forces.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In Togo a Singapore-managed product tanker with valuable gasoline cargo was reported missing and suspected to have been hijacked by pirates while at anchor off Lome.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In Tunisia over 20,000 people marched for national unity, chanting slogans borrowed from the popular uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over a year ago.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In southern Yemeni an airstrike on a vehicle killed 3 al-Qaida militants. Al-Qaida-linked militants attacked military vehicles carrying soldiers and a French oil expert. One soldier was killed, and the French expert was wounded.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2013 May 1, US federal authorities arrested three friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accusing them of trying to obstruct justice by hiding evidence in the case and lying about it.
(Lookout, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, An experimental US aircraft, the unmanned X-51A WaveRider sped over 3,000 mph in a test flight above the Pacific Ocean. It used a scramjet engine and reached Mach 5.1 riding its own shock wave before plunging into the ocean as planned.
(SFC, 5/4/13, p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51)
2013 May 1, A jury in Davenport, Iowa, awarded $240 million to 32 mentally disabled turkey processing plant workers for what was described as years of “virtual enslavement" by Texas-based Henry’s Turkey Service.
(SFC, 5/2/13, p.A5)
2013 May 1, Washington state police used "flash bangs" and pepper spray against some protesters who pelted them with rocks and bottles, as violence erupted during May Day in Seattle. 18 people were arrested.
(AP, 5/2/13)
2013 May 1, Electric car maker Coda Holdings Inc. of Los Angeles filed for bankruptcy after selling just 100 cars.
(SFC, 5/2/13, p.C3)
2013 May 1, In Afghanistan insurgents ambushed government peace negotiator Malim Shah Wali Khan (53), killing him and two bodyguards as they headed to a meeting in the south to discuss plans for local troops to take over responsibility from the US-led coalition.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said he is expelling the US Agency for International Development for allegedly seeking to undermine his leftist government. Morales did not specify what USAID had done that merited expulsion.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, British judges ruled that the government has breached European Union air quality law and asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for guidance on what action needs to be taken, delaying immediate improvements to air pollution.
(Reuters, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, In Colombia gunmen attacked but failed to hurt magazine editor Ricardo Calderon, head of the investigative unit of Semana newsmagazine.
(SSFC, 5/5/13, p.A4)
2013 May 1, Indian officials said that for two weeks Chinese soldiers have moved into the barren Depsang Valley in the Ladakh region and refused to move back over the so-called Line of Actual Control, that divides Indian-ruled territory from Chinese-run land, leaving India on the verge of a crisis with China.
(AP, 5/2/13)
2013 May 1, In Iraq two car bombs in Baghdad and Fallujah killed at least eight people and wounded 27.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, In Mexico Central American migrants crossing Veracruz state were attacked by a drug and extortion gang. At least 9 and as many as 20 people were seriously injured. Authorities in Agua Prieta arrested Ines Coronel, the father-in-law of Joaquin Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
(SFC, 5/3/13, p.A2)(SSFC, 5/5/13, p.A4)
2013 May 1, Pakistani forces fired artillery rounds at Afghan border police in the Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province. In an ensuing five-hour firefight, one Afghan border policeman was killed.
(AP, 5/2/13)
2013 May 1, In Russia a bomb exploded in a busy shopping area in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, killing at least two people.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2014 May 1, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said more than 600 suspected gang members have been arrested over the last two months in 179 cities in an operation dubbed Project Southbound.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A9)
2014 May 1, Alaska state troopers Gabriel Rich and Sgt. Patrick Johnson were killed in Tanana. Suspect Nathaniel Lee Kangas (19) was arrested.
(SFC, 5/3/14, p.A5)
2014 May 1, In the SF Bay Area Martin Cobb 8) was killed while trying to rescue his older sister (12) from a sexual assault along railroad tracks in Richmond. A suspect (16) was soon arrested.
(SSFC, 5/4/14, p.A15)
2014 May 1, In California the body of Sarah June Douglas (26) was found stabbed to death in her Sacramento home. Former fire battalion chief Orville Fleming, who shared the home with Douglas, eluded police for two weeks before he was arrested. On July 31, 2015, Fleming (57) was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 5/17/14, p.A5)(SFC, 8/1/15, p.C3)
2014 May 1, In Florida an apparent gas explosion killed two inmates and all but destroyed the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola. More than 180 people were injured.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A9)
2014 May 1, The Navajo Nation and a group led by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and actor Robert Redford said they have agreed on a plan to manage thousands of wild horses on the Navajo reservation and keep the animals from being slaughtered.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A7)
2014 May 1, In North Dakota Andrew Sadek (20), a student at North Dakota State College, went missing. His body was found on June 27 in the Red River, not far from where he attended school. He had died of a gunshot wound and had been a confidential informant for a drug task force.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Andrew_Sadek)(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A7)
2014 May 1, Avon Products Inc. says it will pay $135 million in fines and other fees to settle a long-standing US government probe into whether the cosmetics company paid bribes in China and other countries to gain favors.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, In Afghanistan a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 people at a check point in Panjshir province.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A2)
2014 May 1, Brunei embraced a form of Islamic Shariah criminal law that includes harsh penalties, a move slammed by international rights group as a step backward for human rights.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, In Cambodia May Day demonstrators denounced low wages and called for better treatment of workers during rallies that turned violent.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that they have identified some 1,000 cases of murdered aboriginal women and girls over the last 30 years with most cases between 1990 and 2013.
(SFC, 5/3/14, p.A4)
2014 May 1, In Central African Republic gunmen killed about 15 people, including children, in an attack on Markounda town near the Chad border.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 1, China deployed a $1 billion deep sea rig near the Paracel Islands and the flotilla of escort ships, some armed, in a gradual campaign of asserting its sovereignty in the South China Sea. After China stationed the oil rig, Vietnam immediately dispatched marine police and fishery protection vessels but they were harassed as they approached.
(AP, 5/7/14)
2014 May 1, Ethiopia authorities said at least 11 students have been killed in violent clashes with police. Violence erupted April 28 in a number of university campuses across Oromia state as ethnic Oromo students protested a plan by the government to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into parts of Oromia.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 1, The EU as of today banned imports of Indian mangoes including the Alphonso, considered the king of all the mango varieties grown in South Asia, because a large number of shipments were contaminated with fruit flies. The pests are considered a threat to crops grown in Europe.
(AP, 5/7/14)
2014 May 1, In India twin blasts ripped through two coaches of a train just minutes after it pulled into Chennai railway station, killing a 22-year-old woman and injuring 14 other people.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said US computer chip giant Intel is to invest close to $6 billion in upgrading its local production facilities.
(AFP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Israeli actor and director Assi Dayan (68) died in his Tel Aviv home. Dayan acted in 50 films and TV shows and directed 16 movies and was known for both his trailblazing films and troubled personal life.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Mexican military and police seized 44 tons of marijuana in Tijuana.
(SSFC, 5/4/14, p.A7)
2014 May 1, In Morocco some 700 African migrants charged Spain's barbed-wire border fences in the North African enclave of Melilla, clashing with Spanish and Moroccan border police. 140 of the migrants managed to enter Spanish territory despite the efforts of the border police.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Dutch police stormed a Greenpeace ship and ended environmentalists' attempts to block a Russian tanker carrying oil from the Arctic Ocean from mooring at Rotterdam Port. 31 activists were detained.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, In Nigeria a car bomb in Abuja killed at least 19 people with 66 wounded.
(SFC, 5/3/14, p.A2)
2014 May 1, Nigerian police said the number of kidnapped schoolgirls missing has risen to 276, up by more than 30 from a previous estimate. The actual number abducted by Islamic extremists on April 14 was more than 300. The number of girls and young women who have escaped also rose to 53.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 1, Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era.
(Reuters, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, The Syria-based Local Coordination Committees said clashes overnight between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters killed 14 rebels along a strategic corridor between Damascus and the Lebanese border. Government aircraft struck a market in a rebel-held district of Aleppo killing at least 33 people.
(AP, 5/1/14)(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A2)
2014 May 1, Turkish police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber pellets to stop May Day protesters, some armed with fire bombs, from defying PM Tayyip Erdogan and reaching Istanbul's central Taksim square.
(Reuters, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Ukraine ordered the expulsion of Russia's military attaché, saying it had caught him "red-handed" a day earlier receiving classified information on the country's cooperation with NATO. A crowd of some 300 pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk.
(Reuters, 5/1/14)(AFP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Yemeni military officials said soldiers backed by tanks were pushing through southern strongholds of suspected al-Qaida militants for a third day, sparking clashes that killed at least six suspected militants.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2015 May 1, San Francisco raised wages for thousands of workers from $11.05 per hour to $12.25 per hour.
(SFC, 5/1/15, p.A1)
2015 May 1, In southern California 3 teenagers died when their car plunged off a Long Beach road and into the Los Angeles River.
(SSFC, 5/3/15, p.A8)
2015 May 1, In Oakland, Ca., May Day protests grew violent as vandals smashed bank and store windows and at least 40 car windows at a single auto dealership.
(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A1)
2015 May 1, In Baltimore six police officers were charged over the April 19 death of Freddie Gray, an African-American man in their custody. Police made at least 15 arrests when some protesters defied a 10:00 pm curfew. On May 21 a grand jury indicted all six of the charged police officers.
(AFP, 5/2/15)(SFC, 5/22/15, p.A8)
2015 May 1, In New Jersey a judge unsealed indictments against Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, former aides to Gov. Chris Christie, for causing a traffic jam in Fort Lee in September, 2013. Baroni and Kelly were charged with nine counts including conspiracy to commit fraud. On March 29, 2017 Kelly (44) was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Baroni (45) to two years. In 2017 David Wildstein, who masterminded the scheme, received three years of probation after his testimony helped convict Kelly and Baroni.
(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A4)(SFC, 3/30/17, p.A7)(SFC, 7/13/17, p.A6)
2015 May 1, In NYC the new $422 million Whitney Museum, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, opened.
(Econ., 4/25/15, p.80)
2015 May 1, Philanthropist David Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity Carlyle Group, announced a $10 million donation for Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation.
(SSFC, 5/3/15, p.A8)
2015 May 1, In Burundi 2 police officers and a civilian were killed in two grenade attacks late today in Bujumbura.
(AP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In China angry Muslims in Qinghai province smashed windows in Xining city after pork sausages and ham were found in a delivery van. This was reported along with a story that Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurants in a Xinjiang region village to sell alcohol and cigarettes as part of an effort to weaken the hold of Islam in the region.
(SFC, 5/6/15, p.A6)
2015 May 1, The Republic of Congo said it has banned women from being fully veiled in public to allow easy identification to prevent extremist violence. The Republic of Congo has a population of some 800,000 registered Muslims, about 10% of the population. The government said it will also ban non-residents from sleeping in mosques in order to encourage refugees to register with police.
(AP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In Iraq and Syria the US-led military coalition launched 18 air strikes against Islamic State over the last 24 hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In Italy black-clad protesters in Milan torched two cars and clashed with police, who responded with tear gas as violence broke out at a demonstration at the start of the Expo 2015.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In Libya a rocket hit a medical center in Benghazi, killing 3 people.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In Macedonia opposition leader Zoran Zaev was charged with unauthorized wiretapping and audio recording as well as violence against representatives of the highest authorities.
(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A2)
2015 May 1, Malaysian police arrested 30 protesters at a rally of more than 10,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, demonstrating against a new tax. Protesters demanded the government remove a goods and services tax (GST) which came into effect on April 1 at a rate of 6 percent.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, Maldives police used tear gas against opposition protesters who broke into a restricted military zone demanding President Yameen Abdul Gayoom resign and a jailed ex-president be freed. Police baton-charged a night protest on the main island of Male and arrested 193 people including three opposition leaders.
(AP, 5/1/15)(AFP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In western Mexico gunmen shot down a military helicopter with a rocket propelled grenade. Violence escalated across Jalisco state as military and federal police launched Operation Jalisco to crack down on the Jalisco New Generation Drug Cartel. 15 people including 6 soldiers and a government official were killed in the day’s violence.
(AFP, 5/1/15)(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A2)(AP, 5/16/15)(Econ, 5/9/15, p.31)
2015 May 1, In Mexico Dave Goldberg (47), CEO of SurveyMonkey, died following a treadmill accident at a private villa exercize room near Puerto Vallarta.
(http://tinyurl.com/kb3jyyn)(SFC, 5/6/15, p.C5)
2015 May 1, In Nepal the confirmed death toll from the April 25 earthquake rose to 6,250, with 14,357 injured according to a government. Up to 1,000 Europeans were among the missing.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif praised the country's armed forces for defeating militants in the North Waziristan tribal area. The army says it has cleared militants from most of the area and has a comprehensive plan for the phased return of those displaced by the fighting.
(AP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Saudi Arabia said its forces have killed dozens of Iran-backed rebels from Yemen who launched their first major attack on the kingdom since Saudi-led air strikes began last month.
(AFP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Thousands of South Koreans marched in Seoul for a third week to protest government labor policies and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.
(AP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In Syria Islamist rebels and the government army fought fierce battles in Latakia province overnight close to Pres. Bashar al-Assad's ancestral home. At least 5 insurgents were killed and an unidentified number from the pro-government side. Syrian television said army units targeted "groups of terrorists" in the eastern and southern Idlib countryside and "eliminated a great number of them and destroyed their weapons and munitions."
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In northern Syria an air strike by US-led forces on Bir Mahli village, Aleppo province, reportedly killed at least 64 civilians including 31 children.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)(SFC, 5/5/15, p.A2)
2015 May 1, Thailand police found dozens of shallow graves, a corpse and an ailing survivor at an abandoned jungle camp in a southern area that is regularly used to smuggle Rohingya Muslims, Bangladeshis and other migrants to third countries. By the next day police dug up 26 bodies. Smugglers reportedly escaped days earlier with around 100 Rohingya Muslims, a long-persecuted religious minority in Myanmar.
(AP, 5/1/15)(AP, 5/2/15)(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of stone-throwing May Day protesters. Left-wing groups and trade unions staged rallies around the world to mark International Workers Day.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)(AP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Ukraine said 2 government soldiers and one pro-Russian rebel have been killed over the past 24 hours in fighting in the country's war-torn east despite a shaky ceasefire.
(AFP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro raised the minimum wage 30% for the second time this year to help workers being battered by the world's highest inflation. Two-thirds of the increase will come this month and the rest on July 1. Pensions for retirees were also included in the raise.
(AP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In Yemen warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition struck a residential district in Sanaa overnight, killing eight to 10 civilians.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2016 May 1, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, A CSX freight train derailed in northeastern Washington DC, with several cars overturned and leaking hazardous liquids near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Virginia officials said a fire that has burned over ten thousand acres in Shenandoah National Park has been fully contained.
(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, Pacific Alliance members (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) eliminated tariffs on 92% of their trade with each other and planned to phase out the rest over 17 years.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.26)
2016 May 1, In western Canada a wildfire broke out in the of Fort McMurray area of Alberta. By May 22 it had scorched 1,930 square miles.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, China extended its value-added tax (VAT) from the sale mainly of goods to all major service sectors, including construction and finance.
(Econ, 5/7/16, p.38)
2016 May 1, Egyptian police raided the press syndicate in Cairo and arrested two journalists critical of the government.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, In Egypt some 650 workers from several provinces, who came to hold a meeting in Cairo for International Workers' Day, were prevented from assembling by police.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Delegates from Germany's anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) backed an election manifesto that says Islam is not compatible with the country's constitution and calls for a ban on minarets and the burqa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Iraq two suicide car bombs claimed by Islamic State killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Jamaican police said that US missionaries Randy Hentzel (48) and Harold Nichols (53) were found slain in a rural area of the Caribbean island that has long struggled with high rates of violent crime.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In central Mali Pro-government militia killed 4 members of the Peuhl ethnic group and then struck again at a funeral the next day, killing 9 more victims. the Peuhl community have been accused of collaborating with the Macina Liberation Front, an Islamic extremist group active in the area.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 1, In Somalia Al Shabaab insurgents killed at least 11 government soldiers and retook Runirgod, a town northeast of the capital Mogadishu, just one day after it had fallen to government forces. Al Shabaab said its fighters had killed 32 soldiers and captured three vehicles.
(AP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A2)
2016 May 1, Taiwanese officials protested Malaysia's deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island's nationals to China this weekend to face wire fraud charges, the latest in a series of disputes that has raised new friction between China and Taiwan.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Turkish police clamped down on unauthorized protests during a tense May Day in Istanbul, using tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators and imposing a heavy security blanket on the city.
(AFP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Turkey a car bomb struck the entrance of a police station in the southern city of Gaziantep, killing 2 officials and injuring 23 other people. 3 Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack in the Kurdish-dominated southeast blamed on militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
(AP, 5/1/16)(AFP, 5/1/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.48)
2016 May 1, In eastern Ukraine 3 deaths were reported in fighting despite a recently brokered armistice for Orthodox Easter.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen's Houthi movement and its armed allies seized a military base north of the capital Sanaa, dealing a setback to a shaky ceasefire and peace talks in Kuwait aimed at ending a year-long war. A car bomb in a central square in Aden targeted the city's security chief for the second time in a week and killed 4 soldiers.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen’s government delegation suspended its participation in peace talks in Kuwait because of developments in the governorate of Amran, which reportedly came under rebel attack.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2017 May 1, President Donald Trump opened the door to a future meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, offering unusual praise for the globally ostracized leader at a time of surging nuclear tensions.
(AP, 5/2/17)
2017 May 1, The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that cities have grounds to sue when banks make predatory loans to racial minorities.
(Econ, 5/6/17, p.28)
2017 May 1, The US Supreme Court ruled against Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company that claimed Venezuela unlawfully seized 11 drilling rigs in 2010. The justices ruled 8-0 to throw out a 2015 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that allowed one of the claims to move forward.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Univ. of Texas student Kendrex White (21) stabbed at least four people, killing one and wounding the others, before surrendering to police in Austin.
(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A6)
2017 May 1, Mike Lowry (78), the 20th governor of Washington state (1993-1997), died in Olympia following complications from a stroke.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lowry)(SFC, 5/3/17, p.D4)
2017 May 1, A court in Azerbaijan began considering a government demand to block access to the websites of several independent and opposition news organizations, including the local service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Bangladesh police arrested the IT chief of a banned militant Islamist group that has been blamed for the killing of several secular bloggers and gay rights activists. The suspected militant, identified as Ashfaqur Rahman, worked as the IT head of the al Qaeda-inspired militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team.
(Reuters, 5/2/17)
2017 May 1, British police arrested three women on suspicion of planning attacks, as part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation.
(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A2)
2017 May 1, In Egypt militants killed three policemen and injured five others in a shooting in Cairo late today.
(Reuters, 5/2/17)
2017 May 1, In France one police officer was seriously burnt and two others injured in clashes at a May Day demonstration in Paris in which protesters threw Molotov cocktails and other missiles.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel offered diplomatic help to try to end the war in Yemen, as she ended a two-nation Gulf tour taking in the Arab world's largest economies with a stop in the United Arab Emirates.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Greek trade unions marked May Day with a 24-hour nationwide strike and protests against looming new cuts demanded by the country's creditors in return for bailout cash.
(AFP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In Kashmir militants fighting Indian rule ambushed a van carrying cash for the state-run Jammu and Kashmir Bank, killing five policemen and two bank officials. India's army accused Pakistani troops of killing two of its soldiers paroling the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region before mutilating their bodies, and vowed to exact revenge. Pakistan's military denied the allegations.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In Nepal Sushila Karki, the country’s first female Supreme Court chief justice, was suspended after an impeachment motion was filed in parliament accusing her of bias and interfering with executive powers.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas dropped its long-standing call for Israel's destruction as well as its association with the Muslim Brotherhood in a new policy document issued today. This amended the founding charter of 1988.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)(Econ 5/6/17, p.45)
2017 May 1, In Puerto Rico hundreds of protesters blocked roads in San Juan as May Day demonstrators angered by a decade-long economic crisis marched against looming austerity measures and demanded an audit to identify those responsible for running up a $70 billion public debt load.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Russian police detained 17 young activists protesting against the persecution of gay men in Chechnya at a May Day parade in Saint Petersburg.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In central Somalia Islamist militants publicly stoned one man to death and shot dead another after both were accused of raping a girl.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, South African President Jacob Zuma was jeered by labor unionists and his speech was cancelled after scuffles broke out between his supporters and workers chanting for him to step down at a May Day rally.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In South Korea six people died and more than 20 were injured when a crane collapsed at a Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In northern Syria US-backed fighters cornered the Islamic State group in a last part of Tabqa, after tearing down a huge jihadist flag that had fluttered over the city. A total of 35 IS fighters were killed in 24 hours of clashes and air strikes in Tabqa.
(AFP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In Thailand the Protection of Media Rights and Freedom, Ethics and Professional Standards Act was passed by the National Reform Steering Assembly, a 200-member body appointed by the military after it took power in a 2014 coup.
(AP, 5/3/17)
2017 May 1, Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at protesters seeking to march to Istanbul's Taksim Square to celebrate May Day, in defiance of an official ban.
(AFP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, The UN said an advance party of peacekeepers with a bolstered mandate to use force have arrived in South Sudan, the first blue helmets with a greater authority to protect civilians in the troubled East African nation.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Venezuela’s Pres. Maduro called for a new constitution as an intensifying protest movement entered a second month.
(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A2)
2018 May 1, Donald Trump lashed out at the "disgraceful" disclosure of questions Special Counsel Robert Mueller has sought to ask the US president about potential obstruction and other matters as part of his probe into Russian election interference.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In San Francisco David Wiegand (b.1947), assisting managing editor of The Chronicle, was found dead in his SF home.
(SFC, 5/2/18, p.A12)
2018 May 1, Louisiana's Sec. of State Tom Schedler said he will be stepping down on May 8, amid allegations that he sexually harassed one of his employees.
(SFC, 5/2/18, p.A6)
2018 May 1, Tennessee's Knox County held elections. Investigators later found evidence of a "malicious intrusion" into the county's elections website from a computer in Ukraine during a concerted cyberattack, which likely caused the site to crash just as it was reporting vote totals in this month's primary.
(AP, 5/11/18)
2018 May 1, Jeff Bezos received a message on WhatsApp from an account belonging to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Hidden in 14 bytes of that file was a separate bit of code that most likely implanted malware, malicious software, that gave attackers access to Bezos’ entire phone, including his photos and private communications. In 2019 a United Nations statement raised concerns about the digital tactics of Crown Prince Mohammed.
(NY Times, 1/23/20)
2018 May 1, In Armenia tens of thousands rallied in Yerevan ahead of a crucial vote to elect a new prime minister as protest leader Nikol Pashinyan warned of a "political tsunami" if lawmakers don't back him to lead the country.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, An Australian court ruled that Vatican Treasurer George Pell must face trial on charges of historical sexual offences, making him the most senior Catholic official to be tried on such allegations. He pleaded not guilty.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Bosnian authorities said chemicals from a soda ash factory near a northern town have polluted the Spreca river, killing fish and damaging surrounding farmland. Authorities declared the area a disaster.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Brazil an abandoned high-rise building occupied by squatters in downtown Sao Paulo caught fire and collapsed. Firefighters said at least one person was killed in the collapse and that there could be more. 44 people were soon reported missing after the 24-storey building collapsed.
(AP, 5/1/18)(AFP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, In the Central African Republic at least 24 people were killed in attacks in the capital Bangui targeting a church and a mosque.
(AFP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 1, French Pres. Emmanuel Macron arrived in Australia on a rare visit, with the two sides expected to agree on greater cooperation in the Pacific to counter a rising China.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In France hundreds of demonstrators marched across Paris as part of May Day protests taking place in French cities to oppose economic policies pursued by President Emmanuel Macron. Some 109 people were taken into custody in Paris suspected of offenses including carrying prohibited weapons and firing projectiles after May Day protests.
(AP, 5/1/18)(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, Tens of thousands of workers marched across Germany and Austria rallying for their rights in the face of globalization.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Thousands of Greeks are marching through central Athens in at least three separate May Day demonstrations.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In northern India a 19-year-old woman was raped by five men, including the driver of an autorickshaw she hailed in near Gurugram town, Haryana state.
(AP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 1, In Indonesia about 10,000 workers from various labor groups rallied near the presidential palace in Jakarta to voice their demands.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Hundreds of Iranians defied a ban on protests to mark International Labor Day, with police detaining at least six people.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Iraq militants in two speeding cars killed eight unarmed civilians in the assault 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad. The Islamic State soon claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 5/2/18)(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, Israel signed a 15-year, $775 million deal with the self-ruling Palestinian Authority to put electricity distribution for Palestinians in the West Bank in PA hands and build four power plants to that end.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe told Jordan's King Abdullah II that his country hopes to upgrade its ties with the kingdom into a strategic partnership.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Indian-controlled Kashmir suspected militants shot and killed three men overnight in the town of Baramulla. Police blamed the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Malaysian police intercepted a tanker with 131 Sri Lankans believed bound for Australia and New Zealand, smashing a large human smuggling ring that has been operating for a year.
(AP, 5/6/18)
2018 May 1, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said that his government had proof that the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is supported by Iran, has been providing training and financial support to Polisario fighters in Western Sahara since 2016.
(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, In Myanmar a 15-member UN Security Council delegation visited volatile areas of Rakhine state, from where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled military-led violence, to see firsthand the aftermath of the army's crackdown as well as Myanmar's preparations for taking back the refugees.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In northeastern Nigeria explosions in and around a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa state, killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, North and South Korea dismantled huge loudspeakers used to blare Cold War-style propaganda across their tense border, as South Korea's president asked the United Nations to observe the North's planned closing of its nuclear test site.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Pakistani PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated the long-delayed new airport in the capital, Islamabad, replacing the cramped Benazir Bhutto airport often criticized by travelers.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Puerto Rico thousands of people marched to protest pension cuts, school closures and slow hurricane recovery efforts.
(SFC, 5/2/18, p.A6)
2018 May 1, In Russia more than 100,000 people came out on the streets on Moscow to march in the traditional May Day parade.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Rwandan police arrested 23 Congolese refugees after senior police officers and government officials were pelted with stones during a visit to refugee camp, authorities said after two days of clashes.
(Reuters, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, Scotland became the first country in the world to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol n an effort reduce deaths from alcohol-related illnesses.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, A female Somali aid worker was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the main market in Mogadishu.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In South Korea thousands of labor union members rallied in downtown Seoul for a higher minimum wage and other demands.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, More than 70 cities across Spain held May Day marches calling for gender equality, higher salaries and pensions now that the country's economy is back on track.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Syrian state media and a war monitoring group say airstrikes in Islamic State-held territory in the northeast killed at least 23 people. It was not clear if US-led coalition or Iraqi warplanes carried out the attack in the Hassakeh province.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Syria Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters and civilians arrived in the northern province of Aleppo ahead of their transfer to the neighboring province of Idlib. Regime war planes pound Yarmuk, once home to the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp, as the battle against IS fighters there continued for a 13th day running.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Taiwan said China offered the Dominican Republic a $3.1 billion package of investments and loans to get them to sever ties with Taiwan, after the Caribbean nation switched allegiance to China in a diplomatic blow to the self-ruled island.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Turkey police detained dozens of demonstrators during May Day events around Istanbul, most of them protesters who tried to march toward the city's symbolic main square in defiance of a ban.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2019 May 1, American and Taliban officials resumed talks in Qatar aimed at ending a 17-year war in Afghanistan, while the Afghan government hosted a rare assembly in Kabul to ensure its interests are upheld in any peace deal.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, A US government watchdog agency that monitors the US war effort said in a report to Congress that the US military command in Kabul is no longer producing "district control data," which shows the number of Afghan districts, and the percentage of their population, controlled by the government compared to the Taliban.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, It was reported that SF-based tech billionaire Marc Benioff and his wife are making a $30 million donation to start a new research center at UCSF called the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.
(SFC, 5/1/19, p.A1)
2019 May 1, Florida lawmakers passed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns in school with the approval of their local school district. The teachers would be required to undergo police-style training, psychiatric evaluation and drug screening. Gov. Ron DeSantis was expected to sign the measure.
(SFC, 5/2/19, p.A5)
2019 May 1, An Australian jury convicted Khaled Khayat (51) of plotting to blow up an Etihad Airways airliner on a flight in 2017 from Sydney to the United Arab Emirates with a bomb hidden in a meat grinder.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Benin two French tourists went missing and were feared to have been kidnapped in the Pendjari National Park. An African man, believed to have been their driver, was found fatally shot two days later.
(AP, 5/05/19)
2019 May 1, It was reported that tons of garbage are clogging rivers in Bosnia. The country's waste-management problem has grown over the years, reaching alarming proportions in a region where joblessness and poverty are widespread and where corruption routinely stalls implementation of reform laws.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Britain's PM Theresa May fired defense minister Gavin Williamson saying she had seen "compelling evidence" that he was behind media reports that the government had agreed, against the advice of the United States, to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain's new 5G wireless communications network. Williamson denied that he leaked details of the report.
(AP, 5/2/19)
2019 May 1, In London WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (47) was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Burkina Faso German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a three-nation tour in West Africa, pledged 46 million euros ($51 million) to help Burkina Faso fight Islamic extremism.
(AP, 5/2/19)
2019 May 1, Canada increased loans to farmers after China blocked shipments of canola, its most valuable crop, amid diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and Beijing.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Millions of Cubans took to the streets in protest over new sanctions imposed on the Caribbean island by the Trump administration and US efforts to topple the government of socialist ally Venezuela.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In France tens of thousands of labor union and "yellow vest" protesters were on the streets across the country. Dozens of masked and hooded anarchists clashed with riot police in southern Paris, burning bins, smashing property and hurling projectiles, hijacking a May Day rally that was focused on protesting against President Emmanuel Macron's policies.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In western India Maoist rebels triggered a land mine blast on van carrying police commandos in the insurgents' stronghold in Maharashtra state and killed 15 officers and their driver.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, India began evacuating hundreds of thousands of villagers and shut down operations at two major ports on its east coast ahead of impending Cyclonic Storm Fani expected to make landfall on May 3.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Iran's oil minister hit out against the use of oil sanctions "as a weapon" by the United States and the damage it was doing to OPEC.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Japan Emperor Naruhito inherited the sacred sword and jewel that signaled his succession and pledged in his first public address to follow his father's example by devoting himself to peace and sharing the people's joys and sorrows.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Hundreds of Kazakhs rallied in their two main cities, calling for a boycott of June presidential elections that they dismissed as a cover for an orchestrated handover of power. Police rushed to detain several dozen people.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Kuwait inaugurated one of the world's longest causeways. The 36-km (22-mile) "Jaber" bridge, named after late ruler Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, connects Kuwait City to the northern desert area of Subbiya.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In central Mali a number of Dogons were killed in an ambush, while other members of the same community were killed the following day as they tried to retrieve the bodies. At least 18 civilians were killed in the two related attacks.
(Reuters, 5/4/19)
2019 May 1, In Pakistan dozens of militants sneaked into the country and opened fire on troops in a former Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border, triggering a shootout that killed three soldiers in North Waziristan.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Russia's Pres. Vladimir Putin signed into law a measure expanding government control over the internet. The law requires internet providers to install equipment to route Russian internet traffic through servers in the country.
(SFC, 5/2/19, p.A2)
2019 May 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for more Ukrainians, a controversial new move expected to deepen the crisis between the two countries.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Russian riot police and national guardsmen detained more than 100 people during May Day protests, sometimes using extreme force to take into custody anti-government activists.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) canceled 504 flights today as talks with the pilots resumed in Norway.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, The Swiss-based IAAF, the sports world's highest court, ruled that Olympic champion Caster Semenya and other female runners like her with unusually high testosterone must take medication to reduce their levels of the male sex hormone if they want to compete in certain events. South Africa's Olympic athlete Caster Semenya said the decision will not hold her back.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Thailand an announcement in the Royal Gazette said Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya (40) is legally married to King Maha Vajiralongkorn (66), and is now Queen Suthida.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Tunisia raised the minimum wage for industrial and farm workers, as well as pensions for hundreds of thousands of private-sector retirees, by 6.5 percent, a move aimed at defusing discontent about economic hardship.
(Reuters, 5/2/19)
2019 May 1, In Turkey police in Istanbul detained 127 people for attempting to hold illegal demonstrations in various parts of the city to celebrate May Day.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, The UN added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group, to its list of global terrorists after China lifted its objections. Pakistan confirmed the move. This came months after Azhar's group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
(AFP, 5/1/19)(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, The UN said fighting in northwestern Syria has displaced more than 32,500 people since February, as the regime and its ally Russia have stepped up their bombardment. More than 200 civilians have been killed since February.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Venezuela state security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters opposed to President Nicolás Maduro who have gathered at a middle-class neighborhood in western Caracas.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2020 May 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that seeks to protect the US electricity system from cyber and other attacks. The move that could eventually put barriers on some imports from China and Russia.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, President Donald Trump seemingly increased his estimate of possible deaths in the US from the coronavirus, telling a White House event he hopes for less than 100,000 fatalities, a higher upper limit than the 60,000 to 70,000 deaths he discussed on April 27.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Pres. Trump's new spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, promised not to lie to reporters from the podium as she made her debut at the first White House briefing by a press secretary in more than a year.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A4)
2020 May 1, The Daily Beast reported that in an attempt to suppress a 'tell-all' book about the president., lawyers for the Trump Organization last week sent Michael Cohen, who is in prison, a cease and desist letter.
(Business Insider, 5/3/20)
2020 May 1, The US tweeted its support for Taiwan’s participation in the UN, provoking a sharp response from China expressing “strong indignation and firm opposition."
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said US manufacturing activity plunged to an 11-year low in April as the novel coronavirus wreaked havoc on supply chains, suggesting the economy was sinking deeper into recession.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that the Trump administration has pulled funding for a group of scientists studying coronaviruses in bats and the risk of their spillover into humans -- the very kind of infection that started the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Good Morning America, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Alaska Airlines and Southwest became the latest airlines to announce they will require passengers wear face coverings as of May 11. This means all major US airlines have made that a requirement for passengers.
(Good Morning America, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In Arkansas police shot and killed Brent Martin (32), who had taken his son, Jordan Roberts, hostage in Little Rock. Martin had shot the boy (11) who later died at a hospital.
(SFC, 5/5/20, p.A4)
2020 May 1, California to date had 51,775 cases of coronavirus and 2,111 deaths. The SF Bay Area had 8,257 cases and 304 deaths. Total cases nationwide reached 1,102,703 with the death toll at 64,789.
(sfist.com, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, According to Florida's Department of Health, 34,728 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, and 1,337 people have died from it. Health officials halted the publication of up-to-the-minute death statistics related to the coronavirus pandemic that have, by law, been compiled by medical examiners in the state. The death count compiled by the Medical Examiners Commission was often found to be higher than the figures provided by Florida’s Department of Health, prompting a review of the data and a suspension of its publication.
(Yahoo News, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In Massachusetts a group of about 10 immigrants in US government custody clashed with officials at the Bristol County C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center in Dartmouth. The inmates had reported symptoms of COVID-19. This was at least the ninth instance since Pres. Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus.
(CBS News, 5/2/20)(SSFC, 5/3/20, p.A5)
2020 May 1, In Michigan security guard Calvin Munerlyn (43) was fatally shot after he refused to let a woman's daughter enter a Family Dollar in Flint because she wasn't wearing a face mask to protect against transmission of the coronavirus.
(AP, 5/4/20)
2020 May 1, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said his state had just had its largest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases and its largest increase in deaths. Mississippi has more than 7,200 diagnosed coronavirus cases and at least 281 deaths.
(Good Morning America, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, In New Mexico COVID-19 infections in Gallup and surrounding McKinley County surpassed 1,060 confirmed cases and accounted for 30% of cases stateside, surpassing infections in much larger communities such as Albuquerque. In all, more than 3,500 cases have been reported in the state, with more than 130 deaths. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham invoked the state's Riot Control Act and ordered residents of Gallup to remain home except for emergencies and blocked roads leading in and out of town to nonessential travel and any vehicles carrying more than two people.
(AP, 5/1/20)(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A7)
2020 May 1, In New York City the Isabella Geriatric Center in Manhattan reported the deaths of 98 residents believed to have had the coronavirus, a death toll that shocked public officials.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Ohio and Texas pushed ahead with a phased relaxation of restrictions that U.S. states put in place weeks ago to curb the coronavirus pandemic, as Georgia took another step toward a full restart by allowing all businesses to reopen.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In South Carolina deputies shot and killed an alligator that fatally attacked a woman at a pond on Kiawah Island. This was the 3rd fatal alligator attack in the state in the past four years. Before that South Carolina had never recorded a person killed by an alligator.
(SFC, 5/4/20, p.A3)
2020 May 1, Gilead Science Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, JPMorgan Chase & Co said that the US Small Business Administration gave it the green light to make $15 billion in new loans to some 211,000 business customers hurt by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Supermarket chain Kroger Co said it has put purchase limits on ground beef and fresh pork at some of its stores following growing concerns over meat shortages due to coronavirus-induced supply disruptions.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that the Taliban have mounted more than 4,500 attacks in Afghanistan in the 45 days since signing a deal on Feb. 29 with the United States that paves the way for a US troop drawdown.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Afghanistan has reported over 2,335 coronavirus cases and 68 deaths, but international observers believe numbers could be much higher.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Australian PM Scott Morrison, who has angered Beijing by calling for a global inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak, said he had no evidence to suggest the disease originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Australian police fataly shot a man who stabbed and slashed seven people at and near a shopping mall in South Hedland, Western Australia state.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A2)
2020 May 1, Bangladesh has confirmed 7,667 people infected with the coronavirus and 168 deaths. Garment factories began reopening this week after nearly a month of closures.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A5)
2020 May 1, PM Justin Trudeau announced an immediate ban on the sale and use of assault-style weapons in Canada, two weeks after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, China's "Regulations on the Establishment of a Model Area for Ethnic Unity and Progress in the Tibet Autonomous Region" came into effect. The law was passed by the regional assembly in January.
(Econ., 5/16/20, p.34)
2020 May 1, China reported 12 new cases of the coronavirus, six of them brough from overseas, and no new deaths for the 16th day. Total deaths stood at 4,633 from about 83,000 cases.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A5)
2020 May 1, It was reported that Hangzhou-based startup Rokid has developed a pair of glasses to help screen for coronavirus symptoms. It is making wearable T1 glasses that measure temperatures on the move.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it would boost its cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) as it seeks to fight the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, in particular in vulnerable African countries.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that Guatemala's indigenous Maya towns are spurning migrants returned from the US. Local health officials have said that nearly one fifth of the 585 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Guatemala can be traced to people deported from the United States, most of them on two flights in a single day.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air flew into London's Luton airport from Sofia, becoming one of the first European airlines to restart routes during the coronavirus pandemic.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, India's PM Narendra Modi extended the coronavirus lockdown for two weeks, but some restrictions were relaxed.
(AP, 5/3/20)
2020 May 1, Iran rejected US claims it is helping Venezuela to rebuild its oil industry, saying the accusations are designed to increase pressure and disrupt the two countries' trade ties.
(AFP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Iran's death toll from the outbreak of the new coronavirus increased by 63 in the past 24 hours to 6,091. The outbreak has infected 95,646.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Kazakh airlines made their first regular domestic flights in more than a month, with rows of passengers seated alongside empty middle seats, after the vast Central Asian nation eased coronavirus lockdown rules.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Authorities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan began evacuating tens of thousands of people from the Syr Darya river basin after a reservoir dam on the Uzbek side burst, flooding large areas on both sides of the border.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Lebanon's government signed a request for assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Libya’s eastern-based forces trying to capture the country's capital bombed civilian homes, killing at least two people.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Malaysia detained hundreds of refugees and migrant workers for illegally living in the country. Malaysia has reported a total of 6,071 coronavirus cases and 103 deaths.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, PM Robert Abela said Malta plans to keep 57 rescued migrants aboard a private ship anchored just outside territorial waters until the EU finds a way to rehouse them.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, The Netherlands' number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 475 to 39,791, with 98 new deaths. The country's death toll stands at 4,893.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Newly released footage of Kim Jong UN glad-handing at a North Korean fertilizer production plant north of Pyongyang appeared to put an end to speculation about his health.
(The Telegraph, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that a new wave of ravening locust swarms threaten to devastate crops in parts of Pakistan. Half a million acres in 22 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh provinces were under threat.
(The Telegraph, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Poland's government will hike unemployment benefits, President Andrzej Duda said in an election broadcast, promising "an unbelievably high amount" of support for households and businesses struggling through the coronavirus crisis.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Russia reported a record daily rise in confirmed coronavirus cases that pushed the national tally to 114,431. The country has recorded 1,169 deaths from the virus.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Slovak PM Igor Matovic said authorities have lifted a quarantine on three Roma settlements locked down in early April to block the spread of the coronavirus, leaving one remaining village under restrictive orders. Slovakia had 1,403 confirmed coronavirus cases with 23 deaths.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, South Africa began easing one of the world's strictest lockdowns, with runners and dog-walkers returning eagerly to the streets but not all wearing the face masks that are now mandatory. South Africa has more than 5,600 cases of COVID-19.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Spain's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 281 overnight, a small rise from the previous day but still one of the lowest daily tolls in weeks. The crisis has now claimed the lives of 24,824 people.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Explosions at a Syrian military base housing a weapons warehouse injured 10 civilians outside the base. the defense ministry said they were the result of “human error" while moving ammunition. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blasts near the central city of Homs were caused by a suspected Israeli rocket attack.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that Sudan has criminalized carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM), making it punishable by three years in jail. The law must still be ratified by a joint meeting of the Cabinet and the sovereign council.
(BBC, 5/1/20)(AP, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Police in Istanbul detained at least 15 people, including trade union leaders who tried to stage a May Day march in defiance of a coronavirus lockdown and a ban on demonstrations at Taksim Square. Turkey ranks seventh in the world for the number of confirmed infections with 120,204 cases. The country's official death toll stands at 3,174.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Uganda said Lake Victoria's water levels have surged to their highest level in more than half a century after about eight months of relentless downpours, posing a threat to the nation's hydropower plants.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In central Venezuela a riot erupted at the Llanos Penitentiary Center in Guanare, killing at least 40 people and injuring 50 more. The was built to hold 750 inmates but is jammed beyond capacity with 2,500 inmates.
(NBC News, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Explosions rocked Yemen's Socotra archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as an armed unit funded by the United Arab Emirates fought to wrest control of the provincial capital Hadebo. The unit is part of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council, which declared self-rule earlier this week in the south.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Yemen reported the first case of the coronavirus in a third province late today, raising the number of diagnosed infections to seven with two deaths in one of the world's most vulnerable countries.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
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Return to home
This day is dedicated to St. David, the patron of Wales.
(WSJ, 8/3/98, p.A12)
For Asian History: https://www.asiaobserver.org/category/news/on-this-day-in-asian-history
305 May 1, Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus (Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
408 May 1, Theodosius II succeeded to the throne of Constantinople.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1006 May 1, A supernova was observed by Chinese and Egyptians in constellation Lupus.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1171 May 1, Dermot MacMurrough (b.1110), last Irish King of Leinster, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarmait_Mac_Murchada)
1308 May 1, King Albert [of Austria] was murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1486 May 1, Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1493 May 1, Phillippus Paracelsus, physician and alchemist, was born in Switzerland.
(HN, 5/1/98)(MC, 5/1/02)
1528 May 1, The Spanish Narvaez expedition began an inland march to Florida with some 300 men and 40 horses.
(ON, 10/03, p.1)
1562 May 1, The 1st French colonists in the US, a 5-vessel Huguenot expedition led by Jean Ribault (1520-1565), landed in Florida. He continued north and established a colony named Charlesfort at Parris Island, SC.
(Arch, 1/05, p.47)(www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0841765.html)
1567 May 1, Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, Dutch royal painter, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1572 May 1, Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri), grand inquisitor, Pope (1566-72), died. He was succeeded by Gregory XIII.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)(MC, 5/1/02)
1628 May 1, A May festival in Quincy, Mass., degenerated into an orgy with Indian women.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1633 May 1, Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban, French fortress architect, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1672 May 1, Joseph Addison (d.1719), English essayist (Spectator) and poet, was born. "We are always doing, says he, something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us." "A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side."
(AHD, 1971, p.14)(AP, 11/21/97)(AP, 7/14/98)(MC, 5/1/02)
1700 May 1, John Dryden (b.1631), English poet, playwright (Rival Ladies), died. He had written that repentance was virtue of weak minds and the want of power to sin.
(MC, 5/1/02)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.70)
1704 May 1, Boston Newsletter published the 1st US newspaper ad.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1707 May 1, Effective on this day Scotland and England, which already included Wales, were united by an act of Parliament to form Great Britain.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A13)(AP, 5/1/07)
1759 May 1, British fleet occupied Guadeloupe, in the West Indies. [see Apr 23]
(MC, 5/1/02)
1764 May 1, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol, was born.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1764 May 1, Gottfried Rieger, composer, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1769 May 1, Arthur Wellsley, Duke of Wellington "Iron Duke," was born. He defeated Napoleon at Waterloo and later became the British prime minister (1828-30). [see Apr 24]
(HN, 5/1/99)(MC, 5/1/02)
1776 May 1, Adam Weishaupt founded the secret society of Illuminati.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1777 May 1, Richard Brinsley Sheridan's "School for Scandal," premiered in London with Georgiana Cavendish as Lady Teazle. "Its assumptions are that lust and greed - when allied with beauty and cunning - deserve to triumph over dullness and age." He also wrote “A Trip to Scarborough," a rewrite of a Restoration original.
(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-6)(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.W6)(MC, 5/1/02)
1781 May 1, Emperor Josef II decreed protection of population.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1786 May 1, The opera "The Marriage of Figaro," by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered in Vienna.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1805 May 1, The state of Virginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1807 May 1, John Bankhead "Prince John" Magruder, Major General (Confederate Army), was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1825 May 1, George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap), was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1830 May 1, Mother (Mary Harris) Jones, reformer and labor organizer, was born. [see 1837]
(HN, 5/1/01)
1832 May 1, Russia’s Tsar Nicolas I closed Lithuania’s Univ. of Vilnius in response to the November uprising of 1830.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_University_Library)
1839 May 1, Louis-Maire-Hilaire Bernigaud, French chemist, inventor of rayon, was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)
1840 May 1, The 1st adhesive postage stamps, the" Penny Blacks" from England, were issued.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1841 May 1, The 1st emigrant wagon train left Independence, Missouri, for California.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1844 May 1, Whig convention nominated Henry Clay as presidential candidate.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1844 May 1, Samuel Morse (1791-1872) sent the 1st telegraphic message as a demonstration between Washington, DC, and Baltimore [see Jan 6, 1838]. The line officially opened on May 24, 1844.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morse)
1851 May 1, The Great Council Exhibition, the first-ever World’s Fair, opened in London’s Hyde Park. Some 6 million people came to see the new glass and iron Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton (1823-1865). Paxton used roof ventilators and underground air-cooling chambers to regulate indoor temperature.
(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A16)(ON, 7/04, p.12)(Econ, 12/4/04, TQ p.17)
1852 May 1, Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], frontier adventurer, Indian fighter, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1855 May 1, In San Francisco a deed was granted to Fr. Anthony Maraschi for Lot 127 on Market St. between Fourth and Fifth. It had been owned by Thomas O. Larkin, the first American consul in Monterey, who sold it for $11,500.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1857 May 1, William Walker, conqueror of Nicaragua, surrendered to the US Navy. Cornelius Vanderbilt helped finance a Costa Rican army, which defeated Walker’s forces, and paid men under Walker’s command to defect. Walker later sought protection on a British naval vessel, whose captain turned him over to Hondurans, who executed him in 1860.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(soldier))(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W7)
1858 May 1, Anthony Johnson Showalter, composer, was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1862 May 1, Marcel Prevost, French publisher, writer (Les demis-vierges), was born.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1863 May 1, Confederate congress passed a resolution to kill black Union soldiers.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1863 May 1, Confederate "National Flag" replaced "Stars & Bars."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1863 May 1, The beginning of the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., in the East and the Battle Port Gibson in the west. The new Union commander, ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker, planned to encircle Robert E. Lee at the Virginia crossroads hamlet of Chancellorsville.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1864 May 1-8, Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana (Red River Campaign).
(MC, 5/1/02)
1864 May 1, Atlanta campaign, GA.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1865 May 1, In Charleston, SC, some 10,000 people paraded to a mass grave site of Union soldiers at a former race track. This was likely the 1st large-scale US Memorial Day event. [see May 5, 1866, 1868]
(SFC, 5/26/03, p.A1)
1866 May 1, In San Francisco Robert B. Woodward (d.1879) opened his Woodward’s Gardens amusement park with a 25-cent admission. He had bought property and a stately mansion of US Sen. John C. Fremont located between Mission and Valencia to the east and west and 13th and 15th streets to the north and south. In 1873 the park added the nation’s first aquarium.
(SFC, 10/30/12, p.E6)(SSFC, 7/19/15, p.F3)(SFC, 12/19/15, p.C2)
1867 May 1, Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1869 May 1, Folies Bergere opened in Paris.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1872 May 1, Hugo Alfvjen, composer (Midsommarvaka), was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1873 May 1, David Livingstone (60), British physician, explorer (Africa), died in Chitambo, Zambia. His body passed through Zanzibar for a funeral in London in Apr 18, 1874.
(www.heroesofhistory.com/page55.html)(SSFC, 7/13/03, p.C9)
1877 May 1, President Hayes ordered the withdrawal all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
(http://www.historycentral.com/rec/EndofRec.html)
1878 May 1, James Graham was born. He was the inventor of the first naval aircraft-carrying ship and the first man to film a total eclipse of the Sun.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1878 May 1, The third Paris World’s Fair opened and continued to Nov 10. It showcased ice machines and electric street lights.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_%281878%29)(Econ, 6/13/15, p.52)
1881 May 1, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (d.1955), French Jesuit philosopher, paleontologist, was born. He authored the “Phenomenon of Man" wherein he proposed the idea of the noosphere, i.e. sphere of mind, in which all the minds of all the humans on earth could be conceived of as both separate and as combined in one great, single intelligence.
(V.D.-H.K.p.388)(MC, 5/1/02)
1881 May 1, A family wagon got stuck on train tracks the SF Bay town of San Lorenzo, Ca. 5 of 6 children were killed.
(http://www.sanlorenzoheritage.org/history/slzintro.htm)(SFC, 10/10/14, p.A11)
1883 May 1, "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1884 May 1, Construction began on the first steel-skeleton skyscraper, a 10-story structure in Chicago, designed by William Le Baron Jenney and built by the Home Insurance Co. of New York. It was completed in 1885. It stood 9 stories and had 2 added in 1891.
(HT, 5/97, p.23)(SFEC, 11/22/98, Z1 p.8)(AP, 5/1/99)
1889 May 1, Bayer in Germany introduced aspirin in powder form.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1892 May 1, Howard Barlow, conductor (Voice of Firestone), was born in Plain City, Ohio.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1892 May 1, A US quarantine station opened on Angel Island, SF Bay.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1893 May 1, The World’s Columbian Exposition was officially opened in Chicago by President Cleveland. The El in Chicago was erected to take visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition. It created a section of town called the Loop encircled by the railway. The exposition grounds covered over 600 acres of south Chicago along Lake Michigan. The exposition attracted over 21 million visitors who saw such wonders as the Ferris Wheel and electricity (first displayed in the Paris Exposition in 1889, but still unknown to most Americans). It was the first American exposition to make a profit. In 2003 Erik Larson authored “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and madness at the Fair That Changed America."
(AP, 5/1/97)(Hem. 7/96, p.25)(HNQ, 2/18/01)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.M1)
1895 May 1, In San Francisco Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), along with a group of like-minded associates, began publishing an irreverent literary magazine called the Lark. His poems, "The Purple Cow" appeared in the first issue. Burgess was the leader of group of artists living in the Montgomery Block. A final issue, number 25 entitled The Epi-Lark, was published May 1, 1897.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelett_Burgess)(SFC, 10/27/18, p.C2)
1896 May 1, Mark Clark, American general, was born. He commanded the Fifth Army in Italy during World War II.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1896 May 1, Nasr-ed-Din (65), shah of Persia, was murdered.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1898 May 1, US Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Admiral George Dewey led the US Navy in victory over the Spanish navy at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Dewey’s ships lobbed shells into Filipino-dug trenches and the battle became a massacre.
(AP, 5/1/97)(Hem, Dec. 94, p.70)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)(HN, 5/1/99)
1902 May 1, John Glover (85), English chemist (production sulfuric acid), died.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1904 May 1, Antonin Dvorak (b.1841), Czech composer (Slavonic Dances, New World Symphony), died at age 62. He spent 1892-1895 in the US as an honored guest. In 2002 Michael B. Beckerman authored “New Worlds of Dvorak: Searching in America for the Composer’s Inner Life."
(MC, 5/1/02)(SSFC, 1/19/03, p.M5)
1907 May 1, Kate Smith (d.1986), singer, was born in Washington, DC.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Smith)
1909 May 1, Walter Reed Hospital opened in Washington DC as an 80-bed Army medical center. It closed in 2011 and operations were moved to facilities in Maryland and Virginia.
(SFC, 8/26/05, p.A13)(SFC, 7/28/11, p.A4)
1913 May 1, Walter Susskind, conductor, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1914 May 1, Yuan Shikai, China's 1st president, won dictatorial qualification.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1915 May 1, The luxury liner Lusitania left New York Harbor for a voyage to Europe. There were warnings by the German government in NYC newspapers that it regarded the refurbished liner a battle target. She was sunk by a German U-boat six days later.
(HN, 5/1/99)(MC, 5/1/02)
1915 May 1, A German submarine sank the U.S. ship Gulflight I.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1916 May 1, Glenn Ford, actor, was born in Quebec, Canada. He starred in the film "The Blackboard Jungle."
(HN, 5/1/99)(MC, 5/1/02)
1917 May 1, Caucasian unity was proclaimed at the first Mountain People's Congress in Vladikavkaz. The idea of a Caucasus Confederation had its origins in the spring of 1917 and was developed further in 1918. At the Congress the "Alliance of United Mountain People of the North Caucasus and Dagestan", headed by T. Chermoev, a Chechen, R. Kaplanov, a Kumyk, P. Kotsev, a Kabardian, V. Dzhabagiev, an Ingush, and others, was officially established. The Abkhazian people also became full members of this alliance. A Mountain Peoples' Government was formed in November 1917.
(www.ciaonet.org/olj/crs/crs_1998sp/crs98sp_las01.html)
1918 May 1, Jack Paar (d.2004), later late-night TV talk show host, was born in Canton, Ohio.
(www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/paarjack/paarjack.htm)
1919 May 1, Dan O'Herlihy, actor (Fail Safe, Last Starfighter, Robocop), was born in Ireland.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1919 May 1, In Indonesia Mount Kelud erupted. A powerful explosion that could be heard hundreds of miles away destroyed dozens of villages and killed at least 5,160 when a boiling crater lake broke through the crater wall killing people in 104 small villages.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A14)(AP, 11/3/07)
1919 May 1, In Mexico Pancho Villa married Soledad Seanez Holguin. This was recognized by the state in 1946 after proof showed the pair had both a civil and a church wedding.
(SFC, 7/13/96, p. A19)
1920 May 1, Belgian-Luxembourg toll tunnel opened.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1923 May 1, Joseph Heller (d.1999), American author, was born in Brooklyn, NY. His work included the novel "Catch 22."
(HN, 5/1/99)(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A10)(MC, 5/1/02)
1924 May 1, Terry Southern, novelist and screenwriter (Candy, The Magic Christian, Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider), was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)(MC, 5/1/02)
1925 May 1, Malcolm Scott Carpenter, astronaut (Mercury 7-Aurora 7), was born in Boulder, Colo.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1925 May 1, Cyprus became a British Crown Colony.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1926 May 1, Satchel Paige made his pitching debut in Negro Southern League.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1927 May 1, Adolf Hitler held the first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1928 May 1, Lei Day, a Hawaiian celebration, was begun.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1928 May 1, Pitcairn Airlines (later Eastern) began service.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1929 May 1, Police killed 19 Mayday demonstrators in Berlin.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1930 May 1, Anton J. Anderson, a Sausalito fisherman, returned to port in SF, Ca., towing 2 boats and carrying the bodies of Allen Curry (29), a deputy fish and game warden, and James Burke (48), a former game warden. Anderson himself was wounded and explained that he had shot the 2 men in self defense after they tried to confiscate his nets. Anderson was not indicted and returned to fishing. He died mysteriously 3 years later off the Mendocino shore.
(SSFC, 8/17/08, DB p.58)
1930 May 1, Pluto was first publicly announced as the name of a newly discovered planet. Venetia Phair (11) had suggested the name to her grandfather, librarian Falconer Madan, who relayed the suggestion to his friend Herbert Hall Turner, professor of astronomy at Oxford. Madan rewarded Phair (1919-2009) with a five-pound note. The same purchasing power in 2009 would be about 230 pounds, or $350.
(AP, 5/7/09)
1931 May 1, Singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on CBS.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1931 May 1, New York City's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. A 3,000 man construction crew completed the building in one year and 45 days. It was designed by the firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon and financed by John J. Raskob, a former GM executive.
(SFC, 2/24/96, p.A13)(AP, 5/1/97)(HT, 5/97, p.26)(AP, 5/1/08)
1934 May 1, The Philippine legislature accepted a U.S. proposal for independence.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1936 May 1, In New Orleans the FBI under J Edgar Hoover arrested kidnapper and gunman Alvin Karpis (1907-1979). Known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s, he was the last "public enemy" to be taken. Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Wichita, Kansas. In August he was imprisoned at Alcatraz. Karpis was released on parole in 1969 and deported to Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Karpis)(SSFC, 7/31/11, DB p.42)
1936 May 1, Emperor Haile Selassie left Ethiopia as Italians invaded.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1937 May 1, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1939 May 1, Judy Collins, singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds), was born in Seattle, Wash.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Collins)
1939 May 1, Batman comics hit the street in Detective Comics No. 27. Bob Kane (d.1998 at 83) created Batman for DC Comics. The cartoon hero was based on Zorro, da Vinci’s sketch of a flying man, and a silent mystery movie titled "The Bat."
(SFC, 11/6/98, p.D5)(SFC, 12/14/00, p.C9)(WSJ, 10/25/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/2/10)
1940 May 1, Bobbie Ann Mason, American writer (Shiloh and Other Stories, In Country), was born.
(HN, 5/1/01)
1940 May 1, The 1940 Olympics were cancelled.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1940 May 1, 140 Palestinian Jews died as German planes bombed their ship.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1941 May 1, The motion picture "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles (24), premiered in New York. Randolph Hearst attempted to bury the film by banning all advertising in his newspapers. One in five Americans read a Hearst paper at this time. Citizen Kane won an Academy Award. A PBS special from the American Experience covered the story in 1996. His biography, “Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles" by David Thompson, was published in 1996.
(WSJ, 1/25/96, p.A-16)(TMC, 1994, p.1941)(SFC, 6/9/96, BR p.15)
1941 May 1, General Mills introduced Cheerioats, later renamed Cheerios. It was made possible by the development of the “puffing gun" invented earlier by Lester Borchardt Sr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerios)(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.A6)
1941 May 1, A German assault took place on Tobruk.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1943 May 1, Food rationing began in US. [see Mar 29]
(MC, 5/1/02)
1943 May 1, British India SN Company troop transport in convoy with 23 merchantmen and escorted by eleven destroyers, was bound for Malta. When some 30 miles north of Benghazi, the convoy was attacked by German bombers and torpedo carrying aircraft. On board the Erinpura (Capt. P.V. Cotter) were 1,025 troops. One large bomb exploded in the hold sinking the ship in a matter of minutes. Forty four crewmembers, three gunners and an unspecified number of troops were lost. On the same day, near the Tunisian coast, another troopship (name unknown) was torpedoed and sank. On board were a number of troops from Basutoland (later Lesotho) who were serving with the British Eighth Army. In this tragic sinking, 618 Basutos lost their lives.
(http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-1a.html)
1943 May 1, A German plane sank a boat loaded with Palestinian Jews bound for Malta.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1943 May 1, German forces were deployed in the following places: Norway (200,000), France (900,000), Africa (150,000), Balkans (80,000), Finland (180,000), Eastern Europe (210,000), Caucasus (260,000), Russia (1,900,000).
(WSJ, 5/12/99, p.A23)
1944 May 1, The Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, the 1st jet bomber, made its first flight.
(HN, 5/1/98)(MC, 5/1/02)
1945 May 1, A day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, Admiral Karl Doenitz effectively became sole leader of the Third Reich with the suicide of Hitler's propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels. Goebbels committed suicide with his wife and 8 children.
(AP, 5/1/07)
1945 May 1, Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escaped the Fuhrerbunker as the Red Army advanced on Berlin. Specialists later determined that he probably died in May 1945. The mystery behind his fate was settled in 1972 when construction workers in Berlin dug up a skeleton. Experts concluded the remains were Bormann's after a five-month examination that included making X-rays of the bones, studying the teeth, and using the skull as a model to reconstruct what its face would've looked like. West German authorities officially declared him dead in 1973. Some skeptics believed the remains had been brought from elsewhere to be reburied in Berlin. In 2011 Paul van Aerschodt, a former Belgian collaborator, said Bormann had escaped to Latin America and lived there disguised as a priest.
(WSJ, 8/30/99, p.A1)(AP, 9/1/09)(AFP, 2/5/11)
1945 May 1, Arthur Seys-Inquart, Nazi overlord of Netherlands, fled to Flensburg.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1947 May 1, Radar for commercial and private planes was 1st demonstrated.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, Glenn Taylor, Idaho Senator, was arrested in Birmingham Alabama for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, Christos Ladas, Greek minister of Justice, was murdered.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed. The border between North and South Korea was sealed when Kim Il Sung established his communist regime.
(SFC, 3/12/97, p.A14)(AP, 5/1/97)
1950 May 1, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called "Annie Allen."
(HN, 5/1/99)
1950 May 1, Lothrop Stoddard (1883), American political theorist, historian, eugenicist, and anti-immigration advocate, died. He wrote a number of prominent books of early 20th-century scientific racism including “The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy" (1920).
(WSJ, 1/4/08, p.W5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothrop_Stoddard)
1950 May 1, New marriage laws were enforced in People's Republic China.
(www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/restricted/marriage.htm)
1950 May 1, South Africa’s 1927 Immorality Act, which prohibited sex between whites and blacks, was amended to prohibit sex between whites and all non-whites.
(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Immorality_Amendment_Act,_1950)
1951 May 1, Mickey Mantle hit his 1st HR.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1951 May 1, Some 600,000 marched for peace and freedom in Germany.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1952 May 1, Marines took part in an atomic explosion training in Nevada.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1952 May 1, Mr. Potato Head was introduced.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1952 May 1, TWA introduced tourist class.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1954 May 1, Ray York rode Determine to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
(SFC, 9/4/09, p.D6)(www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/history/statistics/1951-1975)
1954 May 1, Legos, founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, became a registered trademark in Denmark.
(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllego.htm)
1959 May 1, Some 87 guerillas, mostly Cubans, surrendered without resistance to Panamanian troops at the village of Nombre de Dios in response to appeals by Castro.
(DBD, p.824)
1959 May 1, West Germany introduced a 5 day work week.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1960 May 1, India’s Bombay State dissolved into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Since this time Gujarat has a sumptuary law in force that proscribed the manufacture, storage, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_prohibition_in_India)(Econ, 2/20/15, p.33)
1960 May 1, A Soviet missile shot down an American U-2 spy plane near Sverdlovsk with pilot Francis Gary Powers (1929-1977). Powers was held in the Soviet Union for 21 months.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A11)(AP, 5/1/97)(SFC, 6/16/12, p.A4)
1961 May 1, A Pulitzer prize was awarded to Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1961 May 1, Fidel Castro announced that there would be no more elections in Cuba. Radio Havana was founded.
(HN, 5/1/98)(WSJ, 6/18/02, p.D9)
1963 May 1, James Whittaker became the 1st American to conquer Mount Everest as he and a Sherpa guide reached the summit.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1964 May 1, The 1st BASIC program ran on a computer at Dartmouth.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1965 May 1, Spike Jones (53), composer (Spike Jones Show), died.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1965 May 1, In Czechoslovakia Allen Ginsberg was crowned King of May at the Prague May Day celebration.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, p.A10)
1965 May 1, USSR launched Luna 5; later lands on Moon.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1966 May 1, Last British concert by Beatles was at Empire Pool in Wembley.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1967 May 1, A Pulitzer prize was awarded to Bernard Malamud (Fixer).
(MC, 5/1/02)
1967 May 1, Elvis Presley (32) married Priscilla Beaulieu (20) in Las Vegas at the Aladdin Hotel. They divorced in 1973. They had met when she was 14 in West Germany.
(AP, 5/1/97)(SFEM, 1/25/98, p.66)
1967 May 1, Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1968 May 1, In a second day of battle, US Marines, with the support of naval fire, continued their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.
(HN, 5/1/99)
1970 May 1, Students at Kent State University rioted in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia. Campus protests broke out across the nation.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1970 May 1, The US troop ship General John Pope came to rest at the Suisun Bay, Ca., reserve fleet rest stop. It was launched in 1943 and served up to this time. In 2010 it was scheduled to be recycled at a Texas shipyard.
(SSFC, 5/9/10, p.A2)
1971 May 1, Amtrak, which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 US intercity passenger railroads, went into service. The Southern Pacific Railroad turned over its money-losing passenger service and railroad cars to the government which formed Amtrak.
(AP, 5/1/97)(SFC, 7/8/96, p.D1)
1974 May 1, The US Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $2.00 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/ESA/minwage/chart.htm)
1975 May 1, The US brokerage industry, acting on a mandate by the SEC, deregulated commissions. Charles Schwab soon became one of the first to slash the price of equity trades.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.E3)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.87)
1975 May 1, United Aircraft became United Technologies Corp.
(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1976 May 1, Kawika Kapahulehua (d.2007 at 76), leading a 15-man crew on a double-hulled canoe with sails, departed Hawaii to Tahiti. Organizer and anthropologist Ben Finney wanted to prove the trip was possible. They reached Tahiti after 34 days despite issues of ethnicity raised by part of the crew. Mau Piailug (1932-2010), Micronesian master navigator, steered the Hokule’a (Star of Gladness) by the stars, the feel of the wind and the look of the sea.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D3)(Econ, 7/24/10, p.84)
1976 May 1, Alexandros Panagoulis (b.1939), Greek politician and poet, died in a car crash possibly rigged by his enemies. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator George Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, and also for the torture that he was subjected to during his detention.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandros_Panagoulis)
1978 May 1, Ernest Morial was inaugurated as the first black mayor of New Orleans.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1978 May 1, Aram Khachaturian (b.1903), Georgia-born Armenian composer, died in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Khachaturian)
1979 May 1, Denmark gave home rule to Greenland, but continued to make key decisions on law and order. The legislative basis for the Home Rule Administration is Act no 56 of 21 February 1979 which came into force on 1 May 1979 following a referendum in Greenland.
(WSJ, 1/13/04, p.A4)(www.gh.gl/uk/govern/organiza.htm)
1979 May 1, Elton John and Ray Cooper performed the first of 5 concerts in Israel. They performed 3 times in Jerusalem and twice in Tel Aviv ending in Tel Aviv on May 6.
(www.vex.net/~paulmac/elton/ej1979.html)
1979 May 1, The people of the Marshall Islands ratified their own constitution and the constitutional government came into being. In recognition of the evolving political status of the Marshall Islands, the US recognized the constitution of the Marshall Islands and the establishment of the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Mr. Amata Kabua (1928-1996) became the first president.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amata_Kabua)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm)
1980 May 1, American Book Award went to William Styron for "Sophie's Choice" and T. Wolfe for "Right Stuff."
(http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id99.htm)
1981 May 1, Harrison Williams (Sen-D-NJ) was convicted on FBI Abscam charges.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam)(AP, 5/1/01)
1981 May 1, American Airlines instituted the 1st "frequent flyer" program to keep customers returning.
(SSFC, 12/14/03, p.D2)(http://tinyurl.com/2uvcut)
1981 May 1, Chile completely privatized Social Security as part of its economic reforms.
(SFC, 6/16/96, Z1 p.7)(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A18)
1982 May 1, The 1982 World's Fair opened in Knoxville, Tenn.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A3)(AP, 5/1/07)
1982 May 1, Richard LaMotta (1942-2010) dispatched 60 street-cart vendors to the streets of Manhattan to begin selling his 4½-ounce Chipwich cookies, which included 3½ ounces of ice cream. Within weeks he was selling 40,000 a day at $1 each. He sold the company to Coolbrands Int’l., a Canadian distributor in 2002.
(SSFC, 5/16/10, p.C9)
1983 May 1, "My One & Only" opened at St James Theater in NYC for 767 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=4221)
1983 May 1, Charles McCabe (68), SF Chronicle columnist, was found dead at his home at 22 Alta St.
(SSFC, 4/27/08, DB p.58)
1984 May 1, Gordon Jenkins (b.1910), orchestra leader (NBC Comedy Hour), died of Lou Gehrig's disease in Malibu, Ca.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkins)
1985 May 1, US president Reagan ordered an embargo against Nicaragua.
(http://tinyurl.com/2qxpo3)
1986 May 1, Will Steger (b.1943) and his dog sled expedition reached the North Pole without re-supply.
(www.qsl.net/kg0yh/other.htm)
1986 May 1, Tass News Agency reported the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1987 May 1, James Webb (b.1946) began serving as US Sec. of the Navy under Pres. Ronald Reagan. He resigned in 1988 after refusing to agree to reduce the size of the Navy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Webb)
1987 May 1, During a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1988 May 1, Newsweek magazine reported that, according to a memoir by former White House chief of staff Donald Regan (1918-2003), astrology had influenced the planning of President Reagan's schedule. Regan's memoir was titled "For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington."
(AP, 5/1/98)(WSJ, 6/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 6/12/03, p.A25)
1989 May 1, The Supreme Court ruled that an employer has the legal burden of proving that its refusal to hire or promote someone is based on legitimate and not discriminatory reasons.
(AP, 5/1/99)
1989 May 1, Disney held a grand opening for its 135 acre MGM studio in Orlando, Fl.
(www.miamibeach411.com/disney/mgm-studios.htm)
1989 May 1, David Webster, an anti-apartheid campaigner, was shot and killed outside his Eleanor Street home in Troyeville, Johannesburg, on South Africa's first official Workers' Day. In 1999 apartheid hitman Ferdi Barnard was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of Webster. He was sentenced to two life terms plus 63 years for a number of crimes, including the murder of Webster.
(www.sahistory.org.za/people/david-joseph-webster)
1990 May 1, In Hampton, NH, William Flynn (16) and a friend shot and killed Gregory Smart (b.1965), the husband of Pamela Smart (23) with whom Flynn was having an affair. Flynn was sentenced 28 years to life. Smart had enlisted Flynn to kill her husband and was sentenced to life in prison. On June 4, 2015 Flynn was released from prison. Patrick Randall, who had held a knife to Gregg Smart’s throat, was also released on parole.
(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7090228)(SFC, 6/5/15, p.A11)
1990 May 1, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other Kremlin leaders were jeered by thousands of people during the annual May Day parade in Red Square.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1991 May 1, "Will Rogers Follies" opened at Palace Theater in NYC for 983 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4643)
1991 May 1, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers threw his seventh no-hitter at age 44, shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays 3-to-0.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s set a major league record by stealing his 939th base during a game against the New York Yankees.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, The government of Angola and US-backed guerrillas initialed agreements ending their civil war.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, In South Korea former student Park Seung-hee (19) set herself on fire at Chunnam University to challenge continuing police violence under Pres. Roh Tae-woo.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycf7d5wr)(Econ 5/6/17, p.37)
1992 May 1, On the third day of the Los Angeles riots, beaten motorist Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking, "Can we all get along?" President Bush delivered a nationally broadcast address in which he vowed to "use whatever force is necessary" to restore order.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1992 May 1, In California Eric Houston (20) returned to Lindhurst High School, his former high school in Olivehurst, Yuba County, and killed 3 students and his former teacher Robert Brens (28) before surrendering to police. Brens had given him an F in economics 3 years earlier. Houston was later sentenced to death. In 2012 the state Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
(SFC, 4/3/12, p.A12)(SFC, 8/3/12, p.C3)
1992 May 1, It was reported that a new study indicated that peptic ulcers were caused by a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A15)
1992 May 1, Serbian forces began to shell Serajevo.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1993 May 1, The horse Sea Hero won the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1993 May 1, President Clinton held a strategy session with top military and foreign policy advisers on Bosnia.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1993 May 1, Violence erupted during a May Day protest in Moscow.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1993 May 1, Pres. Ranasinghe Premadasa (b.1924), the 3rd president of Sri Lanka, was killed by a Tiger suicide bomber in Colombo.
(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)(AP, 5/1/98)(SFC, 6/8/00, p.A16)
1994 May 1, Israeli and PLO delegates opened a final round of talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian autonomy prior to the signing of an agreement on self-rule.
(AP, 5/1/99)
1994 May 1, South Africa's first all-race elections ended.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A12)
1995 May 1, President Clinton defended his choice for surgeon general, Henry Foster, as a "pro-life, pro-choice doctor."
(AP, 5/1/00)
1995 May 1, Charges that Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, had plotted to murder Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan were dropped as jury selection for her trial was about to begin in Minneapolis.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1995 May 1, The Croatian army captured the Serb enclave of Western Slavonia in its first major bid to retake territories occupied in 1991. In reply the Krajina Serbs launched a rocket attack on Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Milan Martic, Croatian Serb leader of rebel Serb forces, ordered the shelling of Zagreb. Martic surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in 2002.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A17)
1995 May 1, In France Brahim Bouarram (29), a father of two, was thrown into the Seine by a group of skinheads leaving a May Day rally held nearby in Paris by Nation al Front Party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
1996 May 1, PLO leader Yasser Arafat received a statesman's welcome at the White House, where he met with President Clinton for 45 minutes, then lashed out at Israel for keeping its borders closed to Palestinian workers.
(AP, 5/1/97)
1996 May 1, Cubans began paying income taxes for the first time in decades.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 1, François Chalais (b.1919), prominent French reporter, journalist, writer and film historian, died. In 1997 the François Chalais Prize at the annual Cannes Film Festival was named after him.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Chalais)
1997 May 1, The TV show Ellen captured 42 million viewers to hear the Ellen character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, announce that she was a lesbian.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.C1)
1997 May 1, John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of slain child beauty queen JonBenet, declared their innocence, and asked for the public's help in finding her killer.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1997 May 1, In Oakland an armored car flipped in an accident and released some 27 bags of money claimed to be substantially less than $500,000. People in the vicinity grabbed much of the cash though some 20% was returned within 2 days. A total of $106,000 was recovered and $445,000 was still missing when an amnesty for returning cash ended on May 5.
(SFC, 5/3/97, p.A1)
1997 May 1, Virtual Pets began to be marketed by Tiger Electronics and Bandai Ltd. of Japan. The egg-sized gadgets played out the lives of various animals on a liquid crystal display.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.B1)
1997 May 1, An Int’l. committee agreed to create 7 new (WWW) World Wide Web domains. The new suffixes would be: .firm, .store, .web, .arts, .rec, .info and .nom for individuals.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A1)
1997 May 1, In Belarus the government imposed a $3 million tax fine on the Soros Foundation for alleged currency exchange violations. Soros called it a blatant attempt to suppress the independent sector.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A16)
1997 May 1, Under the leadership of Tony Blair Britain’s Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition, and won the general election with a landslide victory, winning 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1997)
1997 May 1, Romania apologized for deporting tens of thousands of ethnic Germans to labor camps during Communist rule or “selling" them by demanding cash from the Bonn government for emigration permits.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A17)
1998 May 1, Otto Bettmann, founder of the Bettmann photo archive, died at 94 in Boca Raton, Fla.
(WSJ, 5/4/98, p.A1)
1998 May 1, Eldridge Cleaver, ex-Black Panther who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died at age 62 in Pomona, Ca. He wrote the book “Soul On Ice" in 1965 while in Folsom Prison. The book was published in 1968. He jumped bail after a 1968 shooting and returned to the US in 1975.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A1,13)(AP, 5/1/99)
1998 May 1, In Kosovo, Serbia, a police raid in Drenica left 4 ethnic Albanians dead.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.19A)
1998 May 1, In Nigeria police fired into a crowd of 5,000 people demanding the ouster of Sani Abacha and witnesses said 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 1, Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 Tutsis. Kambanda was later sentenced to life in prison, but has since disavowed his guilty plea.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1998 May 1, In Zimbabwe labor leaders called for a 5-day national strike to protest a tax increase and higher prices.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1999 May 1, Charismatic, a 30-1 shot, charged to victory in the 125th Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1999 May 1, Pres. Clinton imposed a trade embargo on Serbia that excepted only food and medicine.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A3)
1999 May 1, The FCC ordered that stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC must build digital facilities in the 10 largest TV markets by this time.
(Wired, 2/98, p.64)
1999 May 1, The NRA held its annual convention in Denver 11 days after the Columbine High School shootings. Some 2,500 attended as 7,000 people protested outside.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A1)(AP, 5/1/00)
1999 May 1, The Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule flown by Gus Grissom, which sank in 1961, was found 300 miles offshore from Cape Canaveral in 3 waters 3 miles deep.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A2)(AP, 5/1/00)
1999 May 1, In Hot Springs, Arkansas, an amphibious tourist boat sank on Lake Hamilton and 11 people drowned. The death toll rose to 13 after one survivor died and another body was found.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A2)(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A2)
1999 May 1, In London police arrested David Copeland (22) for the recent nail bombings.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)
1999 May 1, Pres. Milosevic ordered the release of 3 captive Americans following the appeal of Rev. Jesse Jackson.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A1)
1999 May 1, A NATO strike on a bridge in Kosovo, 12 miles north of Pristina, hit a civilian bus and killed between 34 and 60 people including 15 children.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A17)
1999 May 1, The Treaty of Amsterdam Treaty, signed on October 2, 1997, entered into force. Its full official title was: the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts. In Article 7 it said governments that violate the union’s fundamental values would be threatened with sanctions.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amsterdam)(Econ 7/29/17, p.42)
2000 May 1, The US government began allowing civilian GPS receivers to pick up more accurate satellite signals. The sport of geocaching began 2 days later.
(WSJ, 3/19/02, p.A20)
2000 May 1, A US State Dept. annual report on efforts to combat terrorism listed Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors for terrorism. The report indicated a shift from the Middle East to South Asia with Afghanistan and Pakistan listed as threatening.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A6)(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A12)
2000 May 1, About three and a-half million Time Warner cable subscribers temporarily lost access to seven Disney-owned ABC stations in a quarrel over transmission rights.
(AP, 5/1/01)
2000 May 1, Steve Reeves, actor, died in Escondido, California, at age 74. He starred in such films as “Hercules," “The Last Days of Pompeii," and “Duel of the Titans."
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.C4)(AP, 5/1/01)
2000 May 1, May Day marches and protests took place around the world. In Berlin violence erupted as some 10,000 anarchists marched against “capitalism and imperialism" after some 1200 neo-Nazis rallied. In London some 2,000 demonstrators caused havoc in London. Tens of thousands gathered in Madrid and some 15,000 demonstrated in both Russia and Istanbul. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Sao Paulo, Brazil and some 20,000 marched in Quito, Ecuador.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A10)
2000 May 1, Joerg Haider, leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, stepped down after 14 years as party leader.
(AP, 5/1/01)
2000 May 1, In Iran Hamid Tefileen, one of 13 Jewish men arrested for espionage, was displayed on TV and admitted to being paid $500 a month by Israeli intelligence, Mossad.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A8)
2000 May 1, In Puerto Rico 2 US warships arrived off the coast of Vieques and some 50 protestors braced for the arrival of federal agents.
(SFC, 5/2/00, p.A5)
2000 May 1, In Zimbabwe thousands opposed to the rule of Pres. Mugabe rallied in Harare.
(WSJ, 5/1/00, p.A1)
2001 May 1, Pres. Bush committed the US to a missile defense shield. He also presented his case for withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/2/01, p.A1)(AP, 5/1/02)
2001 May 1, FBI Director Louis Freeh, appointed in 1993, announced his retirement. He served until June and then joined MBNA as a senior vice-president managing its legal and personnel affairs.
(AP, 5/1/02)(WSJ, 6/14/02, p.A4)
2001 May 1, Thomas Blanton Jr. became the second ex-Ku Klux Klansman to be convicted in the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala., that claimed the lives of four black girls.
(AP, 5/1/02)
2001 May 1, The space shuttle Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mohave Desert following the installation of the billion-dollar robot arm on the Int’l. Space Station.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A4)
2001 May 1, May Day protests rallies took place around the world as people demonstrated against global trade and for workers’ rights.
(WSJ, 5/2/01, p.A1)
2001 May 1, In Seattle Hindus filed a suit against McDonald’s for nondisclosure of beef flavoring in French fries.
(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.A9)
2001 May 1, In the West Bank Assaf Hershovitz (31), a Jewish settler, was killed when his van was hit by 27 bullets outside Ramallah.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)
2001 May 1, In Japan Kim Jong Nam (29), the son of Kim Jong Il of North Korea, was detained with his son as they attempted to visit Tokyo’s Disneyland.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A14)
2001 May 1, In Macedonia Slavs rioted in Bitola and trashed Albanian shops following the funerals of soldiers killed in a rebel ambush. US Sec. of State Powell met with Macedonia’s Pres. Trajkovski.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A8)
2001 May 1, In the Philippines Pres. Arroyo declared a “state of rebellion" and ordered the arrest of 2 senators and several military officials loyal to former Pres. Estrada. Some 40,000 protesters marched on Malacanang Palace and 3 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B1)
2002 May 1, California’s Dept. of Insurance released a list of former slaves and slaveholders. Records of 613 salves and 433 slaveholders were made public.
(SFC, 5/1/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A17)
2002 May 1, In Afghanistan some 560-614 prisoners were released from Shibirghan prison controlled by Gen. Dostum. Some 2,300 prisoners remained.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A12)
2002 May 1, China’s VP Hu Jintao met with Pres. Bush. Jintao said the Taiwan issue could hurt relations and defended China’s record on human rights. They agreed to resume military exchanges.
(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/3/02, p.A1)
2002 May 1, In Colombia government soldiers from Caqueta state were pulled from a bus at a FARC roadblock. Their bodies were reported found on May 12.
(SFC, 5/13/02, p.A6)
2002 May 1, Well over 1 million people across France marched against far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, 4 days before Le Pen was defeated by President Jacques Chirac in a runoff.
(AP, 5/1/03)
2002 May 1, Israeli forces withdrew from Ramallah and Yasser Arafat, under siege since Mar 29, emerged from his West Bank compound. 6 wanted Palestinian men were driven to Jericho under US and British supervision.
(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A1)
2002 May 1, In Madrid, Spain, a bomb exploded near a sports stadium and 17 people were injured.
(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A11)
2003 May 1, Pres. Bush, standing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Navy aircraft carrier in San Diego, announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Bush landed on the carrier in a Navy S-3B jet and spoke below a banner that read “Mission Accomplished."
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)(WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A6)
2003 May 1, Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan and declared most of the nation secure. He said the 9,000 US soldiers there were engaged mainly in reconstruction.
(WSJ, 5/2/03, p.A1)
2003 May 1, The US Navy withdrew from Vieques Island, Costa Rica.
(AP, 5/1/03)
2003 May 1, In Utah climber Aron Ralston (27) amputated his own arm to escape from a canyon where he was pinned by a boulder.
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A18)
2003 May 1, A female homicide victim, Jane Doe, was found near a garbage bin at a restaurant in Castro Valley, Ca. She had been killed around Apr 22-23 and was buried Sep 17 as "Unknown child of God. Female, 12-17..." In 2006 police using DNA identified the girl as Yesenia Nungaray (16) and said she was from Yahualica, Mexico. In 2007 police sought Miguel Angel Nunez-Castaneda (28) for her murder.
(SFC, 9/18/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/9/06, p.B1)(SFC, 12/22/06, p.B3)(SFC, 11/7/07, p.B5)
2003 May 1, Flooding hit northwestern Argentina and at least 13 people were killed and 50,000 driven from their homes.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 1, The Australian stock market began trade in Australia's first-ever listed brothel, The Daily Planet. Shares began trading at 31 cents. Heidi Fleiss was on hand to promote the enterprise and her new book, "Pandering."
(AP, 5/1/03)
2003 May 1, Thousands of people in Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines celebrated May Day by protesting for higher wages, better hours and political change.
(AP, 5/1/03)
2003 May 1, Three top members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime: Mizban Khadr Hadi (military commander), Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish (director of the Office of Military Industrialization and a deputy prime minister in charge of arms procurement), and Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf (a Kurd who served as one of two ceremonial vice presidents), were captured.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 1, Israeli troops raided a Hamas stronghold and exchanged fire with dozens of masked gunmen. At least 13 Palestinians were killed, including two boys ages 2 and 13. 2 Palestinian militants were killed in the West Bank.
(AP, 5/1/03)(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A8)
2003 May 1, In South Africa a bus believed to be carrying about 90 people plunged into a reservoir in South Africa. 10 survivors were rescued outside the town of Bethlehem. 51 people were killed.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 1, A 6.4 magnitude earthquake rumbled through southeastern Turkey. 177 people were killed and 390 injured including 80 students were trapped in the debris of their school dormitory in Bingol.
(AP, 5/1/03)(SFC, 5/1/03, A16)(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A3)(AP, 5/4/08)
2004 May 1, Smarty Jones won the Kentucky Derby and ran his record to 7-for-7, the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
(AP, 5/1/04)
2004 May 1, Shanghai Tobacco, maker of Panda and other cigarette brands, embarked on a campaign to extend Panda beyond the political and military elite. WHO statistics held that China accounts for 30% of the 5.5 trillion cigarettes consumed daily world-wide.
(WSJ, 5/26/04, p.A1)
2004 May 1, Revelers across ex-communist eastern Europe celebrated their historic entry to the European Union. 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined. Malta joined with 70 exemptions to EU rules. Poland had 43 exemptions. Latvia had 32. The Turkish occupied area of Cyprus was suspended from entry.
(AP, 5/1/04)(Econ, 2/28/04, p.50)(Econ, 4/16/05, p.16)
2004 May 1, Jean-Jacques Laffont (57), an award-winning French economist and one of the leading figures in the study of information theory, died in southern France. His books included "Incentives in Public Decision Making" (1979).
(AP, 5/14/04)
2004 May 1, In Iraq US top commander Lt. Gen. Sanchez notified 6 officers of his intent to issue a memorandum of reprimand for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 5/4/04, p.A1)
2004 May 1, In Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, suspected militants sprayed gunfire inside the offices of Houston-based ABB Ltd., an oil contractor, killing at least six people — including two Americans and three other Westerners — and wounding dozens. Police killed four brothers in a shootout after a car chase in which the attackers reportedly dragged the naked body of one victim behind their getaway car.
(AP, 5/1/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A7)(WSJ, 2/25/06, p.A1)
2005 May 1, Newsweek, in its May 9th edition, ran a story that said US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay prison had flushed a Quran, the Muslim holy book, down a toilet.
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.32)
2005 May 1, Hundreds of thousands of workers mobilized on May Day to demand more political muscle in the face of global capitalism, as clashes with police marred some rallies.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, On what was to have been her wedding day, "runaway bride" Jennifer Wilbanks was led by Albuquerque, N.M., police to an airplane that flew her home to Georgia.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2005 May 1, The bodies of 3 Afghan women were found raped, hanged and dumped on a roadside in Baglan province with a warning not to work for foreign relief organizations.
(SFC, 5/6/05, p.A15)
2005 May 1, Chinese computer maker Lenovo completed its purchase of IBM's personal computer division.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2005 May 1, In Egypt police detained about 200 people from the home villages of 3 attackers responsible for a bomb blast and tour bus shooting near Cairo tourist sites the day before.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In Iraq insurgents launched a 3rd straight day of attacks, including ambushes, car bombs and a drive-by shooting, killing nine Iraqis and wounding more than 20.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, Five suspects were arrested by Iraqi forces and confessed to the kidnapping and murder of British aid worker Margaret Hassan.
(AFP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In northern Iraq a car bomb obliterated a tent packed with mourners at the funeral of a Kurdish official, killing 25 people and wounding more than 50 in the single deadliest attack since insurgents started bearing down on Iraq's newly named government late last week.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, A videotape released by Iraqi militants showed Douglas Wood (63), a kidnapped an Australian man living in California, who pleaded for U.S.-led coalition forces to leave Iraq to save his life.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In Nepal about ten thousand people marched through Kathmandu, demanding the restoration of democracy in the biggest show of opposition strength since King Gyanendra seized absolute power three months ago.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, North Korea test-fired a short range missile.
(WSJ, 5/2/05, p.A16)
2005 May 1, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II wished health and happiness to millions of Orthodox Christians as believers marked Easter, the holiest day in the Orthodox calendar.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, Thai fishermen netted a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish believed to have been the world's largest freshwater fish ever caught in Thailand.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 May 1, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Israel for a visit seeking to mend relations with the Jewish state and join in a new wave of Middle East peace efforts.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2006 May 1, The EU imposed additional retaliatory sanctions valued at $9.1 million against the US in response to antidumping measures that were ruled illegal.
(WSJ, 5/1/06, p.A10)
2006 May 1, The US Supreme Court ruled that Anna Nicole Smith could pursue part of her late husband's oil fortune.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2006 May 1, A Florida judge sentenced former professor Sami Al-Arian (48) to another year and a half in prison before he will be deported in his terrorism conspiracy case. Al-Arian signed a plea agreement April 14 in which he admitted providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Thousands of people rallied in cities across the US for what organizers called “A Day Without Immigrants." An estimated 100,000 gathered in San Jose, Ca., 400,000 in Chicago, 400,000 in Los Angeles and some 75,000 in Denver.
(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A1)
2006 May 1, In the SF Bay Area KQED of SF and KTEH of San Jose announced their merger under the name Northern California Public Broadcasting.
(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A1)
2006 May 1, Pure Digital Technologies released its new $130 Pure Digital Point & Shoot Video Camcorder.
(WSJ, 5/3/06, p.D1)
2006 May 1, Workers around the world held May Day rallies to press for better factory conditions and higher wages in mostly peaceful marches. Activists the Philippines used the holiday to show their opposition to their government in tense protests watched by police.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Belarus more than 1,000 protesters carrying banned flags marched through Minsk to demand the release of jailed opposition leaders who had pledged to work for the removal of President Alexander Lukashenko.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales ordered the oil and gas sector nationalized, threatening to evict foreign companies unless they cede control over production within six months. The biggest natural gas field was operated by Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras.
(AP, 5/2/06)(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A3)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.37)
2006 May 1, Egyptian security forces fatally shot three men wanted in terrorist bombings that killed at least 18 people in a coastal Sinai Peninsula resort on April 24. A police officer was also killed.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 1, In western India police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse battling mobs of Hindus and Muslims, killing two people as hundreds rioted after authorities demolished a small Muslim shrine.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In southern India a truck carrying mangos toppled over, killing 20 workers riding on board to unload them.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In northern India a sodium tank exploded at a paper factory, sparking a blaze that killed at least nine nightshift workers and trapped hundreds more. One official said 15 people were killed.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Indonesia 3 Islamic militants were convicted and sentenced to prison for helping shelter Southeast Asia's top terrorist mastermind and financing bombings.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Israel interim PM Ehud Olmert announced his Cabinet appointments, naming Tzipi Livni as vice premier and foreign minister. Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian woman and wounded her two daughters when they fired on a West Bank house that an Islamic Jihad militant was hiding in.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Locals in Macao rioted in protests against outsiders, who were finding jobs while many middle-aged Macanese remained jobless.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.40)
2006 May 1, A day-long protest dubbed "A Day Without Gringos" drew thousands of Mexicans into the streets and kept many away from US-owned supermarkets and fast-food restaurants to support rallies in the United States demanding immigration reform.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, The government of Puerto Rico ran out of money, forcing the US commonwealth to close public schools and shut down government offices, putting almost 100,000 people out of work.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, Rwandan Hutu rebels attacked a village and an army camp in a raid that left 7 residents dead. Congolese troops killed six rebels during an attack at an army camp that also claimed the lives of a soldier and his wife.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 1, Under pressure from the US rebels in Sudan's Darfur region agreed to continue negotiations in Nigeria with the Sudanese government after rejecting a peace proposal that would end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 May 1, In Turkey, police fired pepper spray and tear gas to disperse demonstrators denouncing the IMF and the United States.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2007 May 1, Pres. Bush cast the 2nd veto of his presidency rejecting an attempt by both chambers of Congress to set a timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.36)
2007 May 1, Julie A. MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, resigned after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for industry. In November the US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed 7 rulings that had denied endangered species increased protection.
(www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2007/Interior-Wildlife-Decisions21jul07.htm)(SFC, 11/28/07, p.A3)
2007 May 1, John Hickenlooper (b.1952) was re-elected mayor of Denver with 86.3% of the vote.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.39)(www.citymayors.com/mayors/denver_mayor.html)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people protested across the US to demand a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2007 May 1, Kenneth John Freeman (44), a bodybuilder and computer expert from Benton County, Washington, was arrested in Hong Kong. Freeman, who fled the US 13 months earlier, was accused of raping his daughter and posting a video of the attack.
(www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2007/050207.htm)
2007 May 1, The design for the Arizona quarter, chosen by Gov. Janet Napolitano, was announced. It includes a "Grand Canyon State" banner across the middle of the quarter, separating the canyon view with a multi-rayed sun above and a saguaro in a desert landscape below. The 48th of the state series will be released in 2008, followed by Alaska and Hawaii.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, A US ice expert said the Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Australian police arrested two men accused of raising money for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on the pretext of collecting donations for victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thirty people were arrested in raids across Belgium, England, and the Netherlands targeting suspected animal rights extremists.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, John Browne, head of BP PLC, resigned after Britain’s highest legal body triggered the release of documents detailing his relationship with a former lover. In 2014 he authored “The Glass Closet."
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/31/14, p.62)
2007 May 1, Britain's largest ever trade union, representing about two million public and private sector workers, was launched following the merger of two workers' bodies. The Unite union officially formed following a recent vote for merger by members of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, founded in 1922.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_and_General_Workers%27_Union)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Indonesia tens of thousands of workers marked May Day by taking to the streets to demand better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iran stood firm in opposing language in a nuclear conference agenda that reaffirms the need for full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a stance that diplomats said could scuttle the meeting aimed at strengthening the accord.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iraqi officials have received reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri (aka Abu Hamza al-Muhajer), the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said the information has not been confirmed. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that al-Masri was believed to have been killed April 30 in the Taji area north of Baghdad. Gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas to the south, killing 14 people. Mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's office in the US-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Japan and Qatar stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf state.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Liberia relaunched its diamond trade after the UN lifted an embargo, hoping the revival of the industry will fund reconstruction rather than lead to more bloodshed.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Macao May Day protesters clashed with riot police as a rally against labor shortages turned violent, sparking rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Mexico 5 soldiers, including a colonel, and a suspected drug cartel enforcer were killed in a shootout in the western state of Michoacan, which has been plagued by drug violence and is the target of a military-led anti-drug offensive.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 1, The leader of Nepal's Maoists threatened to push the nation back into turmoil by launching huge nationwide protests unless parliament immediately ousts the king and declares a republic.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radiotelevision station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in Akure in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign oil workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating storage vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian sailor was killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of laborers rallied across Pakistan demanding better wages and living conditions to mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of South Africans marched in Durban to protest the renaming of streets after heroes of the ruling African National Congress, sparking warnings of violence in the Zulu heartland.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Turkish police charged into crowds of leftist protesters marking the anniversary of a deadly May Day rally in Istanbul, spraying tear gas and kicking and clubbing demonstrators as they fled.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields, intensifying a struggle with international firms over the development of the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Zimbabwe boosted the price of corn meal, a keystone of the nation’s diet, by nearly 600%.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/7/07)
2008 May 1, Pres. Bush proposed $770 million in US food aid on top of $200 million released 2 weeks ago to alleviate the global surge in food prices.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A1)
2008 May 1, Pres. Bush imposed new sanctions against property owned or controlled by the military junta in Myanmar.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)
2008 May 1, The National Marine Fishery Service announced a ban on fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon.
(SFC, 5/2/08, p.B2)
2008 May 1, Philadelphia’s Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey announced a major reorganization of the department's command structure and the addition of nearly 250 officers on street patrols, part of a crime-fighting strategy he said was already showing results. Mayor Michael Nutter and the police commissioner had hoped to have 200 more police officers on the streets by this time as part of a new 33-page crime-fighting plan. Murders in the city had reached 392 in 2007. Gov. Ed Rendell agreed to help foot the bill.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.33)(http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_9120792)
2008 May 1, A report by the American Lung Association said the eight metropolitan areas considered to be the nation's most polluted by every measure were Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia-Porterfield and Hanford-Corcoran, all in California; Washington-Baltimore; St. Louis; and Birmingham, Ala.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, Deborah Palfrey (b.1956), a woman from Vallejo, Ca., known as the “D.C. Madam," was found hanged at her mother’s home in Tarpon Springs, Fl. She had been convicted on April 15 of racketeering and other charges related to a prostitution ring, whose clients included high profile government officials.
(SFC, 5/2/08, p.A13)
2008 May 1, In Afghanistan 2 roadside bombs killed a NATO soldier and 8 civilians.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A1)
2008 May 1, In Australia 6 people were killed in Sydney Harbor when a boat packed with revelers on a nighttime joyride and a fishing trawler collided.
(Reuters, 5/1/08)(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales celebrated May Day by announcing the nationalization of Entel, the country’s leading telecommunications company, and returning four foreign-owned natural gas companies to state control. Bolivia privatized the struggling Entel in 1995, handing 50 percent of the company to Stet International in exchange for the Italian company's promise to invest $608 million to modernize its services. Stet later merged with Telecom Italia. The Bolivian government said Telecom Italia fell short on promised investment and owes some $25 million in taxes.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, Pascal Marlinge, the country head of Save the Children UK in Chad, was shot dead by gunmen who held up his three-car convoy between the villages of Forchana and Hadjer Hadid, not far from the border with Sudan's Darfur region. UN aid agencies suspended all but their most urgent work in eastern Chad for two days in a "symbolic protest."
(Reuters, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, China inaugurated one of the world's longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai. The 36-kilometer (22-mile) structure connected Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
(AFP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, Cuba announced a major shake-up of its troubled farm sector on May Day, shifting control of the island's farms from officials at the Agriculture Ministry to more than 150 local councils.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, A speeding tourist bus carrying dozens of Europeans and Canadians overturned, rolled off an embankment and burst into flames on a desert highway in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. At least nine passengers were killed and about 30 wounded.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, Rescuers found the bodies of five French ski mountaineers who had been missing since the day before when they were swept away by an avalanche during an excursion on Punta Basei, a 10,000-foot peak in Italy's northwestern Alps.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, In Hong Kong 18 people were killed and at least 44 injured when a coach taking elderly local residents to a religious ceremony overturned.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, It was reported that Iran has stopped using dollars for oil deals as it seeks to reduce reliance on the US.
(WSJ, 5/1/08, p.A1)
2008 May 1, A double suicide bombing killed at least 36 people during a wedding procession as people cheered the bride and groom in Balad Ruz, a town northeast of Baghdad. A car bomb aimed at a US patrol in Baghdad killed at least nine Iraqi civilians and wounded 26. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi patrol car, killing two Iraqi soldiers in Mosul. 3 al-Qaida insurgents fired on US soldiers as they tried to stop a vehicle near Mosul. The soldiers returned fire, killing all three as well as the driver of the vehicle. The US military said it killed 18 militants overnight amid escalating fighting in the Shiite slum Sadr City. Around Iraq, at least 1,080 Iraqi civilians and security forces were killed nationwide last month, average of 36 a day, according to an AP tally, down from March's total of 1,269, or an average of 41 per day.
(AP, 5/1/08)(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 1, Roberto Velasco, head of Mexico’s federal police organized crime division, was murdered. Police later said the murder was likely ordered by Arturo Beltran Leyva, a capo in the Sinaloa drug cartel.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.45)
2008 May 1, Russia said an extra contingent of its troops had begun arriving in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, a move Tbilisi said was an illegal act of military aggression.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, An Islamic insurgent group said the US military killed Aden Hashi Ayro, a man believed to be the head of al-Qaida in Somalia, and 10 others in an airstrike overnight.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, South Africa lifted a 13-year ban on killing elephants. The country had some 18,000 elephants.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)
2008 May 1, Three bombs exploded in Spain's Basque region. No one was injured in the blasts, which police said were carried out by the separatist group ETA.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, In Sri Lanka suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a roadside mine, killing two police commandos, as violence raged on across the north.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 1, A cabinet minister said a runoff will be necessary to decide Zimbabwe's presidential election, citing the government's own election results.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2009 May 1, US cases of the H1N1 flu rose to 155, based on federal and state tallies. State laboratory operators believe the number is higher because they are not testing all suspected cases. Mexico raised its confirmed swine flu death toll from 15 to 16, adding that the total number of confirmed cases of the virus had risen to 397. Worldwide, the total confirmed cases were 653, with the real number also believed to be much larger.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, US government health officials warned dieters and body builders to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold supplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at least one death.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed a state budget, overcoming a $1.4 billion deficit by taping into emergency reserve funds and cutting state services.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.37)
2009 May 1, In south Texas Reymundo Guerra, former sheriff of Starr county, pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge for sharing law enforcement information with a Mexican drug ring.
(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A4)
2009 May 1, Danny Gans (52), one of the most popular entertainers on the Las Vegas Strip for the last decade, died in his sleep at his home in Henderson, Nev. A coroner later said Gans' death was accidental, caused by a prescription painkiller.
(AP, 5/2/09)(AP, 6/9/09)
2009 May 1, In southern Afghanistan gunmen attacked a troops' convoy as it traveled to a village to talk to elders about security. The troops killed one militant in the initial clash and another 14 as they pursued insurgents who were firing on them from a nearby hillside. 3 Afghan army soldiers were killed in overnight fighting with insurgents in eastern Kunar province. 5 international soldiers, including 2 American, were killed in an insurgent attack.
(AP, 5/1/09)(AFP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A2)
2009 May 1, Britain awarded the role of national poet laureate to Carol Ann Duffy (53), the first woman to hold a post that has been filled by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes. Duffy, a gay woman, has published more than 30 books, plays and children's stories as well as poems that mix accessible modern language with traditional forms.
(AP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 5/1/09, p.A3)
2009 May 1, In Cambodia a court official said Japan has donated $4.17 million to the UN-backed genocide tribunal trying former Khmer Rouge leaders on war crimes charges, just as the troubled court was running out of funding.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, In Ethiopia Communications Minister Bereket Simon said that senior military officers, including a general, had plotted to assassinate top government officials. He added that 40 people were under arrest. Bereket said the plotters belonged to the Ginbot 7 (May 15) opposition group, saying it was linked to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) headed by Berhanu Nega, currently living in the United States.
(AFP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, May Day protesters clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece, while thousands angry at the government's responses to the global financial crisis took to the streets in France. Riot police battled 700 stone-throwing left-wing militants in Berlin for more than five hours in May Day clashes that stretched into early pre-dawn hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In India officials said at least 18 people have died in a scorching heat wave that has swept through more than a dozen Indian states.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, Indonesia's top graft-buster, Antasari Azhar (56), was named a suspect and a mastermind in a murder case, dealing a blow to the agency that's played a key part in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's fight against corruption. He was one of several suspects in the March 14 murder of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, a businessman who, according to local media reports, had been a witness in a corruption case investigated by the agency.
(Reuters, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, Iran hanged a young woman (23) who was convicted of murder when she was a minor, drawing condemnation from international human rights groups who have sought to end capital punishment for juvenile offenders. Delara Darabi, initially pleaded guilty to killing her father's cousin in 2003, but later retracted her confession and said her boyfriend carried out the killing.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In northern Iraq Ammar Afif Hamada (19), a would-be Syrian suicide bomber linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, was tackled by guards on the doorstep of a mosque in Kirkuk.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ and Napoleon, boasted that he was the world's most popular leader.
(Reuters, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks with visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on the situation in Pakistan and ways of bolstering ties between the two nations. Pakistan and Libya signed a string of agreements to bolster economic ties on the sidelines of Zardari’s visit. The countries also decided to bolster ties in the fields of banking, health, education, public works and construction.
(AFP, 5/1/09)(AFP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In the Netherlands robbers at the Scheringa Museum for Realism in Spanbroek stole "Adolescence," a 1941 gouache by Salvadore Dali and "La Musicienne," an oil painting from 1929 by Polish-born art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. The museum houses the art collection of wealthy Dutch banker Dirk Scheringa and his wife.
(AP, 5/2/09)
2009 May 1, In Pakistan the battle between security forces and Taliban militants left 55-60 militants dead over the last 24 hours in Buner district near the capital even as the government pressed with a much-criticized peace plan in the region. Based on combined tolls released by the military, nearly 200 militants have been killed in Operation Black Thunder since tanks, fighter jets and helicopter gunships swung into action in Buner and neighboring Lower Dir.
(AFP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, In Paraguay Sabino Montanaro (86), who served as interior minister under ex-dictator Alfredo Stroessner, arrived in Asuncion after nearly two decades of self-imposed exile in Honduras. He faced six pending trials for the disappearance and killings of government opponents in the 1970s and 1980s.
(AP, 5/4/09)
2009 May 1, Special forces on a Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates after thwarting an attack on an oil tanker, but later freed the 19 men. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, another band of pirates hijacked a cargo ship. The captain and 23 crew were all Ukrainians and the Greek-owned, Maltese-flagged Ariana was carrying a cargo of soya from Brazil to Iran when pirates attacked it southwest of the Seychelles islands. The Ariana was freed on Dec 10 following a ransom payment of $2.8 million by Athens-based Alloceans Shipping.
(AP, 5/2/09)(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 May 1, Sri Lanka's government dropped leaflets across the northern war zone urging civilians to flee the fighting amid accusations the military pounded the area with artillery shells that killed at least 10 civilians.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, A UN agency urged Israel to freeze demolitions of Arab homes in east Jerusalem, citing a growing housing crisis in the part of the city the Palestinians claim as their future capital.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 1, In Venezuela police and national guard troops broke up an opposition march in Caracas as thousands of opponents and supporters of Pres. Chavez held separate May Day marches.
(SFC, 5/2/09, p.A2)
2010 May 1, The worst US oil spill in decades reached into precious shoreline habitat along the Gulf Coast as documents emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that exploded.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2011 May 1, Jeffrey Hall, a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement, was shot to death in Riverside, Ca., by his son (10). In 2013 a judge convicted the boy of 2nd degree murder.
{California, Murder, Kids}
(SFC, 1/15/13, p.A4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jeff_Hall)
2010 May 1, In Minnesota a suburban St. Paul police officer was killed during an ambush, setting off a massive manhunt that ended with one suspect dead and another in custody.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, NYC police found an "amateurish" but potentially powerful bomb that apparently began to detonate but did not explode in a smoking sport utility vehicle in Times Square. The Pakistani Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the failed car bomb attack.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, In South Carolina Lee County Sheriff E. J. Melvin was arrested after the FBI caught him calling drug dealers to tip them off or extort them after receiving a list of possible dealers in his county.
(SFC, 5/4/10, p.A4)
2010 May 1, Elisabeth Mandala (18), a Texas high school student, and two Mexican men were found dead in a crashed pickup truck near Mina, in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon. Autopsies revealed that all three died from severe blows to the head and body. Mandala, a senior at Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas, was last seen April 27 leaving her mother's home. The two men killed were taxi driver Luis Angel Estrella Mondragon (44) and merchant Dante Ruiz Siller (38).
(AP, 5/6/10)
2010 May 1, American actress Helen Wagner (b.1918) died. She played mild-mannered Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" for more than a half-century. Wagner opened "As the World Turns" when it premiered on April 2, 1956, with the words: "Good morning, dear."
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 1, Tens of thousands of workers marched in cities from Hong Kong to Istanbul to mark international worker's day, demanding more jobs, better work conditions and higher wages.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, In Albania 22 opposition Socialist lawmakers and 180 supporters launched a hunger strike to press the government to allow a partial recount of an election they claim was tainted by vote-rigging. The government of PM Sali Berisha, who narrowly won the June 28 general election controlling 75 of parliament's 140 seats, called their demands illegal.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Arab nations endorsed indirect peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, a move that likely paves the way for the start of long-stalled US-brokered negotiations.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales nationalized 4 electricity generators, 2 of which had European owners or partners. He skipped the May Day parade as some marchers carried signs denouncing his purchase of a new French Dassault jet.
(Econ, 5/8/10, p.40)
2010 May 1, In Brazil a jury convicted a rancher of orchestrating the murder of US nun and Amazon defender Dorothy Stang. Regivaldo Galvao, the last of five defendants to stand trial in the case, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The verdict came two weeks after another rancher, Vitalmiro Moura, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of collaborating with Galvao. Galvao was soon released on bail pending an appeal.
(AP, 5/1/10)(AP, 5/19/10)
2010 May 1, In China World Expo 2010 officially opened in Shanghai. Two-wheeled Electric Networked Vehicles (EN-Vs) were unveiled at Expo 2010. They used a balancing system developed by Segway.
(Econ, 5/8/10, p.42)(Econ, 10/2/10, p.87)
2010 May 1, Cuba quietly began requiring foreign tourists and Cubans who live overseas to hold travel insurance approved by island authorities, while making those who don't have coverage buy a local policy that can cost over $3 a day.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 1, Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in central Athens and other Greek cities for May Day rallies fueled by anger at expected harsh austerity measures needed to secure rescue loans for near-bankrupt Greece.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, In Iraq gunmen robbed a jewelry store in northern Baghdad and killed its owner. As they were making their escape, a car bomb exploded nearby, killing three policemen who were responding to the robbery.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Kuwaiti media reported that seven people were arrested in a sweep of a suspected spy cell.
(AP, 5/6/10)
2010 May 1, In Mexico 5 people were killed in a gunbattle between gang members and soldiers in Camargo, a small town in Tamaulipas state, which borders Nuevo Leon.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 1, The leader of Nepal's Maoists called a nationwide general strike, stepping up pressure on the government to quit as tens of thousands of his supporters demonstrated in Kathmandu.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Nigeria's navy seized a Greek-flagged vessel carrying more than 80 tons of stolen crude oil and arrested its crew in a crackdown on a multi-million dollar smuggling racket.
(AFP, 5/5/10)
2010 May 1, In Pakistan a suicide bomber killed five people in the Swat Valley, fuelling fears of a Taliban comeback in the area a year after a major army offensive routed the group.
(Reuters, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, Hundreds of Russian opposition activists rallied in Moscow, shouting slogans comparing PM Vladimir Putin to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in a rare protest approved by the authorities.
(AP, 5/1/10)
2010 May 1, In Somalia two bombs exploded inside a small mosque in the Bakara market district of Mogadishu killing at least 32 people.
(AP, 5/1/10)(AFP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, In Sudan the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Darfur’s main rebel group, warned that the government has brought the Darfur peace process to an end by launching a military offensive.
(AFP, 5/2/10)
2010 May 1, The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would name a papal delegate to govern the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ and that a special commission would study its founding constitutions to reform it. The decisions were made after five Vatican investigators reported to the pope about their eight-month global inquiry into the order after its late founder was so thoroughly discredited by revelations of his double life.
(AP, 5/2/10)
2011 May 1, Jeffrey Hall, a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement, was shot to death in Riverside, Ca., by his son (10). In 2013 a judge convicted the boy of 2nd degree murder. In 2013 a judge ruled that the boy spend at least the next seven years in a state juvenile facility.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jeff_Hall)(SFC, 1/15/13, p.A4)(SFC, 11/1/13, p.D5)
2011 May 1, Militants in Afghanistan killed at least 11 people in bombing and shooting attacks, the first day of the its announced spring offensive. In Kandahar, policemen receiving NATO-donated supplies including caps and protective eyewear drew guns and fought over the items, leaving one policeman dead and four wounded. President Hamid Karzai accused the Taliban of using a 12-year-old as a suicide bomber and sending him to carry out an attack that killed a local council member.
(AP, 5/1/11)(Reuters, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Bahrain's chamber of commerce called on Gulf Arab nationals to boycott Iranian goods and halt financial transactions with Tehran, accusing it of interfering in the country's affairs.
(Reuters, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, The Bangladesh government published the 284-page probe report, with finance minister A.M.A Muhith vowing legal action against stock exchange manipulators. The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange General (DGEN) index hit a high of 8918.51 points on December 5 last year before plunging to around 5,200 points in two months, gutting hundreds of thousands of small investors.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was expelling the Libyan ambassador to London following attacks on British embassy premises in Tripoli blamed on Moamer Kadhafi's forces.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A Cambodian soldier was killed in fighting with Thailand, bringing the total number of dead to 17 as the Southeast Asian nations' festering border conflict dragged on.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, China’s Health Ministry's amended guidelines on the management of public places that now ban smoking in more venues like hotels and restaurants were implemented.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In northeastern China a fire at a hotel killed 11 people and injured 35, in Tonghua, an industrial city by the North Korean border. Arson was suspected at the hotel owned by the Nasdaq-listed Chinese budget chain Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc.
(AFP, 5/1/11)(AP, 5/2/11)(AFP, 3/29/12)
2011 May 1, Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched through Havana and other cities to mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A French submarine probing 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) below the ocean's surface located and recovered the flight data recorder of Air France Flight 447, which crashed June 1, 2009, in a remote area of the mid-Atlantic.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Germany’s labor market opened to citizens of the eight east European countries the joined the EU in 2004.
(Econ, 4/30/11, p.54)
2011 May 1, Israel's finance minister said Israel is suspending the transfer of Palestinian tax and customs fees to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it is sure the money will not reach Hamas.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Japan Sony executives bowed in apology for a security breach in the company's PlayStation Network that caused the loss of personal data of some 77 million accounts on the online service. Sony suspected it was under attack by hackers starting April 17.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A seemingly endless flow of Libyans crossed into Tunisia from Libya at the Dehiba border post, a day after a record 5,000 refugees fled the conflict in their country.
(AP, 5/2/11)
2011 May 1, Maldives police used tear gas and batons to break up a protest demanding that President Mohamad Nasheed step down. Dozens of people were injured and many were arrested.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Morocco thousands marched in an umber of cities demanding a faster transition toward democracy and decrying terrorism.
(SFC, 5/2/11, p.A2)
2011 May 1, In central Mozambique a US Peace Corps volunteer was raped at knife-point. On May 11 the US Congress opened hearings into the safety of the agency's volunteers worldwide. The program said more than 1,000 volunteers had been raped or sexually abused in the past decade and reported on allegations that the agency had mishandled sexual assault complaints.
(AP, 5/11/11)
2011 May 1, Singapore shipper Glory Ship Management Pte. Ltd. said Somali pirates have likely hijacked the palm oil tanker MT Gemini and its 25-member crew off the coast of Kenya.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Sri Lanka floods, mudslides and lightning killed seven people in the southern part of the country.
(AP, 5/2/11)
2011 May 1, In Sudan tribal clashes over a land dispute in the oil-producing state of South Kordofan left at least 15 people dead. A heavily armed Sudanese military convoy entered the flashpoint border district of Abyei, sparking clashes that left up to 14 people dead. Neither the northern or southern armies are authorized to maintain troops in the disputed Abyei area.
(AFP, 5/2/11)(AFP, 5/3/11)(AP, 5/4/11)
2011 May 1, Syrian army tanks shelled the old quarter of Daraa and rolled in more reinforcements to the area, which has been under siege for nearly a week. Syrian forces arrested more dissidents in Daraa and in a Damascus suburb under siege for a week. The death toll soared to 545 nationwide from government forces firing on demonstrators.
(AP, 5/1/11)(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, In Turkey activists flooded Istanbul‘s Taksim Square and marked international workers' day around the world with marches demanding more jobs, better working conditions and higher wages.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before 1.5 million faithful in St. Peter's Square and surrounding streets, moving the beloved former pontiff one step closer to possible sainthood in one of the largest turnouts ever for a Vatican Mass.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2011 May 1, A deal mediated by a Gulf bloc to end Yemen's political crisis was thrown into doubt by the country's leader saying he would not personally sign it.
(AP, 5/1/11)
2012 May 1, Pres. Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, the eve of the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. In a swift and secretive trip Obama signed an agreement vowing long-term ties with Afghanistan after America's combat forces come home.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, May Day moved beyond its roots as an international workers' holiday to a day of international protest, with rallies throughout Asia demanding wage increases and marches planned across Europe over government-imposed austerity measures. Thousands of Indonesian workers held Asia's biggest May Day rally, demanding better pay and protection of job security, watched warily by a heavy police and army presence.
(AP, 5/1/12)(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In southern California Gavin Smith (57), an executive for 20th Century Fox, was last seen in Ventura County’s Oak Park neighborhood. On Oct 26, 2014, hikers discovered his remains near Palmdale. On July 3, 2017, John Creech (44) was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Smith had reportedly been having an affair with Creech’s wife.
(SFC, 11/7/14, p.A6)(SFC, 7/4/17, p.A5)
2012 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales announced that his government is completing the nationalization of the electricity sector by seizing control of Transportadora de Electricidad from a subsidiary of Spain’s Red Electrica Corporacion S.A. Morales said only $81 million had been invested in the grid after it was privatized in 1997.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, British police said one woman and six men were arrested at four separate residences in London, Coventry and Cardiff, Wales, on suspicion of financing terrorism in Somalia by smuggling khat leaf, which can produce a mild high, into the United States. It has been illegal in the US since 1993, but is still legal in many countries worldwide. It has been illegal in the US since 1993, but is still legal in many countries worldwide.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, German police arrested 30 protesters of an ultra-conservative Muslim group after clashing with security officials. A group of Salafists protesting against a far-right march threw stones and attacked officers separating the two rallies in the western German city of Solingen.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, Latvia became the latest of 97 countries to wipe the death penalty from its justice system.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Latvia)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.62)
2012 May 1, Malaysia said it will introduce a minimum wage for the first time in a move to bolster incomes amid rising living costs and speculation of a snap general election. Private sector workers in peninsular Malaysia will receive a minimum salary of 900 ringgit ($297) a month while workers in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island will get 800 ringgit.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In Mali troops loyal to the junta overran the main camp of the soldiers who tried to oust them in a counter-coup. At least 12 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/12, p.A2)
2012 May 1, Nigerian troops killed one suspected Boko Haram militant during a pre-dawn raid in Kano over weekend attacks against church services that left around 20 people dead.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In southwest Pakistan a car bomb killed two people and wounded 16 others, including five paramilitary troops on the outskirts of Quetta.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, The Scotland Act 2012, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, received Royal Assent. It set out amendments to the Scotland Act 1998 with the aim of devolving further powers to Scotland in accordance with the recommendations of the Calman Commission.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_Act_2012)
2012 May 1, Bomb attacks in Somalia claimed by Islamist rebels killed at least eight people including two lawmakers, as the international community warned that "spoilers" threaten the fragile progress in the war-torn nation.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, Syrian forces fired mortar shells at the village of Mishmishan in the country's north, killing at least 10 people, including 7 from the same family. A 13-year-old was killed in the nearby town of Maaret al-Noman by random gunfire from regime forces.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In Togo a Singapore-managed product tanker with valuable gasoline cargo was reported missing and suspected to have been hijacked by pirates while at anchor off Lome.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In Tunisia over 20,000 people marched for national unity, chanting slogans borrowed from the popular uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over a year ago.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 1, In southern Yemeni an airstrike on a vehicle killed 3 al-Qaida militants. Al-Qaida-linked militants attacked military vehicles carrying soldiers and a French oil expert. One soldier was killed, and the French expert was wounded.
(AP, 5/1/12)
2013 May 1, US federal authorities arrested three friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accusing them of trying to obstruct justice by hiding evidence in the case and lying about it.
(Lookout, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, An experimental US aircraft, the unmanned X-51A WaveRider sped over 3,000 mph in a test flight above the Pacific Ocean. It used a scramjet engine and reached Mach 5.1 riding its own shock wave before plunging into the ocean as planned.
(SFC, 5/4/13, p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51)
2013 May 1, A jury in Davenport, Iowa, awarded $240 million to 32 mentally disabled turkey processing plant workers for what was described as years of “virtual enslavement" by Texas-based Henry’s Turkey Service.
(SFC, 5/2/13, p.A5)
2013 May 1, Washington state police used "flash bangs" and pepper spray against some protesters who pelted them with rocks and bottles, as violence erupted during May Day in Seattle. 18 people were arrested.
(AP, 5/2/13)
2013 May 1, Electric car maker Coda Holdings Inc. of Los Angeles filed for bankruptcy after selling just 100 cars.
(SFC, 5/2/13, p.C3)
2013 May 1, In Afghanistan insurgents ambushed government peace negotiator Malim Shah Wali Khan (53), killing him and two bodyguards as they headed to a meeting in the south to discuss plans for local troops to take over responsibility from the US-led coalition.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said he is expelling the US Agency for International Development for allegedly seeking to undermine his leftist government. Morales did not specify what USAID had done that merited expulsion.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, British judges ruled that the government has breached European Union air quality law and asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for guidance on what action needs to be taken, delaying immediate improvements to air pollution.
(Reuters, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, In Colombia gunmen attacked but failed to hurt magazine editor Ricardo Calderon, head of the investigative unit of Semana newsmagazine.
(SSFC, 5/5/13, p.A4)
2013 May 1, Indian officials said that for two weeks Chinese soldiers have moved into the barren Depsang Valley in the Ladakh region and refused to move back over the so-called Line of Actual Control, that divides Indian-ruled territory from Chinese-run land, leaving India on the verge of a crisis with China.
(AP, 5/2/13)
2013 May 1, In Iraq two car bombs in Baghdad and Fallujah killed at least eight people and wounded 27.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2013 May 1, In Mexico Central American migrants crossing Veracruz state were attacked by a drug and extortion gang. At least 9 and as many as 20 people were seriously injured. Authorities in Agua Prieta arrested Ines Coronel, the father-in-law of Joaquin Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
(SFC, 5/3/13, p.A2)(SSFC, 5/5/13, p.A4)
2013 May 1, Pakistani forces fired artillery rounds at Afghan border police in the Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province. In an ensuing five-hour firefight, one Afghan border policeman was killed.
(AP, 5/2/13)
2013 May 1, In Russia a bomb exploded in a busy shopping area in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, killing at least two people.
(AP, 5/1/13)
2014 May 1, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said more than 600 suspected gang members have been arrested over the last two months in 179 cities in an operation dubbed Project Southbound.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A9)
2014 May 1, Alaska state troopers Gabriel Rich and Sgt. Patrick Johnson were killed in Tanana. Suspect Nathaniel Lee Kangas (19) was arrested.
(SFC, 5/3/14, p.A5)
2014 May 1, In the SF Bay Area Martin Cobb 8) was killed while trying to rescue his older sister (12) from a sexual assault along railroad tracks in Richmond. A suspect (16) was soon arrested.
(SSFC, 5/4/14, p.A15)
2014 May 1, In California the body of Sarah June Douglas (26) was found stabbed to death in her Sacramento home. Former fire battalion chief Orville Fleming, who shared the home with Douglas, eluded police for two weeks before he was arrested. On July 31, 2015, Fleming (57) was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 5/17/14, p.A5)(SFC, 8/1/15, p.C3)
2014 May 1, In Florida an apparent gas explosion killed two inmates and all but destroyed the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola. More than 180 people were injured.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A9)
2014 May 1, The Navajo Nation and a group led by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and actor Robert Redford said they have agreed on a plan to manage thousands of wild horses on the Navajo reservation and keep the animals from being slaughtered.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A7)
2014 May 1, In North Dakota Andrew Sadek (20), a student at North Dakota State College, went missing. His body was found on June 27 in the Red River, not far from where he attended school. He had died of a gunshot wound and had been a confidential informant for a drug task force.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Andrew_Sadek)(SFC, 4/16/16, p.A7)
2014 May 1, Avon Products Inc. says it will pay $135 million in fines and other fees to settle a long-standing US government probe into whether the cosmetics company paid bribes in China and other countries to gain favors.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, In Afghanistan a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 people at a check point in Panjshir province.
(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A2)
2014 May 1, Brunei embraced a form of Islamic Shariah criminal law that includes harsh penalties, a move slammed by international rights group as a step backward for human rights.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, In Cambodia May Day demonstrators denounced low wages and called for better treatment of workers during rallies that turned violent.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that they have identified some 1,000 cases of murdered aboriginal women and girls over the last 30 years with most cases between 1990 and 2013.
(SFC, 5/3/14, p.A4)
2014 May 1, In Central African Republic gunmen killed about 15 people, including children, in an attack on Markounda town near the Chad border.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 1, China deployed a $1 billion deep sea rig near the Paracel Islands and the flotilla of escort ships, some armed, in a gradual campaign of asserting its sovereignty in the South China Sea. After China stationed the oil rig, Vietnam immediately dispatched marine police and fishery protection vessels but they were harassed as they approached.
(AP, 5/7/14)
2014 May 1, Ethiopia authorities said at least 11 students have been killed in violent clashes with police. Violence erupted April 28 in a number of university campuses across Oromia state as ethnic Oromo students protested a plan by the government to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into parts of Oromia.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 1, The EU as of today banned imports of Indian mangoes including the Alphonso, considered the king of all the mango varieties grown in South Asia, because a large number of shipments were contaminated with fruit flies. The pests are considered a threat to crops grown in Europe.
(AP, 5/7/14)
2014 May 1, In India twin blasts ripped through two coaches of a train just minutes after it pulled into Chennai railway station, killing a 22-year-old woman and injuring 14 other people.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said US computer chip giant Intel is to invest close to $6 billion in upgrading its local production facilities.
(AFP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Israeli actor and director Assi Dayan (68) died in his Tel Aviv home. Dayan acted in 50 films and TV shows and directed 16 movies and was known for both his trailblazing films and troubled personal life.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Mexican military and police seized 44 tons of marijuana in Tijuana.
(SSFC, 5/4/14, p.A7)
2014 May 1, In Morocco some 700 African migrants charged Spain's barbed-wire border fences in the North African enclave of Melilla, clashing with Spanish and Moroccan border police. 140 of the migrants managed to enter Spanish territory despite the efforts of the border police.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Dutch police stormed a Greenpeace ship and ended environmentalists' attempts to block a Russian tanker carrying oil from the Arctic Ocean from mooring at Rotterdam Port. 31 activists were detained.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, In Nigeria a car bomb in Abuja killed at least 19 people with 66 wounded.
(SFC, 5/3/14, p.A2)
2014 May 1, Nigerian police said the number of kidnapped schoolgirls missing has risen to 276, up by more than 30 from a previous estimate. The actual number abducted by Islamic extremists on April 14 was more than 300. The number of girls and young women who have escaped also rose to 53.
(AP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 1, Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era.
(Reuters, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, The Syria-based Local Coordination Committees said clashes overnight between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters killed 14 rebels along a strategic corridor between Damascus and the Lebanese border. Government aircraft struck a market in a rebel-held district of Aleppo killing at least 33 people.
(AP, 5/1/14)(SFC, 5/2/14, p.A2)
2014 May 1, Turkish police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber pellets to stop May Day protesters, some armed with fire bombs, from defying PM Tayyip Erdogan and reaching Istanbul's central Taksim square.
(Reuters, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Ukraine ordered the expulsion of Russia's military attaché, saying it had caught him "red-handed" a day earlier receiving classified information on the country's cooperation with NATO. A crowd of some 300 pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk.
(Reuters, 5/1/14)(AFP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 1, Yemeni military officials said soldiers backed by tanks were pushing through southern strongholds of suspected al-Qaida militants for a third day, sparking clashes that killed at least six suspected militants.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2015 May 1, San Francisco raised wages for thousands of workers from $11.05 per hour to $12.25 per hour.
(SFC, 5/1/15, p.A1)
2015 May 1, In southern California 3 teenagers died when their car plunged off a Long Beach road and into the Los Angeles River.
(SSFC, 5/3/15, p.A8)
2015 May 1, In Oakland, Ca., May Day protests grew violent as vandals smashed bank and store windows and at least 40 car windows at a single auto dealership.
(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A1)
2015 May 1, In Baltimore six police officers were charged over the April 19 death of Freddie Gray, an African-American man in their custody. Police made at least 15 arrests when some protesters defied a 10:00 pm curfew. On May 21 a grand jury indicted all six of the charged police officers.
(AFP, 5/2/15)(SFC, 5/22/15, p.A8)
2015 May 1, In New Jersey a judge unsealed indictments against Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, former aides to Gov. Chris Christie, for causing a traffic jam in Fort Lee in September, 2013. Baroni and Kelly were charged with nine counts including conspiracy to commit fraud. On March 29, 2017 Kelly (44) was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Baroni (45) to two years. In 2017 David Wildstein, who masterminded the scheme, received three years of probation after his testimony helped convict Kelly and Baroni.
(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A4)(SFC, 3/30/17, p.A7)(SFC, 7/13/17, p.A6)
2015 May 1, In NYC the new $422 million Whitney Museum, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, opened.
(Econ., 4/25/15, p.80)
2015 May 1, Philanthropist David Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity Carlyle Group, announced a $10 million donation for Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation.
(SSFC, 5/3/15, p.A8)
2015 May 1, In Burundi 2 police officers and a civilian were killed in two grenade attacks late today in Bujumbura.
(AP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In China angry Muslims in Qinghai province smashed windows in Xining city after pork sausages and ham were found in a delivery van. This was reported along with a story that Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurants in a Xinjiang region village to sell alcohol and cigarettes as part of an effort to weaken the hold of Islam in the region.
(SFC, 5/6/15, p.A6)
2015 May 1, The Republic of Congo said it has banned women from being fully veiled in public to allow easy identification to prevent extremist violence. The Republic of Congo has a population of some 800,000 registered Muslims, about 10% of the population. The government said it will also ban non-residents from sleeping in mosques in order to encourage refugees to register with police.
(AP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In Iraq and Syria the US-led military coalition launched 18 air strikes against Islamic State over the last 24 hours.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In Italy black-clad protesters in Milan torched two cars and clashed with police, who responded with tear gas as violence broke out at a demonstration at the start of the Expo 2015.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In Libya a rocket hit a medical center in Benghazi, killing 3 people.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In Macedonia opposition leader Zoran Zaev was charged with unauthorized wiretapping and audio recording as well as violence against representatives of the highest authorities.
(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A2)
2015 May 1, Malaysian police arrested 30 protesters at a rally of more than 10,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, demonstrating against a new tax. Protesters demanded the government remove a goods and services tax (GST) which came into effect on April 1 at a rate of 6 percent.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, Maldives police used tear gas against opposition protesters who broke into a restricted military zone demanding President Yameen Abdul Gayoom resign and a jailed ex-president be freed. Police baton-charged a night protest on the main island of Male and arrested 193 people including three opposition leaders.
(AP, 5/1/15)(AFP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In western Mexico gunmen shot down a military helicopter with a rocket propelled grenade. Violence escalated across Jalisco state as military and federal police launched Operation Jalisco to crack down on the Jalisco New Generation Drug Cartel. 15 people including 6 soldiers and a government official were killed in the day’s violence.
(AFP, 5/1/15)(SFC, 5/2/15, p.A2)(AP, 5/16/15)(Econ, 5/9/15, p.31)
2015 May 1, In Mexico Dave Goldberg (47), CEO of SurveyMonkey, died following a treadmill accident at a private villa exercize room near Puerto Vallarta.
(http://tinyurl.com/kb3jyyn)(SFC, 5/6/15, p.C5)
2015 May 1, In Nepal the confirmed death toll from the April 25 earthquake rose to 6,250, with 14,357 injured according to a government. Up to 1,000 Europeans were among the missing.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif praised the country's armed forces for defeating militants in the North Waziristan tribal area. The army says it has cleared militants from most of the area and has a comprehensive plan for the phased return of those displaced by the fighting.
(AP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Saudi Arabia said its forces have killed dozens of Iran-backed rebels from Yemen who launched their first major attack on the kingdom since Saudi-led air strikes began last month.
(AFP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Thousands of South Koreans marched in Seoul for a third week to protest government labor policies and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.
(AP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In Syria Islamist rebels and the government army fought fierce battles in Latakia province overnight close to Pres. Bashar al-Assad's ancestral home. At least 5 insurgents were killed and an unidentified number from the pro-government side. Syrian television said army units targeted "groups of terrorists" in the eastern and southern Idlib countryside and "eliminated a great number of them and destroyed their weapons and munitions."
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, In northern Syria an air strike by US-led forces on Bir Mahli village, Aleppo province, reportedly killed at least 64 civilians including 31 children.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)(SFC, 5/5/15, p.A2)
2015 May 1, Thailand police found dozens of shallow graves, a corpse and an ailing survivor at an abandoned jungle camp in a southern area that is regularly used to smuggle Rohingya Muslims, Bangladeshis and other migrants to third countries. By the next day police dug up 26 bodies. Smugglers reportedly escaped days earlier with around 100 Rohingya Muslims, a long-persecuted religious minority in Myanmar.
(AP, 5/1/15)(AP, 5/2/15)(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of stone-throwing May Day protesters. Left-wing groups and trade unions staged rallies around the world to mark International Workers Day.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)(AP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Ukraine said 2 government soldiers and one pro-Russian rebel have been killed over the past 24 hours in fighting in the country's war-torn east despite a shaky ceasefire.
(AFP, 5/1/15)
2015 May 1, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro raised the minimum wage 30% for the second time this year to help workers being battered by the world's highest inflation. Two-thirds of the increase will come this month and the rest on July 1. Pensions for retirees were also included in the raise.
(AP, 5/2/15)
2015 May 1, In Yemen warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition struck a residential district in Sanaa overnight, killing eight to 10 civilians.
(Reuters, 5/1/15)
2016 May 1, The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, A CSX freight train derailed in northeastern Washington DC, with several cars overturned and leaking hazardous liquids near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Virginia officials said a fire that has burned over ten thousand acres in Shenandoah National Park has been fully contained.
(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, Pacific Alliance members (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) eliminated tariffs on 92% of their trade with each other and planned to phase out the rest over 17 years.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.26)
2016 May 1, In western Canada a wildfire broke out in the of Fort McMurray area of Alberta. By May 22 it had scorched 1,930 square miles.
(SSFC, 5/22/16, p.A6)
2016 May 1, China extended its value-added tax (VAT) from the sale mainly of goods to all major service sectors, including construction and finance.
(Econ, 5/7/16, p.38)
2016 May 1, Egyptian police raided the press syndicate in Cairo and arrested two journalists critical of the government.
(Reuters, 5/2/16)
2016 May 1, In Egypt some 650 workers from several provinces, who came to hold a meeting in Cairo for International Workers' Day, were prevented from assembling by police.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Delegates from Germany's anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) backed an election manifesto that says Islam is not compatible with the country's constitution and calls for a ban on minarets and the burqa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Iraq two suicide car bombs claimed by Islamic State killed at least 32 people and wounded 75 others in the center of the southern Iraqi city of Samawa.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Jamaican police said that US missionaries Randy Hentzel (48) and Harold Nichols (53) were found slain in a rural area of the Caribbean island that has long struggled with high rates of violent crime.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In central Mali Pro-government militia killed 4 members of the Peuhl ethnic group and then struck again at a funeral the next day, killing 9 more victims. the Peuhl community have been accused of collaborating with the Macina Liberation Front, an Islamic extremist group active in the area.
(AP, 5/4/16)
2016 May 1, In Somalia Al Shabaab insurgents killed at least 11 government soldiers and retook Runirgod, a town northeast of the capital Mogadishu, just one day after it had fallen to government forces. Al Shabaab said its fighters had killed 32 soldiers and captured three vehicles.
(AP, 5/1/16)(SFC, 5/2/16, p.A2)
2016 May 1, Taiwanese officials protested Malaysia's deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island's nationals to China this weekend to face wire fraud charges, the latest in a series of disputes that has raised new friction between China and Taiwan.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Turkish police clamped down on unauthorized protests during a tense May Day in Istanbul, using tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators and imposing a heavy security blanket on the city.
(AFP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, In Turkey a car bomb struck the entrance of a police station in the southern city of Gaziantep, killing 2 officials and injuring 23 other people. 3 Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack in the Kurdish-dominated southeast blamed on militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
(AP, 5/1/16)(AFP, 5/1/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.48)
2016 May 1, In eastern Ukraine 3 deaths were reported in fighting despite a recently brokered armistice for Orthodox Easter.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen's Houthi movement and its armed allies seized a military base north of the capital Sanaa, dealing a setback to a shaky ceasefire and peace talks in Kuwait aimed at ending a year-long war. A car bomb in a central square in Aden targeted the city's security chief for the second time in a week and killed 4 soldiers.
(Reuters, 5/1/16)
2016 May 1, Yemen’s government delegation suspended its participation in peace talks in Kuwait because of developments in the governorate of Amran, which reportedly came under rebel attack.
(AP, 5/2/16)
2017 May 1, President Donald Trump opened the door to a future meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, offering unusual praise for the globally ostracized leader at a time of surging nuclear tensions.
(AP, 5/2/17)
2017 May 1, The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that cities have grounds to sue when banks make predatory loans to racial minorities.
(Econ, 5/6/17, p.28)
2017 May 1, The US Supreme Court ruled against Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company that claimed Venezuela unlawfully seized 11 drilling rigs in 2010. The justices ruled 8-0 to throw out a 2015 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that allowed one of the claims to move forward.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Univ. of Texas student Kendrex White (21) stabbed at least four people, killing one and wounding the others, before surrendering to police in Austin.
(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A6)
2017 May 1, Mike Lowry (78), the 20th governor of Washington state (1993-1997), died in Olympia following complications from a stroke.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lowry)(SFC, 5/3/17, p.D4)
2017 May 1, A court in Azerbaijan began considering a government demand to block access to the websites of several independent and opposition news organizations, including the local service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Bangladesh police arrested the IT chief of a banned militant Islamist group that has been blamed for the killing of several secular bloggers and gay rights activists. The suspected militant, identified as Ashfaqur Rahman, worked as the IT head of the al Qaeda-inspired militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team.
(Reuters, 5/2/17)
2017 May 1, British police arrested three women on suspicion of planning attacks, as part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation.
(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A2)
2017 May 1, In Egypt militants killed three policemen and injured five others in a shooting in Cairo late today.
(Reuters, 5/2/17)
2017 May 1, In France one police officer was seriously burnt and two others injured in clashes at a May Day demonstration in Paris in which protesters threw Molotov cocktails and other missiles.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel offered diplomatic help to try to end the war in Yemen, as she ended a two-nation Gulf tour taking in the Arab world's largest economies with a stop in the United Arab Emirates.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Greek trade unions marked May Day with a 24-hour nationwide strike and protests against looming new cuts demanded by the country's creditors in return for bailout cash.
(AFP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In Kashmir militants fighting Indian rule ambushed a van carrying cash for the state-run Jammu and Kashmir Bank, killing five policemen and two bank officials. India's army accused Pakistani troops of killing two of its soldiers paroling the de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region before mutilating their bodies, and vowed to exact revenge. Pakistan's military denied the allegations.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In Nepal Sushila Karki, the country’s first female Supreme Court chief justice, was suspended after an impeachment motion was filed in parliament accusing her of bias and interfering with executive powers.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas dropped its long-standing call for Israel's destruction as well as its association with the Muslim Brotherhood in a new policy document issued today. This amended the founding charter of 1988.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)(Econ 5/6/17, p.45)
2017 May 1, In Puerto Rico hundreds of protesters blocked roads in San Juan as May Day demonstrators angered by a decade-long economic crisis marched against looming austerity measures and demanded an audit to identify those responsible for running up a $70 billion public debt load.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Russian police detained 17 young activists protesting against the persecution of gay men in Chechnya at a May Day parade in Saint Petersburg.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In central Somalia Islamist militants publicly stoned one man to death and shot dead another after both were accused of raping a girl.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, South African President Jacob Zuma was jeered by labor unionists and his speech was cancelled after scuffles broke out between his supporters and workers chanting for him to step down at a May Day rally.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In South Korea six people died and more than 20 were injured when a crane collapsed at a Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard.
(Reuters, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In northern Syria US-backed fighters cornered the Islamic State group in a last part of Tabqa, after tearing down a huge jihadist flag that had fluttered over the city. A total of 35 IS fighters were killed in 24 hours of clashes and air strikes in Tabqa.
(AFP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, In Thailand the Protection of Media Rights and Freedom, Ethics and Professional Standards Act was passed by the National Reform Steering Assembly, a 200-member body appointed by the military after it took power in a 2014 coup.
(AP, 5/3/17)
2017 May 1, Turkish police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at protesters seeking to march to Istanbul's Taksim Square to celebrate May Day, in defiance of an official ban.
(AFP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, The UN said an advance party of peacekeepers with a bolstered mandate to use force have arrived in South Sudan, the first blue helmets with a greater authority to protect civilians in the troubled East African nation.
(AP, 5/1/17)
2017 May 1, Venezuela’s Pres. Maduro called for a new constitution as an intensifying protest movement entered a second month.
(SFC, 5/2/17, p.A2)
2018 May 1, Donald Trump lashed out at the "disgraceful" disclosure of questions Special Counsel Robert Mueller has sought to ask the US president about potential obstruction and other matters as part of his probe into Russian election interference.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In San Francisco David Wiegand (b.1947), assisting managing editor of The Chronicle, was found dead in his SF home.
(SFC, 5/2/18, p.A12)
2018 May 1, Louisiana's Sec. of State Tom Schedler said he will be stepping down on May 8, amid allegations that he sexually harassed one of his employees.
(SFC, 5/2/18, p.A6)
2018 May 1, Tennessee's Knox County held elections. Investigators later found evidence of a "malicious intrusion" into the county's elections website from a computer in Ukraine during a concerted cyberattack, which likely caused the site to crash just as it was reporting vote totals in this month's primary.
(AP, 5/11/18)
2018 May 1, Jeff Bezos received a message on WhatsApp from an account belonging to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Hidden in 14 bytes of that file was a separate bit of code that most likely implanted malware, malicious software, that gave attackers access to Bezos’ entire phone, including his photos and private communications. In 2019 a United Nations statement raised concerns about the digital tactics of Crown Prince Mohammed.
(NY Times, 1/23/20)
2018 May 1, In Armenia tens of thousands rallied in Yerevan ahead of a crucial vote to elect a new prime minister as protest leader Nikol Pashinyan warned of a "political tsunami" if lawmakers don't back him to lead the country.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, An Australian court ruled that Vatican Treasurer George Pell must face trial on charges of historical sexual offences, making him the most senior Catholic official to be tried on such allegations. He pleaded not guilty.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Bosnian authorities said chemicals from a soda ash factory near a northern town have polluted the Spreca river, killing fish and damaging surrounding farmland. Authorities declared the area a disaster.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Brazil an abandoned high-rise building occupied by squatters in downtown Sao Paulo caught fire and collapsed. Firefighters said at least one person was killed in the collapse and that there could be more. 44 people were soon reported missing after the 24-storey building collapsed.
(AP, 5/1/18)(AFP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, In the Central African Republic at least 24 people were killed in attacks in the capital Bangui targeting a church and a mosque.
(AFP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 1, French Pres. Emmanuel Macron arrived in Australia on a rare visit, with the two sides expected to agree on greater cooperation in the Pacific to counter a rising China.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In France hundreds of demonstrators marched across Paris as part of May Day protests taking place in French cities to oppose economic policies pursued by President Emmanuel Macron. Some 109 people were taken into custody in Paris suspected of offenses including carrying prohibited weapons and firing projectiles after May Day protests.
(AP, 5/1/18)(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, Tens of thousands of workers marched across Germany and Austria rallying for their rights in the face of globalization.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Thousands of Greeks are marching through central Athens in at least three separate May Day demonstrations.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In northern India a 19-year-old woman was raped by five men, including the driver of an autorickshaw she hailed in near Gurugram town, Haryana state.
(AP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 1, In Indonesia about 10,000 workers from various labor groups rallied near the presidential palace in Jakarta to voice their demands.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Hundreds of Iranians defied a ban on protests to mark International Labor Day, with police detaining at least six people.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Iraq militants in two speeding cars killed eight unarmed civilians in the assault 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad. The Islamic State soon claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 5/2/18)(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, Israel signed a 15-year, $775 million deal with the self-ruling Palestinian Authority to put electricity distribution for Palestinians in the West Bank in PA hands and build four power plants to that end.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe told Jordan's King Abdullah II that his country hopes to upgrade its ties with the kingdom into a strategic partnership.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Indian-controlled Kashmir suspected militants shot and killed three men overnight in the town of Baramulla. Police blamed the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Malaysian police intercepted a tanker with 131 Sri Lankans believed bound for Australia and New Zealand, smashing a large human smuggling ring that has been operating for a year.
(AP, 5/6/18)
2018 May 1, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said that his government had proof that the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is supported by Iran, has been providing training and financial support to Polisario fighters in Western Sahara since 2016.
(AP, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, In Myanmar a 15-member UN Security Council delegation visited volatile areas of Rakhine state, from where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled military-led violence, to see firsthand the aftermath of the army's crackdown as well as Myanmar's preparations for taking back the refugees.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In northeastern Nigeria explosions in and around a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa state, killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, North and South Korea dismantled huge loudspeakers used to blare Cold War-style propaganda across their tense border, as South Korea's president asked the United Nations to observe the North's planned closing of its nuclear test site.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Pakistani PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated the long-delayed new airport in the capital, Islamabad, replacing the cramped Benazir Bhutto airport often criticized by travelers.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Puerto Rico thousands of people marched to protest pension cuts, school closures and slow hurricane recovery efforts.
(SFC, 5/2/18, p.A6)
2018 May 1, In Russia more than 100,000 people came out on the streets on Moscow to march in the traditional May Day parade.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Rwandan police arrested 23 Congolese refugees after senior police officers and government officials were pelted with stones during a visit to refugee camp, authorities said after two days of clashes.
(Reuters, 5/2/18)
2018 May 1, Scotland became the first country in the world to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol n an effort reduce deaths from alcohol-related illnesses.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, A female Somali aid worker was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the main market in Mogadishu.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In South Korea thousands of labor union members rallied in downtown Seoul for a higher minimum wage and other demands.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, More than 70 cities across Spain held May Day marches calling for gender equality, higher salaries and pensions now that the country's economy is back on track.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Syrian state media and a war monitoring group say airstrikes in Islamic State-held territory in the northeast killed at least 23 people. It was not clear if US-led coalition or Iraqi warplanes carried out the attack in the Hassakeh province.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Syria Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters and civilians arrived in the northern province of Aleppo ahead of their transfer to the neighboring province of Idlib. Regime war planes pound Yarmuk, once home to the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp, as the battle against IS fighters there continued for a 13th day running.
(AFP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, Taiwan said China offered the Dominican Republic a $3.1 billion package of investments and loans to get them to sever ties with Taiwan, after the Caribbean nation switched allegiance to China in a diplomatic blow to the self-ruled island.
(Reuters, 5/1/18)
2018 May 1, In Turkey police detained dozens of demonstrators during May Day events around Istanbul, most of them protesters who tried to march toward the city's symbolic main square in defiance of a ban.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2019 May 1, American and Taliban officials resumed talks in Qatar aimed at ending a 17-year war in Afghanistan, while the Afghan government hosted a rare assembly in Kabul to ensure its interests are upheld in any peace deal.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, A US government watchdog agency that monitors the US war effort said in a report to Congress that the US military command in Kabul is no longer producing "district control data," which shows the number of Afghan districts, and the percentage of their population, controlled by the government compared to the Taliban.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, It was reported that SF-based tech billionaire Marc Benioff and his wife are making a $30 million donation to start a new research center at UCSF called the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.
(SFC, 5/1/19, p.A1)
2019 May 1, Florida lawmakers passed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns in school with the approval of their local school district. The teachers would be required to undergo police-style training, psychiatric evaluation and drug screening. Gov. Ron DeSantis was expected to sign the measure.
(SFC, 5/2/19, p.A5)
2019 May 1, An Australian jury convicted Khaled Khayat (51) of plotting to blow up an Etihad Airways airliner on a flight in 2017 from Sydney to the United Arab Emirates with a bomb hidden in a meat grinder.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Benin two French tourists went missing and were feared to have been kidnapped in the Pendjari National Park. An African man, believed to have been their driver, was found fatally shot two days later.
(AP, 5/05/19)
2019 May 1, It was reported that tons of garbage are clogging rivers in Bosnia. The country's waste-management problem has grown over the years, reaching alarming proportions in a region where joblessness and poverty are widespread and where corruption routinely stalls implementation of reform laws.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Britain's PM Theresa May fired defense minister Gavin Williamson saying she had seen "compelling evidence" that he was behind media reports that the government had agreed, against the advice of the United States, to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain's new 5G wireless communications network. Williamson denied that he leaked details of the report.
(AP, 5/2/19)
2019 May 1, In London WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (47) was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Burkina Faso German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a three-nation tour in West Africa, pledged 46 million euros ($51 million) to help Burkina Faso fight Islamic extremism.
(AP, 5/2/19)
2019 May 1, Canada increased loans to farmers after China blocked shipments of canola, its most valuable crop, amid diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and Beijing.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Millions of Cubans took to the streets in protest over new sanctions imposed on the Caribbean island by the Trump administration and US efforts to topple the government of socialist ally Venezuela.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In France tens of thousands of labor union and "yellow vest" protesters were on the streets across the country. Dozens of masked and hooded anarchists clashed with riot police in southern Paris, burning bins, smashing property and hurling projectiles, hijacking a May Day rally that was focused on protesting against President Emmanuel Macron's policies.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In western India Maoist rebels triggered a land mine blast on van carrying police commandos in the insurgents' stronghold in Maharashtra state and killed 15 officers and their driver.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, India began evacuating hundreds of thousands of villagers and shut down operations at two major ports on its east coast ahead of impending Cyclonic Storm Fani expected to make landfall on May 3.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Iran's oil minister hit out against the use of oil sanctions "as a weapon" by the United States and the damage it was doing to OPEC.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Japan Emperor Naruhito inherited the sacred sword and jewel that signaled his succession and pledged in his first public address to follow his father's example by devoting himself to peace and sharing the people's joys and sorrows.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Hundreds of Kazakhs rallied in their two main cities, calling for a boycott of June presidential elections that they dismissed as a cover for an orchestrated handover of power. Police rushed to detain several dozen people.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Kuwait inaugurated one of the world's longest causeways. The 36-km (22-mile) "Jaber" bridge, named after late ruler Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, connects Kuwait City to the northern desert area of Subbiya.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In central Mali a number of Dogons were killed in an ambush, while other members of the same community were killed the following day as they tried to retrieve the bodies. At least 18 civilians were killed in the two related attacks.
(Reuters, 5/4/19)
2019 May 1, In Pakistan dozens of militants sneaked into the country and opened fire on troops in a former Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border, triggering a shootout that killed three soldiers in North Waziristan.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Russia's Pres. Vladimir Putin signed into law a measure expanding government control over the internet. The law requires internet providers to install equipment to route Russian internet traffic through servers in the country.
(SFC, 5/2/19, p.A2)
2019 May 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for more Ukrainians, a controversial new move expected to deepen the crisis between the two countries.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Russian riot police and national guardsmen detained more than 100 people during May Day protests, sometimes using extreme force to take into custody anti-government activists.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) canceled 504 flights today as talks with the pilots resumed in Norway.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, The Swiss-based IAAF, the sports world's highest court, ruled that Olympic champion Caster Semenya and other female runners like her with unusually high testosterone must take medication to reduce their levels of the male sex hormone if they want to compete in certain events. South Africa's Olympic athlete Caster Semenya said the decision will not hold her back.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Thailand an announcement in the Royal Gazette said Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya (40) is legally married to King Maha Vajiralongkorn (66), and is now Queen Suthida.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, Tunisia raised the minimum wage for industrial and farm workers, as well as pensions for hundreds of thousands of private-sector retirees, by 6.5 percent, a move aimed at defusing discontent about economic hardship.
(Reuters, 5/2/19)
2019 May 1, In Turkey police in Istanbul detained 127 people for attempting to hold illegal demonstrations in various parts of the city to celebrate May Day.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, The UN added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group, to its list of global terrorists after China lifted its objections. Pakistan confirmed the move. This came months after Azhar's group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
(AFP, 5/1/19)(AP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, The UN said fighting in northwestern Syria has displaced more than 32,500 people since February, as the regime and its ally Russia have stepped up their bombardment. More than 200 civilians have been killed since February.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 1, In Venezuela state security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters opposed to President Nicolás Maduro who have gathered at a middle-class neighborhood in western Caracas.
(AP, 5/1/19)
2020 May 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that seeks to protect the US electricity system from cyber and other attacks. The move that could eventually put barriers on some imports from China and Russia.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, President Donald Trump seemingly increased his estimate of possible deaths in the US from the coronavirus, telling a White House event he hopes for less than 100,000 fatalities, a higher upper limit than the 60,000 to 70,000 deaths he discussed on April 27.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Pres. Trump's new spokeswoman, Kayleigh McEnany, promised not to lie to reporters from the podium as she made her debut at the first White House briefing by a press secretary in more than a year.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A4)
2020 May 1, The Daily Beast reported that in an attempt to suppress a 'tell-all' book about the president., lawyers for the Trump Organization last week sent Michael Cohen, who is in prison, a cease and desist letter.
(Business Insider, 5/3/20)
2020 May 1, The US tweeted its support for Taiwan’s participation in the UN, provoking a sharp response from China expressing “strong indignation and firm opposition."
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said US manufacturing activity plunged to an 11-year low in April as the novel coronavirus wreaked havoc on supply chains, suggesting the economy was sinking deeper into recession.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that the Trump administration has pulled funding for a group of scientists studying coronaviruses in bats and the risk of their spillover into humans -- the very kind of infection that started the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Good Morning America, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Alaska Airlines and Southwest became the latest airlines to announce they will require passengers wear face coverings as of May 11. This means all major US airlines have made that a requirement for passengers.
(Good Morning America, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In Arkansas police shot and killed Brent Martin (32), who had taken his son, Jordan Roberts, hostage in Little Rock. Martin had shot the boy (11) who later died at a hospital.
(SFC, 5/5/20, p.A4)
2020 May 1, California to date had 51,775 cases of coronavirus and 2,111 deaths. The SF Bay Area had 8,257 cases and 304 deaths. Total cases nationwide reached 1,102,703 with the death toll at 64,789.
(sfist.com, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, According to Florida's Department of Health, 34,728 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, and 1,337 people have died from it. Health officials halted the publication of up-to-the-minute death statistics related to the coronavirus pandemic that have, by law, been compiled by medical examiners in the state. The death count compiled by the Medical Examiners Commission was often found to be higher than the figures provided by Florida’s Department of Health, prompting a review of the data and a suspension of its publication.
(Yahoo News, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In Massachusetts a group of about 10 immigrants in US government custody clashed with officials at the Bristol County C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center in Dartmouth. The inmates had reported symptoms of COVID-19. This was at least the ninth instance since Pres. Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus.
(CBS News, 5/2/20)(SSFC, 5/3/20, p.A5)
2020 May 1, In Michigan security guard Calvin Munerlyn (43) was fatally shot after he refused to let a woman's daughter enter a Family Dollar in Flint because she wasn't wearing a face mask to protect against transmission of the coronavirus.
(AP, 5/4/20)
2020 May 1, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said his state had just had its largest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases and its largest increase in deaths. Mississippi has more than 7,200 diagnosed coronavirus cases and at least 281 deaths.
(Good Morning America, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, In New Mexico COVID-19 infections in Gallup and surrounding McKinley County surpassed 1,060 confirmed cases and accounted for 30% of cases stateside, surpassing infections in much larger communities such as Albuquerque. In all, more than 3,500 cases have been reported in the state, with more than 130 deaths. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham invoked the state's Riot Control Act and ordered residents of Gallup to remain home except for emergencies and blocked roads leading in and out of town to nonessential travel and any vehicles carrying more than two people.
(AP, 5/1/20)(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A7)
2020 May 1, In New York City the Isabella Geriatric Center in Manhattan reported the deaths of 98 residents believed to have had the coronavirus, a death toll that shocked public officials.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Ohio and Texas pushed ahead with a phased relaxation of restrictions that U.S. states put in place weeks ago to curb the coronavirus pandemic, as Georgia took another step toward a full restart by allowing all businesses to reopen.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In South Carolina deputies shot and killed an alligator that fatally attacked a woman at a pond on Kiawah Island. This was the 3rd fatal alligator attack in the state in the past four years. Before that South Carolina had never recorded a person killed by an alligator.
(SFC, 5/4/20, p.A3)
2020 May 1, Gilead Science Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, JPMorgan Chase & Co said that the US Small Business Administration gave it the green light to make $15 billion in new loans to some 211,000 business customers hurt by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Supermarket chain Kroger Co said it has put purchase limits on ground beef and fresh pork at some of its stores following growing concerns over meat shortages due to coronavirus-induced supply disruptions.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that the Taliban have mounted more than 4,500 attacks in Afghanistan in the 45 days since signing a deal on Feb. 29 with the United States that paves the way for a US troop drawdown.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Afghanistan has reported over 2,335 coronavirus cases and 68 deaths, but international observers believe numbers could be much higher.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Australian PM Scott Morrison, who has angered Beijing by calling for a global inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak, said he had no evidence to suggest the disease originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Australian police fataly shot a man who stabbed and slashed seven people at and near a shopping mall in South Hedland, Western Australia state.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A2)
2020 May 1, Bangladesh has confirmed 7,667 people infected with the coronavirus and 168 deaths. Garment factories began reopening this week after nearly a month of closures.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A5)
2020 May 1, PM Justin Trudeau announced an immediate ban on the sale and use of assault-style weapons in Canada, two weeks after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, China's "Regulations on the Establishment of a Model Area for Ethnic Unity and Progress in the Tibet Autonomous Region" came into effect. The law was passed by the regional assembly in January.
(Econ., 5/16/20, p.34)
2020 May 1, China reported 12 new cases of the coronavirus, six of them brough from overseas, and no new deaths for the 16th day. Total deaths stood at 4,633 from about 83,000 cases.
(SFC, 5/2/20, p.A5)
2020 May 1, It was reported that Hangzhou-based startup Rokid has developed a pair of glasses to help screen for coronavirus symptoms. It is making wearable T1 glasses that measure temperatures on the move.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it would boost its cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) as it seeks to fight the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, in particular in vulnerable African countries.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that Guatemala's indigenous Maya towns are spurning migrants returned from the US. Local health officials have said that nearly one fifth of the 585 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Guatemala can be traced to people deported from the United States, most of them on two flights in a single day.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air flew into London's Luton airport from Sofia, becoming one of the first European airlines to restart routes during the coronavirus pandemic.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, India's PM Narendra Modi extended the coronavirus lockdown for two weeks, but some restrictions were relaxed.
(AP, 5/3/20)
2020 May 1, Iran rejected US claims it is helping Venezuela to rebuild its oil industry, saying the accusations are designed to increase pressure and disrupt the two countries' trade ties.
(AFP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Iran's death toll from the outbreak of the new coronavirus increased by 63 in the past 24 hours to 6,091. The outbreak has infected 95,646.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Kazakh airlines made their first regular domestic flights in more than a month, with rows of passengers seated alongside empty middle seats, after the vast Central Asian nation eased coronavirus lockdown rules.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Authorities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan began evacuating tens of thousands of people from the Syr Darya river basin after a reservoir dam on the Uzbek side burst, flooding large areas on both sides of the border.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Lebanon's government signed a request for assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Libya’s eastern-based forces trying to capture the country's capital bombed civilian homes, killing at least two people.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Malaysia detained hundreds of refugees and migrant workers for illegally living in the country. Malaysia has reported a total of 6,071 coronavirus cases and 103 deaths.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, PM Robert Abela said Malta plans to keep 57 rescued migrants aboard a private ship anchored just outside territorial waters until the EU finds a way to rehouse them.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, The Netherlands' number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 475 to 39,791, with 98 new deaths. The country's death toll stands at 4,893.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Newly released footage of Kim Jong UN glad-handing at a North Korean fertilizer production plant north of Pyongyang appeared to put an end to speculation about his health.
(The Telegraph, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that a new wave of ravening locust swarms threaten to devastate crops in parts of Pakistan. Half a million acres in 22 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh provinces were under threat.
(The Telegraph, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Poland's government will hike unemployment benefits, President Andrzej Duda said in an election broadcast, promising "an unbelievably high amount" of support for households and businesses struggling through the coronavirus crisis.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Russia reported a record daily rise in confirmed coronavirus cases that pushed the national tally to 114,431. The country has recorded 1,169 deaths from the virus.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Slovak PM Igor Matovic said authorities have lifted a quarantine on three Roma settlements locked down in early April to block the spread of the coronavirus, leaving one remaining village under restrictive orders. Slovakia had 1,403 confirmed coronavirus cases with 23 deaths.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, South Africa began easing one of the world's strictest lockdowns, with runners and dog-walkers returning eagerly to the streets but not all wearing the face masks that are now mandatory. South Africa has more than 5,600 cases of COVID-19.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Spain's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 281 overnight, a small rise from the previous day but still one of the lowest daily tolls in weeks. The crisis has now claimed the lives of 24,824 people.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Explosions at a Syrian military base housing a weapons warehouse injured 10 civilians outside the base. the defense ministry said they were the result of “human error" while moving ammunition. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blasts near the central city of Homs were caused by a suspected Israeli rocket attack.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, It was reported that Sudan has criminalized carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM), making it punishable by three years in jail. The law must still be ratified by a joint meeting of the Cabinet and the sovereign council.
(BBC, 5/1/20)(AP, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Police in Istanbul detained at least 15 people, including trade union leaders who tried to stage a May Day march in defiance of a coronavirus lockdown and a ban on demonstrations at Taksim Square. Turkey ranks seventh in the world for the number of confirmed infections with 120,204 cases. The country's official death toll stands at 3,174.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Uganda said Lake Victoria's water levels have surged to their highest level in more than half a century after about eight months of relentless downpours, posing a threat to the nation's hydropower plants.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, In central Venezuela a riot erupted at the Llanos Penitentiary Center in Guanare, killing at least 40 people and injuring 50 more. The was built to hold 750 inmates but is jammed beyond capacity with 2,500 inmates.
(NBC News, 5/2/20)
2020 May 1, Explosions rocked Yemen's Socotra archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as an armed unit funded by the United Arab Emirates fought to wrest control of the provincial capital Hadebo. The unit is part of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council, which declared self-rule earlier this week in the south.
(AP, 5/1/20)
2020 May 1, Yemen reported the first case of the coronavirus in a third province late today, raising the number of diagnosed infections to seven with two deaths in one of the world's most vulnerable countries.
(Reuters, 5/2/20)
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