May 2008

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May 2008 was the fifth month of the current leap year. It began on a Thursday and ended after 31 days on a Saturday.

International holidays

May 1 - Labour Day (Pakistan)
May 1 - Labour Day (Singapore)
May 1 - May Day (Europe)
May 1 - Labour Day and Ascension Day (Norway)
May 1 - Labour Day (India)
May 1 - Labour Day (Guyana)
May 1 - Labour Day (Brazil)
May 1 - Labour Day (Chile)
May 1 - Labour Day (China)
May 1 - Holocaust Remembrance Day (Israel)
May 2 - Dos de Mayo (Spain)
May 5 - Liberation Day (Ethiopia, Netherlands, Denmark)
May 5 - Children's Day (Japan, South Korea)
May 5 - Coronation Day (Thailand)
May 5 - Cinco de Mayo (Mexico)
May 5 - Indian Arrival Day Guyana
May 6 - St George's Day (Bulgaria)
May 7 - Memorial Day (Israel)
May 8 - Independence Day (Israel)
May 8 - Victory in Europe Day
May 8 - Parent's day in South Korea
May 9 - Europe Day (European Union)
May 12 - Whit Monday (France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway)
May 14 - Independence Day (Israel)
May 16 - Jerusalem Day (Israel)
May 17 - Constitution Day (Norway)
May 17 - May 3rd Constitution Day (Poland, Lithuania)
May 18 - Haitian Flag Day (Haiti)
May 19 - Victoria Day (Canada)
May 22 - Corpus Christi
May 23 - Lag Ba'omer (Judaism)
May 24 - Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia)
May 24 - Bermuda Day (Bermuda)
May 25 - African Liberation Day
May 25 - Jordan's Independence Day
May 26 - Spring Bank Holiday (United Kingdom)
May 26 - Memorial Day (United States)
May 26 - National Sorry Day (Australia)
May 26 - Independence Day (Guyana)
May 27 - Children's Day (Nigeria)
May 28 - Republic Day (Armenia, Azerbaijan)
May 29 - Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day (Fiji)
29: Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh (Bahá'í Faith)
29: Democracy Day (Nigeria)
30: Indian Arrival Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
31: World No Tobacco Day

Mother's Day
- May 8 (Parent's Day) - South Korea and Albania
- May 10 - Mexico
- May 10 - South America, El Salvador, Guatemala, Oman, and Pakistan
- May 11 (2nd Sunday) - Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Croatia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
- May 25 (last Sunday) - France (switches to first Sunday of June if coincides with Pentecost), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Sweden, and Morocco
- May 26 - Poland
- May 27 - Bolivia

Portal:Current events

May 1, 2008 (Thursday)

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The United States Air Force grounds all T-38C training aircraft following two fatal accidents within 8 days. (AP via CNN)
Sudanese cameraman Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj is released from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp after more than six years in captivity. (AFP via Google News)
The President of the United States George W. Bush authorises tougher sanctions on Myanmar including a freeze on assets held by Myanmar state owned companies held in the United States. (Reuters)
The United States Federal Reserve System auctions off $24.12 billion in Treasury securities to help relieve the subprime mortgage crisis. (AP via Google News)
The President of the United States George W. Bush calls on the United States Congress to approve a $US700 million food aid package to help relieve the 2007-2008 world food price crisis. (AP via Google News)
News anchor Barbara Walters admits to having affair with US Senator Edward Brooke. (AP via CNN)
Sir Anthony Mamo, who was the first President of the Republic of Malta and the world's oldest former head of state, dies at the age of 99. (Times of Malta)
Eight people are killed and at least 20 injured after a bus carrying North American and European tourists crashes on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt. (BBC News)
In Australia, a collision between a fishing boat and a runabout on Sydney Harbour kills five people. (Sydney Morning Herald) (ABC Australia)
Voters in England and Wales go to the polls for the United Kingdom local elections, 2008. Early results showed the opposition Conservative Party performing strongly with 44 per cent of the vote while the governing Labour Party was performing poorly with 24 per cent of the vote.(The Telegraph) (The Telegraph)
Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow", a leader of Al-Shabaab in Somalia, is reported as being killed in a U.S. airstrike. (BBC News)
The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention. (EPO), (PRV)

May 2, 2008 (Friday)

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Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson is elected as the Mayor of London replacing Ken Livingstone, capping huge gains by the Conservatives in local elections, which gave them a net gain of 256 council seats and a net gain of 12 city councils. (BBC News)
The Olympic flame is back on Chinese soil as the Olympics torch relay continues in Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. (BBC News)
May 1-2, 2008 tornado outbreak: Tornadoes affecting the south-central United States kill at least seven in Arkansas. (KAIT8)
Over 10,000 people gather in Seoul, South Korea, to protest against the importation of U.S. beef, which is alleged to have a danger of mad cow disease. (YouTube Video)
Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008
- The opposition Movement for Democratic Change proposes a power sharing arrangement with the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union, but not involving Mugabe. (AP via Google News)
- Robert Mugabe proposes a run-off election to determine the outcome. (Reuters)
The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Russia and China agree to make a new offer to Iran over its nuclear program. (AFP via Google News)
A plane crash kills more than a dozen in Southern Sudan, including defense minister Dominic Dim Deng. (AFP via Google News)
United States non-farm payrolls fall by 20,000 jobs with the unemployment rate falling to 5 per cent. (The Guardian)
A $38 million compensation deal is completed for victims of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Teams in both Russia and the United States identify the remains of Tsarevich Alexei of Russia and his sister Grand Duchess Maria after the discovery of their bone shards on August 23, 2007. (AP via Google News)
2007 royal blackmail plot: Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan are jailed for five years each for attempting to extort money from an unidentified royal ("Witness A"). They demanded £50,000 from Witness A in exchange for audio tapes alleging gay sex. (BBC News)

May 3, 2008 (Saturday)

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Microsoft withdraws its bid for Yahoo! after the two companies fail to reach agreement on a price. (The New York Times)
United States presidential election, 2008: The Guam caucuses result in a near-perfect tie, with Barack Obama ahead by only 7 ballots in 4,521. (AP via Google News) (AP via Yahoo! News)
Big Brown wins the 2008 Kentucky Derby. Eight Belles, the only filly in the field, breaks down after finishing second in the race, and is euthanized. (NBC Sports)
At least 18 prisoners are killed during a fight in a jail in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. This follows the recent deaths of nine prisoners in a riot in San Pedro Sula with both riots being blamed on overcrowding and gang rivalry. (BBC News)
In Chilean Patagonia, almost all Chaitén's inhabitants flee the capital city of Palena Province when a nearby volcano erupts after being inactive for 450 years. (The Telegraph)

May 4, 2008 (Sunday)

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Cyclone Nargis: Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council declares that five states in the Irrawaddy River delta are a disaster area following the cyclone with at least 351 deaths. (MSNBC)
12 people are dead and dozens others missing after a boat carrying 110 passengers sinks on the Solimões River in the Brazilian Amazon. (CTV)
9 people dead after 40 men attack the ranch of Rogaciano Alba in Guerrero, Mexico. (BBC News)

May 5, 2008 (Monday)

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The United States Federal Reserve System reports that banks are tightening lending standards on home mortgages, other types of consumer loans and business loans in response to the subprime mortgage crisis. (AP via Google News)
Crude oil futures contracts reach US$120 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the first time. (Reuters)
Somalian troops open fire killing at least two people during food riots in Mogadishu. (AP via Google News)
Media reports the death toll from Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar to have passed 10,000. (BBC News)
Three people are killed and another three injured after an explosion on a bus in Shanghai, China. (BBC News)
In Bolivia's Santa Cruz department, 86% of voters supported proposals for greater autonomy in a referendum. Bolivian President Evo Morales condemned the referendum, calling it illegal. (BBC News)

May 6, 2008 (Tuesday)

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Chilean authorities order the total evacuation of the towns of Chaitén and Futaleufú as the eruption of the Chaitén volcano continues to worsen. (Reuters via Canada.com)
The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, officially resigns after ten years, ten months and ten days as head of government. (RTÉ)
2007–2008 world food price crisis: Mogadishu residents protest for a second day over high food prices as traders reject old Somali shilling notes due to high inflation. (Reuters)
Cyclone Nargis
- Myanmar state government reports that the death toll from the cyclone has reached 22,000, with 41,000 people missing. (BBC News)
- The State Peace and Development Council announces that the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 will proceed on the weekend except in 47 townships worst affected by the cyclone. (Thomson Financial News via Forbes)
- The President of the United States George W. Bush pleads for the Myanmar government to accept help from the United States and the rest of the international community. USAID donates an additional $3 million to cyclone victims. (CNN)
Chinese President Hu Jintao begins a landmark five-day state visit to Japan. (BBC News)
United States voters go to the polls in the North Carolina and Indiana Democratic Party primaries. Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins North Carolina by 14 per cent while New York Senator Hillary Clinton narrowly wins in Indiana. (BBC News) (The New York Times)
Prominent Malaysian blogger and political activist, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, is charged with sedition. (Malaysia Today)

May 7, 2008 (Wednesday)

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The genome of the platypus is sequenced. (BBC News)
Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, appoints his new Cabinet. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
Hillary Clinton vows to remain as a candidate in the United States presidential election, 2008 despite financial problems which required her to lend her campaign $6.4 million dollars and dwindling chances of winning the Democratic Party nomination. (BBC News)
Brian Cowen, TD is elected as Irish Taoiseach by 88 votes to 76. (RTÉ)
Dmitry Medvedev assumes the role of the President of Russia. (BBC News)

May 8, 2008 (Thursday)

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Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, of Kibbutz Kfar Aza ( South of Israel) , was killed by mortar fire from the Gaza Strip while tending his garden. The Hamas group took responsibility for the assassination . (IMFA)
The Congress of Bolivia agrees to hold a recall election by 7 August on whether the President of Bolivia Evo Morales should remain in power. (CNN)
Commissioner Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez of Mexico's Federal Preventive Police is shot dead in central Mexico City. (CNN)
The United States House of Representatives approves legislation developed by Barney Frank to let the United States government insure up to $300 billion in mortgages to help homeowners avert foreclosure. (Bloomberg)
The Iraqi Minister of Defence claims that the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been captured. (BBC News)
North Korea hands over thousands of pages about its nuclear program to a visiting diplomat from the United States that will help verify its plutonium holdings. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Russia expels two United States military attachés following earlier expulsion of two Russian diplomats from the United States. (Bloomberg)
Latvia and Lithuania become the latest EU member states to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. (RTÉ)
2008 unrest in Lebanon: Gunbattles erupt in Beirut as the government of Lebanon cracks down on Hezbollah. Two people are killed and eight injured in the fighting. (AFP) (AP via Google News)
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay reaches the peak of Mount Everest. (AP via Google News)
Cyclone Nargis:
- An international relief operation begins after cyclone Nargis strikes Burma, with at least 63,500 people reported killed or missing. (Reuters via NineMSN)
- Three planes carrying vital food aid for the World Food Programme to Burma are delayed in Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai due to a failure by Burma's State Peace and Development Council to grant approval. After approval is granted, planes start arriving in Yangon. (Reuters via NineMSN) (AP via Google News)
Silvio Berlusconi is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy for the fourth time. (EuroNews)
The PRO-IP Act passes through the United States House of Representatives. (Ars technica)

May 9, 2008 (Friday)

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Pakistan's two main coalition leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif meet in London to discuss the removal of judges by Musharraf (AP via CNN)
Commander Esteban Robles Espinosa of Mexico City's investigative police force was shot dead as he left his home. (CNN)
Cyclone Nargis:
- A spokesman for the World Food Programme says that Myanmar's refusal to give visas to relief experts is "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian assistance. (AP via Google News)
- The World Food Programme suspends shipments to Myanmar after the State Peace and Development Council seizes supplies shipped to the country. (AP via The Houston Chronicle)
- The World Food Programme says that it will resume food shipments on Saturday while warning of further rain in Myanmar next week. The United States has been granted permission to send one C-130 Hercules carrying relief aid on Monday. (AP via Google News)
2008 unrest in Lebanon:
- Hezbollah gains control of large sections of Beirut as a pro-government television station is forced off the air. (AFP via News Limited)
- The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accuses Hezbollah backed by Syria and Iran of killing "innocent civilians". (AP via USA Today)
The price of crude oil reaches a new record high of US$125.98 a barrel. (BBC News)
The United States Military denies the capture of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri. (BBC News)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denies taking bribes from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
A Zimbabwean policeman tells the BBC the presidential runoff election will be rigged by war veteran militias. (BBC News)

May 10, 2008 (Saturday)

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May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence:
- A tornado kills at least nine in Picher, Oklahoma. (KTUL.com) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- A swarm of tornadoes in southwest Missouri kills at least 12 people with much of the damage in Newton County, Missouri. (Reuters) (AP via Google News) (NOAA)
United States presidential election, 2008: Illinois Senator Barack Obama takes the lead in support from superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention (The New York Times)
News Corporation withdraws its bid to purchase the New York City newspaper Newsday. (The New York Times)
2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum: Hundreds of Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement reach the outskirts of Khartoum and engage in clashes with the Sudanese military. (AP via Google News)
Russia's air force chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin accuses NATO fighters of launching "air attacks" during escort of Russian bombers. (AP via CNN.com)
Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Government announced a ceasefire in Baghdad's Sadr district. (CNN)
2008 unrest in Lebanon:
- The Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora accuses Hezbollah of staging "an armed coup" against Lebanon. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
- The Lebanese Army overturns two key government decisions in order to reduce tension between Hezvollah and the Government of Lebanon. (YA Libnan)
Ninawa campaign: The Iraqi Army launched a major operation in the northern city of Mosul against al-Qaeda and its allies. (BBC News)
Morgan Tsvangarai, the Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, announces that he will contest a runoff election in the Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008. (BBC News)
Voters in Burma go to the polls for the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 despite the widespread devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis with widespread concerns about the legitimacy of the process. (BBC News)
Negotiators from Pakistan's two major coalition parties meet in London, but fail to reach an agreement. (AP via CNN)

May 11, 2008 (Sunday)

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2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum:
- Sudan's government halts an attack on the country's capital Khartoum by hundreds of rebels from Darfur. (Al-jazeera)
- Sudan breaks diplomatic ties with Chad, claiming it backed the rebel attack. (BBC News)
- Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem says there is proof that Chad supported the rebels. Opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi is arrested. (BBC News)
Cyclone Nargis:
- The International Federation of the Red Cross says that the cargo ship carrying the first load of food aid from the Red Cross for survivors of Cyclone Nargis has sunk in the Irrawaddy River. (Reuters) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- The official death toll for Cyclone Nargis rises to 28,458. (Vatican Radio)
Pakistan's two main coalition leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher in London to discuss the removal of judges by President Pervez Musharraf, but fail to reach an agreement. (AP via CNN)
Run-offs in the Zimbabwean presidential election, according to George Chiweshe, the elections commissioner, must be delayed past the time allotted by law, up to a year, until funding can be found. (AP via CNN)
Serbian voters go to the polls in the Serbian parliamentary election, 2008. A pro-Europe coalition associated with the President of Serbia Boris Tadić wins the most votes. (BBC News) (Sydney Morning Herald)

May 12, 2008 (Monday)

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2008 Sichuan earthquake: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits China's Sichuan province, killing at least 22,000 people. (BBC News)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "immensely frustrated" at the State Peace and Development Council's slow response to the cyclone. (BBC News)
2008 unrest in Lebanon:
- Hezbollah clash with forces loyal to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in the Shouf mountains, and with Sunni supporters of the government in Tripoli. (BBC News)
- United States President George W. Bush offers to help improve the Lebanese Armed Forces. (BBC News)
2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum:
- Shootings are reported in Khartoum, Sudan, one day after the rebel attack. Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi is released from custody after being interrogated by police. (BBC News) (BBC News)
- Chad closes its border with Sudan and severs economic relations after being accused of backing the attack. (BBC News)
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League (N) announces it has decided to leave the governing coalition because of differences over how to restore around 60 judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007. (BBC News) (BBC News)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez nationalises steel firm Ternium-Sidor, which is mainly owned by Argentina's Techint. (BBC News)
Israeli police raid the Jerusalem city hall to seize documents related to alleged bribes received by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
The President of Bolivia Evo Morales approves recall elections for himself and the governors of the nine departments on August 10, 2008. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Russia's new Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announces his cabinet. (BBC News)
United States federal authorities start sending aid to Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia as the total death toll from the May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence reaches 23. (BBC News)

May 13, 2008 (Tuesday)

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U.S. federal prosecutors have filed a new indictment against baseball slugger Barry Bonds, charging him with 14 counts of lying to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Wayne Swan, the Treasurer of Australia, delivers his first budget establishing $40 billion funds for infrastructure, health and education. (News Limited)
Hewlett-Packard agrees to buy Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion dollars. (Bloomberg)
2008 Sichuan earthquake:
- The death toll from the earthquake reaches 12,000. (CNN)
- The Chinese government launches a massive rescue operation to search for survivors. (BBC News)
Cyclone Nargis:
- The State Peace and Development Council continues to block foreign aid workers from entering Burma. (BBC News)
- The United Nations call for the opening of an air corridor to bring aid to the victims. (BBC News)
Ministers from Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League (N) resign from the Government of Pakistan. (BBC News)
United States presidential election, 2008
- West Virginia voters go to the polls in the Democratic Party primary to elect 28 delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. New York Senator Hillary Clinton obtains a clear victory. (Washington Post)
- Senator Clinton welcomes the vote in West Virginia as an "overwhelming vote of confidence" in her campaign. (Associated Press)
A series of bomb blasts hits the Indian city of Jaipur, killing at least 60 people and injuring 150. (BBC News)
Eleven people are killed and 20 wounded in clashes between Iraqi militias and the United States Army in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. (BBC News)
The United States Department of Defense drops charges against Mohamed al-Kahtani, who was suspected of being the "20th hijacker" in the September 11, 2001 attacks. (BBC News)
Colombian warlord extradition
- Colombia extradites 14 former paramilitary leaders, including Salvatore Mancuso, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, and Diego Murillo Bejarano, to the United States where they have been charged with drug trafficking. (BBC News)
- President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe says that the assets of warlords will be confiscated to compensate victims. (Associated Press)

May 14, 2008 (Wednesday)

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The discovery of G1.9+0.3, the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way Galaxy, is announced. (NASA)

Food prices center stage at EU-Latin America summit. (Reuters)
Democrat Marc Dann resigns as the Ohio Attorney General following a sexual harassment scandal involving several of his aides and an admitted affair with a subordinate. (Akron Beacon Journal)
United States presidential election, 2008: John Edwards, a former contender to be the Democratic Party nominee, endorses the bid of Barack Obama. (BBC News)
The United States Department of the Interior declares that the polar bear is a threatened species due to declining levels of Arctic Ocean ice as a result of global warming. (AP via The New York Times)
A suicide bomber kills at least 22 people and injures 40 in an attack on a funeral in a village west of Baghdad.

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May 2008

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