Unix Timestamp: 958348800
Monday, May 15. 2000, 12:00:00 AM UTC

New York City police question International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, arrested yesterday, over allegations that he sexually attacked a hotel maid near Times Square. Strauss-Kahn's schedule is threatened with interruption, with a meeting over the bailouts of Portugal and Greece with European Union finance ministers due in Brussels tomorrow. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13402845 (BBC)

Government troops in Thailand continue operations to end anti-government protests by red shirt protestors in the capital Bangkok. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8684363.stm (BBC) //www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/37383/pm-vows-no-turning-back-justifies-losses ("Bangkok Post")

Sixty-five indigenous peoples declare an insurgency against Peru's government. //www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5heiAC_h_83_W6zBuLzaqnhQI71sA (AFP via Google News)

The International Court of Justice awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the 2 countries.

An oil pipeline explosion in Ijegun, Nigeria kills 100.

The Union of South American Nations, a supranational union, is created by a union between the Andean Community and Mercosur.

Makoto Koga, a political faction leader within the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and former secretary general, proposes that Yasukuni Shrine set up a separate shrine for the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined there. //www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605150117.html (Asahi Shimbun) Junichiro Koizumi is poised to become the first Prime Minister of Japan to make a speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress in June. //www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605150118.html (Asahi Shimbun)

A passenger ferry capsizes and sinks in strong winds in the Bura Gauranga River in Bangladesh, leaving 200 people missing.

South Africa is awarded the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The date predicted by Pana-Wave Laboratory, a Japanese cult, on which a close encounter with an unknown planet would result in the extinction of most of humankind.

The journal "Nature" reports that all species of large fish in the world's oceans have been so thoroughly overfished that just 10% of the population that there was in 1950 remains. The scientists who authored the report conclude that the world's oceans are no longer even close to their natural state. Sharks, Atlantic cod, and Pacific sardines are tapped as particularly imperilled with extinction. The scientists recommend drastic measures to reduce ocean fishing. //www.nature.com/nature/links/030515/030515-1.html Nature, //ens-news.com/ens/may2003/2003-05-14-03.asp Environment News, //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3028251.stm BBC

The female American rock band The Go-Go\'s release their first album in 17 years since the album "Talk Show" (1984).

U.S. President Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male and their families.

The United States government acknowledges existence of the Secret War in Laos, and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other Secret War veterans.

Mobutu Sese Seko leaves Kinshasa, eventually settling in Morocco.

Nine hostages held by the Free Papua Organization in Irian Jaya are rescued after an operation by the Indonesian military 2 other hostages are later found dead.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elects Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel as President of Turkey.

After Demirel becomes the president the acting prime minister of Turkey is Erdal İnönü of SHP for 40 days.

Niamh Kavanagh wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with In Your Eyes.

Édith Cresson becomes France's first female premier.

"Portrait of Doctor Gachet" by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.

Australia's first private tertiary institution, Bond University, opens on the Gold Coast.

Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins withdrawing from Afghanistan.

"California v. Greenwood": The U.S. Supreme Court rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage.

A report by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at University of California, Berkeley.

Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith, the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States.

Students of the University of Tehran riot in Tabriz the army stops the riot.

Sikkim accedes to India after a referendum.

Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines 38 Americans are killed.

Efraim Elrom, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, is kidnapped he is found killed in Istanbul May 25.

An American teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the first confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Mercury program: NASA launches Gordon Cooper on "Mercury 9", the last mission (on June 12NASA Administrator James E. Webb tells Congress the program is complete).

Heinrich Matthaei alone performs the Poly-U-Experiment and is the first human to recognize and understand the genetic code. This is the birthdate of modern genetics.Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Experimentalsysteme ndash Eine Geschichte der Proteinsynthese im Reagenzglas Wallstein ISBN 3-89244-454-4

Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.

Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the U-2 reconnaissance plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus aborting the summit meeting scheduled for Paris in 1960.

The satelliteSputnik 4 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.

MGM's "Gigi" opens in New York City, beginning its run in the U.S. after being shown at the Cannes film festival. The last of the great MGM musicals, it will become a huge critical and box office success and win nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. "Gigi" is Lerner and Loewe's first musical written especially for film, and is deliberately written in a style evoking the team's "My Fair Lady", which was still playing on Broadway at the time and could not be filmed yet.

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.

Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's national sovereignty, is concluded between the four occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.

"Brown v. Board of Education" (347 US 483 1954): The United States Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional.

Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (21st government)

The Petrov Royal Commission in Australia begins its inquiry.

Latin Union (Unión Latina) created by Convention of Madrid, member countries belong to the five Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.

The Standards And Recommended Practices (SARPS) for Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) were adopted by the ICAO Council. These SARPS are in Annex 15 to the Chicago Convention and 15 May is celebrated by the AIS community as “World AIS Day”.

Diplomatic relations are established between the governments of Israel and Japan at the level of legations.

A military coup occurs in Bolivia.

Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.

WWII: Operation Chastise by RAF 617 Sqdn are carried out on German dams.

Greek physician Marco Nahon arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The Comintern is dissolved in Moscow.

WWII: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.

Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess (the flight was from Oakland, California to Chicago, Illinois).

Russian Revolution: Russian White soldier Maria Bochkareva is executed in Soviet Russia.

A referendum in Switzerland is favorable to joining the League of Nations.

French and Belgian troops leave the cities they have occupied in Germany.

Canonization of Joan of Arc. Over 30,000 people attend the ceremony in Rome, including 140 descendants of Joan of Arc's family. Pope Benedict XV presides over the rite, for which the interior of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is richly decorated.

The first flight of Dutch air company KLM, from Amsterdam to London, takes place.

A U.S. NavyCurtiss aircraft (NC-4), commanded by Albert Cushing Read, departs from Trepassey, Newfoundland, bound for the Azores and thence to Lisbon, Portugal on the first transatlantic flight.

Winnipeg workers launch a general strike for better wages and working conditions.

The Hellenic Army lands at Smyrna carried by British ships.

Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when , in what later becomes downtown, are auctioned off.

The Russian minelayer "Amur" lays a minefield about off Port Arthur and sinks Japan's battleship "Hatsuse", 15,000 tons, with 496 crew.

Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical "Rerum Novarum", resulting in the creation of many Christian Democrat Parties throughout Europe.

Portugal and France agree to regulate the borders of their colonies in Guinea.

"Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad": The U.S. Supreme Court rules that corporations have the same rights as living persons.

Motherwell Football Club was Founded.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is established

Woman\\\'s suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.

Woman's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.

American Civil War ndash Battle of New Market: Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force UnionGeneralFranz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.

President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Battle of Calatafimi: Troops under Giuseppe Garibaldi defeat the army of Naples in Sicily, during the Second Italian independence war.

Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.

Radicals invade the French Chamber of deputies.

Francis Baily, during an eclipse of the sun, observes the phenomenon named after him as Baily's beads.

Joseph Smith claims to receive the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist.

Napoleon Bonaparte crosses the Alps and invades Italy.

Napoleon's troops take Milan.

MayndashJune ndash The "Battle of Richmond Hill" is fought in the colony of New South Wales, between the Darug people and British colonial forces.

War of the First Coalition: Napoleon I of France enters Milan in triumph.

The Australian Frontier Wars begin.

After the Treaty of Versailles, the island of Corsica is ceded by Genoa to France.

The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1762) ends the war between Russia and Prussia.

Seven Years\' War: The Seven Years\' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France.ref name=Cassell's Chronology/

Seven Years' War: The Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France.ref name=Cassell's Chronology/

Establishment of Wright\\\\'s Ferry under the authority of the Province of Pennsylvania triggers Cresap\\'s War ndash a "nine year long conflict" also known as the "'Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary dispute"' ndash the conflict mainly centered in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and York County, Pennsylvania on either banks of the Susquehanna River.

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, retires from his role in the government of Great Britain, leaving Robert Walpole as sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet (i.e., prime minister). In the new Walpole Ministry, Sir William Strickland, 4th Baronet, becomes Secretary at War, and Henry Pelham is Paymaster of the Forces. Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington briefly becomes Lord Privy Seal.

John Thurloe is arrested for high treason for his support of Oliver Cromwell's regime.

May 16 ndash Rebellious farmers are hanged in Vocklamarkt, Upper Austria.

Jamestown: Christopher Newport, George Percy, Gabriel Archer, and others travel 6 days exploring along the James River up to the falls and Powhatan's village.

Jamestown: The president directs the fort to be strengthened and armed against the many attacks of the natives: Hereupon the President was contented the Fort should be pallisadoed, the ordinance mounted, his men armed and exercised, for many were the assaults and Ambuscadoes of the Savages ... John Smith, Proceedings (Barbour 1964)

200 armed Indians attack the Jamestown settlement, killing 2 and wounding 10.

June ndash James Lancaster's East India Company fleet arrives at Achin (now Aceh), Sumatra to deal with the local ruler. Having defeated Portugal's ally, the ruler is happy to do business, and Lancaster seizes a large Portuguese galleon and loots it.

Bartolomew Gosnold becomes the first European at Cape Cod.

In Russia, Tsarevich Dimitri, son of the Ivan the Terrible, is found dead in mysterious circumstances, at the palace in Uglich. The official explanation is that he has cut his own throat during an epileptic seizure. Many believe he has been murdered by his rival, Boris Godunov, who becomes tsar.

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.

Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Muentzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.

Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Muentzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.

June ndash The Battle of Hornshole between England and Scotland takes place near Hawick, Scotland.//www.discovertheborders.co.uk/places/154.html Discover the Borders.co.uk

July ndash Peace is declared between England and France.

Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s "Gesta Danorum," the oldest known version of that work.

October ndash A rebellion orchestrated by King Edward\'s former ally, the Earl of Warwick, forces the King to flee England to seek support from his brother-in-law Charles the Bold of Burgundy.

Charles VIII of Sweden, who had served three terms as King of Sweden, dies. Sten Sture the Elder becomes Regent of Sweden.

October ndash A rebellion orchestrated by King Edward's former ally, the Earl of Warwick, forces the King to flee England to seek support from his brother-in-law Charles the Bold of Burgundy.

Battle of Hexham: Montague defeats another Lancastrian army, this one led by King Henry and Queen Margaret themselves. This marks the end of organized Lancastrian resistance for several years.

one of the first exchange contracts (cambium) to mention the city of Bruges involved two parties: Giovanni Villani, representing the Peruzzi Company, granting a loan to Tommaso Fini, representing the Gallerani Company of Siena.

Battle of Forlì between Guelphs and Ghibellines: the French army under Pope Martin IV is defeated by Guido I da Montefeltro.

June ndash The army of Peter III of Aragon lands in North Africa in Collo to support the rebellious governor of Constantine, Ibn Wazir. But the uprising has been put down by the Hafsid ruler. Peter, wary of the situation in Sicily, quickly sails off and fails to take advantage of the state of rebellion in North Africa.

Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull "Ad exstirpanda", which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. Torture quickly gains widespread usage across Catholic Europe.

King John of England submits to Pope Innocent III, who in turn lifts the interdict of 1208.

The Cathedral of Saint Agatha in Catania is consecrated by the Breton Abbot Ansger of Saint Euphemia.

Emperor Valentinian II, age 21, is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.