Unix Timestamp: 959126400
Wednesday, May 24. 2000, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The International Monetary Fund says far-reaching reforms are vital for Spain's economy. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10149806.stm (BBC)

East Timor's Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta officially requests military assistance from the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal.

Disgruntled former soldiers and government troops clash in East Timor, leading to at least two deaths in Dili. Australians evacuate as violence escalates. //edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/24/timor.tension.ap/ (CNN), //dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,19241482-5001028,00.html (Daily Telegraph) As requested by the East Timor government, at least four countries, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia, are sending in troops in an effort to maintain order. //edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/24/timor.tension/ (CNN)

Terry Nichols is convicted by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

F.C. Porto wins the European Chion Clubs Cup, defeating A.S. Monaco 3–0.

North Korea bans mobile phones (see Communications in North Korea).

After a 40-year wait, Russian fans of The Beatles finally get to see former Beatle Paul McCartney perform on their soil, on the Red Square in Moscow.

Sertab Erener wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 for Turkey with the song "Every Way That I Can", in Riga, Latvia.

AFC Ajax wins the UEFA Chions League in the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna by defeating AC Milan 0–1 by a goal of Patrick Kluivert. This was the third consecutive win of AFC Ajax over AC Milan that season, ranking AFC Ajax on the 4th place on the list of European Cup and UEFA Chions League winners.

Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia.

Authorised by Israeli Prime MinisterYitzhak Shamir, Operation Solomon commences.

Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.

Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.

Earl Jellicoe, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords in Britain, resigns over a separate prostitution scandal.

"Skylab 2" (Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz, Joseph Kerwin) is launched on a mission to repair damage to the recently launched "Skylab" space station.

Héctor José Cámpora becomes democratic president of the Argentine Republic ending the 1966 to 1973 Revolución Argentina military dictatorship.

The scientific drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the USSR.

25 – The crowd at a football match in Lima, Peruriots over a referee's decision in the Peru-Argentina game 319 are killed, 500 injured.

Project Mercury: Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the "Aurora 7" space capsule.

American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for disturbing the peace after disembarking from their bus.

British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.

Anti-American riots erupt in Taipei, Taiwan.

The first Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast from Lugano, Switzerland. The winning song is "Refrain" by Lys Assia (music by Géo Voumard, text by Émile Gardaz).

Maritime Administration (under Department of Commerce).

WWII: Six LSTs are accidentally destroyed and 163 men killed in Pearl Harbor's West Loch Disaster.

The British submarine HMS "Upholder" (P37) torpedoes and sinks the Italian ocean liner .

WWII: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship "Bismarck" sinks battlecruiser HMS "Hood", killing all but 3 crewmen from a total of 1,418 aboard the pride of the Royal Navy.

WWII: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship \\'\\'Bismarck\\'\\' sinks battlecruiserHMS ''Hood'', killing all but 3 crewmen from a total of 1,418 aboard the pride of the Royal Navy.

Winston Churchill warns the House of Commons to prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings.

First free flight of Igor Sikorsky's Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter.

WWII: The Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force starts.

WWII: The Anglo-French Supreme War Council decides to withdraw all forces from Norway.

WWII: King Leopold III of Belgium orders the Belgian forces to cease fighting. Leaders of the Belgian government on French territory declare Leopold deposed.

The first nighttime Major League Baseball game is played between the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Australia, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).

The airship "Italia" crashes on the North Pole one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile.

Britain severs diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union because of revelations of espionage and underground agitation.

The Immigration Act of 1924 was signed into law in the United States, including the Asian Exclusion Act.

The Irish Civil War ends.

Venustiano Carranza is buried in Mexico City all of his mourning allies are arrested. Adolfo de la Huerta is elected provisional president.

WWI: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.

PFC Levski Sofia is founded at 1st men's school in Sofia (today 22nd gymnasium)

Mexican Revolution: Government troops fire at anti-Diaz demonstrators in Mexico City, killing about 200 (officials claim only 40).

The Paris-Madrid race begins, during which at least eight people are killed.

Second Boer War: The British annex the Orange Free State as the Orange River Colony.

Anti-Japanese officials led by Tang Ching-sung in Taiwan declare independence from the Qing Dynasty, forming the short-lived Republic of Formosa.

Prince George (later George V) becomes Duke of York.

Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic after 13 years of construction.

The Port Adelaide Football Club plays their first match of Australian rules football at Buck's Flat, Glanville, South Australia.

Battle of Tuyutí: 32,000 soldiers of the Triple Alliance defeat 24,000 Paraguayan soldiers few miles north of the Paraná, Argentina in the Paraguayan War, with 16,000 casualties.

Westminster Bridge is opened in England. This new bridge designed by Thomas Page had replaced the old bridge.

Pottawatomie Massacre: A group of followers of radical abolitionist John Brown kill 5 homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas.

JunendashJuly ndash The Great Flood of 1844 hits the Missouri River and Mississippi River.

The first electrical telegram is sent over the telegraph by Samuel F. B. Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the BO Railroad outer depot in Baltimore, Maryland, saying What hath God wrought.

Canada: The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is opened.

Francois Arban, early French balloonist makes his 1st ascent.

Germany: Hambacher Fest, a demonstration for civil liberties and national unity, ends with no result.

The British take Rangoon, Burma in the First Anglo-Burmese War.

Battle of Pichincha: Simón Bolívar secures the independence of Quito.

Dartmoor Prison opens in England to house French prisoners of war.ref name=Pocket On This Day

John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.

Jonathan Wild, fraudulent Thief-Taker General, is hanged in Tyburn, England for actually aiding criminals.

The Bill of Rights establishes constitutional monarchy in England but with Roman Catholics barred from the throne. Parliament also passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants, but with Roman Catholics intentionally excluded. This effectively concludes the Glorious Revolution.

The War of Devolution begins: France invades Flanders and Franche-Comté.

Ferdinand IV is elected King of the Romans.

Peter Minuit buys Manhattan from a Native American tribe (Lenape or Shinnecock or Canarsie) for trade goods, valued at 60 guilders ($24).

The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.

Jamestown, Virginia: The temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, issues The Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws.

The "Nomenclator" of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.

Sir John Norreys, with an expeditionary force sent by Queen Elizabeth I of England, takes the town of Guing after a brief siege, on behalf of Henry of Navarre.

Maurice maneuvers cautiously against the Duke of Parma near Arnhem.

June ndash Zutphen is captured by the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau.

AugustndashSeptember

August ndash Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex leads an English army in support of the Protestant Henry IV of France at the Siege of Rouen.ref name=Cassell's Chronology/

During this year's Atlantic hurricane season, probably the most severe of the pre-1600 seasons, at least eight intense hurricanes occur.

July ndash Deventer is captured by the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau.

Fire of Moscow: Moscow is burnt by the Crimean army under Devlet I Giray.

The Transit of Venus occurs, the last before optical filters allowed astronomers to observe them.

Lambert Simnel is crowned King Edward VI of England in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland. He claims to be Edward, Earl of Warwick and challenges Henry VII for the throne of England.

The Treaty of Stralsund ends the war between Denmark and the Hanseatic League.

The Kara-Khitan Khanate is destroyed by Genghis Khan's Mongolian cavalry.

Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes "Udaijin" of Japan.

Saint Pedro Nolasco founds the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy in Barcelona, Spain.

Genghis Khan's Mongols, under the leadership of his eldest son Jochi, conduct a second caign against the Kyrgyz.

The Livonian Brothers of the Sword begin to conquer Estonia.

Damietta is besieged by the knights of the Fifth Crusade.

March ndash Treaty of Worcester recognises Llywelyn the Great as regent of south Wales.

Genghis Khan proposes to the Khwarazm shah of Persia that he accept Mongol overlordship and establish trade relations.

Alfonso IX of Castile founds the University of Salamanca.

The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.

The northern French city of Rheims emits the first recorded public life annuity in medieval Europe. Theretofore, this type of instrument had been mostly issued by religious institutions. The emission by Rheims is the first evidence of a consolidation of public debt that is to become common in the Langue d\'Oïl, the Low Countries and Germany.

July ndash Spain: In order to facilitate the movement of Reconquista, Pope Honorius III reverses Innocent III’s earlier judgement and declares Ferdinand III of Castile legitimate heir to the Kingdom of Leon.ref name=linehan1999

Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.

Santarém and Sintra are captured by the Almoravid troops of the general Sir ibn Abi Bakr. The efforts of the Berbers to reconquer lost ground lead to the sack of Coimbra.ref name=picard2000

Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Paschal II.

The Synod of Rathbreasail marks the transition of the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan structure.

Alfonso VII becomes King of Galicia.

Baldwin VII becomes Count of Flanders.

The commune of Laus is destroyed by the Milanese troops.

Pope Victor III succeeds Pope Gregory VII as the 158th pope, though he does not accept election until May 9, 1087.