Unix Timestamp: 1210982400
Saturday, May 17. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Pressure mounts for the jailed Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13426069 (BBC)

Hospital officials confirm the death of Thai general, Khattiya Sawasdipol, after he was shot on Thursday as he backed protesters in Bangkok. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8685971.stm (BBC) //english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/05/201051735137704967.html (Al Jazeera)

2010 Thai political protests:

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam agree to a ceasefire in Sri Lanka's civil war. //edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/17/sri.lanka.conflict/index.html (CNN)

Peru's Armed Forces are authorized to aid the National Police for 30 days in a dispute with indigenous peoples. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8054043.stm (BBC)

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate re-unite after 80 years of schism.

Incumbent Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase of Fiji claims victory in the 2006 general election. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4988644.stm (BBC)

Kuwaiti women are granted the right to vote.

Arsenal beat Southton 1–0 to win the FA Cup.

F.C. Porto defeat Celtic 3–2 (AET) in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville, Spain.

Pen Hadow becomes the first person to walk alone, without any outside help, from Canada to the North Pole.

The Indonesian military begins an operation in Aceh province.

An earthquake in the Boumerdès region of northern Algeria kills 2,200.

In Ireland, The Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition is re-elected. It is the first government to be re-elected since 1969.

A bomb in Glorietta Mall in Makati City, Philippines injures 13.

Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.

Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa.

28 ndash Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is elected the new prime minister of India, replacing P. V. Narasimha Rao of the Indian National Congress. However, the party does not receive an overall majority and Vajpayee resigns 13 days later rather than face a no confidence vote, and is replaced by the United Front, led Deve Gowda.

Malawi holds its first multiparty elections.

Protests begin in Bangkok, Thailand, against the government of General Suchinda Kraprayoon, sparking a bloody crackdown.

The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases.

Ciriaco de Mita resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.

1989 Ürümqi unrest: Uyghur and Hui Muslim protesters rioted in front of the government building in Ürümqi.

More than 1 million Chinese protestors march through Beijing demanding greater democracy.

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: Zhao Ziyang meets the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

U.S.S. Stark is hit by two Iraqi-owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles killing 47 sailors.

Hashimpura massacre in Meerut city of India.

First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park, Auckland

Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced to 7 years hard labor for distributing 'counterrevolutionary material'.

Charles Chaplin's coffin is found some 15 km from the cemetery from which it was stolen, near Lake Geneva.

Dublin and Monaghan bombings: The Protestant terrorist group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), explode numerous bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, in the Republic Of Ireland. The attacks kill 33 civilians and wound almost 300, which is the highest number of casualties in any single day during The Troubles.

The Warsaw radio mast is completed, the second tallest structure ever built (it collapses on August 8, 1991).

Nuclear test: Under Project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the 6th nation to do so.

Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.

Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat "Ra II", to sail the Atlantic Ocean.

Venera program: Soviet probe "Venera 6" begins to descend into Venus' atmosphere, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.

A general election is held in Italy.

The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.

Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around the Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.

Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (19th government)

Celal Bayar becomes the third president of Turkey.

The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.

The surviving RAF "Dam Busters" return.

The "Memphis Belle's" crew becomes the first aircrew in the 8th Air Force to complete its 25-mission tour of duty. The aircraft and crew were the first to return to the U.S. intact for a War Bond drive.

Brussels falls to German forces the Belgian government flees to Ostend.

"Information Please" debuts on "NBC" Radio.

Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form The Nasjonal Samling (the National-Socialist Party) of Norway.

French Prime Minister André Tardieu decides to withdraw the remaining French troops from the Rhineland (they depart by June 30).

The U.S. Army aviation pioneer Major Harold Geiger dies in the crash of his Airco DH.4de Havilland plane, at Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania.

The Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose the Winnipeg General Strike.

The last purely Liberal government in the United Kingdom ends when Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith forms an all party coalition.

Mexican Revolution: Porfirio Diaz is convinced to resign but does not do so yet.

Kappa Delta Rho is founded in in room 14 of Old Painter Hall at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT.

Nikolaus Otto files his patent for the four-stroke cycleinternal combustion engine.

Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.

The German soccer club "TSV 1860 München" is founded.

The Mount Sinai Hospital is dedicated (as the Jews\' Hospital) in New York City it opens to patients on June 5.

The St. Louis Fire starts when a steamboat catches fire and nearly burns down the entire city.

The occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian hands.

The Constitution of Norway is signed and the Danish Crown Prince Christian Frederik is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly.

Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. When he announces that the Pope's secular power has ended, the Pope excommunicates him.

The Buttonwood Agreement is signed, beginning the New York Stock Exchange.

The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act, a major component of the reforms collectively known as the 'Constitution of 1782' which restore legislative independence to the Parliament of Ireland.ref name=Costin

American Revolution: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.

U.S. Merchant Marine (no central administration).

American Revolution: The British forces offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms.

Frederick the Great's army defeats Austrians in Chotusitz later Austria cedes Silesia to Prussia.

In America, trader Louis Joliet and Jesuit missionary-explorer Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.

The Banbury mutiny in England ends ndash leaders of the Leveller mutineers in the New Model Army are hanged.

r May 18 ndash Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montreal (nowadays known as Montreal, Quebec, Canada).

The first merry-go-round is seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey).

August ("approx.") ndash Possible first performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" in London.ref name=Shak.Encyc.Scholars date completion as between 1603 and 1606.

Supporters of Vasili Shuisky invade the Kremlin and kill Premier Dimitri II of Russia.

Anne of Denmark is crowned queen of Scotland.

The conflict between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu culminates in the Battle of Nagakute.

The five men accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn, including her own brother George Boleyn, are executed.

Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.

King John I of Castile and Leon marries Beatrice of Portugal

Pope Adrian III (also referred to as Hadrian III) succeeds Pope Marinus I as the 109th pope.

Pope Julius I dies after a 15-year reign in which he has made himself the chief opponent of Arianism. He is succeeded by Pope Liberius as the 36th pope who immediately writes to Constantius II requesting a council at Aquileia to discuss the former Alexandrian patriarch Athanasius, who opposes the Arian belief to which the emperor subscribes.

Emperor Jin Wudi, founder of the Western Jin Dynasty, dies after a 25-year reign. He reunifies north and south, but gives away many dukedoms to his kinsmen. Crown Prince Jin Huidi succeeds his father and has to deal with conflicts among the aristocratic families in China.