Unix Timestamp: 1211068800
Sunday, May 18. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Olympic Flame arrives in the United Kingdom on board a flight from Athens, Greece, ready for the torch relay ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in July. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18093410 (BBC)

Sri Lanka's government declares an end to its civil war with the Tamil Tigers. //www.afp.com/afpcom/en/taglibrary/thematic/actuality (AFP)

The X Prize Foundation launches the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which is won in 2004, by Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne.

Shawn Nelson, 35, goes on a tank rage in San Diego.

Somaliland withdraws from Somalia.

German reunification: East Germany and West Germany sign a treaty to emerge their economic and social systems, effective July 1.

May 27 ndash Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.

May 19 ndash Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire to aid the fight against the rebels.

Cod War: Joseph Godber, British Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announces that Royal Navy frigates will protect British trawlers fishing in the disputed 50-mile limit round Iceland.

Four troopers of both SAS and SBS are parachuted onto the "RMS Queen Elizabeth 2", off Britain in the Atlantic, after a bomb threat and ransom demand, which turns out to be bogus.

The U.S. Congress formally votes to end funding for the American Supersonic Transport program.

Apollo program: "Apollo 10" (Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, John Young) is launched, on the full dress-rehearsal for the Moon landing.

The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.

An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of .

Lhotse (main), the fourth highest mountain, is first ascended.

At Rogers Dry Lake, Californian Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour).

Ann Davison becomes the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.

Navigation opens on the Volga-Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.

The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS "Nautilus".

Myxomatosis introduced to Europe on the French estate of Dr. Paul Armand Delille.

The Roman Catholic Church bans the books of André Gide.

The first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.

The Crimean Tatars are deported by the Soviet Union.

Battle of Monte Cassino: The Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.

Marshal Philippe Pétain is named vice-premier of France.

New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Bath School bombings: Criminal bombings result in 45 deaths, mostly school children, in Bath Township, Michigan.

Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.

Sergei Diaghilev, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Proust and Igor Stravinsky dine together in Paris, at the Majestic hotel, their only joint meeting.

WWI: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress, giving the President the power of conscription.

The earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.

The port of Burgas, Bulgaria opens.

The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.

The First Hague Peace Conference was opened in The Hague by Willem de Beaufort, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands.

"Plessy v. Ferguson": The U.S. Supreme Court introduces the separate but equal doctrine and upholds segregation.

Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas, serving under Marshal Larry Deger.

Civil War gold hoax: The "New York World" and the "New York Journal of Commerce" publish a fake proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln has issued a draft of 400,000 more soldiers.

American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana by Union forces begins.

American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins (ends Saturday, July 4, when 30,189 Confederate men surrender).

The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is formed in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Abraham Lincoln is selected as the U.S. presidential candidate for the Republican Party.

The Catholic University of Ireland (forerunner of University College Dublin) is founded.

The first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) opens in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.

The Battle of Las Piedras is fought near Las Piedras, Banda Oriental, resulting in the first victory for the independentists of Uruguay.

May 25 ndash May Revolution: Armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy and establish a provincial government for Argentina, the first South American state to proclaim independence from Spain.

Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.

The United Kingdom resumes war on France after France refuses to withdraw from Dutch territory.

Battle of Tourcoing: French troops defeat British forces.

War in defence of the constitution: Russia invades Poland.

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada ndash The first United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown.

An army sent from Lima put down the rebellions and captures and savagely execute Túpac Amaru II.

Fire destroys one quarter of the town of Montreal, Quebec.

Peter II succeeds Catherine I as Tsar of Russia.

Forces of Louis XIV of France attack Heidelberg, capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate.

Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.

Thirty Years\\' War: Bavaria and France sign the Treaty of Fontainebleau, forming a secret alliance. The secret alliance does not last long, however.

"La Gazette", the first French newspaper, was founded.

June ndash Sir John Norreys and Sir Geoffrey Fenton travel to Connaught to parley with the local Irish lords.

Willem Barents leaves Vlie on his third and final Arctic voyage.

The Treaty of Tyavzino brings to an end the Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595).

Ottoman troops land on the island of Malta, beginning The Great Siege of Malta.

Second Battle of Oronichea (1456): Ottoman forces of 15,000 go to capture Albania but are met and swiftly defeated by Skanderbeg's smaller force.

Battle of Arkinholm: King James II of Scotland defeats the Earl of Douglas.

Battle of Oronichea: Peace between Albania and Venice is established.

Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia

Four towns of the county of Holland (Dordrecht, Haarlem, Leiden and Alkmaar) and two of the county of Zeeland (Middelburg and Zierikzee) accept for the first time to collectively secure a loan by their sovereign, Floris V. This system gives important securities to the lenders and allows the ruler to access the same low interest rates as the cities’ governments.

Al-Ashraf Khalil of Egypt captures Acre, thus exterminating the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (the final Christian landholding remaining from the Crusades), and ending the Ninth Crusade and effectively all Crusades, by eliminating the possibility of further attacks on the Holy Land (see Siege of Acre (1291)).

The artificial Kunming Lake is constructed as a reservoir for Dadu in Yuan Dynasty in China by famous engineer and astronomer Guo Shoujing.

Emperor Kameyama of Japan establishes the Zen Buddhist temple of Nanzenji in Kyoto.

Kublai Khan sends an emissary to the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan demanding an acknowledgment of suzerainty and payment of tribute the Japanese refuse, starting a diplomatic back-and-forth lasting until the Mongols attempt to invade in 1274.

The Tibetan monk Drogön Chögyal Phagpa of the Sakya school completes the Phagspa script, which was sponsored by Kublai Khan as a new writing system in his empire.

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of AntiochBaibars' destruction of the city of Antioch is so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.

The Battle of Xiangyang, a 6-year battle between the Chinese Song Dynasty and the Mongol forces of Kublai Khan, begins in what is today Hubei.

An earthquake in Cilicia kills an estimated 60,000 people.

Spital am Semmering is founded by Margrave Ottokar III of Styria.

Derby School is founded at Derby, England.

Erik Jedvardsson is murdered, after which his murderer Magnus Henriksen proclaims himself king of Sweden. He is, however, himself murdered the following year. Eric is soon worshipped as a saint, becoming known as "Eric the Saint" or "Eric the Holy". Though never formally canonized by the pope, he eventually becomes the patron saint of Sweden.

Richard FitzNeal is named Treasurer of the Exchequer of England, and begins writing a handbook for the division, his Dialogus de Scaccario. It will describe the organization of personnel, the duties of each, how to audit sheriff's accounts at Easter and Michaelmas, how to value coinage, and how to draw up receipts."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 127

The city of Tomar is founded in Portugal by Gualdim Pais.

Large Portuguese offensive in the Alentejo against the Muslims.ref name=picard2000

The archbishopric of Nidaros (Trondheim), Norway is established.

The Synod of Kells-Mellifont established the present diocesan system of Ireland (with later modifications) and recognized the primacy of Armagh.

The town of Gorodets (modern Russia) is founded by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy.

The Church of Ireland acknowledges the Pope's authority.

Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry of Anjou after getting her previous marriage to Louis VII annulled. Henry had claimed the County of Anjou, the County of Maine, and the province of Touraine upon the death of his protector Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, the previous year. With the addition of Eleanor's lands, he now controls territory stretching unbroken from Cherbourg to Bayonne."King John" by Warren. Published by the University of California Press in 1961. p. 21

Pope Benedict VIII succeeds Pope Sergius IV as the 143rd pope.

Gregory VI becomes antipope.

Ecclesius, bishop of Ravenna, commissions two new churches, one for Ravenna and one for its port, Classis.

John I dies of starvation after a 3-year reign. Theodoric the Great selects Felix IV as his successor and becomes the 54th pope.

c. 526ndash547 ndash Sanctuary apse's mosaic showing Christ enthroned and flanked by Saint Vitalis and Ecclesius, Basilica of San Vitale (Ravenna) is made.

Constantine I announces a free distribution of food to the citizens in Constantinople, similar to the food given out in the city of Rome. The amount is approximately 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around the city.