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. //www.nidosa.com/ (Reuters via NineMSN) //ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijDA5bgxiHlTvS_r-SSjskS1Tq1wD90HCJ9O2 (AP via Google News)
Would-be Saudi Princess Antoinette Millard surfaces in New York City, claiming that muggers had stolen jewels worth of $262,000 from her (she later proves to be an impostor).
Thursday, May 8, 2003
The Russian mathematician Dr Grigori Perelman claims to have resolved the Poincaré conjecture.
An F4 tornado hits metro area of Oklahoma City, and became the 10th costliest tornado in United States history. No one was killed but many were injured. The tornado followed a path similar to that of the F5 tornado of May 3, 1999.
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber badly injures himself near Megiddo, southeast of Haifa, when the explosives he was carrying go off prematurely.
CBS telecasts "The Wizard of Oz" for the last time. Beginning in 1999, "The Wizard of Oz" will be shown on cable, and in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 it will be telecast by the WB Television Network in addition to its cable showings.
The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins were not finished in 1998, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999.
India conducts 3 underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including 1 thermonuclear device.
The Australian government introduces a nationwide ban on the private possession of both automatic and semi-automatic rifles, in response to the Port Arthur massacre.
1996 Everest disaster: A sudden storm engulfs Mount Everest with several climbing teams high on the mountain, leaving 8 dead. By the end of the month, at least 4 other climbers die in the worst season of fatalities on the mountain to date.
Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong, facing forced repatriation due to their classification as economic migrants rather than refugees, stage a protest at the Whitehead Detention Centre.
The Woolworth's store in Manchester city centre in England is seriously damaged by fire 10 shoppers die.
Tuesday, May 8, 1973
The British House of Commons votes to abolish capital punishment in Northern Ireland.
A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and American Indian Movement activists who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants. !confirmed in American Indian Movement
The New York Knicks defeat the Los Angeles Lakers, 102–93 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win the NBA title.
The Polisario Front, a Sahrawi movement dedicated to the independence of Western Sahara, is formed.
Bobby Riggs challenged and defeated Margaret Court, the world's #1 women's player, in a nationally-televised tennis match set in Ramona, CA northeast of San Diego. Riggs won 6-2, 6-1 which led to the huge Battle of the Sexes match against Billie Jean King later in the year on September 20.
V-E Day (Victory in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders) commemorates the end of WWII in Europe, with the final surrender being to the Soviets in Berlin, attended by representatives of the Western Powers.
29 ndash Sétif massacre: In Algeria, thousands die as French troops and released Italian POWs kill an estimated 6,000 to 40,000 Algerian citizens.
Canadian troops move into Amsterdam, after German troops surrender.
The British 8th Army, together with Slovene partisan troops and a motorized detachment of the Yugoslav 4th Army, arrives in Carinthia and Klagenfurt.
Friday, May 8, 1942
May 9 ndash WWII: At night, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel. Their mutiny is crushed and 3 of them executed (the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War).
WWII: The Battle of the Coral Sea (first battle in naval history where 2 enemy fleets fight without seeing each other's fleets) ends in an Allied victory.
Thursday, May 8, 1941
WWII: The German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin is sunk by HMS Cornwall (56) in the Indian Ocean.
Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa launches an attack against government troops in Ciudad Juarez without Madero's permission the government troops surrender on May 10.
The "Chinese Exclusion Act" is the first important law which restricts immigration into the U.S.A.
Tuesday, May 8, 1877
At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens and had a massive impact on the Civil rights movement. (ends May 11).
American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a proclamation of neutrality which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
Tuesday, May 8, 1860
In New Granada (modern-day Colombia) the southern state of Cauca secedes from the central government in protest at the suggestion of increase of presidential powers Magdalena and Bolívar join it.
Some Japanese ministers who oppose the Emperor are banished to an isolated island. A man climbs the hill east of the Palace, curses the Emperor and kills himself.
The Japanese Emperor issues a decree to distribute the tax-rice for peasants in poverty, as well as a decree regulating of fishing and hunting, ordering a halt to eating the flesh of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys or barn-yard fowls.
The weather is reported to be unusually cold and dark in multiple parts of the world see climate changes of 535–536.
Pope John II dies in Rome after a 2-year reign and is succeeded by Agapetus I as the 57th pope. He is send on an embassy to Constantinople."Breviarium S. Liberati", ap. Mansi, "Concilia", Vol. IX, p. 695
Wednesday, May 7, 413 (Julianian calendar)
Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Cania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, who are plundered by the Visigoths.
The Visigoths, led by king Ataulf, conquer the towns of Toulouse and Bordeaux by force of arms. After a successful siege of Valence, he captures the usurper Jovinus and his brother Sebastianus. In Narbonne they are executed and their heads are sent to Honorius' court at Ravenna.
Augustine of Hippo, age 59, begins to writes his spiritual book "De Civitate Dei" (City of God) as a reply to the charge that Christianity was responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire.
