May_2007

May 2007

May 2007 is the fifth month of that year. It began on a Tuesday and 31 days later, ended on a Thursday.

International holidays

May 1 - May Day (Europe)
May 1 - Labour Day (India)
May 1 - Maharashtra State Day (India)
May 1 - Labour Day (Guyana)
May 1 - Labour Day (Brazil)
May 2 - Dos de Mayo (Spain)
May 5 - Liberation Day (Ethiopia, Netherlands, Denmark)
May 5 - Children's Day (Japan, South Korea)
May 5 - Cinco de Mayo (Mexico)
May 5 - Indian Arrival Day Guyana
May 6 - Lag Ba'omer (Judaism)
May 6 - St George's Day (Bulgaria)
May 8 - Victory in Europe Day
May 9 - Europe Day (European Union)
May 16 - Jerusalem Day (Israel)
May 17 - Constitution Day (Norway)
May 24 - Victoria Day (Canada)
May 24 - Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia)
May 25 - African Liberation Day
May 26 - National Sorry Day (Australia)
May 26 - Independence Day (Guyana)
May 27 - Children's Day (Nigeria)
May 28 - Memorial Day (United States)
May 28 - Republic Day (Armenia, Azerbaijan)
May 28 - Spring Bank Holiday (United Kingdom)
May 28 - Whit Monday (France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, The Netherlands)
May 29 - Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day (Fiji)

Mother's Day
- May 8 (Parent's Day) - South Korea and Albania
- May 10 - Mexico
- May 10 - South America, El Salvador, Guatemala, Oman, and Pakistan
- May 13 (2nd Sunday) - Anguilla, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Croatia, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
- May 26 - Poland
- May 27 -Bolivia
- May 27 (last Sunday) - France (switches to first Sunday of June if coincides with Pentecost), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Sweden, and Morocco
- May 30 - Nicaragua

Portal:Current events

May 1, 2007 (Tuesday)

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A U.S. federal appeals court rules that Congressman Jim McDermott must pay damages for leaking a copy of a tape of an illegally intercepted telephone call. (New York Times)
Iraq War:
- On the fourth anniversary of his "Mission Accomplished" speech, President George W. Bush, citing the provisions setting a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, vetoes an Iraq War funding measure that also improves resting, training and equipping standards for combat troops before their deployment, and sets binding benchmarks for the Iraqi government. (CNN) (AP via Denver Post)
- Brigadier-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf of the Iraqi Interior Ministry claims that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, has been killed in a battle between insurgents. The claim is later denied by insurgents. (Reuters via News Limited) (BBC)
Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corporation, announces a $5 billion offer to take over Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal. (International Herald Tribune)
Turkish presidential election, 2007: The Constitutional Court of Turkey annuls last Friday's presidential vote in the Grand National Assembly after a challenge by opposition parties. (BBC)
At least three people die after an explosion in an apartment building in Palencia, Spain. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Police arrest 30 alleged animal rights extremists in raids in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. (BBC)
Deutsche Börse AG, operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, agrees to buy International Securities Exchange the second biggest United States options market for $2.8 billion creating the largest transatlantic derivatives market. (Bloomberg via the Boston Globe)
Nigerian opposition and civil society groups join trade unions in May Day rallies against the recent presidential election which saw Umaru Yar'Adua elected as the President of Nigeria. (BBC)
Eitan Cabel, a member of the Israeli Cabinet resigns in protest of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's handling of the 2006 Lebanon War. (FOX)
Two men are charged in Melbourne, Victoria with being members of the Tamil Tigers and providing funding to the organisation. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Thousands of Macau residents demonstrate against the government's labour policy and corruption on May Day, resulting in a clash with police. One bystander was injured. (AP via International Herald Tribute) (BBC)
Digg users participate in the "Digg Revolt" of posting the pirated HD-DVD/AACS hex code, considered by sources to be a pivotal moment in internet free-speech. [1]

Darnel Elaine Hicks, a schoolteacher from Chicago, Illinois passes away at 45.

May 2, 2007 (Wednesday)

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Gunmen in Afghanistan kill Abdul Sabur Farid, a member of the House of Elders and former Prime Minister. (BBC)
Voters in The Bahamas go to the polls in elections for the House of Assembly (AP via CNN), ousting the governing Progressive Liberal Party in favour of the opposition Free National Movement. (BBC)
Antonio Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles, California, orders an inquiry into a clash that occurred at a May Day Rally between the Los Angeles Police Department and pro-immigration demonstrators. (Reuters via CNN)
The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Sudanese humanitarian affairs minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb on charges of war crimes committed during the Darfur conflict. (BBC)
Iraq War: U.S. President George W. Bush meets with Democratic Party officials in Congress to try find ways to fund the Iraq War. (BBC)
French presidential election, 2007: Candidates Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal participate in a televised debate. (CNN) (BBC) (Reuters via CNN)
All six members of the Bali Nine on death row have the appeal against their sentence heard in Bali and Jakarta. (ABC News Australia)
Avigdor Yitzhaki, the chairman and co-founder of Ehud Olmert's Kadima party, calls on Olmert to resign as the Prime Minister of Israel over his handling of the 2006 Lebanon War. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni later joined calls for Olmert's resignation. (BBC) (AustBC)
Four people are killed in a helicopter crash in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. (Sky News)
A train carrying solid-fuel booster segments for the space shuttle programme is involved in a bridge collapse in Alabama, injuring six people, two seriously. (Spaceflight Now)

May 3, 2007 (Thursday)

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Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv call for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government to resign over their mishandling of the 2006 Lebanon war. (BBC)
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom begins a tour of Virginia with a speech to the General Assembly of Virginia in Richmond in honour of the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. She also meets with victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre before departing for Colonial Williamsburg. Radio New Zealand (ABC News Australia) London Free Press
United States presidential election, 2008: Republican presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. (MSNBC)
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence announces plans to release their UFO files to the public, seven weeks after France's space agency CNES opened its UFO files to the public. (The Register)
The Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, renounces the use of force. (Sky News) (RTÉ)
Polling stations open for the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales general elections, and for local council elections in Scotland and parts of England. (BBC)
Madeleine McCann disappears from her hotel room in Praia da Luz, Portugal.^{citation needed}

May 4, 2007 (Friday)

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Greensburg, Kansas Tornado Outbreak: A massive tornado kills nine people in Kansas including 8 people in Greensburg, Kansas with the town suffering widespread damage. (AFP/Reuters via ABC Online)
Three U.S. Republican legislators from Alaska are charged with accepting bribes to support legislation favorable to oil services company Veco Corp. (AP via Forbes)
A heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket blasts off from French Guiana putting into orbit two telecommunications satellites, Astra 1L and Galaxy 17. (Reuters)
The Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong visits Washington D.C. for talks with the President of the United States George W. Bush about South East Asia. (BBC)
The Labour Party performs poorly in local and regional elections in the UK, with the Scottish National Party winning the most seats in the Scottish Parliament and the Conservatives performing well in English local government elections. (New York Times) (BBC)
Airline Partners Australia Ltd. nearly issues a bid for Qantas Airways until its investors rejected it. (Reuters) (The Age) (Bloomberg.com: Asia) (Sydney Morning Herald) (CNN)
Mali's opposition Front for Democracy and the Republic calls on the Constitutional Court to annul last Sunday's presidential election. (BBC)
Convicted terrorist Carlos the Jackal will face charges in France relating to alleged involvement in deadly bombings in 1982 and 1983. (AP via IHT)
International delegates reach agreement at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the summary report on mitigating climate change despite some concerns raised by China. (AP via CNN)
Holly Aldous celebrates 15 years of living
Major world and Middle East powers discuss the future of Iraq on the second day of an International Compact for Iraq conference in Egypt. (BBC)
A boat carrying nearly 150 Haitian migrants capsizes in the Atlantic Ocean 1 km off the coast of one of the Turks and Caicos Islands, killing at least twenty, requiring the rescue of at least seventy-three and leaving at least fifty-eight unaccounted for. (CBS)
Two Cuban military deserters hijack a bus and reroute it to Havana Airport, before attempting to steal an empty passenger jet with the occupants of the bus as hostages. The plan is ultimately foiled but one hostage is killed before the men are captured. [2]

May 5, 2007 (Saturday)

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Footage showing seventeen-year-old Kurdish girl Du’a Khalil Aswad being stoned to death for having a relationship with a Sunni boy is posted on YouTube. (FOX)
More than 20 countries including the People's Republic of China, the United States, France, Japan, Chile and South Korea agree to work together to end bottom sea trawling. (BBC via ABC News Australia)
Kenya Airways states that it has lost contact with Kenya Airways Flight 507, a Boeing 737-800 with 115 passengers and crew aboard flying between Douala, Cameroon and Nairobi. Kenyan state radio later claims that it crashed in southern Cameroon near the town of Niete. (BBC) (AP via USA Today)
Five people are killed in attacks by Islamic rebels in the south of Thailand. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
A third mass rally in support of secularism in Turkey is held in Çanakkale, protesting against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) regarding the presidential election. (Hürriyet) (Turkish Press)
Lightning is determined to be the cause of "the Bugaboo fire" in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia which eventually spread to Florida charring hundreds of thousands of acres. (Orlando Sentinel)
Street Sense wins the 133rd Kentucky Derby. (MSNBC)
Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Oscar De La Hoya in the highest grossing boxing match in history. (ESPN)

May 6, 2007 (Sunday)

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Palestinian extremists bomb a United Nations-run Gaza elementary school in the continuing Palestinian factional violence, killing at least one and wounding at least seven. (FOX)
HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual and B'Tselem, Israeli human rights organizations, accuse the Israeli Defense Ministry of abusing Palestinian detainees in 73 cases. The Justice Ministry said the report was "fraught with mistakes, groundless claims and inaccuracies." (BBC)
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül withdraws his candidacy from the 2007 Turkish presidential election after failing to win the support of secular lawmakers. (New York Times)
A car bomb kills at least 20 people and injures 80 more in the Baiyaa neighbourhood of Baghdad. (AP via CNN)
Tens of thousands of Pakistanis greet suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in Lahore. (Reuters via CNN)
More than 125,000 people are homeless and 16 killed following recent floods in Sri Lanka. (AFP via ABC Online)
Eight Afghan police are killed in Farah Province in a clash with the Taliban in which at least 17 insurgents are killed or injured. (Reuters Alertnet)
Voters in France go to the polls for the second round of the French presidential election with socialist Ségolène Royal and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as the two contenders. Exit polls indicate that Nicolas Sarkozy has won the runoff poll in the election with 53% of the vote, beating Ségolène Royal who has 47% of the vote. She later concedes defeat. (BBC) (BBC)
A former World No. 1 ranked tennis player from Belgium, Kim Clijsters, announces her retirement effective immediately. (BBC)

May 7, 2007 (Monday)

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Discovery is announced of the Kerguelen Plateau, an Antarctic sunken large island formerly joined to India, from the icebreaker Polarstern at its homeport of Bremerhaven, Germany, after a 19-month research voyage to Antarctica. (Times of India)
Kenya Airways Flight 507:
- Search officials confirm that there were no survivors. (AP via CNN)
- The flight data recorder is retrieved from a mangrove swamp where the plane crashed. (BBC)
NASA announces that the Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes have discovered a massive supernova designated SN 2006gy, the largest ever recorded, and possibly a new type that has been predicted but never observed. (BBC) (Space.com)
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel survives three motions of no confidence in Knesset, in the latest backlash over his handling of the 2006 Lebanon war. (BBC)
A senior officer of the Los Angeles Police Department is demoted and 61 other officers reassigned after an inquiry into the handling of a May Day protest. (BBC)
At least 21 people die in a bus crash in northwest Pakistan. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
More than 18,000 Mexicans pose naked for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick at the Zócalo Plaza in Mexico City. (AP via CNN)

May 8, 2007 (Tuesday)

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U.S. police arrest six Islamic men from the Republic of Macedonia and the Middle East based on a tip from a Mount Laurel, NJ resident who discovered their plot to attack Fort Dix, New Jersey, and "kill as many soldiers as possible." (New York Times) (BBC) (AP via Trentonian.com)
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton announces a deal with drug companies to lower the price of anti-AIDS drugs in Third World countries. (AP via Fox News)
André Boisclair resigns as the leader of Canada's Parti Québécois. (International Herald Tribune)
The Treasurer of Australia Peter Costello delivers his twelfth budget with significant tax cuts and increases in government spending on education and health. (Sydney Morning Herald)
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta blows up three oil pipelines in the Niger delta in the south of Nigeria. (Reuters Alertnet)
Home rule returns to Northern Ireland. DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness take office as First Minister and Deputy First Minister, respectively. (BBC)
War in Iraq:
- A suicide bomber kills at least 10 people and injures many more in an attack on the Shi'ite city of Kufa in Iraq. (BBC) (Reuters)
The U.S. Department of Defense announces plans to deploy 35,000 troops in Iraq starting from August 2007. (Washington Post)
Tomislav Nikolić, the temporary leader of the Serbian Radical Party, is elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia. (AP via CTV) (BBC)
Former Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam gives evidence to the coronial inquest into the death of the Balibo Five in Balibo, East Timor in October 1975. (Sydney Morning Herald with AAP)
Scotland's John Higgins beats England's Mark Selby in the World Snooker Championship 2007 final by 18-13 frames. (BBC Sport)
Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer claims to have discovered the tomb of Herod the Great in Herodium. (CNN)

May 9, 2007 (Wednesday)

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The Times and Phoenix TV reports that Huang Ju, Executive Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China and a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, has died in Beijing. However, the State Council of the People's Republic of China denies these reports.(Stratfor) (IOL)

At least nine Colombian policeman are killed and six others injured from a bomb planted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in Santander Department. (BBC)
The Shanghai Composite Index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange reaches a record high 4,000 points. (New York Times)
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf is re-elected as the Mayor of Tehran, Iran. (BBC)
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Brazil on his first visit to Latin America to reaffirm Catholicism in the region. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
The first named storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, Subtropical Storm Andrea, forms off the southeastern United States. (CNN)
Four people in the United Kingdom are arrested in connection with the 7 July 2005 London bombings. (BBC)
Iraq War:
- Dick Cheney, the Vice President of the United States, travels to Baghdad to encourage reconciliation amongst factions. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- At least 12 people die as a truck bomb explodes in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
People in East Timor finish voting in the second round of the country's first presidential election since it gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. (BBC)
The United Kingdom Home Office is restructured with a new Ministry of Justice being formed to handle prisons, probation and the sentencing of offenders. (UK Home Office) (BBC)
An international genetic research program identifies a group of genes which may cause bipolar disorder. (Daily Telegraph)

May 10, 2007 (Thursday)

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The United States House of Representatives passes a $96 billion war spending measure which sets benchmarks for achievements in the War in Iraq in return for funding. (CNN)
Pope Benedict XVI urges tens of thousands of young Brazilian Catholics packing the Pacaembu stadium in São Paulo to resist the temptations of wealth, power and other "snares of evil," and tells them to promote life from "its beginning to natural end." (CNN)
Military officers from North Korea and South Korea agree on the first cross-border rail link over their heavily fortified border since the Korean War. (BBC)
President Bashar al-Assad states that Syria will not cooperate with a United Nations tribunal to try suspects in the suspected assassination of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq al-Hariri. (The Guardian)
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey votes overwhelmingly in favour of a proposal for the direct election of the President of Turkey. (AP via CNN)
Syrian dissident Kamal Labwani is jailed for 12 years for allegedly undermining national security by visiting the United States. (BBC)
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair announces he will step down on June 27, once the Labour Party has elected a successor. (BBC)

May 11, 2007 (Friday)

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Samoa's Head of State Malietoa Tanumafili II dies at the age of 94. (AP via IHT)
The United States and European Union nations circulate a United Nations resolution on independence for Kosovo with international supervision. (CNN)
Pope Benedict XVI canonizes Brazil's first native-born saint, Frei Galvão, an 18th century Franciscan monk. (CNN)
Officials begin to evacuate Santa Catalina Island, California, as wildfires on the island south of Los Angeles burn out of control. (CNN)
The Singapore Grand Prix has been confirmed for the Formula One 2008 season, with a planned 4.8km (3.0 miles) long street circuit around the downtown area. It is planned to be the event's first night race when safety and logistical concerns are addressed. (CNA)
Two Serbian reformist parties; the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia, agree to form a coalition government. (BBC)
Tony Blair formally endorses Gordon Brown as his successor, the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (AP via Fox News)
East Timorese presidential election, 2007: it is announced that Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta won the election against Francisco Guterres of Fretilin by 69% to 31%. (Xinhua)
At least 20 people die in a bus crash near Patna, the capital of Bihar state in India. (Fox News).

May 12, 2007 (Saturday)

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Guinean soldiers riot in the capital Conakry after the President of Guinea Lansana Conté fails to attend a meeting to discuss grievances over their pay and conditions. (BBC)
The final of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Helsinki, Finland. Serbia wins with its debut entry Molitva. (BBC)
A bomb placed on a bicycle was detonated in a bazaar in İzmir, Turkey wounding fifteen people just a day before the scheduled "republic protest" in the city. One of the wounded was in a critical condition and later died in the hospital while most of the others were lightly wounded and were released from the hospital the same day. (Hürriyet)
At least 33 people are killed and 120 are injured in violent protests organized by the political organization Muttahida Qaumi Movement (led by exiled Altaf Hussain) in the Pakistani city of Karachi. (BBC) (CNN)
Su Tseng-Chang resigns as the Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) following a loss in a primary election to be the Democratic Progressive Party candidate in the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election. (Bloomberg) (BBC)
Voters in Armenia go to the polls to elect a new National Assembly of Armenia. (BBC)

May 13, 2007 (Sunday)

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Team Canada wins the 2007 IIHF World Hockey Championship after a 4-2 win over Finland in the gold medal game in Moscow, Russia. (Toronto Star)
Two cargo ships collide in heavy fog near Dalian, China. 16 sailors are missing. (AP via Washington Post) (Xinhua)
At least one million people gather in İzmir, Turkey for the fifth mass rally to demand their country remain a secular state, stepping up pressure on the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government before July elections. (Swissinfo)
Iraq War:
- At least 40 people die in a truck bomb attack on the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq in Makhmur. (BBC)
- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirms his country will hold talks with the United States regarding the security situation in Iraq. (Reuters)
NATO confirms that Mullah Dadullah, the foremost military leader of the Taliban, has been killed in battle. (AP via IHT)
President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the United Arab Emirates for the first official visit since 1979. (BBC)
Prime Minister of Australia John Howard writes to Cricket Australia telling it to call off a tour of Zimbabwe due to concern over human rights abuses in that country. (ABC News Australia)

May 14, 2007 (Monday)

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Legislative and local elections are being held currently in the Philippines. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Jorge Daniel Castro, the head of the Colombian National Police force and Guillermo Chavez, the intelligence chief, resign over an illegal wiretapping scandal. (BBC)
A death threat was mailed by PKK to CHP, MHP, DYP and AKP to withdraw their Van and Hakkari candidates to the 2007 general election in Turkey. (Hürriyet)
United States Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty will resign, two Justice Department officials tell The Associated Press. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Top Palestinian Security Official, Hani Kawasmeh, quits in protest on Monday as Sunday's ceasefire is broken, with fighting across Gaza between Hamas and Fatah killing 8 and wounding 40. Fighting began as both sides set up security checkpoints and kidnapped rivals as bargaining chips. (Washington Post)
President George W. Bush orders United States government agencies to take regulatory steps to reduce automobile emissions. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. military is to block troops from using YouTube and MySpace and 11 other popular websites for sharing photos, video clips and messages. (BBC)
2007 Pakistan unrest: A strike in Pakistan closes shops and clears transport from the roads after two days of violence in Karachi left 41 people dead. (BBC)
The