May 2008

• The United States Air Force grounds all T-38C training aircraft following two fatal accidents within 8 days. (AP via CNN)
• Sudanese cameraman Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj is released from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp after more than six years in captivity. (AFP via Google News)
• The President of the United States George W. Bush authorises tougher sanctions on Myanmar including a freeze on assets held by Myanmar state owned companies held in the United States. (Reuters)
• The United States Federal Reserve System auctions off $24.12 billion in Treasury securities to help relieve the subprime mortgage crisis. (AP via Google News)
• The President of the United States George W. Bush calls on the United States Congress to approve a $US700 million food aid package to help relieve the 2007-2008 world food price crisis. (AP via Google News)
• News anchor Barbara Walters admits to having affair with US Senator Edward Brooke. (AP via CNN)
• Sir Anthony Mamo, who was the first President of the Republic of Malta and the world's oldest former head of state, dies at the age of 99. (Times of Malta)
• Eight people are killed and at least 20 injured after a bus carrying North American and European tourists crashes on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt. (BBC News)
• In Australia, a collision between a fishing boat and a runabout on Sydney Harbour kills five people. (Sydney Morning Herald) (ABC Australia)
• Voters in England and Wales go to the polls for the United Kingdom local elections, 2008. Early results showed the opposition Conservative Party performing strongly with 44 per cent of the vote while the governing Labour Party was performing poorly with 24 per cent of the vote.(The Telegraph) (The Telegraph)
• Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow", a leader of Al-Shabaab in Somalia, is reported as being killed in a U.S. airstrike. (BBC News)
• The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention. (EPO), (PRV)

• Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson is elected as the Mayor of London replacing Ken Livingstone, capping huge gains by the Conservatives in local elections, which gave them a net gain of 256 council seats and a net gain of 12 city councils. (BBC News)
• The Olympic flame is back on Chinese soil as the Olympics torch relay continues in Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. (BBC News)
• May 1-2, 2008 tornado outbreak: Tornadoes affecting the south-central United States kill at least seven in Arkansas. (KAIT8)
• Over 10,000 people gather in Seoul, South Korea, to protest against the importation of U.S. beef, which is alleged to have a danger of mad cow disease. (YouTube Video)
• Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008
  • The opposition Movement for Democratic Change proposes a power sharing arrangement with the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union, but not involving Mugabe. (AP via Google News)
  • Robert Mugabe proposes a run-off election to determine the outcome. (Reuters)
• The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Russia and China agree to make a new offer to Iran over its nuclear program. (AFP via Google News)
• A plane crash kills more than a dozen in Southern Sudan, including defense minister Dominic Dim Deng. (AFP via Google News)
• United States non-farm payrolls fall by 20,000 jobs with the unemployment rate falling to 5 per cent. (The Guardian)
• A $38 million compensation deal is completed for victims of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Teams in both Russia and the United States identify the remains of Tsarevich Alexei of Russia and his sister Grand Duchess Maria after the discovery of their bone shards on August 23, 2007. (AP via Google News)
• 2007 royal blackmail plot: Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan are jailed for five years each for attempting to extort money from an unidentified royal ("Witness A"). They demanded £50,000 from Witness A in exchange for audio tapes alleging gay sex. (BBC News)

• Microsoft withdraws its bid for Yahoo! after the two companies fail to reach agreement on a price. (The New York Times)
• United States presidential election, 2008: The Guam caucuses result in a near-perfect tie, with Barack Obama ahead by only 7 ballots in 4,521. (AP via Google News) (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Big Brown wins the 2008 Kentucky Derby. Eight Belles, the only filly in the field, breaks down after finishing second in the race, and is euthanized. (NBC Sports)
• At least 18 prisoners are killed during a fight in a jail in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. This follows the recent deaths of nine prisoners in a riot in San Pedro Sula with both riots being blamed on overcrowding and gang rivalry. (BBC News)
• In Chilean Patagonia, almost all Chaitén's inhabitants flee the capital city of Palena Province when a nearby volcano erupts after being inactive for 450 years. (The Telegraph)

• Cyclone Nargis: Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council declares that five states in the Irrawaddy River delta are a disaster area following the cyclone with at least 351 deaths. (MSNBC)
• 12 people are dead and dozens others missing after a boat carrying 110 passengers sinks on the Solimões River in the Brazilian Amazon. (CTV)
• 9 people dead after 40 men attack the ranch of Rogaciano Alba in Guerrero, Mexico. (BBC News)

• The United States Federal Reserve System reports that banks are tightening lending standards on home mortgages, other types of consumer loans and business loans in response to the subprime mortgage crisis. (AP via Google News)
• Crude oil futures contracts reach US$120 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the first time. (Reuters)
• Somalian troops open fire killing at least two people during food riots in Mogadishu. (AP via Google News)
• Media reports the death toll from Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar to have passed 10,000. (BBC News)
• Three people are killed and another three injured after an explosion on a bus in Shanghai, China. (BBC News)
• In Bolivia's Santa Cruz department, 86% of voters supported proposals for greater autonomy in a referendum. Bolivian President Evo Morales condemned the referendum, calling it illegal. (BBC News)

• Chilean authorities order the total evacuation of the towns of Chaitén and Futaleufú as the eruption of the Chaitén volcano continues to worsen. (Reuters via Canada.com)
• The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, officially resigns after ten years, ten months and ten days as head of government. (RTÉ)
• 2007–2008 world food price crisis: Mogadishu residents protest for a second day over high food prices as traders reject old Somali shilling notes due to high inflation. (Reuters)
• Cyclone Nargis
  • Myanmar state government reports that the death toll from the cyclone has reached 22,000, with 41,000 people missing. (BBC News)
  • The State Peace and Development Council announces that the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 will proceed on the weekend except in 47 townships worst affected by the cyclone. (Thomson Financial News via Forbes)
  • The President of the United States George W. Bush pleads for the Myanmar government to accept help from the United States and the rest of the international community. USAID donates an additional $3 million to cyclone victims. (CNN)
• Chinese President Hu Jintao begins a landmark five-day state visit to Japan. (BBC News)
• United States voters go to the polls in the North Carolina and Indiana Democratic Party primaries. Illinois Senator Barack Obama wins North Carolina by 14 per cent while New York Senator Hillary Clinton narrowly wins in Indiana. (BBC News) (The New York Times)
• Prominent Malaysian blogger and political activist, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, is charged with sedition. (Malaysia Today)

• The genome of the platypus is sequenced. (BBC News)
• Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, appoints his new Cabinet. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
• Hillary Clinton vows to remain as a candidate in the United States presidential election, 2008 despite financial problems which required her to lend her campaign $6.4 million dollars and dwindling chances of winning the Democratic Party nomination. (BBC News)
• Brian Cowen, TD is elected as Irish Taoiseach by 88 votes to 76. (RTÉ)
• Dmitry Medvedev assumes the role of the President of Russia. (BBC News)

• The Congress of Bolivia agrees to hold a recall election by 7 August on whether the President of Bolivia Evo Morales should remain in power. (CNN)
• Commissioner Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez of Mexico's Federal Preventive Police is shot dead in central Mexico City. (CNN)
• The United States House of Representatives approves legislation developed by Barney Frank to let the United States government insure up to $300 billion in mortgages to help homeowners avert foreclosure. (Bloomberg)
• The Iraqi Minister of Defence claims that the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been captured. (BBC News)
• North Korea hands over thousands of pages about its nuclear program to a visiting diplomat from the United States that will help verify its plutonium holdings. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Russia expels two United States military attachés following earlier expulsion of two Russian diplomats from the United States. (Bloomberg)
• Latvia and Lithuania become the latest EU member states to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. (RTÉ)
• 2008 unrest in Lebanon: Gunbattles erupt in Beirut as the government of Lebanon cracks down on Hezbollah. Two people are killed and eight injured in the fighting. (AFP) (AP via Google News)
• The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay reaches the peak of Mount Everest. (AP via Google News)
• Cyclone Nargis:
  • An international relief operation begins after cyclone Nargis strikes Burma, with at least 63,500 people reported killed or missing. (Reuters via NineMSN)
  • 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. (Reuters via NineMSN) (AP via Google News)
• Silvio Berlusconi is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy for the fourth time. (EuroNews)
• The PRO-IP Act passes through the United States House of Representatives. (Ars technica)

• Pakistan's two main coalition leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif meet in London to discuss the removal of judges by Musharraf (AP via CNN)
• Commander Esteban Robles Espinosa of Mexico City's investigative police force was shot dead as he left his home. (CNN)
• Cyclone Nargis:
  • A spokesman for the World Food Programme says that Myanmar's refusal to give visas to relief experts is "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian assistance. (AP via Google News)
  • The World Food Programme suspends shipments to Myanmar after the State Peace and Development Council seizes supplies shipped to the country. (AP via The Houston Chronicle)
  • The World Food Programme says that it will resume food shipments on Saturday while warning of further rain in Myanmar next week. The United States has been granted permission to send one C-130 Hercules carrying relief aid on Monday. (AP via Google News)
• 2008 unrest in Lebanon:
  • Hezbollah gains control of large sections of Beirut as a pro-government television station is forced off the air. (AFP via News Limited)
  • The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accuses Hezbollah backed by Syria and Iran of killing "innocent civilians". (AP via USA Today)
• The price of crude oil reaches a new record high of US$125.98 a barrel. (BBC News)
• The United States Military denies the capture of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri. (BBC News)
• Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denies taking bribes from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
• A Zimbabwean policeman tells the BBC the presidential runoff election will be rigged by war veteran militias. (BBC News)

David Cook day was made an official holiday in Blue Springs, Missouri.

• May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence:
  • A tornado kills at least nine in Picher, Oklahoma. (KTUL.com) (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • A swarm of tornadoes in southwest Missouri kills at least 12 people with much of the damage in Newton County, Missouri. (Reuters) (AP via Google News) (NOAA)
• United States presidential election, 2008: Illinois Senator Barack Obama takes the lead in support from superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention (The New York Times)
• News Corporation withdraws its bid to purchase the New York City newspaper Newsday. (The New York Times)
• 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum: Hundreds of Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement reach the outskirts of Khartoum and engage in clashes with the Sudanese military. (AP via Google News)
• Russia's air force chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin accuses NATO fighters of launching "air attacks" during escort of Russian bombers. (AP via CNN.com)
• Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Government announced a ceasefire in Baghdad's Sadr district. (CNN)
• 2008 unrest in Lebanon:
  • The Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora accuses Hezbollah of staging "an armed coup" against Lebanon. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
  • The Lebanese Army overturns two key government decisions in order to reduce tension between Hezvollah and the Government of Lebanon. (YA Libnan)
• Ninawa campaign: The Iraqi Army launched a major operation in the northern city of Mosul against al-Qaeda and its allies. (BBC News)
• Morgan Tsvangarai, the Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, announces that he will contest a runoff election in the Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008. (BBC News)
• Voters in Burma go to the polls for the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 despite the widespread devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis with widespread concerns about the legitimacy of the process. (BBC News)
• Negotiators from Pakistan's two major coalition parties meet in London, but fail to reach an agreement. (AP via CNN)

• 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum:
  • Sudan's government halts an attack on the country's capital Khartoum by hundreds of rebels from Darfur. (Al-jazeera)
  • Sudan breaks diplomatic ties with Chad, claiming it backed the rebel attack. (BBC News)
  • Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem says there is proof that Chad supported the rebels. Opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi is arrested. (BBC News)
• Cyclone Nargis:
  • The International Federation of the Red Cross says that the cargo ship carrying the first load of food aid from the Red Cross for survivors of Cyclone Nargis has sunk in the Irrawaddy River. (Reuters) (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • The official death toll for Cyclone Nargis rises to 28,458. (Vatican Radio)
• Pakistan's two main coalition leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher in London to discuss the removal of judges by President Pervez Musharraf, but fail to reach an agreement. (AP via CNN)
• Run-offs in the Zimbabwean presidential election, according to George Chiweshe, the elections commissioner, must be delayed past the time allotted by law, up to a year, until funding can be found. (AP via CNN)
• Serbian voters go to the polls in the Serbian parliamentary election, 2008. A pro-Europe coalition associated with the President of Serbia Boris Tadić wins the most votes. (BBC News) (Sydney Morning Herald)

• John Rutseys death.

• 2008 Sichuan earthquake: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits China's Sichuan province, killing at least 22,000 people. (BBC News)
• United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "immensely frustrated" at the State Peace and Development Council's slow response to the cyclone. (BBC News)
• 2008 unrest in Lebanon:
  • Hezbollah clash with forces loyal to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in the Shouf mountains, and with Sunni supporters of the government in Tripoli. (BBC News)
  • United States President George W. Bush offers to help improve the Lebanese Armed Forces. (BBC News)
• 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum:
  • Shootings are reported in Khartoum, Sudan, one day after the rebel attack. Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi is released from custody after being interrogated by police. (BBC News) (BBC News)
  • Chad closes its border with Sudan and severs economic relations after being accused of backing the attack. (BBC News)
• Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League (N) announces it has decided to leave the governing coalition because of differences over how to restore around 60 judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007. (BBC News) (BBC News)
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez nationalises steel firm Ternium-Sidor, which is mainly owned by Argentina's Techint. (BBC News)
• Israeli police raid the Jerusalem city hall to seize documents related to alleged bribes received by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from businessman Moshe Talansky. (BBC News)
• The President of Bolivia Evo Morales approves recall elections for himself and the governors of the nine departments on August 10, 2008. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Russia's new Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announces his cabinet. (BBC News)
• United States federal authorities start sending aid to Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia as the total death toll from the May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence reaches 23. (BBC News)

• U.S. federal prosecutors have filed a new indictment against baseball slugger Barry Bonds, charging him with 14 counts of lying to a grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice when he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Wayne Swan, the Treasurer of Australia, delivers his first budget establishing $40 billion funds for infrastructure, health and education. (News Limited)
• Hewlett-Packard agrees to buy Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion dollars. (Bloomberg)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake:
  • The death toll from the earthquake reaches 12,000. (CNN)
  • The Chinese government launches a massive rescue operation to search for survivors. (BBC News)
• Cyclone Nargis:
  • The State Peace and Development Council continues to block foreign aid workers from entering Burma. (BBC News)
  • The United Nations call for the opening of an air corridor to bring aid to the victims. (BBC News)
• Ministers from Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League (N) resign from the Government of Pakistan. (BBC News)
• United States presidential election, 2008
  • West Virginia voters go to the polls in the Democratic Party primary to elect 28 delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. New York Senator Hillary Clinton obtains a clear victory. (Washington Post)
  • Senator Clinton welcomes the vote in West Virginia as an "overwhelming vote of confidence" in her campaign. (Associated Press)
• A series of bomb blasts hits the Indian city of Jaipur, killing at least 60 people and injuring 150. (BBC News)
• Eleven people are killed and 20 wounded in clashes between Iraqi militias and the United States Army in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. (BBC News)
• The United States Department of Defense drops charges against Mohamed al-Kahtani, who was suspected of being the "20th hijacker" in the September 11, 2001 attacks. (BBC News)
• Colombian warlord extradition
  • Colombia extradites 14 former paramilitary leaders, including Salvatore Mancuso, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, and Diego Murillo Bejarano, to the United States where they have been charged with drug trafficking. (BBC News)
  • President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe says that the assets of warlords will be confiscated to compensate victims. (Associated Press)

• The discovery of G1.9+0.3, the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way Galaxy, is announced. (NASA)

• Food prices center stage at EU-Latin America summit. (Reuters)
• Democrat Marc Dann resigns as the Ohio Attorney General following a sexual harassment scandal involving several of his aides and an admitted affair with a subordinate. (Akron Beacon Journal)
• United States presidential election, 2008: John Edwards, a former contender to be the Democratic Party nominee, endorses the bid of Barack Obama. (BBC News)
• The United States Department of the Interior declares that the polar bear is a threatened species due to declining levels of Arctic Ocean ice as a result of global warming. (AP via The New York Times)
• A suicide bomber kills at least 22 people and injures 40 in an attack on a funeral in a village west of Baghdad. (AP via Yahoo! News) (BBC News)
• Israel
  • The Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert warns Hamas that Israel will "not tolerate" attacks. (AP via Google News)
  • The President of the United States George W. Bush starts a trip to the Middle East where he will celebrate Israel's sixtieth anniversary and meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. (BBC News)
  • A Katyusha rocket fired at the Israeli city of Ashqelon struck a clinic in the third floor of the Huzot shopping mall. This attack resulted in three people seriously injured, two moderately injured and eleven people suffered minor wounds. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claims responsibility. (Haaretz)
• NATO raises concerns about an increase in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan and raises concern that it is partly due to agreements between Pakistan and militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. (Reuters)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake
  • Xinhua reports that the confirmed death toll from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake has reached nearly 15,000. Nearly sixty thousand people remain missing near the epicentre of the earthquake. (The Telegraph) (AP via Google News)
  • Xinhua reports that 2,000 People's Liberation Army troops have been sent to repair "extremely dangerous cracks" in the Zipingku Dam, upriver from Dujiangyan City in Sichuan province. (AP via Google News)
• Cyclone Nargis
  • The United Nations is warning that another cyclone could be forming near Myanmar which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis. (AP via Fox News)
  • Thailand claims that the State Peace and Development Council will allow 30 Thai doctors to visit the Irrawaddy River Delta region worst hit by the cyclone. (AFP via The Times of South Africa) (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • The Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej fails to convince the State Peace and Development Council to open up for international relief efforts and allow foreign aid workers into the country. (Reuters)
• A car bomb explodes in a civil guards barracks in the town of Legutiano in the Basque Country of Spain killing at least one person and injuring several others. (AFP via Google News)
• In football, Zenit St Petersburg of Russia win the 2008 UEFA Cup after defeating Scottish side Rangers 2–0 in the final. (BBC News)

• 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis: Interpol confirms that Colombia did not tamper with computer files in hardware seized from Raul Reyes. This alleged that Venezuela and Ecuador provided funding, assistance and drug routes to the terrorist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. However, Interpol stated that they had not looked at the content of the files, only their authenticity. (BBC News) (CNN)
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  • CBS Corporation agreed to buy the popular computer and technology website CNET Networks for $1.75 billion. (BBC News)
  • General Electric has stated that it wants to auction off its domestic appliances business. GE has been involved in that field of business since 1907. (Bloomberg.com)
• The California Supreme Court rules that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional under the California state constitution. (Sacramento Bee) (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Economy of the United States
  • The number of United States workers filing jobless claims for initial unemployment benefits rises by 6,000 while the number on benefit rolls after a first week of aid hit a four-year high. (Reuters)
  • The Federal Reserve System reports that the industrial output of the nations factories, mines and utilities fell by 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by motor vehicles. (MarketWatch)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake:
  • The death toll from the earthquake reaches nearly 20,000. (BBC News)
  • The Government of China predicts that the death toll could reach 50,000. (The Telegraph)
• Burma
  • Myanmar's military junta, the State Peace and Development Council, claims that the Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 approved their new constitution of Myanmar with a 92.4% majority. (AFP)
  • The State Peace and Development Council warns that legal action will be taken against those people that hoard or trade international foreign aid as the death toll from Cyclone Nargis rises to 43,000. (AP via Google News)

• 10 people were shot at a branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines, with 9 dead and 1 in critical condition in what could be one of the bloodiest bank robberies in the nation's history. USA Today.com - 9 killed during Philippine bank robbery
• Leonel Fernández is re-elected as the President of the Dominican Republic in the 2008 presidential election. (AP via International Herald Tribune)
• A pipeline explosion near Lagos, Nigeria, kills up to 100 people. (Times Online)
• A strong aftershock to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake knocks out roads and communications to some of the worst affected areas disrupting rescue efforts. (AP via Forbes)
• Former United States Olympic sprinter Tim Montgomery is sentenced to 46 months imprisonment for his involvement in a check fraud and money laundering scheme. (Reuters)
• The United States reaches a deal with North Korea to resume food aid with 500,000 tonnes of food to be sent to North Korea during the next year. (AFP via Google News)
• The State Peace and Development Council in Burma doubles the death toll from Cyclone Nargis to 78,000 with 55,917 people missing and 19,359 people injured. (The New York Times)
• The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturns the IAAF's decision to ban South African double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius from its competitions, thus clearing the way for him to attempt to become the first leg amputee to participate in the Olympic Games. (BBC News)
• A suicide bomber kills at least nine people, including 7 police, and wounds 90 in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo. (BBC News)
• The President of the United States George W. Bush arrives in Saudi Arabia to discuss rising fuel prices with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia later announces plans to raise its output by 300,000 barrels a day. (AP via Google News) (Bloomberg)
• The runoff election for the 2008 presidential election between the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change is set for June 27. (BBC News) (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin laden leaves an audio message on the Internet vowing to continue the fight against Israel. (RTÉ)

• Sri Lankan troops capture the town of Palampiddi Junction from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam killing at least 34 rebel troops. (Bloomberg)
• More than 3,000 people are evacuated from Lafayette, Louisiana, after two of six derailed train cars start leaking hydrochloric acid. (CNN), (AP via the Guardian)
• The President of the United States George W. Bush states that a Palestinian state can be "defined" by the end of his Presidency including the issue of borders and right to resettlement. (Bloomberg)
• An assassination threat delays the return of Morgan Tsvangarai to Zimbabwe to contest a runoff election to decide the presidential election. (The Guardian)
• Islamic Courts Union rebels claim to have captured the town of Jilib in Somalia. (AP via Forbes)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake: China recommends the evacuation of seriously injured people from Beichuan due to concerns about rising water levels of a lake in the area. (Reuters)
• 2008 FA Cup Final: Portsmouth defeats Cardiff by a scoreline of 1-0 to lift the trophy for the second time in their history. (The Football Association)

• A senior Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia commander known as "Karina" surrenders to Colombian authorities. (CNN)
• Russia wins the 2008 IIHF World Championship defeating Canada 5-4 in overtime. (AFP via Google News)
• Ahmed Ali Ahmed, one of the leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq, is sentenced to death for killing Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho. (Reuters)
• General Than Shwe, the Burmese leader, visits victims of Cyclone Nargis. (BBC News)
• Approximately 16,000 people are evacuated in Chofu, Japan while a World War II era bomb is defused. (Bloomberg)
• Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, says that people should support a bill permitting the use of human-animal embryos. (BBC News)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake:
  • The death toll from the earthquake reaches 32,477, with 14,000 still missing and 205,000 people evacuated. (San Francisco Chronicle) (Bloomberg)
  • The People's Republic of China declares three days of national mourning for victims of the earthquake and suspends the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay. (AP via Forbes)

• Suspected Sunni insurgents attack a minibus carrying police recruits near the border of Iraq and Syria killing 11 people. (AP via Google News)
• Edward Leigh's attempt to outlaw the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos in the United Kingdom is defeated by 336 votes to 176 in the British House of Commons. (BBC News)
• In United States v. Williams, the Supreme Court of the United States upholds a law making it a crime to send messages over the Internet offering or seeking child pornography even when no such pornography exists. (Los Angeles Times)
• A two-week conference in Dublin, aiming to create an international treaty banning cluster bombs, opens today. (RTÉ)
• Some 6,000 people have fled a wave of attacks on foreigners in South Africa, which has left at least 13 dead, aid workers say. (BBC News)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake
  • Xinhua reports that 200 relief workers trying to rescue people in the earthquake have been buried in a mudslide. (AP via The New York Times)
  • The People's Republic of China holds three minutes silence at 2:28 pm marking a week since the earthquake. All public entertainment events have been cancelled. (AP via Time)
• A gunman kills eight people in Calamba City in the Philippines. (BBC News)
• Foreign Ministers of the member states of ASEAN including Nyan Win of Myanmar meet to discuss Cyclone Nargis. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, tenders his resignation from the country's ruling political party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). (BBC News)

• Ten thousand Iraqi troops enter Sadr City in Baghdad to seize control from Shiite militants. (CBS News)
• The SPLA attacks Sudanese government soldiers at Abyei, a disputed town at the border of South Sudan. (BBC News)
• Cyclone Nargis
  • The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon leaves for Burma calling the situation critical. (AFP)
  • Burma commences a three day period of mourning for victims of Cyclone Nargis and allows entry to foreign aid workers from neighboring countries. (AP via Google News)
• United States presidential election, 2008: Voters in Oregon and Kentucky go to the polls to vote in primary elections. (The New York Times)
  • Senator Hillary Clinton of New York wins the Kentucky Democratic primary, 2008. (CNN)
  • Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is projected to win the Oregon Democratic primary, 2008. (Boston Globe)
• A 24-hour strike by employees of the National Railway Company of Belgium ends rail services in Belgium and to France, Germany and the Netherlands. (AFP)
• Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in as the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) with Liu Chao-shiuan as his Premier. (BBC News)
• Manoel de Oliveira is awarded a palme d'or for his lifetime career achievement at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. (Festival website)

• SN 2008D is the first supernova to be observed while it is exploding. (NASA)
• Manchester United F.C. wins the UEFA Champions League 2007-08 defeating Chelsea F.C. in the final after a penalty shootout. (Press Association via Google News)
• The President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki calls in the South African National Defense Force to end the 2008 South Africa riots. (AFP)
• The North West Frontier Province of Pakistan signs a peace deal with Taliban militants where troops are withdrawn from the Swat valley and Sharia law introduced in exchange for a halt to suicide bombings and an attack on government buildings. (The Guardian)
• Crude oil prices rise above $130 a barrel for the first time. (AP via Google News)
• Middle East
  • Israel and Syria reveal indirect peace negotiations in Turkey in hopes of direct talks leading to a border agreement. (Reuters via The Washington Post)
  • The anti-Syrian government and the pro-Syrian opposition in Lebanon agree on a deal which includes the election of Michel Suleiman as President of Lebanon, outlawing the use of weapons in intra-Lebanese disputes, the formation of a unity government in which the opposition will gain more than a third of ministers (giving it a veto) and a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections. (BBC News) (Bloomberg)
• Georgian voters go to the polls for the Georgian legislative election, 2008. (Reuters via The International Herald Tribune)
• VMK, a Disney MMORPG, is closed after three years.
• David Cook wins on American Idol with 12 million votes.

• A bomb in Exeter, England explodes in the Princesshay shopping centre linked to Islamic terrorism.(BBC) (CNN)
• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency in Santa Cruz County for the ongoing Summit Fire burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains. (CNN) (KSBW)
• Weld County Tornado: One person is killed and at least 100 are injured in Weld County, Colorado after a tornado tears through the county. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter declares a state of emergency and activates the Colorado National Guard in the affected region. (The Denver Post)(ABC 7)
• Two civilians and a Lithuanian soldier are killed as an Afghan protest over the Koran shooting outside the Chagcharan Airfield in the Ghor Province of Afghanistan turns violent. (CNN)
• The death toll from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake rises to 51,151 with 29,328 still missing. (AFP via Times of South Africa)
• The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili claims victory for his United National Movement party in the Georgian legislative election, 2008 with the Opposition claiming that the vote had been rigged. (Reuters)

• Twelve South American nations agree to form the Union of South American Nations uniting two customs unions in Mercosur and the Andean Community. (Euronews)
• At least 17 civilians including a child are killed in a claymore mine explosion in Kilinochchi, North of Sri Lanka. (Daily Mirror)
• The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon states that Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council has decided to grant access to areas worst hit by Cyclone Nargis to international aid workers regardless of nationality. (Bloomberg)
• Around 20,000 passengers are affected by unofficial industrial action by Iarnród Éireann, Ireland's national rail operator. (RTÉ)
• Hu Jintao, the President of China, and the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev condemn the United States' National missile defense system. (AP via Google News)
• The International Court of Justice awards sovereignty of Pedra Branca to Singapore, ending a 28-year dispute over the islet between Singapore and Malaysia. Malaysia was awarded sovereignty of an outcropping of Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks, while the sovereignty of South Ledge was left to be determined by the maritime boundary between the two nations, which is also a contentious point. (Channel NewsAsia)
• Seven Moroccan tourists are killed in a bus crash in central France, near the city of Blois. (RTÉ)
• An independent investigation into $8.2 billion in United States Department of Defense spending in Iraq, as well as aid to Egypt and Kuwait since 2001 finds that 95% of payments to contractors failed to meet requirements for documentation to determine what was paid for. (The New York Times)
• 2006 Lathen maglev train accident: Germany fines two test track managers over the 23 deaths and 11 injuries. A third defendant remains to be tried due to suicide fears. (Bloomberg) (Wikinews)
• A coroner suggests the entire fleet of British Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Nimrod aircraft should be grounded on safety concerns. (BBC News)

• Dima Bilan of Russia wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Believe" with 272 points. (AP via The International Herald Tribune)
• Tornadoes of 2008: Two people from Colorado die in a tornado south of Pratt, Kansas as more than a dozen tornadoes hit Kansas. (AP via Forbes)
• Three people are killed and another three injured in a helicopter crash on Santa Catalina Island, California near Two Harbors, California. (AP via Google News)
• Munster win the Heineken European Rugby Cup against Toulouse, 16 to 13. (RTÉ)
• Colombia:
  • According to the Colombian Minister of Defense, Juan Manuel Santos, FARC founder and commander Tirofijo died on March 26. (El Tiempo) (Semana) The death was confirmed a day after in a video released to channel teleSUR. Noticias24
  • A 5.9 earthquake with its epicentre in the Department of Meta strikes the Central and West areas of the country; at least 11 people are killed with over 4000 injuries reported. (Hindustan Times) (USGS)
• In continuing battles against anti-foreigner violence in South Africa, police shoot and kill one man in Johannesburg. The Red Cross warns it is struggling to help the thousands of displaced people. (AFP via Google News) (AFP via Google News)
• Flooding in Chile kills at least five people, displaces at least 15,000 people and closes the Pan American Highway south of Santiago. (BBC News)
• Cyclone Nargis: The authorities in Myanmar allow foreign help into the country following initial resistance. (Reuters)
• Wen Jiabao, the Premier of China, estimates that the eventual death toll from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake could rise as high as "80,000 or more". (CBC)
• Prince Joachim of Denmark marries French Marie Cavallier. Prince Joachim was previously married to Hong Kong-born Alexandra Manley. (The Danish Monarchy)

• The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party wins the most seats in elections for the Karnataka legislature, India. (Radio Australia)
• USA Tornadoes of 2008
  • A severe storm in Hugo, Minnesota kills one person with another 20 missing with unconfirmed reports of a tornado. (AP via Google News)
  • Seven people are killed and dozens more injured as a tornado hits Parkersburg, Iowa. (AP via WCCO)
• The Phoenix lander arrives at Mars, landing successfully in the "Green Valley" region of Vastitas Borealis. (NASA)
• New Zealand driver Scott Dixon wins the 2008 Indianapolis 500 ahead of Vitor Meira. (AP via Google News)
• Laurent Cantet's film Entre les murs (The Class) wins the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. (Canadian Press via Google News)
• The former President of Malawi Bakili Muluzi is arrested in Lilongwe after returning from the United Kingdom in relation to an alleged coup attempt. (Reuters)
• Michel Suleiman is elected as President of the Republic of Lebanon. (BBC News)
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake
  • China's Cabinet states that the death toll from the earthquake has reached 62,664. (AP via Google News)
  • An aftershock measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale topples thousands of building in Sichuan Province and injures hundreds of people. (The New York Times)
• The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon hosts a conference in Myanmar with representatives of 50 nations on how to aid in recovery from Cyclone Nargis. (AP via Forbes)
• At Brussels Airport, a Boeing 747 cargo airliner from American operator Kalitta Air crashes at the end of the runway during takeoff and breaks in two. All 5 crewmembers survive. (AP via CNN)

• The International Atomic Energy Agency releases a report accusing Iran of hiding information about alleged studies of producing nuclear warheads and defying demands to suspend its uranium enrichment. (AFP)
• China relaxes its one-child policy to allow parents of children killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to have another child. (Canadian Press via Google News)
• Westpac signs an implementation agreement for its take over of the St George Bank, creating the largest bank in Australia with a market capitalisation of A$66 billion. (The Australian)
• Nepalese authorities ban rallies and mass meetings in Kathmandu prior to the first meeting of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly which is expected to declare Nepal a republic. (BBC News)
• A court in Ethiopia sentences former ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam to death for his role in the Red Terror. (BBC News)
• Embattled Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier resigns after admitting to having left confidential documents unsecured in a private home. (CBC)
• The BJP wins a plurality in elections in the Indian state of Karnataka. (BBC News)
• The caretaker government of Bangladesh will establish a truth commission to deal with past corruption by politicians. (BBC News).
• The European Beaver will be reintroduced to Scotland after 400 years. (AFP)

• Rights groups say afghan women committing suicide at alarming rate; Women rights groups say that last year, almost 500 women chose death or disfigurement to life of despair by setting themselves on fire to escape forced marriages, slavery or sexual and other types of abuse.(VOA)
• Argentine farmers announce that they will stop selling grain for export from 28 May to 2 June in a deepening row with the federal government over export taxes. (AFP)
• The Russian Constitutional Court meets in its first session since it relocated from Moscow to the historical building of the Governing Senate at the Decembrists Square in Saint Petersburg. (Itar-Tass)
• The S&P/Case-Shiller index shows a record annual decline in United States house prices of 14.1%. (CEP News)
• Aung San Suu Kyi
  • The State Peace and Development Council extends Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest by one year. (AFP via Google News)
  • Police in Burma detain more than a dozen members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. (AP via Google News)
• In the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, the People's Republic of China evacuates 100,000 people from Mianyang as engineers prepare to drain the landslide dam-created Tangjiashan Lake.(CNN)
• Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, leaves for Japan to attend a conference on African development despite concerns about the 2008 South African riots. (AFP)
• Protesting soldiers seize the deputy head of the Army of Guinea a week after Lansana Kouyate is dismissed as Prime Minister. (BBC News)
• Leiden University Medical Center scientists decipher the first complete DNA sequence of a woman. (MSNBC)

• Engineers announce that the Leaning Tower of Pisa has been stabilized for the first time, and will remain stable for 200 more years. (BBC News)
• Australian paleontologists discover Materpiscis, a 380-million-year-old placoderm fish which is the earliest known animal to bear live young. (BBC News), (ABC News Australia)
• The Governor of New York David Paterson directs New York state agencies to recognise gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions such as Canada, California and Massachusetts. (The New York Times)
• In Dublin, over 100 countries, not including the United States, Russia, or China, agree to the Convention on Cluster Munitions banning cluster bombs. (RTÉ) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Ehud Barak, the Defense Minister of Israel and Leader of the Labor Party, calls for the resignation of the Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert to step aside to face corruption allegations. (AP via Google News)
• The Majlis of Iran elects Ali Larijani as its new Speaker. (AFP via Google News)
• Nepal
  • The Nepalese Constituent Assembly meets for the first time since the Nepalese Constituent Assembly election, 2008 with the Assembly expected to establish a new Constitution of Nepal. (BBC News)
  • The Nepalese Constituent Assembly declares Nepal to be a federal, democratic republic abolishing the 240 year old Nepalese monarchy. (Sify)

• 2008 Sichuan earthquake: China begins inspecting the ruins of thousands of schools that collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake, searching for clues about why they crumbled. (VOA)
• Tornadoes of 2008: The Governor of Nebraska Dave Heineman declares a state of emergency in relation to tornadoes in the towns of Kearney, Nebraska, and Aurora, Nebraska. (NTV)
• In a 6–5 ruling, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court upholds a 2005 law permitting embryonic stem cell research in the country. (NBC) (Folha de S. Paulo)
• The National Indian Foundation publishes photographs of a tribe of uncontacted peoples in a remote area of Amazonia. (CNN)
• A helicopter crashes into a building in Panama City, killing the Director-general of the Carabiniers of Chile and several civilians. (AP via MSNBC)
• Tropical Storm Alma, the first tropical storm of the 2008 Pacific hurricane season, makes landfall in Nicaragua near the city of León bringing heavy rains and strong winds. (Bloomberg)
• A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss. (CNN)
• The World Bank announces a US$1.2 billion package to fight the global food crisis including $200 million in grants for those most at risk in Third World countries. (AFP via Google News)
• Athletics coach Trevor Graham is convicted of lying to investigators of links to a steroids dealer in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative investigation. (AP via Google News)
• The United States Department of Commerce revises its estimate of economic growth in the United States to 0.9% for the first quarter of 2008. (AFP via Google News)
• At least 20 people are killed and 42 injured after two suicide bombings in northern Iraq. (AFP via Google News)
• A bomb at Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines kills two people and injures another 17. (BBC News)
• Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China calls for resumption of official talks between mainland China and Taiwan in a meeting with Wu Po-hsiung, the Chairman of Taiwan's ruling party the Kuomintang. (CNN)
• Twenty-six people are dead and fifty-one missing as a result of snowstorms in eastern Mongolia. (UB Post)
• Luxembourg ratifies the Treaty of Lisbon becoming the fifteenth country to do so.
• Iraq delivers a report on security, reconstruction, and economic progress at the U.N. conference on Iraq in Stockholm. Iraq seeks debt forgiveness and foreign investment to aid with reconstruction. (Mawtani) (VOA)
• Torrential rain causes flash flooding across half of Somerset, United Kingdom. (BBC News)

• In the United States, Sameer Mishra wins the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee, the winning word was "guerdon", a noun meaning a reward. (USA Today)
• A gunman shoots dead a magistrate and a Perry County, Kentucky, employee before killing himself in a convenience store near Hazard, Kentucky, United States. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Agathon Rwasa returns to Burundi from exile in Tanzania after an agreement between his Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People and the government. (BBC News)
• A crane collapses in the Upper East Side of New York City resulting in the death of at least two people (AP via Google News), while another crane collapses in Shanghai's Pudong district, killing three. (Xinhua)
• Former Croatian Army general Mirko Norac is sentenced by a Croatian court to seven years in prison for his role in the 1993 Operation Medak Pocket; Rahim Ademi is acquitted. (BBC News)
• Grupo TACA Flight 390, an Airbus A320 flying from San Salvador, El Salvador, crashes in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, after failing to land due to a wet runway. 18 casualties are reported, including the chairman of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration who suffered a heart attack after the crash. (CNN) (Noticias24)
• The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reaches agreement with some of the families of the YFZ Ranch to start returning the children on Monday. (Canadian Press via Google News)
• Cyclone Nargis
  • Aid agencies say logistical difficulties hamper Burma aid deliveries; to date, the United Nations reports about 180 planes carrying relief supplies have been unloaded in Rangoon. (VOA)
  • The pro-military junta newspaper New Light of Myanmar criticises foreign aid for victims of Cyclone Nargis stating that they could survive from eating frogs and fish in the Irrawaddy River delta.(AFP)
  • Burma begins evicting cyclone refugees from relief camps. (Reuters)
• Fishermen in Spain, Portugal and Italy strike to protest against high fuel prices; Spain's economy minister says his government cannot cut fuel taxes, but is looking into ways to help fishermen. (VOA)
• Sadr supporters protest against a planned U.S.–Iraq security agreement to replace the current United Nations mandate for U.S. troops in Iraq, which expires at end of 2008. (VOA)
• Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangirai claims ruling party status as the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, delivers a "state of the nation" address to elected lawmakers from his party, and promises a "new era of opportunity" for Zimbabwe. (VOA)
• Silverjet, an all-business class airline, suspends all flights after entering administration due to rising fuel costs. (BBC News)

• Usain Bolt of Jamaica sets a new world record for the 100 metres in athletics in the Reebok Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium in New York City at 9.72 seconds. ((AP) (PA via Sporting Life)
• In rugby union, the Crusaders defeat the New South Wales Waratahs in the 2008 Super 14 Final. (New Zealand Herald)
• China:
  • Authorities in the People's Republic of China are preparing to evacuate more than a million people from Sichuan Province as they prepare to drain Tangjiashan Lake created by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. (ABC News Australia)
  • Xinhua reports that a People's Liberation Army military helicopter has crashed while evacuating people from Sichuan. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
• STS-124 is launched with a crew of seven and the main module of the Japanese laboratory Kibō. (AP via CNN)
• 2008 Atlantic hurricane season: The first storm of the season, Tropical Storm Arthur, forms one day before the official season begins. It is located about 45 mi (75 km) NNW of Belize City. It has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (55 km/h), and with higher gusts. (NHC)
• At least five people are killed and 13 are missing after a landslide crushes homes in a poor area of the city of Medellín in Colombia. (AFP via Google News)
• United States Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets to decide on the Florida and Michigan democratic primaries held in violation of scheduling rules. The Committee decides that both states delegate counts would be halved. (VOA) (BBC News) (The Guardian)
• French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner makes surprise visit to Iraq, to meet with Iraq's vice president, Adel Abdul-Mahdi. (VOA)
• New fighting between the Sri Lanka Army and the Tamil Tigers occurs in northern Sri Lanka with 26 rebels dead and 4 soldiers. (AP via Forbes)
• Robert Gates, the United States Secretary of Defense, states that Myanmar's refusal of international aid for victims of Cyclone Nargis has cost "thousands of lives". (AP via Google News) (VOA)
• Suicide bombers in eastern Afghanistan target a military convoy. NATO's International Security Assistance force says the attack took place in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province. (VOA)
• Thai riot police assemble in Bangkok to disperse a rally led by the People's Alliance for Democracy against the government of the Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej. (AP via Forbes)
• The government of Guinea starts paying junior officers of the Military of Guinea back pay in an attempt to end a five day mutiny. (Reuters via News Limited)
• World Health Organization calls for complete ban on tobacco advertising; the organization says recent studies prove the more young people are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to start smoking. The call comes as part of the WHO's annual World No Tobacco Day. (VOA)