01|The government of the Philippines declares a state of rebellion, giving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the power to order the Philippine military into the streets of Manila, the capital, to help police put down protests. The Philippine justice secretary also orders the arrest of a number of key opposition leaders who are accused of plotting to overthrow Arroyo and set up a military dictatorship. The arrests are made in the wake of massive demonstrations in which thousands of supporters of ousted President Joseph Estrada stormed the presidential palace.|
01|More than 2.5 million people have died as a result of the civil war in Congo (Kinshasa), which began in 1998, reports the International Rescue Committee, a private organization based in New York City. Five other African nations besides Congo are involved in the fighting.|
02|Rioting Slavs in Macedonia's capital, Skopje, attack the city's ethnic Albanian minority. Rioters, armed with automatic weapons and baseball bats, kill at least one shop owner and loot and burn dozens of Albanian-owned businesses. In Bitola, Macedonia's second largest city, located 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Slavs destroy at least 40 businesses owned by ethnic Albanians, who make up about 15 percent of that city's population. The rioting is sparked by the funerals of eight Macedonian soldiers who died when their commando unit was attacked by ethnic Albanian rebels from Kosovo. Macedonia's army continues in its drive to push the rebels back across Macedonia's border with Kosovo.|
02|Heavy rains trigger a landslide in Chongqing, a city in southwestern China, that buries a nine-story apartment building, killing at least 34 people.|
03|A majority of the 54 member nations of the United Nations Economic and Social Council vote the United States off the UN Commission on Human Rights. The commission works to protect the rights and freedoms of people worldwide. The United States held a position on the commission since its inception in 1946 under the leadership of the former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.|
03|The United States Coast Guard seizes approximately 13 tons (14.5 short tons) of cocaine from a fishing vessel registered in Belize with a Russian and Ukrainian crew. The seizure, the largest in U.S. maritime history, occurs at sea some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) south of San Diego, California.|
04|Unemployment in the United States rose from 4.3 percent in March to 4.5 percent in April, reports the U.S. Department of Labor. The one-month decline was the largest since February 1991.|
04|Pope John Paul II calls on Archbishop Christodoulos, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, on a mission of reconciliation. During the meeting, which takes place in the archbishop's residence in Athens, Greece, the pontiff expresses regret for misdeeds carried out by Roman Catholics in the name of the church. John Paul II is the first pope to visit Athens, home of the Greek Orthodox Church, since the eastern church split from the western church in 1054.|
05|The prime minister of Macedonia, Ljubco Georgievski, announces that he plans to ask parliament to declare a state of war as government troops use heavy artillery to hammer villages occupied by ethnic Albanian rebels along the Macedonia-Yugoslav border. A declaration of war gives Georgievski's government the power to seal borders, ban public gatherings, and rule by decree. The ethnic Albanian rebels, many of whom have crossed into Macedonia from Kosovo, claim they are defending Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority from the Slav majority.|
06|Pope John Paul II visits the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, while on a pilgrimage retracing the steps of the Apostle Paul through Greece, Syria, and Malta. John Paul is the first pope in history to set foot in a mosque.|
06|A Russian Soyuz space capsule with the first "space tourist," Dennis Tito, aboard lands in Kazakhstan after eight days in space. Two Russian cosmonauts accompanied Tito on the mission, which involved delivering a new "lifeboat" Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station. The three men returned to Earth aboard a second capsule, which had been docked at the station since November 2000. Tito, a U.S. businessman, reportedly paid Russia $20 million for the space ride.|
07|A mob of more than 1,000 Serb nationalists break through a police cordon and attack Muslims attending a ceremony marking the reconstruction of a historic mosque in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Muslims were bused into the Serb-controlled territory to attend the ceremony, which was intended to be a symbol of reconciliation. Serbs destroyed the original mosque, which dated from the 1500's, after the Muslims of Banja Luka were driven from the city during the 1992-1995 war.|
08|The productivity of American workers fell 0.1 percent in the first three months of 2001, reports an official with the U.S. Department of Labor. The decline, which economists see as a reflection of the slowing economy, is the first in six years. Productivity among the U.S. work force rose sharply during the late 1990's as new technologies were introduced in the workplace.|
08|The Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate appoint a new chief parliamentarian, Alan S. Frumin, to replace Robert B. Dove. Dove, who held the post during periods of Republican control of the Senate, 1981 to 1987 and since 1995, was dismissed after his ruling on a number of tax and budget items frustrated the majority leader, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. The chief parliamentarian, who is not an elected official, interprets Senate rules and procedures.|
09|More than 125 people are killed in a stampede at the end of a soccer match in Accra, the capital of Ghana. According to reports, police triggered the stampede by firing tear gas into a crowd of rioting soccer fans.|
10|The Palestinian Authority declares a state of emergency after the its headquarters in Gaza City and the office of Yasar Arafat's Fatah faction sustained direct hits by Israeli surface-to-surface missiles. Experts on political affairs in the Middle East suggest that Israel launched the attacks in response to the murder of two teen-age Israeli boys, who were stoned to death on May 9. Their bodies were found in a cave near the Jewish settlement where they lived on the West Bank. Several Palestinians have been arrested in connection with the murders.|
11|U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft postpones for one month the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted of the April 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which resulted in the deaths of 168 people. The attorney general notes that he was forced to postpone the execution after the Federal Bureau of Investigation disclosed that it had not turned over thousands of pages of documents to McVeigh's defense team.|
11|A second year of drought across southwestern Asia is forcing tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan out of the countryside. According to United Nations officials conducting a worldwide survey of displaced people, the migration in Afghanistan is the "fastest growing displacement crisis anywhere."|
12|A spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defense discloses that British servicemen were used in radiation experiments conducted in Australia in the 1950's and 1960's. The experiments involved exposing men to low levels of radiation to test the effectiveness of the protective clothing they were wearing. The disclosure is made after a university researcher in Scotland unearthed papers documenting that the experiments had been conducted by the ministry.|
13|Italian voters give the conservative coalition led by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi control of the Senate, making Berlusconi the next prime minister. He will form Italy's 59th government in 56 years. Berlusconi served as Italy's prime minister in 1994 before he was convicted on charges of bribery and tax fraud in connection with the acquisition of his fortune, which is thought to be the largest in Italy.|
14|Israeli troops kill five Palestinian police officers stationed at a roadblock in the West Bank. The outpost is along a roadway that Israel closed in 2000. Palestinian officials claim that the roadblock was maintained and manned as a symbolic expression of where Israeli rule ended and Palestinian rule began. The Israeli Army counters that the roadblock served as a base from which snipers fired at vehicles on nearby Israeli roads.|
15|The officers of the Federal Reserve (Fed), the central bank of the United States, cut short-term interest rates for the fifth time in 2001. The Fed reduces the federal funds rate--the interest rate on overnight loans between banks--from 4.5 percent to 4 percent and cut the discount rate on Federal Reserve loans to banks from 4 percent to 3.5 percent.|
15|A panel sponsored by the National Institutes of Health recommends that U.S. physicians treat people at risk for heart disease more aggressively. The panel--the National Cholesterol Education Program of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute--suggests that people whose risk of a heart attack was 20 percent or higher be treated as aggressively as patients who have just had a heart attack. If adopted by the U.S. medical community, the recommendations would increase the number of adults taking cholesterol-lowering drugs from 13 million to 36 million and raise the number of people on a cholesterol-lowering diet from 52 million to 65 million.|
16|Macedonia's new coalition government, which has both Slav and ethnic Albanian officials, threatens ethnic-Albanian rebels with all-out war if they do not lay down their arms and withdraw from the villages they control in Macedonia's northern hills. President Boris Trajkovski also urges all residents of villages under ethnic-Albanian control to evacuate, promising them safe passage out of the disputed territory. The vast majority are ethnic Albanians and refuse to leave, despite the fact that they are virtually under siege. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, there is no water or electricity, and food is in short supply.|
16|A military cargo plane crashes shortly after takeoff from the city of Malatya in southern Turkey, killing the 34 people aboard, all members of Turkey's Special Forces.|
17|President George W. Bush outlines details of his administration's national long-range energy strategy. In a speech delivered in St. Paul, Minnesota, the president promises to increase the supply of fossil fuels by pushing for the passage of legislation that would provide private companies with incentives to explore for new sources of oil and gas within the United States. Under the new policy, protected areas, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, would be opened to oil and gas exploration. The president calls for the construction of new electrical generating plants powered by coal and nuclear energy but also proposes offering tax credits to utility companies that utilize renewable fuels. The plan offers individuals tax credits for buying fuel-efficient cars and making their houses more energy efficient.|
18|Israeli F-16 warplanes attack Palestinian government and security offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah, killing 11 Palestinian police officers. Experts on Middle East relations believe the latest attacks are in retaliation for a suicide bombing earlier in the day for which the Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility. The suicide bombing, which took place outside the entrance of a crowded shopping mall in the seaside town of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, killed 5 Israelis and left more than 110 people injured. Witnesses said the bomb exploded just after a security guard refused to allow the bomber into the mall because the man looked suspicious for wearing a heavy coat on a warm day.|
19|A panel of Bush administration officials recommend to President George W. Bush that the United States refuse to accept a draft agreement establishing protocols for the monitoring of biological weapons. The agreement is the result of six years of diplomatic negotiations carried on in Geneva, Switzerland. The ban on germ warfare, which prohibits nations from producing or possessing biological weapons, was ratified by 143 nations in a 1972 treaty. A senior administration official notes that the panel concluded that the draft agreement would not be of much value in catching or stopping nations from producing or stockpiling such weapons. The panel also concluded that the provisions of the agreement might make the United States vulnerable to foreign powers attempting to steal American secrets.|
20|Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defends his decision to use F-16 fighter jets against Palestinian targets, telling reporters that "[Israel] will do everything necessary . . . to protect Israeli citizens." He repeats his position that he will resume peace discussions with Palestinian leaders only after attacks on Israelis stop. On May 18 and 19, Israel made retaliatory strikes on Palestinian security headquarters, killing at least 10 Palestinian officers.|
21|Ethnic Albanian rebels in northwestern Macedonia launch a mortar attack on government troops after several days of cease-fire. The attack triggers intense fighting above the town of Tetovo, where government forces are responding with heavy artillery fire. According to a Macedonian official, government troops backed by helicopter gunships and tanks are making some headway against ethnic Albanian insurgents in northern villages along the border with Kosovo. Officials with the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Yugoslavia believe that many of the ethnic Albanian insurgents are Kosovars who have crossed the border with the intention of annexing the northern areas of Macedonia where ethnic Albanians constitute a majority.|
21|Authorities in Sichuan Province in southwestern China order all small coal mines temporarily closed for safety checks. At least 50 miners in the province were killed in three separate accidents on May 18 and May 19. Eleven men died in two accidents caused by gas explosions. In the worst incident, 39 convicts from a nearby prison drowned when the coal shaft they were working in flooded. On the same day, the collapse of a gypsum mine in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi buried 29 miners 650 feet (198 meters) below ground.|
22|The Taliban orders Hindus in Afghanistan to wear identification labels on their clothing to differentiate them from the Muslim majority. Thousands of Hindus live throughout Afghanistan, with an estimated 5,000 Hindus residing in Kabul, the capital. A Taliban spokesman said that the order is to safeguard Hindus from religious police who enforce Taliban rulings governing Islamic behavior in Afghanistan. Officials in India, where Hindus form a majority, respond that such labels will lead inevitably to discrimination.|
22|The defense minister of Israel announces a cease-fire in the current Israeli-Palestinian violence. Israeli troops are ordered not to fire on Palestinians except when the lives of Israeli soldiers are threatened. Prior to the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared on television that Israel would resume peace negotiations when the Palestinians called a halt to the violence. Palestinian leaders responded that as victims of Israeli aggression they were powerless to order a cease- fire. More than 500 people have been killed in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza since the latest round of hostilities broke out in late September 2000.|
23|The government of China, calling in the senior U.S. envoy in Beijing, formally protests that U.S. President George W. Bush met earlier in the day with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. During the meeting, which took place on the 50th anniversary of China's annexation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama asked President Bush to assure the Chinese government that the Dalai Lama did not seek independence for Tibet, but rather autonomy.|
24|United States Senator James Jeffords of Vermont announces that he is leaving the Republican Party to become an independent aligned with the Democratic Party. The move reduces the number of Senate seats held by the Republicans from 50 to 49, shifting control to the Democrats. Tom Daschle (D., South Dakota) will replace Trent Lott (R., Mississippi) as majority leader, and Democrats will move into the chairmanships of key Senate committees.|
24|At least 23 people are killed and more than 300 people are injured when a banquet hall in Jerusalem collapses during a wedding reception. Many of the dead were dancing on a rooftop dance floor, which crashed through three stories into the basement. Forensic experts find no evidence of a terrorist attack and blame the collapse on the fact that more than 650 people were crowded into a building from which several support columns had been removed to accommodate larger crowds.|
25|The U.S. gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in a given year, grew at an annual rate of 1.3 percent during the first three months of 2001, report officials with the U.S. Commerce Department. Economists estimated in April that economic growth would hit 2 percent during the first quarter. Commerce officials also announce that orders for durable goods from U.S. manufacturers fell by 5 percent in the first quarter. Economists initially estimated a 2.2 percent decline.|
26|The United States Congress passes legislation that cuts income taxes by $1.35 trillion over the next 10 years. Individual tax payers are set to receive a refund of approximately $300 from their 2000 income tax return. Among other provisions, the legislation lowers the average income tax rate by 3 percent by 2006; eliminates the federal tax on estates by 2010; and increases the tax credit for children from $500 to $1,000 per child.|
27|Members of the radial Islamic Jihad movement detonate a car bomb, which launches mortar shells into the air above central Jerusalem as Assistant U.S. Secretary of State William Burns arrives in the city to help broker a peace agreement. According to political experts, Israeli anger at the bombing, and three others that injured 70 Israelis in less than 48 hours, is eroding Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's resolve to enforce the cease-fire that he put into effect on May 22.|
27|The high school record for the mile run--3 minutes 55.3 seconds, set in 1965 by Jim Ryun--is shattered by Alan Webb, a high school senior from Reston, Virginia, who finishes the run in 3 minutes 53.43 seconds.|
28|Racial violence between white and Asian youths in Oldham, England, a former mill town outside Manchester, continues for a third straight night. On May 27, police in full riot gear battled as many as 500 men and boys armed with firebombs and bricks for control of the streets. English authorities blame white supremacist groups for inciting the violence, which began when a gang of white youths threw bricks at a house owned by Pakistani immigrants. The white supremacists claim that immigrants from the Indian subcontinent are taking jobs away from whites, especially in northern England where unemployment is widespread.|
29|California Governor Gray Davis announces that he intends to file a suit in federal court to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to impose limits on the rates that wholesale energy suppliers charge California utility companies. The announcement is made shortly after the governor met with President George W. Bush to discuss the state's severe energy problems. During the meeting, the president rejected the governor's request that the federal government impose caps on energy prices. The president characterized price caps as a short-term solution that did nothing to limit demand or increase supply. Bush did assure the governor that federal regulators would investigate why Texas natural gas suppliers charged California utility companies three times more than they charge New York utility companies.|
30|Indonesia's parliament censures the country's president, Abdurrahman Wahid, for the third time in five months. The vote sets into motion an impeachment trial in the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's highest government authority. Wahid was censured first in February, on charges of corruption, graft, and mismanagement but was cleared of the charges. In April, he was censured for "erratic rule," which provided sufficient grounds for the impeachment proceedings to continue. Experts on Indonesian politics predict that the vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, would likely be named president if Wahid were removed from office. Megawati heads the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, which holds more parliamentary seats than any other party. She is the daughter of Sukarno, the country's first elected president.|
30|The German parliament, the Bundestag, votes to establish a $4.5-billion fund to compensate people forced to work as slave laborers during World War II (1939-1945). German corporations that used slave labor is to provide half of the funding. Payments to as many 1.5 million survivors are scheduled to begin in mid-June. Most of the survivors live in Eastern Europe. Historians estimate that Germany's war-time Nazi government deported as many as 10 million people from occupied countries to work without compensation in concentration camps, factories, and farms.|
31|Lawyers representing Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, file a petition in U.S. District Court asking for a stay of execution. The lawyers contend that federal prosecutors knowingly concealed evidence from McVeigh's defense attorneys. Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation claim the agency simply misplaced the evidence, which includes 4,400 documents and 16 hours of audio and video tapes. McVeigh has confessed to the bombing, which killed 168 people.|
31|The discovery of the fossilized bones of a previously unknown dinosaur is announced by the University of Pennsylvania. Paleontologists at the university estimated that the fossils are 94 million years old and date from the middle of the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era. The dinosaur, an herbivore (plant eater) with a long neck, weighed up to 70 tons (71 metric tons) and was 100 feet (30 meters) in length. It was only slightly smaller than the Argentinosaurs, the largest dinosaur ever found. Two University of Pennsylvania graduate students, Joshua Smith and Matthew Lamanna, discovered the partial skeleton in 1999 in the Sahara Desert, approximately 180 miles (289 kilometers) southwest of Cairo, Egypt. They named the dinosaur Paralititan stromeri in honor of German paleontologist Ernst Stromer, who first explored the area in the early 1900's.|
