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Thursday, May 1, 1997

  • Today's Events
  • On Horizon
  • On This Day
  • Newslink
  • Holidays & more
  • Almanac archive
  • "Well, the planes run out there, and the phones work out there, and the e-mail works out there, so we'll be all right."

    -- Hillary Rodham Clinton on daughter Chelsea's departure for college





    Today's events


  • British general elections are held, as well as English local elections.

  • It's International Labor Day at the United Nations.

  • Winnie Mandela is scheduled to speak at May Day celebrations at Brussels Free University.

  • Inner Mongolia marks its 50th anniversary as an autonomous region of China.

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    On the horizon


  • On Friday, May 2, the National Rifle Association opens its annual convention in Seattle.

  • On Saturday, May 3, Ireland is scheduled to host its 1997 Eurovision Song Contest.

  • On Sunday, May 4, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is scheduled to visit a guerrilla demobilization camp in Guatemala City as part of the ongoing peace process there.

  • On Monday, May 5, the World Health Organization is scheduled to issue its annual report.

  • On Tuesday, May 6, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel is scheduled to visit Egypt.

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    On this day


  • In 1707, Scotland and England were joined together under the name of Great Britain.

  • In 1851, Queen Victoria opened the first Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London.

  • In 1873, David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer, was found dead at Chitambo, now in Zambia.

  • In 1898, in the Battle of Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces destroyed the Spanish fleet and blockaded the bay for three months before capturing Manila itself.

  • In 1915, the liner Lusitania left New York on the same day the German Embassy took out advertisements warning anyone traveling on ships carrying a British flag that they did so at their own risk. It was sunk six days later.

  • In 1925, Cyprus officially became a British colony. It had been leased to Britain by Turkey in 1878 and was annexed to the British Empire in 1914.

  • In 1931, the 102-story Empire State Building in New York, at the time the world's tallest building, was officially opened.

  • In 1945, Hamburg radio officially announced that Hitler had died in Berlin; German HQ in Italy formally agreed to an unconditional surrender.

  • In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 plane piloted by Gary Powers. He was jailed for spying before being exchanged in an East-West spy swap in February 1962.

  • In 1961, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared the country a socialist nation and abolished elections.

  • In 1963, Sir Winston Churchill announced his retirement from the House of Commons at the next election.

  • In 1971, in America, the federal-government sponsored Amtrak rail passenger service took over operation of most passenger trains.

  • In 1978, Naomi Uemura, a Japanese explorer, became the first man to reach the North Pole alone.

  • In 1982, in Poland, 50,000 supporters of "Solidarity" demonstrated in Warsaw against military rule.

  • In 1990, Chinese troops began withdrawing from the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as martial law was lifted.

  • In 1991, Colonel Elias Ramaema was sworn in as the military ruler Of Lesotho.

  • In 1992, Turkmenistan announced it would switch to a Latin-based Turkish alphabet from the Cyrillic script.

  • In 1993, President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ruling party won the most seats in united Yemen's first general elections.

  • In 1993, Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa died of injuries sustained in a bomb blast during a May Day procession.

  • In 1995, Croatia recaptured the rebel Serb enclave of Western Slavonia it had lost in 1991.

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    Newslink


    It's been 66 years since the 102-story Empire State Building in New York officially opened. At the time, it was the tallest building in the word. Want to see how it was done? Click here.


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    Holidays and more


  • It's Labor Day throughout much of the world.

  • Today is International Labor Day in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, the Russia Federation, Slovak Republic and Yugoslavia.

  • Today is May Day in Albania, Bangladesh, Dominica, Estonia, Ghana, Gibraltar, India, Iceland, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the Union of Myanmar.

  • Sportscaster Harry Caray is 78.

  • Jockey Steve Cauthen is 37.

  • Singer Judy Collins is 58.

  • Singer Rita Coolidge is 52.

  • Actor Glenn Ford is 81.

  • Entertainer Jack Paar is 79.

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    Sources: Associated Press,
    Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan



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