Thursday, May 7, 1998
Today's events
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The Democratic National Committee meets in Washington.
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On the horizon
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On Friday, May 8, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Brandeis University as part of his five-state tour of the United States.
On Saturday, May 9, Vice President Al Gore delivers the commencement address at South Carolina State University.
On Sunday, May 10, national elections will be held in Hungary.
Monday, May 11, is the scheduled deadline for U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to decide whether to seek an independent counsel to investigate Labor Secretary Alexis Herman.
On Tuesday, May 12, the Cannes Film Festival opens in France.
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On this day
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In 1663, in London, the first Theatre Royal in Drury Lane was opened under a charter granted by King Charles II.
In 1765, HMS Victory, the British battleship and flagship of Lord Nelson, was launched at Chatham, Kent.
In 1832, Otto of Bavaria was chosen king of Greece by the great powers at the conference of London.
In 1915, the British liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, contributing to the entry of the U.S. into World War I. More than 1,100 passengers and crew perished.
In 1918, Romania signed the Treaty of Bucharest with Germany and Austria-Hungary; the treaty was nullified in November when the Central Powers collapsed.
In 1928, the age at which women could vote in Britain was lowered from 30 to 21.
In 1943, Allied forces liberated Tunis and Bizerte.
In 1944, a Russian assault opened on Sevastopol in Crimea.
In 1945, the instruments of the surrender of German forces in World War II were signed by General Jodl, the German chief of staff, at General Eisenhower's headquarters in Rheims.
In 1954, in North Vietnam, the Viet Minh siege of French forces at Dien Bien Phu ended with the surrender of the French.
In 1960, Kliment Voroshilov was replaced as president of the Soviet Union by Leonid Brezhnev.
In 1980, Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, was released from prison Beacon, New York, after serving 68 years and 245 days -- the longest-ever time served.
In 1990, Latvia elected Ivars Godmanis as prime minister as Moscow sought more information about the republic's bid to leave the Soviet Union.
In 1994, South Africa's democratic era started in earnest as new ANC-dominated provincial legislatures met and blacks took political power for the first time in more than three centuries.
In 1994, Japan's Justice Minister Shigeto Nagano resigned after his attempts to whitewash past Japanese military aggression provoked a diplomatic dispute in Asia.
In 1994, the stolen masterpiece "The Scream" by Edvard Munch was found undamaged in a hotel in south Norway.
In 1995, Jacques Chirac won the French presidential election, beating Socialist opponent Lionel Jospin by a clear margin and ending a 14-year Socialist grip on the presidency.
In 1996, a Bosnian Serb defendant faced the first war crimes trial by the U.N. criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Dusan Tadic became the first person to face an international war crimes tribunal since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II.
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Newslink
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The Dalai Lama, the leader of Taiwan's government-in-exile, is currently traveling the United States, speaking about the plight of his homeland. For a behind-the-scenes look at Tibet, visit Dalai Lama and His Government in Exile, a photo gallery.
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Notable
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It is Ashura in Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, The Gambia, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.
It is Hari Hol Negeri Pahang in Malaysia.
Singer Theresa Brewer ("Let the Sun Shine In") is 67.
Filmmaker Amy Heckerling is 44.
Actress Traci Lords ("Melrose Place") is 30.
Actor Darren McGavin ("The Man with the Golden Arm") is 76.
News show moderator Tim Russert ("Meet the Press") is 48.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1998, J.P. Morgan
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