May 2004 calendar

Events

• 01 May 2004 The European Union is now open to the Czech Republic, Estonia and Hungary. It was celebrated in Dublin at the residence the Irish President.
• 02 May 2004 Yelwa massacre by Christians in Nigeria of more than 630 nomad Muslims
• 03 May 2004 The US is losing its leadership in science and technology; John E. Jankowski, National Science Foundation, says that "the rest is catching up". New York Times, p.A1.
• 04 May 2004 WNBC helicopter crashes in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. WABC-TV, a rival station, covers the event.
• 05 May 2004 15,000 protestors are currently occupying New Zealand's Parliament grounds and adjacent footpaths. Many of them have taken part in multiple days of route march (aka "hikoi"), in protest of the proposed law which would change the ownership of the foreshore and seabed.
• 06 May 2004 After months of interminable negotiations with the central authorities and public protests, Aslan Abashidze, the leader of Georgia's autonomous republic Adjara, resigns.
• 07 May 2004 American businessman Nick Berg is executed by Islamic militants. The videotape recording of the act is made and then released online.
• 08 May 2004 Antoinette Millard, a quotSaudi Princessquot, claims that muggers stole jewels worth $262,000 from her. She later proves to have been a fraud.
• 09 May 2004 The New Yorker reports that guards set dogs on naked prisoners as part of the scandal surrounding U.S. torture in Iraq.
• 10 May 2004 Turkey starts construction of a tunnel beneath the Bosporus.
• 11 May 2004 Nine factory workers were killed in an explosion at Stockline Plastics in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 12 May 2004 Nick Berg, an American contractor serving in Iraq, is seen being killed by a group linked to al Qaida in a video distributed online.
• 13 May 2004 Scaled Composites set a new civilian altitude record at 60 kms with a craft called SpaceShipOne in a test flight over California's Mojave Desert. This was in preparation for the X-Prize.
• 14 May 2004 Two US Marines were sentenced for the electrocution of an Iraqi prisoner one month prior to their sentencing.
• 15 May 2004 An improvised bomb is created using a 145mm artillery shell to attack US troops in Iraq. Two soldiers are exposed to mild nerve agents after the shell explodes.
• 16 May 2004 Ezzedine Salam, the Iraq Interim Governing Council's rotating leader, was killed in a blast in Baghdad.
• 17 May 2004 Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriages in accordance with a ruling by the state's Supreme Judicial Court ("Goodridge v. Department of Public Health").
• 18 May 2004 Sonia Gandhi resigns as Prime Minister of India.
• 19 May 2004 US Federal Judge Adalberto Jordan exonerated Greenpeace from charges under the "sailormongering” statute, citing "insufficient evidence". More than 100,000 protesters worldwide demanded that the case be dropped.
• 20 May 2004 $3 million was paid for the Olsen piece of the US 1913 Liberty Head 5-cent Piece (Proof 64 NCGC).
• 21 May 2004 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will seek ratification of Kyoto Protocol. The protocol will take effect upon ratification and trade restrictions will be imposed on countries that are not parties, like Australia and the United States.
• 22 May 2004 Hallam, Nebraska is destroyed by an F4 tornado. This tornado was part of the May 2004 tornado outbreak series. It broke a record for width at 2.5 miles (4.0 km). One person is killed.
• 23 May 2004 56 civilians were killed by the janjaweed militia in Abga Rajil in western Sudan. According to the UN, conflict in Darfur has caused around one million displacements.
• 24 May 2004 North Korea bans mobile phones in communications
• 25 May 2004 Floods in Haiti and Dominican Republic can kill up to 1,000 people.
• 26 May 2004 The New York Times admits to journalistic failures. It claims that the flawed reporting of the Times and lack of skepticism toward sources during the war in Iraq 2003 helped foster the belief that Iraq had large stocks of weapons of mass destruction.
• 27 May 2004 NASA announces its first Spitzer Space Telescope discovery: A planet less than one million years old.
• 28 May 2004 Ayad allawi, a long-time anti-Saddam Hussein exile is elected by the Iraqi Governing Council to be the interim government's prime minister.
• 29 May 2004 The U.S. President George W. Bush officially dedicates the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
• 30 May 2004 Sasebo slashing - Satomi Mitarai (12 years old) is a Japanese schoolgirl at Okubo Elementary School, Sasebo. She was murdered. Japanese authorities have identified her killer as an 11-year old classmate, ampquotGirlAampquot.
• 31 May 2004 Memorial Day: President Bush pays tribute to the war dead from past conflicts and declares that "two terror regimes" are gone in Iraq and Afghanistan, as US casualties rise to over 1,000.

Famous Birthday

• Apple Martin

  Daughter of American actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, British musician Chris Martin of Cold Play.

• Gosselin Sextuplets

  American sextuplets featured in a cable TV reality program "Jon and Kate plus 8." The quads were, delivered by Caesarian, in their 30th week...

• Ella Winter

  British daughter of noted family, BBC news presenter Sophie Raworth and her husband Richard Winter.

• Aaden Gosselin

  Reality Star.

• Joel Gosselin

  Reality Star.

• Collin Gosselin

  Reality Star.

• Hannah Gosselin

  Reality Star.

• Alexis Gosselin

  Reality Star.

• Leah Gosselin

  Reality Star.

• Lia SevenPerfectAngels

  YouTube Star.

• Jackson Duggar

  American child, born the 15th in the family, the second Caesarian birth of the mother, Michelle Duggar.

• Sterling Jerins

  Movie Actress.

• See more

Famous Deaths

• Etienne Roda-Gil

  French songwriter and screenwriter (Born 1941).

• Anthony Ainley

  British actor (Born 1932).

• Robert Quine

  American musician, an influential punk guitarist during the late 20th century despite technically having only two albums to his credit.

• Barney Kessel

  American guitarist and composer (d. 2004).

• Elvin Jones

  American drummer and bandleader (d. 2004).

• Anna Lee

  British actress (Born 1913).

• Anna Lee

  British actress (Born 1913).

• Serge Turgeon

  Canadian actor and union leader (d. 2004).

• Mary Dresselhuys

  Dutch stage/film actress.

• Edward Wagenknecht

  American critic and educator (d. 2004).

• John Whitehead

  American banker and politician 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (d. 2015).

• Ramon Margalef

  Spanish ecologist and biologist (d. 2004).

• Vladislav Terzyul

  Ukrainian mountaineer (Born 1953).

• Akhmad Kadyrov

  Chechen cleric and politician 1st President of the Chechen Republic (d. 2004).

• Darrell Johnson

  American baseball player coach and manager (d. 2004).

• Francis Brunn

  German juggler (Born 1922).

• Ken Downing

  English race car driver (d. 2004).

• Philip Kapleau

  American Zen teacher (Born 1912).

• Alan King

  American actor producer and screenwriter (d. 2004).

• Waldemar Milewicz

  Polish reporter (Born 1956).

• See more

Top #5 songs in the USA

1. Usher - Yeah!
2. Usher - Burn
3. Mario Winans - I Don't Wanna Know
4. J-Kwon - Tipsy
5. Beyonce - Naughty Girl

Top #5 songs in the UK

1. Usher featuring Lil' Jon & Ludacris - Yeah!
2. Eamon - F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)
3. McFly - 5 Colours In Her Hair
4. Frankee - FURB (F U Right Back)
5. Anastacia - Left Outside Alone