Events in May 2008
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May 1
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The world’s longest sea bridge is inaugurated in the Yangtze River delta in China. The 36 km long Hangzhou Bay Bridge in Ningbo, Zhejiang province links Shanghai with Ningbo. |
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May 2
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Pakistan puts off indefinitely execution of Sarabjit Singh a death row prisoner. |
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The Labour Party in Britain suffers its worst defeat in local body elections in 40 years. |
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Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai fails to win outright majority,to boycott the run-off polls. |
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May 3
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The Sri Lanka Cabinet gives its nod for a proposal to set up a Special Task Force to oversee development initiatives in the Northern Province districts. |
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Londoners elect Tory candidate Boris Johnson Mayor, ending Ken Livingstone’s eight-year reign. |
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Cyclone Nargis leaves 78,000 people dead in Myanmar. Bogalay, a town in the Irrawaddy delta bears the brunt. Over 56,000 persons are missing. |
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May 6
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Russia, the U.S. sign a civilian nuclear power pact that will give the latter access to Russian technology. |
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Britain announces second phase of immigration rules aimed at curbing entry of non-E.D. foreign workers, especially skilled workers. |
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Irish Premier Bertie Ahern quits after being at the helm for 11 years. |
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May 7
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Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in Russian President and nominates his predecessor Vladimir Putin Prime Minister. |
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May 8
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Russian Parliament confirms Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister. |
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May 9
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Lebanese militant group Hezbollah takes over most of west Beirut and forces a shutdown of pro-government media outlets. |
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May 10
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The first-ever elections to Sri Lanka’s Eastern Provincial Council is held peacefully. |
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Myanmar holds a rare referendum to secure mandate for a new military-scripted draft statute. |
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May 11
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The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance wins elections to the Eastern Provincial Council, Sri Lanka. |
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Serbs cast ballots in parliamentary polls. |
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May 12
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At least 8,700 people are killed, including 900 school students after a major earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale rips through southwest China’s Sichuan province. |
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The Pakistan Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif pulls out of the Federal Cabinet following differences with the Pakistan People’s Party over the reinstatement of judges sacked last year. |
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The Commonwealth readmits Pakistan revoking a six-month long suspension. |
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May 13
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China quake toll crosses 12,000. Aftershocks continue to jolt Sichuan throughout the day. Three Gorges dam unaffected. Wenchuan county, the epicentre, reports 57 deaths. |
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May 14
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A pregnant woman and a girl are pulled out alive from under the debris in China’s Dujiangyan and Beichuan regions. The toll touches 19,500. |
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The 14-day Cannes Film Festival opens. |
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May 15
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One hundred people are killed in a pipeline explosion in Lagos, Nigeria. |
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May 16
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The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, pledges to extend the Indian rail network to Bhutan during talks with his counterpart Jigmi Y. Thinley in Thimphu. |
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Russia, India, China and Brazil institutionalise their four-way group BRIC after Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Yekaterinburg, Russia. |
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Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan is sworn in Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Provincial Council. |
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May 17
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The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, addresses the first-ever joint sitting of the Bhutan Parliament in Thimphu. Announces decision to begin work on the ‘Golden Jubilee Rail Line’, the first-ever rain link into the Himalayan kingdom from Hashimara, northern Bengal. |
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Kuwaitis cast votes in landmark parliamentary elections. |
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Taliban frees Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul Tariq Azizuddin after three months after being kidnapped in the Khyber tribal area on February 11. |
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Soldiers find a man Wu Jianping, alive under a collapsed building 127 hours after the devastating earthquake in southwest China. |
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May 18
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militants in Afghaniztan free an Indian Muhammad Naeem (40) after being kidnapped on April 21. |
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Islamists win Kuwaiti parliamentary polls. |
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May 19
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The China earthquake toll touches 34,073. Companies suffer $9.5 billion in damage. A three-day national mourning for the first time in the country’s history begins. |
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Mahathir Mohammad quits Malaysia’s ruling party to press for leadership change. |
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May 20
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Scientists announce “resurrection” of a gene from the extinct Tasmanian tiger by implanting it in a mouse |
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May 21
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Pakistan reactor for a “grand reconciliation” with India through dialogue, says Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi after talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. |
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Rival Lebanese leaders clinch a deal to end an 18-month political feud. |
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Balasegaram Kandish alias “Brigadier Balraj”, a key commander of the LTTE dies of a heart attack in Vanni. |
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The Awami National Party-led government in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province signs a 15-point peace accord with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley. |
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May 24
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Two Sydney women Cheryl Bart and her daughter Nikki create history as the first mother-daughter team to climb Mt. Everest. |
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May 25
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Lebanon’s Parliament elects Army Chief General Michel Sleiman president. |
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An aftershock measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale jolts Qingchuan county in southwest China’s Sichuan province leaving six dead and 400 injured. The toll in the May 12 quake stands at 62,664. |
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Min Bahadur Sherchan (75) becomes the oldest person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. |
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French Classroom drama “Entre les Murs” (The Class) directed by Lawrent Cantet bags the Palm d’or for best picture at the Cannes film festival. Benicio Del Toro and Sandra Corveloni get Best Actor and Best Actress awards. |
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May 26
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NASA’s Phoenix probe sends back never-seen pictures of Mars’ North Pole after a near perfect landing, topping a 10 month journey. |
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At least seven persons are killed and 62 injured after a bomb explosion in a train on the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. |
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The former president of the erstwhile Soviet Union, Michael Gorbachev is conferred the lift time achievement award at the Energy Global Awards in Brussels. |
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May 27
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Members of Nepal’s newly elected 601-member Constituent Assembly take oath. |
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Myanmar’s military junta extends the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been in detention continuously since May 2003. |
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Nepal is declared a Federal Democratic Republic by the Constituent Assembly ending the 240-year-rule of the Shah Dynasty. |
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May 28
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Diplomats from 100 countries reach an agreement on a treaty on banning cluster bombs. |
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Events 2008
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Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
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