What Happened in May 2019

Events 1 - 100 of 144

• May 1 Evidence revealed that early humans from ancient Denisovan species lived at high altitudes in Tibet 160,000 years ago

• May 1 New York City officially names a street Sesame Street at the intersection of West 63rd Street and Broadway in honor of the show's 50th anniversary
• May 1 Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn marries for the fourth time to Suthida Tidjai, deputy head of his bodyguard, days before his coronation
• May 1 Two-time South African Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya loses appeal against proposed rules to limit her testosterone levels; medically reducing levels the only way to continue competition
• May 1 UK Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson fired over leaking information about Huawei deal from a UK National Security Council meeting by Theresa May
• May 1 US Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, defending his handling of the Mueller Report

• May 2 A clean-up on Mt Everest has removed three metric tons (6,613 pounds) of rubbish and four bodies in just two weeks
• May 2 Drone delivers a kidney for transplant surgery in Baltimore, Maryland, for the first time

• May 2 For the first time all major US pageants won by black women after Cheslie Kryst wins Miss USA. joining Nia Franklin Miss America, and Kaliegh Garris Miss Teen USA

• May 3 Cyclone Fani strikes Odisha State, India and Bangladesh, killing 33 people after one of the biggest human evacuations ever - 1.2 million in India in 24 hours
• May 4 145th Kentucky Derby: stewards disqualify first-across-the-line Maximum Security for interference; longshot Country House declared winner; first DQ in race history for race infraction

• May 5 At least 41 people die when a Russian Aeroflot plane catches fire after an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow
• May 5 King Vajiralongkorn is crowned King of Thailand, first monarch to be crowned in nearly seven decades during a three-day celebration in Bangkok
• May 5 Oil tanker explosion kills 55 in Niamey, Niger
• May 5 Violent clashes between Israel and Gaza militants over three days have left 4 Israelis and 23 Palestinians dead
• May 6 French telecom company Orange and its former CEO with other executives go on trial in France for psychological harassment of their staff that unions claim resulted in 19 suicides and 12 other attempts
• May 6 One million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction according to a major new UN report
• May 6 Pablo Sandoval becomes second MLB player since 1900 to throw a scoreless outing, hit a home run and steal a base in the same game in SF Giants' 12-4 loss in Cincinnati; joins Christy Mathewson 1905
• May 6 Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei announces a moratorium on the death penalty for gay sex and adultery after worldwide condemnation over new Sharia laws
• May 6 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Englishman Judd Trump wins his first world crown beating John Higgins of Scotland, 18-9
• May 7 Denver is the first US city to decriminalize psilocybin "magic mushrooms"
• May 7 Hackers seize control of the computer system of the US city of Baltimore, demanding a ransom in Bitcoins to unlock them
• May 7 Turkish electoral body decides to re-run the Istanbul mayoral election, won by the opposition, amid worldwide criticism
• May 7 Venezuela's Congress strips opposition lawmakers of immunity and accuses them of treason
• May 8 Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes argues that Facebook should be split up and regulated in "New York Times" Op-Ed essay
• May 8 Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp signs new abortion law, the so-called "heart-beat bill" (comes into effect Jan 2020)
• May 8 Iran announces it will stop complying with parts of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
• May 8 Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi who spent eight years in prison on death row for blasphemy arrives in Canada
• May 8 Singapore passes sweeping "anti-fake news" laws bill
• May 8 Thailand's general elections official results show opposition Pheu Thai Party won most seats but still unable to form governmen, due to rules favoring the military
• May 8 UK goes a week without using a coal-fired power station for first time in 137 years due to use of more renewable energy
• May 9 Archaeologists hail Anglo-Saxon tomb found 2003 in Prittlewell, England, as Britain’s equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb as full report of its contents published
• May 9 At least 65 migrants drown off the coast of Tunisia when their boat capsizes after leaving Libya according to the UN
• May 9 English clubs create football history by taking all 4 final spots in Europe's 2 major competitions; Chelsea & Arsenal qualify in Europa Cup after 'miracle' Champions League wins for Liverpool & Spurs
• May 9 French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin (72) successfully crosses the Atlantic Ocean in a barrel arriving in Martinique
• May 9 New Australian $50 bank note misspells responsibility as "responsibilty" on 46 million notes

• May 10 Taxi service Uber becomes a public company opening on the New York Stock Exchange
• May 10 US begins raising tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports to 25% after trade talks fail
• May 10 YouTube dispute between beauty vloggers James Charles and Tati Westbrook viewed more than 40 million times

• May 11 Carbon dioxide levels in the earth's atmosphere hit levels not seen for 3 million years at 415 parts per million, according to the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii
• May 11 Militants attack Zaver Pearl-Continental Hotel in Gwadar, Pakistan killing five, Balochistan Liberation Army claim responsibility

• May 12 Cuba announced more rationing of products such as rice and beans due to US trade embargo and hoarding
• May 12 Gunman kill five people and a priest in a Catholic church in Dablo, Burkina Faso, before setting fire to and looting nearby buildings
• May 12 IPL Cricket Final, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad: Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings by 1 run; Jasprit Bumrah 2/14 (4); Indians' 4th title
• May 12 Manchester City beats Brighton, 4-1 to claim back-to-back English Premier League titles with 98 points, 1 ahead of runners-up, Liverpool

• May 13 China retaliates against the US as their trade war escalates, raising tariffs on $60 billion worth of goods affecting over 4,000 items
• May 13 Diary of Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt's last days rediscovered and displayed for the 400th anniversary of his execution

• May 13 New study on the moon shows it is still shrinking with recent moonquakes as it cools, published in journal "Nature Geoscience"
• May 13 Sri Lanka imposes a nationwide curfew from 9pm to 4am to curb violence against Muslims after the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks

• May 14 Huge protests closes schools in Kashmir after the rape of a three-year-old girl
• May 14 San Francisco is the first city to vote to ban use of facial recognition
• May 14 Steve Bullock, US Governor of Montana announces his run for Presidential office
• May 14 Wikipedia confirms China has banned all versions of its site
• May 15 Alabama passes law banning abortion in almost all cases including rape or incest
• May 15 Findings from China's Chang'e-4 rover to the Moon suggests huge asteroid created the giant crater on Moon's far side with impact so great it cracked its crust and reached the mantle below published in "Nature"

• May 15 Jeff Koons "Rabbit" sculpture sells for $91.1 million, setting a new record for work by a living artist at auction; buyer later identified as hedge fund manager and MLB NY Mets owner Steve Cohen
• May 15 Mexico City declares an environmental emergency after air pollution reaches dangerous levels
• May 15 US birthrate in 2018 the lowest for 32 years (total fertility rate 1,728 births per 1,000 women), with record lows for teen births

• May 16 British people get drunk more than any other nation, 51 times year according to the Global Drug survey, with English-speaking countries drinking the most

• May 16 New DNA research showing bedbugs are older than humans - 115 million years old and outlived dinosaurs, published in "Current Biology"
• May 16 New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announces he is running for president, the 24th Democrat to run
• May 16 South African Saray Khumalo is the first black African woman to climb Mt Evervest
• May 16 UK talk show "The Jeremy Kyle Show" axed by ITV after a guest dies

• May 17 Brooks Koepka fires a 65 (-5) to set new record for lowest 36-hole score in a golf major at the PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park; 7 stroke lead is a 36-hole tournament record
• May 17 Taiwan's parliament votes to legalize same-sex marriage, the first Asian country
• May 17 Tyler, the Creator releases his fifth studio album "Igor" which becomes his first number-one album in the United States
• May 18 144th Preakness: War of Will with Tyler Gaffalione aboard wins for trainer Mark E. Casse by a nose from Everfast

• May 19 64th Eurovision Song Contest won by Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands
• May 19 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Bethpage State Park: Defending champion Brooks Koepka leads wire-to-wire; wins despite 5 bogeys on last 8 holes by 2 strokes from world #1 Dustin Johnson
• May 19 Sprinter Dutee Chand comes out as India's first openly gay professional athlete
• May 19 US billionaire Robert F. Smith announces he will pay off college loans of nearly 400 students of the graduating class of Morehouse College, Atlanta
• May 20 Bangladesh imposes a 65-day ban on coastal fishing to conserve fish stocks
• May 20 Google stops support for Huawei's Android system in an escalation of the tech war between US and China
• May 21 Austria's far-right Freedom Party resigns from the ruling coalition after two of their ministers are sacked for offering government contracts for political influence in a video

• May 21 More than 600 people, 75% children, identified as HIV in a month in Sindh province, Pakistan, thought to be due to use of infected needles

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• May 6 Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, British son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, born in London, England

• May 1 English "Game of Thrones" actress Sophie Turner (23) and American pop singer Joe Jonas (29) are married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas, Nevada; separate in 2023
• May 18 Lady Gabriella Kingston (née Windsor) marries Thomas Kingston at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

• May 2 Red Kelly, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame center, coach; politician (Toronto Maple Leafs), dies at 91
• May 4 (James) "J.R." Cobb American guitarist and songwriter (Classics IV - "Spooky"; Atlanta Rhythm Section - "Champagne Jam"), dies of a heart attack at 76
• May 4 Alice Rivlin, American economist and government budget official (Federal Reserve Board member, 1996-99; Director of Office of Management and Budget, 1993-96; Director of Congressional Budget Office, 1975-83), dies at 88
• May 6 Seymour Nurse, West Indian cricket batsman (29 Tests @ 47.60, 6 x 100; TS 258; Barbados), dies at 85
• May 7 Georg Katzer, German composer (electro-acoustic music), dies at 84
• May 7 Jean Vanier, Canadian philosopher and disabilities advocate, dies at 90
• May 8 Jim Fowler, American naturalist, zoologist and Emmy Award-winning TV presenter (Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom), dies of heart disease at 89
• May 9 Freddie Starr, English comedian and singer (The Freddie Starr Showcase), dies at 76
• May 10 Lee Hale, American choral director (The Entertainers), dies at 96
• May 11 Harold Lederman, American boxing judge & analyst (HBO), dies of cancer at 79
• May 12 Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress (Gate of Hell, Rashomon, Ugetsu), dies at 95

• May 13 Jerome Callet, American musician and designer of brass instruments, dies at 89
• May 14 (Thomas) "Tim" Conway, American Emmy Award-winning comic actor and screenwriter (McHale's Navy; The Carol Burnett Show, 1975-78; The Apple Dumpling Gang), dies from complications of normal pressure hydrocephalus at 85
• May 14 Grumpy Cat [Tardar Sauce], American cat internet celebrity, dies following complications from urinary tract infection at 7
• May 14 Sven Oskar Lindqvist, Swedish writer (Exterminate All the Brutes), dies at 87

• May 17 Herman Wouk, American novelist (The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War), dies at 103
• May 19 Alfred Janson, Norwegian jazz and classical pianist and composer (Passacaglia Vendetta; Variations over Variations on a Norwegian Folk Tune), dies at 82
• May 20 Andrew Hall, English actor (Butterflies - "Russell"), and theater director, dies of cancer at 65

• May 21 Rik Kuypers, Belgian director (Sea Gulls Die in the Harbor), dies at 94
• May 22 Judith Kerr, British children's writer and illustrator (The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Mog books), dies at 95
• May 22 Sultan Ahmad Shah, 7th King of Malaysia (1979-84), dies at 88
• May 24 Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist who predicted quarks (1969 Nobel Prize for Physics for theory of elementary particles), dies at 89
• May 25 LaSalle Leffall Jr., American surgeon, medical educator, and 1st black president of the American Cancer Society (1978), and the American College of Surgeons (1995), dies at 89
• May 26 Bart Starr, American Pro Football HOF quarterback (Super Bowl MVP I, II; 5 × NFL C'ship; NFL MVP 1966; GB Packers), dies of effects of stroke at 85
• May 27 Bill Buckner, American MLB 1st baseman (1986 World Series infamous fielding error; NL batting champ 1980), dies of dementia at 69
• May 27 Robert L. Bernstein, American publisher (Random House), dies at 96
• May 28 Andre Asriel, Austrian-German classical and film score composer, dies at 97

• May 30 Leon Redbone [Dickran Gobalian], American blues and jazz musician ("Seduced"; Theme to Mr. Belvedere), dies at 69
• May 30 Thad Cochran, American politician (U.S. Senator from Mississippi), dies at 81
• May 31 Niara Sudarkasa [Gloria Albertha Marshall], American educator and anthropologist (Lincoln College), dies at 80
• May 31 Roky Erickson [Roger Kynard], American musician (The 13th Floor Elevators - "Starry Eyes"; "Don't Slander Me"), dies at 71