1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29
1513 – Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida
1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint and authorizing the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime
1801 – Napoleonic Wars: The British led by Horatio Nelson destroy the Danish fleet in the naval Battle of Copenhagen
1917 – US President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany
1979 – The world’s first anthrax epidemic begins in Ekaterinburg, Russia (now Sverdlosk) and ended six weeks later with 62 people dead.
1982 – Several thousand Argentine troops seize the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands from Great Britain
1992 – Mafia boss John Gotti is found guilty of 5 murders (Paul Castellano, Thomas Bilotti, Robert DiBernardo, Liborio Milito and Louis Dibono), plus conspiracy to murder, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery and tax evasion
2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated. A siege ensues.
2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid. Their attack is thwarted.
2013 – Eurozone unemployment reaches a high of 12%
2019 – 70 villages evacuated in Khuzesta province, Iran, after at least 45 killed in flooding after unprecedented rainfall
2020 – Record 6.6 million Americans filed claims for unemployment in last week according to the US Department of Labor, 10 million over 2 weeks
2020 – Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro downplays the COVID-19 pandemic saying “its not all its being made out to be”
2020 – Spain’s death toll passes 10,000 (10003), as it posts a record single-day rise of 950 deaths
2020 – New study shows western Antarctica once swampy with temperate forests 93-83 million years ago during Cretaceous period, according to Alfred Wegener Institute
Births & Deaths:
2005 – The bishop of Rome and the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978, Pope John Paul II, who was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first from a Slavic country, died in Vatican City this day in 2005.
2015 – Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, who was known for richly meditative and often self-reflexive films that were frequently inspired by literary and theatrical works, died at age 106.
Film:
1968 – “2001 A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
Sport:
2010 – Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant signs a three-year contract extension with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers worth $87 million
