May 2002
The following events occurred in May 2002:
Events
May 2, 2002
- Squatters celebrated the reappropriation of Can Masdeu after a 3-day standoff with the Spanish national police resulting in the one of few successful attempts to resist a squat eviction in recent history.
May 5, 2002
- Jacques Chirac wins the French presidential elections with 82.21% of the vote to 17.79% for Jean-Marie Le Pen, the turnout was 79.71%. Chirac appoints Jean-Pierre Raffarin as his prime minister, replacing Lionel Jospin.
- World Wrestling Federation is renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment due to copyright issues with World Wildlife Fund
- Internazionale awkwardly hands over the Serie A Scudetto to their bitter rivals Juventus after losing away to SS Lazio, 4–2.
May 6, 2002
- Recent celebrity deaths: In the Netherlands, controversial right wing politician Pim Fortuyn is shot dead when leaving a radio studio, nine days before the general election for the lower house of parliament.
- As a result of an ongoing lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund over the use of the initials 'WWF,' the company formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation is forced to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment.
May 7, 2002
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 15 and wounds 58 in a billiards and gambling club in Rishon LeZion at approximately 11 p.m. local time, while Ariel Sharon is meeting with President Bush in Washington D.C.
- Compaq Computer Company is finally merged into Hewlett-Packard Corporation.
May 8, 2002
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber badly injures himself near Megiddo, southeast of Haifa, when the explosives he was carrying go off prematurely.
May 9, 2002
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Muhammad al-Madani, governor of Bethlehem, leaves the Church of the Nativityorces and moves tanks into position for an expected incursion into the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the most recent suicide bombing.
May 10, 2002
May 15, 2002
- Politics of the Netherlands: General elections for the lower house of parliament were held. The Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) was the great winner, the party gained 26 of the 150 seats, a historic achievement for a new party. The CDA (Christen Democratisch Appèl) led by Jan Peter Balkenende became the greatest party (43 seats). The great losers were the coalition parties of the ruling "purple coalition" (PvdA, labour party; VVD, liberals; D'66, leftist liberals). These parties were diminished to half of their former size. Ad Melkert (PvdA) resigns as political leader of his party.
May 16, 2002
May 19, 2002
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A suicide bomber disguised as an Israeli soldier kills at least two Israelis and wounds more than 50 in Netanya.
May 20, 2002
May 21, 2002
May 22, 2002
- Recent (discovery of) celebrity deaths: Police find the remains of missing intern Chandra Levy in a park in Washington, DC.
May 23, 2002
May 24, 2002
May 25, 2002
May 26, 2002
May 28, 2002
- September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack: The last steel beam standing at the World Trade Center site is cut down and placed on a flatbed truck (to be carried away Thursday) in a quiet ceremony honoring the construction workers.
May 30, 2002
- Miller Brewing is acquired from Philip Morris by South African Brewing for $3.6 billion in stock.
- September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack: A wordless ceremony at the World Trade Center site marks the end of the recovery effort. In the ceremony, which started at 10:29 a.m. with the tolling of a firemen's bell, a stretcher with an American flag, symbolizing the victims whose remains were not recovered or yet identified was carried up the 500-foot ramp to an FDNY ambulance, which slowly left the site, as did the flatbed truck carrying the last steel beam to be removed. The ceremony included the playing of America the Beautiful by the NYPD pipe-and-drum corps, a flyover by five NYPD helicopters, and the playing of taps by a NYPD and FDNY bugler. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of rescue and recovery workers, family members of victimes, and New York politicians.
May 31, 2002
- The United States Department of State issues a travel warning advising all Americans except for essential diplomatic personnel (about 60,000 people) to leave India because "conditions along India's border with Pakistan and in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have deteriorated."
- The European Union ratifies the Kyoto Protocol treaty, and Japan stated they would shortly.
- Football World Cup 2002: Senegal defeats defending champion France 1–0.
References