Lavrov's anti-Semitic Outburst
May 1 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Adolf Hitler "had Jewish blood" in interview on Italian TV, prompting outrage from Israel [1]
Pelosi Visits Ukraine
May 1 US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi leads surprise congressional delegation to Ukraine to met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy [1]
Sports History
May 2 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan wins his record equalling 7th world title with an 18-13 win over countryman Judd Trump
- May 3 Heatwave continues across North and Central India disproportionally affecting the poor, with March and April temperatures the hottest ever recorded in 122 years [1]
- May 3 US government says W.N.B.A. player Brittney Griner has been "wrongfully detained" in Russia, after being taken into custody when drugs were found in her luggage in Feb 2022 [1]
- May 4 "'World's most dangerous trafficker" Colombian drug kingpin Dairo Antonio Úsuga (known as Otoniel) is extradited to the US for drug charges [1]
- May 4 First of its kind study of transgender children, by Princeton University, transitioning aged 3-12, found vast majority continue to identify with their new gender five years later [1]
- May 4 US Federal Reserve makes largest interest rate increase since 2000 (+0.5%), attempting to combat the fastest rate of inflation in four decades [1]
- May 5 Sinn Féin, led by Michelle O'Neill, wins the most seats in Northern Ireland elections for the first time with 27 seats to Democratic Unionist Party's 25 [1]
- May 5 WHO study of excess deaths worldwide says 15 million more people have died than normal, far above the official COVID-19 death toll of 6 million [1]
- May 5 Zimbabwe is in the midst of a severe economic crisis with unemployment at 90%, hyperinflation and a falling Zimbabwe dollar, according to economic experts [1]
- May 6 Explosion at the five-star Hotel Saratoga due to suspected a gas leak in Havana, Cuba kills at least 35 people [1]
- May 7 148th Kentucky Derby: Venezuelan jockey Sonny Leon rides 80-1 outsider Rich Strike to victory to become second biggest longshot to win in the history of the event
- May 7 Afghan women issued decree to cover their faces in public (hijab reaching head to toe) by Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or her male guardian faces criminal punishment [1]
Music History
May 7 Berklee College of Music bestows honorary doctorates to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr; bassist Chuck Rainey; composer James Newton Howard; and R&B singer Lalah Hathaway
- May 8 British actor Ncuti Gatwa named as the first black actor to play Doctor Who (as the fourteenth doctor), replacing Jodie Whittaker in long-running BBC sci-fi drama [1]
- May 8 Dutch runner Jo Schoonbroodt (71) breaks Canadian Ed Whitlock's 2004 record for fastest marathon by person over 70 by 29 seconds (2:54:19) at Maasmarathon of Visé in Belboom, Belgium
- May 8 Pro-Beijing loyalist and sole candidate, John Lee elected Chief Executive of Hong Kong by the city's Election Committee [1]
- May 8 Thai government announces it will give away one million cannabis plants to households to mark new rule allowing people to grow it at home [1]
Film & TV History
May 8 UK BAFTA Television Awards: "In My Skin" Best Drama, Big Zuu Best Entertainment, Sean Bean and Jodie Comer best acting awards
Warhol's 'Marilyn' Sells for $195m
May 9 An Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe sells for $195 million at auction in New York - the highest price ever for an American artwork [1]
- May 9 Navajo-American composer Raven Chacon receives Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work "Voiceless Mass" [1]
- May 9 Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa submits his resignation to his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid continuing violent protests causing four deaths [1]
- May 10 Apple ends production of its iPod music player after 21 years
Event of Interest
May 10 For the first time Prince Charles delivers the Queen's Speech at the state opening of the UK parliament
- May 10 US reports highest rate of gun-related deaths in 24 years in 2020, according to the CDC, with firearm homicides increasing 35% to 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people nationwide [1]
- May 11 Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shot and killed by Israeli forces in city of Jenin, in the West Bank [1]
- May 11 Costa Rica declares a state of emergency after a ransomware attack infiltrates and cripples several government agencies [1]
- May 11 First ever US government report into Indian boarding school deaths released (not complete), documents more than 500 deaths across 400 schools and 50 gravesites over 150 years [1]
- May 12 "Fat Ham" an adaption of William Shakespeare's Hamlet by James Ijames opens off-Broadway at The Public Theater in New York (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2022)
- May 12 First images published of the supermassive blackhole Sagittarius A* that lies at the heart of the Milky Way captured by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration [1]
- May 12 North Korea orders a national lockdown after confirming its first COVID-19 cases with the Omicron variant. International experts doubt these the first, express concern for its unvaccinated 25 million population [1]
- May 12 Very early Californian wildfire called "a dangerous new normal" by local fire chief after 24 houses destroyed and 900 homes evacuated in Laguna Niguel, Orange County [1]
- May 14 18-year-old gunman kills 10 people and wounds three at a Tops supermarket in east Buffalo, New York, in a racially motivating attack [1]
- May 14 Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine singing "Stefania" win the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy
- May 14 Surrealist artist Man Ray's photograph "Le Violon d'Ingres" sells for $12.4 million, making it the most expensive ever sold at auction [1]
- May 14 US records one million COVID-19 deaths, with The White House ordering flags to fly at half mast through the weekend [1]
Billboard Music Awards
May 15 29th Billboard Music Awards: Olivia Rodrigo wins 7; Drake wins 5; Taylor Swift and BTS also win
- May 15 British rock band "The Who" returns to Cincinnati, Ohio for the first time since tragic December 1979 stampede that killed 11 concert goers [1]
- May 15 Finland's government says it intends to apply to join NATO, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ending decades of neutrality [1]
- May 15 Hassan Sheikh Mohamud elected President of Somalia in a vote restricted to the country's 328 members pf parliament amid security concerns
- May 15 MLB Pirates win 1-0 over Cincinnati Reds, despite getting no hits, in Pittsburgh
Canonization
May 15 Pope Francis canonizes Dutch Roman Catholic priest and anti-Nazi activist Titus Brandsma (1881-1942) as a saint
- May 16 Sri Lanka runs out of petrol, has only enough for one more day, has no cash to pay 1.4 million civil servants, says its newly appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe [1]
- May 16 Sweden formally announces it will seek to join NATO after 200 years of neutrality, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- May 16 Ukraine declares an end to its combat mission in Mariupol, evacuating the last forces from the Azovstal steelworks, symbol of Ukrainian resistance [1]
- May 16 US President Joe Biden approves redeployment of several hundred US ground troops to Somalia, reversing a decision by President Donald Trump [1]
- May 18 Amid a nationwide US baby formula shortage, President Joe Biden invokes the Defense Production Act, requiring suppliers to fulfil orders to baby formula manufacturers first [1]
- May 19 Argentine landmark criminal trial finds state responsible for massacre of more than 400 Qom and Moqoit people in 1924 in the Chaco region. First trial of its kind in Latin America. [1]
- May 19 Environmental pollution caused by “obesogen" toxins is having a significant effect on the obesity crisis and can be passed down through the generations according to major new study [1]
- May 19 Mercedes confirms the sale of world's most expensive car - a 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR coupe for €135 million ($142 million) [1]
- May 19 Oklahoma passes a bill banning nearly all abortions, the most restrictive in the country [1]
Election of Interest
May 21 Australian General Election: Scott Morrison's Coalition government defeated after nine years in power, Anthony Albanese's Labor Party wins the most seats
- May 21 US Navy posthumously awards Navy and Marine Corps Medal to Charles J. French, known as 'the Human Tugboat' for heroic actions in the South Pacific in 1942; award presented at Naval Base San Diego in ceremony which also dedicates base's rescue swimmer training pool in French's honor [1]
PGA Championship
May 22 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Southern Hills CC: 2017 champion Justin Thomas beats Will Zalatoris by 1 stroke in a 3-hole playoff after 54-hole leader Mito Pereira double bogeys the 72nd hole
- May 22 Report released on sexual abuse in US Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant denomination, details 20 years of suppressing many allegations [1]
- May 23 New York City removes its last public payphones in Midtown Manhattan, they will become part of a museum display [1]
- May 23 US President Joe Biden says for the first time he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion
- May 23 US President Joe Biden with countries including India, South Korea and Japan, launches the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in Tokyo, an economic alliance of Asia-Pacific nations to counter Chinese influence [1]
- May 24 19 children and two teachers shot and killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old gunman
Music Concert
May 24 American rock band Aerosmith cancels planned Las Vegas concerts in June and July as singer Steven Tyler returns to drug rehab
- May 24 Leaders of the Quad nations, America, Australia, India and Japan meet in Tokyo, focusing on Chinese aggressions in the Indo-Pacific [1]
- May 25 Russian forces pound eastern Ukrainian cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in attempt to take whole province of Luhansk, with at least 150 deaths [1]
Tedros Re-elected
May 25 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus re-elected Director-General of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland
Top Gun Maverick
May 27 "Top Gun Maverick" the sequel starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly is released 36 years after the original film
- May 27 Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels' opera "Omar" premieres at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina (2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music winner)
- May 27 Ringo Starr's fifteenth All-Starr Band debuts in concert; members include: Steve Lukather, Edgar Winter, Colin Hay, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette, and Warren Ham
- May 28 75th Cannes Film Festival: Swedish director Ruben Ostlund's "Triangle of Sadness " wins the Palme d'Or [1]
- May 28 At least 31 people, mostly children, die in a stampede during a church giveaway event in Port Harcourt, southern Nigeria [1]
- May 28 UEFA Champions League Final, Paris: Carlo Ancelotti becomes first manager to win CL x 4 as Real Madrid beats Liverpool, 1-0
- May 29 At least 79 people reported killed in heavy rains and landslides in the Brazilian northeastern province of Pernambuco, with 56 more missing [1]
- May 29 Indianapolis 500: Marcus Ericsson driving for Chip Ganassi Racing is second wining Swedish-born driver; holds off furious charge from Pato O'Ward with 2 laps to go to win his first Indy 500
- May 29 IPL Cricket Final, Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad: Debut team Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets; Shubman Gill 45no, Hardik Pandya 3/17
- May 29 Jai Hindley becomes only the second Australian cyclist to win a Grand Tour with a 1' 18" victory over 2019 champion Richard Carapaz in the Giro d'Italia
- May 29 Man disguised as an elderly disabled woman throws cake at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, painting undamaged [1]
- May 29 US President Joe Biden visits site of Uvalde school massacre in Texas, as Justice Department announces a review into how law enforcement responded [1]
- May 30 European Union agrees to a plan to block two-thirds of Russian oil [1]
- May 31 Lost 3,400 year-old Bronze Age city unearthed on the Tigris river, Iraq due to drought, likely part of the Mittani Empire, including 100 cuneiform tablets [1]
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies