Today in History

May 2

1843 - The Provisional Government of Oregon is established.

1907 - Jules baron de Trooz forms Belgian government.

1918 - The Chevrolet Motor Company merges with General Motors (GM) and becomes a division of GM.

1926 - US military intervenes in Nicaragua.

1933 - Adolf Hitler abolishes trade unions in Germany.

1936 - Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie is exiled to Djibouti following invasion by Italy.

1942 - Japanese troops occupy Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar). 1945 - Soviet Union announces fall of Berlin during Second World War. 1952 - Jet plane passenger service is launched in the United States. 1953 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq on his 18th birthday.

1965 - The ‘Early Bird’ satellite is used to send television pictures across the Atlantic for the first time.

1969 - British liner Queen Elizabeth 2 leaves on maiden voyage to New York.

1972 - After serving 48 years as head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover dies in Washington at age 77.

1990 - Syrian and Egyptian leaders signal a new era of Arab unity, holding landmark talks after 13 years of mistrust over Cairo’s peace with Israel.

1994 - Nelson Mandela claims victory in South Africa’s first democratic elections.

1997 - Tony Blair becomes Britain’s youngest prime minister.

2002 - Israeli troops depart the West Bank city of Ramallah, freeing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after more than a month of confinement in his compound. 2010 - British actress Lynn Redgrave dies from breast cancer, at the age of 67.

2011 - Osama Bin Laden is killed in Pakistan in a firefight with US special forces.

2013 - UAE and Japan sign two major agreements for cooperation in nuclear energy and avoidance of double taxation.

2016 - Scientists discover three “potentially habitable” planets outside solar system.

2017 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejoins the ruling Justice and Development Party after three years.