On May 5

Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN was forced to go off-air by the National Telecommunications Commission after Congress failed to renew its franchise granted in 1995.

Aeroflot Flight 1492 was struck by lightning after leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport and caught fire during the subsequent emergency landing attempt, killing 41 people on board.

Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon, resulting in the deaths of all 114 people aboard.

American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime.

The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, 202 years after it was first proposed.

Riots broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police officer shot a Salvadoran man in the chest.

After a 66-day hunger strike, Irish republican Bobby Sands died of starvation in HM Prison Maze.

The British Special Air Service recaptured the Iranian embassy in London following a six-day siege after Iranian Arab separatists had seized it.

Project Mercury: American astronaut Alan Shepard (pictured) made a sub-orbital spaceflight on board Freedom 7, becoming the second person to travel into outer space.

The Netherlands Carillon was inaugurated in Arlington, Virginia, on the 15th anniversary of Dutch Liberation Day.

World War II: The citizens of Prague spontaneously rose up against the city's German occupiers.

World War II: American and German troops fought side-by-side at the Battle for Castle Itter, defending a prison against Waffen-SS forces.

World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers defending Hegra Fortress surrendered to a superior Nazi force after a 25-day siege.

Pitching for the Boston Americans, Cy Young threw the first perfect game in modern professional baseball.

Carnegie Hall (interior pictured) in New York City, built by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert conducted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County.

Led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, the volunteer Expedition of the Thousand set sail from Genoa on a campaign to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a crucial event of the unification of Italy.

Cromwell's Act of Grace, which pardoned the people of Scotland for any crimes committed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, was proclaimed in Edinburgh.

First English Civil War: Charles I surrendered himself to Scottish Covenanter leader David Leslie near Newark, England.