- May 5
- Labour beats Conservatives in British local elections. [1]
- North-Yemen air force bombs Aden, South Yemen. [1]
- May 6
- A rail tunnel under the English Channel is officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. England's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand preside over the opening ceremony. The channel tunnel, the world's longest undersea tunnel (23 miles), connects Folkstone, England, with Sangatte, France, cutting travel time between England and France to 35 minutes. Tunnel construction began in June 1988, and cost US$16 billion to complete. [1] [30] [129]
- Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress finally confirmed winners in South Africa elections. [1]
- May 7
- Norway's most famous painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, is recovered from a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo. [1] [129]
- Margaret Skeete, oldest American, dies at age 115. [1]
- May 8
- Ernesto Pérez Balladares elected President of Panamá. [1]
- José Maria Figueres becomes President of Costa Rica. [1]
- US President Bill Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people. [1]
- The Vietnamese ship Chanoco I and the Taiwanese ship Unihumanity collide in the Long Tau river near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, spilling about 233,000 litres of oil into the river. [522]
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- May 10
- Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy (age 52) by lethal injection for the murder of 33 young men and boys. [1] [30]
- Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's president. [1] [30] [129]
- An annular eclipse of the sun is visible across much of North America. [30]
- Silvio Berlusconi forms Italian Government with five neo-fascists. [1]
- May 11
- Grease opens at Eugene O' Neill Theater in New York City for 1,503 performances. [1]
- Six white racists sentenced to death in South Africa. [1]
- May 12
- U.K. Labour Party leader John Smith, 55, dies of a heart attack. Deputy leader Margaret Beckett stands in until an election can be held. [1] [30]
- May 13
- The Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Jericho. [129]
- May 16
- Joaquín Balaguer (86), elected President of Dominican Republic. [1]
- May 17
- Bakili Muluzi's UDF wins Malawi presidents/parliamentary election. [1]
- Malawi holds its first multiparty elections. [30]
- May 18
- (to May 19) The Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from most of the Gaza Strip. [1] [129]
- May 19
- An acoustic guitar previously owned by David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and George Michael sells for a record US$300,000 dollars at a charity auction in London, England. [457]
- May 21
- South Yemen secedes from Yemen. [1]
- Sushmita Sen, 18, of India, crowned 43rd Miss Universe. [1]
- May 23
- 270 pilgrims die in bustle round Mina Saudi-Arabia. [1]
- Roman Herzog is elected President of Germany. [1] [37]
- May 27
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia after 20 years in exile. [1]
- May 29
- Great comet-iceball seen above North Sea. [1]
- Hungary's Socialist Party wins parliamentary election. [1]
- June 2
- In South of Jawa, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurs. At least 250 people killed, 27 missing, 423 injured and many left homeless. About 1,500 houses damaged or destroyed and 278 boats sunk or damaged. Most of the casualties and damage were caused by a tsunami along the southeast coast of Jawa. [53]
- June 5
- In Taiwan, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurs. [53]
- Greek cargo ship Sea Transporter runs aground in a cyclone off Aguada, India, spilling 815,500 litres of oil. [522]
- June 6
- In Colombia, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. At least 295 people killed, 500 missing, 13,000 homeless and severe damage caused to houses, highways and bridges by the earthquake and ensuing landslides. [53]
- (to June 8) Ceasefire negotiations for the Yugoslav War begin in Geneva, Switzerland; they agree to a one-month cessation of hostilities. [30]
- June 9
- In Northern Bolivia, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake occurs. Felt at many locations in North America, including Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts and Toronto, Canada. This is believed to be the first earthquake from this part of South America to be felt in North America and is also believed to be the largest ever recorded in this general area. [53]
- June 12
- Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles, California. (O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.) [30]
- June 14
- Hacker Kevin Poulsen pleads guilty to seven counts of mail fraud, wire and computer fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. [30]
- June 15
- Israel and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations. [30]
- Buena Vista releases the film The Lion King to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $952 million (1st for 1994).) [941]
- June 18
- In South Island, New Zealand, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. [53]
- June 20
- Chinese bulk carrier Apollo Sea sinks off South Africa shortly after leaving Saldanha Bay, creating an oil slick washing ashore on Dassen Island. [522]
- June 28
- Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release a sarin gas attack at Matsumoto, Japan. Seven persons killed, 660 injured. [30]
- June 29
- In Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, an Australian record cold temperature of -9.4 degrees F is recorded. [54]
- July 1
- Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat arrives in Gaza. [129]
- July 7
- Aden is occupied by troops from North Yemen. [30]
- July 8
- Death of Kim Il-sung, President of North Korea (born 1912). [30] [246.60]
- July 12
- The German Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgericht) judges that German troops may participate outside of Germany in security missions. [37]
- American president Bill Clinton visits Berlin and states to the Berliners, "America stands at your side - now and forever." [37]
- July 15
- Microsoft reaches a settlement with the US Department of Justice regarding alleged monopolistic operating system licensing practices. Microsoft agrees to change some of its practices of how it sells its operating systems to vendors in the United States and Europe. (Judge Stanley Sporkin rejects the decree in February, but Judge Thomas Jackson approves it in August 1995.) [4]
- July 18
- In Buenos Aires, a terrorist attack destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more. [30]
- July 25
- Israel and Jordan sign the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948. [30]
- July 29
- The German Bundestag votes to privatize the postal system. The postal service, the telephone service and the postal bank are to be privatized by January 1, 1995. [37]
- August 1
- Fire destroys Norwich Central Library in the United Kingdom, including most of its historical records. [30]
- The University of London founds the School of Advanced Study, a group of postgraduate research institutes. [30]
- August 3
- Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 150 millionth guest. [6]
- August 5
- Groups of protesters spread from Havana, Cuba's Castillo de la Punta ("Point Castle"), creating the first protests against Fidel Castro's government since 1959. [30]
- August 11
- The Columbus Iselin, a ship conducting oil spill research, runs aground in the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary off the Florida Keys and leaks fuel. [522]
- August 12
- Woodstock 1994 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969. [30]
- August 18
- In Northern Algeria, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurs. At least 159 people are killed, 289 injured, 8,000 to 10,000 left homeless and thousands of houses destroyed in Mascara Province. [53]
- August 20
- In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance at the Neal Blaisdell Arena, a female elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Campbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators. [30]
- August 31
- The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces a "complete cessation of military operations." [30]
- Russian army leaves Estonia. [30]
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