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A timeline of events in the news for May, 2002.

See also:

• Afghanistan timeline May 2002

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.

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 AM 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 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 26, 2002

• Space exploration: The BBC reports that the NASA space probe Mars Odyssey has found signs of huge ice deposits on the planet Mars.

May 24, 2002

• An article in the journal Science reports that a new naturally-occurring amino acid has been found in a certain type of archaic bacteria. This puts the total number of known amino acids used in living organisms to 22. Scientists are calling this new amino acid Pyrrolysine.

May 23, 2002

• Recent celebrity deaths: Golfer Sam Snead dies at 89.
• The Indian-Pakistani conflict intensifies in the Kashmir region. Both powers have nuclear weapons.

May 22, 2002

• Recent (discovery of) celebrity deaths: Police find the remains of missing intern Chandra Levy in a park in Washington, DC.

May 21, 2002

• Recent celebrity deaths: The French artist Niki de Saint Phalle dies in San Diego, California, aged 71.

May 20, 2002

• East Timor becomes an independent state.
• Recent celebrity deaths: Stephen Jay Gould dies.

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 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 deminished to half of their former size. Ad Melkert (PvdA) resigns as political leader of his party.

May 9, 2002

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Muhammad al-Madani , governor of Bethlehem, leaves the Church of the Nativity
• Israel calls up additional reserve forces and moves tanks into position for an expected incursion into the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the most recent suicide bombing.

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 7, 2002

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 15 and wounds 58 in a billiards and gambling club in Rishon le Zion at approximately 11 pm local time, while Ariel Sharon is meeting with President Bush in Washington D.C.

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.

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.

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