List of May 1st Major News Events

1 May, 1941 U.S.A. Code Talkers

1941 : The first "Code talkers" Navajo Indians are specially recruited by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater, they provide an unbreakable combat voice communications code.

1941 U.S.A. Citizen Kane

1941 : The movie "Citizen Kane," the first feature film directed by Orson Welles, also starring Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane premiers in New York.

1925 Germany Field Marshall Hinderburg

1925 : Field Marshall Hinderburg a right wing conservative was elected as the president of Germany.

1931 U.S.A. Al Capone

1931 : The Gangster Al Capone is being sought for questioning over the murder of Mike De Pike Hitler from a rival gang by detectives in Chicago a number of other members of his gang.

1931 U.S.A. Kate Smith

1931 : Kate Smith began her radio career on CBS. She became best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's song "God Bless America." Her career spanned an amazing five decades and peaked during the 1940s

1937 U.S.A. Neutrality Acts

1937 : America strengthens it's Neutrality Act first passed in 1935 and amended in 1936 which created an embargo on arms trading with the countries at war, loans or credits to countries at war. In 1937 the Neutrality Act was amended again stating "all trade with countries involved in war must be conducted on a cash-and-carry basis."

1942 England Free French Resistance

1942 : The leader of the Free French Military Resistance Movement based in London Charles De Gaulle is rallying troops and support to help keep up the fight for freedom for his french compatriots.

1961 Cuba Castro Bans Elections

1961 : Castro bans elections in Cuba saying "The revolution has no time for elections." and telling the 10,000's who attended the May Day Celebrations Cuba is a socialist country. He has also stated all Roman Catholic priests would be expelled and all Roman Catholic and private schools would be nationalized.

1965 Santa Dominica Fighting

1965 : Fierce fighting is still happening on the streets in Dominica between US Paratroopers and local forces despite a cease fire having been agreed and signed.

1967 U.S.A. Elvis Presley Marries

1967 : Elvis Presley, married his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, 21, at a at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas.

1971 US AMTRAK

1971 : Amtrak went into service, to provide inter city passenger train services. All Amtrak's preferred stock is owned by the U.S. federal government.

1973 England 1.5 Million Strike On Day of Protest

1973 : About one and a half million workers joined the TUC call for a one-day strike in protest at the government's pay restraint policy and price rises. The biggest effect was in the transport industry including the railways which forced many others to stay home because they could not get to work.

1977 Turkey Gunfight

1977 : A march by 100,000 May Day protesters turned into a gunfight between rival leftist groups and 33 people were left dead from the fighting.

1982 Knoxville World's Fair

1982 : The 1982 World’s Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee. The theme of the year was “Energy Turns the World” and more than 11 million people visited the exposition during the seven months that it was open.

1982 Falkland Islands British Bombing

1982 : British Warships and Fighter Bombers bombed Argentinean positions at Port Stanley on the Islands as war broke out over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands after Argentina invaded the Islands.

1994 Italy Ayrton Senna

1994 : The Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna has been killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, near Bologna in Italy.

1997 England Labour Party

1997 : After nearly 20 years of Conservative government, British voters give the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, a landslide victory in British parliamentary elections.

2001 U.S.A. 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

2001 : Thomas E. Blanton Jr. became the second ex-Ku Klux Klansman to be convicted in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing by members of a Ku Klux Klan group in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombing of the African-American church resulted in the deaths of four girls.

2005 North Korea Tests Missile

2005 : The United States monitored apparent military tests in North Korea. Reports had been that the North Korean military fired short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

2006 U.S.A. Hispanic Immigrant Strike

2006 : The Great American Strike was a one day boycott of United States schools and businesses by immigrants, both legal and illegal, mostly Latin American origin it is estimated that one million people participated in the demonstrations of mostly Hispanic immigrants skipped work and took to the streets in protest at the immigration reform proposals.

2006 Bolivia Nationalizes Natural Gas Reserves

2006 : President Evo Morales signs decree nationalizing hydrocarbons including natural gas, he Ordered the military and engineers of YPFB, the state firm, to occupy and secure energy installations, and gave 6 months for current operators to re-negotiate contracts which would increase the percentage of revenue to the government from resources by 20%.

2007 UK Animal Rights Extremists Arrested in Raids

2007 : Police across the United Kingdom and Europe arrested over thirty people believed to be involved with extremist animal rights groups who were targeting various organizations and businesses. Some crimes the police believed these groups were planning to commit or had already committed included burglary and blackmail.

2008 Australia Ongoing Drought

2008 : Australia's drought continues and is presently in the grip of what the locals call the "Big Dry" the worst period of drought in a century. The effects of this ongoing drought range from up to 10% of farmers giving up to wheat production going from a high of 25m tonnes of wheat each year to wheat crops below 10m tonnes per year a decrease of more than 50%.

2008 China Imposes Smoking Ban

2008 : In an effort to improve the Chinese capital city of Beijing ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the government has banned smoking in most public buildings. The government has enlisted nearly 100,000 current employees to act as enforcers of the ban. The ban is also a measure to improve health conditions in the country, as a large percentage of its population are smokers.

2009 UBS Refuses to Share Bank Information with US

2009 : The Swiss bank, UBS, refused to share information with the Internal Revenue Service in the United States on over 50,000 customers who are believed to be hiding up to fifteen billion dollars in taxes in Swiss bank accounts. The largest bank in Switzerland argued that releasing that information would violate the law in Switzerland after the IRS began a civil lawsuit against the bank in order to find out the identity of the secret account holders.

2010 Expo 2010 opens in Shanghai, China

2010 : Expo 2010 opens in Shanghai, China it is the largest World's Fair site ever at 5.28 square km.

2010 Legionaries of Christ Catholic Order Overhauled by Vatican

2010 : Pope Benedict XVI ordered that the Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic order founded by Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, be purified. The order's founding priest had been accused of sexually abusing boys for over thirty years, among other allegations, but had denied those claims until his death in 2006. The statement came from the Pope after an investigation by bishops concluded that the allegations were indeed true.

2012 - US Occupy Wall Street Holds Protests

2012 : Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered across the US to stage a day of protest for International Workers' Day. Thousands of people gathered in New York, Oakland, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago to peacefully protest, marking the first major protest since police disabled the movement's camps across the country in late 2011.

2013 Flash Floods in Saudi Arabia

2013 : Flash floods across Saudi Arabia left at least thirteen people dead. Heavy rainfall flooded plains and valleys in the desert country and the rains were reported to be the heaviest to hit Saudi Arabia in over twenty-five years.