Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are killed.

General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.

Jack Kevorkian is released from prison after serving eight years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.

The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam.

Dolphinarium massacre: an Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.

Nepalese royal massacre : Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shoots and kills several members of his family including his father and mother, King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aiswarya.

American Airlines Flight 1420 slides and crashes while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock.

Dobrinja mortar attack: 13 are killed and 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells are fired at a soccer game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo.

George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.

Oba Chandler murders an Ohio family on their Florida vacation by drowning them in Tampa Bay.

Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.

The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power.

The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed.

Flixborough disaster: an explosion at a chemical plant kills 28 people.

The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal ''Emergency Medicine''.

Kenya gains internal self-rule (Madaraka Day).

New Zealand's first official television broadcast commences at 7.30pm from Auckland.

Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.

First international flight (to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport - YUL) from the Atlanta Municipal Airport (ATL); now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and currently the world's busiest airport)

Ion Antonescu, "Conducator" (leader) of Romania during World War 2, is executed.

British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation the downing was an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

World War II: the Warsaw paper ''Liberty Brigade'' publishes the first news of the concentration camps.

The Farhud, a pogrom of Iraqi Jews, takes place in Baghdad.

World War II: Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.

The Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation goes out of business, giving the City of New York full control of the subway system in the city.

The Leninist Communist Youth League of the Karelo-Finnish SSR holds its first congress.

Maiden flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (D-OPZE) fighter aeroplane

The first driving tests are introduced in the United Kingdom.

The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary is founded.

Tulsa Race Riot: civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Adolfo de la Huerta becomes President of Mexico.

World War I, Western Front (World War I)|Western Front: Battle for Belleau Wood

Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition leaves England.

The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.

The railroads of the Southern United States convert 11,000 miles of track from a five foot rail gauge to standard gauge, beginning May 31.

Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.

Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric voting machine.

Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.

American Civil War, Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks) ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.

Charles Baudelaire's ''Fleurs du mal'' is published.

American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua.

James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole.

Napoleon swears fidelity to the Constitution of France.

James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the {{USS|Chesapeake|1799|6}}, gives his final order: "Don't give up the ship!"

War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.

Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.

The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.

Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, is court-martialed for malfeasance.

The Scottish Covenanters defeat John Graham of Claverhouse at the Battle of Drumclog.

Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.

Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky.

Alfonso X is elected King of Castile and León.

Beijing, then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Beijing.

King Philip Augustus of France conquers Rouen.

Hugh Capet is elected King of France.

Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is assassinated.