South Africa raids ANC camps in three states

1986 - South African forces raided three African states in an effort to destroy bases used by the anti-apartheid organisation the African National Congress (ANC), killing three people and provoking a storm of international protest. The United States, Pretoria’s main ally, “vigorously condemned” the raids, saying they were outrageous and inexplicable. Witnesses said aircraft, military helicopters and ground forces were used to attack what Pretoria said wore bases of the ANC black nationalist group in or near the capitals of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Botswana said one person was killed in the raid near Gaborone, Zambia said two people died in the raid near Lusaka and Zimbabwean government sources said they feared some people might have been kidnapped.

May 19

1792 - Russia invades Poland, resulting in the second partition of the country.

1881 - The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.

1898 - First postcards are authorised by the US Post Office.

1926 - American inventor Thomas Edison speaks on the radio for the first time, at a dinner for National Electric Light Association in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1935 - T.E. Lawrence, also known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, dies in England.

1967 - Soviet Union ratifies treaty with US and Britain banning nuclear weapons in outer space.

1975 - Junko Tabei of Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1984 - Ajman cement factory is inaugurated.

1990 - US and Soviet Union reach an agreement to limit long-range nuclear arms.

1991 - Thousands of protesters wielding pipes battle riot police for more than 12 hours in Kwangju, South Korea, in fiercest fighting in three weeks of anti-government protests.

1993 - A Colombian jetliner crashes near Medellin, killing 132.

1997 - Olivier de Kersauson sets a new round-the-world sailing record by circling the globe in 71 days.

1998 - Indonesian students storm the Parliament in Jakarta demanding President Suharto’s resignation.

1999 - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepts principles of a Kosovo peace plan as Nato jets bomb Belgrade suburbs.

2004 - The world’s first embryonic stem cell bank opens in the UK.

2004 - Manmohan Singh is named Prime Minister of India.

2005 - CSKA Moscow becomes the first Russian club to win a European trophy after beating Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup final.

2012 - Tamae Watanabe at the age of 73 becomes the oldest woman to climb Mount Everest.

2013 - Tornadoes ravage portions of central Oklahoma, reducing sections of a mobile home park to rubble and killing 24 people.

2014 - The World Free Zones Organisation (World FZO) launches in Dubai.