1931 - Michel Shiro was executed for plotting to assassinate the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
1953 - New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, the first people to climb the world's highest mountain. This achievement was not reported to the world until June 1.
1979 - Actress Mary Pickford, a silent film star, passed away.
1979 - Bishop Abel Muzorewa was sworn in as the first black Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, which was known by that name for a brief period before independence from Britain.
1985 - 39 football fans, mostly Italians, were crushed to death during riots involving supporters of Liverpool and Juventus at the European Cup final in Heysel Stadium, Brussels.
1994 - Erich Honecker, who ruled communist East Germany for 18 years and oversaw the construction of the Berlin Wall, died in exile in Chile at the age of 81.
1999 - The American space shuttle Discovery became the first spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.
2001 - An American court convicted four followers of Saudi opposition figure Osama bin Laden for a plot to kill Americans abroad, including the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.
2002 - Britain appointed its first black minister, Paul Boateng, to the deputy position in the Treasury.
2004 - The National World War II Memorial was officially dedicated.
2009 - Music producer Phil Spector, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to at least 19 years in prison for killing Hollywood actress in 2003. He was convicted of second-degree murder after a second trial in April.
