Reuters historical calendar - May 20
May 13 (Reuters) - Following are some of the major events to have occurred on May 20 since 1900:
1902 - Cuba was handed over to a republican government and the last U.S. troops left.
1927 - Britain signed the Treaty of Jeddah with King Ibn Saud, recognising the independence of Saudi Arabia.
1939 - Pan American Airways began the first regular air mail service across the North Atlantic.
1941 - In World War Two, German troops invaded the Greek island of Crete.
1956 - The first hydrogen bomb to be dropped from the air was exploded by the Americans over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1989 - Chinese authorities imposed martial law in the capital Beijing after student-led protests drew millions of people onto the streets.
1991 - The Soviet parliament approved in principle a law which would allow citizens to travel abroad freely.
1996 - Iraq, its economy devastated by nearly six years of sanctions, accepted a U.N. plan to sell limited quantities of oil in order to buy food and medicine.
1999 - A German court convicted former Nazi Alfons Goetzfrid of war crimes after what was expected to be the last such trial in the country.
1999 - Massimo D'Antona, senior consultant to Italy's labour minister, was shot dead in Rome. A document purporting to come from the Red Brigades claimed responsibility.
2000 - The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference ended at the United Nations with an "unequivocal undertaking" by the five nuclear weapons countries to total nuclear disarmament.
2002 - East Timor declared its independence as the U.N. transferred power from the mission that had run the country since 1999.
2005 - French philosopher Paul Ricoeur died aged 92. A humanist and author of around 30 books including "The Rule of Metaphor," Ricoeur was best known for work in the field of phenomenology -- studying how conscious experiences shape the view of reality.
2006 - Nuri al-Maliki was sworn in as Iraqi prime minister at the head of a national unity government.
2007 - Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta was sworn in as East Timor's president.
REUTERS
