Portal:Current events/2004 May 1
May 1, 2004 (Saturday)
- EU enlargement: Ten new member states (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) join the European Union, increasing the EU's population by 75 million people to a total of roughly 455 million. (BBC) (Guardian)
- In Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, gunmen kill five Westerners and a Saudi security guard in a shooting spree and car chase. (BBC)
- A fire at the Parco dei Principe hotel in Rome kills three, and forces the evacuation of a number of professional tennis stars, including Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Mariano Zabaleta, and Max Mirnyi. (AP)
- Smarty Jones wins the Kentucky Derby. (AP)
- The separatist region of Ajaria attempts to sever its links from Georgia by blowing up the three bridges connecting it to the rest of the country over the Choloki River. (AP)
- Riot police clash with masked left-wing anarchists in Berlin and Leipzig, Germany. 100 people are arrested. (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters AlertNet)
- The Rochester Americans rally from a 3–1 series deficit to defeat the Syracuse Crunch the first round of the American Hockey League playoffs at the Onondaga County War Memorial.