1679-Habeas Corpus Act passes in England, strengthening a person's right to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment
1703-Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great
1905-Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history
1940-British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during World War II
1963-Jomo Kenyatta elected 1st Prime Minister of Kenya
1999-The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
2006-Earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta, killing over 6,600 people