Today in History: May 7, RMS Lusitania torpedoed, sunk by German submarine
In 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, out of the nearly 2,000 on board.
Advertisement
In 1945, Nazi Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending its role in World War II.
Advertisement
In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces; it would be the last major battle of the First Indochina War.
In 1958, it was revealed that the last cotton textiles mill in Berkshire County was being closed. Owned by the Berkshire-Hathaway Company, it had operated for about 150 years and employed about 1,000 workers at the time of closing.
In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally declared an end to the 'Vietnam era.' In Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.
In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories.
In 1984, Monsanto and six other chemical companies agreed to pay a $180 million settlement to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
In 2020, Georgia authorities arrested a white father and son and charged them with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood near the port city of Brunswick. (The two men and a third white man would be convicted of murder in state court and hate crimes in federal court.)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says nationwide immigration raids on the way, rioters to face 'greater force' than LA
President Donald Trump said Americans can expect additional immigration raids across the country similar to the ones in California, while warning that any potential riots that break out in response to the raids will be met with "equal or greater force" compared to the government's handling of recent Los Angeles violence. "Mr. President, these protests obviously started in reaction to these large-scale ICE operations in Los Angeles. Should people expect to see similar operations in the rest of the country and with similar protests, similar responses?" a reporter asked the president from the Oval Office early Tuesday afternoon. "Yeah, as you know, we're moving murderers out of our country that were put here by Biden or the autopen," Trump responded, referring to the Biden administration's use of an autopen to sign official documents that Trump has argued indicated Biden staffers were in charge of high-profile decisions and not former President Joe Biden. "The people are criminals that allowed these criminals into our country," Trump continued. "And I don't think that Biden knew what the hell he was doing. I don't think he even knew about it. But when they opened up our borders for the whole world to come in, yeah, we're going to get them out. We're getting them out." 'Delusional' Hillary Clinton Savagely Mocked For La Riots Response: 'Only Leftists Disable Comments' The president was addressing efforts by federal agencies to address wildfire management and prevention as the nation heads into the summer months, and he took a bevvy of questions from reporters regarding the riots that have spiraled in Los Angeles since Friday. Read On The Fox News App Watch: Dem, Media Outlets Insist La Anti-ice Riots Are 'Peaceful' Despite Violence, Injured Cops Riots broke out in the left-wing city Friday evening after federal law enforcement officials converged on Los Angeles to carry out immigration raids as part of Trump's vow to deport illegal aliens who flooded the nation under the Biden administration. Local leaders such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, quickly denounced the raids in public statements while offering words of support for illegal aliens in the state. Protests over the raids soon devolved into violence as rioters targeted federal law enforcement officials, including throwing rocks, with videos showing people looting stores, setting cars on fire and taking over a freeway. Musk Does Immediate 180 On Trump As Soon As La Riots Rage Trump announced Saturday that he was deploying 2,000 National Guard members to help quell the violence, bypassing the governor, who typically activates the National Guard. The move sparked Newsom to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for efforts to allegedly "federalize the California National Guard," while Democrats across the nation have attempted to pin blame for the violence on Trump's activation of the National Guard while characterizing the anti-ICE riots as "peaceful" demonstrations. Trump continued Tuesday that if riots break out in other areas of the country in response to immigration raids, violent protesters will be met with "equal or greater force" than those participating in the L.A. riots. "If we didn't attack this one very strongly, you'd have them all over the country," he said. "But I can inform the rest of the country that when they do it, if they do it, they're going to be met with equal or greater force than we met right here." Illegal immigrants in the U.S. "come from jails, and they come from mental institutions, and they come from all over the world, not just South America," Trump added. "And we're not going to let them stay." As the riots continued on Monday, the Trump administration deployed hundreds of Marines to respond to the chaos. Newsom's Political Future 'Practically Nonexistent' As La Devolves Into Riots, Social Media Critics Predict "Approximately 700 Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division will seamlessly integrate with the Title 10 forces under Task Force 51 who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area," U.S. Northern Command said in a Monday statement. Trump defended in a Truth Social post early Tuesday morning that if he "didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now." "Much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. do to an incompetent Governor and Mayor — Incidentally, the much more difficult, time consuming, and stringent FEDERAL PERMITTING PROCESS is virtually complete on these houses, while the easy and simple City and State Permits are disastrously bungled up and WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE! They are a total mess, and will be for a long time. People want to rebuild their houses. Call your incompetent Governor and Mayor, the Federal permitting is DONE!!!" Trump continued, referring to the thousands of homes that burned in southern California wildfires that gripped the Los Angeles area in January. The Trump administration's immigration raids and deportation efforts are part of the president's campaign pledge to remove the millions of illegal immigrants that flooded the nation under the Biden article source: Trump says nationwide immigration raids on the way, rioters to face 'greater force' than LA
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
LA ignores calls for peaceful protests, helps bump up Trump's approval ratings on immigration
Violent protests in Los Angeles over the weekend continued overnight Monday into Tuesday, including instances of looting and vandalism despite calls from high-level California officials to refrain from violence and follow the path of civil disobedience. More than 100 people were arrested Monday night, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. That's up from 50 arrests over the weekend. Bass blamed 'fringe groups' for the violence. 'What we're seeing downtown is just horrible, but you know that the majority of people that attended the protest this afternoon were peaceful,' Bass told KABC-TV. Trump deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen on Friday night despite warnings from California officials that protests could become more volatile with military presence. These troops were expected to help protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents as they carried out their duties, and to protect federal buildings. Trump also called up 700 Marines, as well as an additional 2,000 National Guardsmen in the following days, making 4,000 National Guard troops in total. Sen. Mike Lee in a post on X Monday morning said, 'Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass helped create this problem, President Trump is fixing it.' On Tuesday, California asked a federal judge for an emergency order to block the Trump White House from using the National Guard in California. The day prior, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration for sending troops to L.A. without asking the governor and accused the president of purposefully sowing division and chaos. The lawsuit described the unrest as 'primarily peaceful protests with some acts of violence' that 'do not rise to the level of a rebellion. ' On Sunday, protesters burned several self-driving taxi Waymo vehicles while waving Mexican flags. They also blocked roads and freeways and started several confrontational run-ins with the Los Angeles Police Department. Still, Newsom and other state and federal officials called for protesters to remain peaceful. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chimed in through a post on X Monday, saying, 'Dr. King defeated racist government officials & ended segregation through disciplined non-violent resistance.' 'Violent protests are counterproductive and play right into Trump's playbook,' Sanders added. Thomas Chatterton Williams from The Atlantic called scenes unfolding in Southern California over the weekend 'catastrophic messaging.' 'In what world (not this one) can a protest movement whose symbols are torching Waymo taxis and waving *foreign* flags appeal to most Americans?' Williams, in another post, said, 'The civil rights movement literally laid out the blueprint and no one can manage to follow it.' Rep. Nanette Díaz Barragán, D-Calif., encouraged peaceful protests in an interview with PBS News. She also blamed the violence on a few bad actors. 'We do not believe that people should be throwing items at law enforcement,' Barragán said. 'I will also say, I think that last night we saw people who were taking advantage of the situation, who I don't think were there really to protest the immigration conduct and activity. They were destroying property, they were looting.' She added those individuals are going against the cause and should be arrested. Trump's approval ratings on immigration shot up ahead of the weekend. Roughly 54% of voters approved of the Trump administration's deportation policy. In comparison, 46% disapprove, according to a CBS News poll on Trump's immigration policy, conducted from June 4-6, before the National Guard's deployment to California. The poll also found 53% of voters said they believed the Trump administration was deporting dangerous criminals first and 47% said they didn't believe that was the case. Real Clear Politics' polling average shows 'Trump holds a net -2.1 approval rating overall, but a +4.5 approval rating on immigration.' Trump's approval rating on immigration experienced a positive shift compared to his first term in office, moving from -21% in 2017 to +1 as of this week, CNN's data analyst Harry Enten noted. 'There is no issue on which Trump is doing so much better than he was in his first term more than the issue of immigration,' he said. 'Trump is begging for a fight on this. He knows what he's doing so far is working with the American electorate.' Bass said she thinks Trump is using L.A. as its test subject. 'I think we're an experiment because if you can do this to the nation's second largest city, maybe the administration is hoping that this will be a signal to everybody everywhere to fear them,' the L.A. mayor said. 'That your federal government that historically has protected you can come in and take over.'
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
8 Mass. residents accused of stealing nearly $9 million in federal tax refunds
Eight Massachusetts residents have been charged as part of an ongoing investigation into Massachusetts-based theft of U.S. Treasury tax refunds, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday. The defendants are facing theft of government funds charges in connection with stealing a total of more than $8.8 million in taxpayer dollars in 2023 and 2024, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a press release. The defendants are accused of stealing between $150,000 and over $2.5 million. Each one is accused of altering a U.S. Treasury tax refund check or credit that was due to a taxpayer to make it payable to shell companies within their control, the U.S. Attorney's office said. They then deposited the check or credit in bank accounts around Greater Boston. The defendants include: Framingham resident Gurprit Singh, 34, who is charged with stealing $2,547,508. Leominster resident Jesse El-Ghoul, 31, who is charged with stealing $1,355,863. Framingham resident Domingo Villari, 49, who is charged with stealing $1,288,575. Quincy resident Eric Banks, 70, who is charged with stealing $1,173,482. Brockton resident Gino Rosario Tyler Alexander Allegra, 31, who is charged with stealing $861,646. Woburn resident Nnamdi Opara, 30, who is charged with stealing $700,767. Framingham resident Amarpreet Singh, 33, who is charged with stealing $536,214. Boston resident Lonnie Smith-Matthews, 33, who is charged with stealing $150,000, as well as bank fraud in the amount of $232,588. 'As alleged, these defendants stole millions in tax refunds owed to hardworking Americans and used Massachusetts businesses and community banks to defraud the U.S. Treasury,' Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in the release. 'Would-be thieves should understand that taking government money is not a victimless crime. If you cash or deposit a refund check that you know is not yours, you will be prosecuted.' It is unclear whether the defendants have any kind of relationship with one another or whether they were part of an organized effort to steal tax refunds. The U.S. Attorney's office also did not say whether or not more defendants are expected to be charged in connection with the ongoing investigation. Banks, El-Ghoul, Gurprit Singh, Opara, Smith-Matthews and Villari were arraigned in federal court in Boston on Friday, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Allegra and Amarpreet Singh were still at-large as of Friday. The charge of theft of government funds provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Stoughton man sentenced to probation for killing Mass. couple in OUI crash Sex offender arrested after woman in Mass. Target fitting room is filmed while changing Suspect wanted in Brockton shopping plaza shooting turns himself in to police Mass. 13-year-old charged with driving stolen car following car chase with police 2 Lynn men plead guilty to shooting that killed Boston man at playground Read the original article on MassLive.
