
May 2025: Full list of important national and international days
May is the fifth month of the year and is characterised by good weather and unique observances. It has a broad spectrum of national and international days that are commemorated around the globe. These days, we raise awareness, commemorate special causes, and celebrate the achievements of individuals from various walks of life.From Labour Day, May 1, to World No Tobacco Day, May 31, each week in May is significant. Whether it comes to health, environment, education, mothers, nurses, or cultural heritage, every day provides us with a reason to recall and reminisce.The following is an exhaustive list of significant days in May 2025, along with a brief description of each.advertisementLIST OF IMPORTANT DAYS IN MAY 2025May 1 – International Labour Day / May Day: Commemorates the hard work of working-class individuals and labourers. It's a national holiday in most nations, including India.May 3 – World Press Freedom Day: Honours the role of free and independent media. Reminds us of the danger that journalists risk giving us the truth.May 4 – Coal Miners Day: Celebrates coal miners and their role in the energy industry.May 7 – World Athletics Day: Promotes youth to engage in athletics and sports for improved health.May 8 – World Red Cross Day: Commemorates the birthday of Henry Dunant, the Red Cross founder, and honours humanitarian services.May 9- Maharana Pratap Jayanti: The festival of Maharana Pratap Jayanti celebrates the glorious and courageous reign of Chittor's first ruler. He was a great warrior, the pride of Rajasthan, and a force to be reckoned with. He was the son of Rana Udai Singh II, the king of Mewar.May 11 – National Technology Day (India): Commemorates India's success in nuclear testing in 1998. It celebrates innovation and technology in India.May 11 – Mother's Day (Second Sunday of May): A day to celebrate and recognise mothers and motherhood.May 12 – International Nurses' Day: Observed on the birthday of Florence Nightingale to recognise the service and devotion of nurses all over the world.May 12 - Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima: It is said that Gautama Buddha was born on the full moon of the month of Vaishakh at Lumbini near Kapilavastu. He is also referred to as 'Jyoti Punj of Asia' or 'Light of Asia'. Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima is being celebrated on 12 May this year.May 15 – International Day of Families: Draws attention to the significance of families within society and encourages family well-being.May 17 – World Telecommunication and Information Society Day: Emphasises the use of digital technology and communication in our lives.May 21 – National Anti-Terrorism Day (India): Observed on the anniversary of the death of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, to make people aware of terrorism and its destructive impacts.May 22 – International Day for Biological Diversity: Reminds us to safeguard biodiversity and natural resources for a better future.May 31 – World No Tobacco Day: Motivates individuals to give up smoking and makes them aware of the ill effects of tobacco on health.
May's important days are not merely dates on a calendar. They have messages of awareness, respect, oneness, and development. Whether it is about respecting hardworking people, safeguarding health, or respecting families, every day teaches us something and makes us reflect.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business Standard
Earthquake of magnitude 3.8 jolts Afghanistan, no damage reported yet
Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross ANI Asia An earthquake of magnitude 3.8 on the Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Sunday, a statement by the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said. As per the NCS, the earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10km, making it susceptible to aftershocks. In a post on X, the NCS said, "EQ of M: 3.8, On: 08/06/2025 07:53:19 IST, Lat: 36.61 N, Long: 71.36 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Afghanistan." Shallow earthquakes like this one are more dangerous than deeper ones due to their greater energy release closer to the Earth's surface. This causes stronger ground shaking and increased damage to structures and casualties, compared to deeper earthquakes, which lose energy as they travel to the surface. Earlier on Saturday, an earthquake of 4.2 magnitude jolted the region, NCS said. NCS shared details of the earthquake on X, "EQ of M: 4.2, On: 07/06/2025 01:05:55 IST, Lat: 36.50 N, Long: 67.82 E, Depth: 126 Km, Location: Afghanistan." Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross. Afghanistan sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat. Its location on several active fault lines along the collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates makes it a seismically active region. These plates meet and collide, causing frequent seismic activity. As per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including seasonal flooding, landslides and earthquakes. These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks, UNOCHA noted. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
Florence Anselmo: leading the Red Cross search for the missing
AI- Generated Image GENEVA: Tracing and reuniting family members separated by war, migration and disasters is as "bitter-sweet" now for Florence Anselmo, head of the Red Cross's missing persons agency, as the day she started. At 51, she still gets overcome with emotion during family reunions. "Even on video, it moves me. Fortunately, most of my years in the field were before I became a mother," she told AFP in an interview. "Sometimes I doubt I'd be able to do it again without breaking down in tears." After nine years as head of the Central Tracing Agency (CTA) of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Anselmo is preparing to leave her post in June. The Swiss and Italian national fondly recalls the first reunion she took part in as an ICRC official, in Colombia, aged 26. She walked the last few kilometres (miles) alone through the jungle to recover a hostage from an armed group, before bringing him back to his family, who greeted him in a "completely extraordinary moment of jubilation". Since then, the number of people asking the Red Cross to help find their loved ones has grown "exponentially", Anselmo said, driven by conflicts, ever-longer and more dangerous migration routes and climate change. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 오스템 임플란트 받아가세요 임플란터 더 알아보기 Undo More than 56,000 new cases were registered last year -- up from 13,000 in 2014. Anselmo is particularly moved by "the persistence and astounding courage" of women who risk danger to find their sons or husbands, sometimes venturing across front lines or braving gang violence in countries such as Mexico. "They are often the first to make contact with the families of the opposing side and build bridges between communities that demonise each other," said Anselmo, who also spent 10 years working for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) before returning to the ICRC. Hope and despair In the search for missing people, "there are moments of extreme joy", she said -- sometimes even in simple acts like giving good news to loved ones over the phone or in a letter. "Unfortunately, it's also very often bad news," she stressed. Reunions can also be upsetting. Anselmo recalled bringing back to his family a Burundian child soldier found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "You could see in his eyes... that he had experienced things that had robbed him of his childhood," she said. "It was a little bitter-sweet because there was the parents' joy but we realised that returning to normal life was going to be complicated." By 2024, the ICRC was trying to trace approximately 255,000 missing persons. This is only "the tip of the iceberg", as people often turn to the Red Cross only as a last resort, Anselmo said. For the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria alone, 116,000 and 35,000 cases respectively have been registered with the CTA. In all crises around the world people want, above all else, to be reunited with their loved ones. Family members are often left in a state of "ambiguous loss" that makes them "oscillate between hope and despair, and unable to move on", she explained. And in the current era of "financial contraction", the agency must sometimes restrict its criteria for accepting new cases - something which troubles Anselmo. After growing up in the Swiss countryside and studying political science in Lausanne, she began her career in humanitarian work with a Swiss organisation helping asylum seekers, before joining the Geneva-based ICRC. Mammoth task in Syria The CTA's predecessor, the Basel agency, began its work during the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War. More than a century and a half on, artificial intelligence is now helping triangulate data to find missing persons. But the digital world brings its own dangers. In 2022, cyber-attackers seized the confidential data of more than 500,000 vulnerable people from the ICRC's servers, information relating to the movement's family links services. Anselmo hopes the tracing agency will be able to bring its experience to bear in Syria. The fate of tens of thousands of detainees and others who went missing remains one of the most harrowing legacies of Syria's long years of civil war, which erupted in 2011. "It's quite dizzying. We hear about mass graves but also individual graves that are still being discovered every day," she said. Estimates put the number of missing persons in Syria at between 100,000 and 200,000. Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December 2024. Anselmo welcomed the new Syrian authorities' creation last month of a national commission for missing persons. But she explained that "even a government with the most sophisticated forensic system could not tackle such a mammoth task alone".


New Indian Express
6 days ago
- New Indian Express
Bengaluru police enforce COTPA, collect fine of Rs 21 lakh
BENGALURU: City Police Commissioner B Dayananda on Tuesday said strict enforcement will follow the recent amendment to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). Public smoking or consumption of tobacco or nicotine, including chewing substances, is banned. Violators will be fined Rs 1,000, and shop owners who allow smoking in public places will also be fined Rs 1,000, he said. Under Section 4 of COTPA, there is a provision to book shop owners, and police have registered 11,507 cases and collected over Rs 21 lakh in fines. Dayananda told reporters on the occasion of 'World No-Tobacco Day' that a three-day special drive was conducted to raise awareness. Campaigns such as street plays, rallies, and speeches were organised with the help of police officers, student police marshals, and volunteers. Additionally, 5,667 police personnel and 6,448 members of the public took a pledge on World No Tobacco Day.