2021-05-08

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV (pictured), making him the first pope born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenship, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second from the Americas after his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis.

A British Special Air Service unit ambushed a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, killing eight IRA members and one civilian.

The Soviet Union announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, citing security concerns.

Great American Revolution opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain, California.

Four members of Black September hijacked Sabena Flight 571 to demand the release of 315 Palestinians convicted on terrorism charges.

Construction workers attacked students and others who were protesting the Vietnam War in New York City.

In Huế, South Vietnam, soldiers opened fire into a crowd of Buddhists protesting against a government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Phật Đản, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.

South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm began a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.

The Tollund Man, a naturally mummified corpse, was discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark.

A parade in Sétif, French Algeria, celebrating the end of World War II in Europe became a riot and was followed by reprisals, carried out by colonial authorities over the following weeks, that killed thousands.