TODAY IN HISTORY  MAY 4
In 1494, on his second expedition to the New World, Columbus discovered (RAN INTO) Jamaica.
In 1904, construction began on the Panama Canal.
In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea began. It was a turning point for the Allies in World War II.
In 1945, French author Marcel Conversy wrote of the 15 months he spent as a prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp, describing it as a "living hell."
In 1953, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
In 1980, President Joseph Broz Tito of Yugoslavia died at age 87.
In 1982, an Argentine jet fighter sank the British destroyer HMS Sheffield during the Falkland Islands war.
In 1990, a faulty electric chair shot flames around convicted killer Jesse Tafero's head as he was executed in Florida, prompting several states to abandon the method of execution and switch to lethal injection.
In 2000, the "I Love You" virus crashed computers around the world. 
<3 br="" u="">In 2002, more than 100 people died when an EAS Airlines jet crashed in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
<3 br="" u="">In 2006, confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The 37-year-old Moroccan implicated himself in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
In 2009, fighting between feuding families broke out at a wedding in southeast Turkey, with combatants using guns and grenades, leading to the deaths of 44 people, including the bride and groom.
In 2011, rival Palestinian political factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation accord, citing as common causes opposition to the Israeli occupation and disillusionment with U.S. peace efforts.
In 2014, Juan Carlos Varela was elected president of Panama.
In 2019, first-case Maximum Security was disqualified at the Kentucky Derby for interference. It was the first disqualification in the race's storied history. Country House was ultimately declared the winner.