Today is Monday, May seventh, the 127th day of 2001. There are 238 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On May seventh, 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France. On this date: In 1789, the first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. George Washington. In 1847, the American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia. In 1915, nearly 1200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner "Lusitania" off the Irish coast. In 1939, Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. In 1941, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA Victor. In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces. In 1963, the United States launched the Telstar Two communications satellite. In 1975, President Ford formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era." In Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover. In 1994, Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum. In 1999, NATO jets struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three people and injuring 20; President Clinton called the attack a "tragic mistake." Ten years ago: Doctors said that President Bush's recent bout with an irregular heartbeat was caused by a mildly overactive thyroid gland, a condition they said was easily treatable. Five years ago: The first international war crimes proceeding since Nuremberg opened at The Hague, with a Serbian police officer, Dusan Tadic, facing trial on murder-torture charges. (A year later on this date, Tadic was convicted of brutalizing prisoners, but was acquitted of more serious crimes, including murder.) One year ago: A second fire was set to contain an earlier blaze that was begun to clear brush on the Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico; the second fire blew out of control, destroying more than 200 homes and damaging part of the Los Alamos National Laboratory before it was controlled. President Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in Russia's first democratic transfer of power. Actor-producer-author Douglas Fairbanks Junior died in New York at age 90. Today's Birthdays: Actor Darren McGavin is 79. Singer Teresa Brewer is 70. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (Republican, New Mexico) is 69. Football Hall-of-Famer Johnny Unitas is 68. Singer Jimmy Ruffin is 62. Singer Johnny Maestro is 62. Actress Robin Strasser is 56. Singer-songwriter Bill Danoff is 55. NBC newsman Tim Russert is 51. Actor Robert Hegyes is 50. Movie writer-director Amy Heckerling is 47. Actor Michael E. Knight is 42. Rock musician Phil Campbell (Motorhead) is 40. Rock singer-musician Chris O'Connor (Primitive Radio Gods) is 36. Actress Traci Lords is 32. "Real stories, in distinction from those we invent, have no author. Although history owes its existence to men, it is not `made' by them." -- Hannah Arendt, American historian and philosopher (1906-1975). (Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)