Reuters historical calendar - May 27

LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) Following are some major events to have occurred on May 27 since 1900: 1905 - Japan's fleet destroyed the Russians at the battle of Tsushima Strait in the Russo-Japanese War. Twelve Russian ships reached safety out of a fleet of 45.

1930 - In the United States, Richard Gurley Drew obtained a patent for adhesive tape known as cellophane transparent tape.

1937 - San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opened and 200,000 people crossed it on its first day. It had taken four years, four months and 22 days to complete.

1951 - The Chinese Communists forced the Dalai Lama, Tibetan leader, to surrender control of foreign affairs and hand command of the army to Beijing.

1963 - Jomo Kenyatta was elected first prime minister of a self-governing Kenya, becoming state president on independence from Britain the following year.

1964 - Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India, died at 74.

1994 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to an emotional welcome after 20 years in exile.

1997 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin said Moscow would end the targeting of nuclear missiles at NATO countries, on the same day as NATO and Russia created a joint council for consultation on European security.

1999 - The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague confirmed it had indicted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as a war criminal.

2002 - Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali won approval to constitutional reforms, enabling him to rule practically for life.

2004 - Umberto Agnelli, chairman of Italy's largest industrial group Fiat, died of cancer. He was 69.

2005 - Indonesia and Aceh separatists reached agreement on crucial political issues in a big step towards a deal to end one of Asia's longest running armed struggles.

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