After studying ancient rocks, a Japanese geologist warned that a disaster was imminent—to no avail By PETER LANDERS The giant tsunami that assaulted northern Japan’s coast surprised just about everyone. But Masanobu Shishikura was expecting it. The thought that came to mind, he says, was “yappari,” a Japanese word meaning roughly, “Sure enough, it happened.”

17 May 2011 Last updated at 12:45 ET By Conor SpackmanBBC News Travelling into Dublin on Tuesday morning, it was clear that the Irish police were leaving nothing to chance. As far as 10 miles from anywhere the Queen was due to visit, police cars were parked on unusual corners of suburban avenues.

updated 5/16/2011 4:07:03 PM ET

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing Chinese officials have denied the Beijing palace that was once home to China’s emperors is being used as a club for the rich.

Fuhrer’s bodyguard gives last interview Rochus Misch is the last living witness of Hitler’s suicide Sunday May 15,2011 By Stefan Schnoor and Boris Klinge   FORMER SS officer Rochus Misch, the last surviving member of Hitler’s inner circle is terminally ill. Misch, the Fuhrer’s bodyguard gives his final interview… IN A Berlin suburb, just a few miles from Hitler’s Führer bunker is a small, white detached house with  a grey metal gate and crumbling plaster. It has, for many decades, been the home of Rochus Misch, the man who worked as Hitler’s bodyguard between 1940 and 1945. He is the last living witness of the dictator’s suicide and the only surviving…

May 17, 1769:

In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.

On this day in 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its first awards, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California.

From Helena Hong, for CNN