This Day in History
-------------------

2016 - Rojava conflict: At a conference in Rmelan, the Movement for a Democratic Society declares the establishment of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

2004 - Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.

2003 - Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council,
Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

2000 - Five hundred and thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.

1992 - A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.

1992 - Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.

1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the
Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.

1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.

1985 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.

1979 - Aeroflot Flight 1691 crashes on approach to Vnukovo International Airport, killing 58.

1979 - The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.

1973 - The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

1969 - Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

1968 - As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.

1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.

1963 - Mount Agung erupts on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.

1960 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 crashes in Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana, killing 63.

1960 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security
Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will
ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

1958 - The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite, which is also the first satellite to achieve a long-term orbit.

1957 - A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.

1950 - Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name "californium".

1948 - Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

1945 - The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture.

1942 - Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the
Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.

1921 - The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.

1891 - SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.

1862 - The first railway line of Finland between cities of Helsinki and Hameenlinna, called Paarata, is officially opened.

1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.

1860 - The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars.

1842 - The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo is formally organized with Emma Smith as president.

1824 - The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.

1805 - The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy.

1776 - American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

1400 - Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.

1337 - Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.

455 - Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him.

180 - Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius.

45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -10°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - Israel launches widespread aerial bombardments and attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 591 people, including children.

2015 - The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen.
Twenty-four people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded.

2014 - The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.

1997 - The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 people on board.

1996 - A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162 people.

1994 - Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1990 - In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum in Boston.

1990 - Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.

1980 - A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.

1974 - Guzel Istanbul, a nude sculpture by Gurdal Duyar in Istanbul is
torn down in the middle of the night.

1971 - Peru: A landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar.

1970 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

1969 - The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.

1968 - Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.

1967 - The supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off the Cornish coast.

1966 - United Arab Airlines Flight 749 crashes on approach to Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing 30 people.

1965 - Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.

1962 - The Evian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had
begun in 1954.

1959 - The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.

1953 - An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing at least 1,070 people.

1948 - Soviet consultants leave Yugoslavia in the first sign of the Tito-Stalin split.

1945 - 40th Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 185th US Infantry Regiment, landed unopposed in Tigbauan forcing the Japanese forces to surrender and General Macario Peralta and Gen. Gen. Eichelberger to declare the Liberation of Panay, Romblon and Guimaras.

1944 - Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, killing 26 people, causing thousands
to flee their homes, and destroying dozens of Allied bombers.

1942 - The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody.

1940 - World War II: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.

1938 - Mexico creates Pemex by expropriating all foreign-owned oil reserves and facilities.

1937 - Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at
the Battle of Guadalajara.

1937 - The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300
people, mostly children.

1925 - The 1925 Tri-State tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.

1922 - In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for
civil disobedience, of which he serves only two.

1921 - Mongolian Revolution of 1921: The Mongolian People's Army defeated local Chinese forces at Altanbulag, Selenge (then known as Maimachen). This battle was seen as the birthday of the People's Army and completed the expulsion of Chinese militants in Mongolia.

1921 - The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army.

1921 - The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union.

1915 - World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are
sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

1913 - King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.

1902 - Macario Sakay issues Presidential Order No. 1 of his Tagalog Republic.

1901 - The Kumasi Mutiny of 1901 begins.

1899 - Phoebe, a satellite of Saturn, becomes the first to be discovered with photographs, taken in August 1898, by William Henry Pickering.

1874 - The Hawaiian Kingdom signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights.

1871 - Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, orders the evacuation of Paris.

1865 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns
for the last time.

1848 - Revolutions of 1848: A rebellion arose in Milan which in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city.

1848 - The premiere of Fry's Leonora in Philadelphia is the first known performance of a grand opera by an American composer.

1834 - Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.

1793 - Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden.

1793 - The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.

1766 - American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.

1741 - New York governor George Clarke's complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.

1673 - English lord John Berkeley sold his half of New Jersey to the Quakers

1644 - The Third Anglo-Powhatan War begins in the Colony of Virginia.

1608 - Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.

1571 - Valletta is made the capital city of Malta.

1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of the Romans.

1314 - Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.

1241 - First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Krakow in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city.

1229 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem
in the Sixth Crusade.

1068 - An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula leaves up to 20,000 dead.

37 - Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor.

--- Get "http://wttr.in/43.1206187,-79.8044138?format=Binbrook,+ON:+%C+%t,+UV+I
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - The Swiss Government brokers a deal for UBS to buy out rival Credit Suisse in an attempt to calm the 2023 banking crisis.

2019 - The first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, resigns from office after nearly three decades, leaving Senate Chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the acting President and successor.

2016 - An explosion occurs in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, killing five people and injuring 36.

2016 - Flydubai Flight 981 crashes while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don international airport, killing all 62 on board.

2013 - A series of bombings and shootings kills at least 98 people and
injures 240 others across Iraq.

2011 - Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to
take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Operation Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.

2008 - GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.

2004 - The Konginkangas bus disaster kills 23 and injures 14 people in Aanekoski, Finland.

2004 - March 19 Shooting Incident: The Republic of China (Taiwan) president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.

2004 - Catalina affair: A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work.

2003 - United States President George W. Bush addresses the nation,
announcing the invasion of Iraq.

1998 - An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Kabul International Airport, killing all 45 on board.

1990 - The ethnic clashes of Targu Mures begin four days after the
anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire.

1989 - The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt-Israel peace treaty
in 1979.

1982 - Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.

1979 - The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.

1969 - The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.

1965 - The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.

1964 - Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty, in protest against the government of Joao Goulart and against communism.

1962 - The Algerian War of Independence ends.

1958 - The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.

1946 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion become overseas departements of France.

1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.

1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is
able to return to the US under her own power.

1944 - World War II: The German army occupies Hungary.

1943 - Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.

1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.

1931 - Governor Fred B. Balzar signs a bill legalizing gambling in Nevada.

1921 - Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.

1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).

1918 - The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.

1885 - Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan,
beginning the North-West Rebellion.

1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of
the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.

1831 - First documented bank heist in U.S. history, when burglars stole $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street. Most of the money was recovered.

1824 - American explorer Benjamin Morrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.

1812 - The Cortes of Cadiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

1808 - Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne.

1687 - Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.

1649 - The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it "useless and dangerous to the people of England".

1563 - The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots.

1452 - Frederick III of Habsburg is the last Holy Roman Emperor crowned by medieval tradition in Rome by Pope Nicholas V.

1284 - The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.

1279 - A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China.

1277 - The Byzantine-Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +1°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2019 - Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is sworn in as acting president of Kazakhstan, following the resignation of long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

2015 - Syrian civil war: The Siege of Kobani is broken by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA), marking a turning point in the Rojava-Islamist conflict.

2015 - A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day.

2014 - Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.

2012 - At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.

2010 - Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland begins eruptions that would last for
three months, heavily disrupting air travel in Europe.

2006 - Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Deby.

2003 - Iraq War: The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland begin an invasion of Iraq.

2000 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff's deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English.

1999 - Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.

1995 - The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 and wounding over 6,200 people.

1993 - The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland.

1990 - Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.

1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.

1987 - The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.

1985 - Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

1972 - The Troubles: The first car bombing by the Provisional IRA in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland.

1969 - A United Arab airlines (now Egyptair) Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Aswan international Airport, killing 100 people.

1964 - The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.

1956 - Tunisia gains independence from France.

1952 - The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan.

1951 - Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshu is founded.

1948 - With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.

1942 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".

1933 - Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appointed Theodor Eicke
as the camp commandant.

1926 - Chiang Kai-shek initiates a purge of communist elements within the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou.

1923 - The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States.

1922 - The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.

1921 - The Upper Silesia plebiscite, mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland, is held.

1916 - Albert Einstein submits his paper, "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity", which establishes his general theory of relativity, to the journal Annalen der Physik.

1914 - In the Curragh incident over 100 British Army officers threatened to resign if ordered to march against the Ulster Volunteers.

1913 - Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.

1903 - The first of a series of auctions of sheep farming land in southern Patagonia takes place impacting established settlers.

1896 - With the approval of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing dynasty post office is opened, marking the beginning of a postal service in China.

1890 - Chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by Emperor Wilhelm II.

1888 - The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.

1883 - The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed.

1861 - An earthquake destroys Mendoza, Argentina.

1854 - The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.

1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.

1848 - German revolutions of 1848-49: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.

1815 - After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.

1760 - The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.

1616 - Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.

1602 - The Dutch East India Company is established.

1600 - The Linkoping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linkoping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598-1599).

1206 - Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

--- Binbrook, ON: Mist +0°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2022 - China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashes in Guangxi, China, killing 132 people.

2019 - The 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion occurs, killing at least
47 people and injuring 640 others.

2006 - The social media site Twitter (now officially named X) is founded.

2000 - Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.

1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate
the Earth in a hot air balloon.

1994 - The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.

1990 - Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.

1989 - Transbrasil Flight 801 crashes into a slum near Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, killing 25 people.

1986 - Debi Thomas became the first African American to win the World Figure Skating Championships.

1985 - Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.

1983 - The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin;
Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic.

1980 - Cold War: American President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet-Afghan War.

1970 - San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop and culture festival in the
world, hosts its inaugural event.

1970 - The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.

1968 - Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.

1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third
and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

1965 - Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, the last in a series of uncrewed lunar space probes.

1963 - Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes.

1960 - Apartheid: Sharpeville massacre, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.

1952 - Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

1946 - The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in professional American football since 1933.

1945 - World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully complete
their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes.

1945 - World War II: Operation Carthage: Royal Air Force planes bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. They also accidentally hit a school, killing 125 civilians.

1945 - World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.

1943 - Wehrmacht officer Rudolf von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plan falls through; von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.

1937 - Ponce massacre: Nineteen unarmed civilians in Ponce, Puerto Rico are gunned down by police in a terrorist attack ordered by the US-appointed Governor, Blanton Winship.

1935 - Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran.

1934 - The landmark Australian Eastern Mission led by John Latham departs on its three-month tour of East and South-East Asia.

1928 - Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.

1925 - Ravel's opera L'enfant et les sortileges, to a libretto by Colette,
is premiered at the Opera de Monte-Carlo.

1925 - Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.

1925 - The Butler Act prohibits the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee.

1921 - The New Economic Policy is implemented by the Bolshevik Party in response to the economic failure as a result of war communism.

1919 - The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.

1918 - World War I: The first phase of the German spring offensive, Operation Michael, begins.

1871 - Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.

1871 - Otto von Bismarck is appointed as the first Chancellor of the German Empire.

1861 - Alexander H. Stephens gives the Cornerstone Speech.

1844 - The Baha'i calendar begins. This is the first day of the first year
of the Baha'i calendar. It is annually celebrated by members of the
Baha'i Faith as the Baha'i New Year or Naw-Ruz.

1829 - The Wellington-Winchilsea duel takes place in London involving the Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington.

1821 - Greek War of Independence: Greek revolutionaries seize Kalavryta.

1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.

1804 - Code Napoleon is adopted as French civil law.

1801 - The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis near Alexandria in Egypt.

1800 - With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed
conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara
made of papier-mache.

1788 - A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.

1556 - On the day of his execution in Oxford, former archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer deviates from the scripted sermon by renouncing the recantations he has made and adds, "And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine."

1349 - Erfurt massacre: Outbreak of an antisemitic pogrom in Erfurt, Germany, during which hundreds to thousands of Jews were killed by Christians after being accused of causing the Black Death.

1180 - Emperor Antoku accedes to the throne of Japan.

1152 - Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen
Eleanor of Aquitaine.

717 - Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.

630 - Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem.

537 - Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and
eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +1°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - At least 145 people are killed and 551 injured in a bombing and mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.

2021 - Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.

2020 - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.

2020 - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.

2019 - Two buses crashed in Kitampo, a town north of Ghana's capital Accra, killing at least 50 people.

2019 - The Special Counsel investigation on the 2016 United States presidential election concludes when Robert Mueller submits his report to the United States Attorney General.

2017 - Syrian civil war: Five hundred members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are airlifted south of the Euphrates by United States Air Force helicopters, beginning the Battle of Tabqa.

2017 - A terrorist attack in London near the Houses of Parliament leaves four people dead and at least 20 injured.

2016 - Three suicide bombers kill 32 people and injure 316 in the 2016 Brussels bombings at the airport and at the Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station.

2013 - At least 37 people are killed and 200 are injured after a fire
destroys a camp containing Burmese refugees near Ban Mae, Thailand.

2006 - Three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the murder of their colleague from the U.S., Tom Fox.

2004 - Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force Hellfire missiles.

1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp reaches its closest approach to Earth at 1.315 AU.

1997 - Tara Lipinski, aged 14 years and nine months, becomes the youngest women's World Figure Skating Champion.

1996 - NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on its 16th mission, STS-76.

1995 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns to earth after setting a record of 438 days in space.

1993 - The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.

1992 - Fall of communism in Albania: The Democratic Party of Albania wins a decisive majority in the parliamentary election.

1992 - USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect that ice
has on aircraft.

1988 - The United States Congress votes to override President Ronald Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987.

1982 - NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space
Center on its third mission, STS-3.

1978 - Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1975 - A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama, causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.

1972 - In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.

1972 - The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.

1963 - The Beatles release their debut album Please Please Me.

1960 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.

1957 - A United States Air Force aircraft disappears with all 67 people on board somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

1955 - A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster crashes into Hawaii's Wai?anae Range, killing 66.

1946 - The United Kingdom grants full independence to Transjordan.

1945 - The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.

1945 - World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany, is heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat.

1943 - World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.

1942 - World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.

1939 - Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.

1934 - The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

1933 - Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.

1933 - Cullen-Harrison Act: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an
amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines.

1920 - Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).

1916 - Yuan Shikai abdicates as Emperor of China, restoring the Republic and returning to the Presidency.

1913 - Mystic Phan Xich Long, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam, is arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.

1906 - The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris.

1896 - Charilaos Vasilakos wins the first modern Olympic marathon race with a time of three hours and 18 minutes.

1895 - Before the Societe pour L'Encouragement a l'Industrie, brothers
Auguste and Louis Lumiere demonstrate movie film technology publicly for the first time.

1894 - The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada.

1873 - The Spanish National Assembly abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico.

1871 - In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of
a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.

1849 - The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.

1829 - In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.

1794 - The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States, and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the
purpose of importing slaves.

1792 - Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets: Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the Haitian Revolution.

1784 - The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current
location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.

1765 - The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to
be levied directly on its American colonies.

1739 - Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.

1668 - Notable Privateer Henry Morgan lands in Cuba to raid and plunder the inland town of Puerto del Principe during the latter stages of the Anglo-Spanish War (1654-1660).

1638 - Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for
religious dissent.

1631 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice,
and gaming tables.

1622 - Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.

1621 - The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, led by governor John Carver, sign a peace treaty with Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags; Squanto serves as an interpreter between the two sides.

1508 - Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.

1312 - Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar.

1185 - Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Minamoto clan.

871 - AEthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.

235 - Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.

106 - Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -1°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - Israel Defense Forces kill 15 aid workers in the Rafah paramedic massacre.

2021 - A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days.

2020 - Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19.

2019 - The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces capture the town of Baghuz in Eastern Syria, declaring military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.

2019 - The Kazakh capital of Astana was renamed to Nur-Sultan.

2018 - President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency amid a mass corruption scandal before certain impeachment by the opposition-majority Congress of Peru.

2014 - The World Health Organization (WHO) reports cases of Ebola in the forested rural region of southeastern Guinea, marking the beginning of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

2010 - The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States.

2009 - FedEx Express Flight 80: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying from Guangzhou, China crashes at Tokyo's Narita International Airport, killing
both the captain and the co-pilot.

2008 - Official opening of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India

2003 - Battle of Nasiriyah, first major conflict during the invasion of Iraq.

2001 - The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

1999 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis Maria Argana.

1996 - Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.

1994 - Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain,
Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing 75.

1994 - A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground alongside destroying a Starlifter by accident. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.

1994 - At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martinez.

1991 - The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces
of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War.

1988 - Angolan and Cuban forces defeat South Africa in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

1983 - Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his
initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.

1982 - Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efrain Rios Montt.

1980 - Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.

1978 - The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.

1977 - The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four
weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.

1965 - NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

1956 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan.

1940 - The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or Qarardad-e-Lahore) is
put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All-India Muslim League.

1939 - The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovak air force in Spisska Nova Ves, killing 13 people and beginning the Slovak-Hungarian War.

1935 - Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

1933 - The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.

1931 - Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for the killing of a deputy superintendent of police during the Indian independence movement.

1919 - In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

1918 - First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of
the men becoming prisoners of war

1913 - A tornado outbreak kills more than 240 people in the central United States, while an ongoing flood in the Ohio River watershed was killing 650 people.

1909 - Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

1905 - Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.

1901 - Emilio Aguinaldo, only President of the First Philippine Republic, is captured at Palanan, Isabela by the forces of American General Frederick Funston.

1889 - The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.

1888 - In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time.

1885 - Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Phu Lam Tao near
Hung Hoa, northern Vietnam.

1879 - War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topater, the first battle of the
war is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru.

1868 - The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when
the Organic Act is signed into law.

1862 - American Civil War: The First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, marks the start of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. Although a Confederate defeat, the engagement distracts Federal efforts to capture Richmond.

1857 - Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City.

1848 - The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.

1839 - A massive earthquake destroys the former capital Inwa of the Konbaung dynasty, present-day Myanmar.

1821 - Greek War of Independence: Battle and fall of city of Kalamata.

1806 - After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the
Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery begin their arduous journey home.

1801 - Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death inside his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech - "Give me liberty or give me death!" - at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.

1568 - The Peace of Longjumeau is signed, ending the second phase of the French Wars of Religion.

1540 - Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

1400 - The Tran dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Ho Quy Ly, a court official.

625 - The Muslim army under Muhammad suffers a defeat against the Quraysh in the battle of Uhud.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast -1°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - The 2024 Senegalese presidential election is held following anti-government protests.

2023 - An EF4 tornado strikes the towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City, Mississippi, causing mass destruction.

2019 - Jakarta MRT, a rapid transit system in Jakarta, began operation.

2018 - Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

2018 - Syrian civil war: The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and Syrian National Army (SNA) take full control of Afrin District, marking the end of the Afrin offensive.

2015 - Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent
pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.

2008 - Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding an end
to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

1999 - A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont
Blanc Tunnel, creating an inferno that kills 39 people.

1999 - Kosovo War: NATO began attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.

1998 - Dr. Rudiger Marmulla performed the first computer-assisted Bone
Segment Navigation at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

1998 - A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.

1998 - Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, open fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.

1993 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy at the Palomar Observatory in California.

1992 - Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-45.

1990 - Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with last ship of Indian Peace Keeping Force leaving Sri Lanka.

1989 - In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.

1986 - The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas
migration and gas protection on landfill sites.

1982 - Bangladeshi President Abdus Sattar is deposed in a bloodless coup led by Army Chief Lieutenant general Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who suspends the Constitution and imposes martial law.

1980 - El Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.

1977 - Morarji Desai became the prime minister of India, the first prime minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.

1976 - In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Peron and start a seven-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process.

1972 - Direct rule is imposed on Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom under Edward Heath.

1961 - The Quebec Board of the French Language is established.

1949 - Hanns Albin Rauter, a chief SS and Police Leader, in the Netherlands, is convicted and executed for crimes against humanity.

1946 - A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.

1944 - World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.

1944 - German troops massacre 335 Italian civilians in Rome.

1939 - The 1939 Liechtenstein putsch takes place; approximately 40 members of the VBDL starting from Nendeln march towards Vaduz with the intention of overthrowing the government and provoking Liechtenstein's annexation into Germany.

1934 - The Tydings-McDuffie Act is passed by the United States Congress, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.

1927 - Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defence of the foreign citizens within the city.

1922 - The McMahon killings take place in Belfast. Six Catholic civilians are shot dead, two others wounded and a female family member assaulted. Police were suspected as being responsible, but no one was prosecuted.

1921 - The 1921 Women's Olympiad began in Monte Carlo, becoming the first international women's sports event.

1900 - Carnegie Steel Company is formed in New Jersey; its capitalization of $160 million is the largest to date.

1900 - Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a
new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

1882 - Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.

1878 - The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.

1870 - A Chilean prospecting party led by Jose Diaz Gana discovers the
silver ores of Caracoles in the Bolivian portion of Atacama Desert, leading
to the last of the Chilean silver rushes and a diplomatic dispute over its taxation between Chile and Bolivia.

1869 - The last of Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.

1860 - Sakuradamon Incident: Japanese chief minister (Tairo) Ii Naosuke is assassinated by ronin samurai outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle.

1854 - President Jose Gregorio Monagas abolishes slavery in Venezuela.

1832 - In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.

1829 - The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.

1794 - In Krakow, Tadeusz Kosciuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.

1765 - Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.

1721 - Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046-1051.

1720 - Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the
throne on 29 February.

1663 - The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.

1603 - Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor
Go-Yozei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.

1603 - James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and
Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.

1401 - Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.

1387 - English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate.

1199 - King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.

--- Binbrook, ON: Sunny -8°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - An earthquake strikes close to Mandalay, Myanmar with a magnitude of 7.7, killing over 100 people.

2006 - At least one million union members, students and unemployed take to
the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First
Employment Contract law.

2005 - An earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a magnitude of 8.6 and killing over 1000 people.

2003 - In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.

2001 - Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos begins operation.

1999 - Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill at least 130 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.

1994 - In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.

1990 - United States President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.

1979 - The British House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan's government by one vote, precipitating a general election.

1979 - A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.

1978 - The US Supreme Court hands down 5-3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.

1970 - An earthquake strikes western Turkey at about 23:05 local time,
killing 1,086 and injuring at least 1,200.

1969 - Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate Giorgos Seferis makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece.

1968 - Brazilian high school student Edson Luis de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a student protest.

1965 - An Mw 7.4 earthquake in Chile sets off a series of tailings dam failures, burying the town of El Cobre and killing at least 500 people.

1961 - CSA Flight 511 crashes in Igensdorf, Germany, killing 52.

1959 - The State Council of the People's Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet.

1946 - Cold War: The United States Department of State releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.

1942 - World War II: A British combined force permanently disables the Louis Joubert Lock in Saint-Nazaire in order to keep the German battleship Tirpitz away from the mid-ocean convoy lanes.

1941 - World War II: First day of the Battle of Cape Matapan in Greece
between the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy.

1939 - Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid
after a three-year siege.

1933 - The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airliner lost to sabotage when a passenger sets a fire on board.

1920 - Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 affects the Great Lakes region
and Deep South states.

1918 - Finnish Civil War: On the so-called "Bloody Maundy Thursday of Tampere", the Whites force the Reds to attack the city center, where the city's fiercest battles being fought in Kalevankangas with large casualties
on both sides. During the same day, an explosion at the Red headquarters of Tampere kills several commanders.

1918 - General John J. Pershing, during World War I, cancels 42nd 'Rainbow' Division's orders to Rolampont for further training and diverted it to the occupy the Baccarat sector. Rainbow Division becomes "the first American division to take over an entire sector on its own, which it held longer than any other American division-occupied sector alone for a period of three months".

1910 - Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane, the Fabre Hydravion, after taking off from water runway Etang le Barre, near Marseille.

1862 - American Civil War: In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory. The battle began on March 26.

1860 - First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka begins.

1854 - Crimean War: France and Britain declare war on Russia.

1842 - First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai.

1814 - War of 1812: In the Battle of Valparaiso, two American naval vessels are captured by two Royal Navy vessels.

1809 - Peninsular War: France defeats Spain in the Battle of Medellin.

1802 - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered.

1801 - Treaty of Florence is signed, ending the war between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Naples.

1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a northern fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceases to exist and becomes part of Imperial Russia.

1776 - Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.

1745 - War of the Austrian Succession: In the Battle of Vilshofen, Austrian forces defeat French forces.

1566 - The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta's capital city, is laid by
Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

1065 - The Great German Pilgrimage, which had been under attack by Bedouin bandits for three days, is rescued by the Fatimid governor of Ramla.

364 - Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor.

193 - After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Didius Julianus.

37 - Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -6°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2021 - The ship Ever Given was dislodged from the Suez Canal.

2017 - Prime Minister Theresa May invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on
European Union, formally beginning the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

2016 - A United States Air Force F-16 crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

2015 - Air Canada Flight 624 skids off the runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, after arriving from Toronto shortly past midnight. All 133 passengers and five crews on board survive, with 23 treated for minor injuries.

2014 - The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed.

2013 - At least 36 people are killed when a 16-floor building collapses in
the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

2010 - Two suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40.

2004 - The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat certifies Taipei 101
as the world's tallest building, based on the building having been topped out on 1 July 2003, even though the building was not completed until 31 December 2004.

2004 - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join NATO as full members.

2002 - In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest
military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.

2001 - A Gulfstream III crashes on approach to Aspen/Pitkin County Airport in Aspen, Colorado. All 18 people on board are killed.

1999 - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in India strikes the Chamoli district in Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.

1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the dot-com bubble.

1990 - The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.

1984 - The Baltimore Colts load its possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transfer its operations to Indianapolis.

1982 - The Canada Act 1982 receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.

1979 - Quebecair Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Quebec City Jean
Lesage International Airport in Quebec City, killing 17.

1974 - Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi province, China.

1974 - NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury.

1973 - Operation Barrel Roll, a covert American bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ends.

1973 - Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.

1971 - My Lai massacre: Lieutenant William Calley is convicted of
premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.

1968 - The funeral of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, started in
Moscow, with thousands of people in attendance.

1962 - Arturo Frondizi, the president of Argentina, is overthrown in a military coup by Argentina's armed forces, ending an .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width: 1px}11+1/2 day constitutional crisis.

1961 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.

1957 - The New York, Ontario and Western Railway makes its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety.

1951 - Hypnosis murders in Copenhagen.

1951 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.

1947 - The Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule begins in Madagascar.

1942 - The Bombing of Lubeck in World War II is the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.

1941 - World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesian coast of
Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.

1941 - The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time.

1936 - The 1936 German parliamentary election and referendum seeks approval for the recent remilitarization of the Rhineland.

1927 - Sunbeam 1000hp breaks the land speed record at Daytona Beach, Florida.

1882 - The Knights of Columbus is established.

1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.

1871 - Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.

1867 - Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes Canada on July 1.

1857 - Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry mutinies against the East India Company's rule in India and inspires the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.

1849 - The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.

1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.

1809 - At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.

1809 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'etat.

1806 - Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.

1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera 13 days earlier.

1632 - Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629.

1549 - The city of Salvador, Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.

1461 - Battle of Towton: Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England, bringing a temporary stop to the Wars of the Roses.

1430 - The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of Venice.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -1°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - Donald Trump becomes the first former United States president to be indicted by a grand jury.

2019 - Pope Francis visits Morocco.

2018 - The Israeli Army kills 17 Palestinians and wounds 1,400 in Gaza during Land Day protests.

2017 - SpaceX conducts the world's first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

2011 - Min Aung Hlaing is appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's armed forces.

2009 - Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.

2008 - Drolma Kyi arrested by Chinese authorities.

2006 - Cyclone Glenda, one of the strongest tropical cyclones in the Australian region makes landfall near Onslow, Western Australia.

2002 - The 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.

1982 - Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

1981 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a
Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.

1979 - Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament (MP), is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation
Army claims responsibility.

1976 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day.

1972 - Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.

1967 - Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 crashes at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, killing 19.

1965 - Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States
Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.

1961 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.

1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.

1949 - Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvollur square in Reykjavik,
when Iceland joins NATO.

1945 - World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna. Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.

1944 - Out of 795 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 bombers do not return, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war.

1944 - World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.

1940 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.

1939 - The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph
(745 km/h).

1918 - Beginning of the bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.

1912 - Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.

1900 - Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover the first clay tablet with hieroglyphic writing in a script later called Linear B.

1899 - German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.

1885 - The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the Russian and British Empires.

1870 - Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.

1867 - Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents/acre ($4.19/km2), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.

1863 - Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.

1861 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.

1856 - The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.

1855 - Origins of the American Civil War: "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.

1844 - One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.

1842 - Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.

1841 - The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.

1822 - The Florida Territory is created in the United States.

1818 - Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is "depolarized" by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.

1815 - Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation, among the earliest calls for Italian unification.

1699 - Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.

1296 - Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.

1282 - The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.

598 - Avar-Byzantine wars: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro-Slavic army is decimated by the plague.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +5°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - A historic tornado outbreak occurs in the American Midwest and South.

2018 - Baldi's Basics in education and learning was publicly released.

2018 - Start of the 2018 Armenian revolution.

2016 - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a yearlong mission at the International Space Station.

2005 - The dwarf planet Makemake is discovered by a team led by astronomer Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory.

2004 - Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.

1998 - Netscape releases Mozilla source code under an open source license.

1995 - TAROM Flight 371, an Airbus A310-300, crashes near Balotesti, Romania, killing all 60 people on board.

1995 - Selena is murdered by her fan club president Yolanda Saldivar at a
Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.

1993 - The Macao Basic Law is adopted by the Eighth National People's
Congress of China to take effect December 20, 1999. Resumption by China of
the Exercise of Sovereignty over Macao

1992 - The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow.

1992 - The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

1991 - The Warsaw Pact formally disbands.

1991 - Georgian independence referendum: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country's independence from the Soviet Union.

1990 - Approximately 200,000 protesters take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.

1986 - Mexicana de Aviacion Flight 940 crashes into the Sierra Madre
Oriental mountain range near the Mexican town of Maravatio, killing 167.

1980 - The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.

1970 - Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

1968 - American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the
nomination of my party for another term as your President."

1966 - The Labour Party under Harold Wilson wins the 1966 United Kingdom general election.

1966 - The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

1964 - Brazilian General Olimpio Mourao Filho orders his troops to move towards Rio de Janeiro, beginning the coup d'etat and 21 years of military dictatorship.

1959 - The 14th Dalai Lama crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.

1958 - In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led
by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.

1957 - Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.

1951 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

1949 - The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.

1945 - World War II: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.

1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.

1939 - Events preceding World War II in Europe: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pledges British military support to the Second Polish Republic in the event of an invasion by Nazi Germany.

1933 - The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.

1931 - A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.

1931 - An earthquake in Nicaragua destroys Managua; killing 2,000.

1930 - The Motion Picture Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years.

1921 - The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.

1918 - Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.

1918 - Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.

1917 - According to the terms of the Treaty of the Danish West Indies, the islands become American possessions.

1913 - The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton
von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence; this concert became known as the Skandalkonzert.

1909 - Serbia formally withdraws its opposition to Austro-Hungarian actions
in the Bosnian Crisis.

1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.

1905 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declares his support for Moroccan independence in Tangier, beginning the First Moroccan Crisis.

1901 - Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak premieres at the National Opera House in Prague.

1899 - Philippine-American War: Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by American forces.

1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.

1885 - The United Kingdom establishes the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.

1814 - The Sixth Coalition occupies Paris after Napoleon's Grande Armee capitulates.

1774 - American Revolution: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.

1761 - The 1761 Lisbon earthquake strikes off the Iberian Peninsula with an estimated magnitude of 8.5, six years after another quake destroyed the city.

1717 - A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, preached in the presence of King George I of Great Britain, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.

1706 - The last session of history of the Catalan Courts, the parliamentary body of the Principality of Catalonia, ends. Catalonia's constitutional modernisation passed by the Courts aims to improve the guarantee of individual, political and economic rights (among them, the secrecy of correspondence).

1657 - The Long Parliament presents the Humble Petition and Advice offering Oliver Cromwell the British throne, which he eventually declines.

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore to present-day Limasawa to participate in the first Catholic mass in the Philippines.

1492 - Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile sign the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, ordering all Jews in their kingdoms to either convert to Christianity or leave the country.

1174 - A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, is revealed in Cairo, involving senior figures of the former Fatimid regime and the poet Umara al-Yamani. Modern historians doubt the extent and danger
of the conspiracy reported in official sources, but its ringleaders will be publicly executed over the following weeks.

1146 - Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at
Vezelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.

307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta,
daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +15°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2016 - The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact.

2011 - After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting
in the deaths of fourteen people, including seven UN workers.

2006 - Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.

2004 - Google launches its Email service Gmail.

2001 - Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.

2001 - Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan
Milosevic surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.

2001 - An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Chinese pilot ejected but is subsequently lost. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.

1999 - Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.

1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.

1993 - NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki is killed in a plane crash near the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee.

1989 - Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.

1986 - Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.

1984 - Singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in his home in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, California.

1979 - Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially
overthrowing the Shah.

1976 - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computer, Inc.

1974 - The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.

1973 - Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.

1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre more than a thousand people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.

1970 - A Royal Air Maroc Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes near Berrechid, Morocco, killing 61.

1970 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law.

1969 - The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.

1964 - The British Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry are replaced by a unified Defence Council of the United Kingdom.

1960 - The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.

1955 - The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.

1954 - United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation
of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1949 - The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.

1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful
peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.

1948 - Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.

1948 - Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.

1947 - The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.

1946 - The Malayan Union is established. Protests from locals led to the establishment of the Federation of Malaya two years later.

1946 - The 8.6 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.

1945 - World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.

1944 - World War II: Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.

1941 - A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of 'Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.

1941 - Fantana Alba massacre: Between two hundred and two thousand
Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.

1939 - Spanish Civil War: Generalisimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.

1937 - The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.

1937 - Aden becomes a British crown colony.

1935 - India's central banking institution, the Reserve Bank of India, is formed.

1933 - The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.

1924 - The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.

1924 - Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years fortress confinement for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" but spends only nine months in jail.

1922 - In newly formed Northern Ireland, six Catholics are murdered in the Arnon Street killings, one week after six others were killed in the McMahon killings.

1918 - The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.

1908 - The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as
a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.

1900 - Prince George becomes absolute monarch of the Cretan State.

1873 - The White Star steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.

1867 - Singapore becomes a British crown colony.

1865 - American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia's last supply line during the Siege of Petersburg.

1833 - The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas to help draft a series of petitions to the Mexican government, begins
in San Felipe de Austin.

1789 - In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieves its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.

1725 - J. S. Bach's later Easter Oratorio in its first version is performed
at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig on Easter Sunday.

1572 - In the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.

1081 - Alexios I Komnenos overthrows the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and, after his troops spend three days extensively looting Constantinople, is formally crowned on April 4.

527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +3°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs.

2024 - Viertola school shooting: A 12-year-old pupil is killed and two others injured by a shooter of the same age in Vantaa, Finland.

2021 - A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an
attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.

2021 - At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track.

2020 - COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million.

2015 - Four men steal items worth up to GBP200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area in what has been called the "largest burglary in English legal history."

2015 - Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least
148 people and wounding 79 others.

2014 - A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.

2012 - UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10.

2012 - A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.

2011 - India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time in history under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

2006 - Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.

2004 - Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.

2002 - Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated.

1992 - Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1992 - In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.

1991 - Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of
British Columbia.

1989 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.

1986 - Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his
term in January 1987.

1982 - Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

1980 - United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.

1979 - A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.

1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.

1975 - Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.

1973 - Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.

1972 - Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.

1969 - LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashes into the Polica mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing 53.

1964 - The Soviet Union launches Zond 1.

1956 - As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS. The two
soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.

1954 - A 19-month-old infant is swept up in the ocean tides at Hermosa Beach, California. Local photographer John L. Gaunt photographs the incident; 1955 Pulitzer winner "Tragedy by the Sea".

1930 - After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.

1921 - The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.

1917 - American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

1912 - The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.

1911 - The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.

1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.

1902 - Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Mariinsky Palace, Saint Petersburg.

1885 - Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.

1865 - American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces
the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.

1863 - American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.

1801 - French Revolutionary Wars: In the Battle of Copenhagen a British Royal Navy squadron defeats a hastily assembled, smaller, mostly-volunteer Dano-Norwegian Navy at high cost, forcing Denmark out of the Second League of Armed Neutrality.

1800 - Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.

1792 - The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint.

1755 - Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg
on the west coast of India.

1725 - J. S. Bach's cantata Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, is first performed in Leipzig on Easter Monday.

1513 - Having spotted land on March 27, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon comes ashore on what is now the U.S. state of Florida, landing somewhere between the modern city of St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. Johns River.

--- weather data source not available
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2018 - YouTube headquarters shooting: A 38-year-old gunwoman opens fire at YouTube Headquarters in San Bruno, California, injuring three people before committing suicide.

2017 - A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people.

2016 - The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies.

2013 - More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2010 - Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.

2009 - Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding
four before committing suicide.

2008 - Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.

2008 - ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.

2007 - Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record of 574.8 km/h (159.6 m/s, 357.2 mph).

2004 - Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.

2000 - United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.

1997 - The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.

1996 - A United States Air Force Boeing T-43 crashes near Dubrovnik Airport
in Croatia, killing 35, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.

1996 - Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.

1993 - The outcome of the Grand National horse race is declared void for the first (and only) time.

1989 - The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal
courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.

1981 - The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.

1980 - US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shivwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.

1975 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.

1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins.

1974 - The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second largest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.

1973 - Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call
to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

1969 - Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech; he was assassinated the next day.

1961 - LAN-Chile Flight 621 crashes in the Andes mountains, killing 21
people, including Argentinian football player Eliseo Mourino.

1956 - Hudsonville-Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.

1955 - The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.

1948 - In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses known as the Jeju uprising begins.

1948 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.

1946 - Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.

1942 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States
and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.

1936 - Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of pilot Charles Lindbergh.

1933 - First flight over Mount Everest, the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.

1922 - Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1920 - Attempts are made to carry out the failed assassination attempt on General Mannerheim, led by Aleksander Weckman by order of Eino Rahja, during the White Guard parade in Tampere, Finland.

1905 - Association football club Boca Juniors is founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina

1895 - The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

1888 - Jack the Ripper: The first of 11 unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.

1885 - Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for a light, high-speed, four-stroke engine, which he uses seven months later to create the world's first motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen.

1882 - American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James.

1865 - American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.

1860 - The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.

1851 - Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand after the death of his half-brother, Rama III.

1721 - Robert Walpole becomes, in effect, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, though he himself denied that title.

1589 - The janissaries revolt in response to the debasement of coins.

1559 - The second of two treaties making up the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis is signed, ending the Italian Wars.

1077 - The Patriarchate of Friul, the first Friulian state, is created.

1043 - Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.

686 - Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +15°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - The impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea in response to his declaration of martial law is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending his presidency.

2024 - The Battle of Chasiv Yar begins.

2023 - Finland becomes a member of NATO after Turkey accepts its membership request.

2020 - China holds a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

2017 - Syria conducts an air strike on Khan Shaykhun using chemical weapons, killing 89 civilians.

2013 - 74 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.

2011 - Georgian Airways Flight 834 crashes at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32.

2010 - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits south of the Mexico-USA border,
killing at least two and damaging buildings across the two countries.

2009 - France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO.

2002 - The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.

1997 - Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-83. However, the mission is later cut short due to a fuel cell problem.

1996 - Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.

1994 - Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

1991 - Forty-one people are taken hostage inside a Good Guys! Electronics store in Sacramento, California. Three of the hostage takers and three hostages are killed.

1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.

1990 - The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.

1988 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.

1987 - Garuda Indonesia Flight 032 crashes at Medan Airport, killing 23.

1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.

1983 - Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden
voyage into space on STS-6.

1981 - Iran-Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.

1979 - Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

1977 - Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, killing 72.

1975 - Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.

1975 - Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul
Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1973 - A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.

1973 - The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.

1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

1967 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church.

1964 - The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.

1963 - Bye Bye Birdie, a musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney, was released.

1960 - France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.

1958 - The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.

1949 - Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

1946 - Greek judge and archeologist Panagiotis Poulitsas is appointed Prime Minister of Greece in the midst of the Greek Civil War.

1945 - World War II: Soviet Red Army troops liberate Hungary from German occupation.

1945 - World War II: United States Army troops capture Kassel.

1945 - World War II: United States Army troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.

1944 - World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3,000 civilians.

1933 - U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due
to severe weather.

1925 - The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany.

1920 - The four-day Nebi Musa riots commence.

1913 - First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.

1905 - In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.

1904 - Two Ms ~7.1 earthquakes, among the largest in Europe, strike
Bulgaria, killing over 200 people and causing destruction.

1894 - Foyot bombing by the Russian or French state during the Ere des attentats (1892-1894).

1887 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

1866 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.

1865 - American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.

1860 - The declaration on the introduction of the Finnish markka as an official currency is read in different parts of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

1841 - William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the
briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.

1818 - The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).

1814 - Napoleon abdicates (conditionally) for the first time and names his
son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French, followed by unconditional
abdication two days later.

1796 - Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.

1660 - Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists and opponents of the monarchy for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

1609 - Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia.

1581 - Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for completing a circumnavigation of the world.

1423 - Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule
victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the
Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416).

1268 - A five-year Byzantine-Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

801 - King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months.

619 - The Bijapur-Mumbai inscription is issued by Pulakeshin II, describing the Battle of Narmada.: 207

611 - Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.

190 - Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to
the ground.

503 BC - Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +2°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2018 - Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid a slaughterhouse in Tennessee, detaining nearly 100 undocumented Hispanic workers in one of the largest workplace raids in the history of the United States.

2010 - Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-131 to resupply the International Space Station.

2010 - Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.

2010 - Up to 50 people are killed and another 100 injured in two militant suicide bombings and attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan: the first on an Awami National Party rally in Timergara; the second on the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar.

2009 - North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite.
The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate
reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.

2007 - The cruise ship MS Sea Diamond strikes a volcanic reef near Nea Kameni and sinks the next day. Two passengers were never recovered and are presumed dead.

1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.

1998 - In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world.

1992 - Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War.

1992 - Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress
by military force.

1991 - The Space shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-37 to deploy the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

1991 - An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter.

1983 - The People's Armed Police is officially founded

1977 - The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip.

1976 - In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident.

1974 - Carrie, the first novel by American author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies.

1971 - In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

1966 - During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Da
Nang before backing down.

1958 - Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled
explosions of the time.

1956 - Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

1951 - Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.

1949 - A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.

1946 - A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground.

1946 - Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm.

1945 - Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory".

1943 - World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the residential area hit.

1942 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and
HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.

1942 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army's planned assault on Stalingrad.

1938 - Spanish Civil War: Two days after the Nationalist army occupied the Catalan city of Lleida, dictator Francisco Franco decrees the abolition of
the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia), the self-government granted by the Republic, and the official status of the Catalan language.

1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in
Tupelo, Mississippi.

1933 - Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall
and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage.

1933 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.

1932 - Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.

1922 - The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood,
is incorporated.

1910 - The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated.

1902 - A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between
Scotland and England.

1879 - Bolivia declares war on Chile, and Chile declares war on Peru,
starting the War of the Pacific.

1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.

1818 - In the Battle of Maipu, Chile's independence movement, led by
Bernardo O'Higgins and Jose de San Martin, win a decisive victory over
Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.

1795 - Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made.

1792 - United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.

1621 - The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.

1614 - The second English Parliament of king James I, the so-called Addled Parliament, opens.

1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.

1566 - Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces.

1536 - Charles V makes a Royal Entry into Rome, demolishing a swath of the city to re-enact a Roman triumph.

1242 - During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

919 - The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of
his army.

823 - Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +6°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2018 - A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.

2017 - U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.

2012 - Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.

2011 - In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas
were exhumed from several mass graves.

2010 - Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.

2009 - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.

2008 - The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.

2005 - Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.

2004 - Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.

1998 - Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.

1997 - In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occur.

1994 - The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

1992 - The Bosnian War begins.

1985 - Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry is ousted from power in a coup
d'etat led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab.

1984 - Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.

1974 - The first California Jam festival takes place at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. Co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson,
Lake & Palmer. The festival set what were then records for the loudest amplification system ever installed, the highest paid attendance, and highest gross in history.

1974 - In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the 1974 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo", the first of a joint-record seven Swedish wins.

1973 - The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.

1973 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.

1972 - Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.

1970 - Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed
in a shootout.

1968 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Party leadership election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon afterward.

1968 - In the downtown district of Richmond, Indiana, a double explosion
kills 41 and injures 150.

1965 - Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.

1958 - Capital Airlines Flight 67 crashes in Tittabawassee Township,
Michigan, near Freeland Tri-City Airport, killing 47.

1957 - The flag carrier airline of Greece for decades, Olympic Airways, is founded by Aristotle Onassis following the acquisition of "TAE - Greek National Airlines".

1948 - The Finno-Soviet Treaty is signed in Moscow.

1947 - The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.

1945 - World War II: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.

1945 - World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.

1941 - World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).

1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.

1930 - At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."

1929 - Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.

1926 - Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).

1918 - Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.

1917 - World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.

1911 - During the Battle of Deciq, Dede Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malesori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi,
Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).

1909 - Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary's claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.

1896 - In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is
celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.

1866 - The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.

1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign.

1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.

1860 - The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.

1841 - U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become president upon William Henry Harrison's death.

1830 - Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint
movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.

1814 - Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.

1812 - British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.

1808 - John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.

1800 - The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. (Under the Old Style calendar then still in use in the Ottoman Empire, the treaty
was signed on 21 March.)

1793 - During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.

1782 - King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in
their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.

1712 - The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.

1652 - At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.

1580 - One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.

1453 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople. The city falls on May 29 and is renamed Istanbul.

1320 - The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

945 - Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII crowns his son Romanos II as co-emperor.

402 - Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.

46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -2°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2022 - Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed for the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the first black female justice.

2021 - COVID-19 pandemic: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States.

2020 - COVID-19 pandemic: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on USS Theodore Roosevelt and the dismissal of Brett Crozier.

2020 - COVID-19 pandemic: China ends its lockdown in Wuhan.

2018 - Syria launches the Douma chemical attack during the Eastern Ghouta offensive of the Syrian Civil War.

2018 - Former Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is arrested
for corruption by determination of Judge Sergio Moro, from the "Car-Wash Operation". Lula stayed imprisoned for 580 days, after being released by the Brazilian Supreme Court.

2017 - U.S. President Donald Trump orders the 2017 Shayrat missile strike against Syria in retaliation for the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

2017 - A man deliberately drives a hijacked truck into a crowd of people in Stockholm, Sweden, killing five people and injuring fifteen others.

2011 - A gunman opens fire at an elementary school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing twelve children and injuring 22 others before committing suicide.

2011 - The Israel Defense Forces use their Iron Dome missile system to successfully intercept a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza, marking the first short-range missile intercept ever.

2009 - Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.

2009 - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.

2005 - First release of Git distributed version control system.

2003 - Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide demands reparations of $21 billion from France for the Haiti Independence Debt.

2003 - Iraq War: U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime falls two days later.

2001 - NASA launches the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter.

1999 - Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 crashes near Ceyhan in southern Turkey, killing six people.

1995 - First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.

1994 - Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in
order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.

1994 - Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda, and soldiers kill the civilian Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.

1990 - John Poindexter is convicted for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
In 1991 the convictions are reversed on appeal.

1990 - A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing
159 people.

1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway, killing 42 sailors.

1988 - Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov orders the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.

1982 - Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh is arrested.

1980 - During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations
with Iran.

1978 - Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.

1977 - German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.

1976 - Member of Parliament and suspected spy John Stonehouse resigns from
the Labour Party after being arrested for faking his own death.

1972 - Vietnam War: Communist forces overrun the South Vietnamese town of Loc Ninh.

1971 - Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamization.

1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.

1968 - Two-time Formula One British World Champion Jim Clark dies in an accident during a Formula Two race in Hockenheim.

1965 - Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate in Washington, D.C., against the termination of the Colville tribe.

1964 - IBM announces the System/360.

1956 - Francoist Spain agrees to surrender its protectorate in Morocco.

1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.

1954 - United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.

1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.

1946 - The Soviet Union annexes East Prussia as the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

1945 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.

1944 - In the Fragheto massacre, soldiers belonging to the German 356th Infantry Division kill 30 Italian civilians and 15 partisans near Casteldelci in central-northern Italy.

1943 - The National Football League makes helmets mandatory.

1943 - Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece
during the Axis Occupation.

1943 - The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.

1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

1939 - Benito Mussolini invades Albania.

1939 - Benito Mussolini declares an Italian protectorate over Albania and forces King Zog I into exile.

1933 - Nazi Germany issues the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service banning Jews and political dissidents from civil service posts.

1933 - Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)

1927 - AT&T engineer Herbert Ives transmits the first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).

1926 - Violet Gibson attempts to assassinate Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.

1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on
excessively generous terms.

1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.

1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

1868 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.

1862 - American Civil War: The Union's Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.

1831 - Pedro II becomes Emperor of Empire of Brazil.

1824 - The Mechanics' Institution is established in Manchester, England at
the Bridgewater Arms hotel, as part of a national movement for the education of working men. The institute is the precursor to three Universities in the city: the University of Manchester, UMIST and the Metropolitan University of Manchester (MMU).

1805 - German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.

1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and the Spanish Empire. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.

1795 - The French First Republic adopts the kilogram and gram as its primary unit of mass.

1790 - Russo-Turkish war (1787-1792): Greek privateer Lambros Katsonis loses three of his ships in the Battle of Andros.

1788 - Settlers establish Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent settlement created by U.S. citizens in the recently organized Northwest Territory.

1767 - End of Burmese-Siamese War (1765-1767).

1724 - Premiere performance of Bach's St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.

1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.

1449 - Felix V abdicates his claim to the papacy, ending the reign of the final Antipope.

1348 - Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV charters Prague University.

1141 - Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England, adopting
the title "Lady of the English".

529 - First Corpus Juris Civilis, a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.

451 - Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -5°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024: A total solar eclipse takes place at the Moon's ascending node, visible across North America.

2020 - Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as
the Democratic Party's nominee.

2014 - Windows XP reaches its standard End Of Life and is no longer supported.

2010 - U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty.

2005 - A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.

2002 - The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-110, carrying
the S0 truss to the International Space Station. Astronaut Jerry L. Ross also becomes the first person to fly on seven spaceflights.

1993 - The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.

1990 - The conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis is elected in the Greek parliamentary election.

1975 - Voyageurs National Park is established by the U.S. Congress

1974 - Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth as the all-time leader in career home runs by hitting his 715th home run off of Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

1970 - Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.

1968 - BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.

1960 - The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.

1959 - The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.

1959 - A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.

1954 - South African Airways Flight 201: A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1
crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.

1954 - A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.

1940 - The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of
his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.

1904 - The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.

1895 - In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the
United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.

1886 - William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.

1866 - Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire.

1832 - Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.

1820 - The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

1812 - Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki.

1730 - Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated.

1605 - The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.

1271 - In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.

1250 - Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.

1232 - Mongol-Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.

1143 - Manuel I Komnenos succeeds his father John II Komnenos as Byzantine Emperor.

1139 - Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy.

876 - The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.

217 - Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -6°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2021 - Burmese military and security forces commit the Bago massacre, during which at least 82 civilians are killed.

2017 - After refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked United Express flight, Dr. David Dao Duy Anh is forcibly dragged off the flight by aviation security officers, leading to major criticism of United Airlines.

2017 - The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.

2014 - A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.

2013 - At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanca.

2013 - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.

2011 - Six people and the perpetrator are killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands.

2009 - In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the
government of Mikheil Saakashvili.

2003 - Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.

1994 - Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-59.

1992 - A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.

1991 - Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.

1990 - An Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden, Alabama, killing both of the Cessna's occupants.

1990 - The Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement is signed for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 mi2) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.

1990 - An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members
of the UDR.

1989 - Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

1981 - The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors.

1980 - The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.

1969 - The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot.

1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.

1960 - Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer,
David Pratt in Johannesburg.

1959 - Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

1957 - The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.

1952 - Japan Air Lines Flight 301 crashes into Mount Mihara, Izu Oshima, Japan, killing 37.

1952 - Hugo Ballivian's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines

1948 - Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist terror groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100 Palestinians.

1948 - Jorge Eliecer Gaitan's assassination provokes a violent riot in
Bogota (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.

1947 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu
Channel incident is adopted.

1947 - The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.

1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

1946 - About 500 postal workers in Tel Aviv and Jaffa went on strike.

1945 - The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.

1945 - World War II: The Battle of Konigsberg, in East Prussia, ends.

1945 - World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.

1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, is executed by the Nazi regime.

1942 - World War II: An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer
HMAS Vampire.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends and the Bataan Death March begins.

1940 - Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.

1940 - World War II: Operation Weserubung: Germany invades Denmark and
Norway.

1939 - African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

1937 - The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

1918 - World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.

1917 - World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian
Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.

1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.

1865 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

1860 - On his phonautograph machine, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville
makes the first known recording of an audible human voice.

1784 - The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.

1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.

1609 - Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the "Expulsion of the Moriscos".

1609 - Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.

1511 - Resettled Shiite Muslims rise up in the Sahkulu rebellion under the leadership of Sahkulu against the Ottoman Empire.

1454 - The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.

1438 - The Council of Ferrara begins with its first session in presence of
the Patriarch of Constantinople, representatives of the Patriarchal Sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem and Pope Eugene IV presiding.

1388 - Despite being outnumbered 16:1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy
are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Nafels.

1387 - The Byzantine city of Thessalonike surrenders to the Ottomans, though rule reverts back to the Byzantines after the battle of Ankara.

1288 - Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Tran forces
in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.

1241 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.

537 - Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. Despite shortages, he starts raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges but is forced into a stalemate.

475 - Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position.

193 - The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by
the army in Illyricum.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +6°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - A mass shooting occurs at the Old National Bank in Louisville,
Kentucky that leaves five victims dead and eight wounded.

2016 - An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, impacting India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan.

2016 - The Paravur temple accident in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu, kills more than one hundred
people out of the thousands gathered for seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.

2010 - Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.

2009 - President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.

1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.

1991 - A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near
Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.

1991 - Italian ferry MS Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy, killing 140.

1988 - The Ojhri Camp explosion kills or injures more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan.

1981 - Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster
as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He died
twenty-six days later.

1979 - Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.

1973 - Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Basel, Switzerland, killing 108 people.

1972 - Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.

1972 - Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are discovered by construction workers in Shandong.

1970 - Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.

1968 - The TEV Wahine, a New Zealand ferry sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm - the strongest winds ever in Wellington. Out of the 734
people on board, fifty-three died.

1963 - One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine
USS Thresher sinks at sea.

1944 - Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp.

1941 - World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.

1925 - The Russian city of Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad to honor the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Soviet Communist Party General Secretary, who
had guided the defense of Tsaritsyn during the Russian Civil War in 1920.

1919 - The Third Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is
held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.

1919 - Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.

1912 - RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, UK, on her maiden and only voyage.

1900 - British suffer a sharp defeat by the Boers south of Brandfort. 600 British troops are killed and wounded and 800 taken prisoner.

1896 - 1896 Summer Olympics: The Olympic marathon is run ending with the victory of Greek athlete Spyridon Louis.

1887 - On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of the Catholic University of America.

1872 - The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.

1868 - At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.

1866 - The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.

1865 - American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.

1864 - Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg is proclaimed emperor of Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico.

1858 - After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster, had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

1826 - The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year's siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.

1821 - Greek War of Independence: the island of Psara joins the Greek
struggle for independence.

1821 - Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is hanged by the Ottoman government from the main gate of the Patriarchate and his body is thrown into the Bosphorus.

1816 - The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.

1815 - The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects
Earth's climate for the next two years.

1814 - Allied forces under the Duke of Wellington attack Toulouse held by Marshall Soult, driving out the French after fierce fighting.

1809 - Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.

1796 - War of the First Coalition: A surprise Austrian attack at the Battle
of Voltri marks the beginning of the Italian Campaign of 1796-1797, the decisive campaign under Napoleon Bonaparte that will end the war a year later.

1741 - War of the Austrian Succession: Prussia gains control of Silesia at
the Battle of Mollwitz.

1724 - Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66, his first cantata composed for Easter in Leipzig.

1717 - Robert Walpole resigns from the British government, commencing the
Whig Split which lasts until 1720.

1710 - The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.

1606 - The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by
James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.

1545 - The settlement of Villa Imperial de Carlos V (now the city of Potosi) in Bolivia is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area.

1500 - Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.

1407 - Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama visits the Ming dynasty capital at Nanjing and is awarded the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma".

847 - Election of Pope Leo IV following the death of Pope Sergius II.

837 - Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).

428 - Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.

238 - During the year of Six Emperors, forces of Gordian I and Gordian II are defeated by those of Maximinus Thrax in the battle of Carthage.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light rain +4°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - During the Pazigyi massacre, an airstrike conducted by the Myanmar Air Force kills at least 100 villagers in Pazigyi, Sagaing Region.

2021 - Twenty year old Daunte Wright is shot and killed in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota by officer Kimberly Potter, sparking protests in the city, when the officer mistakes her pistol for her taser.

2018 - An Ilyushin Il-76 which was owned and operated by the Algerian Air Force crashes near Boufarik, Algeria, killing 257.

2017 - The tour bus of the German football team Borussia Dortmund was
attacked with roadside bombs in Dortmund, Germany. Three bombs exploded as
the bus ferried the team to the Westfalenstadion for the first leg of their quarter-final against Monaco.

2012 - A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake is VII (Very strong). Ten are killed, twelve are injured, and a non-destructive tsunami is observed on the island of Nias.

2011 - An explosion in the Minsk Metro, Belarus kills 15 people and injures 204 others.

2008 - Kata Air Transport Flight 007 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Chisinau International Airport, killing eight.

2007 - Algiers bombings: Two bombings in Algiers kill 33 people and wound a further 222 others.

2006 - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium.

2002 - Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez. Nineteen protesters are killed.

2002 - The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia.

2001 - The Australia national men's soccer team sets a world record for the largest victory in an international association football match, winning the game 31-0 against American Samoa at the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for OFC. Australia's Archie Thompson also breaks the record for most goals scored by a player in an international match by scoring 13 goals.

2001 - The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, China after a collision with a J-8 fighter, is released.

1993 - Guillem Agullo, pro-Catalan independence and anti-fascist Valencian young activist is assassinated by a group of Spanish nationalists and neo-nazis in Montanejos.

1993 - Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs.

1990 - Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, seize what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq.

1987 - The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign
Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan.

1986 - FBI Miami Shootout: A gun battle in broad daylight in Dade County, Florida between two bank/armored car robbers and pursuing FBI agents. During the firefight, FBI agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed, while five other agents were wounded. As a result, the popular .40 S&W cartridge was developed.

1982 - American-Israeli reservist Alan Harry Goodman carried out a mass shooting at the Dome of the Rock, killing two Palestinians and injured at least seven others.

1981 - A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.

1979 - Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.

1977 - London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.

1976 - The Apple I is created.

1970 - Apollo Program: Apollo 13 is launched.

1968 - A failed assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, leader of the German student movement, leaves Dutschke suffering from brain damage.

1968 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

1965 - The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-five tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states of the United States, killing 266 people.

1964 - Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected president by the National Congress.

1963 - Pope John XXIII issues Pacem in terris, the first encyclical addressed to all Christians instead of only Catholics, and which described the conditions for world peace in human terms.

1961 - The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.

1957 - United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule.

1955 - The Air India Kashmir Princess is bombed and crashes in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang.

1952 - Pan Am Flight 526A ditches near San Juan-Isla Grande Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after experiencing an engine failure, killing 52 people.

1952 - Bolivian National Revolution: Rebels take over Palacio Quemado.

1951 - The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey.
It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.

1951 - Korean War: President Truman relieves Douglas MacArthur of the command of American forces in Korea and Japan.

1945 - World War II: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp.

1935 - Stresa Front: opening of the conference between the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and
the French Minister for Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval to condemn the German violations of the Treaty of Versailles.

1921 - Emir Abdullah establishes the first centralised government in the
newly created British protectorate of Transjordan.

1909 - The city of Tel Aviv is founded.

1908 - SMS Blucher, the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched.

1885 - Luton Town F.C. is founded.

1881 - Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women.

1876 - The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized.

1868 - Former shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

1856 - Second Battle of Rivas: Juan Santamaria burns down the hostel where William Walker's filibusters are holed up.

1814 - The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition
against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for
the first time.

1809 - Battle of the Basque Roads: Admiral Lord Gambier fails to support Captain Lord Cochrane, leading to an incomplete British victory over the French fleet.

1727 - Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany).

1713 - France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Utrecht, bringing an end
to the War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War). Britain accepts Philip V as King of Spain, while Philip renounces any claim to the French throne.

1689 - William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Great Britain on the same day that the Scottish Parliament concurs with the English decision of 12 February.

1544 - Italian War of 1542-46: A French army defeats Habsburg forces at the Battle of Ceresole, but fails to exploit its victory.

1512 - War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrarese forces led by Gaston de Foix and Alfonso I d'Este win the Battle of Ravenna against the Papal-Spanish forces.

1241 - Batu Khan defeats Bela IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi.

672 - Consecration of Pope Adeodatus II following the death of Pope Vitalian.

491 - Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.

--- Binbrook, ON: Sunny -1°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2014 - The Great Fire of Valparaiso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaiso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

2013 - Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.

2010 - Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people
and injures a further 28.

2009 - Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.

2007 - A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a
cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.

2002 - A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's
Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.

1999 - During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people.

1999 - United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court
for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.

1992 - The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Resort Paris.

1990 - Wideroe Flight 839 crashes after takeoff from Vaeroy Airport in
Norway, killing five people.

1990 - Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington,
D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.

1985 - Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites.

1983 - Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.

1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

1980 - Canadian runner and athlete, Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF

1980 - Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercilio Luz International Airport in Florianopolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed.

1980 - The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed.

1970 - Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the
Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.

1963 - The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.[citation needed]

1961 - Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight,
Vostok 1.

1955 - The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.

1945 - World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermunde--only 80 kilometres from Berlin.

1945 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt's death.

1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.

1934 - The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.[citation needed]

1934 - The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph,
is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.

1928 - The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.

1927 - Rocksprings, Texas is hit by an F5 tornado that destroys 235 of the
247 buildings in the town, kills 72 townspeople, and injures 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.

1927 - Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Chinese
Communist Party members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.[citation needed]

1917 - World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.

1910 - SMS Zrinyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.

1900 - One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William
McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.

1877 - The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.

1865 - American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.

1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

1862 - American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).

1861 - American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.

1831 - Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse.

1820 - Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.

1807 - The Froberg mutiny on Malta ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.

1796 - War of the First Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte wins his first victory as an army commander at the Battle of Montenotte, splitting the Austrian and Piedmontese armies away from each other, and marking the beginning of the Piedmontese surrender in the war.

1782 - American Revolution: A Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral George Rodney defeats a French fleet led by the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the
Saintes off Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.

1776 - American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.

1606 - The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.

1204 - The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.

1159 - Having received the submission of the prince of Antioch, Raynald of Chatillon, Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos enters triumphantly the city
of Antioch.

1012 - Duke Oldrich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromir, who flees to Poland.[citation needed]

806 - Nikephoros I of Constantinople is consecrated as patriarch of Constantinople.

627 - King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, Bishop of York.

467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

240 - Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +4°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - Rory McIlroy wins the Masters Tournament, becoming just the sixth person to complete the Grand Slam in golf.

2024 - Six people and the perpetrator are killed and twelve others injured in a mass stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney, Australia.

2023 - The house of Jack Teixeira is raided in an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents; he is arrested on the same day.

2014 - Three people are killed in a shooting in Overland Park, Kansas.

2013 - Salam Fayyad resigns as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority following an ongoing dispute with the President Mahmoud Abbas.

2009 - A fire destroys a homeless hostel and kills at least 22 people in Kamien Pomorski, Poland.

2006 - The United Front for Democratic Change's attack on the Chadian capital of N'Djamena is repelled by the Chadian army

1997 - Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.

1996 - Two women and four children are killed after Israeli helicopter fired rockets at an ambulance in Mansouri, Lebanon.

1976 - Forty workers die in the Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion, the deadliest industrial accident in modern Finnish history.

1976 - The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.

1975 - An attack by the Phalangist resistance kills 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.

1972 - Vietnam War: The Battle of An Loc begins.

1972 - The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.

1970 - At 10:08 PM EST an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed "Odyssey") while en route to the Moon.

1964 - At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American man to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.

1960 - The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.

1953 - CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKUltra.

1948 - In an ambush, 78 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital, and a British soldier, are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah. This event came to be known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre.

1945 - World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna.

1945 - World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and
military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.

1943 - The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.

1943 - World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyn Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.

1941 - A pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.

1924 - A.E.K., a major Greek multi-sport club, is established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople.

1919 - Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops led by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer kill approximately 379-1,000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India; and approximately 1,500 injured.

1909 - The 31 March Incident leads to the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

1873 - The Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan.

1870 - The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.

1865 - American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union forces.

1861 - American Civil War: Union forces surrender Fort Sumter to Confederate forces.

1849 - Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly.

1829 - The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.

1777 - American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.

1742 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland.

1699 - The Sikh religion is formalised as the Khalsa - the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints - by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.

1613 - Samuel Argall, having captured Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her father.

1612 - Samurai Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojiro in a duel at Funajima island.

1455 - Thirteen Years' War: the beginning of the Battle for Kneiphof.

1204 - Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.

1175 - Saladin routs his Muslim opponents, the Zengids, in the battle of the Horns of Hama, consolidating his control over Syria except for Aleppo.

1111 - Henry V, King of Germany, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light rain, mist +14°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - Flooding in the Persian Gulf starts, killing 19 in Oman.

2023 - The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency.

2022 - 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva sinks.

2016 - The foreshock of a major earthquake occurs in Kumamoto, Japan.

2014 - Boko Haram abducts 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria.

2014 - Two bombs detonate at a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring hundreds. Boko Haram claims responsibility.

2006 - Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people.

2005 - The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to
same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.

2003 - U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner MS Achille Lauro
in 1985.

2003 - The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

2002 - Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez returns to office two days after
being ousted and arrested by the country's military.

1999 - A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.

1999 - NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.

1997 - Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of Taiwanese artiste Pai Bing-bing is
kidnapped on her way to school, preceding her murder.

1994 - In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S.
Army helicopters, killing 26 people.

1991 - The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

1988 - In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

1988 - The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.

1986 - The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing 1 kilogram
(2.2 lb), fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.

1981 - STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.

1979 - The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a
permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting in over 70 deaths and
over 500 injuries.

1978 - Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.

1967 - Gnassingbe Eyadema overthrows Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself
as the new President of Togo, a title he will hold for the next 38 years.

1958 - The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.

1945 - Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division
deliberately destroys the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.

1944 - Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued at 20 million pounds.

1941 - World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk, Libya.

1940 - World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.

1935 - The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, sweeps across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.

1931 - The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes
to exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macia proclaims the Catalan Republic.

1929 - The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix takes place in the Principality of Monaco. William Grover-Williams wins driving a Bugatti Type 35.

1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.

1909 - Muslims in the Ottoman Empire begin a massacre of Armenians in Adana.

1908 - Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream.

1906 - The first meeting of the Azusa Street Revival, which will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, is held in Los Angeles.

1900 - The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.

1895 - The 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, both the most and last destructive earthquake in the area, occurs.

1894 - The first ever commercial motion picture house opens in New York City, United States. It uses ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films.

1890 - The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International
Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.

1881 - The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight occurs in El Paso, Texas.

1865 - William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.

1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John
Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day.

1858 - The 1858 Christiania fire severely destroys several city blocks near Stortorvet in Christiania, Norway, and about 1,000 people lose their homes.

1849 - Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.

1816 - Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion, for which he is remembered as the country's first national hero.

1793 - The French troops led by Leger-Felicite Sonthonax defeat the slaves settlers in the Siege of Port-au-Prince.

1775 - The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolition society in North America, is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

1639 - Thirty Years' War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Electorate of Saxony are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz, ending the military effectiveness of the Saxon army for the rest of the war and allowing the Swedes to advance into Bohemia.

1561 - A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.

1471 - In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward resumes the throne.

1395 - Tokhtamysh-Timur war: At the Battle of the Terek River, Timur defeats the army of the Golden Horde, beginning the khanate's permanent military decline.

1205 - Combined Bulgarian and Cuman army under Kalojan ambushes and defeats forces of the Latin Empire of Constantinople in the Battle of Adrianople.

972 - Otto II, Co-Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, marries Byzantine
princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII in Rome the same day.

966 - Following his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event
considered to be the founding of the Polish state.

69 - Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho in the First Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.

43 BC - Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +14°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
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2021 - A mass shooting occurred at a Fedex Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killing nine and injuring seven.

2019 - The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.

2014 - In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, more than 400 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well
as hospitals.

2013 - A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people.

2013 - Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring over 500 others.

2002 - Air China Flight 129 crashes on approach to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people.

1994 - Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.

1989 - Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin
in China.

1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the
deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.

1986 - The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.

1970 - During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.

1969 - The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.

1960 - At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil
rights movement in the 1960s.

1955 - McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a
franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1952 - First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

1947 - Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.

1945 - Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.

1942 - The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI.

1941 - In the Belfast Blitz, 200 bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing some 1,000 people.

1936 - First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.

1923 - Racially motivated Nihon Shogakko fire lit by a serial arsonist
kills 10 children in Sacramento, California.

1923 - Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.

1922 - U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.

1920 - Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.

1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic
at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive.

1900 - Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.

1896 - Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.

1892 - The General Electric Company is formed.

1865 - President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening
by actor John Wilkes Booth. Three hours later, Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as president.

1861 - President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.

1817 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf (then called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.

1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.

1738 - Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, receives its premiere performance in London, England.

1736 - Foundation of the short-lived Kingdom of Corsica.

1715 - The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.

1642 - Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.

1632 - Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.

1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.

1071 - Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.

769 - The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings.

--- Binbrook, ON: Mist +10°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - The historic Borsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, is severely damaged by a fire.

2018 - The New York Times and the New Yorker win the Pulitzer Prize for
Public Service for breaking news of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal.

2016 - Ecuador's worst earthquake in nearly 40 years kills 676 and injures more than 230,000.

2014 - The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities.

2013 - The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga.

2013 - A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Sistan and Balochistan province, Iran, killing at least 35 people and injuring 117 others.

2012 - The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.

2012 - The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo, Norway.

2008 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

2007 - Virginia Tech shooting: Seung-Hui Cho murders 32 people and injures 17 before committing suicide.

2003 - The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union.

2001 - India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.

1972 - Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1963 - U.S. civil rights campaigner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes his
open letter from Birmingham Jail, sometimes known as "The Negro Is Your Brother", while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama, for protesting against segregation.

1961 - In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

1948 - The Organization of European Economic Co-operation is formed.

1947 - Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

1947 - An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas, United States, to catch fire, killing almost 600 people.

1945 - More than 7,000 die when the German transport ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.

1945 - The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).

1945 - World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.

1944 - World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about
1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.

1943 - Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of
the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.

1942 - King George VI awards the George Cross to the people of Malta in appreciation of their heroism.

1941 - World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustase is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected.

1941 - World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.

1925 - During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.

1922 - The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.

1919 - Polish-Lithuanian War: The Polish Army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.

1919 - Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.

1917 - Russian Revolution: Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland.

1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

1910 - The oldest existing indoor ice hockey arena still used for the sport
in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.

1908 - Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.

1881 - In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.

1878 - The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issues a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish.

1863 - American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.

1862 - American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.

1862 - American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.

1858 - The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is dissolved.

1853 - The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane.

1847 - Shooting of a Maori by an English sailor results in the opening of
the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.

1838 - The French Army captures Veracruz in the Pastry War.

1818 - The United States Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Treaty, limiting
naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.

1799 - French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor: Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.

1780 - Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Furstenberg founds the University of Munster.

1746 - The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported
Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland.

1582 - Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.

1520 - The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of
Charles V.

1346 - Stefan Dusan, "the Mighty", is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at
Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans.

682 - Pope Leo II is elected head of the Catholic Church, although he will
not be consecrated until 17 August.

73 - Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish-Roman War.

69 - Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Roman emperor Otho commits suicide.

1457 BC - Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what
is accepted as relatively reliable detail.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +15°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
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2021 - The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

2014 - NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

2013 - An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills
15 people and injures 160 others.

2006 - A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.

2003 - Anneli Jaatteenmaki takes office as the first female prime minister
of Finland.

1998 - Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-90, the final Spacelab mission.

1992 - The Katina P is deliberately run aground off Maputo, Mozambique, and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.

1986 - An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist.

1982 - Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.

1978 - Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan.

1975 - The Cambodian Civil War ends and the Cambodian Genocide begins. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.

1971 - The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.

1970 - Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

1969 - Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubcek is
deposed.

1969 - Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

1964 - Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the Spirit of Columbus, which took 29 1/2 days,
took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio.

1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

1951 - The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

1946 - The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.

1945 - Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam.

1945 - World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.

1944 - Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.

1942 - French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Konigstein Fortress.

1941 - World War II: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy.

1931 - After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional
governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.

1925 - The Communist Party of Korea (CPK) was founded in Japanese-ruled Korea (Chosen) in Keijo (now Seoul) by Kim Yong-bom and Pak Hon-yong.

1912 - Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.

1907 - The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.

1905 - The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1895 - The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This
marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.

1876 - Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.

1869 - Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.

1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.

1863 - American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.

1861 - The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the
Confederate States of America.

1797 - Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.

1797 - Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.

1783 - American Revolutionary War: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish garrison under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeat British irregulars at Arkansas Post.

1524 - Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.

1521 - Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly
of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.

1492 - Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.

1362 - Kaunas Castle falls to the Teutonic Order after a month-long siege.

1349 - The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II.

1080 - Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.

--- weather data source not available
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
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2019 - A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public.

2018 - Anti-government protests start in Nicaragua.

2018 - King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.

1996 - The Israeli military commits the Qana massacre in a deliberate
shelling of a United Nations compound near the village of Qana in southern Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians who were taking shelter there and wounding over 100 more.

1988 - In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes
committed in World War II, although the verdict is later overturned.

1988 - The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.

1980 - The town of Elmore City, Oklahoma holds its first dance in the town's history.

1980 - The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar
replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.

1972 - East African Airways Flight 720 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 43.

1955 - Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.

1954 - Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.

1949 - The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Eire to be a republic and severing Ireland's "association" with the Commonwealth of Nations.

1947 - The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea
island of Heligoland, Germany.

1946 - Jackie Robinson makes his regular season debut for the Montreal Royals of the International League, to make them the first integrated modern professional baseball team.

1946 - The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.

1945 - Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insurrectional strike begins.

1945 - World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of
Heligoland, Germany.

1943 - World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.

1942 - Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.

1942 - World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.

1939 - Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

1938 - Superman debuts in Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938).

1930 - A fire kills 118 people at a wooden church in the small Romanian town of Costesti, most of them schoolchildren, after starting during Good Friday services.

1916 - World War I: During a mine warfare in high altitude on the Dolomites, the Italian troops conquer the Col di Lana held by the Austrian army.

1915 - World War I: French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines.

1912 - The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the
RMS Titanic to New York City.

1909 - Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.

1906 - The 7.9 Mw earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California, killing more than 3,000 people, making one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

1902 - The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.

1899 - The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.

1897 - The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

1864 - Battle of Dybbol: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.

1857 - "The Spirits Book" by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.

1847 - American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.

1831 - The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

1797 - War of the First Coalition: The Peace of Leoben is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Maximilian, Count of Merveldt, creating an armistice between France and Austria, setting the stage for the Treaty of Campo Formio and ending the War of the First Coalition.[citation needed]

1783 - Three-Fifths Compromise: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three-fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.

1775 - American Revolution: The British Army advances up the Charles River in Massachusetts to destroy supplies of American militias, while Paul Revere and other riders rapidly warn the countryside.

1738 - Real Academia de la Historia ("Royal Academy of History") is founded
in Madrid.

1689 - Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.

1521 - Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of
the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.

1518 - Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.

1506 - The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.

1428 - Peace of Ferrara between Republic of Venice, Duchy of Milan, Republic of Florence and House of Gonzaga: ending of the second campaign of the Wars
in Lombardy fought until the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, which will then
guarantee the conditions for the development of the Italian Renaissance.

796 - King AEthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +12°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2021 - The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.

2020 - A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history.

2013 - Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.

2011 - Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.

2008 - The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.

2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.

2001 - Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-100 carrying the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.

2000 - Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.

1999 - The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.

1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, US, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.

1993 - The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.

1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.

1987 - The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with "Good Night".

1985 - Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the
Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.

1984 - Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.

1976 - A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado
and survived uninjured.

1975 - South Vietnamese forces withdraw from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.

1975 - India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.

1973 - The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Munstereifel.

1971 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

1971 - Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.

1971 - Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.

1960 - Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest
against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.

1956 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.

1943 - Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16, an event commonly known and celebrated as Bicycle Day.

1943 - World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.

1942 - World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.

1936 - The Jaffa riots commence, initiating the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.

1927 - Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.

1925 - Colo-Colo, the most successful and popular soccer football team in the South American nation of Chile, was founded at the El Llano Stadium in San Miguel, Santiago, by footballer David Arellano and some of his teammates who had also left the Deportes Magallanes club.

1903 - The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.

1861 - American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.

1839 - The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.

1818 - French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.

1810 - Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.

1809 - An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps
led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part
of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.

1782 - John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague becomes the first American embassy.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Siege of Boston begins with American militias blocking land access to the British-held city.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: The war begins during the Battles of Lexington and Concord with a victory of American minutemen and other militia over British forces, later referred to as the "shot heard round the world".

1770 - Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI in a proxy wedding.

1770 - Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.

1713 - With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa, was not born until 1717.

1677 - The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.

1608 - In Ireland, O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.

1539 - The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.

1529 - Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Furst) and independent cities protest the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.

1506 - The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which about two thousand Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity are slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.

531 - Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).

65 - The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all of the conspirators are arrested.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast +4°C, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight.

2021 - State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin: Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd by the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota.

2020 - For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero, an effect
of the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war.

2015 - Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.

2013 - A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya'an, in China's Sichuan province, killing at least 193 people and injuring thousands.

2012 - One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near
Islamabad, Pakistan.

2010 - The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months.

2008 - Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female
driver in history to win an Indy car race.

2007 - Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself
with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before
killing a male hostage and himself.

2004 - The Nicoll Highway in Singapore collapsed, killing four workers.

1999 - Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 14 people and injure 23 others before committing suicide at Columbine High
School in Columbine, Colorado.

1998 - Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.

1985 - University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages
to the laboratory in advocation for Animal rights.

1972 - Apollo program: Apollo 16 Lunar Module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the Moon.

1968 - South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near J.G. Strijdom Airport in South West Africa (now Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia),
killing 123 people.

1968 - English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.

1961 - Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban
exiles against Cuba.

1949 - Amethyst incident: The People's Liberation Army attacks
HMS Amethyst (F116) travelling to the British embassy in Nanjing during the Chinese Civil War.

1946 - The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power
to the United Nations.

1945 - Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.

1945 - World War II: Fuhrerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes
his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.

1945 - World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.

1922 - The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.

1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.

1914 - Nineteen men, women, and children participating in a strike are killed in the Ludlow Massacre during the Colorado Coalfield War.

1908 - Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.

1902 - Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.

1898 - U.S. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War.

1884 - Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, condemning Freemasonry.

1876 - The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion,
and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.

1865 - Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion.

1862 - Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving
the theory of spontaneous generation.

1861 - Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons,
makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina.

1861 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.

1836 - U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.

1828 - Rene Caillie becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu,
following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive.

1809 - Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.

1800 - The Septinsular Republic is established.

1792 - France declares war against the "King of Hungary and Bohemia", the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars.

1789 - George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.

1770 - The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.

1752 - Start of Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil
War (1740-57).

1657 - Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).

1657 - English Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

1653 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament.

1303 - The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.

1152 - After an eight-year conflict, Baldwin III of Jerusalem wins sole control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende.

--- Temp: -1°C | Humidity: 73% | Wind: 1 km/h (gust 3) | Pressure: 1015.24 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2021 - Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402) sinks in the Bali Sea during a military drill, killing all 53 on board.

2019 - Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing at least 269.

2014 - The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and at least 12 deaths from Legionnaires' disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five
of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

2012 - Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, killing one person and injuring 116 others.

2010 - The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.

2004 - Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.

1993 - The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.

1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.

1987 - The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.

1985 - The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the
Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.

1982 - Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.

1977 - Annie opens on Broadway.

1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees
Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct
North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.

1972 - Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke fly Apollo 16's Apollo Lunar Module to the Moon's surface, the fifth NASA Apollo Program crewed lunar landing.

1967 - A tornado outbreak in Illinois, United States, kills over 50 and injures over 1000. Belvidere sustains over 500 casualties as a violent
tornado strikes the high school. Another tornado near Chicago causes another 500 casualties, devastating Oak Lawn.

1967 - A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'etat, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.

1966 - Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an
event now celebrated as Grounation Day.

1965 - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.

1964 - A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in
its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.

1963 - The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Baha'i Faith.

1962 - The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the
first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.

1960 - Brasilia, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.

1958 - United Air Lines Flight 736 collides with a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.

1952 - Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.

1950 - The Nainital wedding massacre occurs, killing 22 members of the
Harijan caste.

1948 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.

1946 - The U.S. Weather Bureau records that a tornado which struck Timber Lake, South Dakota was 4 miles (6.4 km), among the widest tornadoes on
record.

1945 - World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the
German High Command headquarters.

1934 - The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing
the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1994, it is
revealed to be a hoax).

1926 - Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi'a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.

1918 - World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known
as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.

1914 - Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of
Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.

1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jorgensen bolt-action rifle as the
main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for
almost 50 years.

1856 - Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.

1836 - Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

1821 - Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier
of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.

1809 - Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the
main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmuhl.

1806 - Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.

1802 - Twelve thousand Wahhabis sack Karbala, killing over three thousand inhabitants.

1796 - War of the First Coalition: In the climax of the Montenotte Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte decisively defeats the army of Piedmont at the Battle of Mondovi, leading to Piedmont's surrender a week later and decisively turning the Italian campaign in France's favor.

1792 - Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.

1789 - George Washington's reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.

1789 - John Adams sworn in as first US Vice President (nine days before
George Washington).

1782 - The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.

1615 - The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.

1526 - The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and
killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.

1509 - Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.

1506 - The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.

1092 - The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan
archdiocese by Pope Urban II

900 - The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.

43 BC - Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.

753 BC - Romulus founds Rome (traditional date).

--- Temp: 2°C | Humidity: 78% | Wind: 5 km/h (gust 7) | Pressure: 1014.56 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - At least 26 people are killed in a terrorist attack on a group of tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility for the attack.

2020 - Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.

2016 - The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.

2005 - Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.

1993 - Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham.

1992 - A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206.

1977 - Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.

1974 - Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board.

1970 - Chicano residents in San Diego, California occupy a site under the Coronado Bridge, leading to the creation of Chicano Park.

1970 - The first Earth Day is celebrated.

1969 - The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.

1969 - British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.

1966 - American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D crashes on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport in Ardmore, Oklahoma, killing 83.

1954 - Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings begins.

1951 - Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong.

1948 - Arab-Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces.

1945 - World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by
soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army.

1945 - World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape.

1944 - World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station.

1944 - World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land
in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.

1944 - The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations
in the China Burma India Theater.

1930 - The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.

1915 - World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.

1906 - The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens.

1898 - Spanish-American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000.

1889 - At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.

1876 - The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.

1864 - The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.

1836 - Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity.

1809 - The second day of the Battle of Eckmuhl: The Austrian army is
defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.

1529 - Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1,250 kilometres (780 mi)) east of the Moluccas.

1519 - Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.

1500 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral lands in Brazil (discovery
of Brazil).

--- Temp: 8°C | Humidity: 71% | Wind: 1 km/h (gust 3) | Pressure: 1004.06 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - The 2024 Lumut mid-air collision in Malaysia kills 10 people while rehearsing for the 90th anniversary of the Royal Malaysian Navy.

2019 - The April 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers, with at least 50 others missing and presumed dead.

2018 - A vehicle-ramming attack kills 11 people and injures 15 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.

2013 - At least 111 people are killed and 233 injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.

2005 - The first YouTube video, titled "Me at the zoo", was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.

1999 - NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1993 - Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.

1993 - Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.

1990 - Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

1985 - Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.

1979 - Blair Peach, a British activist, was fatally injured after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London.

1979 - SAETA Flight 011 crashes in Pastaza Province, Ecuador, killing all 57 people on board. The wreckage was not discovered until 1984.

1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

1968 - Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York
City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.

1967 - Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: ???? 1, Union 1) a crewed spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.

1966 - Aeroflot Flight 2723 crashes into the Caspian Sea off the Absheron Peninsula, killing 33 people.

1961 - Algiers putsch by French generals.

1951 - Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.

1949 - Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy.

1946 - Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler's designated successor, Hermann Goring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of Nazi Germany. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Goring that the telegram is treasonous.

1942 - World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lubeck.

1941 - World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.

1940 - The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills
198 people.

1935 - The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.

1927 - Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.

1920 - The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.

1919 - The Estonian Constituent Assembly is held in Estonia, which marks the birth of the Estonian Parliament, the Riigikogu.

1918 - World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.

1909 - In Portugal, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Lisbon, killing
at least 60 people and injuring 75.

1891 - Chilean Civil War: The ironclad Blanco Encalada is sunk at Caldera Bay by torpedo boats.

1879 - Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.

1815 - The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.

1724 - Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Du Hirte Israel, hore, BWV 104, illustrating the topic of the Good Shepherd in pastoral music.

1661 - King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1660 - Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.

1655 - The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.

1635 - The first public school in the United States, the Boston Latin School, is founded.

1521 - Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.

1516 - The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.

1500 - Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvarez Cabral reaches new coastline (Brazil).

1348 - The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is
announced on St. George's Day.

1343 - St. George's Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.

1016 - Edmund Ironside succeeds his father AEthelred the Unready as King of England.

1014 - Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.

711 - Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.

599 - Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik'nal and sacking the city.

215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.

--- Temp: 11°C | Humidity: 59% | Wind: 6 km/h (gust 9) | Pressure: 1007.45 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - A mass stabbing at a school in Nantes, France, leaves 1 person dead
and 3 others wounded.

2013 - Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China's Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.

2013 - A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 people and injuring about 2,500 others.

2011 - WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.

2006 - Bombings in the Egyptian resort city of Dahab kill 23 people and
injure about 80.

2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

2004 - The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

1996 - In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act of 1996 is passed into law.

1994 - A Douglas DC-3 ditches in Botany Bay after takeoff from Sydney
Airport. All 25 people on board survive.

1993 - An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.

1990 - Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.

1990 - STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.

1980 - Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.

1979 - Blair Peach, a New Zealand teacher, dies after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London.

1970 - The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.

1970 - China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.

1967 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily".

1967 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.

1965 - Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamano overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'etat against Juan Bosch.

1963 - Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.

1957 - Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.

1955 - The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.

1953 - Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1944 - World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of
Santorini in Greece.

1933 - Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.

1932 - Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.

1926 - The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.

1924 - Thorvald Stauning becomes premier of Denmark (first term).

1922 - The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.

1918 - World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.

1916 - Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.

1916 - Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.

1915 - The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

1914 - The Franck-Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.

1913 - The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.

1895 - Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop Spray.

1885 - American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West.

1877 - Russo-Turkish War: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

1837 - The great fire in Surat city of India caused more than 500 deaths and destruction of more than 9,000 houses.

1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".

1793 - French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is acquitted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of charges brought by the Girondin in Paris.

1704 - The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.

1558 - Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, Francois, at Notre-Dame de Paris.

1547 - Battle of Muhlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces
of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.

1183 BC - Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria Eratosthenes, among others.

1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).

--- Temp: 8°C | Humidity: 65% | Wind: 4 km/h (gust 7) | Pressure: 1003.39 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2015 - At least 8,962 are killed in Nepal after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.

2014 - The Flint water crisis begins when officials at Flint, Michigan switch the city's water supply to the Flint River, leading to lead and bacteria contamination.

2007 - Boris Yeltsin's funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander
III in 1894.

2005 - Bulgaria and Romania sign the Treaty of Accession 2005 to join the European Union.

2005 - A seven-car commuter train derails and crashes into an apartment building near Amagasaki Station in Japan, killing 107, including the driver.

2005 - The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.

2004 - The March for Women's Lives brings over one million protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.

2001 - President George W. Bush pledges U.S. military support in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

1990 - Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.

1983 - Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.

1983 - Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which
she expressed fears about nuclear war.

1982 - Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.

1981 - More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at
the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.

1980 - One hundred forty-six people are killed when Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes near Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

1974 - Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime.

1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.

1961 - Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.

1960 - The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

1959 - The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.

1954 - The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.

1953 - Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA.

1951 - Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.

1945 - World War II: The last German troops retreat from Finnish soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military actions of the Second World War end in Finland.

1945 - United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.

1945 - World War II: Liberation Day (Italy): The National Liberation
Committee for Northern Italy calls for a general uprising against the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic.

1945 - World War II: United States and Soviet reconnaissance troops meet in Torgau and Strehla along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi
Germany in two. This would be later known as Elbe Day.

1944 - The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.

1938 - U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.

1933 - Nazi Germany issues the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities limiting the number of Jewish students able to attend public schools and universities.

1920 - At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.

1916 - Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.

1915 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and
Cape Helles.

1901 - New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States Congress declares that a state of war between the U.S. and Spain has existed since April 21, when an
American naval blockade of the Spanish colony of Cuba began.

1892 - Very bombing during the Ere des attentats (1892-1894)

1882 - French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.

1864 - American Civil War: In the Battle of Marks' Mills, a force of 8,000 Confederate soldiers attacks 1,800 Union soldiers and a large number of wagon teamsters, killing or wounding 1,500 Union combatants.

1862 - American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand
the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

1859 - British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.

1849 - The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.

1846 - Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.

1829 - Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of
modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the British Empire.

1808 - Dano-Swedish War of 1808-1809: The Battle of Trangen took place at Trangen in Flisa, Hedemarkens Amt, between Swedish and Norwegian troops.

1792 - "La Marseillaise" (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.

1792 - Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.

1707 - A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.

1644 - Transition from Ming to Qing: The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.

1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.

1134 - The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.

799 - After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, Pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.

775 - The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against
the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over the South Caucasus is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.

404 BC - Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.

--- Temp: 3°C | Humidity: 96% | Wind: 10 km/h (gust 13) | Pressure: 1000.00 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - A car ramming attack at a Lapu-Lapu Day festival kills 11 people and injures at least 30 in Vancouver, Canada.

2015 - Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected President of Kazakhstan with 97.7% of the vote, one of the biggest vote shares in Kazakhstan's history.

2005 - Cedar Revolution: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).

2002 - Robert Steinhauser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before committing suicide.

1999 - Outbreak of CIH computer virus.

1994 - South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.

1994 - China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.

1993 - The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on mission STS-55 to conduct experiments aboard the Spacelab module.

1991 - Fifty-five tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before
the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado.

1989 - People's Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.

1989 - The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing
upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.

1986 - The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

1981 - Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.

1970 - The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.

1966 - A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.

1966 - The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15-200 are killed.

1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

1963 - In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.

1962 - The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1.

1962 - NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

1960 - Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule.

1958 - Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.

1956 - SS Ideal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.

1954 - The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia.

1954 - The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.

1945 - World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment,
Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army liberate Baguio as they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.

1945 - World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.

1944 - Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.

1944 - Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile
based in Egypt.

1943 - The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.

1942 - Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1,549 Chinese miners dead.

1937 - Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria.

1933 - The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Goring.

1925 - Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.

1923 - The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.

1920 - Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada's 12-1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match.

1916 - Easter Rising: Battle of Mount Street Bridge.

1915 - World War I: Italy secretly signs the Treaty of London pledging to
join the Allied Powers.

1903 - Atletico Madrid Association football club is founded.

1900 - Fires destroy Canadian cities Ottawa and Hull, reducing them to ashes in 12 hours. Twelve thousand people are left without a home.

1865 - Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.

1805 - First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.

1803 - Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.

1802 - Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious emigres of the French Revolution to return
to France.

1794 - Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the
First Coalition.

1777 - Sybil Ludington, aged 16, allegedly rode 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of British regular forces

1721 - A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.

1607 - The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry.

1564 - Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of birth is unknown).

1478 - The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.

1336 - Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.

--- Temp: 5°C | Humidity: 98% | Wind: 6 km/h (gust 7) | Pressure: 1011.18 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2018 - The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.

2012 - At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured.

2011 - The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and
Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.

2007 - Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.

2007 - Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.

2006 - Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World
Trade Center) in New York City.

2005 - Airbus A380 aircraft has its maiden test flight.

1994 - South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.

1993 - Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.

1992 - The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

1992 - Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.

1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.

1989 - The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

1987 - The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.

1986 - The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to the Chernobyl disaster.

1978 - Willow Island disaster: In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling
tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia.

1978 - The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following
morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

1978 - John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.

1976 - Thirty-seven people are killed when American Airlines Flight 625 crashes at Cyril E. King Airport in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

1974 - 109 people are killed in a plane crash near Pulkovo Airport.

1967 - Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.

1953 - Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defects with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was
to receive $100,000.

1945 - World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.

1945 - World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end
and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.

1941 - World War II: German troops enter Athens.

1936 - The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

1927 - Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.

1911 - The Second Canton Uprising took place in Guangzhou, Qing China but was suppressed.

1909 - Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is
succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.

1906 - The State Duma of the Russian Empire meets for the first time.

1861 - American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1813 - War of 1812: American troops capture York, the capital of Upper
Canada, in the Battle of York.

1805 - First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" in the Marines' Hymn).

1667 - Blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for GBP10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers' Register.

1650 - The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army.

1595 - The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vracar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world

1565 - Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

1539 - Official founding of the city of Bogota, New Granada (nowadays Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastian de Belalcazar.

1521 - Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapulapu.

1509 - Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.

1296 - First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.

711 - Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad
land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).

395 - Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish
general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses
of Late Antiquity.

247 - Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome with a celebration of the ludi saeculares.

--- Temp: 10°C | Humidity: 67% | Wind: 3 km/h (gust 5) | Pressure: 1013.88 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2004 - CBS News releases evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over
Iraqi detainees.

1996 - Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.

1996 - Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4.mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width: 1px}1/2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.

1994 - Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

1991 - Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-39, the first unclassified shuttle mission for the United States Department of Defense.

1988 - Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.

1986 - High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, leading Soviet
authorities to publicly announce the accident.

1983 - The West German news magazine Stern begins publishing excerpts from
the purported diaries of Adolf Hitler, later revealed to be forgeries.

1978 - The President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.

1977 - The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

1975 - General Cao Van Vien, chief of the South Vietnamese military,
departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory.

1973 - The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road
Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.

1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.

1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

1967 - Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.

1965 - United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate US Army troops.

1952 - The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.

1952 - The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.

1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election.

1949 - The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.

1948 - Igor Stravinsky conducts the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center.

1947 - Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki
to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

1945 - The Holocaust: Nazi Germany carries out its final use of gas chambers to execute 33 Upper Austrian socialist and communist leaders in Mauthausen concentration camp.

1945 - Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by
Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.

1944 - World War II: Nine German E-boats attack US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.

1941 - The Ustase massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.

1937 - South African medical researcher Max Theiler develops the yellow fever vaccine at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City.

1930 - The Independence Producers host the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.

1923 - Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.

1920 - The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded.

1910 - Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in the United Kingdom.

1887 - A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebele is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.

1881 - Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.

1869 - Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.

1859 - The sailing clipper ship Pomona wrecked on the coast of Ireland with the loss of 424 of the 448 passengers and crew aboard.

1858 - The Bawani Imli massacre, where 52 Indian freedom fighters were hanged to death on a tamarind tree by British colonial forces.

1796 - The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.

1794 - Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution
against the Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.

1792 - France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.

1789 - Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift, and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly before setting sail for Pitcairn Island.

1788 - Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1758 - The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture
the city.

1625 - A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch-Portuguese War.

1611 - Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic University of the Philippines and the largest Catholic
university in the world.

1503 - The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.

1294 - Temur, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols with the reigning title Oljeitu.

1253 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myoho Renge Kyo
for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.

1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem,
in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.

357 - Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.

224 - The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V, effectively ending the Parthian Empire.

--- Temp: 13°C | Humidity: 75% | Wind: 8 km/h (gust 9) | Pressure: 1000.68 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2015 - A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White
Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero
fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.

2013 - National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing all seven people on board.

2013 - A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, and injures 43 people.

2011 - The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.

2004 - The final Oldsmobile is built in Lansing, Michigan, ending 107 years
of vehicle production.

1997 - The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.

1992 - Riots in Los Angeles begin, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.

1991 - The 7.0 Mw Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.

1991 - A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.

1986 - An assembly of Sikhs, known as a Sarbat Khalsa, officially declared independence for a state of Khalistan.

1986 - The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.

1986 - A fire at the Central library of the Los Angeles Public Library
damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.

1985 - Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on STS-51-B.

1975 - Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese Army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Truong Sa Islands.

1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. This happens after the Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

1974 - Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.

1970 - Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in an attempt to cut off supplies to the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.

1967 - After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.

1953 - The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast shows an episode
of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.

1952 - Pan Am Flight 202 crashes into the Amazon basin near Carolina, Maranhao, Brazil, killing 50 people.

1946 - The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.

1945 - Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.

1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Donitz as his successor.

1945 - World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands.

1945 - World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy.

1916 - Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.

1916 - World War I: The UK's 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.

1911 - Tsinghua University, one of mainland China's leading universities, is founded.

1910 - The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.

1903 - A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.

1864 - Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War.

1862 - American Civil War: The Siege of Corinth begins as Union forces under General Henry Halleck moves to engage Confederate forces led by General P. G. T. Beauregard.

1862 - American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut.

1861 - Maryland in the American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates
votes not to secede from the Union.

1826 - The galaxy Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is discovered by James Dunlop.

1781 - American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.

1770 - James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.

1760 - French forces commence the siege of Quebec which is held by the British.

1521 - Swedish War of Liberation: Swedish troops defeat a Danish force in the Battle of Vasteras.

1492 - The Crown's decision to expel the Jews is announced in Zaragoza, Aragon, to the kingdom's procurators.

1483 - Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.

1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans.

1091 - Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

801 - An earthquake in the Central Apennines hits Rome and Spoleto, damaging the basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura.

--- Temp: 9°C | Humidity: 79% | Wind: 8 km/h (gust 11) | Pressure: 1003.05 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2021 - Forty-five men and boys are killed in the Meron stampede in Israel.

2014 - A bomb blast in Urumqi, China kills three people and injures 79
others.

2013 - Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.

2012 - An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 108 people. At least 150 more are missing and presumed dead.

2009 - Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.

2009 - Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

2008 - Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.

2004 - U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

2000 - Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people
and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.

1999 - Neo-Nazi David Copeland carries out the last of his three nail
bombings in London at the Admiral Duncan gay pub, killing three people and injuring 79 others.

1994 - Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.

1993 - CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.

1989 - The Monkseaton shootings occur in Tyne and Wear, England. One killed, 16 injured.

1982 - The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India.

1980 - The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.

1980 - Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.

1979 - Eruption of Mount Marapi: Mount Marapi, a complex volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, erupted. Between 80 and 100 people were killed.

1975 - Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.

1973 - Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon fires White House Counsel John Dean; other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resign.

1963 - The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing
national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.

1961 - K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.

1957 - Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force.

1956 - Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.

1948 - In Bogota, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.

1947 - In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.

1945 - World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany
is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9,000 American and British airmen.

1945 - World War II: Fuhrerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.

1943 - World War II: The British submarine HMS Seraph surfaces near Huelva
to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans.

1939 - NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair
opening day ceremonial address.

1939 - The 1939-40 New York World's Fair opens.

1937 - The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90%
would vote in the affirmative.

1927 - The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.

1925 - Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for
US$146 million plus $50 million for charity.

1905 - Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.

1900 - Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.

1897 - J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.

1885 - Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.

1871 - The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.

1864 - American Civil War: Confederate forces led by General E. Kirby Smith attack federal troops retreating across the Saline at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas.

1863 - A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of
nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camaron, Mexico.

1859 - Charles Dickens publishes the first edition of his literary magazine, All the Year Round, containing the first installment of his best-selling classic, A Tale of Two Cities.

1838 - Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.

1812 - The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.

1803 - Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana
Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.

1789 - On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first President of the United States.

1636 - Eighty Years' War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.

1598 - Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.

1598 - Juan de Onate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico.

1513 - Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is
executed on the orders of Henry VIII.

1492 - Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. He is named admiral of the ocean sea, viceroy and governor of any territory he discovers.

1315 - Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count
of Valois.

311 - The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.

--- Temp: 6°C | Humidity: 84% | Wind: 2 km/h (gust 4) | Pressure: 1001.69 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - The 2024 Loblaw boycott, a Canadian boycott against retail corporation and grocer Loblaw Companies, begins.

2019 - Naruhito ascends to the throne of Japan succeeding his father Akihito, beginning the Reiwa period.

2019 - Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army
soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.

2018 - Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq-Syria border.

2011 - Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

2010 - Faisal Shahzad attempts to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, but
the bomb fails to go off.

2009 - Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.

2004 - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

2003 - Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

1999 - The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.

1997 - Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister

1994 - Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.

1993 - Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo
in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

1991 - Angolan Civil War: The MPLA and UNITA agree to the Bicesse Accords, which are formally signed on May 31 in Lisbon.

1982 - Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.

1978 - Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

1975 - The Sarkanniemi Amusement Park opens in Tampere, Finland.

1971 - Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.

1970 - Vietnam War: Protests erupt in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.

1961 - The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1960 - Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

1957 - A Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes while attempting to return to Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, killing 34.

1956 - The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.

1947 - Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in
Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11
persons are killed and 33 wounded.

1946 - Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.

1945 - World War II: Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army.

1945 - World War II: German radio broadcasts news of Adolf Hitler's death, falsely stating that he has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.

1931 - The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.

1930 - "Pluto" is officially proposed for the name of the newly discovered dwarf planet by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory Observation Circular. The name quickly catches on.

1929 - The 7.2 Mw Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran-Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.

1925 - The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.

1921 - The Jaffa riots commence.

1919 - German troops enter Munich to suppress the Bavarian Soviet Republic.

1915 - RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.

1900 - The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in
what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.

1898 - Spanish-American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of
the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy
after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381
Spanish sailors die. There are no American vessel losses or combat deaths.

1896 - Naser al-Din, Shah of Iran, is assassinated in Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine by Mirza Reza Kermani, a follower of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.

1894 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.

1886 - Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.

1885 - The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.

1866 - The Memphis Race Riots begin. Over three days, 46 blacks and two
whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1865 - The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.

1863 - American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant win the Battle of Port Gibson and establish a firm presence on the east side of the Mississippi River.

1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker begins.

1851 - Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London.

1846 - The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.

1844 - Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.

1840 - The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.

1820 - Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.

1807 - The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire.

1753 - Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start
date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

1707 - The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect.

1669 - Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo, the Spanish Armada de
Barlovento is defeated by an English Privateer fleet led by Captain Henry Morgan.

1492 - The Edict of Expulsion is officially proclaimed in Castile, requiring all Jewish residents to leave within three months.

1486 - Christopher Columbus presents his plans discovering a western route to the Indies to the Spanish Queen Isabella I of Castile.

1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state.

1169 - Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland.

880 - The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model
for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.

305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor.

--- Temp: 4°C | Humidity: 85% | Wind: 0 km/h (gust 0) | Pressure: 1004.06 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2014 - Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.

2012 - A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world
record for a work of art at auction.

2011 - An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others are taken ill.

2011 - Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

2008 - Chaiten Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.

2008 - Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.

2004 - The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa, Nigeria. In response, about 630
Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2.

2000 - President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

1999 - Panamanian general election: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

1998 - The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define
and execute the European Union's monetary policy.

1995 - During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.

1989 - Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.

1986 - Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.

1982 - Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

1972 - In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.

1970 - ALM Flight 980 ditches in the Caribbean Sea near Saint Croix, killing 23.

1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

1964 - First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.

1964 - Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS
Card while it is docked at Saigon. Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship's hull. She is raised and returned to service less
than seven months later.

1963 - Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.

1952 - A De Havilland Comet makes the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers, from London to Johannesburg.

1945 - World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.

1945 - World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wobbelin concentration camp finding 1,000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.

1945 - World War II: The surrender of Caserta comes into effect, by which German troops in Italy cease fighting.

1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin.

1941 - World War II: Following the coup d'etat against Iraq Crown Prince
'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.

1933 - Germany's independent labor unions are replaced by the German Labour Front.

1920 - The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.

1906 - Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.

1889 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.

1885 - Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.

1867 - Albert Gunther publishes the first study to recognise that the New Zealand tuatara is not a lizard.

1876 - The April Uprising breaks out in Ottoman Bulgaria.

1866 - Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.

1863 - American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire
while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.

1829 - After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

1812 - The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory.

1808 - Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes
this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.

1670 - King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

1625 - Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Latin Patriarch of Ethiopia, arrives at Beilul from Goa.

1611 - The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.

1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Lochleven Castle.

1559 - John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.

1536 - Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges
of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

1230 - William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.

1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first royal charter.

--- Temp: 4°C | Humidity: 74% | Wind: 0 km/h (gust 0) | Pressure: 1006.43 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - Ethnic violence breaks out between the Meitei and the Kuki Zo people
in the state of Manipur.

2023 - Nine students and a security guard are killed in the Belgrade school shooting, the first attack of its kind in Serbia.

2021 - Twenty-six people are killed and ninety-eight are injured after an elevated section of the Mexico City Metro collapses.

2016 - Eighty-eight thousand people are evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire rips through the community,
destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

2015 - Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

2007 - The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia
da Luz, Portugal, starting "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history".

2006 - Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea near Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, killing 113 people.

2001 - The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.

2000 - The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.

1999 - Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side results in the
Kargil War.

1999 - The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak.
This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 484 +- 32 kilometres per hour (301 +- 20 mph). In meteorology, the term
"May 3" is synonymous with the F5 tornado.

1987 - A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.

1986 - Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election. The following day, she becomes the first female British Prime Minister.

1978 - The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

1971 - Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989.

1968 - Eighty-five people are killed when Braniff International Airways
Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas.

1963 - The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of
the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.

1957 - Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

1953 - Two men are rescued from a semitrailer that crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge before it fell into the Sacramento River. Amateur photographer Virginia Schau photographs "Rescue on Pit River Bridge", the first and only winning submission for the Pulitzer Prize for Photography to have been taken by a woman.

1952 - The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.

1952 - Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.

1951 - The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.

1951 - London's Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.

1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are
legally unenforceable.

1947 - New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.

1945 - World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lubeck Bay.

1942 - World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the
Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.

1939 - The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

1928 - The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and
the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.

1921 - West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.

1921 - Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

1920 - A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

1913 - Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.

1901 - The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.

1855 - American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.

1849 - The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848-49.

1848 - The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.

1837 - The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.

1830 - The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.

1815 - Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.

1808 - Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Principe Pio hill.

1808 - Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.

1802 - Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes
the Board of Commissioners, the District's founding government. The "City of Washington" is given a mayor-council form of government.

1791 - The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1715 - A total solar eclipse is visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes accuracy.

1616 - Treaty of Loudun ends a French civil war.

1568 - Angered by the brutal onslaught of Spanish troops at Fort Caroline, a French force burns the San Mateo fort and massacres hundreds of Spaniards.

1491 - Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of Joao I.

1481 - The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.

752 - Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne.

--- Temp: 8°C | Humidity: 63% | Wind: 0 km/h (gust 1) | Pressure: 1004.06 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - Nine people are killed and thirteen injured in a spree shooting in Mladenovac and Smederevo, Serbia. It is the second mass shooting in the country in two days.

2019 - The inaugural all-female motorsport series, W Series, takes place at Hockenheimring. The race was won by Jamie Chadwick, who would go on to become the inaugural season's champion.

2014 - Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.

2007 - Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by the 2007 Greensburg tornado, a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever
tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.

2002 - One hundred three people are killed and 51 are injured in a plane
crash near Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria.

2000 - Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London (an office separate from that of the Lord Mayor of London).

1998 - A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.

1994 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1990 - Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.

1989 - Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-30 to deploy the Venus-bound Magellan space probe.

1989 - Iran-Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are
later overturned on appeal.

1988 - The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.

1982 - Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer
HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom.

1978 - The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.

1973 - The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet
(442 m) as the world's tallest building.

1972 - The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental
organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to "Greenpeace Foundation".

1970 - Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others.
The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.

1961 - Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for
manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).

1961 - American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

1959 - The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.

1953 - Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

1949 - The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Toma, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.

1946 - In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.

1945 - World War II: The German surrender at Luneburg Heath is signed,
coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.

1945 - World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.

1932 - Having been incarcerated at the Cook County Jail since his sentencing on October 24, 1931, mobster Al Capone is transferred to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta after the U.S. Supreme Court denies his appeal for conviction of tax evasion.

1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.

1926 - The United Kingdom general strike begins.

1919 - May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

1912 - Italy occupies the Ottoman island of Rhodes.

1910 - The Royal Canadian Navy is created.

1904 - The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.

1886 - Haymarket affair: In Chicago, United States, a homemade bomb is thrown at police officers trying to break up a labor rally, killing one officer. Ensuing gunfire leads to the deaths of a further seven officers and four civilians.

1871 - The National Association, the first professional baseball league,
opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1869 - The four-day Naval Battle of Hakodate begins. The newly formed
Imperial Japanese Navy defeats the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy in the Sea of Japan off the city of Hakodate, leading to the surrender of the
Ezo Republic on May 17.

1859 - The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking
Devon and Cornwall in England.

1836 - Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians.

1814 - King Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.

1814 - Emperor Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to
begin his exile.

1799 - Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.

1776 - Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.

1738 - The Imperial Theatrical School, the first ballet school in Russia, is founded.

1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.

1493 - In the papal bull Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.

1471 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.

1436 - Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (27 April O.S.).

1415 - Religious reformer John Wycliffe is condemned as a heretic at the Council of Constance.

1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.

--- Temp: 13°C | Humidity: 65% | Wind: 2 km/h (gust 3) | Pressure: 996.95 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19
pandemic as a global health emergency.

2010 - Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures
imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.

2007 - Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon.

2006 - The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.

1994 - American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.

1994 - The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

1991 - A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C.
after police shoot a Salvadoran man.

1987 - Iran-Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States.

1985 - Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.

1981 - Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.

1980 - Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.

1973 - Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record.

1972 - Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.

1964 - The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.

1961 - Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel
into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.

1955 - The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.

1946 - The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

1945 - World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, one of only two battles in that war in which American and German troops fought cooperatively.

1945 - World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon.

1945 - World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.

1941 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country
commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day.

1940 - World War II: Norwegian campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms.

1936 - Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1930 - The 1930 Bago earthquake, the former of two major earthquakes in southern Burma kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago.

1920 - Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.

1912 - The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda was published.

1905 - The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.

1904 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in
the modern era of baseball.

1891 - The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.

1887 - The Peruvian Academy of Language is founded.

1886 - Workers marching for the Eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what became known as the Bay View Massacre.

1877 - American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into
Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.

1866 - Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.

1865 - American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia.

1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in
Spotsylvania County.

1862 - Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion
in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.

1835 - The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.

1821 - The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published.

1821 - Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.

1789 - In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.

1762 - Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.

1654 - Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh.

1640 - King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.

1609 - Daimyo (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyushu, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Okinawa.

1494 - On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown.

1260 - Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.

1215 - Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England --
part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.

553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins.

--- Temp: 16°C | Humidity: 75% | Wind: 3 km/h (gust 5) | Pressure: 991.87 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - Eight people are killed and seven injured in a mass shooting in Allen, Texas. The perpetrator is killed by a police officer.

2023 - The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster
Abbey, London.

2013 - Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

2010 - In just 36 minutes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 1,000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.

2004 - The final episode of the television sitcom Friends was aired.

2002 - Founding of SpaceX.

2002 - Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio-interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.

2001 - During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.

1999 - The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.

1998 - Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.

1998 - Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league
record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.

1997 - The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history.

1996 - The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.

1994 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President Francois Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

1988 - All thirty-six passengers and crew were killed when Wideroe Flight
710 crashed into Mt. Torghatten in Bronnoy.

1984 - One hundred and three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul
II in Seoul.

1983 - The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.

1976 - The 6.5 Mw Friuli earthquake affected Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900-978 dead and 1,700-2,400 injured.

1975 - During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian genocide.

1972 - Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Aslan and Huseyin Inan are executed in Ankara
after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.

1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.

1960 - More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.

1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.

1949 - EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.

1945 - World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.

1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.

1941 - The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

1941 - At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.

1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

1937 - Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and
is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.

1935 - New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration.

1933 - The Deutsche Studentenschaft attacked Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut
fur Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.

1916 - Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tan is captured while calling upon the people
to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Reunion island.

1916 - Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs' Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.

1915 - Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: The SY Aurora broke loose from
its anchorage during a gale, beginning a 312-day ordeal.

1915 - Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.

1910 - George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII.

1906 - The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar).

1901 - The first issue of Gorkhapatra, the oldest still running state-owned Nepali newspaper was published.

1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.

1882 - The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.

1882 - Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death
by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin.

1877 - Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.

1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with a major defeat of the Union's Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee.

1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.

1857 - The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British
in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence.

1840 - The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.

1801 - Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.

1782 - Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.

1757 - English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.

1757 - The end of Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740-1757).

1757 - Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.

1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.

1659 - English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.

1594 - The Dutch city of Coevorden held by the Spanish, falls to a Dutch and English force.

1542 - Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.

1541 - King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.

1536 - The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish.

1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.

--- Temp: 8°C | Humidity: 96% | Wind: 0 km/h (gust 0) | Pressure: 998.98 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force conduct surgical strikes code-named Operation SINDOOR on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam Attack that killed 26 people.

2023 - 2023 Tanur boat disaster, At least 22 people are killed when a boat carrying tourists capsizes in Tanur, Malappuram, Kerala, India.

2004 - American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamist militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.

2002 - A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.

2002 - An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis-Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.

2000 - Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.

1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, President Joao Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.

1999 - Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.

1999 - Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.

1998 - Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms
DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

1994 - Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.

1992 - Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food murder" in Canada.

1992 - Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49.

1992 - Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.

1991 - A fire and explosion occurs at a fireworks factory at Sungai Buloh, Malaysia, killing 26.

1986 - Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.

1964 - Pacific Airlines Flight 773 is hijacked by Francisco Gonzales and crashes in Contra Costa County, California, killing 44.

1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.

1954 - Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13).

1952 - The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.

1948 - The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.

1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded.

1945 - World War II: Last German U-boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland.

1942 - World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shoho; the battle marks the first time in naval history
that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.

1940 - World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons
begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.

1937 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.

1931 - The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.

1930 - The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and
southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed.

1920 - Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.

1920 - Polish-Soviet War: Kyiv offensive: Polish troops led by Jozef
Pilsudski and Edward Rydz-Smigly and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian
force capture Kyiv only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.

1915 - The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan's control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy.

1915 - World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,199 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.

1895 - In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector--a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.

1864 - The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for
transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.

1864 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.

1846 - The Cambridge Chronicle, America's oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1840 - The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.

1832 - Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.

1824 - World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.

1798 - French Revolutionary Wars: A French force attempting to dislodge a small British garrison on the Iles Saint-Marcouf is repulsed with heavy losses.

1794 - French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme
Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French
First Republic.

1765 - HMS Victory is launched at Chatham Dockyard, Kent. She is not commissioned until 1778.

1763 - Pontiac's War begins with Pontiac's attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British.

1718 - The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.

1697 - Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace.

1685 - Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces.

1664 - Inaugural celebrations begin at Louis XIV's new Palace of Versailles.

1625 - State funeral of James VI and I (1566-1625) is held at Westminster Abbey.

1544 - The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing.

1487 - The Siege of Malaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.

1342 - In Avignon, France, Cardinal Pierre Roger is elected Pope and takes
the name Clement VI.

1274 - In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens; it ratified a decree to regulate the election of the Pope.

558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.

351 - The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.

--- Temp: 7°C | Humidity: 72% | Wind: 6 km/h (gust 7) | Pressure: 1002.71 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2025 - The 2025 papal conclave elects Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, taking the name Leo XIV as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church.

2021 - A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150.

2019 - British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.

1997 - China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.

1988 - A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history".

1987 - The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.

1984 - The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances.

1984 - The Soviet Union announces a boycott upon the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, later joined by 14 other countries.

1984 - Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. Rene Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms
of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.

1980 - The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.

1978 - The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.

1976 - The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

1973 - A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.

1972 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.

1970 - The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be.

1967 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.

1963 - South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.

1957 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem began a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.

1950 - The Tollund Man was discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark.

1946 - Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jogi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.

1945 - The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1945 - Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Setif massacre.

1945 - End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in
the Czech Republic.

1945 - World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect.

1942 - World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny
is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with
Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington.

1942 - World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula.

1941 - World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.

1933 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.

1927 - Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.

1924 - The Klaipeda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipeda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.

1921 - The creation of the Communist Party of Romania.

1919 - Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.

1902 - In Martinique, Mount Pelee erupts, destroying the town of
Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.

1899 - The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play.

1898 - The first games of the Italian football league system are played.

1886 - Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.

1877 - At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.

1846 - Mexican-American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.

1842 - A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.

1821 - Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle
of Gravia Inn.

1794 - Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme generale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris.

1788 - King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Etienne Charles de Lomenie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements.

1721 - In the Papal States, Cardinal Michelangelo dei Conti is elected Pope, and takes the name Innocent XIII.

1639 - William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island.

1608 - A newly nationalized silver mine in Scotland at Hilderston, West Lothian is re-opened by Bevis Bulmer.

1541 - Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Rio de Espiritu Santo,
the name given to it by Alonso Alvarez de Pineda in 1519).

1516 - A group of imperial guards, led by Trinh Duy San, murdered Emperor
Le Tuong Duc and fled, leaving the capital Thang Long undefended.

1450 - Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.

1429 - Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orleans, turning the tide of the
Hundred Years' War.

1373 - Julian of Norwich, a Christian mystic and anchoress, experiences the deathbed visions described in her Revelations of Divine Love.

1360 - Treaty of Bretigny drafted between King Edward III of England and
King John II of France (the Good).

589 - Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church.

413 - Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.

453 BC - Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of
Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.

--- Temp: 6°C | Humidity: 89% | Wind: 0 km/h (gust 0) | Pressure: 1002.71 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2023 - The May 9 riots following the arrest of Imran Khan in Pakistan.

2022 - Russo-Ukrainian War: United States President Joe Biden signs the 2022 Lend-Lease Act into law, a rebooted World War II-era policy expediting American equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.

2020 - The COVID-19 recession causes the U.S. unemployment rate to hit 14.9 percent, its worst rate since the Great Depression.

2018 - Barisan Nasional, the coalition that had governed Malaysia since the country's independence in 1957, suffer an historic defeat in the 2018 Malaysian general election.

2002 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.

2001 - In Ghana, 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of tear gas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee.

1992 - Westray Mine disaster kills 26 workers in Nova Scotia, Canada.

1992 - Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

1988 - New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens.

1987 - LOT Flight 5055 Tadeusz Kosciuszko crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing all 183 people on board.

1980 - In Norco, California, United States, five masked gunmen hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.

1980 - In Florida, United States, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 430-meter (1,400 ft) section of the southbound span collapse. Thirty-five people in
six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 46 metres (150 ft) into the water and die.

1979 - Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran.

1974 - Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

1969 - Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in Sao Paulo, by robbing two banks.

1960 - The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.

1955 - Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.

1950 - Robert Schuman presents the "Schuman Declaration", considered by some to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.

1948 - Czechoslovakia's Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect.

1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by
Umberto II.

1945 - World War II: the Channel Islands are liberated from Nazi occupation.

1942 - The Holocaust in Ukraine: The SS executes 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast. The Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants executed or deported.

1941 - World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal
Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.

1936 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa
on May 5.

1927 - The Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, officially opens.

1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.)

1920 - Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army under General Edward Rydz-Smigly celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreshchatyk.

1918 - World War I: Germany repels Britain's second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium.

1915 - World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces.

1901 - Australia opens its first national parliament in Melbourne.

1877 - Mihail Kogalniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies, the
Declaration of Independence of Romania. The date will become recognised as
the Independence Day of Romania.

1873 - Der Krach: The Vienna stock exchange crash begins the Panic of 1873
and heralds the Long Depression.

1865 - American Civil War: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships.

1865 - American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest surrenders his forces at Gainesville, Alabama.

1864 - Second Schleswig War: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and
Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland.

1761 - Exhibition of 1761, the inaugural exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain opens at Spring Gardens in London.

1726 - Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn.

1671 - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

1662 - The figure who later became Mr. Punch makes his first recorded appearance in England.

1540 - Hernando de Alarcon sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California.

1450 - Timurid monarch 'Abd al-Latif is assassinated.

1386 - England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing
of the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force.

1009 - Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy.

328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch of Alexandria.

--- Temp: 10°C | Humidity: 94% | Wind: 2 km/h (gust 3) | Pressure: 996.95 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - Start of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of Geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.

2022 - Queen Elizabeth II misses the State Opening of Parliament for the
first time in 59 years. It was the first time that a new session of
Parliament was opened by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge acting as Counsellors of State.

2017 - Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last footholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Al-Tabqah, bringing the Battle of Tabqa to an end.

2013 - One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

2012 - The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.

2005 - A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 20 m from
U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.

2002 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for
$1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

1997 - The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran's Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.

1996 - A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.

1994 - Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

1993 - In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.

1975 - Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.

1969 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.

1967 - The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for
the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.

1962 - Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.

1961 - Air France Flight 406 is destroyed by a bomb over the Sahara, killing 78.

1946 - First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.

1942 - World War II: The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.

1941 - World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.

1941 - World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.

1940 - World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.

1940 - World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.

1933 - Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.

1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.

1922 - The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.

1916 - Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at
South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.

1908 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.

1904 - The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.

1899 - Finnish farmworker Karl Emil Malmelin kills seven people with an axe
at the Simola croft in the village of Klaukkala.

1881 - Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.

1876 - The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.

1872 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.

1869 - The First transcontinental railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory with the golden spike.

1865 - American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.

1857 - Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.

1849 - Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.

1837 - Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose
severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.

1833 - A revolt broke out in southern Vietnam against Emperor Minh Mang, who had desecrated the deceased mandarin Le Van Duyet.

1824 - The National Gallery in London opens to the public.

1801 - First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.

1796 - War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes
place in Philadelphia.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan
Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.

1774 - Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.

1773 - The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.

1768 - Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing
an article for The North Briton severely criticising King George III.

1713 - Great Northern War: The Russian Navy led by Admiral Fyodor Apraksin land both at Katajanokka and Hietalahti during the Battle of Helsinki.

1688 - King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

1534 - Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.

1503 - Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.

1497 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cadiz for his first voyage to the
New World.

1294 - Temur, Khagan of the Mongols, is enthroned as Emperor of the Yuan dynasty.

1291 - Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.

28 BC - A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.

--- Temp: 10°C | Humidity: 58% | Wind: 1 km/h (gust 1) | Pressure: 1021.67 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - The 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is held in Malmo, Sweden. Nemo from Switzerland wins with their song "The Code", making them
the contest's first non-binary winner.

2024 - Start/Middle of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of Geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.

2022 - Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is killed while covering a raid in Jenin. Israel eventually admitted and apologized for the murder, after initial denials.

2022 - The Burmese military executes at least 37 villagers during the Mon Taing Pin massacre in Sagaing, Myanmar.

2016 - One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.

2014 - Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa, DRC, in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.

2013 - Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanli, Turkey.

2011 - The Istanbul Convention is signed in Istanbul, Turkey.

2011 - An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.

2010 - David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country's first coalition government since the Second World War.

2009 - Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

2009 - An American soldier in Iraq opens fire on a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, killing five other US soldiers and wounding three.

2000 - Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.

1998 - India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.

1997 - Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in
the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

1996 - After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by
improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.

1987 - Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.

1985 - Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.

1973 - Aeroflot Flight 6551 crashes in Semey, Kazakh Soviet Socialist
Republic (now Kazakhstan), killing all 63 aboard.

1973 - Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg's charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.

1970 - The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.

1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1894 - Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.

1889 - An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft
of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.

1880 - Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.

1878 - Hodel assassination attempt by anarchist Max Hodel targeting the
German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.

1857 - Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.

1813 - William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a
route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.

1812 - Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.

1713 - Great Northern War: After losing the Battle of Helsinki to the Russians, the Swedish and Finnish troops burn the entire city, so that it would not remain intact in the hands of the Russians.

1258 - Louis IX of France and James I of Aragon sign the Treaty of Corbeil, renouncing claims of feudal overlordship in one another's territories and separating the House of Barcelona from the politics of France.

1068 - Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, is crowned Queen
of England.

973 - In the first coronation ceremony ever held for an English monarch,
Edgar the Peaceful is crowned King of England, having ruled since 959 AD. His wife, AElfthryth, is crowned queen, the first recorded coronation for a Queen of England.

868 - A copy of the Diamond Sutra is published, the earliest dated and
printed book known.

330 - Constantine the Great dedicates the much-expanded and rebuilt city of Byzantium, changing its name to New Rome and declaring it the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

--- Temp: 8°C | Humidity: 63% | Wind: 0 km/h (gust 1) | Pressure: 1029.46 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2024 - Middle/End of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of Geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.

2018 - Paris knife attack: A man is fatally shot by police in Paris after killing one and injuring several others.

2017 - The WannaCry ransomware attack impacts over 400,000 computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom's National Health Services and Telefonica computers.

2015 - Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3,500.

2015 - A train derailment in Philadelphia, United States, kills eight people and injures more than 200.

2010 - Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board.

2008 - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever
raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.

2008 - An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.

2006 - Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.

2006 - Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in Sao Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.

2003 - The Riyadh compound bombings in Saudi Arabia, carried out by al-Qaeda, kill 39 people.

2002 - Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since the Cuban Revolution.

1989 - The San Bernardino train disaster kills four people, only to be followed a week later by an underground gasoline pipeline explosion, which kills two more people.

1982 - During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Maria Fernandez y Krohn before he
can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.

1978 - In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order.

1975 - Indochina Wars: Democratic Kampuchea naval forces capture the SS Mayaguez.

1968 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral.

1965 - The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

1949 - Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.

1942 - World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507.

1942 - World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the
Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.

1941 - Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1937 - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom are crowned
in Westminster Abbey.

1933 - President Roosevelt signs legislation creating the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the predecessor of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

1933 - The Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricts agricultural production through government purchase of livestock for slaughter and paying subsidies to farmers when they remove land from planting, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1932 - Ten weeks after his abduction, Charles Jr., the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, is found dead near Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.

1926 - The 1926 United Kingdom general strike ends.

1926 - The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

1885 - North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Metis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.

1881 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.

1870 - The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for
Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.

1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.

1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Union troops assault a Confederate salient known as the "Mule Shoe", with some of the fiercest fighting of the war, much of it hand-to-hand combat, occurring
at "the Bloody Angle" on the northwest.

1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: Two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.

1862 - American Civil War: Union Army troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1846 - The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.

1821 - The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi.

1808 - Finnish War: Swedish-Finnish troops, led by Captain Karl Wilhelm
Malmi, conquer the city of Kuopio from Russians after the Battle of Kuopio.

1797 - War of the First Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte conquers Venice.

1780 - American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.

1778 - Heinrich XI, count of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, is elevated to Prince by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.

1743 - Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

1593 - London playwright Thomas Kyd is arrested and tortured by the Privy Council for libel.

1588 - French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry
I, Duke of Guise, enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs.

1551 - National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.

1510 - The Prince of Anhua rebellion begins when Zhu Zhifan kills all the officials invited to a banquet and declares his intent on ousting the
powerful Ming dynasty eunuch Liu Jin during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor.

1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.

1364 - Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded
in Krakow.

1328 - Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.

1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.

907 - Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty
after nearly three hundred years of rule.

254 - Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church, and immediately takes a stand against Novatianism.

--- Temp: 7°C | Humidity: 62% | Wind: 4 km/h (gust 5) | Pressure: 1031.16 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

This Day in History
-------------------

2014 - An explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest Turkey kills 301 miners.

2013 - American physician Kermit Gosnell is found guilty in Pennsylvania of murdering three infants born alive during attempted abortions, involuntary manslaughter of a woman during an abortion procedure, and other charges.

2012 - Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40.

2011 - Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others.

2006 - Sao Paulo violence: Rebellions occur in several prisons in Brazil.

2005 - Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan; Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates.

2000 - A fireworks storage depot explodes in a residential neighborhood in Enschede, Netherlands, killing 23 people and injuring 950 others.

1999 - Kosovo War: NATO bombs the village of Korisa, killing at least 87 people.

1998 - India carries out two nuclear weapon tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.

1998 - Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.

1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.

1995 - Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to ascend Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

1992 - Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People's Republic of China.

1990 - The Dinamo-Red Star riot took place at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije
(fans of Red Star Belgrade).

1989 - Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.

1985 - Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia, killing six adults
and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.

1981 - Mehmet Ali Agca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.

1980 - An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.

1972 - The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.

1972 - A fire occurs in the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka, Japan.
Blocked exits and non-functional elevators result in 118 fatalities (many victims leaping to their deaths).

1969 - In the aftermath of the 1969 Malaysian general election, Sino-Malay sectarian violence erupted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1967 - Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969.

1960 - Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on
Un-American Activities.

1958 - Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres
(11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a
ten-year journey.

1958 - May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.

1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, the US Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.

1954 - The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place.

1952 - The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting.

1951 - The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of
San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru.

1950 - The inaugural Formula One World Championship race takes place at Silverstone Circuit. The race was won by Giuseppe Farina, who would go on to become the inaugural champion that year.

1949 - Aeroflot Flight 17 crashes on approach to Severny Airport in Novosibirsk, killing 25.

1948 - Arab-Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre occurs, a day prior to the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

1945 - World War II: Yevgeny Khaldei's photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag is published in Ogonyok magazine.

1943 - World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surrender of the last Axis troops in Tunisia.

1940 - World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins, as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and
sweat" speech to the House of Commons.

1917 - Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in Fatima, Portugal.

1912 - The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.

1909 - The first edition of the Giro d'Italia, a long-distance multiple-stage bicycle race, began in Milan; the Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna was the
eventual winner.

1888 - With the passage of the Lei Aurea ("Golden Law"), the Empire of
Brazil abolishes slavery.

1862 - Southern slave Robert Smalls steals the steamboat Planter, spirits it through Confederate lines and hands it to the United States Navy, who quickly commission it as the gunboat USS Planter and appoint Smalls as captain, thus making him the first black man to command a United States ship.

1861 - Pakistan's (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri.

1861 - The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.

1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights.

1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on the Federal Republic of Mexico following a dispute over the American annexation of the Republic of Texas and a Mexican military incursion.

1830 - Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia.

1804 - Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city.

1780 - The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in the Cumberland River area of what would become the U.S. state of Tennessee, providing for democratic government and a formal system of justice.

1779 - War of the Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel).

1654 - A Venetian fleet under Admiral Cort Adeler breaks through a line of galleys and defeats the Turkish navy.

1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague
after being convicted of treason.

1612 - Sword duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro on the shores of Ganryu Island. Kojiro dies at the end.

1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is defeated at the Battle of Langside, part of the civil war between Queen Mary and the supporters of her son, James VI.

1501 - Amerigo Vespucci, this time under Portuguese flag, set sail for
western lands.

1373 - Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted
in her book Revelations of Divine Love.

1344 - A Latin Christian fleet defeats a Turkish fleet in the battle of Pallene during the Smyrniote crusades.

--- Temp: 12°C | Humidity: 94% | Wind: 8 km/h (gust 11) | Pressure: 1012.53 mb
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)