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

2023 - Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashes near Pokhara International Airport, killing all 72 people on board.

2022 - The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha?apai volcano erupts, cutting off communications with Tonga and causing a tsunami across the Pacific.

2021 - A 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia's Sulawesi island killing at least 105 and injuring 3,369 people.

2020 - The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare confirms the first case of COVID-19 in Japan.

2019 - Theresa May's UK government suffers the biggest government defeat in modern times, when 432 MPs voting against the proposed European Union withdrawal agreement, giving her opponents a majority of 230.

2019 - Somali militants attack the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19.

2018 - British multinational construction and facilities management services company Carillion went into liquidation - officially, "the largest ever trading liquidation in the UK"

2016 - The Kenyan Army suffers its worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers are killed in the battle.

2015 - The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the Swiss franc's value relative to the euro, causing turmoil in international financial markets.

2013 - A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.

2009 - US Airways Flight 1549 ditches safely in the Hudson River after the plane collides with birds less than two minutes after take-off. This becomes known as "The Miracle on the Hudson" as all 155 people on board were rescued.

2005 - ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon.

2001 - Wikipedia, a free wiki content encyclopedia, is launched (Wikipedia Day).

1991 - Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.

1991 - The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.

1981 - Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish trade union Solidarity at the Vatican led by Lech Walesa.

1977 - Linjeflyg Flight 618 crashes in Kalvesta near Stockholm Bromma
Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, killing 22 people.

1976 - Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.

1975 - The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.

1973 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.

1970 - Muammar Gaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.

1970 - Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.

1969 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.

1967 - The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

1966 - The First Nigerian Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d'etat.

1962 - Netherlands New Guinea Conflict: Indonesian Navy fast patrol boat RI Macan Tutul commanded by Commodore Yos Sudarso sunk in Arafura Sea by the Dutch Navy.

1962 - The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to
340 BC, is found in northern Greece.

1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist government.

1947 - The Black Dahlia murder: The dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short was found in Los Angeles.

1943 - The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington County, Virginia.

1943 - World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.

1937 - Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republicans both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.

1936 - The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.

1934 - The 8.0 Mw Nepal-Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000-10,700 people.

1919 - Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.

1919 - Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent communists in Germany, are clubbed and then shot to death by members of the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.

1911 - Palestinian Arabic-language Falastin newspaper founded.

1910 - Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 99 m (325 ft).

1908 - The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.

1892 - James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.

1889 - The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company,
is incorporated in Atlanta.

1876 - The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, is published in Paarl.

1870 - Thomas Nast publishes a political cartoon symbolizing the Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion") for Harper's Weekly.

1867 - Forty people die when ice covering the boating lake at Regent's Park, London, collapses.

1865 - American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.

1822 - Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president
of the legislative assembly.

1818 - A paper by David Brewster is read to the Royal Society, belatedly announcing his discovery of what we now call the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals. On the same day, Augustin-Jean Fresnel signs a "supplement" (submitted four days later) on reflection of polarized light.

1815 - War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.

1782 - Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris addresses the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.

1777 - American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont) declares its independence.

1759 - The British Museum opens to the public.

1582 - Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia cedes Livonia to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1559 - Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey, London.

1541 - King Francis I of France gives Jean-Francois Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".

69 - Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome,
beginning a reign of only three months.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -13øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2020 - The United States Senate ratifies the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as a replacement for NAFTA.

2020 - The first impeachment of Donald Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.

2018 - Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve.

2017 - Turkish Airlines Flight 6491 crashes into a residential area near
Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan, killing 39 people.

2016 - Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant.

2012 - The Mali War begins when Tuareg militias start fighting the Malian government for independence.

2011 - Syrian civil war: The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) is established with the stated goal of re-organizing Syria along the lines of democratic confederalism.

2006 - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

2003 - The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would
be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.

2002 - War in Afghanistan: The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.

2001 - US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.

2001 - Second Congo War: Congolese President Laurent-Desire Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in Kinshasa.

1995 - An avalanche hits the Icelandic village Sudavik, destroying 25
homes and burying 26 people, 14 of whom died.

1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.

1991 - Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.

1983 - Turkish Airlines Flight 158 crashes at Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, killing 47 and injuring 20.

1979 - Iranian Revolution: The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.

1969 - Space Race: Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of crewed spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.

1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.

1959 - Austral Lineas Aereas Flight 205 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean
near Astor Piazzolla International Airport in Mar del Plata, Argentina, killing 51.

1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Fuhrerbunker.

1942 - Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.

1942 - The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins deporting Jews from the Lodz
Ghetto to Chelmno extermination camp.

1921 - The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Lubochna.

1920 - The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France.

1919 - Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.

1913 - Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan writes his first letter to G. H. Hardy at Cambridge, stating without proof various formulae involving integrals, infinite series, and continued fractions, beginning a long correspondence between the two as well as widespread recognition of Ramanujan's results.

1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.

1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.

1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.

1878 - Russo-Turkish War (1877-78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain
Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.

1862 - Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.

1847 - Westward expansion of the United States: John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruna.

1786 - Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.

1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.

1757 - Forces of the Maratha Empire are defeated by the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.

1716 - King Philip V of Spain promulgates the Nueva Planta decree of the Principality of Catalonia, abolishing the Catalan institutions and its legal system, being replaced by those of the Castile, thus putting an end to Catalonia as separate state and becoming a province of the new French-style Kingdom of Spain.

1707 - The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.

1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.

1572 - Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and found guilty of
treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.

1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.

1547 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.

1537 - Bigod's Rebellion, an armed insurrection attempting to resist the English Reformation, begins.

1362 - Saint Marcellus's flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.

1275 - Edward I permits his mother Eleanor of Provence to expel the Jews from the towns Worcester, Marlborough, Cambridge and Gloucester.

1120 - Crusades: The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

929 - Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III establishes the Caliphate of Cordoba.

550 - Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a
long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

378 - General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacan.

27 BC - Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.

1458 BC - Hatshepsut dies at the age of 50 and is buried in the Valley of the Kings.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -11øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - An avalanche strikes Nyingchi, Tibet, killing 28 people.

2017 - The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is announced to be suspended.

2016 - President Barack Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement intended to limit Iran's nuclear program.

2013 - Shahzad Luqman is murdered by members of Golden Dawn in Petralona, Athens, leading the creation of new measures to combat race-based attacks in Greece.

2013 - Former cyclist Lance Armstrong confesses to his doping in an airing of Oprah's Next Chapter.

2010 - Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.

2008 - British Airways Flight 38 crashes short of the runway at Heathrow Airport, injuring 47.

2007 - The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing.

2002 - Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

1998 - Clinton-Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.

1997 - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.

1996 - The Czech Republic applies for membership in the European Union.

1995 - The 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyogo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502-6,434 people dead, and 251,301-310,000 displaced.

1994 - The 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles
Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people
dead and more than 8,700 injured.

1992 - During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.

1991 - Crown Prince Harald of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.

1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher's F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is
shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.

1981 - President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.

1977 - Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.

1969 - Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.

1966 - Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

1961 - Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered together with former Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of the Congo Maurice Mpolo and former Senator from Kasai Province Joseph Okito in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.

1961 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex" as
well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.

1950 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.

1950 - The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston.

1948 - The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.

1946 - The UN Security Council holds its first session.

1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while
in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.

1945 - The SS-Totenkopfverbande begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as the Red Army closes in.

1945 - World War II: The Vistula-Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.

1944 - World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000
Allied casualties.

1943 - World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.

1941 - Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over
the Royal Thai Navy.

1920 - Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.

1918 - Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the
Red Guards and the White Guard.

1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

1915 - Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.

1912 - British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.

1904 - Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance
at the Moscow Art Theatre.

1903 - El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.

1899 - The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.

1893 - Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of
Queen Lili?uokalani.

1885 - A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.

1873 - A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.

1852 - The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.

1811 - Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderon Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.

1799 - Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.

1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops
under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.

1773 - Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.

1649 - The Second Ormonde Peace creates an alliance between the Irish Royalists and Confederates during the War of the Three Kingdoms. The
coalition was then decisively defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

1648 - England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

1641 - Reapers' War: The Junta de Bracos (parliamentary assembly) of the Principality of Catalonia accepts the proposal of establishment of the
Catalan Republic under French protection.

1608 - Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.

1595 - During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.

1562 - France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.

1524 - Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.

1377 - Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back
to Rome from Avignon.

1362 - Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.

38 BC - Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.

--- up 3 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - The popular social media app, TikTok, is banned in the United States, after the passing of PAFACA.

2023 - A helicopter crash in Ukraine leaves 14 people dead, including the country's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky.

2019 - An oil pipeline explosion near Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico, kills
137 people.

2018 - A bus catches fire on the Samara-Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.

2012 - More than 115,000 websites engage in an online protest against the
Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in the US.[citation needed] The websites involved viewed the laws as infringing on the right to free speech and many of them temporarily shut down in protest.

2008 - The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to
Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2007 - The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Cyclone Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.

2005 - The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France

2003 - A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.

2002 - The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over.

1993 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.

1990 - Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession
in an FBI sting.

1988 - China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146 crashes near Chongqing Baishiyi Airport, killing all 98 passengers and 10 crew members.

1986 - An Aerovias Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes on approach to Mundo Maya International Airport in Flores, Peten, Guatemala, killing all 94 people on board.

1983 - The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family.

1981 - Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).

1978 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom's government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not
guilty of torture.

1977 - SFR Yugoslavia's Prime minister, Dzemal Bijedic, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1977 - Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney, killing 83.

1977 - Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announce they have identified a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.

1976 - Lebanese Christian militias kill at least 1,000 in Karantina, Beirut.

1974 - A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.

1972 - Members of the Mukti Bahini lay down their arms to the government of the newly independent Bangladesh, a month after winning the war against the occupying Pakistan Army.

1969 - United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all
32 passengers and six crew members.

1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous
crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

1960 - Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years.

1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.

1945 - World War II: Liberation of Krakow, Poland by the Red Army.

1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.

1941 - World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive
against Italian East Africa.

1932 - Alt Llobregat insurrection breaks out in Central Catalonia, Spain.

1919 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.

1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.

1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a
bid to increase its power in East Asia.

1913 - First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.

1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in
San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.

1896 - An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.

1886 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.

1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since
the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title.

1866 - Wesley College is established in Melbourne, Australia.

1806 - Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British.

1788 - The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.

1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".

1701 - Frederick I crowns himself King in Prussia in Konigsberg.

1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.

1586 - The magnitude 7.9 Tensho earthquake strikes Honshu, Japan, killing 8,000 people and triggering a tsunami.

1562 - Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.

1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of
Edward IV, uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

1126 - Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.

532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.

474 - Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.

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

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

2025 - Bytedance and sister companies were banned from the United States for "security concerns".

2024 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's probe landed on the moon, making Japan the 5th country to land a spacecraft on the moon.

2014 - A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.

2012 - The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by
the FBI.

2007 - Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.

2007 - Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper's Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogun Samast.

2006 - A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crashes near Hejce, Hungary, killing 42.

1999 - British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.

1997 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

1996 - The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

1995 - After being struck by lightning the crew of Bristow Helicopters Flight 56C are forced to ditch. All 18 aboard are later rescued.

1993 - Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.

1991 - Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.

1990 - Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir due to an insurgency.

1988 - Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 crashes in Bayfield, Colorado, killing nine.

1981 - Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

1978 - The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW's plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.

1977 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").

1969 - Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.

1966 - Indira Gandhi becomes India's first female prime minister.

1960 - Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871 crashes near Ankara Esenboga Airport in Turkey, killing all 42 aboard.

1960 - Japan and the United States sign the US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty

1953 - Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are
tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.

1946 - General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.

1945 - World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Lodz Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, fewer than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.

1942 - World War II: The Japanese conquest of Burma begins.

1941 - World War II: HMS Greyhound and other escorts of convoy AS-12 sink Italian submarine Neghelli with all hands 64 kilometres (40 mi) northeast of Falkonera.

1937 - Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in seven hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.

1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.

1920 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.

1917 - Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills
73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over GBP2,000,000 worth of damage.

1915 - German strategic bombing during World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing at
least 20 people, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.

1915 - Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

1901 - Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, stricken with paralysis. She dies three days later at the age of 81.

1899 - Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.

1883 - The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.

1871 - Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle
of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers
its first significant defeat in the conflict.

1861 - American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida,
Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.

1853 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.

1839 - The British East India Company captures Aden.

1829 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance.

1817 - An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General Jose de San Martin,
crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.

1795 - The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, replacing the Dutch Republic.

1788 - The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.

1764 - Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world's first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Borglum Abbey.

1764 - John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for
seditious libel.

1639 - Hameenlinna (Swedish: Tavastehus) is granted privileges after it separated from the Vanaja parish as its own city in Tavastia.

1607 - San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.

1520 - Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund and dies on February 3.

1511 - The Italian Duchy of Mirandola surrenders to the Pope.

1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.

649 - Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day
siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She'er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.

379 - Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -9øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States of America. He is currently the oldest person ever inaugurated.

2021 - Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America. At the time of his inauguration, he became the oldest person ever inaugurated. Kamala Harris became the first female Vice President of the United States.

2018 - Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.

2018 - A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.

2017 - Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America.

2009 - A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.

2009 - Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States.

2001 - President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

1992 - Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board.

1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.

1990 - Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

1986 - Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'etat led by General Justin Lekhanya.

1986 - In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.

1981 - Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th
President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

1974 - China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.

1973 - Amilcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.

1972 - Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

1961 - John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States of America, becoming the youngest man to be elected into that office, and the first Roman Catholic.

1954 - In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with
40 charter member radio stations.

1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the
United States of America, becoming the first president to begin his
presidency on January 20 since the 20th Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms.

1945 - World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people
from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.

1945 - World War II: The provisional government of Bela Miklos in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.

1942 - World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the
"Final Solution to the Jewish question".

1941 - A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.

1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner are sworn in for their second terms as U.S. President and U.S. Vice President; it is the first time
a Presidential Inauguration takes place on January 20 since the 20th
Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms.

1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental
changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.

1921 - The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.

1909 - Newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into the Oakland Motor Car Company, which later becomes GM's long-running Pontiac division.

1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.

1877 - The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

1874 - The Treaty of Pangkor is signed between the British and Sultan
Abdullah of Perak, paving the way for further British colonization of Malaya.

1841 - Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British during the First Opium War.

1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.

1788 - The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay,
beginning the British colonization of Australia. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony.

1785 - Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tay
Son in the Battle of Rach Gam-Xoai Mut.

1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs preliminary articles of peace with the Kingdom of France, setting the stage for the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year.

1649 - The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.

1576 - The Mexican city of Leon is founded by order of the viceroy Don
Martin Enriquez de Almanza.

1567 - Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estacio de Sa definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.

1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.

1401 - The Taula de canvi (Catalan: "Table of change"), described as Europe's first-ever public bank, began operations inside Barcelona's Llotja de Mar.

1356 - Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.

1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.

1265 - The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament".

1156 - Finnish peasant Lalli kills English clergyman Henry, the Bishop of Turku, on the ice of Lake Koylio.

250 - Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.

--- up 6 days, 20 hours, 47 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - A fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey, results in 78 people dead and 51 injured.

2023 - Huu Can Tran, 72, opens fire in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, killing eleven people and injuring nine others before later committing suicide. It is the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County since the 2008 Covina massacre.

2017 - Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide
participate in a large-scale women's march, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States.

2014 - Rojava conflict: The Jazira Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.

2011 - Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people died from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office.

2009 - Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.

2005 - In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.

2004 - NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.

2003 - A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima,
killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.

2000 - Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutierrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.

1999 - War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history,
the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.

1997 - The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395-28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.

1986 - Conservative protestors attacked a mock shanty town that had been erected on the Green at Dartmouth College as part of anti-apartheid protests.

1985 - Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.

1981 - Production of the DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

1980 - Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.

1976 - Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

1971 - The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.

1968 - A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area
after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

1968 - Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.

1963 - The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad ends operation.

1960 - A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.

1960 - Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people.

1960 - Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.

1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.

1951 - The catastrophic eruption of Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea
claims 2,942 lives.

1950 - American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.

1948 - The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.

1943 - As part of Operation Animals, British SOE saboteurs destroy the
railway bridge over the Asopos River, and guerrillas of the Greek People's Liberation Army ambush and destroy a German convoy at the Battle of Sarantaporos.

1942 - The Jewish resistance organization, Fareynikte Partizaner
Organizatsye, based in the Vilna Ghetto was established.

1941 - Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania the
day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.

1932 - Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty.

1931 - Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

1925 - Albania declares itself a republic.

1919 - A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.

1915 - Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.

1911 - The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

1908 - New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.

1893 - The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.

1854 - The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.

1824 - The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast during the First Anglo-Ashanti War.

1793 - After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1789 - The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.

1774 - Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

1749 - The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of
a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.

1720 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.

1535 - Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.

1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the
home of Manz's mother in Zurich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.

763 - Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -11øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - Ram Mandir is inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh after 500 years of dispute.

2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; congressional opposition will prevent it being implemented.

2007 - At least 88 people are killed when two car bombs explode in the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, Iraq.

2006 - Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.

1999 - Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.

1998 - Space Shuttle program: space shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-89 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

1995 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid suicide bombing: In central Israel, near Netanya, two Gazans blow themselves up at a military transit point, killing 19 Israeli soldiers.

1992 - Space Shuttle program: The space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space.

1992 - Rebel forces occupy Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation.

1987 - Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000-15,000 demonstrators at Malacanang Palace, Manila, killing 13.

1973 - In a bout for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before the fight is stopped by referee Arthur
Mercante Sr..

1973 - A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano
Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.

1973 - The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo Moon landing mission.

1973 - The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe
v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.

1971 - The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.

1970 - The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

1968 - Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.

1968 - Apollo Program: Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module
into space.

1967 - Between dozens and hundreds of anti-Somocista demonstrators are killed by the Nicaraguan National Guard in Managua.

1963 - The Elysee Treaty of cooperation between France and West Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.

1957 - Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.

1947 - KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood.

1946 - Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

1946 - In Iran, Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people's Republic of Mahabad at Chahar Cheragh Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad; he becomes the new president and Haji Baba Sheikh becomes the prime minister.

1944 - World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy.

1943 - World War II: Australian and American forces defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna-Gona.

1941 - World War II: British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during Operation Compass.

1927 - Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.

1924 - Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1919 - Act Zluky is signed, unifying the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic.

1917 - American entry into World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.

1915 - Over 600 people are killed in Guadalajara, Mexico, when a train
plunges off the tracks into a deep canyon.

1906 - SS Valencia runs aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing more than 130.

1905 - Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg, beginning of the 1905 revolution.

1901 - Edward VII is proclaimed King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

1890 - The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio.

1879 - The Battle of Rorke's Drift, also during the Anglo-Zulu War and just some 15 km (9.3 mi) away from Isandlwana, results in a British victory.

1879 - The Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War results in a Zulu victory.

1863 - The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.

1849 - Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.

1808 - The Portuguese royal family arrives in Brazil after fleeing the French army's invasion of Portugal two months earlier.

1689 - The Convention Parliament convenes to determine whether James II and VII, the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland, had vacated the thrones of England and Ireland when he fled to France in 1688.

1555 - The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now Myanmar.

1517 - The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Egypt at the Battle of Ridaniya.

1506 - The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.

871 - Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King AEthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing.

613 - Eight-month-old Heraclius Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (Caesar) by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast -4øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - Northwestern Air Flight 738 crashes after takeoff from Fort Smith Airport, Northwest Territories, Canada, killing six people.

2022 - Mutinying Burkinabe soldiers led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba depose and detain President Roch Marc Christian Kabore amid widespread anti-government protests.

2018 - The China-United States trade war begins when President Donald Trump places tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.

2018 - A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds "dozens" of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.

2018 - A 7.9 Mw earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.

2003 - A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.

2002 - U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.

2001 - Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Chinese
Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.

1998 - Netscape announces Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.

1997 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.

1987 - Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan sends a "letter of death" to Somali President Siad Barre, proposing the genocide of the Isaaq people.

1986 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

1982 - World Airways Flight 30 overshoots the runway at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, and crashes into Boston Harbor. Two people are missing and presumed dead.

1968 - USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by the Korean People's Navy.

1967 - Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty-one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.

1967 - Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.

1964 - The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.

1963 - The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese Army stationed in Tite.

1960 - The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.

1958 - After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Perez Jimenez leaves Venezuela.

1957 - American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the "Frisbee".

1950 - The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

1945 - World War II: German admiral Karl Donitz launches Operation Hannibal.

1943 - World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German-Italian Panzer Army.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan's invasion of Australia's Territory of New Guinea.

1941 - Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

1937 - The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen
mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting
to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.

1920 - The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.

1919 - The First Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is
held by the Makhnovshchina at Velykomykhailivka.

1912 - The First International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

1909 - RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.

1904 - Alesund Fire: The Norwegian coastal town Alesund is devastated by
fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.

1900 - Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.

1899 - The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first president.

1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: The Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.

1870 - In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women
and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.

1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States' first female doctor.

1846 - Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.

1795 - After crossing the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of surrender of naval vessels to land forces.

1793 - Second Partition of Poland.

1789 - Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United
States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.) when Bishop John Carroll, Rev. Robert Molyneux, and Rev. John Ashton purchase land for the proposed academy for the education of youth.

1755 - Moscow University is established (12 January 1755 O.S.).

1719 - The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.

1656 - Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.

1579 - The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.

1571 - The Royal Exchange opens in London.

1570 - James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.

1565 - The Deccan Sultanates defeat Rama Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire at the Battle of Talikota, resulting in over 100,000 casualties and the destruction of the capital Vijayanagara.

1556 - The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.

1546 - Having published nothing for eleven years, Francois Rabelais
publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.

1368 - Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims himself the Hongwu Emperor, beginning the Ming dynasty.

1264 - In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the
Second Barons' War.

1229 - The episcopal seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen (located near the current centre of Turku) by the permission of Pope Gregory IX. The date
is starting to be considered as the founding of Turku.

971 - Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant
corps of the Southern Han at Shao.

393 - Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.

--- up 1 week, 2 days, 20 hours, 48 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2018 - Former doctor Larry Nassar is sentenced up to 175 years in prison
after being found guilty of using his position to sexually abuse female gymnasts.

2011 - At least 35 are killed and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

2009 - Cyclone Klaus makes landfall near Bordeaux, France, causing 26 deaths as well as extensive disruptions to public transport and power supplies.

2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

1990 - Japan launches Hiten, the country's first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.

1989 - Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, with over 30 known victims, is executed in the electric chair at the Florida State Prison.

1987 - About 20,000 protestors march in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.

1986 - The Voyager 2 space probe makes its closest approach to Uranus.

1984 - Apple Computer places the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the United States.

1978 - Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.

1977 - The Atocha massacre occurs in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy.

1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.

1968 - Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Binh and Bien Hoa.

1966 - Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc.

1961 - Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.

1960 - Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the "barricades week", during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.

1946 - The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.

1943 - World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.

1942 - World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.

1939 - The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillan, killing approximately 28,000 people.

1935 - Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company starts selling the first canned beer.

1933 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.

1918 - The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the
Council of People's Commissars effective February 14 (New Style).

1916 - In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.

1915 - World War I: British Grand Fleet battle cruisers under Vice-Admiral
Sir David Beatty engage Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper's battle cruisers in
the Battle of Dogger Bank.

1908 - The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1900 - Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.

1859 - The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (later named Romania) is formed as a personal union under the rule of Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza.

1857 - The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia.

1848 - California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.

1835 - Slaves in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, stage a revolt, which is instrumental in ending slavery there 50 years later.

1817 - Crossing of the Andes: Many soldiers of Juan Gregorio de las Heras are captured during the action of Picheuta.

1758 - During the Seven Years' War the leading burghers of Konigsberg submit to Elizabeth of Russia, thus forming Russian Prussia (until 1763).

1742 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1679 - King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.

1651 - Arauco War: Spanish and Mapuche authorities meet in the Parliament of Boroa renewing the fragile peace established at the parliaments of Quillin
in 1641 and 1647.

1536 - King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later erratic behaviour and possible impotence.

1458 - Matthias Corvinus is elected King of Hungary.

1438 - The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV.

914 - Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.

41 - Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -20øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2019 - A mining company's dam collapses in Brumadinho, Brazil, a
south-eastern city, killing 270 people.

2015 - A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines kills 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

2013 - At least 50 people are killed and 120 people are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

2011 - The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil
disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes.

2010 - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Na'ameh, Lebanon, killing 90.

2006 - Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.

2005 - A stampede at the Mandhradevi temple in Maharashtra, India kills at least 258.

2003 - Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for
Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.

1999 - A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.

1998 - A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri
Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.

1998 - During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts
to isolate the country.

1996 - Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the United States.

1995 - The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.

1994 - The spacecraft Clementine by BMDO and NASA is launched.

1993 - Five people are shot outside the CIA Headquarters in Langley,
Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.

1990 - Avianca Flight 052 crashes in Cove Neck, New York, killing 73.

1986 - The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.

1980 - Mother Teresa is honored with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

1979 - Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.

1971 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.

1971 - Charles Manson and four "Family" members (three of them female) are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.

1969 - Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight
against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.

1967 - South Vietnamese junta leader and Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky fires rival, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Nguyen Huu Co, while the latter is overseas on a diplomatic visit.

1964 - Blue Ribbon Sports, which would later become Nike, is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes.

1961 - In Washington, D.C., US President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.

1960 - The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States reacts
to the "payola" scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.

1949 - The first Emmy Awards are presented in the United States; the venue is the Hollywood Athletic Club.

1947 - Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the first ever electronic game.

1946 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 1 relating to Military
Staff Committee is adopted.

1946 - The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.

1945 - World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.

1942 - World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.

1941 - Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

1937 - The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves
to CBS television, where it remains until September 18, 2009.

1932 - Alt Llobregat insurrection suppressed in Central Catalonia, Spain.

1932 - Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins the defense of Harbin.

1924 - The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.

1918 - The Finnish Defence Forces (The White Guards) are established as the official army of independent Finland, and Baron C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed its Commander-in-Chief.

1918 - The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia.

1917 - Sinking of the SS Laurentic after hitting two German mines off the coast of northwest Ireland.

1915 - Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

1909 - Richard Strauss's opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

1890 - Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

1881 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

1879 - The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.

1858 - The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional.

1819 - University of Virginia chartered by Commonwealth of Virginia, with Thomas Jefferson one of its founders.

1792 - The London Corresponding Society is founded.

1791 - The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and
splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

1787 - Shays' Rebellion: The rebellion's largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.

1704 - The Apalachee massacre: A combined British and Muscogee force from the Province of Carolina destroys the main fortified mission of Ayubale, breaking Spain's hold on Spanish Florida.

1585 - Walter Raleigh is knighted, shortly after renaming North America
region "Virginia", in honor of Elizabeth I, Queen of England, sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".

1575 - Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.

1573 - Battle of Mikatagahara: In Japan, Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.

1554 - Sao Paulo, Brazil, is founded by Jesuit priests.

1533 - Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.

1515 - Coronation of Francis I of France takes place at Reims Cathedral,
where the new monarch is anointed with the oil of Clovis and girt with the sword of Charlemagne.

1494 - Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.

1479 - The Treaty of Constantinople ends the 16-year-long First Ottoman-Venetian War.

1348 - A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in
modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.

1327 - Fourteen-year-old Edward III ascends the throne of England after his father the king is forced to abdicate by Queen Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer.

750 - In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty.

41 - After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -13øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Protesters and farmers storm the Red Fort near Delhi, clashing with police. One protester is killed and more than 80 police officers are injured.

2020 - A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people
on board, including five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter
Gianna Bryant.

2015 - Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) recaptures the city of Kobani from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), marking
a turning point in the Siege of Kobani.

2015 - An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.

2009 - Nadya Suleman gives birth to the world's first surviving octuplets.

2009 - Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana
with Andry Rajoelina.

2001 - Diane Whipple, a lacrosse coach, is killed in a dog attack in San Francisco. The resulting court case clarified the meaning of implied malice murder.

2001 - The 7.7 Mw Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India, leaving 13,805-20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.

1998 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

1991 - Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending
centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.

1986 - The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.

1974 - Turkish Airlines Flight 301 crashes during takeoff from Izmir
Cumaovasi Airport (now Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport), killing 66 of the 73 people on board the Fokker F28 Fellowship.

1972 - JAT Flight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulovic survives with critical injuries.

1966 - The three Beaumont children disappear from a beach in Glenelg, South Australia, resulting in one of the country's largest-ever police investigations.

1962 - Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).

1959 - The 41-acre (17 ha) Chain Island is listed for sale by the California State Lands Commission, with a minimum bid of $5,226.

1956 - Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland.

1952 - Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

1950 - The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as the first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.

1949 - The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).

1947 - India adopted its constitution and transitioned into a republic on
this day.

1945 - World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.

1942 - World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland.

1939 - Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.

1934 - German-Polish declaration of non-aggression is signed.

1934 - The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.

1930 - The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day
or as the day for Poorna Swaraj ("Complete Independence") which occurred 17 years later.

1926 - The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird.

1918 - Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers' Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.

1915 - The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.

1905 - The world's largest diamond ever, the Cullinan, which weighs 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.

1885 - Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.

1870 - Reconstruction Era: Virginia is readmitted to the Union.

1863 - American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.

1863 - American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.

1861 - American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.

1856 - First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all-day battle with settlers.

1855 - Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.

1841 - Gordon Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong.

1837 - Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.

1808 - The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales.

1788 - The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port
Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day.

1765 - A British naval expedition arrives at and names Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands, founding a settlement there eight days later. (Arrival was 15 January 1765 O.S.)

1700 - The 8.7-9.2 Mw Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.

1699 - For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers.

1564 - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War.

1564 - The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

1531 - The 6.4-7.1 .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Mw Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people.

661 - The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -15øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - A shooting at a synagogue in Neve Yaakov, East Jerusalem, kills seven people and injures three others.

2023 - Protests and public outrage spark across the U.S. after the release of multiple videos by the Memphis Police Department showing officers punching, kicking, and pepper spraying Tyre Nichols as a result of running away from a traffic stop, which resulted him dying in the hospital three days later after the incident.

2017 - A naming ceremony for the chemical element tennessine takes place in the United States.

2014 - Rojava conflict: The Kobani Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.

2013 - Two hundred and forty-two people die in a nightclub fire in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.

2011 - Within Ursa Minor, H1504+65, a white dwarf with the hottest known surface temperature in the universe at 200,000 K, was documented.

2011 - Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana'a.

2010 - Apple announces the iPad.

2010 - The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.

2003 - The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.

2002 - An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills
at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.

1996 - Germany first observes the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

1996 - In a military coup, Colonel Ibrahim Bare Mainassara deposes the
first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.

1983 - The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido,
breaks through.

1980 - Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper.

1973 - The Paris Peace Accords officially ends the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.

1967 - Cold War: The Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of
nuclear weapons in space, and limiting the usage of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.

1967 - Apollo program: Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

1965 - South Vietnamese Prime Minister Tran Van Huong is removed by the military junta of Nguyen Khanh.

1961 - The Soviet submarine S-80 sinks when its snorkel malfunctions,
flooding the boat.

1951 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger.

1945 - World War II: The Soviet 322nd Rifle Division liberates the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

1944 - World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.

1943 - World War II: The Eighth Air Force sorties ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany.

1939 - First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

1928 - Bundaberg tragedy: a diphtheria vaccine is contaminated with Staph. aureus bacterium, resulting in the deaths of twelve children in the
Australian town of Bundaberg.

1927 - Ibn Saud takes the title of King of Nejd.

1924 - Six days after his death Lenin's body is carried into a specially erected mausoleum.

1918 - Beginning of the Finnish Civil War.

1916 - World War I: The British government passes the Military Service Act that introduces conscription in the United Kingdom.

1880 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for his incandescent lamp.

1874 - Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov premieres in Mariinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg.

1869 - Boshin War: Tokugawa rebels establish the Ezo Republic in Hokkaido.

1868 - Boshin War: The Battle of Toba-Fushimi begins, between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and pro-Imperial factions; it will end in defeat for the shogunate, and is a pivotal point in the Meiji Restoration.

1825 - The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears".

1820 - A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast.

1785 - The University of Georgia is founded, the first state-chartered public university in the United States.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery" arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1759 - Spanish forces clash with indigenous Huilliches of southern Chile in the battle of Rio Bueno.

1695 - Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan and Caliph of Islam in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his abdication in 1703.

1606 - Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.

1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus, laying out the scriptural justification for indulgences, identifying only the Pope and episcopate as capable of accessing the treasury of merit, and establishing a jubilee year every half century.

1302 - Dante Alighieri is condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence.

1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.

945 - The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

98 - Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow, blowing snow -15øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - Protests begin after police beat and kill Tyre Nichols.

2021 - A nitrogen leak at a poultry food processing facility in Gainesville, Georgia kills six and injures at least ten.

2006 - The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.

2002 - TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100, crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94.

1988 - In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.

1986 - Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.

1985 - Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

1984 - Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region.

1982 - US Army General James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.

1981 - Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and
begin the 1980s oil glut.

1980 - USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.

1977 - The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, which dumps 3
metres (10 ft) of snow in one day in Upstate New York. Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.

1965 - The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.

1964 - An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.

1960 - The National Football League announces expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for the 1961 NFL season.

1958 - The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.

1956 - Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.

1945 - World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

1941 - Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.

1938 - The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).

1935 - Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.

1933 - The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is
accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.

1932 - Japanese forces attack Shanghai.

1922 - Knickerbocker Storm: Washington, D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes a disaster when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses, killing over 100 people.

1920 - Foundation of the Spanish Legion.

1919 - The Order of the White Rose of Finland is established by Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, the regent of Finland.

1918 - Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.

1916 - The Canadian province of Manitoba grants women the right to vote and run for office in provincial elections (although still excluding women of Indigenous or Asian heritage), marking the first time women in Canada are granted voting rights.

1915 - An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.

1909 - United States troops leave Cuba, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, after being there since the Spanish-American War.

1908 - Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted
coup d'etat against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister Joao Franco.

1902 - The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C., with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.

1896 - Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph
(3.2 km/h).

1878 - Yale Daily News becomes the first independent daily college newspaper in the United States.

1871 - Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.

1855 - A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

1851 - Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.

1846 - The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.

1813 - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.

1754 - Sir Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity in a letter to a friend.

1724 - The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, by Peter the Great, and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.

1671 - Original city of Panama (founded in 1519) is destroyed by a fire when privateer Henry Morgan sacks and sets fire to it. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins (see Panama Viejo).

1624 - Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts.

1591 - Execution of Agnes Sampson, accused of witchcraft in Edinburgh.

1573 - Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom
of religion in Poland.

1568 - The Edict of Torda prohibits the persecution of individuals on religious grounds in John Sigismund Zapolya's Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.

1547 - Edward VI, the nine-year-old son of Henry VIII, becomes King of
England on his father's death.

1521 - The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.

1393 - King Charles VI of France was nearly killed when several other
dancers' costumes caught fire during a masquerade ball in Paris.

1077 - Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, is lifted after he humbles himself before Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in Italy.

1069 - Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated and killed by rebels. This incident leads to the Harrying of the North.

814 - The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about
the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.

98 - On the death of Nerva, Trajan is declared Roman emperor in Cologne, the seat of his government in lower Germany.

--- Binbrook, ON: Sunny -18øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - A chartered Beechcraft 1900 crashes near the Unity oilfield in South Sudan, killing 20 people.

2025 - American Eagle Flight 5342 collided mid-air with a Sikorsky UH-60
Black Hawk operated by the United States Army and crashed into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people onboard both aircraft.

2022 - Canadian truck drivers and pedestrians gathered to rally and protest
on Parliament Hill against Canadian COVID-19 restrictions, which caused traffic and closures around the city.

2017 - A gunman opens fire at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, killing six people and wounding 19 others in a spree shooting.

2014 - Rojava conflict: The Afrin Canton declares its autonomy from the
Syrian Arab Republic.

2013 - SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people.

2009 - Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate
as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.

2008 - An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.

2005 - The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a
China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.

2002 - In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

2001 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

1996 - President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French
nuclear weapons testing.

1991 - Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

1989 - Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.

1983 - Singapore cable car crash: Panamanian-registered oil rig, Eniwetok, strikes the cables of the Singapore Cable Car system linking the mainland and Sentosa Island, causing two cabins to fall into the water and killing seven people and leaving thirteen others trapped for hours.

1973 - EgyptAir Flight 741 crashes into the Kyrenia Mountains in Cyprus, killing 37 people.

1959 - The first Melodifestivalen is held at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden.

1944 - World War II: In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is completely destroyed in an air-raid.

1944 - World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniukai,
Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.

1943 - World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island,
USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.

1940 - Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One
hundred and eighty-one people are killed.

1936 - The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.

1918 - Ukrainian-Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.

1918 - Ukrainian-Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.

1911 - Mexican Revolution: Mexicali is captured by the Mexican Liberal Party, igniting the Magonista rebellion of 1911.

1907 - Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.

1891 - Lili?uokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant
of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

1886 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

1863 - The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men, women and children.

1861 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.

1856 - Queen Victoria issues a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual that establishes the Victoria Cross to recognise acts of valour by British
military personnel during the Crimean War.

1850 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.

1845 - "The Raven" is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.

1819 - Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.

1814 - War of the Sixth Coalition: France engages Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.

946 - Caliph al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.

904 - Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take
over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.

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

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

2020 - The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

2013 - Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

2007 - Microsoft Corporation releases Windows Vista, a major release of the operating system Microsoft Windows and the NT based kernel.

2006 - The Goleta postal facility shootings occur, killing seven people
before the perpetrator took her own life.

2000 - Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.

1995 - Hydroxycarbamide becomes the first approved preventive treatment for sickle cell disease.

1989 - The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.

1982 - Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines
long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".

1979 - A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off
from Tokyo.

1975 - Turkish Airlines Flight 345 crashes into the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul Yesilkoy Airport, killing 42.

1975 - The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

1974 - Pan Am Flight 806 crashes near Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa, killing 97.

1972 - Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.

1972 - The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.

1969 - The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.

1968 - Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

1964 - In a bloodless coup, General Nguyen Khanh overthrows General
Duong Van Minh's military junta in South Vietnam.

1960 - The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.

1959 - MS Hans Hedtoft, specifically designed to operate in icebound seas, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.

1959 - The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.

1956 - In the United States, Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery bus boycott.

1948 - Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in his home compound, India's prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, broadcasts to the nation, saying "The light has gone out of our lives". The date of the assassination becomes observed as "Martyrs' Day" in India.

1948 - British South American Airways' Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over
the Bermuda Triangle.

1945 - World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred and twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.

1945 - World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.

1944 - World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle,
begins in central Italy.

1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are killed after the surrender. One-quarter of the remaining POWs remain alive at the end of the war.

1939 - During a speech in the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler makes a prediction
about the end of the Jewish race in Europe if another world war were to occur.

1933 - Adolf Hitler's rise to power: Hitler takes office as the Chancellor of Germany.

1930 - The Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union orders the confiscation of lands belonging to the Kulaks in a campaign of
Dekulakization, resulting in the executions and forced deportations of millions.

1925 - The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.

1920 - Japanese carmaker Mazda is founded, initially as a cork-producing company.

1911 - The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy 16 kilometres (10 miles) from Havana, Cuba.

1908 - Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.

1902 - The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.

1889 - Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.

1862 - American Civil War: The first American ironclad warship, the
USS Monitor is launched.

1858 - The first Halle concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Halle orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.

1847 - Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.

1835 - In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but
fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.

1826 - The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.

1820 - Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the
discovery of Antarctica.

1806 - The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.

1789 - Tay Son forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate
the capital Thang Long.

1667 - The Truce of Andrusovo is signed, ending the Russian-Polish War of 1654-1667

1661 - Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th
anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.

1649 - Charles I of England is executed in Whitehall, London.

1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Munster and Osnabruck is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.

1607 - An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.

1287 - King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.

1018 - Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.

--- up 21 hours, 7 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - Med Jets Flight 056 crashes near Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing 7 people and injuring 19.

2023 - The last Boeing 747, the first wide-body airliner, is delivered to Atlas Air and operated for ApexLogistics. The aircraft was registered as N863GT and named "Empower"

2022 - Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy.

2020 - The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.

2019 - Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

2009 - At least 113 people are killed in Kenya and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

2007 - Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identified battery-powered
LED placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), causing a panic.

2003 - The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.

2001 - Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan.

2001 - In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing
of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

2000 - Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point
Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.

1996 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.

1988 - Doug Williams becomes the first African American quarterback to play
in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.

1978 - The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary)
goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United
States, where it was held after World War II.

1971 - The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.

1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.

1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.

1966 - The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of
the Luna program.

1961 - Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space.

1958 - Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt.

1957 - Eight people (five total crew from two aircraft and three on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.

1953 - A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.

1951 - United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted.

1949 - These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago, United States.

1946 - The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the dong to replace
the French Indochinese piastre at par.

1946 - Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

1945 - World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.

1945 - World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.

1945 - US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.

1944 - World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.

1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other
islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1943 - World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.

1942 - World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.

1928 - Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.

1919 - The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.

1918 - Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala.

1918 - A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage
to another five British warships.

1917 - World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1915 - World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison
gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimow against Russia.

1901 - Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.

1900 - Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.

1891 - History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.

1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies.

1865 - American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification.

1862 - Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a
companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.

1848 - John C. Fremont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.

1846 - After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.

1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata (present-day Argentina).

1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.

1703 - Forty-seven ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenged
the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.

1609 - Wisselbank of Amsterdam established

1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.

1578 - Eighty Years' War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.

1504 - The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.

1266 - The Mudejar of Murcia, who had rebelled against the Crown of Castile during the Mudejar revolt of 1264-1266, surrender the city to James I of Aragon after a siege lasting a month.

1208 - The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X
of Sweden.

314 - Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.

--- Binbrook, ON: Overcast -16øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2022 - Five-year-old Moroccan boy Rayan Aourram falls into a 32-meter (105 feet) deep well in Ighran village in Tamorot commune, Chefchaouen Province, Morocco, but dies four days later, before rescue workers reached him.

2021 - A coup d'etat in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.

2013 - The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, opens its viewing gallery to the public.

2012 - Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said.

2009 - The first cabinet of Johanna Sigurdardottir was formed in Iceland, making her the country's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government.

2007 - The National Weather Service in the United States switches from the Fujita scale to the new Enhanced Fujita scale to measure the intensity and strength of tornadoes.

2005 - King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d'etat to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.

2004 - Double suicide attack in Erbil on the offices of Iraqi Kurdish political parties by members of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad

2004 - Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in
Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.

2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

2002 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal, kidnapped on January 23, is beheaded and mutilated by
his captors.

1998 - Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.

1996 - The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.

1992 - The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren
Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case.

1991 - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush region, killing at least 848 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and present-day Tajikistan.

1991 - A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569
at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.

1981 - The Underarm bowling incident of 1981 occurred when Trevor Chappell bowls underarm on the final delivery of a game between Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

1979 - Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.

1974 - A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.

1972 - Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

1968 - The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.

1968 - Canada's three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the
Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.

1968 - Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem by
South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan is recorded on
motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.

1964 - The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

1960 - Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

1957 - Northeast Airlines Flight 823 crashes on Rikers Island in New York City, killing 20 people and injuring 78 others.

1950 - The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight.

1946 - The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.

1946 - Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.

1942 - Mao Zedong makes a speech on "Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature", which puts into motion the Yan'an Rectification Movement.

1942 - Voice of America, the official external radio and television service
of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.

1942 - World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.

1942 - World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.

1924 - Russia-United Kingdom relations are restored, over six years after the Communist revolution.

1908 - Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.

1900 - Great Britain, defeated by Boers in key battles, names Lord Roberts commander of British forces in South Africa.

1897 - Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.

1896 - La boheme premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted
by the young Arturo Toscanini.

1895 - Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.

1893 - Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.

1884 - The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

1865 - President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1864 - Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war.

1861 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States and joins the Confederacy a week later.

1835 - Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.

1814 - Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, which
was the most devastating eruption of the volcano.

1796 - The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.

1793 - French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

1713 - The Kalabalik or Skirmish at Bender results from the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.

1662 - The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.

1411 - The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Torun), Monastic State
of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).

1327 - The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.

--- up 1 day, 21 hours, 52 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - The Burmese military establishes the State Administration Council, the military junta, after deposing the democratically elected government in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'etat.

2012 - The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.

2007 - Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.

2005 - The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.

2004 - Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.

2000 - First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.

1998 - Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into Mount Sumagaya in the
Philippines, killing all 104 people on board.

1990 - Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.

1989 - Soviet-Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.

1987 - After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.

1982 - Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.

1980 - Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt
Congressmen in the Abscam operation.

1971 - The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.

1971 - Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.

1966 - Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.

1959 - Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.

1954 - The Detroit Red Wings played in the first outdoor hockey game by any NHL team in an exhibition against the Marquette Branch Prison Pirates in Marquette, Michigan.

1943 - World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.

1942 - The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.

1935 - Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects,
the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.

1934 - The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.

1925 - Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.

1922 - The uprising called the "pork mutiny" starts in the region between Kuolajarvi and Savukoski in Finland.

1922 - Ulysses by James Joyce is published.

1920 - The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.

1913 - Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.

1909 - The Paris Film Congress opens, an attempt by European producers to
form an equivalent to the MPPC cartel in the United States.

1901 - Funeral of Queen Victoria.

1900 - Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago and St. Louis, agree to form baseball's American League.

1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to
locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.

1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.

1881 - The sentences of the trial of the warlocks of Chiloe are imparted.

1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.

1870 - The Seven Brothers (Seitseman veljesta), a novel by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi, is published first time in several thin booklets.

1868 - Pro-Imperial forces capture Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burn it to the ground.

1850 - Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.

1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.

1814 - The last of the River Thames frost fairs comes to an end.

1797 - The siege of Mantua ends after eight months when Count Dagobert
Sigmund von Wurmser surrenders the fortress of Mantua to Napoleon Bonaparte. The fall of Mantua secures French control over Northern Italy and marks the beginning of the conclusion of the Italian campaign of 1796-1797, and sets
the stage for the end of the War of the First Coalition.

1725 - J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit
Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, based on Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis.

1709 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe's adventure book Robinson Crusoe.

1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.

1645 - Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.

1536 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1461 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross results in the death of Owen Tudor.

1438 - Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.

1428 - An intense earthquake struck the Principality of Catalonia, with the epicenter near Camprodon. Widespread destruction and heavy casualties were reported.

1207 - Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia,
is established.

1141 - The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.

1032 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.

962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor,
the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.

880 - Battle of Luneburg Heath: King Louis III of France is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Luneburg Heath in Saxony.

506 - Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of "Roman law".

--- up 2 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - 2023 Ohio train derailment: A freight train containing vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derails and burns in East Palestine, Ohio, United States, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and contaminating the Ohio River.

2014 - A school shooting in Moscow, Russia leaves 2 people dead and 1 wounded.

2007 - A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.

2005 - One hundred five people are killed when Kam Air Flight 904 crashes in the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan.

1998 - Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

1995 - Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

1994 - Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.

1989 - A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.

1989 - After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.

1984 - Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.

1984 - Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
in the United States announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.

1972 - The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.

1971 - New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.

1966 - The Soviet Union's Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.

1961 - The United States Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and
missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.

1960 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.

1959 - Sixty-five people are killed when American Airlines Flight 320 crashes into the East River on approach to LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

1959 - Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The
Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died.

1958 - Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for
a later European Economic Community.

1953 - The Batepa massacre occurred in Sao Tome when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.

1945 - World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin
a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.

1945 - World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.

1944 - World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.

1943 - The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.

1933 - Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Nazi foreign policy.

1931 - The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster,
kills 258.

1930 - The Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a "Unification
Conference" held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.

1927 - A revolt against the military dictatorship of Portugal breaks out at Porto.

1918 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,630 meters) long.

1917 - World War I: The American entry into World War I begins when
diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.

1916 - The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada burns down with the loss of seven lives.

1913 - The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

1870 - The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.

1862 - Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.

1830 - The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the
Greek War of Independence.

1813 - Jose de San Martin defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of
San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.

1809 - The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.

1807 - A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.

1787 - Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.

1783 - Spain-United States relations are first established.

1781 - American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.

1716 - The 1716 Algiers earthquake sequence began with an Mw 7.0 mainshock that caused severe damage and killed 20,000 in Algeria.

1706 - During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.

1690 - The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.

1639 - The House of Assembly of Barbados meets for the first time.

1637 - Tulip Mania collapses within the Dutch Republic.

1583 - Battle of Sao Vicente takes place off Portuguese Brazil where three English warships led by navigator Edward Fenton fight off three Spanish galleons sinking one in the process.

1509 - The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamluk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of
Diu in Diu, India.

1488 - Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the
Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.

1451 - Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.

1112 - Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.

1047 - Drogo of Hauteville is elected as count of the Apulian Normans during the Norman conquest of Southern Italy.

--- up 2 hours, 27 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Orebro, Sweden.

2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down
for 15 days.

2015 - TransAsia Airways Flight 235, with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after takeoff, killing 43 people.

2008 - Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.

2004 - Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.

2000 - The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.

1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.

1998 - The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.

1997 - The Bojnurd earthquake measuring Mw 6.5 strikes Iran. With a
Mercalli intensity of VIII, it kills at least 88 and damages 173 villages.

1997 - En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel, killing 73.

1992 - A coup d'etat is led by Hugo Chavez against Venezuelan President
Carlos Andres Perez.

1977 - A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.

1976 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.

1975 - Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

1974 - M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA)
explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.

1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

1967 - Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.

1966 - All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.

1961 - The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial
War begin.

1948 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the
British Commonwealth.

1945 - World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.

1945 - World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

1945 - World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.

1941 - The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

1938 - Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command.

1932 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.

1899 - The Philippine-American War begins when four Filipino soldiers enter the "American Zone" in Manila, igniting the Battle of Manila.

1861 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six breakaway U.S. states meet and initiate the process that would form the Confederate States of America on February 8.

1859 - The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

1846 - The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.

1825 - The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.

1820 - The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the two-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and two ships.

1810 - Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe.

1801 - John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.

1797 - The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.

1794 - The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be reestablished in the French West
Indies in 1802.

1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

1758 - The city of Macapa in Brazil is founded by Sebastiao Veiga Cabral.

1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit
seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.

1555 - John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.

1454 - Thirteen Years' War: The Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, sparking the Thirteen Years' War.

1169 - A strong earthquake strikes the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens
of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.

960 - Zhao Kuangyin declares himself Emperor Taizu of Song, ending the Later Zhou and beginning the Song dynasty.

211 - Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrelling sons, Caracalla and Geta, whom he had instructed to make peace.

--- Binbrook, ON: Clear -18øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Police riot in Mexico City as they try to break up a demonstration by cyclists who were protesting after a bus ran over a bicyclist. Eleven police officers are arrested.

2020 - Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193 overshoots the runway at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and crashes, killing three people and injuring 179.

2020 - United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his first impeachment trial.

2019 - Pope Francis becomes the first Pope in history to visit and perform papal mass in the Arabian Peninsula during his visit to Abu Dhabi.

2016 - New Zealand politician Steven Joyce is hit by a flung rubber dildo in
a Waitangi Day protest.

2008 - A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.

2004 - Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaives, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.

2000 - Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.

1997 - The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of
a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.

1994 - Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.

1994 - Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

1988 - Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.

1985 - Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor
of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.

1981 - Operation Soap: The Metropolitan Toronto Police Force raids four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, arresting just under 300, triggering mass protest and rallies.

1975 - Riots break out in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.

1971 - Astronauts land on the Moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

1967 - Cultural Revolution: The Shanghai People's Commune is formally proclaimed, with Yao Wenyuan and Zhang Chunqiao being appointed as its leaders.

1963 - The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in
the development of European Union law.

1962 - French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.

1958 - A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force
off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

1958 - Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the
United Arab Republic.

1945 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

1941 - World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture
Keren, Eritrea.

1939 - Generalisimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th "Caudillo de Espana",
or Leader of Spain.

1933 - Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provincien
off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.

1924 - The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.

1919 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.

1918 - SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first
ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.

1918 - Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.

1917 - The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.

1917 - The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

1913 - Claudio Monteverdi's last opera L'incoronazione di Poppea was
performed theatrically for the first time in more than 250 years.

1913 - Greek military aviators Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.

1907 - Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.

1905 - In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with four basic specialties.

1901 - J. P. Morgan incorporates U.S. Steel in the state of New Jersey, although the company would not start doing business until February 25 and the assets of Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company, Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company, and William Henry Moore's National Steel Company were not acquired until April 1.

1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.

1869 - The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the "Welcome Stranger", is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.

1859 - Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered in the birth of the modern Romanian state.

1852 - The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.

1818 - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

1810 - Peninsular War: Siege of Cadiz begins.

1783 - In Calabria, a sequence of strong earthquakes begins.

1597 - A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.

1576 - Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.

756 - Chinese New Year; An Lushan proclaims himself Emperor of China and founds the short-lived state of Yan.

62 - Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.

2 BC - Caesar Augustus is granted the title pater patriae by the Roman Senate.

--- up 2 days, 2 hours, 26 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - Two earthquakes measuring .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Mww 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people.

2021 - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.

2018 - SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.

2016 - An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.

2012 - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Negros, leaving 112 people dead.

2006 - Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.

2000 - Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.

1998 - Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

1996 - Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.

1996 - Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.

1989 - The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.

1987 - Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.

1981 - The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.

1978 - The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.

1976 - In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.

1973 - The Ms 7.6 Luhuo earthquake strikes Sichuan Province, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 2,199 people.

1959 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a
Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

1959 - Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.

1958 - Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are
killed in the Munich air disaster.

1952 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

1951 - The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures
over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

1951 - The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.

1944 - World War II: The Great Raids Against Helsinki begins.

1934 - Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.

1922 - The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting
the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

1919 - The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000
workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.

1918 - British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.

1900 - The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

1899 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.

1865 - The municipal administration of Finland is established.

1862 - American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.

1851 - The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.

1843 - The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

1840 - Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.

1833 - Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.

1820 - The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.

1819 - The Treaty of Singapore was signed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Hussein Shah of Johor, and Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and it is now recognised as the founding of modern Singapore.

1806 - Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.

1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1778 - New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

1778 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

1694 - The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo
dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.

1685 - James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

1579 - The Diocese of Manila is erected by papal bull, with Domingo de
Salazar appointed its first bishop.

590 - Hormizd IV, king of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown and blinded by his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -8øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - Pakistan election offices are hit by twin bombings, killing at least
24 people a day before general elections.

2021 - The 2021 Uttarakhand flood begins.

2016 - North Korea launches Kwangmyongsong-4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.

2014 - Scientists announce that the Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, date back to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.

2013 - The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.

2012 - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after
23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of the Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.

2009 - Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.

2001 - Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-98, carrying the Destiny laboratory module to the International Space Station.

1999 - Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.

1995 - Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,
is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.

1992 - The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.

1991 - The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.

1991 - Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, is sworn in.

1990 - Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.

1986 - Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

1984 - Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: astronauts Bruce McCandless
II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the
Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).

1981 - A plane crash at Pushkin Airport kills 50 people, including 16 members of the Pacific Fleet.

1979 - Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.

1974 - Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1966 - The Great Fire of Iloilo breaks out in a lumber yard in Iznart Street and burns for almost half a day destroying nearly three-quarters of the City Proper area and Php 50 million pesos in total properties' damage.

1964 - The Beatles land in the United States for the first time, at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport.

1962 - The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.

1951 - Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.

1944 - World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.

1943 - World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal campaign.

1940 - The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.

1904 - The Great Baltimore Fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

1900 - A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in
the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.

1900 - Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift
the Siege of Ladysmith.

1898 - Dreyfus affair: Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for
publishing J'Accuse...!

1894 - The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.

1863 - HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.

1854 - A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.

1842 - Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of
Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.

1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it
over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.

1813 - In the action of 7 February 1813 near the Iles de Los, the frigates Arethuse and Amelia batter each other, but neither can gain the upper hand.

1812 - The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.

1807 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon finds Bennigsen's Russian forces taking a stand at Eylau. After bitter fighting, the French take the town, but the Russians resume the battle the next day.

1795 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1783 - American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

1756 - Guarani War: The leader of the Guarani rebels, Sepe Tiaraju, is
killed in a skirmish with Spanish and Portuguese troops.

1497 - In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a "Bonfire of the vanities".

1365 - Albert III of Mecklenburg (King Albert of Sweden) grants city rights
to Ulvila (Swedish: Ulvsby).

1313 - King Thihathu founds the Pinya Kingdom as the de jure successor state of the Pagan Kingdom.

1301 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.

987 - Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.

457 - Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.

--- Binbrook, ON: Sunny -20øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - Two children are killed and six others are injured when a bus crashes into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The driver is arrested and charged with homicide and dangerous driving.

2020 - A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in
Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.

2014 - A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

2013 - A blizzard kills at least 18 and leaves hundreds of thousands of
people without electricity in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.

2010 - Over 2 miles (3.2 km) of road are buried after a storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of avalanches, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 others.

1993 - An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people onboard both aircraft.

1989 - Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, killing all 144 passengers on board.

1986 - Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train
collides with a Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, making it one of the worst rail accidents in Canada.

1983 - Irish race horse Shergar is stolen and allegedly killed by gunmen in a ransom attempt by the PIRA.

1983 - A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.

1974 - The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space.

1971 - South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.

1971 - The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.

1968 - American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

1965 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people onboard.

1963 - The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.

1962 - Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French
police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon.

1960 - The Hollywood Walk of Fame is founded.

1960 - Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House
of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

1950 - The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.

1946 - The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.

1945 - World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemunde, Usedom.

1945 - World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.

1942 - World War II: Japan invades Singapore.

1937 - Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.

1924 - The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.

1915 - D. W. Griffith's controversial landmark film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.

1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1904 - The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.

1904 - Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.

1887 - The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.

1885 - The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.

1879 - England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.

1879 - Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard
Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.

1865 - Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, delaying the criminalization of slavery until the amendment's national adoption on December 6, 1865. The amendment is ultimately ratified
by Delaware on February 12, 1901, the 92nd anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

1837 - Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the
United States chosen by the Senate.

1817 - An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martin in the liberation of Chile from Spain.

1807 - Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.

1693 - The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

1601 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against
Queen Elizabeth I.

1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

1347 - The Byzantine civil war of 1341-47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

1250 - Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.

1238 - The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

421 - Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

--- up 2 days, 11 hours, 25 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - The Baltic states synchronize their electric power transmission infrastructure with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), in objective to disconnect from the Russo-Belarussian agreement to use the IPS/UPS system.

2021 - Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins.

2020 - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis.

2018 - Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County
in South Korea.

2016 - Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people die and 85 others are injured.

2001 - The Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision takes place, killing nine of the thirty-five people on board the Japanese fishery high-school training ship Ehime Maru, leaving the USS Greeneville (SSN-772) with US $2 million in repairs, at Pearl Harbor.

1996 - Copernicium is discovered by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al.

1996 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf, killing two people.

1991 - Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union.

1987 - Civil unrest broke out across the Occupied Palestinian territories.

1986 - Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.

1982 - Japan Air Lines Flight 350 crashes near Haneda Airport in an attempted pilot mass murder-suicide, killing 24 of the 174 people on board.

1978 - The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1976 - Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24.

1975 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.

1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.

1971 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.

1971 - The 6.5-6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.

1965 - Vietnam War: The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk
missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.

1964 - The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States.

1961 - The Beatles at the Cavern Club: Lunchtime - The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg.

1959 - The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile,
becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.

1951 - Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in
Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea.

1950 - Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.

1945 - World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attack a
German destroyer in Fordefjorden, Norway.

1945 - World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off
the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat.

1943 - World War II: Pacific War: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.

1942 - Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.

1941 - World War II: Bombing of Genoa: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.

1934 - The Balkan Entente is formed between Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey.

1932 - Prohibition law is abolished in Finland after a national referendum, where 70% voted for a repeal of the law.

1929 - Members of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang assassinate the labor
recruiter Bazin, prompting a crackdown by French colonial authorities.

1922 - Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

1920 - Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.

1913 - A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.

1907 - The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).

1904 - Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.

1900 - The Davis Cup competition is established.

1895 - William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes
to be referred to as volleyball.

1893 - Verdi's last opera, Falstaff premieres at La Scala, Milan.

1889 - US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.

1870 - US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.

1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama

1849 - The new Roman Republic is declared.

1825 - After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as sixth President of the United States in a contingent election.

1822 - Haiti attacks the newly established Dominican Republic on the other side of the island of Hispaniola.

1778 - Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.

1654 - The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.

1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.

1555 - Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.

1539 - The first recorded race is held on Chester Racecourse, known as the Roodee.

1098 - A First Crusade army led by Bohemond of Taranto wins a major battle against the Seljuq emir Ridwan of Aleppo during the siege of Antioch

1003 - Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from
Boleslaw I the Brave of Poland.

474 - Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -25øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Texas' worst energy infrastructure failure, the 2021 Texas power crisis, starts.

2021 - The traditional Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is canceled for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2018 - Nineteen people are killed and 66 injured when a Kowloon Motor Bus double decker on route 872 in Hong Kong overturns.

2016 - South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyongsong-4.

2013 - Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede
in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.

2009 - The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.

2004 - Forty-three people are killed and three are injured when a Fokker 50 crashes near Sharjah International Airport.

2003 - France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.

1996 - IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.

1989 - Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.

1984 - Kenyan soldiers kill an estimated 5,000 ethnic Somali Kenyans in the Wagalla massacre.

1972 - Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.

1967 - The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1964 - Melbourne-Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of
New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.

1962 - Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is
exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.

1947 - The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.

1943 - World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad,
the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the
Battle of Krasny Bor.

1940 - The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.

1939 - Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.

1936 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launch the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.

1933 - In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square
Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.

1930 - The Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang launches the failed Yen Bai
mutiny in hope of overthrowing French protectorate over Vietnam.

1923 - Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas.

1920 - About 75% of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the
1920 Schleswig plebiscites.

1920 - Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs the symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.

1906 - HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of
battleships, is christened.

1862 - American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.

1861 - Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1846 - First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.

1840 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

1814 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.

1763 - French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.

1712 - Huilliches in Chiloe rebel against Spanish encomenderos.

1567 - Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.

1502 - Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.

1355 - The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.

1306 - In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert
the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

1258 - The Siege of Baghdad ends with the surrender of the last Abbasid
caliph to Hulegu Khan, a prince of the Mongol Empire.

--- up 17 hours, 6 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - 2024 Finnish presidential election: Alexander Stubb is elected as the 13th president of Finland.

2020 - COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2.

2018 - Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors.

2017 - North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.

2016 - A man shoots seven people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.

2015 - A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.

2014 - A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.

2013 - Militants claiming to be from the Sultanate of Sulu invade Lahad Datu District, Sabah, Malaysia, beginning the Lahad Datu standoff.

2013 - The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy
as a result of his advanced age.

2011 - Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.

2008 - Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President Jose Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.

2001 - A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.

2000 - Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-99 to conduct the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.

1999 - Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune's orbit again until 2231.

1997 - Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

1990 - Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds
at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title.

1990 - Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.

1979 - The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1978 - Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 crashes at the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada with 42 deaths and seven survivors.

1971 - Cold War: the Seabed Arms Control Treaty opened for signature
outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.

1970 - Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object
into orbit using its own booster.

1963 -- The Beatles recorded their first album Please Please Me[38] - null

1959 - The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.

1953 - Israeli-Soviet relations are severed.

1953 - Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1946 - The New Testament of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first significant challenge to the Authorized King James Version, is published.

1942 - World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.

1938 - BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R., that coined the term "robot".

1937 - The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.

1933 - LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show in the U.S. results in the destruction of a dozen political artworks.

1929 - The Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.

1906 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.

1903 - Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in
Vienna, Austria.

1889 - The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.

1873 - King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates, triggering the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic.

1861 - American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

1858 - Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurs in Lourdes, France.

1856 - The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed.

1855 - Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.

1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.

1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du regiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.

1826 - University College London is founded as University of London.

1823 - Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.

1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of "gerrymandering" for the first time.

1808 - Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.

1794 - First session of United States Senate opens to the public.

1659 - The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.

1586 - Sir Francis Drake with an English force captures and occupies the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena de Indias for two months, obtaining a ransom and booty.

1584 - A naval expedition led by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founds Nombre de Jesus, the first of two short-lived Spanish settlements in the Strait of Magellan.

1534 - At the Convocation of Canterbury, the Catholic bishops comprising the Upper House of the Province of Canterbury agree to style Henry VIII supreme head of the English church and clergy "so far as the law of Christ allows".

1144 - Robert of Chester completes his translation from Arabic to Latin of
the Liber de compositione alchemiae, marking the birth of Western alchemy.

951 - Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou.

55 - The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.

660 BC - Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.

--- up 1 day, 17 hours, 10 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2019 - The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.

2016 - Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in
the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.

2009 - Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.

2004 - The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

2002 - An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.

2002 - The trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.

2001 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

1999 - United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

1994 - Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal
Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream.

1993 - Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.

1992 - The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.

1990 - Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.

1988 - Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile
cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.

1983 - One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military
dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.

1974 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

1968 - Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat massacre.

1965 - Malcolm X visits Smethwick near Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.

1966 - Rabbi Morris Adler is fatally shot by a disgruntled congregant at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan, United States.

1963 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 crashes into the Everglades shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing all 45 people on board.

1963 - Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

1961 - The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.

1947 - Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.

1947 - The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.

1946 - African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil.

1946 - World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.

1945 - A devastating tornado outbreak in Mississippi and Alabama kills 45 people and injures 427 others.

1935 - USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever
created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.

1921 - Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

1919 - The Second Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.

1912 - The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.

1909 - New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

1894 - Cafe Terminus bombing by Emile Henry during the Ere des attentats (1892-1894). Influential event for the birth of modern terrorism.

1889 - Antonin Dvorak's Jakobin is premiered at National Theater in Prague

1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands.

1825 - The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepcion, Chile.

1817 - An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.

1771 - Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.

1733 - Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.

1689 - The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688
by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.

1593 - Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led
by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in
the Siege of Haengju.

1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

1502 - Vasco da Gama sets sail with 15 ships and 800 men from Lisbon,
Portugal on his second voyage to India.

1502 - Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.

1429 - English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans in the Battle of the Herrings.

1404 - The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sofia performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen-Geist Spital in Vienna.

1096 - Pope Urban II confirms the foundation of the abbey of La Roe under Robert of Arbrissel as a community of canons regular.

--- up 2 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - A major winter storm causes blackouts and kills at least 82 people in Texas and northern Mexico.

2021 - Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his second impeachment trial.

2017 - Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

2012 - The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

2011 - For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.

2010 - A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17
and injuring 60 more.

2008 - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

2007 - Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.

2004 - The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the
discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM
37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in
the Sky with Diamonds".

2001 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 315.

1996 - The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).

1991 - Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.

1984 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1983 - A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.

1981 - A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets
in Louisville, Kentucky.

1979 - An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.

1978 - Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.

1975 - Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.

1967 - American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.

1961 - An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.

1960 - Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.

1960 - With the success of a nuclear test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.

1955 - Twenty-nine people are killed when Sabena Flight 503 crashes into
Monte Terminillo near Rieti, Italy.

1955 - Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.

1954 - Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.

1951 - Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.

1945 - World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.

1945 - World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.

1935 - A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

1931 - The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.

1920 - The Negro National League is formed.

1914 - Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1913 - The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence.

1880 - Thomas Edison observes Thermionic emission.

1867 - Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.

1861 - Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

1849 - The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Saguna hands out
to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized.

1755 - Treaty of Giyanti signed by VOC, Pakubuwono III and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into two: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.

1726 - Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile bring an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723-26.

1692 - Massacre of Glencoe: Almost 80 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.

1689 - William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1660 - With the accession of young Charles XI of Sweden, his regents begin negotiations to end the Second Northern War.

1642 - The Clergy Act becomes law, excluding bishops of the Church of England from serving in the House of Lords.

1633 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

1542 - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.

1503 - Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.

1462 - The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England
and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.

1352 - War of the Straits: The Battle of the Bosporus is fought in a stormy sea into the night between the Genoese, Venetian, Aragonese, and Byzantine fleets.

1322 - The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th-13th.

1258 - Siege of Baghdad: Hulegu Khan, a prince of the Mongol Empire, orders his army to sack and plunder the city of Baghdad, which they had just captured.

962 - Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognizing John as ruler of Rome.

--- up 3 days, 17 hours, 10 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2020 - At least 22 people are killed in an attack on a village in Northwest Region, Cameroon.

2019 - Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.

2018 - A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,
Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 17 injuries.

2018 - Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.

2011 - As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a 'Day of Rage'.

2008 - Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a
lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.

2005 - YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually
becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.

2005 - Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos, all in the Philippines.

2005 - In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri,
are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri's motorcade drives through the city.

2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 28 people, and wounding 193 others.

2003 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix reports to the United Nations Security Council that disarmament inspectors have found no weapons of mass destruction in Ba'athist Iraq.

2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

1998 - An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaounde,
Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.

1990 - The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth that later becomes famous as Pale Blue Dot.

1990 - Ninety-two people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes
in Bangalore, India.

1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.

1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

1983 - United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.

1979 - In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.

1954 - First Indochina War - small French garrison at Dak Doa is overrun
by the Viet Minh after a week's siege.

1949 - The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning
of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.

1949 - The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.

1947 - The act abolishing all noble ranks and related styles comes into force in Hungary.

1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.

1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.

1945 - World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans

1945 - World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by a United States Army Air Forces squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet Red Army's Vistula-Oder Offensive.

1945 - World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.

1944 - World War II: In the action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy
submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian Regia Marina submarine in the Strait of Malacca.

1943 - World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jurgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army launches a counter-attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.

1943 - World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.

1942 - World War II: Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.

1939 - World War II: German battleship Bismarck is launched.

1929 - Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago.

1924 - The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.

1919 - The Polish-Soviet War begins.

1918 - Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.

1912 - The U.S. Navy commissions its first class of diesel-powered submarines.

1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th and the last contiguous U.S. state.

1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).

1900 - The British Army begins the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.

1899 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

1879 - The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.

1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.

1855 - Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with
the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.

1852 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.

1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.

1835 - The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.

1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.

1804 - Karadorde leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman
Empire.

1797 - French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.

1779 - James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.

1779 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.

1778 - The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval
vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.

1655 - The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.

1613 - Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate at Whitehall Palace, London.

1556 - Coronation of Akbar as ruler of the Mughal Empire.

1556 - Having been declared a heretic and laicized by Pope Paul IV on 4 December 1555, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is publicly defrocked at Christ Church Cathedral.

1530 - Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuno de Guzman, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.

1349 - Several hundred Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remaining Jews are forcibly removed from Strasbourg.

1130 - The troubled 1130 papal election exposes a rift within the College of Cardinals.

1014 - Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.

842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.

748 - Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.

--- up 4 days, 17 hours, 9 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Sixty people drown and hundreds are missing after a boat sinks on the Congo River near the village of Longola Ekoti, Mai-Ndombe Province,
Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2013 - A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated
asteroid 2012 DA14.

2012 - Three hundred and sixty people die in a fire at a Honduran prison in the city of Comayagua.

2010 - Two trains collide in the Halle train collision in Halle, Belgium, killing 19 and injuring 171 people.

2003 - Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between eight million and 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.

2001 - The first draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.

1996 - The Embassy of the United States, Athens, is attacked by an antitank rocket, launched by the Revolutionary Organization 17 November.

1996 - At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3B rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, veers off course and crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing somewhere between six and 100 people.

1992 - Air Transport International Flight 805 crashes in Swanton, Ohio, near Toledo Express Airport, killing all four people on board.

1992 - Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced in Milwaukee to 15 terms of life in prison.

1991 - The Visegrad Group, establishing cooperation to move toward
free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

1989 - Soviet-Afghan War: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

1982 - The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers.

1972 - Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.

1972 - Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.

1971 - The decimalisation of the currencies of the United Kingdom and Ireland is completed on Decimal Day.

1970 - A Dominicana de Aviacion McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes into the Caribbean Sea after takeoff from Las Americas International Airport, killing 102, including members of the Puerto Rico women's national volleyball team
and lightweight boxer Carlos Cruz.

1965 - The maple leaf is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the
Canadian Red Ensign flag.

1961 - Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.

1954 - Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions
of Canada and Alaska.

1952 - King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

1949 - Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave
1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.

1946 - ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

1945 - World War II: Third day of bombing in Dresden.

1944 - World War II: The Narva Offensive begins.

1944 - World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.

1942 - World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.

1940 - Paul Creston's Saxophone Sonata was officially premiered at the Carnegie Chamber Hall by saxophonist Cecil Leeson, who had commissioned it, and the composer.

1933 - In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate US President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shoots Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6.

1925 - The 1925 serum run to Nome: The second delivery of serum arrives in Nome, Alaska.

1923 - Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.

1909 - The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.

1899 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issues a declaration known as the February Manifesto, which reduces the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland, thus beginning the first period of oppression.

1898 - The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing about 274 of the ship's roughly 354 crew. The disaster pushes the United States to declare war on Spain.

1879 - Women's rights: US President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

1870 - Stevens Institute of Technology is founded in New Jersey, US, and offers the first Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering.

1862 - American Civil War: Confederates commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd attack General Ulysses S. Grant's Union forces besieging Fort Donelson in Tennessee. Unable to break the fort's encirclement, the Confederates
surrender the following day.

1852 - The Helsinki Cathedral (known as St. Nicholas' Church at time) is officially inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.

1835 - Serbia's Sretenje Constitution briefly comes into effect.

1798 - The Roman Republic is proclaimed after Louis-Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome five days earlier.

1764 - The city of St. Louis is established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA).

1690 - Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, and the Holy Roman Empire
sign a secret treaty in Sibiu, stipulating that Moldavia would support the actions led by the House of Habsburg against the Ottoman Empire.

1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1493 - While on board the Nina, Christopher Columbus writes an open letter (widely distributed upon his return to Portugal) describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World.

1214 - During the Anglo-French War (1213-1214), an English invasion force led by John, King of England, lands at La Rochelle in France.

1113 - Pope Paschal II issues Pie Postulatio Voluntatis, recognizing the
Order of Hospitallers.

1002 - At an assembly at Pavia of Lombard nobles, Arduin of Ivrea is restored to his domains and crowned King of Italy.

706 - Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberios III publicly executed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople.

590 - Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.

438 - Roman emperor Theodosius II publishes the law codex Codex Theodosianus

--- up 5 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the second anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria.

2013 - A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.

2006 - The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.

2005 - The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-05 regular season and playoffs.

2005 - The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.

2000 - Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, killing all three aboard.

1998 - China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area
near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and six more on the ground.

1996 - A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a
MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.

1991 - Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermudez is assassinated in Managua.

1986 - China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard.

1986 - The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

1985 - Hezbollah is founded.

1984 - Iran launches Operation Dawn 5, a major offensive during the Iran-Iraq War targeting the Basra-Baghdad highway, resulting in heavy casualties on
both sides.

1983 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.

1978 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).

1968 - Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground.

1968 - In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system
goes into service.

1962 - Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people.

1962 - The Great Sheffield Gale impacts the United Kingdom, killing nine people; the city of Sheffield is devastated, with 150,000 homes damaged.

1961 - Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.

1960 - The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast,
setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1945 - The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law.

1945 - World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.

1943 - World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.

1942 - World War II: Attack on Aruba, first World War II German shots fired
on a land based object in the Americas.

1942 - World War II: In Athens, the Greek People's Liberation Army is established

1940 - World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded
by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. A total of 299 British prisoners are freed.

1937 - Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.

1936 - The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election.

The Commission of Government is officially sworn in; ending 79 years of responsible government in Newfoundland. - null

The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund. - null

1934

The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.

The Commission of Government is officially sworn in; ending 79 years of responsible government in Newfoundland.[7] - null

1930 - The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.

1923 - Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1918 - The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.

1900 - The Southern Cross expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieved a new Farthest South of 78? 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.

1899 - Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufelag Reykjavikur, is founded.

1881 - The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).

1866 - Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.

1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1804 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the
pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.

1796 - Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon.

1742 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.

1699 - First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.

1646 - Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the First
English Civil War.

1630 - Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to
become part of Dutch Brazil.

1270 - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.

1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light snow -3øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2016 - Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 29 people and injuring 61 others.

2015 - Eighteen people are killed and 78 injured in a stampede at a Mardi
Gras parade in Haiti.

2011 - Arab Spring: In Bahrain, security forces launch a deadly pre-dawn raid on protesters in Pearl Roundabout in Manama; the day is locally known as Bloody Thursday.

2011 - Arab Spring: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi's regime begin.

2008 - Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.

2006 - A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.

1996 - The 8.2 Mw Biak earthquake shakes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving 166 people dead or missing and 423 injured.

1996 - NASA's Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros.

1996 - In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

1995 - The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered
by the UN.

1992 - First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly.

1991 - Ryan International Airlines Flight 590 crashes during takeoff from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, killing both pilots, the aircraft's only occupants.

1980 - First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.

1979 - The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.

1978 - The Troubles: The Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30 others, all Protestants.

1974 - Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.

1972 - Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T.

1970 - the family of Jeffrey R. MacDonald, United States Army captain, is found murdered in their home in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Eventually, MacDonald himself was charged with and convicted of the murder of his
pregnant wife and two daughters.

1969 - American aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair a leak in the SEALAB III underwater habitat. The SEALAB project was subsequently abandoned.

1966 - Aeroflot Flight 065 crashes during take-off from Sheremetyevo International Airport, killing 21.

1965 - Project Ranger: The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the crewed Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility"
would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

1964 - Gabonese president Leon M'ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.

1964 - In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

1959 - A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount crashes near Gatwick Airport, killing 14; Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes survives the crash.

1959 - Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

1949 - Chaim Weizmann begins his term as the first President of Israel.

1948 - The Al-Waziri coup briefly ousts the ruling Hamidaddin dynasty of Yemen; Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din is killed.

1944 - World War II: Operation Hailstone begins: U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack against Truk Lagoon, Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.

1944 - World War II: The Battle of Eniwetok begins. The battle ends in an American victory on February 22.

1919 - The Ukrainian People's Republic asks the Entente and the United States for help fighting the Bolsheviks.

1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists
who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.

1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia is assassinated in the Moscow Kremlin by Socialist Revolutionary Ivan Kalyayev.

1865 - American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.

1864 - American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.

1863 - A group of citizens of Geneva found an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

1859 - Cochinchina Campaign: The French Navy captures the Citadel of Saigon,
a fortress manned by 1,000 Nguyen dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Viet Nam.

1854 - The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.

1838 - Weenen massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus.

1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time.

1814 - War of the Sixth Coalition: The Battle of Mormant.

1801 - United States presidential election: A tie in the Electoral College between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.

1753 - In Sweden, February 17 is followed by March 1 as the country moves
from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

1739 - The Battle of Vasai commences as the Marathas move to invade Portuguese-occupied territory.

1676 - Sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition are lost at Evangelistas Islets at the western end of the Strait of Magellan.

1674 - An earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Ambon. It triggers a
100 m (330 ft) megatsunami which drowns over 2,300 people.

1621 - Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.

1616 - Nurhaci proclaims himself Khan of the Later Jin, precursor to the Qing Dynasty.

1600 - On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy, at Campo de' Fiori in Rome, the philosopher Giordano Bruno has a wooden vise put on his tongue to prevent him continuing to speak.

1500 - Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein and King John of Denmark attempt to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt.

1411 - Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum,
Musa Celebi, one of the sons of Bayezid I, becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire with the support of Mircea I of Wallachia.

1370 - Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.

--- Binbrook, ON: Fog +2øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.

2018 - Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Dena sub-range in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, Resulting in 66 Deaths

2014 - At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kyiv, Ukraine.

2013 - Armed robbers steal a haul of diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium.

2010 - WikiLeaks publishes the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning.

2004 - Up to 295 people, 182 of which being rescue workers, die near
Nishapur, Iran, when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.

2003 - 192 people die when an arsonist sets fire to a subway train in Daegu, South Korea.

2001 - Sampit conflict: Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.

2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1991 - The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.

1983 - Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.

1979 - Richard Petty wins a then-record sixth Daytona 500 after leaders
Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crash on the final lap of the first NASCAR race televised live flag-to-flag.

1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.

1977 - A thousand armed soldiers raid Kalakuta Republic, the commune of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, leading to the death of Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti.

1977 - The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited memorial wreaths of the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel. It remains the deadliest fireworks accident in the world.

1972 - The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.

1970 - The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots
at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1957 - Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.

1957 - Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.

1955 - Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.

1954 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.

1947 - First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to the mountains.

1946 - Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors

1945 - World War II: American and Brazilian troops kick off Operation Encore in Northern Italy, a successful limited action in the Northern Apennines that prepares for the western portion of the Allied Spring offensive.

1943 - World War II: Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.

1943 - World War II: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.

1942 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.

1938 - Second Sino-Japanese War: During the Nanking Massacre, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed "Nanking International Rescue Committee", and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart.

1932 - The Empire of Japan creates the independent state of Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) free from the Republic of China and installed former Chinese Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi as Chief Executive of the State.

1930 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.

1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.

1915 - U-boat Campaign: The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters around Great Britain and Ireland.

1911 - The first official flight with airmail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.

1906 - Edouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.

1900 - Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.

1885 - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the
United States.

1878 - John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

1873 - Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.

1861 - With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.

1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1814 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.

1797 - French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.

1791 - Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.

1781 - Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).

1735 - The ballad opera called Flora, or Hob in the Well went down in history as the first opera of any kind to be produced in North America (Charleston, S.C.)

1637 - Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.

1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.

1332 - Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.

1268 - The Battle of Wesenberg is fought between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov.

1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with
neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.

3102 BC - Kali Yuga, the fourth and final yuga of Hinduism, starts with the death of Krishna.

--- Binbrook, ON: Light rain, mist +0øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, a 19-year-old protester, becomes the first known casualty of anti-coup protests that formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'etat.

2020 - Nine people are killed in two domestic terrorist shootings in Hanau, Hesse, Germany.

2012 - Forty-four people are killed in a prison brawl in Apodaca, Nuevo
Leon, Mexico.

2011 - The debut exhibition of the Belitung shipwreck, containing the largest collection of Tang dynasty artifacts found in one location, begins in Singapore.

2006 - A methane explosion in a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, kills 65 miners.

2003 - An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275.

2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars
using its thermal emission imaging system.

1989 - Flying Tiger Line Flight 066 crashes into a hill near Sultan Abdul
Aziz Shah Airport in Malaysia, killing four.

1988 - A Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner operating as AVAir Flight 3378 crashes in Cary, North Carolina, killing 12.

1986 - Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka.

1985 - China Airlines Flight 006 experiences an aircraft upset over the Pacific Ocean, injuring 24.

1985 - A Boeing 727 operating as Iberia Flight 610 crashes Mount Oiz in
Spain, killing 148; it is the deadliest accident to occur in Iberia's history and the deadliest to occur in Basque County.

1985 - William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial
heart to leave the hospital.

1978 - Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces kill 15 Egyptian commandos and destroy the Egyptian C-130 transport plane in open combat.

1976 - Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese
Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417.

1965 - Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam,
and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals
Lam Van Phat and Tran Thien Khiem, all Catholics, attempt a coup
against the military junta of the Buddhist Nguyen Khanh.

1963 - The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakens the feminist movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.

1960 - China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket.

1959 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.

1954 - Transfer of Crimea: The Soviet Politburo of the Soviet Union orders
the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.

1949 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.

1948 - The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convenes in Calcutta.

1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima: About 30,000 United States Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima.

1943 - World War II: Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins.

1942 - World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066, allowing the United States military to relocate
Japanese Americans to internment camps.

1942 - World War II: Nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack the northern Australian city of Darwin, killing 243 people.

1937 - Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Ethiopian nationalists of Eritrean origin attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades.

1915 - World War I: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles begins when a strong Anglo-French task force bombards Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli.

1913 - Pedro Lascurain becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is
the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.

1884 - More than sixty tornadoes strike the Southern United States, one of
the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.

1878 - Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

1847 - The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party.

1846 - In Austin, Texas, the newly formed Texas state government is
officially installed. The Republic of Texas government officially transfers power to the State of Texas government following the annexation of Texas by the United States.

1836 - King William IV signs Letters Patent establishing the province of
South Australia.

1819 - British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands.

1807 - Former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested for treason in Wakefield, Alabama, and confined to Fort Stoddert.

1726 - The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.

1714 - Great Northern War: The battle of Napue between Sweden and Russia is fought in Isokyro, Ostrobothnia.

1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch
colony of New Amsterdam to England.

1649 - The Second Battle of Guararapes takes place, effectively ending Dutch colonization efforts in Brazil.

1600 - The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.

1594 - Having already been elected to the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1587, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa is crowned King of Sweden, having succeeded his father John III of Sweden in 1592.

607 - Pope Boniface III is consecrated in Rome.

356 - The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan idols in the Roman Empire.

197 - Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.

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

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

2016 - Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents
in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

2015 - Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as
49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.

2014 - Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers.

2010 - In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.

2009 - Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military
before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.

2005 - Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on
ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it
by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

2003 - During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.

1998 - American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

1991 - In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.

1988 - The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

1986 - The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for
15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.

1979 - An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.

1971 - The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.

1968 - The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.

1965 - Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.

1959 - The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

1956 - The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.

1952 - Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

1944 - World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll.

1944 - World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on
German aircraft manufacturing centers.

1943 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's
Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.

1943 - World War II: American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

1942 - World War II: Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.

1939 - Madison Square Garden Nazi rally: The largest ever pro-Nazi rally in United States history is convened in Madison Square Garden, New York City, with 20,000 members and sympathizers of the German American Bund present.

1935 - Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

1933 - Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.

1933 - The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal
Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.

1931 - An anarchist uprising in Encarnacion, Paraguay briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune.

1931 - The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

1920 - An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.

1913 - King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.

1909 - Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.

1905 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of
Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.

1901 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

1894 - 20 February bombings by Desire Pauwels during the Ere des attentats (1892-1894).

1877 - Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

1872 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

1865 - End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomas Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

1846 - Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Krakow to incite a fight for national independence.

1835 - The 1835 Concepcion earthquake destroys Concepcion, Chile.

1824 - William Buckland formally announces the name Megalosaurus, the first scientifically validly named non-avian dinosaur species.

1816 - Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro
Argentina in Rome.

1813 - Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pio de Tristan during
the Battle of Salta.

1798 - Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.

1792 - The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.

1685 - Rene-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.

1553 - Yohannan Sulaqa professes his Catholic belief and is ordained as
bishop shortly after; this marks the beginning of the Chaldean Catholic Church.

1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

1521 - Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon sets out from San Juan,
Puerto Rico, for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.

1472 - Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a
dowry for Margaret of Denmark.

1339 - The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.

--- up 20 hours, 27 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2022 - In the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region. The action is condemned by the United Nations.

2013 - At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad.

1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

1994 - Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia.

1975 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.

1974 - The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.

1973 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.

1972 - The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.

1972 - United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations.

1971 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.

1958 - The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.

1952 - The Bengali language movement protests occur at the University of
Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

1952 - The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".

1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.

1947 - In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.

1945 - World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.

1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga.

1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the
Spanish Civil War.

1929 - In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.

1925 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.

1921 - Reza Shah takes control of Tehran during a successful coup.

1921 - Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.

1919 - German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.

1918 - The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

1916 - World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.

1913 - Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.

1896 - An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an
Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.

1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.

1878 - The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.

1874 - The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in
New Mexico Territory.

1861 - Mariehamn, the capital city of Aland, is founded.

1848 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.

1842 - John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.

1828 - Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah.

1808 - Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia.

1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.

1797 - A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists.

1613 - Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly,
beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.

1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.

1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation
after confessing to torture and forgery.

452 or 453 - Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine.

--- up 1 day, 20 hours, 27 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2022 - Twosday, the name given to Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 2:22:22, occurs.

2018 - A man throws a grenade at the U.S. embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro.
He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.

2015 - A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing
70 people.

2014 - President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328-0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.

2012 - A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.

2011 - Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest
against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.

2011 - New Zealand's second deadliest earthquake, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, kills 185 people.

2006 - The Securitas depot robbery was the UK's largest heist. Almost GBP53m (about $92.5 million or EUR78 million) was stolen from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

2006 - At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at
the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.

2005 - The 6.4 Mw Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman province of Iran
with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.

2002 - Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.

1997 - In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.

1995 - The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.

1994 - Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.

1986 - Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.

1983 - The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

1980 - Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey
team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3.

1979 - Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1974 - Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but commits suicide after being wounded by police.

1974 - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.

1973 - Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.

1972 - The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.

1959 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

1958 - Following a plebiscite in both countries the previous day, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.

1957 - Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buon Ma Thuot.

1946 - The "Long Telegram", proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.

1944 - World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.

1944 - World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.

1943 - Yankee Clipper crashes while landing on the Tagus in Lisbon, killing 24.

1943 - World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl,
Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.

1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.

1921 - After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of
Mongolia.[citation needed]

1909 - The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by
USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.

1904 - The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.

1899 - Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine-American
War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.

1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.

1881 - Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York.

1879 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.

1872 - The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.

1862 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.

1856 - The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.

1848 - The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment
of the French Second Republic, begins.

1847 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand
American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.

1819 - By the Adams-Onis Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States
for five million U.S. dollars.

1797 - The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.

1770 - British customs officer Ebenezer Richardson fires blindly into a crowd during a protest in North End, Boston, fatally wounding 11-year-old Christopher Seider; the first American fatality of the American Revolution.

1744 - War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.

1651 - St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.

1632 - Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two
Chief World Systems.

1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.

1371 - Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.

1316 - The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.

1076 - Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14-20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

--- up 2 days, 20 hours, 26 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2025 - A snap election is held in Germany.

2021 - Four simultaneous prison riots leave at least 62 people dead in Ecuador.

2020 - Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, is shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.

2019 - Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity
Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.

2018 - Parliamentary elections are held in Djibouti.

2017 - The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.

2012 - A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.

2010 - Unknown criminals pour more than .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}2+1/2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the
river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.

2008 - The Japanese WINDS satellite is launched.

2008 - A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.

2007 - A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.

2002 - An Ariane 4 rocket is launched from the Guiana Space Centre carrying Intelsat 904.

1999 - An avalanche buries the town of Galtur, Austria, killing 31.

1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is charged with treason in
Ankara, Turkey.

1998 - In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.

1991 - In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'etat, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

1988 - Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians
in northern Iraq.

1987 - Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

1983 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

1981 - In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'etat by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

1980 - Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.

1971 - Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign.

1966 - In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party
military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.

1958 - Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.

1954 - The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.

1950 - General elections are held in the United Kingdom.

1947 - International Organization for Standardization is founded.

1945 - American Airlines Flight 009 crashes near Rural Retreat, Virginia, killing 17.

1945 - World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.

1945 - World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznan. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.

1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.

1945 - World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Banos internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as "the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies."

1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.

1944 - The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.

1943 - Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.

1943 - The Cavan Orphanage fire kills thirty-five girls and an elderly cook.

1942 - World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.

1941 - Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.

1934 - Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.

1927 - German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.

1927 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.

1917 - First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution (March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).

1909 - The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.

1905 - Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for
lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.

1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

1900 - Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart's Hill fails.

1898 - Emile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse...!, a
letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.

1886 - Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminium from the electrolysis of aluminium oxide, after several years of intensive work. He
was assisted in this project by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall.

1885 - Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Dong Dang in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.

1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.

1870 - Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of
Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.

1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.

1854 - The official independence of the Orange Free State, South Africa is declared.

1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista: In Mexico, American
troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

1836 - Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas.

1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed and the conspirators arrested.

1778 - American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.

1763 - Berbice slave uprising in Guyana: The first major slave revolt in
South America.

1725 - J. S. Bach leads his Tafel-Music Shepherd Cantata for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels.

1455 - Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the
first Western book printed with movable type.

705 - Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.

628 - Khosrow II, last Sasanian shah of Iran, is overthrown.

532 - Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople - the Hagia Sophia.

303 - Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.

--- up 3 days, 20 hours, 29 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2022 - Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

2020 - Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia following an attempt to replace the Pakatan Harapan government, which triggered the 2020-2022 Malaysian political crisis.

2016 - Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashed, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport.

2015 - A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.

2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He remained as head of the Communist Party for another three years.

2007 - Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.

2006 - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation
1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.

2004 - The 6.3 Mw Al Hoceima earthquake strikes northern Morocco with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 628 people are killed, 926 are injured, and up to 15,000 are displaced.

1999 - China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes in Rui'an, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.

1996 - Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.

1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.

1989 - United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.

1984 - Tyrone Mitchell perpetrates the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles, killing two children and injuring 12 more.

1983 - A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.

1981 - The 6.7 .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms Gulf of Corinth earthquake affected Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people were killed, 400 were injured, and damage totaled $812 million.

1978 - The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later.

1976 - The 1976 constitution of Cuba is formally proclaimed.

1971 - The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee
meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed three days
earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.

1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnamese forces led by Ngo Quang Truong recapture the citadel of Hue.

1967 - Cultural Revolution: Zhang Chunqiao announces the dissolution of the Shanghai People's Commune, replacing its local government with a
revolutionary committee.

1966 - Ghanaian coup d'etat by National Liberation Council overthrows Kwame Nkrumah's Government

1949 - The Armistice Agreements are signed, to formally end the hostilities
of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

1946 - Colonel Juan Peron, founder of the political movement that became
known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.

1945 - Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

1943 - World War II: First large-scale protest march resulting in clashes
with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany.

1942 - The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25.

1942 - Seven hundred ninety-one Romanian Jewish refugees and crew members are killed after the MV Struma is torpedoed by the Soviet Navy.

1920 - The Nazi Party (NSDAP) was founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbrauhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany.

1920 - Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons
of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.

1918 - Estonian Declaration of Independence.

1917 - World War I: The U.S. ambassador Walter Hines Page to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.

1916 - The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen's disease patients.

1895 - Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba,
beginning the Cuban War of Independence; the war ends along with the Spanish-American War in 1898.

1881 - China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.

1876 - The stage premiere of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with
incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway.

1875 - The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.

1868 - Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later
acquitted in the Senate.

1863 - Arizona is organized as a United States territory.

1854 - A Penny Red with perforations becomes the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.

1848 - King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.

1831 - The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.

1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marks the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.

1822 - The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.

1821 - Final stage of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain with Plan of Iguala.

1813 - Sinking of HMS Peacock by USS Hornet on the Demerara River, Guyana.

1812 - Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Frederick William III of Prussia against Russia is signed.

1809 - Britain invades and captures the French colony of Martinique.

1809 - London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving its owner, Irish writer and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, destitute.

1803 - In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.

1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.

1711 - Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage, is premiered.

1607 - L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its premiere performance.

1597 - The last battle of the Cudgel War takes place on the Santavuori Hill
in Ilmajoki, Ostrobothnia.

1582 - With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.

1538 - Treaty of Nagyvarad between Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and King John Zapolya of Hungary and Croatia.

1527 - Coronation of Ferdinand I as the king of Bohemia in Prague.

1525 - A Spanish-Austrian army defeats a French army at the Battle of Pavia.

1386 - King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.

1303 - The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence.

484 - King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones,
and banishes some to Corsica.

--- up 20 hours, 46 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2016 - Three people are killed and fourteen others injured in a series of shootings in the small Kansas cities of Newton and Hesston.

2015 - At least 310 people are killed in avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan.

2009 - Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashed during landing at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, primarily due to a faulty radio altimeter, resulting in the death of nine passengers and crew including all three pilots.

2009 - Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials.

1999 - Alitalia Flight 1553 crashes at Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport in Genoa, Italy, killing four.

1994 - American-Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein commits a mass shooting at the Cave of the Patriarchs mausoleum, leaving 29 dead and over 100 injured before he was disarmed and beaten to death by survivors.

1991 - Disbandment of the Warsaw Pact at a meeting of its members in Budapest.

1986 - People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first female president.

1980 - The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by
Desi Bouterse.

1956 - In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, denounces Stalin.

1951 - The first Pan American Games are officially opened in Buenos Aires by Argentine President Juan Peron.

1948 - In a coup d'etat led by Klement Gottwald, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia takes control of government in Prague to end the Third Czechoslovak Republic.

1947 - Soviet NKVD forces in Hungary abduct Bela Kovacs--secretary-general
of the majority Independent Smallholders' Party--and deport him to the USSR
in defiance of Parliament. His arrest is an important turning point in the Communist takeover of Hungary.

1947 - The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council, the Prussian government having already been abolished by the Preussenschlag of 1932.

1941 - The outlawed Communist Party of the Netherlands organises a general strike in German-occupied Amsterdam to protest against Nazi persecution of Dutch Jews.

1939 - As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, north London.

1933 - Launch of the USS Ranger at Newport News, Virginia. It is the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned by the US Navy.

1932 - Adolf Hitler, having been stateless for seven years, obtains German citizenship when he is appointed a Brunswick state official by Dietrich Klagges, a fellow Nazi. As a result, Hitler is able to run for
Reichsprasident in the 1932 election.

1921 - Georgian capital Tbilisi falls to the invading Russian forces after heavy fighting and the Russians declare the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

1918 - World War I: German forces capture Tallinn to virtually complete the occupation of Estonia.

1916 - World War I: In the Battle of Verdun, a German unit captures Fort Douaumont, keystone of the French defences, without a fight.

1912 - Marie-Adelaide, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

1875 - Guangxu Emperor of Qing dynasty China begins his reign, under Empress Dowager Cixi's regency.

1870 - Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress.

1843 - Lord George Paulet occupies the Kingdom of Hawaii in the name of Great Britain in the Paulet affair.

1836 - Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for his revolver firearm.

1705 - George Frideric Handel's opera Nero premiered in Hamburg.

628 - Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.

138 - Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.

--- up 1 day, 20 hours, 48 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - A total of 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 are kidnapped by bandits in the Zamfara kidnapping in Zamfara State, Nigeria.

2019 - Indian Air Force fighter-jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camps in Balakot, Pakistan.

2013 - A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

2012 - Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, Florida.

2012 - A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.

2008 - The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.

1995 - The UK's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

1993 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked
below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.

1992 - First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.

1987 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

1980 - Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.

1979 - The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.

1971 - U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of
the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

1966 - Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket.

1960 - A Kyiv-bound Aeroflot airliner crashes on approach to Snilow Airport
in Lviv, killing 32 of the 33 people on board.

1960 - A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.

1952 - Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.

1945 - World War II: US troops reclaim the Philippine island of Corregidor from the Japanese.

1936 - In the February 26 Incident, young nationalist Japanese military officers assassinate multiple cabinet statesmen and start a rebellion in downtown Tokyo, which is ended 3 days later.

1935 - Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.

1935 - Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

1929 - President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

1919 - President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.

1914 - HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland
and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

1909 - Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.

1876 - Japan and Korea sign the Treaty of Kangwha, which grants Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights in Korea, opens three Korean ports to Japanese trade, and ends Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.

1870 - The Beach Pneumatic Transit in New York City, intended as a demonstration for a subway line, opens.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.

1794 - The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.

1775 - The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates.

1616 - Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.

1606 - The Janszoon voyage of 1605-06 becomes the first European expedition
to set foot on Australia, although it is mistaken as a part of New Guinea.

1365 - The Ava Kingdom and the royal city of Ava (Inwa) founded by King Thado Minbya.

1266 - Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily
and Naples.

1074 - Battle of Kemej: The royal army of Solomon, King of Hungary defeats
the force of his rebellious cousin Duke Geza.

364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

320 - Chandragupta I is officially crowned as the first Gupta Emperor.

747 BC - According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events.

--- up 2 days, 20 hours, 49 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2019 - Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

2015 - Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow while out walking with his girlfriend.

2013 - A shooting takes place at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland, in which five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured.

2010 - An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggers a tsunami which strikes Hawaii shortly after.

2008 - Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a
detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later.

2007 - Chinese stock bubble of 2007: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%,
the largest daily fall in ten years, following speculation about a crackdown on illegal share offerings and trading, and fears about accelerating inflation.

2004 - Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.

2004 - A bombing of a SuperFerry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills more than 100 passengers.

2002 - Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims.

2002 - Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport causing minor injuries.

2001 - Loganair Flight 670A crashes while attempting to make a water landing in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

1991 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".

1988 - Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom.

1976 - The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

1973 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.

1971 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions.

1964 - The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of
Pisa from toppling over.

1963 - The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.

1962 - Vietnam War: Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem.

1961 - The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.

1951 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution,
limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.

1943 - The Holocaust: In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest.

1943 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.

1942 - World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike
force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies.

1940 - Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.

1939 - United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. that the National Labor Relations Board has no authority to force an employer to rehire workers who engage in sit-down strikes.

1933 - Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the
Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility.

1932 - The Mantsala rebellion begins when members of the far-right Lapua Movement start shooting at the social democrats' event in Mantsala,
Finland.

1922 - A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.

1921 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.

1916 - Ocean liner SS Maloja strikes a mine near Dover and sinks with the
loss of 155 lives.

1902 - Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria after being convicted of war crimes.

1900 - Fussball-Club Bayern Munchen is founded.

1900 - The British Labour Party is founded.

1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the
Battle of Paardeberg.

1898 - King George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.

1881 - First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill takes place.

1870 - The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.

1864 - American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

1860 - Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that plays an important role in his election to the Presidency.

1859 - United States representative Daniel Sickles, after learning of an affair between his wife and Attorney General Philip Barton Key II, murders
him in Washington, D.C.

1844 - The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.

1812 - Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home
county of Nottinghamshire.

1812 - Argentine War of Independence: Manuel Belgrano raises the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time.

1809 - Action of 27 February 1809: Captain Bernard Dubourdieu captures HMS Proserpine.

1801 - Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.

1782 - American Revolutionary War: The House of Commons of Great Britain
votes against further war in America.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in
North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.

1626 - Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after leading the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.

1617 - Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.

1594 - Henry IV is crowned King of France.

1560 - The Treaty of Berwick is signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland, establishing the terms under which English armed forces were to be permitted in Scotland in order to expel occupying French troops.

907 - Abaoji, chieftain of the Yila tribe, is named khagan of the Khitans.

425 - The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.

380 - Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity.

--- up 3 days, 20 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - Prime Minister Modi of India inaugurated the 2nd Space Port of India - Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport.

2023 - Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to
the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.

2013 - Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

2002 - During the religious violence in Gujarat, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre.

2001 - The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area.

1997 - A Turkish military memorandum resulted in the collapse of the
coalition government in Turkey.

1997 - An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths.

1993 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh, starting a 51-day standoff.

1990 - Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-36.

1986 - Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.

1985 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers.

1983 - The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers.

1975 - In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.

1974 - The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote share since 1929.

1973 - Aeroflot Flight X-167 crashes during takeoff from Semey Airport, killing 32 people.

1969 - The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

1966 - A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett.

1959 - Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.

1958 - A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and
plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The
driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.

1948 - The 1948 Accra riots erupted following a march by ex-servicemen of the Gold Coast Regiment towards the seat of the colonial government at Christiansborg Castle where they were fired upon by Superintendant Colin
Imray leading to the killing of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and
Private Odartey Lamptey and the arrest of the Big Six in the Gold Coast.

1947 - February 28 incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 18,000 - 28,000 civilians.

1925 - The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.

1922 - The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

1844 - A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who was also on board, was not injured from the blast.

1835 - Elias Lonnrot signed and dated the foreword to the first version of
the Kalevala, the so-called Old Kalevala.

1638 - The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

1525 - Aztec king Cuauhtemoc is executed on the order of conquistador
Hernan Cortes.

870 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.

202 BC - Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.

--- up 4 days, 20 hours, 47 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2014 - Thirty-five people are killed and 143 injured in a mass stabbing at Kunming Railway Station in China.

2008 - The Armenian police clash with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections, as a result ten people are killed.

2007 - Tornadoes break out across the southern United States, killing at
least 20 people, including eight at Enterprise High School.

2006 - English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station.

2005 - In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the execution
of juveniles found guilty of any crime is unconstitutional.

2003 - Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.

2002 - Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-109 to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

2002 - The Envisat environmental satellite successfully launches aboard an Ariane 5 rocket to reach an orbit of 800 km (500 mi) above the Earth, which was the then-largest payload at 10.5 m long and with a diameter of 4.57 m.

2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.

1998 - Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

1992 - Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1991 - Uprisings against Saddam Hussein begin in Iraq, leading to the deaths of more than 25,000 people, mostly civilians.

1990 - Steve Jackson Games is raided by the United States Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

1981 - Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.

1974 - Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.

1973 - Black September storms the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, resulting in the assassination of three Western hostages.

1971 - President of Pakistan Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.

1966 - The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria.

1966 - Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.

1964 - Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crashes near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, killing 85.

1964 - Villarrica Volcano begins a strombolian eruption causing lahars that destroy half of the town of Conaripe.

1962 - American Airlines Flight 1 crashes into Jamaica Bay in New York, killing 95.

1961 - Uganda becomes self-governing and holds its first elections.

1958 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation
of Faith and thus becomes the first U.S. member of the Roman Curia.

1956 - Formation of the East German Nationale Volksarmee.

1956 - The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.

1954 - Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.

1954 - Nuclear weapons testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.

1953 - Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later.

1950 - Cold War: Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by disclosing top secret atomic bomb data.

1947 - The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations.

1946 - The Bank of England is nationalised.

1942 - World War II: Japanese forces land on Java, the main island of the Dutch East Indies, at Merak and Banten Bay (Banten), Eretan Wetan (Indramayu) and Kragan (Rembang).

1941 - World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, allying itself with the Axis powers.

1939 - An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explodes at Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94.

1932 - Aviator Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son Charles Jr is kidnapped from his home in East Amwell, New Jersey. His body would not be found until May 12.

1921 - Following mass protests in Petrograd demanding greater freedom in the RSFSR, the Kronstadt rebellion begins, with sailors and citizens taking up arms against the Bolsheviks.

1921 - The Australian cricket team captained by Warwick Armstrong becomes the first team to complete a whitewash of The Ashes, something that would not be repeated for 86 years.

1919 - March 1st Movement begins in Korea under Japanese rule.

1917 - The Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text.

1914 - China joins the Universal Postal Union.

1910 - The deadliest avalanche in United States history buries a Great Northern Railway train in northeastern King County, Washington, killing 96 people.

1901 - The Australian Army is formed.

1896 - Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.

1896 - Battle of Adwa: An Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian
force, ending the First Italo-Ethiopian War.

1893 - Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.

1872 - Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park.

1871 - The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France, after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

1870 - Marshal F. S. Lopez dies during the Battle of Cerro Cora thus
marking the end of the Paraguayan War.

1867 - Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state.

1845 - United States President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.

1836 - A convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.

1815 - Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.

1811 - Leaders of the Mamluk dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali.

1805 - Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted at the end of his impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate.

1796 - The Dutch East India Company is nationalized by the Batavian Republic.

1781 - The Articles of Confederation goes into effect in the United States.

1692 - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become
known as the Salem witch trials.

1633 - Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu.

1628 - Writs issued in February by Charles I of England mandate that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date.

1562 - Sixty-three Huguenots are massacred in Wassy, France, marking the
start of the French Wars of Religion.

1476 - Forces of the Catholic Monarchs engage the combined Portuguese-Castilian armies of Afonso V and Prince John at the Battle of Toro.

834 - Emperor Louis the Pious is restored as sole ruler of the Frankish Empire.

350 - Vetranio proclaims himself Caesar after being encouraged to do so by Constantina, sister of Constantius II.

293 - Emperor Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and
Galerius as Caesars. This is considered the beginning of the Tetrarchy, known as the Quattuor Principes Mundi ("Four Rulers of the World").

509 BC - Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
at the Battle of Silva Arsia.

--- Binbrook, ON: Sunny -11øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2022 - Russian forces capture the city of Kherson during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which subsequently began the start of the Russian occupation and military-civilian administration in Kherson. Kherson is the only regional capital in Ukraine that Russia captured.

2017 - The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson are officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia.

2014 - The Oscar Selfie, regarded as one of the most influential and
important images of all time, is taken at the 86th Academy Awards.

2012 - A tornado outbreak occurs over a large section of the Southern United States and into the Ohio Valley region, resulting in 40 tornado-related fatalities.

2006 - In Monterrey, Mexico, a man identified as Diego Santoy Riveroll committed a double murder against two children, followed by an attempted murder of his ex-partner, Erika. The incident is popularly known as the Cumbres case.

2004 - War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq,
killing 170 and wounding over 500.

2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).

1998 - Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.

1995 - Space Shuttle Endeavour launches from the Kennedy Space Center on STS-67, carrying the ASTRO-2 spacelab observatory.

1995 - Researchers at Fermilab announce the discovery of the top quark.

1992 - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of which (except San Marino)
were former Soviet republics, join the United Nations.

1992 - Start of the war in Transnistria.

1991 - Battle at Rumaila oil field brings an end to the 1991 Gulf War.

1991 - Establishment of Kuwait Democratic Forum, center-left political organization in Kuwait.

1990 - Nelson Mandela is elected deputy president of the African National Congress.

1989 - Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.

1986 - Aeroflot Flight F-77 crashes near Bugulma Airport, killing all 38 people aboard.

1983 - Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the
United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.

1978 - The late iconic actor Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from his
grave in Switzerland.

1978 - Czech Vladimir Remek becomes the first non-Russian or non-American to go into space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.

1977 - Libya becomes the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People's Congress adopted the "Declaration on the Establishment of
the Authority of the People".

1972 - The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.

1970 - Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.

1969 - In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French
Concorde is conducted.

1968 - Baggeridge Colliery closes marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country.

1965 - The US and Republic of Vietnam Air Force begin Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

1962 - Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.

1962 - In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup
d'etat.

1955 - Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.

1949 - Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.

1943 - World War II: During the Battle of the Bismarck Sea Allied aircraft defeated a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.

1941 - World War II: First German military units enter Bulgaria after it
joins the Axis Pact.

1939 - Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.

1937 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee signs a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel, leading to unionization of the United States steel industry.

1933 - The film King Kong premieres in Radio City Music Hall and RKO Roxy in New York City

1932 - Finnish president P. E. Svinhufvud gives a radio speech, which four days later finally ends the Mantsala Rebellion and the far-right Lapua Movement that started it.

1919 - The first Communist International meets in Moscow.

1917 - The enactment of the Jones-Shafroth Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.

1903 - In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.

1901 - The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.

1901 - United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.

1882 - Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick Maclean in Windsor.

1877 - Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.

1867 - The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act.

1865 - East Cape War: The Volkner Incident in New Zealand.

1859 - The two-day Great Slave Auction, once thought to be the largest such auction in United States history, begins.

1855 - Alexander II becomes Tsar of Russia.

1836 - Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted.

1815 - Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy.

1811 - Argentine War of Independence: A royalist fleet defeats a small flotilla of revolutionary ships in the Battle of San Nicolas on the River Plate.

1807 - The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.

1797 - The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes.

1791 - Claude Chappe demonstrates the first semaphore line near Paris.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia units attempt to prevent capture of supply ships in and around the Savannah River by a small fleet of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Rice Boats.

1657 - The Great Fire of Meireki begins in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, causing more than 100,000 deaths before it exhausts itself three days later.

1498 - Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique.

1484 - The College of Arms is formally incorporated by Royal Charter signed
by King Richard III of England.

1476 - Burgundian Wars: The Old Swiss Confederacy hands Charles the Bold,
Duke of Burgundy, a major defeat in the Battle of Grandson in Canton of Neuchatel.

1458 - George of Podebrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia.

1444 - Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhe.

1331 - Fall of Nicaea to the Ottoman Turks after a siege.

986 - Louis V becomes the last Carolingian king of West Francia after the death of his father, Lothaire.

537 - Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege
of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off.

--- up 6 days, 20 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2013 - A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 48 people and
injured 200 others in a predominantly Shia Muslim area.

2005 - Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006, where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur.

2005 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.

2005 - James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885
and the North-West Rebellion.

1991 - United Airlines Flight 585 crashes on its final approach to Colorado Springs killing everyone on board.

1991 - An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

1986 - The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom.

1985 - A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaiso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.

1980 - The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

1974 - Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard.

1972 - Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control
malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.

1969 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.

1958 - Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.

1953 - A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11 people.

1945 - World War II: In poor visibility, the RAF mistakenly bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.

1944 - A freight train carrying stowaway passengers stalls in a tunnel
shortly after departing from Balvano, Basilicata, Italy just after midnight, with 517 dying from carbon monoxide poisoning.

1944 - The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards.

1943 - World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.

1942 - World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.

1940 - Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Flamman in Lulea, Sweden.

1939 - In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India.

1938 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

1924 - The Free State of Fiume is annexed by the Kingdom of Italy.

1924 - The Ottoman Caliphate is abolished, when the Caliph Abdulmecid II of the Ottoman dynasty is deposed. The last remnant of the old monarchy gives
way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Ataturk.

1923 - US magazine Time publishes its first issue.

1918 - Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi.

1913 - Thousands of women march in the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C.

1891 - Shoshone National Forest is established as the first national forest
in the US and world.

1878 - The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano.

1875 - Bizet's opera Carmen is first performed at the Opera-Comique in Paris.

1875 - The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as recorded in the Montreal Gazette.

1873 - Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene literature and articles of
immoral use" through the mail.

1861 - Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.

1859 - The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, concludes.

1857 - Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.

1849 - The Territory of Minnesota is created.

1845 - Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.

1799 - The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison.

1795 -- The Fedon Rebellion broke out in Grenada, the rebels seizing
Grenville and later Gouyave.[3] - null

1779 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.

1585 - The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.

1575 - Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani's army at the Battle of Tukaroi.

724 - Empress Gensho abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shomu who becomes emperor of Japan.

473 - Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

--- up 1 week, 20 hours, 52 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2020 - Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.

2018 - Former MI6 spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England, causing a diplomatic uproar that results in mass-expulsions of diplomats from all countries involved.

2015 - At least 34 miners die in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in the rebel-held Donetsk region of Ukraine.

2012 - A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, killing at least 250 people.

2009 - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.

2002 - Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.

2001 - BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC
Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA.

1998 - Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.

1996 - A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.

1994 - Space Shuttle program: the Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-62.

1990 - Lennox Sebe, President for life of the South African Bantustan of Ciskei, is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by Brigadier Oupa Gqozo.

1990 - American basketball player Hank Gathers dies after collapsing during the semifinals of a West Coast Conference tournament game.

1986 - The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the first images of its nucleus.

1985 - The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for HIV infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.

1980 - Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.

1977 - The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.

1976 - The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved
in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament.

1970 - French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss
of the entire 57-man crew.

1966 - In an interview in the London Evening Standard, The Beatles' John Lennon declares that the band is "more popular than Jesus now".

1966 - A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.

1962 - A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 - the worst crash of a DC-7.

1960 - The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba, killing 100.

1957 - The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.

1955 - An order to protect the endangered Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) is legalized.

1946 - Field Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim, the 6th president of Finland, resigns from his position for health reasons.

1944 - World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.

1943 - World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major
battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, begins. It ends on 6 March with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion and the liberation of the town of Grevena.

1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.

1941 - World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid.

1933 - The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure - Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.

1933 - The United States Senate confirms Frances Perkins as United States Secretary of Labor and she is sworn in the same day, making her the first female member of the United States Cabinet.

1933 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States.

1918 - A case of influenza was recorded at Camp Funston, Kansas, conventionally marking the beginning of the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic.

1917 - Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.

1913 - The United States Department of Labor is formed.

1913 - First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani,
resulting in victory two days later.

1909 - U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State.

1908 - The Collinwood school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.

1901 - William McKinley inaugurated president for second time; Theodore Roosevelt is vice president.

1899 - Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland,
killing over 300.

1890 - The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, measuring 8,094 feet (2,467 m) long, is opened by the Duke of Rothesay,
later King Edward VII.

1882 - Britain's first electric trams run in east London.

1878 - Pope Leo XIII reestablishes the Catholic Church in Scotland,
recreating sees and naming bishops for the first time since 1603.

1865 - U.S. politician Andrew Johnson made his drunk vice-presidential inaugural address in Washington, D.C.

1865 - The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress.

1861 - The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") is adopted.

1849 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States of America and Millard Fillmore, 12th Vice President, did not take their respective oaths of office (they did so the following day), leading to the erroneous theory that outgoing President pro tempore of the United States Senate David Rice
Atchison had assumed the role of acting president for one day.

1848 - Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia.

1837 - The city of Chicago is incorporated.

1814 - War of 1812: Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of
Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.

1813 - Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

1804 - Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.

1797 - John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.

1794 - The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.

1791 - Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.

1790 - France is divided into 83 departements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.

1789 - In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.

1769 - Mozart departed Italy after the last of his three tours there.

1686 - After being unofficially established as a settlement in 1678, the Dominican mission of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.

1681 - Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that
will later become Pennsylvania.

1675 - John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.

1665 - English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

1628 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter.

1519 - Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization
and its wealth.

1493 - Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Nina from his voyage to what are now The Bahamas and other islands
in the Caribbean.

1461 - Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his House of York cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.

1386 - Wladyslaw II Jagiello (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland.

1351 - Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.

1238 - The Battle of the Sit River begins two centuries of Mongol horde domination of Rus.

1152 - Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany.

938 - Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs.

852 - Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources.

581 - Yang Jian declares himself Emperor Wen of Sui, ending the Northern Zhou and beginning the Sui dynasty.

306 - Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.

51 - Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).

--- up 1 week, 1 day, 20 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison, before being caught the next day.

2023 - The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two
centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.

2021 - Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.

2021 - Pope Francis begins a historical visit to Iraq amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

2018 - Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin.

2012 - Two people are killed and six more are injured in a shooting at a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania.

2012 - Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar.

2011 - An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard.

2003 - In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.

2002 - An earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, kills 15 people and injures more than 100.

2001 - In Mina, Saudi Arabia, 35 pilgrims are killed in a stampede on the Jamaraat Bridge during the Hajj.

1993 - Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 crashes at Skopje International Airport in Petrovec, North Macedonia, killing 83.

1991 - Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 crashes in Venezuela, killing 45.

1982 - Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus.

1981 - The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 1.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 million units around the world.

1979 - Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.

1978 - The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

1974 - Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.

1973 - An Iberia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 collide in mid-air with a Spantax Convair 990 Coronado over Nantes, France, killing all 68 people aboard the DC-9, including music manager Michael Jeffery.

1970 - The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into
effect after ratification by 43 nations.

1968 - Air France Flight 212 crashes into La Grande Soufriere, killing all
63 aboard.

1967 - Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 crashes near Marseilles, Ohio,
killing 38.

1966 - BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707 aircraft, breaks apart in mid-air due to clear-air turbulence and crashes into Mount Fuji, Japan, killing all 124 people on board.

1965 - March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against the British colonial presence.

1963 - Aeroflot Flight 191 crashes while landing at Asgabat International Airport, killing 12.

1963 - American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.

1960 - Indonesian President Sukarno dismissed the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaced with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members.

1957 - Sutton Wick air crash a Blackburn Beverley of 53 Squadron, Royal Air Forces, crashes into the village of Sutton Wick, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) killing most of the crew and passengers and two local residents.

1953 - Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.

1946 - Cold War: Winston Churchill delivers his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College, Missouri.

1944 - World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman-Botosani offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR.

1943 - World War II: General strike and protest march in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany,
resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police. The decree is withdrawn on the next day.

1942 - World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison
and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung.

1940 - Six high-ranking members of the Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.

1939 - Spanish Civil War: The National Defence Council seizes control of the republican government in a coup d'etat, with the intention of negotiating an end to the war.

1933 - Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.

1931 - The British Raj: Gandhi-Irwin Pact is signed.

1912 - Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

1906 - Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors.

1872 - George Westinghouse patents the air brake.

1868 - Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala.

1860 - Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.

1850 - The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.

1836 - Samuel Colt established his first factory to produce recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson".

1825 - Roberto Cofresi, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.

1824 - First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.

1811 - Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cadiz in the Battle of Barrosa.

1770 - Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are
fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.

1766 - Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.

1616 - Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.

1496 - King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.

1279 - The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1046 - Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.

363 - Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack
the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.

--- up 1 week, 2 days, 20 hours, 47 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2020 - 32 people are killed and 82 are injured when gunmen open fire on a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack.

2018 - Forbes names Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person, for the first time, at $112 billion net worth.

2008 - A suicide bomber kills 68 people (including first responders) in Baghdad on the same day that a gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.

2003 - Air Algerie Flight 6289 crashes at the Aguenar - Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport in Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing 102 out of the 103 people on board.

1992 - The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.

1988 - Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are shot dead by
the SAS in Gibraltar in Operation Flavius.

1987 - The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds, killing 193.

1984 - In the United Kingdom, a walkout at Cortonwood Colliery in Brampton Bierlow signals the start of a strike that lasted almost a year and involved the majority of the country's miners.

1975 - Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.

1975 - The Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience for the first time by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.

1970 - An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich
Village kills three.

1968 - Three rebels are executed by Rhodesia, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.

1967 - Cold War: Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.

1965 - Premier Tom Playford of South Australia loses power after 27 years in office.

1964 - Constantine II becomes the last King of Greece.

1964 - Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad officially gives boxing
champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.

1957 - Ghana becomes the first Sub-Saharan country to gain independence from the British.

1953 - Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1951 - Cold War: The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.

1946 - Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.

1945 - World War II: Cologne is captured by American troops. On the same day, Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of the war, begins.

1944 - World War II: Soviet Air Forces bomb an evacuated town of Narva in German-occupied Estonia, destroying the entire historical Swedish-era town.

1943 - World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major
battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, ends with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion, the bulk of the garrison of the town of Grevena, leading to its liberation a fortnight later.

1943 - World War II: Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel launches the Battle of Medenine in an attempt to slow down the British Eighth Army. It fails, and he leaves Africa three days later.

1943 - Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series.

1930 - International Unemployment Day demonstrations globally initiated by
the Comintern.

1912 - Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 1,800 m.

1904 - Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce, the Antarctic region of Coats Land was discovered from the Scotia.

1901 - Anarchist assassin tries to kill German Emperor Wilhelm II.

1857 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules 7-2 in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case that the Constitution does not confer citizenship on black people.

1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo: After a thirteen-day siege by
an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.

1820 - The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.

1788 - The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.

1651 - The town of Kajaani, known at the time as Cajanaburg, is founded by Count Per Brahe, the Governor-General of Finland.

1323 - Treaty of Paris of 1323 is signed.

1204 - The Siege of Chateau Gaillard ends in a French victory over King John of England, who loses control of Normandy to King Philip II Augustus.

845 - The 42 Martyrs of Amorium are killed after refusing to convert to Islam.

12 BCE - The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.

--- Binbrook, ON: Freezing fog -1øC, UV Index: 1
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust, the first time someone has been found guilty for causing a death on a movie set.

2024 - Sweden officially joins NATO, becoming its 32nd member.

2021 - At least 108 die and 615 are injured in the 2021 Bata explosions in Bata, Equatorial Guinea.

2009 - Massereene Barracks shooting: The Real Irish Republican Army kills two British soldiers and injures two other soldiers and two civilians at Massereene Barracks, the first British military deaths in Northern Ireland since the end of The Troubles.

2007 - Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 crashes at Adisutjipto International Airport in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, killing 21 people.

2007 - Reform of the House of Lords: The British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.

2006 - The terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinates a series of bombings in Varanasi, India.

1989 - Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a fight over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.

1986 - Challenger Disaster: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor.

1965 - Aeroflot Flight 542 crashes in the Yermakovsky District, killing all
31 aboard.

1965 - Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers are brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama.

1951 - Iranian prime minister Ali Razmara is assassinated by Khalil
Tahmasebi, a member of the Islamic fundamentalist Fada'iyan-e Islam, outside
a mosque in Tehran.

1951 - Korean War: Operation Ripper: United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgway begin an assault against Chinese forces.

1951 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307 crashes in Lynnhurst,
Minneapolis, killing 15 people.

1941 - Gunther Prien and the crew of German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappear without a trace.

1931 - The Parliament House of Finland is officially inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.

1921 - The short-lived socialist Labin Republic is proclaimed.

1902 - Second Boer War: Boers, led by Koos de la Rey, defeat the British at the Battle of Tweebosch.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls
the "telephone".

1850 - Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech endorsing the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.

1826 - Shrigley abduction: 15-year old Ellen Turner is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future figure in the establishment of colonies in South Australia and New Zealand.

1814 - Emperor Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne.

1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.

1573 - A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic
of Venice, ending the Ottoman-Venetian War and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands.

1277 - The University of Paris issues the last in a series of condemnations
of various philosophical and theological theses.

1138 - Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Coblenz in the presence of the papal legate Theodwin.

161 - Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius.

--- Binbrook, ON: Mist +10øC, UV Index: 2
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2021 - Twenty-eight political institutions in Myanmar establish the National Unity Consultative Council, a historic alliance of ethnic armed organizations and democratically elected leaders in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup
d'etat

2021 - International Women's Day marches in Mexico become violent with 62 police officers and 19 civilians injured in Mexico City alone.

2018 - The first Aurat March (social/political demonstration) was held being International Women's Day in Karachi, Pakistan, since then annually held across Pakistan and feminist slogan Mera Jism Meri Marzi (My body, my
choice), in demand for women's right to bodily autonomy and against gender-based violence came into vogue in Pakistan.

2017 - The Azure Window, a natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapses in stormy weather.

2014 - In one of aviation's greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains unknown.

2010 - Headlined by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, TNA Wrestling moved its
flagship program, TNA Impact!, to Monday night. This effort to go "big time live" failed but is notable in the history of professional wrestling television.

2004 - A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.

2001 - Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-102, carrying the Expedition 2 crew to the International Space Station.

1994 - A collision at Indira Gandhi International Airport kills 9 people.

1988 - Aeroflot Flight 3379 is hijacked by the Ovechkin family and diverted
to Veshchevo in the Soviet Union.

1985 - A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills 80 and injures 200 others.

1983 - Cold War: While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "evil empire".

1979 - Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.

1979 - Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.

1966 - Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, is destroyed by a bomb.

1965 - Aeroflot Flight 513 crashes during takeoff from Kuybyshev Airport, killing 30 and injuring 9.

1965 - Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang.

1963 - The Ba'ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d'etat.

1962 - A Turkish Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes into Mount Medetsiz
in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, killing all 11 people on board.

1950 - The iconic Volkswagen Type 2 "Bus" begins production.

1949 - President of France Vincent Auriol and ex-Vietnamese emperor Bao
Dai sign the Elysee Accords, giving Vietnam greater independence from
France and creating the State of Vietnam to oppose Viet Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1942 - World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces captured Rangoon, Burma from British.

1942 - World War II: The Dutch East Indies surrender Java to the Imperial Japanese Army.

1937 - Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.

1936 - Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.

1924 - A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.

1921 - Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while on his way home from the parliament building in Madrid.

1917 - The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.

1917 - International Women's Day protests in Petrograd mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23 in the Julian calendar).

1916 - World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.

1910 - French aviator Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive
a pilot's license.

1868 - Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai, Osaka.

1844 - The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, was reopened after 45 years of closure.

1844 - King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

1801 - War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with the aim of ending the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.

1782 - Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania
militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.

1775 - An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.

1736 - Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.

1722 - The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad.

1702 - Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1658 - Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655-1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden.

1558 - The city of Pori (Swedish: Bjorneborg) is founded by Duke John on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia.

1262 - Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg.

1126 - Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of Leon, Alfonso VII
is proclaimed king of Leon.

1010 - Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy +2øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - A shooting in the Alsterdorf quarter of Hamburg, Germany, kills eight people and injures another eight.

2020 - Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy, announces in a televised address and signs the decree imposing the first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in the world.

2015 - Two Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil helicopters collide in mid-air over
Villa Castelli, Argentina, killing all 10 people on board both aircraft, including French athletes Florence Arthaud, Camille Muffat and Alexis
Vastine, as well as producers and guests for the French TV show Dropped.

2012 - A truce between the Salvadoran government and gangs in the country
goes into effect when 30 gang leaders are transferred to lower security prisons.

2011 - Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.

2000 - Nupedia, a multi-language online encyclopedia, is launched.

1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.

1987 - Chrysler announces its acquisition of American Motors Corporation.

1978 - President Soeharto inaugurated Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java.

1977 - The Hanafi Siege: In a 39-hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings.

1976 - Forty-two people die in the Cavalese cable car disaster, the deadliest cable car accident in history.

1974 - The Mars 7 Flyby bus releases the descent module too early, missing Mars.

1967 - Trans World Airlines Flight 553 crashes in a field in Concord
Township, Ohio, following a mid-air collision with a Beechcraft Baron,
killing 26 people.

1961 - Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a dog and a human dummy, and demonstrating that the Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.

1960 - Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a shunt he invented into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on
a regular basis.

1959 - The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

1957 - The 8.6 Mw Andreanof Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian
Islands, causing over $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.

1956 - Soviet forces suppress mass demonstrations in the Georgian SSR, reacting to Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy.

1954 - McCarthyism: CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy", produced by Fred Friendly.

1946 - Bolton Wanderers stadium disaster at Burnden Park, Bolton, England, kills 33 and injures hundreds more.

1945 - World War II: Allied forces carry out firebombing over Tokyo, destroying most of the capital and killing over 100,000 civilians.

1945 - World War II: A coup d'etat by Japanese forces in French Indochina removes the French from power.

1944 - World War II: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia.

1942 - World War II: Dutch East Indies unconditionally surrendered to the Japanese forces in Kalijati, Subang, West Java, and the Japanese completed their Dutch East Indies campaign.

1933 - Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the
Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.

1916 - Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in
an attack against the border town of Columbus, New Mexico.

1908 - Inter Milan was founded on Football Club Internazionale, following a schism from A.C. Milan.

1883 - Demonstration of 9 March 1883 : Parisian anarchists, unemployed and carpenters narrowly miss the Presidential palace during a violent protest; first use of the black flag as a symbol of anarchism by Louise Michel.

1862 - American Civil War: USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the engines and lower hull of the USS Merrimack) fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.

1847 - Mexican-American War: The first large-scale amphibious assault in U.S. history is launched in the Siege of Veracruz.

1842 - The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.

1842 - Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, Nabucco, receives its premiere performance in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's
foremost opera composers.

1841 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.

1815 - Francis Ronalds describes the first battery-operated clock in the Philosophical Magazine.

1811 - Paraguayan forces defeat Manuel Belgrano at the Battle of Tacuari.

1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais.

1776 - Scottish philosopher Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, ushering in the classical period of political economy.

1765 - After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually died by suicide.

1701 - Safavid troops retreat from Basra, ending a three-year occupation.

1500 - The fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal
in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.

1230 - Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle
of Klokotnitsa.

1226 - Khwarazmian sultan Jalal ad-Din conquers the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

1009 - First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.

141 BC - Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China.

--- up 1 day, 49 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2024 - 2024 Portuguese legislative election: Elections are held in Portugal for all 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The Partido Socialista loses its absolute majority to the Partido Social Democrata, winning 77 and
79 seats respectively.

2023 - Silicon Valley Bank collapses due to a run on its deposits, in the second largest bank failure in US history. Its operations are taken over by the FDIC.

2022 - 2022 Hungarian presidential election: The National Assembly of Hungary elects former minister for Family Affairs, Katalin Novak, as president of Hungary in a 137-51 vote, becoming the first female president in the
country's history.

2019 - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes shortly after take off, killing all 157 passengers and crew. This and the prior Lion Air Flight 610 led to all 387 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.

2017 - The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.

2006 - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.

2000 - The Dot-com bubble peaks with the NASDAQ Composite stock market index reaching 5,048.62.

1991 - 1991 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nationalist Republican Alliance wins 39 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.

1990 - In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted eighteen months after seizing power in a coup d'etat in September 1988.

1989 - Air Ontario Flight 1363, a Fokker F-28 Fellowship, crashes at Dryden Regional Airport in Dryden, Ontario, Canada, killing 24.

1982 - Syzygy: All nine planets recognized at this time -- Mercury to Pluto
-- align on the same side of the Sun.

1979 - 1979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran: Protestor involvement peaks with 15,000 Iranian women and girls performing a three-hour-long sit-in at the Courthouse of Tehran.

1977 - Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.

1975 - Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thuot in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push
for victory over South Vietnam.

1974 - 1974 Belgian general election: Elections are held in Belgium for all 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, the Belgian Socialist Party taking the majority with 59.

1971 - John Gorton resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia after a secret ballot vote of confidence,
being replaced in both positions by William McMahon.

1970 - Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military
with My Lai war crimes.

1969 - In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant.

1966 - Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyen Cao Ky sacks rival General Nguyen Chanh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.

1959 - Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.

1952 - Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba.

1949 - Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") is convicted of treason.

1945 - World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.

1944 - Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.

1933 - The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area,
leaving around 108 people dead.

1922 - Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.

1909 - By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.

1906 - The Courrieres mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners
in northern France.

1891 - Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.

1876 - The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell.

1873 - The first Azerbaijani play, The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan
of Lenkaran, prepared by Akhundov, is performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov.

1861 - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.

1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.

1831 - The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of France, from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France.

1830 - The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.

1814 - Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.

1762 - French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired
Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.

1735 - An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories.

1661 - French "Sun King" Louis XIV begins his personal rule of France after the death of his premier, the Cardinal Mazarin.

1629 - Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule.

1607 - Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia.

1535 - Spaniard Fray Tomas de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama,
discovers the Galapagos Islands by chance on his way to Peru.

1496 - After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command.

947 - The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor.

298 - Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.

241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.

--- up 2 days, 52 minutes
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)

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

2023 - The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.

2021 - US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.

2020 - The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.

2018 - A Bombardier Challenger 604 crashes into the Zagros Mountains near the Iranian city of Shar-e-kord, killing all 11 people on board.

2012 - A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.

2011 - An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east
of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This
event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

2010 - Economist and businessman Sebastian Pinera is sworn in as President
of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony.

2009 - Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.

2008 - Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibo module to the International Space Station.

2006 - Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.

2004 - Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people.

2003 - The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.

1990 - Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.

1990 - Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.

1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de
facto, and last, head of state.

1983 - Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.

1982 - Fifteen people are killed when Wideroe Flight 933 crashes into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway.

1981 - Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.

1978 - Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.

1977 - The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C.,
by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.

1946 - Rudolf Hoss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.

1945 - World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.

1945 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.

1941 - World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped
to the Allies on loan.

1927 - In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.

1917 - World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Frederick Stanley Maude.

1892 - The Saint-Germain bombing ushers France into the Ere des attentats (1892-1894).

1888 - The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.

1879 - Sho Tai formally abdicates his position of King of Ryukyu, under
orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.

1872 - Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; it is located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

1864 - The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.

1861 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

1851 - The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.

1848 - Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

1845 - Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Maori tribe members chop
down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.

1795 - The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory.

1784 - The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.

1708 - Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

1702 - The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.

1649 - The Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.

1641 - Guarani forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mborore in present-day Panambi, Argentina.

1387 - Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.

1343 - Arnost of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague.

843 - Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.

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

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

2020 - The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2019 - In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected
by a margin of 149 votes.

2018 - US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 crashes at Tribhuvan International Airport in Katmandu, killing 51 and injuring 20.

2014 - A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others.

2011 - A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

2009 - Financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street's history.

2004 - President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly, the first such impeachment in the nation's history.

2003 - The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

2003 - Zoran Dindic, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.

1999 - Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.

1993 - North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access
to its nuclear sites.

1993 - Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more.

1992 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

1989 - Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the World Wide Web.

1971 - The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Suleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.

1968 - Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1967 - Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia.

1950 - The Llandow air disaster kills 80 people when the aircraft they are travelling in crashes near Sigingstone, Wales. At the time this was the world's deadliest air disaster.

1947 - Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.

1942 - The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Empire of Japan in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.

1940 - The most destructive train accident in Finnish history kills 39 and injures 69 people in Turenki, Janakkala.

1940 - Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia.

1938 - Anschluss: German troops occupy and annex Austria.

1933 - Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats".

1930 - Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile (320 km) march to
the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.

1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill
431 people.

1920 - The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin.

1918 - Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713.

1913 - The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra.

1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.

1862 - Paddle steamer Brother Jonathan docks in Fort Victoria (now Victoria, British Columbia), carrying smallpox infected passengers from San Francisco. The ensuing epidemic killed an estimated two thirds of First Nations in the province of British Columbia.

1811 - Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.

1689 - James II of England landed at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.

1622 - Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

1579 - Start of the Siege of Maastricht, part of the Eighty Years' War.

1391 - Konrad von Wallenrode is elected the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (date is O.S.).

1158 - German city Munich (Munchen) is first mentioned as forum apud
Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I.

1088 - Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades.

538 - Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.

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

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

2020 - Katerina Sakellaropoulou is sworn in as the first female President of Greece amid strict COVID-19 measures.

2020 - Breonna Taylor is killed by police officers who were forcibly entering her home in Louisville, Kentucky; her death sparked extensive protests
against racism and police brutality.

2020 - President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States.

2016 - Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of
Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people.

2016 - The Ankara bombing kills at least 37 people.

2013 - The 2013 papal conclave elects Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio taking the name Pope Francis as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.

2012 - The Sierre coach crash kills 28 people, including 22 children.

2003 - An article in Nature identifies the Ciampate del Diavolo as 350,000-year-old hominid footprints.

1997 - The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader.

1996 - The Dunblane massacre leads to the death of sixteen primary school children and one teacher in Dunblane, Scotland.

1993 - The 1993 Storm of the Century affects the eastern United States, dropping feet of snow in many areas.

1992 - The Mw 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a
maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).

1989 - Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-29 carrying the TDRS-4 satellite.

1988 - The Seikan Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the world with an undersea segment, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.

1979 - The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d'etat.

1974 - Sierra Pacific Airlines Flight 802 crashes into the White Mountains near Bishop, California, killing 36.

1969 - Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

1964 - Kitty Genovese is murdered in New York City, prompting research into the bystander effect due to the false story that neighbors witnessed the killing and did nothing to help her.

1957 - Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.

1954 - The Battle of Dien Bien Phu begins with an artillery barrage by
Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap; Viet Minh victory led to the end of
the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam.

1943 - The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Krakow.

1940 - The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.

1930 - The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.

1920 - The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.

1900 - British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War.

1888 - The eruption of Ritter Island triggers tsunamis that kill up to 3,000 people on nearby islands.

1884 - The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885.

1862 - The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United
States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.

1848 - The German revolutions of 1848-1849 begin in Vienna.

1845 - Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its premiere performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.

1826 - Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora in
which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry.

1815 - Participants at the Congress of Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw following his escape from Elba

1811 - A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars.

1809 - Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809.

1781 - William Herschel discovers Uranus.

1741 - The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins.

1697 - Nojpeten, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.

1639 - Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.

1591 - At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi
dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.

1567 - The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.

1323 - Siege of Warangal: Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq sends an
expeditionary army led by his son, Muhammad bin Tughluq, to the Kakatiya capital Warangal - after ruler Prataparudra has refused to make tribute payments. He besieges the city and finally, after a campaign of 8 months, Prataparudra surrenders on November 9.

624 - The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.

222 - Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander.

--- Binbrook, ON: Partly cloudy -3øC, UV Index: 0
* Origin: Northern Realms (618:400/23)