On this day

12 August 2021 - Six people, including the perpetrator, were killed in a mass shooting in Plymouth, England. 2016 - The state-owned Taedonggang Brewing Company inaugurated the first beer festival in North Korea. 2000 - Kursk, an Oscar-class submarine of the Russian Navy, suffered an on-board explosion and sank in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing 118 people. 1990 - Near Faith, South Dakota, American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson found one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons, nicknamed Sue (pictured). 1985 - Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (aircraft involved pictured) crashed into Mount Takamagahara in Japan, killing 520 of 524 people on board, including singer Kyu Sakamoto, in the world's deadliest single-aircraft aviation disaster. 1969 - The Troubles: Riots erupted in the neighbourhood of Bogside in Derry, and spread across much of Northern Ireland. 1952 - Thirteen Jewish poets were executed in Moscow for espionage based on false confessions. 1945 - An official administrative history of the Manhattan Project, written by American physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth, was released to the public days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 1944 - World War II: In Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy, the Waffen-SS and the Brigate Nere murdered about 560 local villagers and refugees and burned their bodies. 1914 - World War I: Belgian troops won a victory at the Battle of Halen, but were ultimately unable to stop the German invasion of Belgium. 1883 - The last known quagga (example pictured), a subspecies of the plains zebra, died at Natura Artis Magistra, a zoo in Amsterdam. 1881 - Franco-American children as young as seven years old began striking against Cabot Mill in Brunswick, Maine, shutting down operations for three days. 1834 - A race riot in Philadelphia, United States, destroyed African-American businesses and killed two people. 1323 - Sweden and the Novgorod Republic signed the Treaty of Nöteborg resulting in a temporary hiatus in the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars. 1099 - Crusades: Fatimid forces under al-Afdal Shahanshah began retreating to Egypt after the Battle of Ascalon, concluding the First Crusade. 🇮🇹 Italiano

11 August 2012 - At least 306 people were killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. 1999 - A tornado struck downtown Salt Lake City, damaging 120 homes and injuring over 100 people. 1999 - Ken Levine's System Shock 2 was released to mediocre sales, but later received critical acclaim and influenced subsequent first-person shooter game design. 1992 - The Mall of America (pictured) in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened as the largest shopping mall in the United States. 1979 - Two Aeroflot passenger jets collided in mid-air near Dniprodzerzhynsk in the Ukrainian SSR, killing all 178 people on both aircraft. 1977 - The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiated an investigation into the alleged vulnerability of the Ford Pinto to fuel leakage and fire in a rear-end collision. 1975 - The Timorese Democratic Union launched a coup in Portuguese Timor, starting the East Timorese civil war. 1973 - At a party in New York City, Jamaican musician DJ Kool Herc (pictured) began rapping during an extended break, laying the foundation for hip hop music. 1952 - King Talal of Jordan was forced to abdicate due to mental illness and was succeeded by his eldest son, Hussein. 1945 - Amid rumors of kidnappings of children by Jews in Kraków, a crowd of Poles took part in a pogrom, resulting in at least one death. 1929 - The first Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, the oldest and largest African-American parade in the United States, was held in Chicago. 1786 - Francis Light founded George Town (city hall pictured), the first British settlement in Southeast Asia and the present-day capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. 1492 - The first conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel elected Roderic Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Innocent VIII. 1309 - Reconquista: Aragonese forces led by King James II landed on the coast of Almería, beginning an ultimately unsuccessful siege of the city, then held by the Emirate of Granada. 106 - The region of Dacia, comprising parts of modern Romania, became a province of the Roman Empire. 🇮🇹 Italiano

10 August 2019 - Having already caused severe flooding in the Philippines, Typhoon Lekima made landfall in Zhejiang, China, killing 45 people in the province. 2019 - Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier and convicted sex offender, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York. 2007 - Amid large protests against the impending demolition of the Queen's Pier, the Hong Kong High Court dismissed legal attempts to preserve the landmark. 1988 - The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 became law, authorizing reparations to surviving Japanese Americans interned during World War II. 1966 - The Heron Road Bridge in Ottawa, Canada, collapsed during its construction, killing nine workers. 1953 - First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Việt Minh in central modern-day Vietnam. 1901 - The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers began an ultimately unsuccessful strike to reverse its declining fortunes and organize large numbers of new members. 1864 - José Antônio Saraiva announced that the Brazilian military would exact reprisals after Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refused Brazil's demands, beginning the Uruguayan War. 1861 - American Civil War: The first major battle west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, was fought. 1844 - From measurements of its motion, German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel deduced that Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, had an unseen companion. 1793 - The Louvre (pyramid pictured) in Paris, today the world's most-visited museum, opened with an exhibition of 537 paintings and 184 objets d'art. 1792 - French Revolution: Insurrectionists in Paris stormed the Tuileries Palace (depicted), effectively ending the French monarchy until it was restored in 1814. 1755 - The first wave of the Expulsion of the Acadians from the present-day Canadian Maritime provinces by the British began with the Bay of Fundy campaign at Chignecto. 1628 - The Swedish warship Vasa sank shortly after departing Stockholm on her maiden voyage to take part in the Thirty Years' War. 1270 - Yekuno Amlak deposed the last Zagwe king and seized the imperial throne of Ethiopia, beginning the reign of the Solomonic dynasty, which would last for more than 700 years. 955 - Hungarian invasions of Europe: Forces under Otto the Great were victorious at the Battle of Lechfeld (depicted) near present-day Augsburg, Germany, holding off the incursions of the Magyars into Central Europe. 🇮🇹 Italiano

9 August 2024 - Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283] crashed near Vinhedo, São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 62 people on board. 2023 - Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated in Quito, eleven days before the general election. 2018 - A civilian school bus in Dahyan, Yemen, was bombed by Saudi Arabia killing at least 40 children under 15. 2018 - A civilian school bus in Dahyan, Yemen, was bombed by Saudi forces, killing at least 40 children. 2014 - Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man, was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, resulting in widespread protests and unrest. 2006 - British police arrested 24 people for conspiring to detonate liquid explosives carried on board airliners travelling from the UK to the US and Canada. 2001 - Second Intifada: A suicide bomber attacked a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 130 others. 1988 - Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial player transactions in ice hockey history. 1974 - On the verge of an impeachment and removal from office amid the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first president of the United States to resign. 1971 - The Troubles: British forces began arresting and interning suspected Irish republican militants in Northern Ireland. 1969 - Members of the Manson Family invaded a house and murdered American actress Sharon Tate (pictured) and four guests in Los Angeles, before killing two more people the following night. 1965 - The State of Singapore (flag pictured) separated from the Malaysian federation due to a heated ideological conflict between their ruling parties; the day is now celebrated as Singapore's National Day. 1960 - Led by Albert Kalonji, South Kasai declared its unilateral secession from the Republic of the Congo. 1956 - About 20,000 women marched on Pretoria, South Africa, to protest the introduction of pass laws for black women under apartheid. 1945 - World War II: The USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped a Fat Man atomic bomb (replica pictured) on Nagasaki, Japan. 1944 - The United States Forest Service authorized the use of Smokey Bear (pictured) as its mascot to replace Bambi. 1942 - World War II: In the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign, Japan forced the U.S. Navy to withdraw from the Solomon Islands. 1942 - Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 was premiered in Leningrad while the city was under siege by Nazi forces. 1934 - The Blue Lotus, the fifth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé and noted for its emphasis on countering negative misconceptions of Chinese people, began serialisation. 1902 - In a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor and Empress of India. 1897 - The first meeting of the International Congress of Mathematicians was held in Zürich, Switzerland. 1877 - Nez Perce War: Both the Nez Perce and the United States Army suffered numerous casualties at the Battle of the Big Hole, which ended conclusively. 1862 - American Civil War: Confederate troops counter-attacked and won the Battle of Cedar Mountain, after nearly being driven from the field in the early part of the battle. 1821 - A statue of the Polynesian god A'a was presented to members of the London Missionary Society on the south Pacific island of Ra'iatea. 🇮🇹 Italiano

8 August 2014 - The World Health Organization declared the Western African Ebola epidemic, which began in December 2013, to be a public health emergency of international concern. 2010 - A massive mudslide in the Chinese province of Gansu killed at least 1,471 people. 2009 - Nine people died when a tour helicopter and a small private airplane collided over the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. 2008 - A EuroCity train en route to Prague struck a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the track near Studénka station and derailed, killing 8 people and injuring 64 others. 1998 - The Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, was raided by Taliban leading to the death of 10 Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist. 1991 - Hudson Volcano in Chile began to erupt, depositing volcanic ash over 150,000 square kilometres (58,000 sq mi). 1991 - The Warsaw radio mast (pictured), then the tallest structure ever built, at 646.38 metres (2,120.7 ft), collapsed due to an error in exchanging the guys on the highest telecommunications equipment of the mast. 1988 - Tropical Storm Beryl formed over southeastern Louisiana, making it one of the few tropical cyclones to form over land. 1988 - A series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots, which became known as the 8888 Uprising, began against the one-party state of the Burma Socialist Programme Party. 1969 - At a zebra crossing (pictured) on Abbey Road in London, Iain Macmillan took the photograph that was used for the cover of the Beatles' album Abbey Road. 1969 - At a zebra crossing in London (pictured), photographer Iain Macmillan took the photo that was used for the cover of the Beatles' album Abbey Road. 1956 - A mining disaster killed 262 workers, mainly Italian nationals, at the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Belgium. 1929 - The German airship Graf Zeppelin departed Lakehurst, New Jersey, on a flight to circumnavigate the world. 1919 - The Third Anglo-Afghan War ended with the United Kingdom signing a treaty to recognise the independence of the Emirate of Afghanistan. 1918 - The Battle of Amiens began in northern France, marking the start of the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I. 1914 - The Endurance departed Plymouth, England, on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. 1695 - The foundation for what is now known as the Wren Building, the oldest surviving college building in the United States, was laid in a ceremony at Middle Plantation, Virginia. 1576 - The cornerstone of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's observatory Uraniborg was laid on the island of Hven. 1264 - Reconquista: In the early stages of the Mudéjar revolt, Muslim rebels captured the Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera in present-day Spain, holding it for about two months. -685 - Spring and Autumn period: Amid a succession dispute, the forces of Duke Zhuang of Lu, who was attempting to install a claimant to the Qi throne, were defeated at the Battle of Qianshi. 🇮🇹 Italiano

7 August 2020 - Air India Express Flight 1344 overshot the runway at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, India, and crashed, killing 21 of the 190 people on board. 1998 - Car bombs exploded simultaneously at the American embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 4,000 others. 1987 - Lynne Cox became the first person to swim between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede to Big Diomede in the Bering Strait in 2 hours and 5 minutes. 1985 - Five members of the Bamber family were found murdered at a farmhouse in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, England. 1970 - Jonathan Jackson took hostages in a courthouse in Marin County, California, to coerce the release of the Soledad Brothers, resulting in the deaths of judge Harold Haley and three others. 1955 - Hurricane Diane, the first Atlantic hurricane to cause more than $1 billion in damages, formed between the Lesser Antilles and Cape Verde. 1946 - The Soviet Union informed Turkey that the way in which the latter was handling the Turkish Straits no longer represented the security interests of Turkey's fellow Black Sea nations, escalating the Turkish Straits crisis. 1944 - IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator to Harvard University, after which it became known as the Mark I (pictured). 1942 - World War II: U.S. Marines initiated the first American offensive of the Guadalcanal_campaign'>Guadalcanal campaign, with landings on Tulagi (pictured), Gavutu–Tanambogo and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. 1914 - The Battle of Mulhouse began with France's first attack of World War I in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover the region of Alsace from Germany. 1909 - Fifty-nine days after leaving New York City with three passengers, Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco to become the first woman to drive an automobile across the contiguous United States. 1897 - Mahdist War: Anglo-Egyptian soldiers clashed with Mahdist Sudanese rebels in the Battle of Abu Hamed. 1850 - The first section of the Great Northern Railway, now the southern section of the East Coast Main Line, opened between London and Peterborough. 1782 - The Badge of Military Merit (pictured), the precursor to the U.S. Purple Heart, was established as a military decoration of the Continental Army. 1744 - Prussia declared its intervention in the War of the Austrian Succession on behalf of Charles VII, beginning the Second Silesian War. 1461 - Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun Emperor. 🇮🇹 Italiano

6 August 2013 - A gas leak caused an explosion that collapsed a building and led to the deaths of 22 people in Rosario, Argentina. 2011 - A series of riots broke out in several London boroughs and in cities and towns across England in response to the shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police officers. 2010 - Flash floods, mudslides, and debris flows across Ladakh in Indian-administered Kashmir left at least 255 people dead. 2008 - Mauritanian president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted from power by a group of high-ranking generals that he had dismissed from office several hours earlier. 1997 - Korean Air Flight 801 crashed into a hill on approach to Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam, killing 228 of the 254 people aboard. 1996 - Researchers announced that the meteorite ALH84001 (pictured), discovered in the Allan Hills of Antarctica, may contain evidence of life on Mars, but further tests were inconclusive. 1991 - British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee posted a public invitation to collaborate on a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessible via the Internet, known as the World Wide Web. 1979 - An earthquake struck along the Calaveras Fault near Coyote Lake, California, injuring sixteen people. 1965 - U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disfranchisement of African Americans. 1945 - World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force bomber Enola Gay dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan (mushroom cloud pictured), killing about 70,000 people instantly. 1944 - World War II: Allied forces attacked German fortifications at Saint-Malo, France, beginning the Battle of Saint-Malo (pictured). 1930 - New York Supreme Court judge Joseph Force Crater disappeared in Manhattan, in a case that was never solved. 1892 - The Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company was founded in Antwerp to exploit natural rubber in the Congo Free State. 1777 - The Battle of Oriskany, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolutionary War, was fought about 6 mi (10 km) east of Fort Stanwix, New York. 1623 - After the death of Gregory XV, a papal conclave in Rome elected Maffeo Barberini as Pope Urban VIII. 686 - Second Fitna: Pro-Alid forces defeated the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Khazir, allowing them to take control of Mosul in present-day Iraq. 🇮🇹 Italiano

5 August 2015 - United States Environmental Protection Agency personnel accidentally caused a spillage (aftermath pictured) of 3 million gallons (11 million litres) of mine waste water and tailings trapped inside the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado. 2013 - A python killed two boys in Campbellton in New Brunswick, Canada. 2012 - Radio Network House (pictured), damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, becomes the first building to be demolished by implosion in New Zealand. 2012 - An American white supremacist carried out a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and wounding four others. 2011 - NASA launched the Juno probe to Jupiter as part of the New Frontiers program. 1993 - Wizards of the Coast released Magic: The Gathering, the first trading card game. 1984 - A Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft crashed while attempting to land in Dhaka, killing 49 people in the deadliest aviation accident in Bangladeshi history. 1981 - U.S. president Ronald Reagan fired the 11,345 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization en masse. 1973 - Due to an athletics scandal, the National Collegiate Athletic Association applied the death penalty to the basketball program at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. 1969 - Police raided a screening of the film Lonesome Cowboys in Atlanta, Georgia, leading to the creation of a Gay Liberation Front in that city. 1962 - American actress and model Marilyn Monroe was found dead of a barbiturate overdose in her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. 1949 - An earthquake registering 6.4 Ms struck near Ambato, Ecuador, killing 5,050 people. 1916 - First World War: The British Empire's Sinai and Palestine campaign began with a victory at the Battle of Romani. 1888 - Bertha Benz made the first long-distance automobile trip, driving 106 km (66 mi) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, in a Benz Patent-Motorwagen. 1816 - Sir John Barrow, secretary at the Admiralty, rejected a proposal to use Francis Ronalds's electrical telegraph, deeming it "wholly unnecessary". 1772 - Russia, Prussia and Habsburg Austria began the First Partition of Poland, with the primary motive to restore the regional balance of power in Eastern Europe. 1716 - Austro-Turkish War: The Ottoman army were defeated in their attempt to capture the Habsburg-controlled Petrovaradin Fortress despite having twice the number of soldiers. 1689 - Beaver Wars: Aggravated by increased French incursions into their territory, a large force of Mohawk warriors substantially destroyed the settlement of Lachine in present-day Quebec. 1600 - Scottish nobleman John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, was killed during what was most likely a failed attempt to kidnap King James VI. 1506 - Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania achieved one of the greatest Lithuanian victories against the Tatars at the Battle of Kletsk. 1460 - The Kingdom of Scotland captures Roxburgh, one of the last English strongholds in Scotland, following a siege. 1100 - Henry I was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey. 25 - Liu Xiu (pictured) proclaimed himself the monarch of the Han dynasty as Emperor Guangwu. 🇮🇹 Italiano

4 August 2020 - A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage. 2014 - Julieka Ivanna Dhu, an Aboriginal Australian woman, died in police custody after her deteriorating condition was mocked and ignored. 2007 - An airport police officer discovered a suitcase containing approximately US$800,000 as it passed through security at Jorge Newbery Airfield in Buenos Aires, sparking an international scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina. 2006 - Sri Lankan civil war: Seventeen employees of the French nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred in Mutur. 1997 - French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment died at the age of 122 years, 164 days, with the longest confirmed human lifespan in history. 1995 - Yugoslav Wars: The Croatian Army initiated Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and the largest European land battle since the Second World War. 1991 - An explosion on the Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos (pictured) ruptured its hull, causing it to sink off the east coast of South Africa, with all 571 people on board rescued. 1983 - Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, the president of Upper Volta, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Thomas Sankara. 1964 - Vietnam War: The National Security Agency falsely claimed that a U.S. Navy destroyer (pictured) was attacked a second time by North Vietnamese vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin, leading Congress to authorize the use of military force. 1953 - Alfred C. Glassell Jr. caught a black marlin weighing 1,560 lb (710 kg) (pictured) off the coast of Peru, setting the record for the largest bony fish caught by hand. 1914 - World War I: Adhering to the terms of the Treaty of London, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the latter's invasion of Belgium. 1892 - Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother were found murdered in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts; Borden was later tried and acquitted for the murders. 1862 - In Brooklyn, a mob composed largely of Irish Americans attacked a group of African Americans in a riot. 1830 - American surveyor James Thompson produced the first plat of Chicago for the Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners. 1796 - French Revolutionary Wars: Commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Army of Italy decisively defeated Austrian forces led by Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich at the Battle of Lonato. 1783 - Mount Asama (pictured) in Japan began a climactic eruption, which exacerbated the Great Tenmei famine and led to thousands of deaths. 1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: A combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles captured Gibraltar from Spain. 1356 - Hundred Years' War: A large-scale mounted raid by Anglo-Gascon forces began under the command of Edward the Black Prince. 1265 - Second Barons' War: Royal troops led by Prince Edward defeated baronial forces under Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in Worcestershire, England. 🇮🇹 Italiano

3 August 2019 - A mass shooting occurred at a Walmart in Texas'>El Paso, Texas, killing 23 people and injuring 22 others. 2009 - The last vessels involved in Taurus 09, a Royal Navy training deployment covering 20,400 miles (32,800 km), returned to HMNB Devonport, England. 2005 - Mauritanian president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was overthrown in a military coup while he attended the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. 1997 - The Sky Tower, then the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 328 m (1,076 ft), opened in Auckland, New Zealand. 1975 - A privately chartered Boeing 707 (aircraft involved pictured) struck a mountain peak and crashed near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188. 1971 - Fighting Dinosaurs, a fossil specimen featuring a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops in combat, was unearthed in the Djadochta Formation of Mongolia. 1940 - World War II: Italian forces began a conquest of British Somaliland, capturing the region in 16 days. 1936 - African-American athlete Jesse Owens won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, dashing Nazi leaders' hopes of Aryan domination at the games. 1929 - Jiddu Krishnamurti (pictured), believed by some Theosophists to be a likely candidate for the messianic "World Teacher", dissolved the Order of the Star, the organisation established to support him. 1913 - An agricultural workers' strike in Wheatland degenerated into a riot, becoming one of the first major farm-labor confrontations in California. 1903 - Macedonian rebels in Kruševo established a republic, which existed for ten days before Ottoman forces destroyed the town. 1857 - Indian Rebellion: An eight-day siege of a fortified outbuilding in Arrah occupied by 68 defenders against more than 10,000 men ended when a relief party dispersed the besiegers. 1460 - James II of Scotland (pictured) was killed by an exploding cannon at Roxburgh Castle. 1347 - Hundred Years' War: The French town of Calais capitulated to English forces after an eleven-month siege, ending the Crécy campaign. 1057 - Pope Stephen IX was crowned as pope. 🇮🇹 Italiano

2 August 2008 - A taxi driver is murdered in Bangkok by a teenager addicted to video games leading to the Thai government banning the sale of Grand Theft Auto. 2007 - Raúl Iturriaga, a former deputy director of the Chilean secret police, was captured in Viña del Mar after having been on the run following a kidnapping conviction. 1986 - The animated film Castle in the Sky, the first from Studio Ghibli, was released. 1973 - A flash fire killed 50 people at a leisure centre in Douglas, Isle of Man. 1971 - The English rock band the Who released Who's Next, their only album to top the UK charts. 1947 - Star Dust, a British South American Airways airliner, crashed into Mount Tupungato in the Argentine Andes; its wreckage was not found until 1998. 1939 - Leo Szilard penned a letter, signed by Albert Einstein and addressed to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning that Germany may develop atomic bombs, leading to the establishment of the Manhattan Project. 1932 - At the California Institute of Technology, American physicist Carl David Anderson proved the existence of antimatter with the discovery of the positron, for which he would receive the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics. 1923 - Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States after Warren G. Harding suffered a fatal heart attack. 1920 - Nepalese author Krishna Lal Adhikari (pictured) was sentenced to nine years in prison for publishing a book about the cultivation of corn alleged to contain attacks on the ruling dynasty. 1916 - An explosion, blamed on Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, sank the Italian dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci. 1914 - The French army's general headquarters was activated in anticipation of war with Germany. 1870 - One of the world's earliest underground tube railways opened in the Tower Subway (interior depicted), a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London. 1790 - The first United States census was officially completed, with the nation's residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214. 1100 - While on a hunting trip in the New Forest, King William II of England was killed by an arrow through the lung loosed by one of his own men. 461 - Unpopular among the Senate aristocracy for his reforming efforts, Roman emperor Majorian was deposed by Ricimer and executed five days later. -338 - An allied army led by Philip II of Macedon overcame the forces of city-states led by Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over the majority of ancient Greece. 🇮🇹 Italiano

1 August 2009 - A shooting at a branch of the Israeli LGBT organization the Aguda in Tel Aviv resulted in two deaths. 2007 - Bridge 9340, carrying Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, United States, suffered a catastrophic failure and collapsed (aftermath pictured), killing 13 people and injuring 145 others. 2004 - Nearly 400 people died in a supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay, when exits were locked to prevent people from stealing merchandise. 1991 - U.S. president George H. W. Bush delivered a speech in the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev warning against independence from the Soviet Union. 1984 - Commercial peat cutters discovered a preserved bog body, now known as Lindow Man (head pictured), at Lindow Moss in Cheshire, England. 1981 - "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles became the first music video broadcast on the American cable television network MTV. 1971 - The Concert for Bangladesh, a pair of benefit concerts organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for refugees of the Bangladesh genocide, took place at Madison Square Garden in New York. 1946 - Several days of anti-Jewish rioting began in Bratislava, instigated by former Slovak partisans opposed to the restitution of Jewish property after the Holocaust in Slovakia. 1911 - Harriet Quimby became the first woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator certificate. 1892 - Jef Denyn hosted the world's first carillon concert at St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium. 1876 - Colorado was admitted as the 38th U.S. state. 1842 - Three days of rioting erupted after a parade in Philadelphia, celebrating the end of slavery in the West Indies, was attacked by a mob. 1814 - Britain celebrated the Grand Jubilee to mark 100 years since the accession of George I and 16 years since the start of the Battle of the Nile. 1801 - First Barbary War: USS Enterprise, an American schooner, captured the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of Libya. 1798 - French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile, between a British fleet commanded by Horatio Nelson and a French fleet under François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, began at Aboukir Bay off the Egyptian coast. 1774 - British scientist Joseph Priestley (pictured) liberated oxygen gas, corroborating the discovery of the element by the German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. 1714 - George Louis, Elector of Hanover, became King George I of Great Britain, marking the beginning of the Georgian era. 902 - Arab–Byzantine wars: Led by Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya, Aghlabid forces captured the Byzantine stronghold of Taormina, concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily. 527 - Upon the death of Justin I, his nephew and adopted son Justinian I became the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. -30 - War of Actium: Octavian defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Alexandria, establishing Roman Egypt. 🇮🇹 Italiano

31 July 2020 - A mid-air collision in Soldotna, Alaska, killed seven people, including state representative Gary Knopp. 2012 - The largest power outage in history occurred across 22 Indian states, affecting more than 620 million people, or about 9 percent of the world's population. 2007 - The Troubles: Operation Banner, the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland, ended after 38 years with a military stalemate and ceasefire. 2006 - Following intestinal surgery, Fidel Castro provisionally transferred the duties of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raúl. 2002 - Hamas attackers detonated a bomb at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine students and injuring about 100 more. 2000 - Three years after being hit by a mudslide, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (pagoda pictured) in Hong Kong fully reopened. 1991 - Soviet Special Purpose Police Unit troops killed seven Lithuanian customs officials in Medininkai in the most serious attack of their campaign against Lithuanian border posts. 1975 - The Troubles: In a botched paramilitary attack, three members of the popular Miami Showband and two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen were killed in County Down, Northern Ireland. 1972 - The Troubles: Hours after the British Army's Operation Motorman brought an end to the self-declared autonomous area of Free Derry (Free Derry Corner pictured) in Northern Ireland, three car bombs exploded in the village of Claudy. 1966 - The pleasure cruiser MV Darlwyne disappeared off the coast of Cornwall with the loss of all 31 people aboard. 1964 - The space probe Ranger 7 captured thousands of close-up photographs of the Moon over its final minutes of flight and transmitted them to Earth before crashing on the lunar surface. 1954 - A team of Italian climbers became the first to reach the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain. 1941 - The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring authorised SS officer Reinhard Heydrich to handle preparations for the "Final Solution of the Jewish question". 1924 - A private senator's bill by Herbert Payne to introduce compulsory voting in Australia became law. 1917 - First World War: The Battle of Passchendaele began near Ypres, Belgium, with the Allies aiming to force German troops to withdraw from the Channel Ports. 1874 - Patrick Francis Healy was inaugurated as president of Georgetown University, becoming the first African-American president of a predominantly white university in the United States. 1777 - The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution commissioning the Marquis de Lafayette (pictured) as a major general in the American revolutionary forces. 1667 - The Second Anglo-Dutch War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Breda. 1009 - Sergius IV became the 142nd pope, succeeding John XVIII. 🇮🇹 Italiano

30 July 2023 - In Pakistan, IS–KP kill over 60 people in a suicide bombing at a political rally in Khar. 2018 - Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured) was elected to his first full term as president, having served as leader since the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. 2014 - More than 150 people died after heavy rains triggered a landslide in the village of Malin in Maharashtra, India. 2012 - A train fire killed 32 passengers and injured 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India. 2006 - Lebanon War: The Israeli Air Force attacked a three-story building near the Lebanese village of Qana, killing at least 28 civilians, including 16 children. 1990 - British Conservative member of Parliament Ian Gow was killed outside his home in a car bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. 1981 - Amid a widespread economic crisis and food shortages in Poland, up to 50,000 people, mostly women and children, took part in the largest of nationwide hunger demonstrations in Łódź. 1975 - American labor-union leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared after last being seen outside a restaurant near Detroit. 1966 - In London, the England national football team won the FIFA World Cup, winning the final against West Germany 4–2 after extra time. 1950 - At the height of a political crisis known as the royal question, four workers were shot dead by the Belgian Gendarmerie at a strike in Grâce-Berleur. 1930 - In Montevideo, the Uruguay national football team (team pictured) won the inaugural FIFA World Cup, defeating Argentina 4–2 in the final. 1916 - World War I: German agents sabotaged U.S.-made munitions in New York Harbor that were to be supplied to the Allies. 1871 - The boiler of the Staten Island Ferry Westfield II exploded at South Ferry in New York City, killing at least 45 people. 1865 - Off the coast of Crescent City, California, the steamer Brother Jonathan struck an uncharted rock and sank, killing 225 people; its cargo of gold coins was not retrieved until 1996. 1811 - Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (depicted), a leader of the Mexican War of Independence, was executed by Spanish forces in Chihuahua City, Mexico. 1724 - Bach's chorale cantata Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält, a paraphrase of Psalm 124 based on a 1524 hymn by Justus Jonas, was first performed in Leipzig. 🇮🇹 Italiano

29 July 1981 - An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (combined coat of arms pictured) at St Paul's Cathedral in London. 1954 - The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by Allen & Unwin. 1950 - Korean War: Over fears that North Korean soldiers were infiltrating refugee columns, U.S. forces concluded a four-day massacre of hundreds of civilians through shootings and air attacks near the village of Nogeun-ri. 1938 - The Essential Commodities Reserves Act, which allowed the British government to build up reserves of essential commodities in anticipation of war, received royal assent. 1921 - Adolf Hitler became leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. 1914 - The Cape Cod Canal (pictured), connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, opened on a limited basis. 1914 - The first shots of World War I were fired by the Austro-Hungarian river monitor Bodrog on Serbian defences near Belgrade. 1911 - In a case later termed a "legal lynching", Will P. Brady obtained a guilty verdict and death sentence against 15-year-old León Martínez Jr., five days after his arrest for killing a white woman. 1900 - Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci (pictured) assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in Monza. 1818 - French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel submitted a memoir on the diffraction of light to the Royal Academy of Sciences, providing strong support for the wave theory of light. 1693 - Nine Years' War: French troops defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance led by William III of England at the Battle of Landen in present-day Neerwinden, Belgium. 1567 - The infant James VI was crowned King of Scotland at Stirling. 1014 - Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Byzantine forces defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion in the mountains of Belasica near present-day Klyuch. 904 - Arab–Byzantine wars: Thessalonica, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, was sacked by Saracen raiders. 🇮🇹 Italiano

28 July 2010 - In the deadliest air accident in Pakistan's history, Airblue Flight 202 crashed into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, killing all 152 aboard. 2005 - Britain's costliest tornado struck Birmingham, injuring 39 people and causing £40 million of damage across the city. 2005 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced the formal end of its armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland and create a united Ireland. 2001 - At the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Australian Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single FINA world championship. 1995 - Two followers of the Indian mystic Rajneesh were convicted of a 1985 plot to assassinate Charles Turner, the U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon. 1976 - An earthquake registering 7.6 Mw, one of the deadliest in history, devastated Tangshan, China, and killed at least 240,000 people. 1945 - A B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 14 people and causing an estimated $1 million in damage. 1940 - At the Salzburg Conference, Adolf Hitler demanded the replacement of much of Slovakia's cabinet. 1939 - During the excavation of a 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, archaeologists discovered the Sutton Hoo helmet (pictured), widely associated with King Rædwald of East Anglia. 1917 - In New York City, the NAACP and church and community leaders organized a silent march of at least 8,000 people to protest violence directed towards African Americans. 1915 - U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince to begin a nineteen-year occupation of Haiti. 1911 - The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began with the departure of SY Aurora from London. 1899 - A Category 1 hurricane (map pictured) made landfall in Azua Province in the Dominican Republic, destroying three large schooners at Santo Domingo; only one crew member on the three vessels survived. 1866 - Aged 18, Vinnie Ream became the youngest artist and first woman to receive a United States government commission for a statue—that of Abraham Lincoln currently in the Capitol rotunda. 1821 - Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire. 1540 - King Henry VIII of England had his chief minister Thomas Cromwell executed for treason and heresy. 1148 - Crusades: The siege of Damascus ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims, leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade. 🇮🇹 Italiano

27 July 2020 - A major oil spill from the Colonial Pipeline was discovered in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (system map pictured). 2016 - The last nine Aston Martin DB9 (example pictured) units rolled off the production line, marking the end of a twelve-year manufacturing period. 2010 - Police in Tokyo found the mummified remains of Sogen Kato, thought to have died in 1978, leading to widespread inquiries into the status of isolated elderly people in Japan. 2007 - While covering a police pursuit in Phoenix, Arizona, two news helicopters collided in mid-air, killing both crews. 1990 - Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group, began a coup attempt against the government of Trinidad and Tobago by taking hostages, including Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson, before surrendering five days later. 1983 - American musician Madonna released her self-titled debut album, which set the standard for the genre of dance-pop for decades. 1965 - Mattachine Midwest, a gay rights organization in Chicago, held its first meeting. 1955 - The Austrian State Treaty came into effect, ending the Allied occupation of Austria, although the country was not free of Allied troops until October. 1955 - After straying into Bulgarian airspace, El Al Flight 402 was shot down by two MiG-15 fighter jets, resulting in the deaths of all 58 on board. 1953 - An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War, officially making the division of Korea indefinite by creating a 4 km wide (2.5 mi) demilitarized zone across the Korean Peninsula. 1949 - The world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production, the de Havilland Comet, had its maiden flight. 1943 - As the Surprise Hurricane struck Texas, a United States Army Air Forces pilot made the first reconnaissance flight into a hurricane. 1942 - Second World War: Allied forces halted the Axis invasion of Egypt at the First Battle of El Alamein. 1919 - Red Summer: Race riots erupted in Chicago after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries. 1916 - First World War: British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed in Bruges, Belgium, after a German court-martial found him guilty of being a franc-tireur. 1778 - The Battle of Ushant, the first encounter between the French and British fleets in the American Revolutionary War, ended indecisively and led to political disputes in both countries. 1689 - First Jacobite rising: Scottish and Irish Jacobites defeated Williamite forces at Killiecrankie, Scotland. 1302 - Byzantine–Ottoman wars: The Ottoman sultanate gained its first major victory against the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Bapheus in Bithynia. 1225 - Saint Mary's Church on Gotland, later to become Visby Cathedral (pictured), was consecrated. 1214 - Philip II of France decisively won the Battle of Bouvines, the conclusive battle of the 1213–1214 Anglo-French War. 1054 - During his invasion of Scotland, Siward, Earl of Northumbria, defeated Macbeth, King of Scotland, in an engagement north of the Firth of Forth. 678 - Unable to penetrate the city's defences, the Sclaveni gave up their siege of the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. 🇮🇹 Italiano

26 July 2016 - Hillary Clinton (pictured) became the first female nominee for president of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. 2012 - The New Irish Republican Army was formed from a merger of a number of dissident republican militant groups. 2007 - After widespread controversy throughout Wales, Shambo, a black Friesian bull that had been adopted by the local Hindu community, was slaughtered due to concerns about bovine tuberculosis. 1993 - Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashed into a mountain during a failed attempt to land at Mokpo Airport, South Korea, leading to the deaths of 68 people on board. 1968 - After coming second to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in a rigged presidential election, Trương Đình Dzu was jailed by a South Vietnamese military court for illicit currency transactions. 1953 - In Short Creek, Arizona, police conducted a mass arrest of approximately 400 Mormon fundamentalists for polygamy. 1953 - The Battle of the Samichon River, the last engagement of the Korean War, ended a few hours before the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. 1936 - The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, dedicated to Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed in the First World War, was unveiled in Pas-de-Calais, France. 1887 - L. L. Zamenhof (pictured) published Unua Libro, the first publication to describe Esperanto, a constructed international language. 1882 - Boer mercenaries established the Republic of Stellaland (later flag pictured) in land claimed by the United Kingdom as part of British Bechuanaland. 1778 - On the orders of Catherine the Great the first of tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian Christians were removed from Crimea and resettled in Pryazovia. 1759 - French and Indian War: Troops led by French brigadier general François-Charles de Bourlamaque attempted to blow up Fort Carillon, near present-day Ticonderoga, New York, rather than defending it against approaching British forces. 1551 - The Knights Hospitaller surrendered the Castello of Gozo to the Ottoman Empire following a brief siege, leading to the mass enslavement and dispersal of the Gozitan population. 🇮🇹 Italiano