- 374 Comet 1P/374 E1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0884 AU of Earth
Justinian I
527 Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne
- 705 Greek Pope John VII is elected as Pope John VI's successor
- 792 Maya city of Piedras Negras celebrates military triumph over nearby settlement of Pomona (as depicted in Stela 12 Piedras Negras) [1]
- 1064 The body of the first bishop of Tournai, Saint Eleutherius of Tournai, is translated (moved)
- 1318 Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured by the Scots from the English
- 1340 Danish squire and national hero Niels Ebbesen kills German prince Gerhard III of Holstein in his bedroom, ending the 1332 to 1340 interregnum in Denmark
- 1504 English guilds/corporations go under state control
Recapture of Hormuz
1515 Portuguese fleet under Afonso de Albuquerque capture the Persian fortress of Hormuz, renaming it the Fort of Our Lady of the Conception
- 1572 Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Spaniards, during the Eighty Years' War, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
- 1663 Gemert in the Netherlands fines unwed mothers a penalty of 50 guilders
- 1693 Cotton Mather's four-day-old son dies, and witchcraft is blamed
Drapier's Letters
1724 Jonathan Swift publishes "Drapier's Letters" a series of seven pamphlets against a privately minted copper coinage Swift saw as inferior and corrupt
1748 The ruins of Pompeii are rediscovered by Spaniard Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre
- 1776 Friedrich von Klinger's "Sturm und Drang" premieres in Leipzig
- 1778 New Orleans businessman Oliver Pollock creates the "$" symbol
- 1792 Groningen feminist Etta Palm d'Aelders demands women's right to divorce
- 1803 France mandates that only names from historical or saint calendars can be used or added to civil records
- 1816 Jane Austen declines writing advice from royal librarian Rev. James Stanier Clarke, suggesting that she write a historical romance of the house of Cobourg [1]
- 1822 Italian composer Luigi Cherubini becomes director of the Conservatoire de Paris music college, holds position for nearly 20 years
Internal-Combustion Engine
1826 Samuel Morey is issued the first U.S. patent for an internal-combustion engine, which he calls a “Gas or Vapour Engine"
- 1850 San Francisco County government established
- 1853 Cincinnati becomes 1st US city to employ fulltime professional firefighters
Hard Times
1854 "Hard Times" begins serialisation in Charles Dickens magazine, "Household Words"
The Confidence-Man
1857 Herman Melville publishes the novel "The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade" on April Fool's Day in New York
- 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign, Jackson's Battle of Woodstock, Virginia
- 1863 US Congress passes the first wartime conscription law, calling for the registration of all 20 to 45-year-old males
- 1865 Battle at Fort Blakeley, Alabama, between Major General Edward Canby's Union forces and Brigadier General St. John R. Liddell
- 1865 US Civil War: Battle of Five Forks: Union Army captures crucial supply route point and 4,000 Confederate soldiers in Dinwiddie County, Virginia [1]
- 1866 US Congress rejects presidential veto giving all equal rights in US
- 1867 Exposition Universelle opens in Paris
- 1867 First African Americans vote in municipal election in Tuscumbia, Alabama
- 1867 Singapore, Penang & Malacca become British crown colonies
- 1868 Samuel Armstrong opens Hampton Institute
- 1871 New Constitution adopted by the German Empire
- 1872 The Standard newspaper issues its first edition
- 1873 British White Star steamship SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people
- 1873 Namık Kemal's play "Vatan" premieres in Constantinople
- 1881 Anti-Jewish riots break out in Jerusalem
- 1881 Postage stamps become used nationwide in Netherlands
- 1888 Students from Rotterdam, Netherlands establish a cricket club called Rotterdamsche Cricket & Football Club Sparta which evolves into Sparta Rotterdam
- 1889 First dishwashing machine, invented by Josephine Cochrane, is marketed in Chicago newspaper
Gauguin Leaves for Tahiti
1891 French painter Paul Gauguin leaves Marseille for Tahiti
- 1891 Telephone connection between London and Paris officially opens to the public
- 1891 The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois, by William Wrigley Jr.
- 1899 North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company opens in Durham, North Carolina
- 1905 "SOS" first adopted as a morse distress signal (· · · – – – · · ·) by German government
- 1910 Romanian geographer Dumitru Dan completes a 62,137-mile (100,000-kilometer) walk
- 1918 Henry Miller's Theatre (now Stephen Sondheim Theatre) opens at 124 West 43rd Street in Manhattan, New York City
- 1918 United Kingdom: Royal Air Force is created from the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps
- 1919 Stanley Cup Final, Seattle Ice Arena, Seattle, WA: With Montreal Canadiens (NHL) & Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) tied at 2-2-1, trophy not awarded due to worldwide flu epidemic
- 1919 The influential Bauhaus School opens in Weimar, Germany, headed by architect Walter Gropius teaching painting, sculpture, architecture, and design [1]
- 1920 Stanley Cup Final, Mutual Street Arena, Toronto, ON: Jack Darragh scores a hat-trick as Ottawa Senators (NHL) beat Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA), 6-1 for a 3-2 series win
- 1920 The (Anglican) Church in Wales disestablished
- 1924 Northern Rhodesia becomes a Protectorate of the UK and Herbert Stanley is appointed Governor
- 1924 The Royal Canadian Air Force officially forms
- 1925 First transmission of the Danish state broadcasting service
- 1925 Hebrew University of Jerusalem is formally inaugurated
- 1926 Montreal Maroons' Clint Benedict becomes first NHL goalie to record 3 straight playoff shutouts, in a 3-0 win against the visiting Victoria Cougars in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Championship series
- 1927 First automatic record changer is introduced by the Victor Talking Machine Company
- 1928 Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist army crosses the Yangtze River
- 1929 Atlanta University Affiliation is established between Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Atlanta University
- 1929 Austrian government of Ignaz Seipel falls
- 1929 Doorne's trailer factory in Eindhoven Netherlands opens
- 1929 Louis Marx introduces his version of the yo-yo
- 1929 Luis Buñuel releases "Un Chien Andalou" 24-minute film
The Blue Angel
1930 "The Blue Angel" starring Marlene Dietrich in her breakthrough role premieres in Germany
Jones' 13 Stroke Win
1930 American golfer Bobby Jones starts his Grand Slam season by winning the Southeastern Open by 13 strokes over Horton Smith at the Forest Hills-Ricker Golf Course in Atlanta, Georgia
- 1930 Chicago Cubs catcher Leo Hartnett breaks the altitude record for a catch by gloving a baseball dropped from the Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles, California
- 1931 Earthquake devastates Managua, Nicaragua, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing 45,000
- 1931 Jackie Mitchell becomes the second female (after Lizzie Arlington 1898) in organised baseball when she signs with the Chattanooga Lookouts Baseball Club
- 1933 England cricket batsman Wally Hammond smashes 34 fours, 10 sixes in a Test record unbeaten 336 in the drawn 2nd Test against New Zealand in Auckland
- 1933 Nazi Germany begins persecution of Jews by boycotting Jewish businesses
Bonnie and Clyde Murder
1934 Clyde Barrow kills two young highway patrolmen, H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler, at the intersection of Route 114 near Grapevine, Texas. Bonnie Parker's role in the murders helps turn public perception against the gang for good
- 1935 First radio tube made of metal is announced in Schenectady, New York
- 1936 Orissa is officially constituted as a separate province of British India
- 1937 Aden becomes a British crown colony
- 1938 Nescafé introduces their flagship brand in Switzerland
Louis vs. Thomas
1938 World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis KOs Harry Thomas in 5th round of their title bout in Chicago; 3rd defense by Louis
US and Pope Recognise Franco
1939 US recognizes Francisco Franco's government in Spain at end of Spanish civil war. Pope Pius XII congratulates Generalissimo Franco's victory in Spain
Philippine Grammar and Dictionary
1940 Filipino President Quezon officially authorizes the printing and publication of the grammar and dictionary prepared by the Institute of the National Language.
- 1941 Golden Square coup: Pro-German Rashid Ali al-Gaylani overthrows pro-British regime in Iraq
- 1941 Nazis forbid Jewish access to cafés
- 1941 The Blockade Runner Badge for German Kriegsmarine is instituted
- 1941 US Navy takes over Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay
- 1942 Allied air raid on Japanese occupied harbor city Kupang, Timor, Indonesia
- 1942 Mexico changes from using three time zones to two
- 1943 Jan Dieters, Dutch politician, resistance fighter, and a leading member of Communist Party of the Netherlands, is arrested by the Nazis
- 1944 Japanese troops conquer Jessami, Eastern India
1945 Battle of Okinawa: US ground forces invade Okinawa during World War II in the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific theatre
- 1945 World War II: Canadian troops free the Dutch cities of Doetinchem, Enschede, Borculo and Eibergen
- 1945 World War II: The Ruhr Pocket of German forces are encircled by the US Ninth Army and US First Army, eventually leading to the capture of 317,000 German troops
- 1946 400,000 United Mine Workers of America go on strike
- 1946 The Malayan Union is formed as a federation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca
- 1946 Tsunamis generated by a quake in Aleutian Trench strike Hilo, Hawaii
- 1946 Van Acker forms Belgian government (without CVP)
Shin Takarajima
1947 "Shin Takarajima" (New Treasure Island) by Osamu Tezuka published, first manga cartoon in tankōbon form
- 1947 First Jewish immigrants leave for Israel, disembarking at Port of Eilat
- 1948 "Big Bang" theory proposed in scientific journal "Physical Review" by American cosmologists Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe, and George Gamow
- 1948 Faroe Islands receive autonomy from Denmark
- 1948 Fast bowler Hines Johnson has match figures of 10-96 on debut in West Indies 4th cricket Test win v England in Kingston, Jamaica; first fast bowler to take 10 wickets in a single Test for West Indies
- 1952 US begins Operation Tumbler-Snapper nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site
- 1953 Dr. Jan van Baal is appointed governor of Dutch West New Guinea
- 1953 First television station in North Dakota, KXMC TV channel 13 in Minot (CBS/ABC), begins broadcasting
- 1954 1st US Army helicopter battalion forms, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
1954 Detroit Red Wings right wing Gordie Howe scores 2 goals and an assist, and sets a Stanley Cup playoff record for fastest goal from the start of a game (:09) in a 4-3 2OT win over Toronto in Game 5 of the Semi-Finals
- 1954 Earthquake and tsunami ravage the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, killing almost 200 people
- 1954 First motorway in Netherlands near Utrecht, Amsterdam, opens to traffic
- 1954 US Air Force Academy is established in Colorado Springs [1]
- 1954 WQED TV channel 13 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1955 Armed military action taken against dustmen strike in Amsterdam
- 1955 EOKA-bomb attacks against British government buildings in Cyprus
- 1955 WTVT TV channel 13 in Tampa, Florida (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1956 10th Tony Awards: "The Diary of Anne Frank" (play) & "Damn Yankees" (musical) win
- 1956 KPIC TV channel 4 in Roseburg, Oregon (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1957 BBC airs a three-minute April Fools' Day hoax featuring spaghetti-growing trees in Switzerland [1]
- 1957 Trial begins in Budapest against participants of the Hungarian Uprising of October 1956
- 1957 WYES-TV channel 12 in New Orleans, Louisiana (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1958 KVIQ-LD TV channel 6 in Eureka, California (originally NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1958 Marshal Nikolai Bulganin appointed Chairman of the Board of the State Bank of the USSR
- 1960 Census determines the resident population of the United States to be 179,245,000
- 1960 France performs its second nuclear test at the Reggane Proving Grounds in Algeria
- 1960 TIROS 1, the first weather satellite, launches
U Nu
1960 U Nu elected premier of Burma for the third time
- 1963 American television soap operas premiere: "General Hospital" (ABC) and "Doctors" (NBC)
- 1963 New York City's newspapers resume publishing after a 114-day strike
Sports History
1963 NY Mets purchase future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider from the LA Dodgers for $40,000; Snider had starred for the Brooklyn Dodgers 1947-57
Music History
1964 John Lennon is reunited with his father Freddie 17 years after being abandoned at age 5
- 1964 Lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in April is 10°F
- 1964 Military coup in Brazil by General Castello Branco ousts President João Goulart
- 1964 Robert Lowell's "Benito Cereno" premieres in NYC
- 1965 South African workers' union leader Henry Fazzie is sentenced to 20 years in prison; later reduced to 12 years
- 1966 "Hold On, I'm Comin'" single released by Sam & Dave
Event of Interest
1966 Loyalist led by Ian Paisley, a Protestant fundamentalist preacher, founded the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee to challenge the civil rights movement; it set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster Protestant Volunteers
- 1966 The first World Festival of Black Arts is held in Dakar, Senegal
- 1967 1st British ombudsman Sir Edward Compton begins work
- 1967 The United States Department of Transportation begins operation
- 1968 KEMO (now KOFY) TV channel 20 in San Francisco, California (IND) 1st broadcast
- 1969 Royal Canadian Mint formally forms as a Crown Corporation
- 1969 Seattle Pilots trade little-known minor league outfielder Lou Piniella to KC Royals for 2 prospects; hits .282 with 11 HRs & 68 RBI to win AL Rookie of the Year; becomes leading MLB manager
- 1969 The Hawker Siddeley Harrier (vertical take-off fighter) enters service with the RAF.
- 1970 Federal Bankruptcy Referee Sidney Volinn declares MLB's Seattle Pilots bankrupt; car dealer Bud Selig buys franchise for $10.8 million and moves club to Milwaukee (Brewers)
- 1970 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release hoax they are having dual sex change operations
- 1970 Serious riots continue in the Ballymurphy estate in Belfast between Catholic residents and the British Army
Event of Interest
1970 US President Richard Nixon signs bill limiting cigarette advertisements from 1st Jan 1971
- 1971 International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies (ISIS-2) is launched by Canada and the US
- 1971 United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership with the Exchange Control Order
- 1972 30,000 people attend the Mar y Sol Pop Festival in Manatí, Puerto Rico
- 1972 MLB players stage first ever collective strike; play resumes (13/4/72) when owners and players agree to $500,000 increase in pension fund payments
NBA Record
1973 Boston Celtics captain John Havlicek scores career high 54 points in 134-109 rout of Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of 1st round Eastern Conference playoffs; hits NBA playoff record 24-of-36 field-goal attempts
Sports History
1973 Despite a final round, 5-3 loss to Montreal, Boston Bruins center Phil Esposito wins his third consecutive NHL scoring title with 130 points from 55 goals and 75 assists in the 78-game season
- 1973 Japanese government allows private citizens to own gold
- 1973 John Lennon and Yoko Ono form a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem is silence
- 1973 OPEC increases price of petroleum by 5.7 percent
- 1974 Agranat Commission publishes report concerning the Yom Kippur War
- 1974 In England, "Local Government Act 1972" redraws the administrative map and creates six new Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties; Newport and Monmouthshire transferred from England to Wales
- 1974 Pioneer Hall opens at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Florida
- 1974 Yourdon Inc consulting formed by Edward Yourdon
- 1975 Cambodian President Lon Nol resigns and flees the country
Helter Skelter
1976 "Helter Skelter", detailing Charles Manson's cult "family", their capture, trial, conviction and aftermath, premieres on CBS
- 1976 Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) takes over operations from six bankrupt railroads in the northeastern U.S.
- 1976 Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by the astronomer Patrick Moore
- 1977 Attempt for Muslim state in Chad fails
- 1977 Jean Shepherd, American humorist and storyteller, ends long-running radio program on WOR-AM in NYC, after more than 22 years
Television Finale
1978 Last episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" sitcom (the Chicago one) airs on CBS-TV
Sports History
1978 New York Islanders right wing Mike Bossy becomes first NHL rookie to score 50 goals in a season after scoring #50 and #51 in the closing moments in a 3-2 win over Washington
- 1978 Philippine College of Commerce becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines by presidential decree
- 1979 Iran is officially proclaimed an Islamic Republic following the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- 1979 Warner Cable launches Nickelodeon, a basic cable channel featuring programming focused on children and teenagers
- 1980 France performs underground nuclear test at the Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia
- 1980 Iraqi Vice-Premier Tariq Aziz survives a failed assassination attempt
- 1980 New York City's Transit Worker Union 100 begins a strike lasting 11 days
Music History
1981 CBS-TV special "Country Comes Home" includes final television appearance of songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, in a duet segment with country star Crystal Gayle
Film & TV History
1981 CNN airs a videotape that shows self-proclaimed psychic Tamara Rand predicting Reagan is in danger from someone named Jack Humley; later revealed to be a hoax
- 1981 Daylight saving time is introduced in the USSR
Sports History
1981 Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky has an assist (his 103rd) in the Oilers 4-4 tie with Colorado Rockies to break Bobby Orr's 10-year mark for most assists in a single NHL season
- 1982 Anguilla Constitution Order comes into effect
NHL Record
1982 Quebec center Peter Šťastný scores 4th career hat trick and 4 assists, and his brother Marián adds 5 assists to lead the Nordiques to an 8-5 win at Boston
- 1982 US formally transfers policing and judicial responsibilities of the Canal Zone to Panama
- 1983 Anti-nuclear demonstrators link arms in 14-mile human chain in England
- 1983 Iraq increases missile attacks on Iran
- 1984 14th annual National Easter Seal Telethon raises $24,600,000
- 1986 Ranji Trophy Men's Cricket, Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi: Delhi beats Haryana by innings & 141; Manoj Prabhakar 113, Kirti Azad 107, Mohinder Amarnath 194, Ajay Sharma 110
- 1986 US submarine Nathaniel Green runs aground in Irish Sea
- 1986 World oil prices dip below $10 a barrel, the first price fall since 1977
- 1990 "Ha!" Comedy Channel launches on cable TV
- 1990 It becomes illegal in Salem, Oregon, to be within 2 feet of nude dancers
- 1991 Iran releases British hostage Roger Cooper after spending five years in prison in Tehran
- 1991 US minimum wage increases from $3.80 to $4.25 per hour
- 1991 US Supreme Court rules jurors cannot be barred from serving due to race
- 1992 "Dancing with Myself" singer Billy Idol (36) is sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a $2,700 fine for punching a woman in the face in 1991 in Beverly Hills, California; he is also ordered to undergo therapy and prepare a one-minute public service announcement about the effects of drugs and alcohol [1]
- 1992 Battleship USS Missouri, on which the Japanese surrender took place, decommissioned
- 1992 Last defendant in St John sex assault case sentenced to 3 yrs probation
- 1992 NHL players begin first strike in 75-year history; 10 day action earns large playoff bonus increase, more control over licensing of their likenesses and changes to free agency system
- 1992 World's seven wealthiest nations (G7) agree on $24 billion aid for former USSR
The Madness of George III
1993 Alan Bennett's play "The Madness of George III" premieres in London
- 1993 Reigning NASCAR Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki perishes in a private plane crash en route to Bristol for the Food City 500
- 1995 Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton scores fastest goal in English Premier League history when he nets after 12.94 seconds in 2-1 win at Everton
- 1995 Carlson Wagonlit Travel Agency begins charging a $15 service fee
- 1995 Howard Stern Radio Show begins transmitting to Rochester, New York on WNVE at 95.1 and 95.5 FM
- 1995 New York Islanders retire Swedish right wing Bobby Nystrom's uniform #23
- 1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Boston, Massachusetts on WBCN 104.1 FM, in the live morning drive slot
- 1996 The Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia is created
- 1996 Veteran American MLB umpire John McSheery dies of heart attack while umpiring on Opening Day at the Cincinnati Reds' Riverfront Stadium; he was 51
- 1997 69-year-old Gordie Howe begins playing AHL game with Syracuse Crunch
- 1997 Comet Hale-Bopp reaches perihelion at 0.914 AU
- 1997 Shell Oil confirms it will declare force majeure at its Nigerian Bonny terminal due to local protests which disrupted 210 million barrels per day of the company's oil production
- 1999 Detroit Pistons guard Joe Dumars becomes 10th player in NBA history to play 1,000 games with the same team and one of 8 to play 1,000 games with his only team; scores 18 points in 107-75 rout of Chicago Bulls
- 1999 Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory, carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories
- 1999 Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown wins his 900th pro game with an 88-84 win over Miami Heat; Brown record: 671-547 NBA, 229-107 ABA, combined 900-654
Boxing Title Fight
2000 American boxer Chris Byrd wins WBO Heavyweight title after Ukrainian champion Vitali Klitschko retires with a shoulder injury at the end of the 9th round in Berlin, Germany
- 2000 Michelle Kwan pushes through all 7 triple jumps at the Palais des Exposition in Nice, France to become the first American since Peggy Flemming to win 3 world figure skating titles
Event of Interest
2001 Former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milošević, surrenders to police special forces to be tried on charges of war crimes
- 2001 The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to make same-sex marriage legal
- 2002 The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so
- 2004 Google introduces Gmail: the launch is met with skepticism on account of the launch date
- 2006 The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the 'British FBI', is created in the United Kingdom
Phelps Smashes 400m Medley Record
2007 American super swimmer Michael Phelps smashes his own world record in the 400m individual medley (4:06.22) to win his record 7th gold medal at the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia
- 2008 New York Yankees set a MLB record by winning their 11th straight home opener, 3-2 against Toronto Blue Jays
- 2009 Croatia and Albania join NATO
- 2011 After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, killing 13 people, including eight foreign workers
- 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Sun-Young Yoo wins sudden-death playoff on 1st extra hole after I.K. Kim misses a one-foot putt on the 72nd hole for the win
- 2012 Plane crash in Western Siberia kills at least 31 people (UTair Aviation ATR-72)
- 2013 9 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Tikrit, Iraq
- 2013 The world’s first smelling TV screen is unveiled in Japan
- 2014 NATO suspends all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia
- 2015 56 people are killed after the Russian trawler Dalniy Vostok sinks off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula
- 2016 The Golden State Warriors NBA record winning home run ends at 54 games with a 109-106 defeat to the Boston Celtics; the loss at Oracle Arena was the Warriors’ first since January 2015
Nobel Prize in Literature
2017 Bob Dylan receives his Nobel Prize for Literature at a private ceremony in Stockholm
- 2017 Chinese leaders announce plans to build city in Xiongan New Area, 3x size of New York
- 2019 China announces new laws against fentanyl-related substances to come into effect 1 May
2019 Japanese government announces the name of a new era 'Reiwa' for the next Emperor, Crown Prince Naruhito
- 2019 Major archaeological site announced discovered on a reef in the middle of Lake Titicaca, in Andes, dated 8th and 10th centuries AD from Tiwanaku state
- 2019 Methane, a gas usually made by living things, detected on Mars in 2013 by European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter reported in "Nature Geoscience"
- 2019 Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco revealed to be world's most profitable company when its earnings released - $111.1 billion in the last year
- 2019 US online sales overtake retail sales for the first time, with 11.813% online compared with 11.807% for general merchandise stores
2020 US President Donald Trump says the US Strategic National Stockpile is almost depleted amid widespread shortages of medical equipment to fight COVID-19
Event of Interest
2021 Seven democracy protesters convicted for unauthorized assembly in Hong Kong including Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai
- 2022 Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declares a nationwide public emergency after violent protests amid the country's worst economic crisis since independence [1]
- 2024 Airstrike by Israel on Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, kills seven officials, including three senior generals - most serious attack on Iranian targets since 2020 [1]
- 2024 Florida's population reaches 23 million, making it the third most populous state in the US [1]
- 2024 Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco no-hits Toronto Blue Jays, 10-0 at Minute Maid Park, Houston
Aid Workers Killed
2024 Seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen are killed in an Israeli attack in Deir al Balah, Gaza, prompting condemnation and an apology from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu [1]
- 2025 Legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan announces he can no longer paint due to Alzheimer's; Struzan is known for illustrating over 150 movie posters, including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner and Back to the Future [1]
- 2025 Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey delivers the longest speech in US Senate history, speaking for just over 25 hours, breaking previous record of Strom Thurmond set in 1957 [1]
