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Events

1513 - Leo X is elected Pope.

1649 - The Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.

1702 - The first regular English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London.

1708 - Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from a militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

1801 - Paul I of Russia is assassinated, leading the way for his son Alexander I to accede the thrown.

1824 - The United States War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

1845 - The Flagstaff War: In New Zealand, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti lead 700 Maoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. Also, Henry Jones invented self-raising flour on this day.

1851 - The first performance of Rigoletto, written by Verdi.

1861 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

1864 - The Great Sheffield Flood: The largest man-made disaster ever to befall England kills over 250 people in Sheffield.

1867 - The first perfomance of Don Carlos written by Verdi.

1872 - Opening of Seven Sisters Colliery in South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

1888 - The Great Blizzard of '88 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.

 
 

1897 - A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.

1900 - Second Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.

1917 - Baghdad falls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Maude.

1927 - In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.

1936 - British Prime Minister pardons five convicted Irish militants who promise to join growing conflict with Germany.

1941 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.

1942 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur abandons Corregidor.

1966 - President Sukarno of Indonesia was forced to give up his executive power.

1966 - A fire at two ski resorts in Numata, Japan kills 31 people.

1966 - Henry "Dickie" Marrow is murdered in a violent racially-motivated crime in Oxford, N.C..

1977 - 130+ hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined negotiations.

1978 - Nine Palestinian Al Fatah guerillas hijack a bus in Israel, killing 34 civilians and wounding 70 before being killed by security forces. The Israelis retaliate by invading southern Lebanon three days later, under codename Operation Litani.

1983 - Bob Hawke becomes 23rd Prime Minister of Australia.

 
 

1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader.

1988 - Iran-Iraq War: Ceasefire declared.

1990 - Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.

1990 - Patricio Aylwin is sworn-in as the first democratically elected Chilean president since 1970.

1991 - A curfew is imposed on black townships in South Africa after fighting between rival political gangs kills 49.

1993 - Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn-in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.

1996 - John Howard comes to power as the twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia.

1996 - EU Database Directive passed

1997 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.

1999 - Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

2003 - The International Criminal Court is founded in The Hague.

2004 - Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 191 people.

 

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