This Day in History
• 1930 - 1st scheduled transcontinental air service began
• 1932 - Benito Mussolini promises to remain dictator for 30 years
• 1935 - Hurricane-produced floods kill 2,000 in Jeremie & Jacmel Haiti
• 1938 - Japanese troops occupies Hankou & Wuhan
• 1944 - Battle at Cape Engano: 4 Japanese ships sink
• 1944 - Battle at Samar-island
• 1944 - Battle in Straits of Surigao: Japanese fleet destroyed
• 1951 - Peace talks aimed at ending Korean War resumed in Panmunjom
• 1952 - Nazar Mohammad scores Pakistan’s 1st Test century 124* v India
• 1955 - Austria resumed its sovereignty after departure of last Allied occupation forces, for 1st time since German occupation of 1938
• 1955 - Tappan sells 1st microwave oven
• 1960 - 1st electronic wrist watch placed on sale, NYC
• 1960 - Cuba nationalizes all remaining US businesses
• 1971 - Belgium & People’s Republic of China establish diplomatic relations
• 1971 - General Meeting of UN agrees to admit People’s Republic of China
• 1971 - United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People’s Republic of China
• 1974 - US Air Force fires 1st ICBM
• 1975 - USSR’s Venera 10 makes day-side Venus landing
• 1977 - Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
• 1978 - Israeli government approves “in principle”, a draft compromise peace
• 1979 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
• 1981 - 200,000 demonstrate in Brussel against cruise missile
• 1983 - US invades Grenada, a country 1/2,000 its population (US Wins!)
• 1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1985 - Kosmos 1700 communications satellite placed in geostationary orbit
• 1986 - International Red Cross ousted from South Africa
• 1991 - Aaqib Javed takes 7-37 in 10 overs v India in cric 1-dayer at Sharjah
• 1992 - Lithuania holds a referendum on its first postSoviet constitution.
• 1997 - After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
• 2000 - A team led by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford discover Orrorin tugenensis, one of the earliest species on the human family tree that lived about 6 million years ago, in the Tugen Hills, Kenya
• 2001 - Windows XP first becomes available
• 2004 - Fidel Castro, Cuba’s President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8
• 2007 - The first Airbus A380 passenger flight, operating for Singapore Airlines, with flight number SQ 380, flying scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney, Australia.
• 2009 - The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.
• 2012 - Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Cuba and Haiti killing 65 people and causing over $80 million in damage
• 2012 - The double dip recession in the UK economy ends with growth of 1.0% in GDP in the third quarter of 2012, with help from the London Olympic Games
• 2013 - 74 Boko Harem members killed in a coordinated assault in Borno State, Nigeria