This Day In History
• 1953 - Malenkov becomes chairman of the USSR
• 1957 - Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) declares independence from UK
• 1957 - Centenary of Dred Scott slavery court decision marked by rediscovery of Scott's grave
• 1959 - Farthest radio signal heard (Pioneer IV, 400,000 miles)
• 1960 - President Sukarno disbands Indonesia's parliament
• 1964 - Constantine succeeds Paul I as king of Greece
• 1975 - Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
• 1981 - France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• 1981 - Soyuz 39 returns to Earth
• 1984 - Twelve-month-long strike in British coal industry begins.
• 1987 - 6.8 earthquake hits Ecuador, kills 100
• 1991 - Following Iraq's capitulation in the Persian Gulf conflict, US President George H. W. Bush told Congress that "aggression is defeated. The war is over"
• 1994 - United Arab Emirates beat Kenya by 2 wickets to win ICC Trophy
• 1994 - Referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
• 1998 - First time the British Union Flag is flown over Buckingham Palace (following the controversy after Princess Dian's death; formerly the only flag flown was the Sovereign's standard indicating the monarch's presence.)
• 2012 - 9,000 residents are evacuated from Wagga Wagga, Australia, as the Murrimbidgee River threatens to overflow
• 2013 - Syrian rebels capture Ar-Raqqah, their first major city
• 2013 - Microsoft is fined €561 by the Euro Commission for not providing alternative web browsers
• 2013 - 9 people die after a plane crashes after being ensnared in power lines in Peru
• 2014 - Crimean parliament votes unanimously to make the Crimea part of Russia
• 2015 - NASA's Dawn space probe enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres
• 2017 - US President Donald Trump signs his second executive order barring travelers from 6 mostly-Muslim countries for 90 days but leaves out Iraq
• 2018 - "Highest overdose death rates ever recorded in the US", 142,000 overdoses in 2016-17 period according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• 2018 - Sri Lanka imposes first nationwide state of emergency since civil war after unrest between Sinhalese and Muslim areas in Kandy District
• 2018 - American WWII aircraft carrier USS Lexington rediscovered in Australia's Coral Sea, lost during 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea
• 2018 - Forbes names Amazon founder Jeff Bezos the world's richest person for the first time at $112 billion, Bill Gates no. 2