Today in History

April 28

1770 - British navigator Captain James Cook, aboard lands in Australia, naming the natural harbour Botany Bay, now in the suburbs of Sydney.

1876 - Britain’s Queen Victoria is declared Empress of India.

1903 - A strong earthquake kills 2,200 in Turkey.

1914 - 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles, West Virginia.

1936 - King Fouad of Egypt dies and is replaced on the throne by his son Farooq.

1945 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are executed.

1952 - War with Japan ends as a treaty is signed by the US and 47 other countries takes effect.

1967 - Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the Army.

1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

1982 - Gulf Cement Company is inaugurated in Ras Al Khaimah.

1984 - A new runway at Dubai International Airport is opened.

1988 - The roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 peels off during a flight from Hilo to Honolulu, killing a flight attendant and injuring 61 people. 1992 - Italian President Francesco Cossiga formally resigns.

1993 - Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon, killing 30 football players.

1995 - A gas blast kills at least 100 people in South Korea.

1996 - A gunman slaughters 35 tourists near the ruins of a colonial prison in Tasmania, Australia.

2001 - A Russian rocket lifts off from Central Asia bearing the first space tourist, American businessman Dennis Tito.

2003 - Apple launches the iTunes Music Store.

2005 - First democratically elected government is formed in Iraq.

2012 - A massive fire guts more than 100 flats in a 40-storey Al Tayer Tower, leaving hundreds of people homeless in Al Nahda area of Sharjah.

2013 - Italian centre-left politician Enrico Letta is sworn in as Prime Minister.

2015 - Indonesia executes seven foreign drug convicts, including two Australians, by firing squad.

2016 - India successfully launches into orbit its 7th navigation satellite - IRNSS-1G.