2015 Over 6 million people attend a Mass in Manila, Philippines given by Pope Francis, who encouraged followers to protect the young and promote peace 2014 A new world record is achieved by the United Kingdom's Lewis Clarke of Bristol; the 16 year-old becomes the youngest person to trek to the South Pole 2014 Initial U.S. jobless claims remained essentially unchanged at 326,000, following 325,000 the previous week 2013 For the first time since the Battle of Mogadishu, the U.S. announces it will officially recognize, and open diplomatic relations with, the new government of Somalia 2013 NASA scientists achieve a first in laser communication when they successfully beam a picture of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft orbiting the Moon 2012 Sunken cruise ship captain Francesco Schettino admits to navigational errors that caused the Costa Concordia to capsize 2012 An amateur astronomer in Peterborough, England, discovers a new, Neptune-sized exoplanet 2011 A $28 billion merger between Comcast and NBC Universal is approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission 2011 Joe Lieberman, an independent U.S. Senator from Connecticut announces he will not seek re-election in 2012 2010 China begins text message surveillance, blocking customers from the country's two largest operators for lewd messages 1998 "Ragtime," opens at Ford Theater New York City 1998 48th NHL All-Star Game: North America beats World 8-7 at Vancouver 1998 55th Golden Globes Awards 1998 ABL All-Star Game at Disney complex in Orlando 1998 Boston Celtics retire Robert Parrish's #00 1998 Kelly Robbins wins Healthsouth Golf Inaugural 1998 UCP Telethon 1997 47th NHL All-Star Game: East beat West 11-7 at San Jose Arena 1996 Baseball owners unanimously approve interleague play in 1997 1996 Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson in New York 1995 Kumble takes 16-99 in match for Karnataka vs. Kerala 1995 Pope John Paul II begins visit to Australia 1993 Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday observed in all 50 states for 1st time 1993 West Indies win the World Series Cup, beating Australia 2-0 1992 43rd NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 10-6 at Philadelphia 1992 49th Golden Globes 1992 Actress Joan Chen (Twin Peaks) marries Dr. Peter Hui 1992 Comedian Pat McCormick injured in a car accident 1992 NHL All Star Game - Campbell-10, Wales-6 (Brett Hull, MVP) at Philadelphia 1991 Iraq launches SCUD missiles against Israel 1991 U.S. acknowledges CIA and U.S. Army paid Noriega $320,000 over his career 1991 WLAF's New York Knights become NY-New Jersey Knights 1991 Longest tennis match at the Australian Open, Boris Becker beats Italy's Omar Camporese in 5 hours and 11 minutes 1990 South Africa says its reconsidering ban on African National Congress 1990 Washington D.C., Mayor Marion Barry arrested in drug enforcement sting 1989 Astronomers discover pulsar in remnants of Supernova 1987A (LMC) 1989 IBM announces earnings up 10.4% in 1988 1989 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win the World Series Cup 1988 Airliner crashes in SW China, killing all 108 on board 1987 11th Soap Opera Digest Poll Awards - Days of Our Live wins 1986 24th Space Shuttle (61-C) Mission-Columbia 7-returns to Earth 1986 AIDS charity record "That's What Friends are For," hits #1 1986 New York Lotto pays $30.5 million to one winner (#s are 19-20-27-34-41-46) 1985 U.S. renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise 1984 80th Islander and 3rd dual hat trick (Carroll and Bossy) 9-1 win 1983 IOC restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals 70 years after they were taken from him for being paid $25 in semipro baseball 1981 Iran accepts U.S. offer of $7.9 billion in frozen assets 1981 Wendy O Williams arrested in Milwaukee for on-stage obscenity 1980 Gold reaches $1,000 an ounce 1980 Pink Floyd's "Wall" hits #1 1980 Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $20,000 1979 Peter Jenkins finishes "A Walk Across America," Florence Oregon 1978 Geoff Boycott captains England for the 1st time, vs. Pak Karachi 1978 Roof of 3-yr-old Civic Center in Hartford, Ct collapses (no injuries) 1978 Thiokol conducts 2nd test firing of space shuttle's SRB 1977 Imran Khan takes 12 wickets in match for Pakistan win at the SCG 1976 Superbowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17 in Miami Superbowl MVP: Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh, WR 1975 "Jeffersons" spinoff from "All in the Family" premieres on CBS 1974 "$6 Million Man" starring Lee Majors premieres on ABC TV 1974 Israel and Egypt sign weapons accord 1973 Boston Red Sox sign Orlando Cepeda as 1st player signed as a DH 1973 Islanders break 12 game losing streak, 20 game road winless streak 1973 John Cleese's final episode on "Monty Python's Flying Circus," on BBC 1971 Ivan Koloff beats Bruno Sammartino in New York, to become WWF champ 1970 Hasse Borjes skates world record 500m in 38.9 sec 1970 NFL Pro Bowl: West beats East 16-13 1969 Expanded 4 party Vietnam peace talks began in Paris 1968 "Happy Time" opens at Broadway Theater New York City for 286 performances 1968 Hester and Appolinar's musical "Your Own Thing," premieres in New York City 1968 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. 1967 20th NHL All-Star Game: Montreal beat All-Stars 3-0 at Montreal 1967 Albert DeSalvo (Boston Strangler) sentenced to life in prison 1967 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site 1967 Yellowknife replaces Ottawa as capital of NW Territories, Canada 1966 Robert C Weaver, confirmed as 1st black cabinet member (HUD) 1965 H L de Vries appointed Dutch governor of Suriname 1964 Beatles 1st appear on Billboard Chart (I Want to Hold Your Hand-#35) 1964 Plans for World Trade Center announced (New York City) 1963 Reinier Paping wins Dutch 11-Cities Skating Race (10:59) 1962 Southern University closed due to demonstrations 1962 U.S. begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas 1962 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site 1961 Zanzibar's Afro-Shirazi party wins 1 seat by a single vote and parliament by a single seat 1960 U.S. and Japan sign joint defense treaty 1959 Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Tampa Golf Open 1958 1st black in NHL (William O'Ree, Boston Bruins) 1957 3 B-52's set record for around-the-world flight, 45 hours 19 minutes 1956 East Germany forms own army (National People's Army) 1954 Fanfani forms Italian government 1953 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Tampa Golf Open 1951 1st use of lie detector in Netherlands 1951 Hermann Flake sentenced to death due to "hate campaign against GDR" 1951 NFL rules tackles, guards and centers ineligible for forward pass 1951 NFL takes control of failing Baltimore Colts 1950 Christopher Fry's "Venus Observed," premieres in London 1950 Indians pitcher Bob Feller, after 15-14 season, takes $20,000 salary cut to $45,000, pay cut is Feller's own suggestion 1949 "They Stand Accused" courtroom drama premieres on CBS (later DuMont) 1949 South African Reverend Andries P. Treurnicht marries Engela Dreyer 1948 1st courses begin at University of Ibadan, Nigeria 1948 Ted Mack's "Original Amateur Hour" begins, DuMont (later NBC/ABC/CBS) 1947 "Red Mill" closes at Ziegfeld Theater New York City after 831 performances 1947 Detroit Tigers sell Hank Greenberg to Pirates (for $25-35,000) 1947 Small river steamer sank on Yangtze River, kills 400 1945 Warsaw freed by Soviet army 1944 1st Chinese naturalized U.S. citizen since repeal of exclusion acts 1943 Jews in Warsaw Ghetto begin resistance of Nazis 1943 Presliced bread sale banned to reduce bakery demand for metal parts 1943 Soviets announce they broke long Nazi siege of Leningrad 1943 U.S. rations bread and metal 1943 Uprising in Warsaw ghetto 1942 Nazi's arrest Frans Goedhart and Wiardi Beckman 1939 SA wicketkeeper Bradman gets his 6th straight ton, 135* vs. NSW 1938 Bradman scores 104* for South Australia vs. NSW at the SCG 1938 Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected to Hall of Fame 1934 Eugene O'Neill's "Days Without End," premieres in New York City 1933 White Sands National Monument, New Mexico established 1930 -27 degrees F (-33 degrees C), Watts, Oklahoma (state record) 1930 Shostakovich' opera "The Nose," premieres in Leningrad 1929 "NY Daily Mirror" columnist Walter Winchell debuts on radio 1929 Stalin proposes to ban Trotsky from the Politburo 1923 1st radio telegraph message from Netherlands to Dutch East Indies 1922 Irish author Liam O'Flaherty and others occupy Rotunda in Dublin 1921 William Archer's "Green Goddess," premieres in New York City 1919 WW I Peace Congress opens in Versailles, France 1915 Train crashes at Colima-Guadalajara Mexico, about 600 die 1913 Turkish-Greek sea battle near Troy 1912 English explorer Robert F Scott and his expedition reach South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there before 1911 1st shipboard landing of a plane (Tanforan Park to USS Pennsylvania) 1908 Frederick Delius' "Brigg Fair," premieres 1905 French government of Combes falls 1901 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Graves De Communi Re 1900 Jan Blockx's "Tol Uilenspiegel" premieres in Brussels 1896 1st demonstration of an X-ray machine in U.S. (New York City) 1896 British troops occupy Kumasi, West Africa 1895 Amsterdam's AFC soccer team forms 1884 General Charles Gordon departs London for Khartoum 1871 2nd German Empire proclaimed by Kaiser Wilhelm I and Bismarck 1869 Elegant California Theater opens in San Francisco 1865 Battle of Ft. Moultrie, SC 1862 Confederate Territory of Arizona forms 1854 Filibuster William Walker proclaims Republic of Sonora in NW Mexico 1850 British blockade Piraeus, Greece to enforce mercantile claims 1840 Electro-Magnetic Intelligencer, 1st U.S. electrical journal, appears 1817 San Martin leads a revolutionary army over Andes 1795 French admitted to Amsterdam without resistance 1795 Governor/viceroy Willem V flees Scheveningen to England 1788 English settlers arrive in Australia's Botany Bay to setup penal colony 1778 Captain James Cook stumbles over Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) 1777 San Jose, California, founded 1733 1st polar bear exhibited in America (Boston) 1701 Frederik I/Sophie Charlotte van Hanover crowned king/queen of Prussia 1691 English king Willem III travels to The Hague 1671 Pirate Henry Morgan defeats Spanish defenders, captures Panama 1650 French Prince Louis II of Conde captured 1644 1st UFO sighting in America, by perplexed pilgrims in Boston 1644 Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America's 1st UFO sighting 1535 Francisco Pizarro founds Lima Peru 1520 Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats Swedes at Lake Asunde 1486 King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV 1478 Grand Duke Ivan II of Moscow occupies Novgorod 1307 German king Albrecht I makes his son Rudolf king of Bohemia 532 Nika uprising at Constantinople fails, 30-40,000 die 350 General Maxentius drives out Western Roman emperor Constans 336 Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope
