History of 24th January

41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula), known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Claudius succeeds his nephew.
772 - Stephen III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
817 - St Paschal I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Stephen IV
1076 - Synod of Worms: German King Henry IV fires Pope Gregory VII
1118 - Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II
1328 - King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen
1458 - Matthias I Corvinus chosen king of Hungary
1534 - Francois I signs classified treaty with evangelical German monarchy
1556 - Heavy earthquake strikes Shaaxi China, kills 830,000
1568 - Abdij Church in Middelburg destroyed by fire
1568 - In Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw
1613 - Amsterdams merchant Hans Bontemantel baptized
1616 - Jacques Le Maire discovers Street Lemaire/Cape Receiver
1634 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor
1639 - Connecticut colony organizes under Fundamental Orders
1644 - Battle at Nantwich Cheshire: Parliamentary armies win
1652 - Duke of Orleans joins Fronde rebels
1656 - 1st Jewish doctor in US, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
1659 - Pierre Corneille's "Oedipe," premieres in Paris
1679 - King Charles II disbands English parliament
1722 - Czar Peter the Great begins civil system
1722 - Edward Wigglesworth appointed 1st US divinity professor (Harvard)
1742 - German leaders elect Charles VII Albert Emperor
1764 - Gov Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire
1776 - Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
1839 - Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society
1847 - 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Col Price
1848 - James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma, Calif
1857 - The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia.
1859 - Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler.
1861 - Arsenal at Augusta, Ga seized by Confederacy
1861 - Federal troops from Ft Monroe are sent to Ft Pikens
1862 - Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza
1862 - Bucharest proclaimed capital of Romania.
1874 - Gen J van Swieten conquerors Kraton Atjeh, after 1000's die
1874 - Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov," premieres in St Petersburg
1875 - Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre," premieres
1878 - The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
1892 - battle at Mengo, Uganda: French missionaries attack Brit missionaries
1899 - Belgium govt of Vandenpeereboom forms
1899 - Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan
1900 - Battle at Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
1900 - Newcastle Badminton Club, world's oldest, forms in England
1901 - 1st games played in baseball's American League
1901 - Emily Hobhouse view lord Kitcheners concentration camp at Bloemfontein
1902 - Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA
1908 - Gen Baden-Powell starts Boy-Scouts
1913 - Franz Kafka stops working on "Amerika"; it will never be finished
1914 - Opera "Madeleine," premieres in NYC
1915 - German-British sea battle at Doggersbank & Helgoland
1922 - -54°F (-48°C), Danbury, Wisconsin (state record)
1922 - Eskimo Pie patented by Christian K Nelson of Iowa (not an Eskimo)
1922 - Lehman Caves National Monument established
1923 - Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM established
1924 - Mussolini disallows non-fascists work union
1924 - Russian city of St Petersburg renamed Leningrad
1925 - Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Is
1925 - Sandler follows Branting as premier of Sweden
1927 - Director Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.
1930 - J E Mills scores 117 on Test Cricket debut, NZ v England, Wellington
1930 - Stewie Dempster scores New Zealand's 1st Test century
1933 - Noel Coward's "Design for Living," premieres in NYC
1935 - 1st canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," is sold by Kruger Brewing Co
1936 - Benny Goodman & orch record "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records
1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France
1939 - 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile
1939 - Eddie Collins, Willie Keeler & George Sisler elected to Hall of Fame
1939 - Spanish govt moves to Figueras
1941 - British troops march into Abyssinia
1942 - Musical "Star & Garter," premieres in NYC
1943 - Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death
1943 - Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau
1944 - Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy
1945 - Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg
1947 - NFL adds 5th official (back judge) & allows sudden death in playoffs
1948 - "Music in My Heart" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 124 perfs
1948 - Australia all out 674 v India (Bradman 201, Hassett 198*)
1948 - Dutch Liberal Party forms-People's party for Freedom & Democracy (VVD)
1950 - Jackie Robinson signs highest contract ($35,000) in Dodger history
1951 - Dutch govt Drees-van Schaik resigns
1952 - 1st NFL team in Texas, Dallas Texans formerly NY Yanks
1952 - Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base
1952 - Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
1954 - BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Don Carter
1954 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Tampa Women's Golf Open
1956 - 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)
1958 - After warming to 100,000,000 degrees, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion
1959 - "Party with Comden & Green" closes at John Golden NYC after 38 perfs
1959 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's comedy "Cheryomushk," premieres in Moscow
1959 - WHCT TV channel 18 in Hartford, CT (IND) begins broadcasting
1960 - Algeria uprises against French president De Gaulle
1961 - Edward Albee's "American Dream," premieres in NYC
1961 - Lazard Brothers Ltd draw a check for $334,867,807.68
1962 - 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany
1962 - Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles
1962 - Jackie Robinson is 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1962 - Mickey Wright/Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Naples Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1963 - Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champ
1964 - CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million
1964 - Martin Kresses final comic strip of Eric the Viking

1964 - 24th Amendment to US Constitution goes into effect & states voting rights could not be denied due to failure to pay taxes
1966 - WDIO TV channel 10 in Duluth, MN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1969 - Queen Juliana appointed honorary citizen of Addis Ababa
1969 - Spanish Gen Franco announces state of emergency
1970 - 3rd ABA All-Star Game: West 128 beats East 98 at Indiana
1970 - Valeri Muratov skates world record 500m (38.99 sec)
1971 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 27-6
1972 - WRIP (now WDSI) TV channel 61 in Chattanooga, TN (IND) 1st broadcast
1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
1973 - Warren Spahn is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1975 - "Hot l Baltimore" situation comedy premieres on ABC TV
1975 - Fastest Earth-bound object, 7200 kph, in vacuum centrifuge, England
1976 - Cleve Cavaliers biggest margin victory-43 pts (beat Milwaukee 132-89)
1976 - George Foreman KOs Ron Lyle in 5th round of a real slugfest
1977 - 5 lawyers murdered by fascist in Madrid
1977 - Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
1978 - 31st NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 3-2 (OT) at Buffalo
1978 - Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (# 12036)
1978 - Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.
1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 - Islanders scored 5 power play goals against Nordiques
1981 - Kim Hughes scores 213 v India at Adelaide
1982 - Superbowl MVP: Joe Montana, San Francisco, QB
1982 - Superbowl XVI: SF 49ers beat Cin Bengals, 26-21 in Pontiac Mich
1983 - Hulk Hogan pins Iron Sheik for World Wrestling Federation title
1984 - Apple Computer Inc unveila its Macintosh personal computer
1985 - 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
1986 - 43th Golden Globes: Whoopi Goldberg, Color Purple win
1986 - NY Islander Mike Bossy scores his 1,000th point
1986 - South Yemen Premier Haydar Bakr al-Attas becomes interim-president
1986 - Voyager 2 makes 1st fly-by of Uranus (81,593 km), finds new moons
1987 - 61st Australian Womens Tennis: H Mandlikova beat M Navratilova (75 76)
1988 - 1st WWF Royal Rumble - Jim Duggan wins
1988 - 76th Australian Mens Tennis: M Wilander beats P Cash (63 67 36 61 86)
1988 - 9th ACE Cable Awards
1988 - Australia beat New Zealand 2-0 to win Cricket's World Series Cup
1988 - Cerebral Palsy telethon
1989 - 1st reported case of AIDS transmitted by heterosexual oral sex
1990 - Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon
1991 - "Les Miserables," opens at Theatre St Denis, Montreal
1993 - 14th annual star-athon $24,000,000
1993 - Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed
1993 - Soyuz TM-16 launches
1993 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Davis
1993 - Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
1994 - Dow Jones closes above 3,900 for 1st time (3,914.48)
2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
2009 - Pope Benedict XVI rescinds the excommunications of four bishops consecrated without papal consent in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

History of 23rd January

393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor.
638 - Start of Islamic calendar
909 - John of Rila aka Saint Ivan and the fable of two pies.
971 - In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops. The Southern Han state is forced to submit to the Song Dynasty, ending not only Southern Han rule, but also the first regular war elephant corps employed in a Chinese army that had gained the Southern Han victories throughout the 10th century.
1265 - 1st English Parliament formally convened (some authorities)
1368 - In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
1490 - 1st printing of Ramban's Sha'ar ha-Gemul
1492 - "Pentateuch" (Jewish holy book) 1st printed
1546 - Having published nothing for eleven years, Francois Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
1552 - 2nd version of Book of Common Prayer becomes manditory in England
1556 - Most deadly earthquake kills 830,000 in Shensi Province, China
1570 - Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland, assassinated; civil war breaks out
1571 - Queen Elizabeth I opens Royal Exchange in London
1579 - Union of Utrecht signed, forming protestant Dutch Republic
1631 - France & Sweden sign anti-German Treaty of Barwald
1637 - Dutch governor Johan Mauritius lands in Pernambuco Brazil
1643 - Sir Thomas Fairfax takes Leeds for Parliamentarians
1647 - Scottish Presbyterians sell captured Charles I to English parliament
1656 - Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
1663 - King Louis XIV affirms covenant with Rÿnstaten
1668 - England, Netherlands & Sweden signs Triple Alliance against French
1719 - Principality of Liechtenstein created within Holy Roman Empire
1723 - Georg Friedrich Handel's opera "Ottone," premieres in London
1779 - Charles Messier catalogs M56 (globular cluster in Lyra)
1789 - Georgetown, 1st US Catholic college, founded
1793 - 2nd partition of Poland, between Prussia & Russia
1793 - Humane Society of Philadelphia (1st aid society) organized
1796 - Armand-Gaston Camus becomes chairman of Council of 500
1812 - 7.8 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri
1833 - Joseph Pease, a Quaker, admitted to Parliament on his affirmation
1845 - Uniform US election day for president & VP authorized
1849 - Mrs Elizabeth Blackwell becomes 1st woman physician in US
1849 - Patent granted for an envelope-making machine
1855 - The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.
1856 - Steamer Pacific lost
1862 - Agoston Haraszthy, 1st vintner in Sonoma Valley, imports 10,000
1865 - -Jan 25th) Battle of City Point, VA (James River, Trent's Reach)
1870 - 173 Blackfoot (140 women & children) killed in Montana by US Army
1879 - National Archery Association forms (Crawfordsville Ind)
1889 - Dr Daniel Hale Williams forms Provident Hospital in Chicago
1894 - G W Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 wpm for 10 min
1896 - Edward Macdowell's 2nd Suite in E, premieres
1897 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Abbey Grange" (BG)
1897 - Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
1899 - Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic.
1902 - Winnipeg Victorias sweep Toronto Wellingtons in 2 for Stanley Cup
1904 - Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
1907 - Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes 1st Native American US senator
1908 - US & Great-Britain demand end of abuses in Congo
1909 - 1st radio rescue at sea
1912 - The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
1916 - Temp falls from 44°F (7°C) to -56°F (49°C) night of 23-24, Browning MT
1920 - Dutch refuse to turn over ex-kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany to allies
1923 - Taxi strike in Amsterdam begins (through March 9th)
1924 - Ramsey MacDonald forms 1st Labour govt in Britain
1926 - Eugene O'Neill's "Great God Brown," premieres in NYC
1928 - "Abenteuer of brave Soldier Schwejk" premieres in Berlin
1930 - Clyde Tombaugh photographs planet Pluto
1930 - George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Va established
1930 - WIS-AM (now WOMG) in Columbia SC begins radio transmissions
1932 - El Salvador army kills 4,000 protesting farmers
1933 - 20th amendment changes date of presidential inaugurations to 1/20
1936 - Catholic People's Party (KVP) of Curacao forms
1937 - Karl Radek & 16 others go on trial in Stalin's great purge
1940 - Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes premier of Polish govt in exile
1941 - Ground breaking for NACA (now NASA) Lewis Research Center
1941 - WOR-AM in Newark NJ moves to NYC
1942 - Japanese troops occupy Rabaul New Britain
1942 - Tank battle at Adzjedabia, African corps vs British army
1943 - 66.34 cm (26.12"), Hoegees Camp, California (state record)
1943 - British 8th army marches into Tripoli
1943 - Detroit Red Wings scores NHL record 8 goals in 1 period
1943 - Japanese Mount Austen on Guadalcanal captured
1943 - Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
1944 - Arnold Schoenberg's "Ode to Napoleon," premieres in NYC
1944 - Det Red Wings score 15 goals against NY Rangers & NHL record 37 points, also most consecutive goals & most lopsided game 15-0
1945 - Dutch Premier Gerbrandy, exiled in London, offers his resignation
1945 - World War II: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
1946 - Rear Admiral Sidney W Souers, USNR, becomes 1st director of CIA
1948 - Bradman scores 201 in 272 mins v India, 21 fours 1 six
1948 - Huston's "Treasure of Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart opens
1948 - Test debut of Neil Harvey, v India at Adelaide
1950 - 3rd edition of Joseph Kane's Famous 1st Facts published
1950 - AP picks "Miracle Braves" of 1914 as greatest sports upset
1950 - Israeli Knesset resolves Jerusalem is capital of Israel
1950 - NFL rule changes open way for 2-platoon system (offense & defense)
1950 - Rebel army of cap Raymond Westerner occupies Bandung
1951 - 3rd Emmy Awards: Alan Young Show, Alan Young & Gertrude Berg
1953 - Bobby Simpson makes 1st-class debut for NSW 16 yrs 357 days
1953 - NFL Dallas Texans become Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts)
1953 - NFL's National & American conference become Eastern & Western conf
1954 - Harry van Thorn chosen chairman of Dutch KVP
1954 - Longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (18 games)
1955 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Tampa Golf Open
1955 - KORK (now KVBC) TV channel 3 in Las Vegas, NV (NBC) 1st broadcast
1958 - "Body Beautiful" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 60 performances
1958 - Dictator Marcos Perez Jiménez flees Venezuela, Larrazabal takes power
1958 - Hanif Mohammad completes 337 in 970 minutes v West Indies
1960 - Bathosphere "Trieste" reach bottom of Pacific (10,900 m)
1961 - Supreme Court rules cities & states have right to censor films

1961 - Venezuela adopts constitution
1962 - Bob Feller & Jackie Robinson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1962 - British spy Kim Philby defects to USSR
1962 - Libya, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia plan to form United Arab Maghreb
1964 - 24th Amendment ratified, barring poll tax in federal elections
1964 - Arthur Miller's "After the Fall," premieres in NYC
1965 - "King Family Show" (musical variety) premieres on ABC TV
1965 - BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Dick Weber
1965 - Boston Celtic center Bill Russell misses all 14 shots in loss to Philadelphia Warriors led by Wilt Chamberlain
1967 - Stan Musial is named GM of Cards
1968 - Joe Medwick elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1968 - Spy ship USS Pueblo & 83-man crew seized in Sea of Japan by N Korea
1969 - Cream releases their last album "Goodbye"
1970 - Australia's 1st amateur radio satellite (Oscar 5) launched (Calif)
1970 - Dolle Mina's burns her bra in Amsterdam
1970 - US launches 2nd generation weather satellite, ITOS 1
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 - -80°F (-62°C) in Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska (US record)
1971 - 4th ABA All-Star Game: East 126 beats West 122 at Carolina
1971 - UCLA loses to Notre Dame, UCLA then wins next 88 games in a row
1972 - 2nd AFC-NFC pro bowl, AFC wins 26-13
1972 - Ard Schenk becomes European all-round skating champ
1972 - Bootlegger sells wood alcohol to wedding party-100 die-New Delhi
1972 - Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour house arrest
1972 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 26-13
1973 - 23rd NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 104-84 at Chicago
1973 - Helgafell, island of Heimaey Iceland erupts for 1st time in 7,000 yrs
1973 - Jordan Air crash at Kano, Nigeria kills 176 Moslem pilgrims
1973 - Pres Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end Vietnam War
1974 - 1st edition of women's magazine "Story"
1975 - "Barney Miller" premieres on ABC TV
1975 - Ralph Kiner elected to baseball's Hall of Fame
1976 - Ian Redpath hits his only 2 sixes in Cricket Tests, v WI Adelaide
1976 - Wash Caps end 25 game winless streak (0-22-3) beat NY Rangers 7-5
1977 - $1.5-million Serge Lepage dress exhibited, Paris
1977 - Miniseries "Roots" premieres on ABC
1978 - Belgian industrial Haron Empain kidnapped in Paris
1978 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 14-13
1978 - Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth's ozone layer.
1979 - Willie Mays elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1981 - 1st Richard Nixon museum opens (San Clemente Calif)
1981 - Jochem Bird elected mayor of West Berlin
1981 - Mike Bossy becomes 1st in NHL to score 50 goals in 50 games
1981 - Red Sox trade Fred Lynn to Angels for Frank Tanana & Joe Rudi
1982 - Urbe Blanca (cow) produces record 110 kg of milk, Cuba (approx date)
1982 - World Airways DC-10 skids at Boston Logan Airport killing 2
1983 - "A-Team" with Mr T premieres on NBC
1983 - Bjorn Borg announces his retirement from tennis
1983 - Cerebral Palsy telethon raises $14,700,000
1983 - In NBA, Portland scores all 17 pts in overtime to beat Houston 113-96
1983 - Russian radioactive satellite falls into Indian Ocean
1983 - Schone skates ladies world record 5 km (7:40.97)
1984 - Buffalo Sabres win NHL record 10th straight road game
1984 - Greatest unpaced 1-hr bicycle distance, F Moser (Italy), 51.15 km
1984 - Hulk Hogan defeats Iron Sheik to become WWF champ
1985 - Britains House of Lords debate 1st televised
1986 - "Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood" opens at Ritz Theater NYC for 13 perfs
1986 - Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB
1986 - 1st induction of Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame (Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Domino, Everly Bros, B Holly, J L Lewis & Elvis Presley)
1987 - Dow Jones rises 64 points then drops 110 points (44.15 pt loss)
1987 - Japan 1st exceeds military spending cap of 1% of GNP ($23 billion)
1988 - 45th Golden Globes: Last Emperor, Sally Kirkland, Michael Douglas
1988 - 62nd Australian Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats Chris Evert (61 76)
1988 - Bob Benoit bowls 1st 300-pt game in a televised title match
1988 - Experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan & Jeana Yeager, complete 1st nonstop, round-the-world flight without refueling lands
1989 - Challenge to "who is a Jew" law filed in Israeli Supreme Court
1989 - NBA New Jersey Nets begin a 32+ game road losing streak
1990 - Dean Jones scores twin Test tons v Pakistan at Adelaide Oval
1991 - "Seinfeld" debuts on NBC-TV
1991 - World's largest oil spill, caused by embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait
1992 - "Visit" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
1993 - 50th Golden Globes: Scent of a Woman, wins
1993 - Graham Gooch scores his 100th 100, on tour at Cuttack
1993 - Indian Airlines B737 crashes art Aurangabad, 61 die
1993 - NY Newsday reports Ore Sen Bob Packwood sexually harassed 23 women
1993 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Nancy Kerrigan
1994 - Bernie Kosar is 2nd QB to throw TD passes in AFC & NFC Champ games
1994 - Worldwide Day for peace in Bosnia-Hercegovina
1996 - Chris Cairns scores 120, 96 balls, 10x4, 9x6 in Test NZ v Zim
1996 - The first version of the Java programming language was released.
1998 - Pope John Paul II condemns US embargo against Cuba
2001 - The Chinese Communist Party stages a self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to frame Falun Gong and escalate the persecution.
2002 - Reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. He was subsequently murdered .
2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in Federal Bureau of Investigation custody.
2003 - Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10
2009 - Dendermonde nursery attack occurred in Dendermonde, Belgium.
3268 - Beginning of 2nd Julian Period (1/1 OS)