EVENTS:
- 1949 – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is established to provide aid to Palestinian refugees who left their homes during the 1948 Palestinian exodus.
- 1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his “Atoms for Peace” speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.
- 1963 – Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.
- 1966 – The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.
- 1971 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.
- 1988 – A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others.
- 1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- 2007 – Three unidentified gunmen storm an office of Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party in Balochistan. Three PPP supporters are killed.
- 2009 – Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 and injure 448.
- 2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
- 2013 – Riots break out in Singapore after a fatal accident in Little India.
- 2016 – Syrian army starts final phase of the attack and progress has been made in the district of, “Sheikh Said” and preparing to storm the neighborhood “Sukkari” in East of Aleppo.
BIRTHS:
- 1832 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
- 1861 – William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (d. 1947)
- 1935 – Dharmendra, Indian actor, producer, and politician
- 1941 – Bob Brown, American football player
- 1941 – Geoff Hurst, English footballer and manager
- 1946 – Sharmila Tagore, Indian actress
- 1952 – Steve Atkinson, English cricketer
- 1959 – Stephen Jefferies, South African cricketer and coach
- 1966 – Les Ferdinand, English footballer and coach
- 1967 – Jeff George, American football player
- 1967 – Darren Sheridan, English footballer and manager
- 1974 – Tony Simmons, American football player and coach
- 1981 – Philip Rivers, American football player
- 1984 – Greg Halford, English footballer
- 1994 – Raheem Sterling, English footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
