Francisco Costa Gomes, who played a defining role in the Portuguese Carnation Revolution in 1974, died in Lisbon at the age of 87. The government has decreed two days of national mourning to mark the passing of Portugal’s last Marshal, who died of a respiratory illness at Lisbon’s military hospital. Costa Gomes, the former military ruler, had been receiving treatment in the hospital since early May. Having initially served under Portugal’s dictator Antonio Salazar, Costa Gomes played a decisive role in the April 1974 revolution that returned democracy to the country after 46 years of Salazar’s rule. In September, following the uprising, he took over as leader of the country, replacing General Antonio Spinola.
Other important events
1658 Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mogul Emperor in India.
1789 Austrian and Russian troops defeat Turks at Focshani in Romania.
1812 Venezuelan Republic falls to Spanish forces and Francisco de Miranda is arrested.
1865 The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.
1919 Germany adopts Weimar Constitution.
1922 Ralph Samuelson rides the world’s first water skis at Lake City, Minnesota.
1926 Afghanistan signs non-aggression pact with Soviet Union.
1954 An Italian team led by Ardito Desio makes the first ascent of the world’s second-highest peak, Mount Godwin - Austen (K2).
1955 Marilyn Bell of Toronto, Canada becomes the youngest person to swim the English Channel.
1956 English cricketer Jim Laker takes 19 wickets in a first-class Test match against Australia at Old Trafford in Manchester.
1969 US Spacecraft Mariner 6 coming to within 2,000 miles of Mars, transmits the first pictures of the red planet
1974 Ceasefire takes effect between Turkey and Greece in fighting on Cyprus.
1987 Jinadasa Weerasinghe, a ruling party member parliament of Sri Lanka, is shot dead in Colombo.
1991 US and Soviet Union sign landmark Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
1992 A Thai Airlines Airbus crashes into a mountain in Kathmandu, killing 213 people.
2003 Austrian parachutist Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person ever to fly across the English Channel without an aircraft.
2005 Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora visits Syria in bid to repair relations.
2006 Raúl Castro assume office as President of Cuba after his brother Fidel Castro became too ill to continue.
2007 Deployment of British troops to support Northern Ireland police, officially ends after 38 years.
2009 Britain pulls out its troops in Iraq, ending six years of military involvement with the war-torn country.
2010 Seventeen are killed and 68 more are injured after a coal mine blasted in northern China.
2011 A full scale military attack against Hama City in Syria left 150 killed and more that 1000 injured.
2013 Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy apologises for mishandling a major corruption scandal.
2014 At least 23 people drown in rough seas off Pakistan’s Karachi beach.
2015 Mexican photojournalist Ruben Espinosa is brutally killed in a multiple homicide.
