1987 - Philippines government forces repulse an attempt by up to 300 rebel troops to overthrow President Corazon Aquino (above), the President said. Aquino and senior aides went on radio to assure the country that the pre-dawn coup attempt was effectively over although mopping-up operations continued. “I’d like to tell our people that first of all, I am all right and General Fidel Ramos is on top of the situation,” the 54-year-old president said. “In a few hours we can resolve this,” Aquino added. Hospitals reported at least 61 people wounded, and one dead. Those injured appeared to be mainly civilians caught in the crossfire. Ramos said the dissident soldiers loyal to deposed president Ferdinand Marcos had attacked the Malacanang presidential palace.
Other important events
1783 - Frenchman Jacques Alexander Cesar Charles launches the first practical balloon.
1883 - The most powerful volcanic eruption ever recorded blows apart Mount Krakatoa in the Sunda Straits, Indonesia.
1859 - Edwin Drake strikes oil at 69 feet near Titusville, Pennsylvania, the world’s first successful oil well.
1892 - New York City Metropolitan Opera House catches fire.
1910 - The first radio broadcast is transmitted from a plane in flight.
1928 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact or Pact of Paris is established by which countries vow to solve conflicts by peaceful means.
1939 - The world’s first turbojet-powered aircraft, Germany’s Henkel He 178, makes its maiden flight.
1941 - Shah of Iran abdicates and is succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955 The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records (now Guinness World Records) is published.
1979 - Lord Mountbatten dies in a boat explosion.
1982 - Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa.
1985 - The Nigerian army topples the 20-month-old government of General Mohammad Buhari in an apparently bloodless coup.
1999 - The last crew shuts the door on the 13-year-old Mir space station.
2000 - Abu Sayyaf frees five hostages after 126 days in captivity in the Philippines.
2001 - Israel kills Palestinian leader Abu Ali Mustafa in a missile strike in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
2006 -A commuter jet Comair taking off for Atlanta crashes just past the runway and burst into flames in Kentucky, killing 49 people.
2007 - Google launches Google Sky.
2012 - Seven Emiratis and an Omani child are killed on the spot in a head-on collision in eastern Salalah, Oman.
2013 - Pakistani Malala Yousufzai wins the Children’s Peace Prize for her passionate advocacy of girls’ education.
2015 - Jamaican Usain Bolt beat Justin Gatlin to win the men’s 200 metres final at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
