2001 - Tens of thousands of Palestinians marched through occupied Jerusalem behind the coffin of Faisal Al Hussaini, turning mourning for the late leader into an outpouring of defiance against Israeli rule. Youths raised Palestinian flags over occupied Jerusalem’s Old City and outside Israeli government buildings as the coffin was carried, draped in the green, white, red and black flag, through the city that Hussaini had hoped to make the Palestinian capital. The funeral and burial of Hussaini, a moderate leader who embodied the campaign to return the city to Arab control, ended peacefully. But many mourners spoke of “liberating” occupied Jerusalem, at least for the day, as Israeli police looked on. The police made little effort to dampen the spirit of Palestinians.
Other important events
1533 - Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.
1792 - Kentucky becomes the 15th state of the United States.
1831 - James Clark Ross discovers North Magnetic Pole.
1941 - British troops occupy Bagdad, Iraq.
1943 - A civilian flight from Lisbon to London is shot down by Germans during the Second World War, killing all aboard.
1955 - Habib Bourguiba ends exile from Tunisia.
1958 - Charles de Gaulle becomes President of France.
1965 - Yamano coal mine disaster kills 236 miners in Fukuoka, Japan.
1967 - The Beatles release their landmark album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
1976 - Syrian forces enter Lebanon.
1980 - CNN makes its debut in the United States.
1987 - Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami is killed in a mid-air bomb explosion.
1990 - US and Soviet Union sign a pact to cut nuclear missiles and chemical weapons stockpiles.
1994 - South Africa rejoins the British Commonwealth after 33 years.
2001 - Nepal’s King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya and other members of the royal family are shot dead in a palace massacre.
2002 - Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje is killed in a cargo plane crash.
2004 - Sunni tribal leader Shaikh Gazi Al Yawar is named President of Iraq.
2008 - Australia pulls its combat soldiers from Iraq.
2009 - An Air France plane from Rio de Janeiro crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.
2013 - One of the biggest mosques in Asia is inaugurated in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.
