beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006, where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur.

1991

Milestone

An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

1991

Milestone

United Airlines Flight 585 crashes on its final approach to Colorado Springs killing everyone on board.

1986

Milestone

The Australia Act 1986 commences

causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom.

1985

Disaster

A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile

killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.

1980

Milestone

The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

1974

Milestone

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris

France killing all 346 aboard.

1972

Milestone

Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.

1969

Milestone

Apollo program

NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.

1958

Milestone

Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.

1953

Milestone

A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi

Pakistan, killing 11 people.

1945

Politics

World War II

In poor visibility, the RAF mistakenly bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.