President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.

2007

Milestone

Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister, a position he had held since 1997

Chancellor Gordon Brown succeeds him.

2007

Politics

The Brazilian Military Police invades the favelas of Complexo do Alemão in an episode which is remembered as the Complexo do Alemão massacre.

1995

Milestone

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-71

the first space shuttle mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

1994

Milestone

Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan

Seven people are killed, 660 injured.

1991

Politics

Two days after it had declared independence

Slovenia is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War.

1988

Milestone

The Gare de Lyon rail accident in Paris

France, kills 56 people.

1988

Milestone

Villa Tunari massacre

Bolivian anti-narcotics police kill nine to 12 and injure over a hundred protesting coca-growing peasants.

1982

Milestone

Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4.

1981

Politics

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong.