the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, in the 2000 Mexican general election.

1997

Milestone

The Bank of Thailand floats the baht

triggering the Asian financial crisis.

1994

Milestone

USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport

killing 37 of the 57 people on board.

1990

Milestone

In the 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy

1,400 Muslim pilgrims are suffocated to death and trampled upon in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca.

1986

Milestone

Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile in the Quemados case.

1986

Milestone

Aeroflot Flight 2306 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Syktyvkar Airport in Syktyvkar

in present-day Komi Republic, Russia, killing 54 people.

1976

Milestone

End of South Vietnam

Communist North Vietnam annexes the former South Vietnam to form the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

1966

Milestone

France conducts its first nuclear weapon test in the Pacific

on Moruroa Atoll.

1964

Politics

Civil rights movement: U.S

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

1937

Milestone

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean and disappear while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

1934

Milestone

The Night of the Long Knives ends after three days of killings.

1921

Politics

World War I: U.S

President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany.