1500 – Pedro Álvares Cabral is the first european to discover Brazil, landing near Monte Pascoal, claims it for Portugal
1915 – 1st military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WW I1930 British troops battle pro-independence revolutionaries in the Jalalabad hills near Chittagong, Bengal province, British India, 80 troops and 12 revolutionaries killed
1945 – Battle of Berlin: Upon being informed that a planned counter-attack never happened, Adolf Hitler flies into a rage, denounces the German Army and concedes World War II is lost
1954 – USSR joins UNESCO
1976 – Barbara Walters becomes 1st female US nightly network news anchor (ABC News)
1984 – CBS premiere of TV film “Pope John Paul II”, starring Albert Finney in title role
1993 – Holocaust Memorial Museum dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1994 – 7,000 Tutsi slaughtered by Hutus in the stadium at Kibuye, Rwanda
2006 – 243 people are injured in pro-democracy protest in Nepal after Nepali security forces open fire on protesters against King Gyanendra.
2016 – Paris Agreement on climate change signed in New York binding 195 nations to an increase in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C
2020 – Sudan bans female genital mutation and makes it a criminal offense
Film & TV:
1954 – US Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings begin
1976 – Barbara Walters becomes 1st female US nightly network news anchor (ABC News)
2019 – Marvel film “Avengers: Endgame” directed by Anthony and Joe Russo starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and an ensemble cast, premieres in Los Angeles
Music:
1876 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completes his ballet “Swan Lake”
1979 – Mick Jagger & Keith Richards give a benefit concert in Canada
Sport:
1903 – Highlanders (Yankees) 1st game in New York at Hilltop Park vs Washington Senators, lose 3-1 before 11,950