1340 – Battle of Rio Salado (or Tarifa): King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile defeat Sultan Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali of Morocco and Yusuf I of Granada, last Marīnids invasion of Iberian Peninsula
1899 – Battle of Ladysmith, Natal: Boers defeat the British, leading to the Siege of Ladysmith
1905 – “October Manifesto” Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties and accepts the first Duma (Parliament)
1917 – British government gives final approval to Balfour Declaration
1938 – Orson Welles’s radio dramatization of H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds was broadcast, causing great alarm—though reports of a nationwide panic were unfounded—as some listeners feared a genuine invasion from Mars.
1944 – Anne Frank is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen
1950 – Pope Pius XII witnesses “The Miracle of the Sun” while at the Vatican
1961 – The Soviets detonated Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean; the largest nuclear weapon ever set off, it produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded.
1973 – The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time
1995 – Voters in Quebec narrowly defeated a referendum that proposed sovereignty for the province within a new economic and political partnership with the rest of Canada.
2017 – President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort and associate Rick Gates are indicted on fraud charges, advisor George Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to the FBI
2017 – Kenyan election rerun, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the winner with 38% turnout
2019 – Twitter head Jack Dorsey announces it will no longer take political ads
Births & Deaths:
2018 – American crime boss Whitey Bulger—who, as head of the Boston-area Winter Hill Gang, was a leading figure in organized crime from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s—was beaten to death by fellow inmates while in prison.
Film & TV:
1921 – “The Sheik”, a silent film starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres in Los Angeles
Music:
1944 – Aaron Copland’s ballet score “Appalachian Spring” premieres in Washington, D.C. with Martha Graham dancing lead role
1987 – “Faith” debut album by George Michael is released
Sport
1974 – “Rumble in the Jungle”: Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman in the 8th round in Kinshasa, Zaire; regains world heavyweight boxing title with famous “rope-a-dope” tactic
1997 – Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona announces his retirement from football on his 37th birthday
2003 – American basketball player LeBron James, who was drafted directly out of high school, made his NBA debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
