Unix Timestamp: 991785600
Wednesday, June 6. 2001, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Solar Impulse, a solar plane, lands in Morocco, completing the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the Sun. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5bdziESjmBSB4aYJ3WeoeYuPqRw?docId=e270a6c024b94405885571f9d6ff6ac0 (Associated Press)

Former West Berlin police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras is revealed to have spied for East Germany's Stasi. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8085399.stm (BBC)

Japan and North Korea resume bilateral talks, last held in September 2007. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7439190.stm (BBC News)

Iceland's Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson resigns after poor showings in local elections. Foreign Minister Geir Haarde takes over. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5050768.stm (BBC)

Eastern Mediterranean Event: An object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collides with Earth, over the Mediterranean Sea, and detonates in mid-air.

In Brazil, 345 prisoners escape from Putim prison through the front gate.

In Lacey Township, New Jersey, high school senior Melissa Drexler kills her newborn baby in a toilet.

Leighton W. Smith, Jr. resigns as NATO commander in the face of increasing criticism.

June 8 ndash Ceasefire negotiations for the Yugoslav War begin in Geneva they agree to a 1-month cessation of hostilities (which does not last more than a few days).

Elizabeth II strips jockeyLester Piggott of his OBE, following his jailing for tax irregularities.

Indian troops storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the Sikhs' holiest shrine, killing an estimated 2,000 people.

Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi in Bihar, India about 800 die.

California voters approve Proposition 13, which slashes property taxes nearly 60%.

9 ndash Jubilee celebrations are held in the United Kingdom to celebrate 25 years of Elizabeth II's reign.

The Double Six Tragedy, a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, kills everyone on board, including Sabahan Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens.

Georgetown Agreement formally creating the ACP Group signed.

A D-Day celebration is held in Washington, D.C..

East African Community (EAC) established.

Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an F5 on the Fujita Scale, the first to exceed US $100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.//www.crh.noaa.gov/top/events/66tornado.php NOAA.gov

An XB-70 Valkyrie prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.

Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot while trying to march across Mississippi.

With a temporary order, the rocket launches at Cuxhaven are terminated.

President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at Yale University.

President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin, with apparent success, escape from the Alcatraz Island prison. Although the men were never heard from again, there is evidence that they survived the attempt and there was to be sightings of them over the years.

In Singapore, chief minister David Marshall resigns after the breakdown of talks about internal self-government in London.

Turkey: The Adhan in Arabic is legalized.

Red Scare: Celebrities including Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.

With the passage of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by the Indian government, Mahabodhi Temple is restored to partial Buddhist control.

George Orwell's book "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is published.

The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.

William Lyon Mackenzie King is re-elected as Canadian prime minister.

The Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan.ref name=nuclearfiles1940//www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/timeline/1940/1945.htm

King Haakon VII of Norway returns to Norway.

WWII ndash Battle of Normandy: "Operation Overlord", commonly known as D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The Allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland, in the largest hibious military operation in history. This operation helps liberate France from Germany, and also weakens the Nazi hold on Europe.

New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.

The Chrysler Corporation is founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.

The Hungarian Red Army attacks the Prekmurian Republic.

Prince George, Duke of York (later George V) marries Mary of Teck.

The Great Seattle Fire ravages through the downtown area without any fatalities.

American Civil War ndash Battle of Memphis: U.S. Army troops capture Memphis, Tennessee from the Confederate States

The British Crown colony of Queensland in Australia is created by devolving part of the territory of New South Wales (Queensland Day).

Sophia of Nassau marries the future KingOscar II of Sweden-Norway.

Fort Worth, Texas, is founded.

George Williams founds the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in London.

George Williams founds the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in London.

In Barbados, Samuel Jackman Prescod is the first non-white person elected to the House of Assembly.

Ulysses S. Grant graduates from West Point 21st from a class of 39.

John J. Peck graduates from West Point 8th from a class of 39.

Marian Hughes becomes the first woman to take religious vows in communion with the AnglicanProvince of Canterbury since the Reformation, making them privately to E. B. Pusey in Oxford.

United Kingdom Census held, the first to record names and approximate ages of every household member and to be administered nationally.

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Alexis St. Martin accidentally shot in the stomach, which leads the way to William Beaumont's studies on digestion.

Sweden promulgates a new Instrument of Government, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after authoritarian rule since 1772. On the same day, Duke Charles (uncle of the deposed king Gustav IV Adolf) is elected King under the name Charles XIII.

An earthquake strikes Lisbon, Portugal.

Franklin College, named for Benjamin Franklin, opens in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It later merges with Marshall College to become Franklin and Marshall College.

A transit of Venus occurs, and is observed from 120 locations around the Earth.

Fire destroys 18,000 houses in Moscow.

The Ashmolean Museum opens as the world's first university museum.

Shivaji is crowned as Chatrapati Shivaji at Raigad Fort in India.

Charles X Gustav succeeds his cousin Christina on the Swedish throne. After her abdication on the same day, Christina, now the former reigning queen of a Protestant nation, secretly converts to Catholicism.

July ndash The Russian Army seizes Smolensk, and the Thirteen Years War starts between Russia and Poland over Ukraine.

The invading Manchu army, with the help of Ming general Wu Sangui, captures Beijing, China. This marks the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty), the last imperial dynasty of China.

Swedish warships depart from Stockholm to Germany.

Sweden conquers Livonia (modern Estonia).

Gustav Vasa is elected king of Sweden, finally establishing its full independence from Denmark, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.

Italian Wars ndash Battle of Novara: Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis de la Tremoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces he is forced to sign a 3-year truce and cede several territories to Venice.

August ndash Lebna Dengel succeeds his father Na'od as Emperor of Ethiopia. Due to his young age, his grandmother Eleni acts as regent.

December ndash Michelangelo Buonarroti begins work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Richard Whittington is nominated as Lord Mayor of London for the first time.

Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Seville, Spain. Many thousands of Jews are massacred and the violence spreads throughout Spain and Portugal.

William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster is murdered and the Burke Civil War begins in Ireland.

King Henry I of Castile dies aged thirteen from the fall of a roof tile in Palencia, an event which his regent, Álvaro Núñez de Lara, attempts to conceal. Henry's sister Berengaria succeeds to the throne.