Unix Timestamp: 1714262400
Sunday, April 28. 2024, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Russian destroyer "Admiral Panteleyev" detains 29 suspected Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. //www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/29/Russians-detain-29-suspected-pirates/UPI-57981240981471/ (UPI)

An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 on the Richter scale strikes Kent, England. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6602677.stm (BBC)

Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse in Iraq is revealed on the television show "60 Minutes II".

Apple Computer revealed a new online music store, entitled the iTunes Music Store, for its iTunes and iPod products. Each song can be downloaded for 99 cents and there is no subscription fee.

"Soyuz TM-32" lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito

In Daegu, South Korea, a gas explosion at a subway construction site kills 101 people, mostly teenage schoolboys.

Jacques Chirac is elected president of France

Croatian forces launch Operation Flash against rebel Serb forces in western Slavonia.

An executive order requires the United States Air Force to allow women to fly war planes.

The two remaining constituent republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – Serbia and Montenegro – form a new state, named the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (after 2003, Serbia and Montenegro), bringing to an end the official union of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Bosnian Muslims and Macedonians that existed from 1918 (with the exception of the period during World War II).

Pope John Paul II begins a nine-day trip to Madagascar, Zambia, Malawi, and Réunion.

The coalition government of Prime Minister of the NetherlandsRuud Lubbers collapses in a dispute about a pollution cleanup plan.

Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time.

Andrés Rodríguez, who had seized power and declared himself President of Paraguay during a military coup in February, wins a landslide election in a general election marked by charges of fraud.

Yugoslavia wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Lausanne with the song "Rock me" performed by Riva.

The first crack in the Iron Curtain: Hungary dismantles of barbed wire fencing along the border with Austria.

Magnum XL-200 opens at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio as the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster.

World Expo '88 opens in Brisbane Queensland, Australia.

Celine Dion wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland with the song Ne partez pas sans moi.

Aloha Flight 243 loses several yards of its upper fuselage while in flight, killing 1 person.

World Expo \\'88 opens in BrisbaneQueensland, Australia.

The Australian Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) splits.

Iranian Embassy Siege: Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, UK. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5 1 terrorist survives.

Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates, and her daughter Beatrix accedes to the throne.

Swaziland recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

A federal court in Stuttgart sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment.

Six Irishmen, including Joe Cahill, are arrested by the Irish Naval Service off County Waterford, on board a coaster carrying 5 tons of weapons destined for the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

The first number of "Il Manifesto" is issued in Italy.

Charles de Gaulle steps down as president of France after suffering defeat in a referendum the day before.

Zip to Zap, a harbinger of the Woodstock Concert, ends with the dispersal and eviction of youths and young adults at Zap, North Dakota by the National Guard.

The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as Hamburger Hill, begins during the Vietnam War.

In Rhodesia, security forces kill 7 ZANLA men in combat "Chimurenga", the ZANU rebellion, begins.

A general election is held in Italy.

U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train the Viet Minh guerrillas.

The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the war between Japan and the Allies, and simultaneously ending the occupation of the four main Japanese islands.

Robert Menzies' Liberal Party government in Australia is re-elected for a second term.

Pestalozzi Children’s Village ("Kinderdorf Pestalozzi") established at Trogen in Switzerland to accommodate and educate orphans of World War II according to Pestalozzian principles.

April 28 ndash The Canadian First Army captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven.

Adolf Hitler marries his longtime mistress Eva Braun in a closed civil ceremony in the BerlinFührerbunker.

Brazilian forces liberate the commune of Fornovo di Taro, Italy, from German forces.

Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are executed by Italian partisans as they attempt to flee the country. Their bodies are then hung by their heels in the public square of Milan.

Operation Manna: British Lancaster bombers drop food into the Netherlands to prevent the starvation of the civilian population.

WWII: 749 American troops are killed in Exercise Tiger at Start Bay, Devon, England.

May ndash "No Exit" published by Jean-Paul Sartre.

In a speech before the "Reichstag", Adolf Hitler renounces the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact.

The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott in Massachusetts are disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.

General Ludwig Beck, Chief of the German Army's General Staff, submits a memorandum to Hitler opposing "Fall Grün" (Case Green), the plan for a war with Czechoslovakia, under the grounds that Germany is ill-prepared for the world war likely to result from such an attack.

The Vatican recognizes Franco's government in Spain.

FA Cup: Manchester City beat Portsmouth 2 ndash 1 at Wembley Stadium

The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas.

28 inches of snow fall in southern-central Pennsylvania.

An explosion in the mine of the Wheeling Steel Corporation in Benwood, West Virginia kills 119 men.

Billy the Kid escapes from his 2 jailers at the Lincoln County Jail in Mesilla, New Mexico, killing James Bell and Robert Ollinger before stealing a horse and riding out of town.

The "Pomona" is wrecked off the English coast, with 424 dead.

May 1 ndash Battle of Grahovac (between Ottoman and Montenegrin forces)

MayndashJuly ndash Mahtra War: Peasants in the Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire revolt against serfdom (which was officially abolished in 1816).

Santa Clara College is chartered in Santa Clara, California.

Mutiny on the "Bounty": Fletcher Christian leads the mutiny on HMS "Bounty" against Captain William Bligh.

Mutiny on the \\\'\\\'Bounty\\\'\\\': Fletcher Christian leads the mutiny on HMS ''Bounty'' against Captain William Bligh.

Maryland ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the seventh U.S. state.

July ndash In an attempt to rescue survivors of the "Vergulde Draeck", a search party is sent ashore, in "Goede Hoop"'s boat, which smashes against rocks and sinks: 8 sailors drown 3 more disappear ashore.

The ship "Vergulde Draeck" is wrecked off Ledge Point, Western Australia after it departs the Cape of Good Hope rescue missions fail to find survivors.

December ndash The pendulum clock is invented by Christiaan Huygens.

Admiral Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis.

Francisco de Lucena, former Portuguese Secretary of State, is beheaded after being charged with treason.

The Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario is established in Manila, the Philippines (later renamed Colegio de Santo Tomas, now known as the University of Santo Tomas).

The funeral of Elizabeth I of England is held in Westminster Abbey.

Battle of Ch'ungju: Japan inflicts a decisive defeat on Korea.

The start of Good Parliament in England, so called because its members attempted to reform the corrupt Royal Council.

Erik Magnusson is recognized as king of most of Sweden, in opposition to his father, king Magnus.

The Mongol Empire destroys the Kingdom of Dali in modern Yunnan and incorporates the region into their empire.

Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, declares his intent to preach the "Lotus Sutra" and "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" as the true Buddhism, thus founding Nichiren Buddhism.

The Mongols defeat the Thai confederacy.

May ndash King Louis IX of France dispatches William of Rubruck from Constantinople on a missionary journey to convert the Tatars of central and eastern Asia. Later that year, William records the first meeting between European Christians and Buddhists.

Kublai Khan introduces the "baisha xiyue" song and dance suite to the music of Yunnan.

The Chinese era "Baoyou" begins in the Southern Song Dynasty of China.

The Mongol Empire launches attacks on the Muslim cities of Baghdad and Cairo.

Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, is assassinated in Tyre, only days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.

Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnentius. He address the Senate and the Roman people.