1718

James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.

1856

Birth of Frank Lyman Baum, US children's author. He is best remembered for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – the film of which became a cinema classic.

1859

Birth of Pierre Curie, French chemist and physicist. Together with his wife, Marie, he studied magnetism and radioactivity. The couple shared the 1903 Nobel physics prize with Antoine Henri Becquerel.

1913

Dong Duong (Indochina) magazine is published for the first time. The magazine, edited by Nguyen Van Vinh, ran until early 1917 before being re-released as the Nam Phong (Southern Wind) newspaper.

1918

The world's first airmail postal service begins between New York, Philadelphia and Washington, using planes supplied by the US War Department.

1919

The last examination of the Vietnamese traditional academic testing system is held. At the Court examination, the highest level of the system, seven doctors and 16 assistant doctors were chosen.

1940

The Netherlands surrenders to Germany in World War II.

1955

The Austrian state treaty is signed, ending 10 years of Allied occupation.

1975

The Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the Kingdom of Nepal establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level.

1990

Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent Van Gogh sold for a record US$82.5 million at Christies in New York.

1991

Viet Nam's Ministry of the Interior, joins Interpol.

1995

Archaeologists discover the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It is believed to the resting place for the sons of Ramses II.

2001

World Health Organisation announces a plan to halt the spread of tuberculosis – which kills 2 million people each year – for less than half a billion dollar annually.

2006

The African Union agrees to transfer its peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region to the United Nations, but Khartoum appears to backtrack on earlier indications that it would allow a UN force after a peace treaty with rebels was agreed. — AP/REUTERS