1105

Death of Ly Thuong Kiet (born 1019). Commander-in-chief under the Ly dynasty, he led the war against the Sung invasion. He was also famous for a poem which was regarded as the first declaration of independence of the Dai Viet (Great Viet) nation.

1509

Birth of John Calvin, theologian and Protestant reformer. In 1536 he published the Institute of the Christian Religion, a guide to Protestant doctrine.

1559

Mary, Queen of Scots, claims title of Queen of England in opposition to Elizabeth I. Her political actions provoke rebellion among the Scottish nobles and she is beheaded in 1587 as a Catholic threat to the English throne.

1910

Birth of Nguyen Huu Tho (died 1996), lawyer, president of the National Front for the Liberation of South Viet Nam (1962-76) and president of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (1980).

Birth of Vietnamese writer Nguyen Tuan (died 1987), best known for Vang Bong Mot Thoi (Echoes and Reflections of a Period), Thieu Que Huong (No Place to Call Home), Mot Chuyen Di (A Trip) and Ha Noi Ta Danh My Gioi (Ha Noi Puts up a Good Fight against the Americans).

1962

Telstar, the first television telecommunications satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral, making possible the first relaying of television programmes across the Atlantic.

1986

Death of Le Duan (born 1907), first secretary and then general secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee from 1960-86. He was one of the first members of Indochina Communist Party and leader of the struggle against the US aggression in South Viet Nam.

1990

Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev is re-elected leader of Soviet Communist Party.

1991

Boris Yeltsin takes oath of office as first elected president of Russia; US President George Bush lifts economic sanctions against South Africa.

2000

A mountain of garbage loosened by rain collapses and bursts into flames at the biggest dump in Manila, Philippines, flattening squatters' shanties and killing at least 216 people.

2006

Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, responsible for terror attacks that led to the deaths of more than 800 people, is killed when a dynamite-laden truck in his convoy explodes.

2011

Rupert Murdoch swoops into Britain to face the growing phone-hacking scandal that prompted the closure of his News of the World tabloid and threatens to derail a US$19 billion broadcasting deal. — REUTERS/AP