1492

Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos, Spain, looking for a route to India across the Atlantic, discovering instead the New World.

1914

Germany declares war on France at the start of World War I.

1917

Birth of Vietnamese journalist and photographer Nguyen Ba Khoan (died 1993). In 1939, he cycled alone the length and width of Indochina, taking pictures of the entire region. His unique historical photos include Hanoians Demonstrating in Front of the Municipal Theatre on the Eve of the August Revolution in 1945 and The Last French Soldiers Leaving Ha Noi via Long Bien Bridge. Khoan was conferred the Ho Chi Minh Award.

1954

In Guangxi, China, President Ho Chi Minh starts a three-day discussion with the head of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai on the restoration of peace in Indochina.

1958

The US atomic submarine Nautilus, commanded by William Anderson, becomes the first vessel to reach the North Pole under the ice.

1973

Viet Nam and Iceland establish diplomatic relations.

1993

The United Nations begins its withdrawal of 20,000 peacekeepers in Cambodia.

1997

Political moderate Mohammad Khatami takes over as president of Iran.

1999

The US Justice Department rules that the government must pay the heirs of Abraham Zapruder US$16 million for his film of President John F Kennedy's assassination.

2001

The International Monetary Fund announces it will loan US$1.2 billion loan to Argentina and extend $15 billion line of credit to Brazil. — AP/REUTERS